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After my interview at the US embassy for the J-1 Research Scholar visa, I was given a green 221(g) paper where it's marked that my application requires "further administrative processing" (security checks of all kinds). It has been 2 months since my interview and still I do not have the visa, however:
- During my visa interview, the consular officer told me that the processing usually takes 4-6 weeks
- Online (https://travel.state.gov/contenthttp...formation.html), it says that most processing is resolved within 60 days of the visa interview
Given that now it has been more than 60 days (and way more than what the consular officer initially said) and given cases on this and other forums of people waiting for 4 months or more for their visa, I am very anxious to find out from the embassy what stage the process is at (i.e. is my visa in some final stage that is just taking a long time, or is it only in the first stage of processing and the end is not even in sight). I have important appointments after my stay on the J-1 visa that are being jeopardized because of this. Simply said, I need some information to make an informed decision about how much longer I am willing to wait for the visa.
My question: what are my rights when contacting the US embassy about this? If the person who answers the email or phone says he/she cannot put me in touch with a higher up representative who can give me more information, is there any right I can declare to force them to do so? Surely there is something more I can find out than what I've been getting from the embassy so far (which is the template answer "each case is individual and we cannot make any predictions about if/when you will have the visa").
- During my visa interview, the consular officer told me that the processing usually takes 4-6 weeks
- Online (https://travel.state.gov/contenthttp...formation.html), it says that most processing is resolved within 60 days of the visa interview
Given that now it has been more than 60 days (and way more than what the consular officer initially said) and given cases on this and other forums of people waiting for 4 months or more for their visa, I am very anxious to find out from the embassy what stage the process is at (i.e. is my visa in some final stage that is just taking a long time, or is it only in the first stage of processing and the end is not even in sight). I have important appointments after my stay on the J-1 visa that are being jeopardized because of this. Simply said, I need some information to make an informed decision about how much longer I am willing to wait for the visa.
My question: what are my rights when contacting the US embassy about this? If the person who answers the email or phone says he/she cannot put me in touch with a higher up representative who can give me more information, is there any right I can declare to force them to do so? Surely there is something more I can find out than what I've been getting from the embassy so far (which is the template answer "each case is individual and we cannot make any predictions about if/when you will have the visa").
