URGENT Help Please!!!! F1 Renewal... Cannot return to U.S!

[pbastian]

My sister today applied for F1 renewal from Chennai and got the infamous 221 g Pink Letter saying further administrative processing reqd. She has completed her B.S program, and is going back to complete her Masters and PhD.

She was told by the first counter that her visa is approved, however the second counter collected "additional details" about her pending PhD program in Biomedical Engineering, and then issued her the letter saying "further administrative processing required under 221 G" and the letter says she has to wait 4-8 weeks...

Her classes and her research starts in 2 weeks, and she is scared that her funding will stop and she will lose this year and her M.S/PhD admission if she has to wait anything more than 2 weeks. We are under heavy stress and not sure where to go and what to do. ANy advice would be so much appreciated.

1) Can we get an emergency appointment again to plead our case again?
2) Is there a way we can get the passport back from them, as we already had the previous VISA going on till 2011. We probably shouldnt even have gone for stamping this time.

Thanks all.

[orion]

Contact VFS or the consulate itself and explain the situation. You said it yourself - you did not need to go for stamping if your visa was not expired. However, if your program for which the visa was initially issued was completed then without renewal visa you may have faced problems at PoE. In that case you might have presented renewed school documents like I-20 etc for the current program you want to enroll in. Wait to see what other members have to say.

[pbastian]

Contact VFS or the consulate itself and explain the situation. You said it yourself - you did not need to go for stamping if your visa was not expired. However, if your program for which the visa was initially issued was completed then without renewal visa you may have faced problems at PoE. In that case you might have presented renewed school documents like I-20 etc for the current program you want to enroll in. Wait to see what other members have to say.

Thanks for the reply! I know, we shouldnt have. But now the consulate will not entertain any more calls from us on this. They are black and white: if you have the pink slip saying 221(G), then wait for further communication from the consulate. This is so unfortunate. I think my sister is going to end up losing her scholarship and a chance at M.S/PhD.

Thanks again for the response...

[txh1b]

There is not much you can do other than wait and hope. Be prepared for travel as you may get the visa any day.

Inform the ISO of the school and the professor providing funding about the situation and keep them posted. They might be able to work out a delayed start in some circumstances.

[pbastian]

There is not much you can do other than wait and hope. Be prepared for travel as you may get the visa any day.

Inform the ISO of the school and the professor providing funding about the situation and keep them posted. They might be able to work out a delayed start in some circumstances.

We did this and most of the other stuff mentioned on this forum as well as others... they are all valid suggestions and thanks guys for all of that.

I just wanted to circle back and report that we did finally get the visa issued, it took around 4 weeks. Thx again!