I will just like to describe my experience for the benefit of other people who are applying for US visa from Islamabad. I applied for H1 visa in October 2006.
You have to apply through the American Express Travel Services. In Karachi, it is located in Shaheen complex. They accept application during the hours of 9:00 am till 1:00 pm. Following documents are needed:
1. Passport (off-course). If you had a US visa issued in the past, they also need the passport which has the previous visa.
2. Completed DS-156: Nonimmigrant Visa Application
3. Completed DS-157: Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application (even for your spouse if applying at the same time)
4. Completed DS-158: Contact Information and Work History for Nonimmigrant Visa Applicant
5. Parent’s information
6. One 2x2 photograph.
7. A notice of approval, Form I-797.
8. A fee of RS 7000 for each applicant.
About 7-10 days after these documents have been submitted, American Express will call you to inform you about the interview date. You have to go to their office to pick up the passport and other documents which were sent originally. For H-1 visa, interview dates are within 2-3 weeks of the date of application. For visit visa, interview dates are about 2-3 months after the application. There is no separate interview letter; only a sticker placed on your passport which has the date and the time. I was given an interview date which was 16 days from the date of application at American Express.
US embassy is located in the diplomatic area in Islamabad. You can not go to embassy directly. You have to go to the Convention Center parking lot. It is located off Constitution Avenue, across from the Sareena Hotel. From there you have to take a shuttle to the US embassy. There are separate ticket booths for shuttles to different embassies. The roundtrip fare is RS 30 per person. Attached to the tickets is a red pass for US Embassy.
You are not allowed to carry brief cases, bags or electronic equipments. So don’t bring them. Ladies are allowed to carry a purse. Bring all your documents in clear plastic envelopes or folders. If needed, you can purchase them at the bus station. Mobile phones are also not allowed on the buses or inside the diplomatic area. So, either leave the mobile at home, or if you do decide to bring it, leave it at the mobile phone collection booth at the bus station (charge RS 5).
To get in line for the bus you have to go through a search/metal detector. Afterward you stand in line for the bus under a shade. It takes about 10-15 minutes for the bus to reach the US embassy. Once you get off the bus, you stand in another line across the street from the embassy. A guard looks at your interview sticker and takes the pass given with the bus tickets. You cross the road, go through a search and then get into another line. There are different lines for different tasks. For non-immigrant visas, you go into the yellow line which is the most crowded line. When you get to the end of the line, a guard will look at your documents and allow you to go inside the embassy building. As you enter, you are again thoroughly searched, and your documents/belongings are passed though an airport style screener. You are also asked if you prefer Urdu or English for your interview. It can easily take 1 - 1 ½ hour to get inside the embassy building.
Once inside, you are asked to sit in the corridor. After a little while, you are taken inside a crowded waiting room and asked to stand in a line for the finger prints. An officer takes your documents/passports and take the prints of index fingers of both hands. Then you are asked to wait till your name is called. Usually, names are called according to the interview time, and not in the order of arrival.
Here you sit and wait and wait, till your name is called. Visa officer who interviewed me, was a polite and pleasant leady. She looked at the passports and other documents, asked a few questions about my job and previous training, and then started working on her computer. A few minutes later she told me that she has approved my visa but they need 6-8 weeks to do the administrative processing
. As I have a very common muslim name, I was already expecting it. She than handed me a paper stating the same thing. As I had to travel, I decided to take the passport back. She suggested that I should return the passport to US embassy as soon as possible. She also stamped old US visas in the passport with “Cancelled without prejudice” In addition, she also placed a stamp in my passport and wrote 221g on it.
People who were lucky enough to get the visa, were given a purple token and asked to collect their passports from the American Express office in their cities. Most of the people which got the visa were older and did not have to under go the security clearance (I guess).
There were couple of guys who were young and were applying for visit visa to attend a conference in USA and were sponsored by their companies. They were told that they will get visa in about one week after the administrative processing. They were not given the purple tokens. I am not sure how the administrative processing will be completed in one week.
The bottom line is that if a you are a Muslim male between the ages of 16-45 years with a common Muslim name, be prepared to wait for several months to get the visa. Looking at different discussion boards, it seems that general wait time to get the security clearance currently is 3-4 months, even though in occasional cases it may be shorter or longer. You can call the department of state to check whether security clearance has been completed or not. Other than that, there is not much you can do about it. So make your plans accordingly.
