your passport has not been handed to vfs - nov 19 2010

[chander_77]

Hey Ramesh,

Congrats. I was following your case and it gives me some hope. All the best. Just wanted to know how you came to know it was returned back to VFS? you checked the status? got mail or any call?

[VKRAMESH]

Thanks Chander, we called them everyday.

There was a point of time when the lady at consulate even said , its you again. Didnt you call yesterday and i answered , yeah that was yesterday.

Chennai consulate is good with emails and phone line.

Bottonline : If your H1 was approved recently dont risk travelling immediately. If you do there will be a minimum ~16-20 business days waiting time.Also note even if your lawyer did file a duplicate petition with USCIS for fwd to KCC , lawyers have found that USCIS fails to fwd the duplicate petition to KCC. But if they do , KCC is prompt about entering / scanning in to PIMS.

See another related post i exchanged with Ron Gotcher here :

immigration-information.com

forums/general-nonimmigrant-visa-issues-8/pims-verification-pending-at-the-mercy-of-uscis

Good luck !

[AKD_80]

Hi

Hi All,

My H1B petition was approved in April itself, i had to renew my passport before i could apply for visa stamping as it was not valid for 6months.

I appeared for the interview on 2nd Nov, was given the green 221(g) form, i got back with the required docs on 3rd Nov. on 9th i was asked to submit my passport by the Delhi consulate and i did so on 10th Nov. Since then i have been waiting, was supposed to join US office on 13th Dec but there is no sign of my passport. Calling VFS is of no use as they have very little info.... any idea of how to contact the consulate in Delhi? Also does it help or one gets a standard reply?

Also how did you guys determine that the delay in your case was due to PIMS?

Thanks ...

[chander_77]

Ramesh, thanks for sharing info.

That is an issue with Delhi consulate that there is no embassy helpline directly. All calls routed to VFS who are use less agency so far internal processing is concerned. They are just administrative agency to take and give back passports.

AKD_80, looking at your case it seems, it has been 1 and half month almost with 25-20 business days. Seems things at delay consulate are more delayed as to me also its 14th business day today. How you were informed by embassy to submit passport? Use same channel to check with them what is the status and you can ask them if its due to PIMS delay? normally they say case is pending for review or administrative processing etc. but may on asking they can tell if its PIMS verification or something else.

[AKD_80]

Thanks Chander_77. I have mailed to the delhi consulate today asking for info on my case, but dont expect any miracles as they have standard replies.

THe only good thing is that i am being transferred from my Indian employer to the US one and they will wait for whatever time it takes to have me there. So am not worried about loosing the job opening there.

[chander_77]

Today I got a reply from VFS that my case is still pending under 221(g) even after submitting the passport. I have no clue why passports were asked if case was still pending. What is the use of passports other than VISA and passports are not part of 221(g) documents which they want to keep and verify for months. US consulates have totally created mess. Why H1B are approved in US when at last dept of state doesnt want ppl to come and work

[Deepak622]

Hi All,

I finally received my passport on Dec 14th. Here's the information for statistical purposes.

Case type: H1B extension
Petition approved date: Oct 8th
Interview date: Nov 16th @ Chennai
Visa issued date: Dec 10th
Passport received: Dec 14th

No. of working days taken to receive the passport after visa interview: 17 days
Total # of days taken to receive the passport after visa interview: 28 days

[chander_77]

AKD_80,

Did you hear any thing from embassy and any update on application status?

[AKD_80]

Hi Chander,

No nothing from them, got the standard reply which says ...

"This is with reference to the below e-mail. Your application is still pending under Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for mandatory administrative processing. Please note that there is no definite time period for administrative processing.

When administrative processing is required, the timing will vary depending on circumstances of each case. Be assured that we will contact you if the administrative processing is complete or if we require additional information."

... now its all going to happen in the New Year ... dont think any1 works in the holiday season ...

