J1 administrative processing

dazzy

Registered Users (C)
Hello Friends,

I have been reading through this forum for some time and thought of posting my situation. I am a research scholar who has recently finished my Ph.D. and applied for a job as a post doctorate in a research institute in US.
I had my interview for J1 visa in the last week of September at New Delhi Consualte where the officer asked me to mail them some documents and told me that everything looks good. I was not given section 212 (g) handout and my passport and DS form was kept by the embassy. The next day I received an email and was asked to fill in the questionaire. At that time I had no clue about the TAL or Visa Mantis and thought that it is a regular process and may take some days for them to stamp the visa However, days passed by and I did not hear from them. Finally, I contacted them and they told me that my application has been send for administrative processing to US department of state; they did not give me any specific reason.

Since I was not given any hand outs at the time of interview, it puts me in doubts if indeed it is a case of visa mantis or TAL. Also if somebody could tell me what is the usual time frame for this type of administrative processing?

If anybody has any ideas, it would be highly appreciable

Thanks,
Dazzy
 
Hello Friends,

I have been reading through this forum for some time and thought of posting my situation. I am a research scholar who has recently finished my Ph.D. and applied for a job as a post doctorate in a research institute in US.
I had my interview for J1 visa in the last week of September at New Delhi Consualte where the officer asked me to mail them some documents and told me that everything looks good. I was not given section 212 (g) handout and my passport and DS form was kept by the embassy. The next day I received an email and was asked to fill in the questionaire. At that time I had no clue about the TAL or Visa Mantis and thought that it is a regular process and may take some days for them to stamp the visa However, days passed by and I did not hear from them. Finally, I contacted them and they told me that my application has been send for administrative processing to US department of state; they did not give me any specific reason.

Since I was not given any hand outs at the time of interview, it puts me in doubts if indeed it is a case of visa mantis or TAL. Also if somebody could tell me what is the usual time frame for this type of administrative processing?

If anybody has any ideas, it would be highly appreciable

Thanks,
Dazzy
This is the Buzz word for security check. This may take few days, months or even years. Wait and they are going to send you the visa if your security check is clear. Many lost their invitation, training or what ever they are going to do in US because of the delay. What you can do is nothing but waiting. Calling, writing or whatever you think to do will not help at all.
 
Hi Satish,

No news yet. This is my seventh week in waiting and my name is still stuck up with additional admininstrative processing.
Any news with your case..Did you call DOS to confirm when did they receive your application. If not, then I think that it would be a good idea.

Dazzy
 
Hi Dazzy
I have requested my sponsors to make an inquiry on the DOS email ID. I am waiting for their response. My case has started afresh from 3rd of this month. I will call DOS tomorrow.
Satish
 
Hi Satish,
11th is holiday there in america, so probably it would be better to call them tomorrow. You know when your case started here, but calling DOS will let you know when did the consulate send your application to them. I have read on several forums that Chennai consulate has been slow in doing it.
I requested my sponsor to do the same but it was not helpful. May be you have some luck.
By the way, what is your field of work?

Dazzy
 
Hi Dazzy
My field is molecular anthropology. As such anthropology is not on the TAL but I have been doing DNA sequencing, genotyping and gene expression for number studies here and a similar job profile in US. All these techniques are mentioned on my DS 2019. That why they put me for administrative processing.
Satish
 
Hi guys,

Was calling the DOS helpful? Any news on your cases? It's very slow over here in London too - I've been waiting for 6 weeks...Not sure if the whole financial crisis, presidential transition charade and the resulting increased security is slowing the processing down.

Thanks for sharing,

owen


Hi Dazzy
I have requested my sponsors to make an inquiry on the DOS email ID. I am waiting for their response. My case has started afresh from 3rd of this month. I will call DOS tomorrow.
Satish
 
Hi Owen,

Yes, I did call DOS, but they just informed me the day they received my case and nothing more. Today is exaclty 8 weeks after I mailed the Consulate in Delhi with additional documents....still no news from them. It could be any reason/s to cause this delay, but the bottom line is that we are at the receiving end and simply can't do anything except waiting.

Dazzy
 
Last edited by a moderator:
From my experience and other's stories, the average time is 12 weeks. Few will be outside that range (few days or stuch for ever). This 12 weeks is the the average time for your file to be on the top to be cleared. Examining the file it self will take from 60-180 seconds.
 