You have to apply through the American Express Travel Services. In Karachi, it is located in Shaheen complex. They accept application during the hours of 9:00 am till 1:00 pm. Following documents are needed:
1. Passport (off-course). If you had a US visa issued in the past, they also need the passport which has the previous visa.
2. Completed DS-156: Nonimmigrant Visa Application
3. Completed DS-157: Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application (even for your spouse if applying at the same time)
4. Completed DS-158: Contact Information and Work History for Nonimmigrant Visa Applicant
5. Parent’s information
6. One 2x2 photograph.
7. A notice of approval, Form I-797.
8. A fee of RS 7000 for each applicant.
About 7-10 days after these documents have been submitted, American Express will call you to inform you about the interview date. You have to go to their office to pick up the passport and other documents which were sent originally. For H-1 visa, interview dates are within 2-3 weeks of the date of application. For visit visa, interview dates are about 2-3 months after the application. There is no separate interview letter; only a sticker placed on your passport which has the date and the time. I was given an interview date which was 16 days from the date of application at American Express.
US embassy is located in the diplomatic area in Islamabad. You can not go to embassy directly. You have to go to the Convention Center parking lot. It is located off Constitution Avenue, across from the Sareena Hotel. From there you have to take a shuttle to the US embassy. There are separate ticket booths for shuttles to different embassies. The roundtrip fare is RS 30 per person. Attached to the tickets is a red pass for US Embassy.
You are not allowed to carry brief cases, bags or electronic equipments. So don’t bring them. Ladies are allowed to carry a purse. Bring all your documents in clear plastic envelopes or folders. If needed, you can purchase them at the bus station. Mobile phones are also not allowed on the buses or inside the diplomatic area. So, either leave the mobile at home, or if you do decide to bring it, leave it at the mobile phone collection booth at the bus station (charge RS 5).
To get in line for the bus you have to go through a search/metal detector. Afterward you stand in line for the bus under a shade. It takes about 10-15 minutes for the bus to reach the US embassy. Once you get off the bus, you stand in another line across the street from the embassy. A guard looks at your interview sticker and takes the pass given with the bus tickets. You cross the road, go through a search and then get into another line. There are different lines for different tasks. For non-immigrant visas, you go into the yellow line which is the most crowded line. When you get to the end of the line, a guard will look at your documents and allow you to go inside the embassy building. As you enter, you are again thoroughly searched, and your documents/belongings are passed though an airport style screener. You are also asked if you prefer Urdu or English for your interview. It can easily take 1 - 1 ½ hour to get inside the embassy building.
Once inside, you are asked to sit in the corridor. After a little while, you are taken inside a crowded waiting room and asked to stand in a line for the finger prints. An officer takes your documents/passports and take the prints of index fingers of both hands. Then you are asked to wait till your name is called. Usually, names are called according to the interview time, and not in the order of arrival.
Here you sit and wait and wait, till your name is called. Visa officer who interviewed me, was a polite and pleasant leady. She looked at the passports and other documents, asked a few questions about my job and previous training, and then started working on her computer. A few minutes later she told me that she has approved my visa but they need 6-8 weeks to do the administrative processing
. As I have a very common muslim name, I was already expecting it. She than handed me a paper stating the same thing. As I had to travel, I decided to take the passport back. She suggested that I should return the passport to US embassy as soon as possible. She also stamped old US visas in the passport with “Cancelled without prejudice” In addition, she also placed a stamp in my passport and wrote 221g on it.People who were lucky enough to get the visa, were given a purple token and asked to collect their passports from the American Express office in their cities. Most of the people which got the visa were older and did not have to under go the security clearance (I guess).
There were couple of guys who were young and were applying for visit visa to attend a conference in USA and were sponsored by their companies. They were told that they will get visa in about one week after the administrative processing. They were not given the purple tokens. I am not sure how the administrative processing will be completed in one week.
The bottom line is that if a you are a Muslim male between the ages of 16-45 years with a common Muslim name, be prepared to wait for several months to get the visa. Looking at different discussion boards, it seems that general wait time to get the security clearance currently is 3-4 months, even though in occasional cases it may be shorter or longer. You can call the department of state to check whether security clearance has been completed or not. Other than that, there is not much you can do about it. So make your plans accordingly.