Need advice!! Paperwork under admin review!

[dannyboy2009]

Okay, so here is the deal...

I filed for the I-129F In March. Once I received the confirmation they received it, I filed for an expedite (military). It was approved 6 days later. It then went to the Embassy (Manila), and my fiance had all the paperwork pretty much ready. All in all the time line to the interview took like 2 months.

When she went in for her interview, he asked her from what sounds like the typical questions. She also mentioned that the consular was very nice and didn't ask too many questions. The consular told her that her paperwork was approved, and she needed to wait for her name to get called at one of the windows.

When she went to the window, she filled out the paperwork for the delivery of the visa. Then the person at the window handed her a document that said her case was under review. I emailed the embassy and they told me that the case was under administrative review!

After reading about it (and arguing with individuals at the embassy help area), I understand what it is and what has to be done, but why would it be under admin review if they told her that the paperwork had been approved? To top it off, they won't tell me what is under administrative review (security purposes). I am racking my brain as to how the USCIS approves it in 6 days, and then the embassy suddenly has a problem with it. Has anybody else had any problems concerning administrative review? The help desk said the time line is 5-10 business days up to 90 days. They also told me that it is at an outside agency in Manila.

I could use some good info on this... My fiance is freaking out because she believes that she is going to get denied... Is that a likely thing or is this just being unlucky? We had a ton of evidence, seeing as we lived together in Korea and she had well over 250 pictures of us and a ton of emails. I had just visited her in January, and I had copies of the boarding passes as well as my passport stamped.

The only thing I could see it being is that she did not have a Korea police certificate. When she went into the Embassy to get the request letter, however, she was told if she stayed there for less than a year she did not need a police certificate from there.

I could use some good info about this; my fiance is getting restless and I am working that way too.

[nichole]

It is all probably about the living in Korea. Was she born in the Phils and just lived in Korea for a while?

My experience is with London, and people going through that Embassy. Anybody not born in the United Kingdom, while approved by the officer, is generally put in this extra administrative processing. It involves further security checks through extra databases. Thus most of the Pakistani born applicants in London have to wait 4-8 weeks on the issuance of the visa.

So with that info, maybe you can guess that Manila has some extra security databases to check if the person lived out of the country, and didn't produce a police certificate from there.

To answer your question about why did the petition get approved so fast, but the Embassy has a problem-- The I-129F is the USCIS and they are mostly looking at whether you have met their rules and are eligible to bring a fiance over, ie. US citizen, free to marry, met in the last two years, etc.

The Embassy stage is not USCIS. It's the Department of State.( US government agencies don't do alot of communicating, but rather do their own thing. ) That DOS stage is checking out the foreign fiance to see if she is eligible to receive a visa--healthy, drug-free, crime free, etc. So basically one agency's approval of your eligibility to bring a fiance over, does not assure that a different ageny will deem her eligible to immigrate just as quickly.