B1/B2 Visa Returned to consul after 5 days of issue and now administrative processing

[fr1971]

Hello All,
I have a strange situation here. I am a researcher with PhD and I applied for visitors visa to attend a scientific conference in USA. After the interview, the officer told me that my visa was approved. Accordingly, I got my passport with B1/B2 visa with 10 years validity in two days by courier. After three days of the receipt, I got a call without caller id from the consulate asking me to send the passport with visa back to the consulate by the same courier. I also received an email asking for list of complete cv, list of publications, recommendation letters, list of references from country of birth or residence, complete itinerary, letter from the funding agency etc. I sent the passport and additional documents on the same day. The next day, the status changed from "issued" to "administrative processing".
What does it mean? will I get my visa on time?
I have only two weeks left for the conference.
Thanks for your responses.

[mustang85635]

Since President Trump has ordered the Sec of State Tillerson to implement extreme vetting they have been very hard on any new visas issued. I cant tell you 100 percent as no one can here but knowing how long administrative processing can take you will not make it to the conference, sorry.
What country are you from ?

[fr1971]

Since President Trump has ordered the Sec of State Tillerson to implement extreme vetting they have been very hard on any new visas issued. I cant tell you 100 percent as no one can here but knowing how long administrative processing can take you will not make it to the conference, sorry.
What country are you from ?

India, but working in Europe. Administrative processing should be before issuing the visa right? how it is possible to do administrative processing on an issued visa?

[mustang85635]

Hm yes India is in the state departments eyes a country with high fraud so they want to probably verify all documents and do background checks.
Also the US government can cancel a visa at any time without any reason.

[mpravink93]

Updates

Hello All,
I have a strange situation here. I am a researcher with PhD and I applied for visitors visa to attend a scientific conference in USA. After the interview, the officer told me that my visa was approved. Accordingly, I got my passport with B1/B2 visa with 10 years validity in two days by courier. After three days of the receipt, I got a call without caller id from the consulate asking me to send the passport with visa back to the consulate by the same courier. I also received an email asking for list of complete cv, list of publications, recommendation letters, list of references from country of birth or residence, complete itinerary, letter from the funding agency etc. I sent the passport and additional documents on the same day. The next day, the status changed from "issued" to "administrative processing".
What does it mean? will I get my visa on time?
I have only two weeks left for the conference.
Thanks for your responses.

Any updates on your VISA ?

[fr1971]

Any updates on your VISA ?

As I had a preplanned travel last week, I asked the consulate to send my passport and it was sent to me in the next day with a 221g form. The initially issued visa had a stamp "cancelled without prejudice" on it. The status is still "Administrative processing", probably going to take more time. There is no way I can attend the conference and the registration fee about 1000$ is a loss for me. I don't know what is going on.

[mpravink93]

oh okay. can understand your frustration. I do hope you will get it soon.
Could be useful for other conferences to come!

[fr1971]

Hello All,
I have a strange situation here. I am a researcher with PhD and I applied for visitors visa to attend a scientific conference in USA. After the interview, the officer told me that my visa was approved. Accordingly, I got my passport with B1/B2 visa with 10 years validity in two days by courier. After three days of the receipt, I got a call without caller id from the consulate asking me to send the passport with visa back to the consulate by the same courier. I also received an email asking for list of complete cv, list of publications, recommendation letters, list of references from country of birth or residence, complete itinerary, letter from the funding agency etc. I sent the passport and additional documents on the same day. The next day, the status changed from "issued" to "administrative processing".
What does it mean? will I get my visa on time?
I have only two weeks left for the conference.
Thanks for your responses.

I got a call from the consulate on 4th Nov and was told that my visa will be issued. I sent my passport and they returned it within a day with B1/B2 visa of same validity but the annotation section saying "clearance received on 1st Dec". I visited US from and all went well. Best.

[fr1971]

Hello All,
I have a strange situation here. I am a researcher with PhD and I applied for visitors visa to attend a scientific conference in USA. After the interview, the officer told me that my visa was approved. Accordingly, I got my passport with B1/B2 visa with 10 years validity in two days by courier. After three days of the receipt, I got a call without caller id from the consulate asking me to send the passport with visa back to the consulate by the same courier. I also received an email asking for list of complete cv, list of publications, recommendation letters, list of references from country of birth or residence, complete itinerary, letter from the funding agency etc. I sent the passport and additional documents on the same day. The next day, the status changed from "issued" to "administrative processing".
What does it mean? will I get my visa on time?
I have only two weeks left for the conference.
Thanks for your responses.

I got a call from the consulate on 4th Nov and was told that my visa will be issued. I sent my passport and they returned it within a day with B1/B2 visa of same validity but the annotation section saying "clearance received on 1st Dec". I visited US from and all went well. Best.