Administrative processing at New Delhi Embassy: No slip given

[hpczar]

Hi all! I am a Physical Therapist practicing in US since 2010 after my transition from (F1) OPT to H1b. I came to India on vacation for visa stamping. My visa interview was at New Delhi Embassy on Feb 22nd 2012.

The VO did not ask me any peculiar questions, just usual questions; showed her my I-797 and my passport; offered to show her my MS degree, my Physical therapy license, employer letter or anything she might need. She refused and said," Your application is complete. I do not need to see anything. Please go to the last counter and submit your passport."

At the last counter, an Indian lady took my passport and I 797 and on a blank sheet of paper gave me a Case #, told me that my case needs administrative processing and to wait for further notification from the VFS when passport is ready for pick up. This case number did not work then nor even till today!

Its been 4 months long wait but Everytime I contact the Embassy or the DOS, its the same standard reply," You case is under mandatory admin processing under INA 221(g) and that there is no definite time frame."

My employer is a 10,000+employee strong and spread over much of mid west and the East coast. The company's attorney checked with Embassy twice, first time after 60 days and then after 90 days and got the same reply as I have been getting.

Meanwhile, my wife is alone in US and I am paying my mortgage, my rent, my car payments and all other expenses. I am in very stressful situation with no relief in sight.

So much for being law abiding individual in the US since the last 6+ years! It is so ridiculous that there was no problem whatsoever while I was in the US but as soon as I stepped out, sky came falling!

I received admin processing at the time of my F1 visa too 6 years ago due to my common name but got resolved within 4-5 weeks. This time it has taken way too long!!

Any advice for me? Thank you all! I hope everyone who is undergoing through this wretched time just gets the coveted email ASAP!

Sincerely

HS

[westindies]

Is it common Muslim name?

[mirage09]

Thats a terrible situation - sorry to hear. Not much you can do other than sending periodic emails. Ask your attorney to do the same. Not sure if it will help but it cannot hurt. Barring the long delays, the least they can do is update your case online! Others in the forum have discussed the possibility of having a senator send a request to the consulate.

If you do think its a name check, then it makes sense to wait it out. If you think it has something to do with the employer, do consider changing employement. There is also the option to apply for H4 (assuming your wife is on an H1B).

[hpczar]

Thats a terrible situation - sorry to hear. Not much you can do other than sending periodic emails. Ask your attorney to do the same. Not sure if it will help but it cannot hurt. Barring the long delays, the least they can do is update your case online! Others in the forum have discussed the possibility of having a senator send a request to the consulate.

If you do think its a name check, then it makes sense to wait it out. If you think it has something to do with the employer, do consider changing employement. There is also the option to apply for H4 (assuming your wife is on an H1B).

Thank you Mirage09 for your advice. I really appreciate!

Barring contacting the Senator, I have done everything I know possible. Anyways, I would try and contact the local Senator now.

My attorney told me that my case is a Security check and has an indefinite time frame.

My wife is on F1 visa and this long unpaid leave is piling on bills after bills!! :(

I do not think that changing visa category would help me any way as I had the same problem during F1 visa too due to my very common *Sikh* name.

I just hope my situation gets resolved ASAP for which I am doing tons of praying to HIM everyday.

Thanks again!

[netx8]

Hello hpczar

Sorry to hear your case. I very well understand your situation as I was also in the same boat 2 months ago. I also attended H1B extension interview in New Delhi and my case put under admin processing. I am full time employee, no docs were asked from me at the time of interview, I was handed pink slip with case number. Mine was also Common Name Check. Whenever I tried to check case number online, website returned error message "Case Not Found...". I made number of calls to vfs regarding this and they fixed it after 2 months. Don't worry abt online case tracking.

I approached embassy through attorney but not much help as embassy only provided standard reply "Admin Processing....". Then I took help of Senator but not much help there too. Admin process took 5 months and one fine day I got email from VFS that my passport is ready. Also I contacted DOS many times but all I heard from them is “ Admin Processing … indefinite time frame”

Keep your hope alive and do prayers, nothing else we can do in this situation. I saw many post where common name check was done in 2 months and in few cases more than 6 months. One thing is sure that you will get visa but killing thing is this "WAIT".

--NetX

[hpczar]

To Netx8:

Thank you for your reply and for your concern!

I am so relieved to hear that your situation was resolved. This gives me hope and assurance that everything would fall into place one fine day. Talk about this 'wretched' wait man! I am so depressed and frustrated with the lack of any insight into this process about the reason or the time frame involved.

I so hope that my case gets resolved ASAP so that I may finally be able to resume my life and career.

Thanks again!

-hpczar

[netx8]

Hello hpczar

Any updates ?