H4 Stamping at New Delhi and multiple 221(g)

[leasonlearned]

Hi - I'd apologize in advance for my long post, but right now I am an anxious husband and father.

My wife recently went for her 3rd H4 stamping in US Embassy, New Delhi and here is the story:

Background: I am on H1. We married in June 2013, she first got H4 stamped (without issues) in Oct 2013 (till Dec 2014), then joined me in the US in Feb 2014. She went to India alone in Feb 2015 and again got H4 stamped (till Dec 2015) without any issues. Now she went again in May 2017 (this time with our 7 month old son, who is a US citizen). Went for H4 stamping and:

May 22  - OFC Fingerprinting done

May 23 - Interview at the embassy > General questions asked about my Employer, salary, nature of work, etc. All answered. And then, the VO kept the passport and issued 221(g)-Yellow, just stating "Admin Processing" at the bottom. No further documentation asked.

May 26 - Received USTravelDocs email mentioning the passport is ready for pickup.

May 28 - Passport picked up. There was no stamp, but a new 221g asking to appear at the embassy with passport and the letter, for fingerprint and interview. The form said no appointment is required and that she can come in on any business day before 10 AM.

May 31 (Wednesday) - Went to embassy to find out that it is closed for Admin Processing on the last Wednesday of the month. (Note: Maybe its just me, but I found it very irritating that such an important piece of information was missing from the 221g form that we received - which specifically stated that "come in on any business day before 10 AM". To me last Wednesday of the month is a business day, but regardless who do we argue with ? Those reading this please make a note. DO NOT GO FOR ADMIN PROCESSING ON LAST WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH - At least in India)

June 01 - Went to embassy. Got fingerprinted. At the interview, in addition to a repeat of the questions that she was asked the last time, VO asked following (kinda dumb) questions:

Is your husband a US Citizen? Does he have a GC? What visa is he on? .....I mean really ??????

Well - The fact they my wife applied for H4 visa should provide an answer to all 3 of those questions. But well, they had to ask :)

[This kind of tells me that either the VOs are pure dumb or they just play with applicant by asking such rhetoric questions].

Anyway, my wife answered everything and then the VO went inside to talk to someone and issued another yellow 221g. This time not mentioning anything on it (except case #) and did not request any further documentation.

And now we wait.

Has anyone faced similar circumstances ? I know its too early, but the only reasons for my anxiety are:

1) Since I am not accompanying my wife and our 7 mo old son, its hard on her to visit these guys (with my son) again and again to answer same set of questions (but I guess no one can do anything about it).

2) Since this whole 221g business has been such a black hole, I don't know when my wife and son will be able to travel back to join me here.

Please share if anyone experienced such a situation (rather harassment - but here I can be biased :D) and got cleared. How long it took and such.

Thanks in advance!!!

[muraligadu]

Hi,

This is nothing new with US Consulates. Few yrs back when my wife went for H4 stamping, they gave her a 221G and later we got a Questionaire asking 1. which college are you going too? 2. Who is funding? 3. Whats your research area?

We were shocked to see these Qs for a H4. I simply sent that mail to my lawyer and he softly replied to Consulate saying "I guess u r confused with my application. I am not going to US for some educational purposes. I have applied for H4 and not some J1 visa." 2 days after we replied, we got her passport back in post with stamped visa.

So hold tight.. may be in a week you will have some update.

[Dash_8971]

Hi leasonlearned,

Your spouse's (H4) visa approved? 

[leasonlearned]

Hello all - Just wanted to update that on June 15th, my wife's H4 got approved. Below are the timelines:

3rd time H4 stamping

5/22/2017 - Fingerprinting

5/23/2017 - Interview (got a 221g, no additional documents requested)

5/26/2017 - Received passport (with another 221d, requesting to appear again for an interview)

5/31/2017 - Went for 2nd interview (last Wednesday of every month embassy is closed for admin processing. PLEASE make a note of this and do no go on last Wednesday of the month).

6/01/2017 - Went for the interview (got another 221g, no additional documents requested)

6/15/2017 - Visa issued

Passport received in next 3-4 days

 

Hope this helps