H1B, H4 Visa

Hi,

My wife and I had h1b interview and dropbox in Chennai. Our status shows Administrative processing. Does anyone know how long it may take on average? Has anyone had an experience with dropbox where they call for interview or fingerprint after many days? Unfortunately, with no ETA we are quite anxious.

Thanks for any help or advise.

Mine is a H1b Renewal case - I was eligible for drop box but
They gave me a 221g letter asking for Interview.
Gave Interview and Finger Printing on 15th Dec
Still waiting on my passport..

Anyone in the same situation?
I have my tickets booked for Jan 4th and I am really worried

Current Status on Ceac - Under Necessary Administrative Proxessing
Passport tracking on US travel docs - there is No status for this passport
Submitted

Date : 29 Dec 2017
Time : 9:00 AM

VO : Hello
Me : Hello Sir, how are you doing?
VO: I am good, pass your documents.
Me: Passed passport and I-797
VO: Which company
Me : X
VO: Salary?
Me: Y
VO: Which City
Me : Z
VO: You visa is approved, you will get the passport in 2-3 days. Let me know if you have any questions.
Me: No Sir, thank you so much, Happy new year in advance.

Stepped out.

Biometrics on 14th Dec 2017, Interview on 15th Dec 2017.

First time H1B stamping, direct hire for a reputed company in the US.

Simple questions asked, Do you work for so and so company? where is it located? what is your salary?, did you work on OPT? what field did you do masters in? ( 2 mins in total) no documents asked except i797. VO kept passport and returned 1797.

VO : It is going to take some extra days for administrative processing, and wrote white 221G. VO said, wait for 2 weeks.

CEAC status : Dec 15: AP , Last updated Dec 21 and still AP, Last updated Dec 22 and still AP, Dec 26 - Issued, Dec 27th Ready for pick up.

Hopefully everyone gets their visa without any delays.

All the Best.

I had my biometrics on Dec 27th . My interview on Dec 28th. VO asked few questions.

To give background, I went to USA on H4 in 2013 and converted to F1 in 2014. I converted back to H4 in 2017.

He asked me few basic questions. He asked me if I studied in US, If so which university. I told him university name. He asked me if I utilized OPT. I said Yes. He asked me if my OPT is expiring. I said yes. He asked if I have plans to work on H4 EAD. I said I may work, but my main priority is to take care of my kid since his school starts next year. He asked me if my kid is US Citizen. I said Yes. He asked me where he was born. I answered him with the location. He asked me to give my husbands 797 Approval notice. He reviewed it and asked if my husband works for a client. I said yes. He asked my husbands job duties. I answered him with that.

He took a yellow sticky notes and I guess he wrote H4(He did not write anything long) and sticked it to my passport and mentioned that he is placing my case under "ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING". He neither mentioned that my visa is approved or gave me 221g. He said he has to do some document verification. I asked him how long. He said 1 to 2 weeks.

I am really tensed. He did not give me any 221g. Will I get my passport soon?? Has anyone experienced similar situation?

My wife did her H1B renewal via dropbox in Argentina, embassy of Buenos Aires on November 10th.

Since November 27th, she's stuck in Administrative Processing status, no 221-g was sent.

We got a couple of emails back from the embassy:
- the first one stated her visa was delayed for technical issues which affected all embassies globally.
I searched a lot online but found only a couple of mention about those technical problems in a post, and on one of the African US embassy website.

- the second email on Dec 21st stated her case should move forward on that day or the next but it hasn't.

Still waiting with no update since.

If anyone has heard about those 'technical issues' which delays visa emission, please post.
We'd like to confirm it affects several embassies and people.

Thanks

Hi,

I have submitted my H1B and H4(My son's) documents through drop box on 12th Dec 2017, Hyderabad. Since then my status is "Administrative Processing". Once it changed to "Application Received" and then again switched to "Administrative Processing".

All these days my Passport tracker says "You passport is with still US Embassy" but from yesterday my passport status says "There is no status update available for the passport number submitted". Iam not sure what happened there. I'am Full time employee with Fortune 5 company. All documents are good. Even my role is competitive in market. But still not sure why AP.

Another pain part is, I have received my Son's passport with incorrect expiration date and PED Date on 21st Dec 2017, so I have resubmitted with required documents on 22-Dec-2017. Today(27th Dec 2017) I have received his passport and shocked to see that still his Expiration date is incorrect and PED is updated. I' am surprised with this situation.

Does any one have passport status as "There is no status update available for the passport number submitted" after Dec 27th 2017?

12-Dec-2017: Submitted docs to Drop Box
13-Dec-2017: Case created
14-Dec-2017: Administrative Processing
21-Dec-2017: Application Received
27-Dec-2017: Administrative Processing

Nothing after that....

I'am stuck here with my kids and my husband is in USA :(

I'am worried about my son's school missing his academics and not knowing timeline.

My Self(h1 Extention) and my wife h4(New) attended interview at Hyd Embassy..

