Visa approved but stuck in admin processing

[Asder11]

Hello,

I attended visa interview at US consulate (Mumbai, India) on 22nd October. After 5 basic questions, VO approved my visa and said that I will be notified when passport is ready. He did not mention about any administrative  processing and did not issue any slips. This is my first H1B stamping. I was on F1 (OPT and STEM Extension) before getting H1B. I am a direct employee in a MNC. The status in CEAC shows 'administrative processing' which was last updated on the day of my interview. It has been more 2 weeks now.

Is this a common occurrence nowadays even after the VO approved my visa? Some of my friends with similar profile got back the passport in 2-3 days after interview. It does not make any sense. Any valuable inputs or experience is appreciated. 

Thank you.

[shekar11#]

20 hours ago, Asder11 said:

Hello,

I attended visa interview at US consulate (Mumbai, India) on 22nd October. After 5 basic questions, VO approved my visa and said that I will be notified when passport is ready. He did not mention about any administrative  processing and did not issue any slips. This is my first H1B stamping. I was on F1 (OPT and STEM Extension) before getting H1B. I am a direct employee in a MNC. The status in CEAC shows 'administrative processing' which was last updated on the day of my interview. It has been more 2 weeks now.

Is this a common occurrence nowadays even after the VO approved my visa? Some of my friends with similar profile got back the passport in 2-3 days after interview. It does not make any sense. Any valuable inputs or experience is appreciated. 

Thank you.

It is a common occurrence. Even if VO says visa approved there are lot of cases where people had to wait for a month or more.

[xTDx]

Verbal visa approval is positive but by no means a final approval. This is quite the norm these days. The visa is not actually approved until you have it stamped on your passport. A verbal approval doesn't mean much. An email approval means little and a stamp in the passport means what exactly it is suppose to mean. 

[gopalakrishnach]

As usual post only when you have issues.

Now a days it is common. Beside waiting we cannot do anything. Hope your issue gets resolved...

[nomsan123]

What is your status now?

I am having a similar issue. I had my interview on 4th Nov. VO said approved, but the status showed ‘Refused’, then it got changed to ‘Admin Processing’. 2 weeks ago it got changed to ‘Application Received’. I haven’t heard anything from the embassy (no 221g). I have full time job and was never out of status. Super confused with all these status updates on my application. I have my travel planned on 29th nov, but I am not positive that I’ll get my visa anytime soon.

Edited November 25, 2019 by nomsan123

[sahil1989]

Same situation here

Interview was on 19th Nov 2019. VO said visa is approved. No slips given.

Passport status 'Still with US embassy/consulate'. Visa status updated to 'Administrative Processing' on 26th Nov and is the same to date.

My lawyer said expect resolution in 60days. Reading through multiple posts is seems like wait period can be anywhere between 10days to 2months.

Prepare yourself for a long, frustrating and depressing wait.