[pb2010]

Its a scam to milk the applicants

What is frustrating is that even after having a approved petition, the consulates are rejecting Visa's, as if on cue from state dept. to prevent
entry of workers from abroad.
While on one hand they charge handsome fees for processing petitions/premium/Border security fees/ Visa stamping fees, on the other
they will reject visa at the last step, just to milk as many dollars from gullibale applicants as possible.
Also the practise is arbitrary & targets individuals from specific countries only.
This is another form of discrimination which poor workers face .
Talking about artificially sustaining competitive advantange of US consultancies vis a vis foriegn cos, by increasing fees/ scruitny /preventing workers of foriegn firms from clearing immigration at the POE.
Alas ! there is no free market ... they only think of free trade , when they need market access to other countries.

[chander_77]

@AKD_80

I am also getting same reply from VFS. however when I tried to check from embassy they reply me 'My case is pending for reiview, once review is completed, I will be contacted' I went through few posts on Forum and found that there are different results with different ppl. However I couldnt find any case where they asked for passports and later rejected the application. My only concern is verifcation from client as my client said they will have to find replacement if I couldnt return by month end so in case of verification , my case will get weak and possibily rejected.

@pb2010
you are correct. its all scam to stop workers going back from their home country specially India. there are not enough provisions in H1B law that they could stop approving petitions in US. Morever attorneys are there to support us for any query and premium processing is there to expedite the case. So they are using patch of 221(g) act to stop us from going back. 221(g) was there earlier also but was never used for out of 1 or 2 case in 10. But now its opposite. 7-8 cases are coming under 221(g) and 2-3 cases are getting clearer. Its all scam of US govt specially Obama. He has never been good for India and Indians.

[ragsun1]

United we stand

I agree with you guys

i am also waiting on 221g admin processing - After working in the country for 10 years - this is not what we deserve

Before we would be worried of having pay stubs , supporting documents etc..

Now a days every second person gets pink slip -

Are the VO not concerned about the clients in US - who are waiting for us to get back from vacation -

What happens is someone gets PP with h1b stamp and then forgets how to voice our opinion

I really think this is totally ridiculous - that we have an approved 797 and worked for so long and then they check the H1b -

This is truly to stop the people from entering into US and nothing more than that -

My question is how can someone work in US and then come here to India - where they decide our application should be rejected under 221 g

221g - admin processing makes no sense to me -- i wish i can speak to Obama directly on this - but i am sure i should stand for election first or speak to Mr Jindall on a lighter note

GOod luck to all my fellow Indians!!!

[AKD_80]

Status changed on VFS website

@all

Hi,

I am sure we all have seen the following status message on tracking our passports on the VFS website ... this is what it kind of said earlier ...

"Your passport has not been handed over to VFS. Please call the customer contact centre for further queries ... "

This morning the status changed for me...it says

"Your passport is under process at US Embassy/Consulate"

Question:
Should i be reading anything into this? On the face of it, just looks like they have changed the status message (language) to give us something different ...

Called up VFS and they said that the website and the call centre are independent entities ... ... given the level of communication skills they possess... i don’t expect any valuable info from them ...

Maybe a few of us in the same boat can all track their individual cases and if the results are the same...i.e. changed status message...then we will know that its just a language change by VFS.

Thanks for your answers.

[chander_77]

@AKD_80 / All,

Yes it seems to be lunguage change only to be more meaningful or to give us different feeling with different status msg My status also says same. Technically they have change the status text in XML / resource/db file

Now on otherside if still some guys are getting old message then there may be hope that embassy is doing something with our passport and perhaps we hear some good news Just trying to make myself feeling good

On other forums I found that ppl start mailing/calling embassy after avg of 2 mo time and embassy starts taking action on applications. few of those are verified by calling to employer/client, for few passports come back in 1-2 week time. For few rejection comes, for few case is sent back to USCIS. Each case is individual and all on luck. God bless us all.

[chander_77]

Guys,

any development or progress in your individual cases?