6 Dec - Finger Prints
7 Dec- Interview (11 Am)

VO: Good Morning
Me: Good Morning

VO: passports please
Me: submitted

VO: Who is your employer
Me: YYYY X

VO: How long you are working with employer?
Me: X

VO: You work at client location or Home project
Me: Client Side

VO: who is the client
Me : Answered
---------------------------------
VO: when did you get married
Wife: Answered

VO: whtat's your father in law does?
Wife: Answered

VO: how many siblings your husband has and their names?
Wife: Replied

So interview was straight forward and VO have not asked any dcuments, after these questions we waited around 7 minutes since he was updating or checking something on system, and finally he said your Visa Approved. My wife got passport on 12th with stamping, but mine in "AP" status till 26th dec. on 26th updated to "Issued" and got my passport on 28th Dec. so it took around 20 days to get my passport with visa stamping.

I sent couple of emails([email protected], [email protected]) to these email id's when my process in "AP" but i used to get standard reply as everyone gets.

So if VO said approved then we get visa for sure but it might take time.

Thanks,
Venkat

Me and my husband dropped off our passport on 6th Dec, at Mumbai, for renewal. I797 approved.

12th dec, Visa issued for my husband, my status -AP. We received back both our passports by 16th Dec, my husband's PP was stamped while mine had a green slip (221g), no visa stamp, check box "Please appear for interview with an officer any time between 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM at the consulate" option was checked.

Appeared for interview on 19th Dec, at BKC. Regular process of fingerprinting and then interview.

A bit of background on my status, I went to States for the first time on F1 visa and then later changed to h4 in 2016. I got my first stamping done in Dec 2016, which was extremely smooth with very general questions asked and I received my PP within 3 days of interview.
This time, I dropped of my PP for renewed visa stamp, my i797 is already approved.

Interview :

Greeted the officer and passed my passport and my husband's i797

VO : Did you go to school in US
Me : Yes
VO : <Started making some entries in the system>
VO : When are you travelling?
Me : 24th Dec
VO : Ooh (made Oops ! kind of expression), I need to verify something in the system regarding your tenure as a student which will take around 1-1.5 week. I am adding a note to your PP to expedite but don't guarantee if it will be ready by this weekend. < VO writes something on a yellow sticky note, pastes it to my PP and keeps it in the stack. Return back my husband's 1797 (which he hardly looked at).>
Me : Sure, Thank you very much.

First email to traveldocs support on 22nd Dec, their reply- In response to your question, the applicant's visa application is under processing at the Embassy/Consulate. Also, when additional administrative processing is required, the length of processing time will vary based on the circumstances of each case hence it cannot be expedited. Please be assured that, once the processing is completed or if the Embassy needs further information, you will be contacted for the same.

My husband left for US on 24th as per the plan and I had to change my tickets to a later date.

Second email to travel docs on 26th Dec, their reply - In response to your question, applicant visa application is under processing at the Embassy/Consulate. If you have not received any intimation in more than 10 calendar days, then you may contact our help desk

Today, as of 29th Dec. 10 Calendar days are already complete, my case status is still AP and hence we contacted the help desk again, no response from them till now.

CEAC case created : 6th Dec.
Case last updated : 19th Dec, Status - AP ( day of my interview)
Case last updated : 29th Dec, Status - Still AP

I am very worried, since the officer himself mentioned about expediting but still it has been more than 10 calendar days but we don't have any updates. Secondly, officer never mentioned anything like "Your visa is approved". He only said he cant guarantee if my pp will be ready to be picked up soon. I don't know if i should assume that he meant that my visa is approved, only some verification is taking time.

I am currently working on h4 EAD and need to return back to states asap as I have an active job with no work from home option.

Anyone else on the same boat ?

Please share your experiences/advices.

Many thanks.

Quick background - the attorney had missed including copies of invite letter and resume as part of the package that I had to submit at the consulate. That led to a long admin processing delay. :(

Location: Chennai
Interview On: 30 Nov 2017

Me and family attended the interview.

Questions: After initial greetings,
VO: Which company are you working for?
Me: YYYY X Company. It is the same company that has sponsored my current L1B.
VO: How long have you worked there.
Me: XX in total, XX yrs in USA. Previously worked for their Indian subsidiary.
VO: What is your current salary?
Me: $ZZZ per annum
VO: Can I have your invite letter
Me: [After checking my package] I don't seem to have it. I got this package from the attorneys @ company.
VO: Can I see your resume?
Me: I didn't bring it. But I do have digital copy of the one submitted during H1B application.
VO: I'll need these two documents for the visa to be approved. Let me have your passports. [Pulls out a blue 221g form]. At this time, I cannot approve your visa. You'll get a email asking for additional documents.
Me: How long will it take?
VO: I cannot give you a timeline. You'll find all information in the email.
Me: Am I expected to come back for another interview?
VO: Hopefully not.
Me: Thank you.
VO: Thanks. Its administrative processing. So should take some additional time.

In 221g form, he had marked the 2nd box - Application has been refused for administrative processing. It will be reconsidered when admin processing is complete.

I got a email from them within 2 hrs of the interview asking me to respond with for digital copies of the documents. I sent them the next day.

After that it was a long & stressful wait. I had to reschedule my return tickets due to this.

Finally on the noon of 27th December, the status changed to 'issued'. I am currently waiting for the passports to arrive.