New Delhi- H1b visa stamping.. admin processing

[nupuraggarwal]

I would like to share my experience here with everyone.

This has been an extremely helpful forum for me throughout!

I had my H1b visa stamping in Delhi on Nov 15th, this was my second time h1b stamping( I recently changed my job).

It is a direct employer, a very big US company...

On the day of visa interview, I had a lady visa officer.. she REALLY looked in a bad mood.. anyway.. she asked me very basic questions.. where I worked, since when have I been working, highest education, my current role.

After all that, she said I have to put you in admin processing and please proceed to window X, when I went to window X, there was an indian guy- he asked me if I which all countries I have been to in last 12 months, I had not been to any other country apart from US.. so I told him that..

After that he said- your visa is approved but your passport has to go under admin processing, so we cant tell you when you will get your passport back and there is no timeframe whatsoever. He had 3 piles of passport- one for pink slip, one for green and 3rd one was mine. He said we dont need any documents from you.

I was so shocked, this was my 3rd US visa stamping and I have been in US for last 6 years.. and I had no idea why they were doing this ADMIN PROCESSING.

My only option was to wait.. everyday I checked and called usatraveldocs and I got the same answer..

On 4th Dec, when I tracked my passport, I got the status- Origination scan, didnt know what it meant.. so when I googled it-- saw people response that folks got their passport a day or two after this status. Called usatraveldocs, again they REALLY have no clue, I dont even know why US Embassy have them.. the rep told me that your admin processing has started, thats what it means..

anyway.. that every evening, I got the email that my passport was ready for pickup.. again when I called usatraveldocs, they said you will get another email which says you passport is at pickup location( which is total rubbish)

Anyways.. I wanted to share this with all the readers here.. if it helps anyone.. I know the feeling of how frustrating it is to wait and it is kind of a dark hole... I really hope and pray that folks get their visa in time. I dont understand how US emabassy does not realize that people might lose their jobs if they wait too long etc.. plus staying away from families etc.. also I learned that pls dont rely on usatraveldocs customer service rep, they dont know anything! I mean really ANYTHING!

again, Good Luck to everyone!