Help -Visitor Visa - Cancelled without Prejudice

[subha_sriram]

My mom had applied for her visitor visa in India
- she had the interview on May 22nd which went well. When she went to collect the passport at the end of the day, she was told that it is not ready and that she will receive email / call when it is ready to be picked up
- 2 days later, may 24rd she promptly received a call at 9:30am in the morning asking her to come back with an additional Rs.3500 DD any day next week
- The day following memorial day, may 29th she went back to the consulate. They collected the DD (which she presumed was for her 10yr visa - she did not explictly request one) and finger printed her and was notified that she will be notified when processing is completed.
- She went back on friday, June 1st to collect the passport. She did notice a page in the passport with a 10 yr visa issued till May 22 2017. with a thrill she came home.
- When she re-reviewed the visa page at home, she noticed the stamp in BLUE - CANCELLED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Confused and after a long wait for the weekend to elapse
- she went back to the consular office on Monday morning to have this clarified. She was informed that the stamp means her Visa is rejected. No other explanation was offered. No letter with any reason.
- when she queried on the reason - she was simply told. sorry maam. if you want please reapply.

Given the above scenario
- What does this mean?
- My mom suspects that since she had submitted only her new passport issued in 2005 which did not have history of any prior visa issued in 1999 / 1996 (both of which were 6 months visitor visa) they may have cancelled a wrong visa. Is that possible?
- Is there no review process that can be requested to confirm if it was a mistake on their part?
- from what I have read this in itself will not cause any ground for rejection for any future applications, but I am trying to see what I can do to clear this one out instead of waiting on it for later.
- Does she need to wait for some period before she reapplies. Is there a risk in re-attempting before the heat dies out on this.

Any guidance will be extremely helpful (I am trying to keep the emotions out of this posting - but this back and forth has been mentally stressful for my mom - I'm sure we are not the first one around this curve).

Advance Thanks Again

 

[Triple Citizen]

Subha_Sriram,
To me it appears as initially the consulate decided to grant her a visa and actually affixed the sticker onto her passport. Later, before releasing the passport, someone (perhaps a supervisor/consul-general) decide to cancel it. It has happened before. You mother is free to re-apply whenever she wants. I wish her better luck next time.

 

[chennai_123]

I have read some forum articles a couple of years back that things like this happen when the consulate finds a discrepancy in the application form vs their own research. For eg, not disclosing all the immediate relatives in the U.S OR their immediate relatives who went on a B1/B2 visa and DID NOT RETURN as promised, fraud etc etc. Unfortunately the consulate does not give information as to why they cancelled the visa. I think your mom should re-apply and hopefully things would be clear then. Other thing you should also do is re-check the OLD application form and make sure that all questions are answered completely.

 

[subha_sriram]

- Is there any risk involved in reapplying immediately?
- Since they did not refund the earlier fees do we have to pay additional fees again.

thanks

 

[Triple Citizen]

No.

Is there any risk involved in reapplying immediately?

That fees was used in processing the previous application. So for the next application, fees will need to be payed again.

Since they did not refund the earlier fees do we have to pay additional fees again.