Cable clearance sent from DOS to Consulate - What next?

The fact of the matter is simple. They have a right to investigate any potential visitor and they don't care if it messes with their careers. Homeland security is more important than careers of foreigners. Can't dispute that!! That being the premise, so what can be done to bring sanity to this process ?

Sticking to my knowledge only of H1-B type visas, there are two type of cases. First time applicants and revlidations. For revalidations there's a better case for doing something about it. Since people requiring revalidation are already living in the US and most likely have gone through special registrations and are not forced to go through this but do it out of their own choice (maybe some emergencies, but generally speaking). For first time applications, I doubt if they'd ever change this policy. The only thing that can be done is to make the process quicker.

Continued...
 
Another problem is that this is not a continuing issue for an individual. So people would loose interest once their visa is sorted. So to create any sort of influence we need a large number of people willing to participate. How we do that is open to discussion. But here's what I suggest could be a reasonable request:

1. Security clearance exemption for visa revalidation candidates.
2. A service through which people can apply for security clearance without having to go through visa application process. This can be paid service. Once they are given security clearance they can then apply for visas, revlidations, student visas, university adminissions, etc.
3. Expedite security clearance process. Maybe hire us write better systems for them ;-)


Ali
 
I think after security clearance is approved, the process can be expedited at least a little.
Contact your STATE's congressman or the senator and ask them to email the US Consulate, Islamabad. The email address paknivinfo@state.gov is no good. They should email the Acting Consul General at the Islamabad Consulate directly at consularislama@state.gov. I am sure the govt offices have that email address. Hope this helps.

Babar
 
Hi Fellows,

Good ideas and agree that once a person is through with this process he/she looses all interest. I think another important measure is to involve and request various influencial societies to take some interest and help, e.g I being a physician will contact Association of Pakistani Physicians of North
America (APPNA) and I am sure that you guys also have respective socities.Not sure if this will be immediately helpful but atleast it may secure future of other candidates.

I have interesting example of my very close friend who went to US consulate in Canada in december /04 along with an attorney from canada based firm and he along with his family got H1-B stamped (first time not revalidation, pakitani national only no other nationality) on the same day !!! any1 has any idea what could be different in this case !!?? ofcourse other then luck !!

Lonesome 307 since you are not alone anymore would you mind telling us your name !

Baber, have you tried emailing on this other e-mail address of consulate ?


Salman
 
SSSheikh said:
Hi Fellows,

Good ideas and agree that once a person is through with this process he/she looses all interest. I think another important measure is to involve and request various influencial societies to take some interest and help, e.g I being a physician will contact Association of Pakistani Physicians of North
America (APPNA) and I am sure that you guys also have respective socities.Not sure if this will be immediately helpful but atleast it may secure future of other candidates.

I have interesting example of my very close friend who went to US consulate in Canada in december /04 along with an attorney from canada based firm and he along with his family got H1-B stamped (first time not revalidation, pakitani national only no other nationality) on the same day !!! any1 has any idea what could be different in this case !!?? ofcourse other then luck !!

Lonesome 307 since you are not alone anymore would you mind telling us your name !

Baber, have you tried emailing on this other e-mail address of consulate ?


Salman
Click to expand...
it's murtaza :) btw....i have heard a similar case too and the only difference I see from us is that they both had families meaning married, i guess tht eliminates the background check?
 
Salman, I don't want to send a personal email to this address. I think it will be more authoritative if a congressman or senator emails the Acting consul general.

I have also heard of a person (unmarried) who went to canada last month and got his visa the first day? How is that fair?

I definitely agree that we need to do something about this sluggish process. Contacting the societies would be a start but i think we need to get someone influential on our side.

Babar
 
Dear friends !

I think this 14 day process holds true only if special clearance is not required, I am sure you all must have reviewed that FBI press release document, jan/05, which states that 98% of case are resolved within 4 months lets see how true is that cause we all are almost there !!!

