One of the CEAC statuses is written as Administrative Processing which basically happens once the visa is being printed and is about to change to Issued within hours-days unless something comes up. This is not what people refer to AP or administrative processing.Hi folks, hope you're doing well. First of all, thank you so much for your input so far. A special thanks goes to my fellow Frankfurter Butters (Butters, as in South Park Butters? Just wondering). I'm not sure what's going on with your case, but I really hope it's sorted out soon and that you'll get your visa shortly. You've been so generous with your advice and assistance to me and, from what I can tell, to others on this forum. I can't think of anything more American than that and I really hope that I'll get to call you 'my fellow American' 5+ years down the road.
Anyhow, on to my next question. We had our interview in Frankfurt about a week ago and everything went well. Everyone was extremely kind, nice and accommodating. The CO was very nice and they said that our visa will be approved and explained the process for getting our passports back, etc.
However, one to two days afterwards, the CEAC status changed to 'refused' for the main applicant. I know some folks mentioned that this can happen while the visa is getting issued, but we were also told that the case is with CO 'for review'. Is this AP? I also see a bunch of folks saying their status was set to AP, but I also read that there is technically no AP status in CEAC anymore so I'm a bit confused about this.
Also, I see some folks mentioning that, after the interview, they were given a slip of paper confirming that their visa was approved. However, we never received it. Is that slip of paper part of the usual procedure?
Sorry for the wall of text, I just wanted to check whether anyone had a similar experience and would like to kindly share it with us. Thanks in advance.
The other one is written as Refused but has a long text underneath explaining that you would receive a full adjudication once the processing is done. This is the administrative processing or AP that people refer to. If you have this, then you are in administrative processing or AP which everyone refers to. This AP can take days to months depending on the reason behind it. The reasons can be internal within the embassy such as the consulate waiting for the medical results, some documents missing or some additional documents they'd ask for in the interview, mistake by the consulate in clicking the wrong button, or anything else. They can also involve requiring a (security) advisory opinion or consulting with Washington or another embassy to deal with policies surrounding an applicant (e.g. mine is default for my nationality). This external wouldn't happen for a German or EU citizen unless let's say you have a criminal history and they want to ask for a legal opinion from Washington.
What the CO says on the day or the approval paper you get on the day is not legally binding. CO saying that you are approved and then case under-going AP for months happens. I don't know why they put you on AP. It does seem that the CO was happy about the case but then something triggered a review of something from your case either by the same CO or perhaps the supervisor. The one reason to be optimistic is that as you mentioned, they did say that it's with the CO for review (e.g. a message along the lines of "your case is being reviewed by a consular officer"). This implies to me that the AP process is being conducted within the consulate. This is a positive. Also, not getting the DS5535 or a supplemental questions email asking for those questions is another positive.
I would recommend to follow up with the consulate and ask them what's happening. It's a horrible experience. Maybe someone with a similar situation or another Frankfurt person has a similar experience or a better idea of what to do. I would just add that, Frankfurt can be quite busy in August since they invited so many for that one month and so your AP could last longer than you expect because the COs are busy interviewing people and they have a schedule for reviewing the APs. Although, as long as your case is being reviewed by the consulate and not Washington, the chances of being cleared in a timely manner is much higher.
Thanks for the nice first paragraph. Yes, that butters
although after going through DV, south park doesn't seem like a comedy show anymore. I'm not in Germany, but a neighbouring country, wishing for the best.