Hi Dazzy
How long Delhi Consulate took to send your case to DOS. I have registered with NAs and only reply I am getting is "We have contacted DOS your case is still pending and we can not speed up the case by any means".
Satish Kumar
 
Hi Satish,
My interview was on 24th September. I mailed them the questionare on 26th September. As I have read on these forums, the case is referred to DOS after they receive the questionare. This is what I was expecting when I called them, but the lady there told me that they received it on 24th.
I do not know about these 'NA'. I called the DOS visa section directly and they will tell you when was the case referred to them. Infact, this is the only thing they are willing to share. I think that you should call them directly to clear any doubts.
Do you have the DOS number?
Dazzy
 
Hello Guys,

Finally after waiting for 9 weeks, I got a call today from the embassy that they need my revalidated DS-2019 in order to issue my visa. I will send it on Monday.
So, finally this nightmare is over. Will keep you posted about my status.
Any updates in your case?

In mean time, I came across a website (http://www7.nationalacademies.org/VISAS/index.html). Perhaps you know about it, but I thought of sharing it with you. It is very useful link in case the visa is delayed for more then 60 days. I actually wrote to them yesterday. However, I pray that you don't need to use it.

Dazzy
 
Congrad, Dazzy. From my past J1 administrative processing experiences (London), you should be done, just celebrate and wait for the visa.

Mine's still pending, after 7 weeks. When I called the DOS, somebody did say there's nothing wrong with my case, it's just the volumes.

Your link is super useful. Is it helpful to have the sponsor apply some pressure through the contacts?

Owen

Hello Guys,

Finally after waiting for 9 weeks, I got a call today from the embassy that they need my revalidated DS-2019 in order to issue my visa. I will send it on Monday.
So, finally this nightmare is over. Will keep you posted about my status.
Any updates in your case?

In mean time, I came across a website (http://www7.nationalacademies.org/VISAS/index.html). Perhaps you know about it, but I thought of sharing it with you. It is very useful link in case the visa is delayed for more then 60 days. I actually wrote to them yesterday. However, I pray that you don't need to use it.

Dazzy
 
Thanks Owen,

Now days they are taking 8 weeks or even more to clear the cases.

In my case, my sponsor and the international office there told me that they are unable to do anything to speed up the process. Also going through other forums, I read that people do try to put pressure through their sponsor/employer, but I did not come across any cases where anyone was successful. However, it is worth a try. But I am afraid one has to only wait. I hope and will pray that you will get through this soon.

Dazzy
 
Hello Folks,

My case has also been completed after exactly 8 weeks. It's twice as long as it took me in the past couple years.

Though there's a scary little paragraph in the notification from the embassy that didn't use to be there. Has that ever happened to anyone?

-------
It is in your best interests to submit your passport as soon as
possible. There is always a possibility that further administrative
processing may be required and we cannot guarantee visa issuance by any
set date.
-------

Best of luck to everyone still waiting. Just hang in there...

Owen
 
Congrats Owen! Great that you also made it through. Honestly I have no clue what these lines really means. I would suggest that just ignore this and send your passport and then we wait.
I also haven't received my visa yet. I submitted my revalidated DS-2019 last Monday and still no signs of the issuance. My status at the embassy website is 'Contact Embassy'. I tried to call the embassy and they told me I must wait for some more days. I wanted to confirm that they did receive the clearence from DOS, but the person did not want to comment on to it. I can only guess that do intend to issue my visa. Probably the consulates are so much overloaded that they need weeks to process it internally. It is really frustating, but can't help me.

Any progress for you Satish?

Dazzy
 
Dazzy,

The visa issuance time (after you send them your passport) quoted by notification from the London embassy is 15 - 20 work days. In the past it took only a few days, but then the administrative processing in the past didn't take as long as this time. Every embassy can be different, but perhaps this would give u a bit more of what to expect....

I'm still waiting for a new DS-2019 from my sponsor, haven't even sent them the passport yet....

Owen
 
Hi Dazzy
Not yet. As told by the Chennai consulate, it is going to take as usual two months after the submission of questionnaire, though I am checking my status regularly, but not hoping before the end of December.
Satish Kumar
 
Top