Is there any1 among you who got h1-b visa from pakistan prior to this time ?


salman
 
Islamabad embassy number

Lonesome, the islamabad embassy number you gave me does not seem right. Please confirm if 051-20802121 is the correct number.

Ali
 
Hi Guys,
I finally have got done with this messy "clearance" process..(took 3.5 months in total) and as
Ali mentioned in his post, we should do something about this.. atleast
an option of going through this clearance in US before going for
Visa stamping... and the other question is the validity of this clearance....

In any case, I just want to share some of my (wife's) experience dealing with DOS..
The DOS operator will say the case as PENDING until the consulate is happy with the clearance received (so even if the results to consulate query is sent by DOS to the consulate, the status will stay pending). Once the DOS operator says that your case is cleared, then you should be getting the call from the consulate in a week (Atleast thats what happened to few of us in chennai consulate).

Fax to DOS is probably the best as they call you back within a day and the person calling back gives a bit more information about the case (for me they said when the clearance was sent etc ).

I am sure that the cases will get cleared eventually, it is purely a question of time. So, just hang on and the clearances will come.

Take care
Anis
 
akahmed said:
Lonesome, the islamabad embassy number you gave me does not seem right. Please confirm if 051-20802121 is the correct number.

Ali
Click to expand...
Ali, that is the correct number. I do call at tht number everyday.

Murtaza
 
There's no response on this number. Also its 8 digits instead of 7, isn't that unusual..?

What time during the day do you normally call ?

Ali
 
akahmed said:
There's no response on this number. Also its 8 digits instead of 7, isn't that unusual..?

What time during the day do you normally call ?

Ali
Click to expand...
yes it is indeed 8 digits but it is correct. i usually call around 2-4pm. It does take 4-5 tries (sometimes more) to get through.

Murtaza
 
Hi Anis & Ali,

Today I called the DOS and the visa specialist told me that the response was sent to chennai consulate on Mar25th. Does it mean I am almost there?

I called consulate today morning and got the same response that they are waiting for the clearance from the DOS.

Is it ok to call the consulate again and tell them about the response I got from the DOS?

Thanks
NIW03
 
Hi Guys,

Has any1 been able to get additional info other then status pending by calling US consulate in islamabad, Till last month I called them 3-4 x in a week but now I have stopped calling them.

Salman
 
H4 Visa -221(g)

Hi All
My wife Visa is held under 221(g). And now its close to 6 weeks, and it is still under Admin Processing.

Is there anyway I can find out that what processing they are doing? Should I call DOS here? I think since I have H1 , not sure what they are verifying for my wife here in US...Or they are verifying in India?

Anyone who got H4 information from DOS here.? Please help

Thanks
Ravi
 
Fax format and info

anismo,

can you guide us as to what we should put in the fax to DOS. Is the Passport number and contact number enough ? Any other info required/better to put ?

-avdxz
 
All,

Just FYI, I did call the U.S Embassy, Islamabad and U.S state dept. and ended up with the same set of information i.e case pending for clearence. On further interoggation with the visa officer at the state dept., she told me that the last cable/email received from the embassy was in jan./05. It's been like 3.5 months and there has been no activity from the embassy side. She also asked me to request embassy to send another status inquiry cable/email to state dept. Question for everyone is has anyone been able to succesfully request embassy to send status inquiry cable to state dept. ? If anyone has been in a similar scenario then, please share your thoughts/comments.

Murtaza
 
Last edited by a moderator:
avdxz,

I just gave my passport number, name and Date of birth and a number to call back. You can also inform that the case is for H1B revalidation.

NIW03,
The consulate will not give *any* info
at all.. You are almost there.. but the chennai consulate is quite slow
For me it was from March 4(when DOS told me the clearance was sent to chennai and the status was still "pending")
then, March 24 (When DOS told me that my status was "cleared")
and then March 28 (When I got the call from consulate).. So yes, you
are almost there..

Take care
Anis
 
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