ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAnybody on AP?
Hello guys, this is bala. vicki's fiance. I have a question. What is the difference between AR and AP (administrative processing). Our case is on AP for 3 months now. Any idea about the usual time line?

Anybody under "administrative processing..." like me? send me replies, that would be helpful :help:
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-15 08:29:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAR


Sorry guys I hit wrong button before replying on last posts.

Was just going to say, my fiance had interview on Nov 15, and was placed on AR/AP on Nov.30 so its been nearly three months for us. It will take lots of patience on your part to get thru this if it drags out for very long. From reading others experience here on vj it can take from a few weeks to many months. I pray yours is speedy and successful.

Good luck

vicki/bala

They put you on AR at the interview or did they approve your visa and then gave you an AR?

Peter Miami

At the interview they gave him a paper that asked for a copy of my previous marriage license to show my name change, and a copy of my income tax returns for last three years (though we dont know why, my fiance had them with him at interview.) When we sent these documents to them, we then got another letter stating that our case was in ADMINSTRATIVE PROCESSING. I call DOS about every two weeks and Im always told the same. "No security checks ordered, whatever is going on is being done within the embassy itself". So we just keep waiting in the dark, hoping to hear something soon.

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-18 04:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAR
Sorry guys I hit wrong button before replying on last posts.

Was just going to say, my fiance had interview on Nov 15, and was placed on AR/AP on Nov.30 so its been nearly three months for us. It will take lots of patience on your part to get thru this if it drags out for very long. From reading others experience here on vj it can take from a few weeks to many months. I pray yours is speedy and successful.

Good luck

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-17 05:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAR


is somebody that also got an AR on there intreview? b-coz im kinda worried about it, after my interview. can somebody shared there expriences about it! would that AR could possibily lead on my denial?

hey nottobig you dont need to be worried if you think you are on the right track okay??why are you thinking of denial???


vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-17 05:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresNo one here on AP?
First thing we discovered is.........There is a thing called Administratie Review.. and a thing called Administratie Processing. What each entails has not been made clear to us.. but twice..once by the Embassy itself and once by DOS they have made a point to correct us when we ask about our Administrative Review.... stating its"Administrative Processing"... so there is a difference. They are not one and the same.

Secondly there has been NO security checks ordered.. DOS has verified this three times. I was told "whatever is going on, is all within the embassy itself". The embassy asked for some additional information from me, I supplied that, inquired as to whether they needed anything else from us and to date we have not heard anything else about it.

The embassy will not tell us anything. The DOS says best way to find out is contact the Embassy.. BIG DUH!!
is it me or is this a vicious circle????

Best of Luck to All

Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-21 14:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresNo one here on AP?
Some one told me that AP is something done in homefield. And AR is an investigation done thru FBI. Is it? (sigh) I know many of us in same boat. Some are in front, some on our back.... When we can do nothing, but just to wait, what else we can do other than praying God?
I pray for all of us.
Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-21 11:37:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresNo one here on AP?
Hello guys,
Any one know about administrative processing? We have been on AP for 3 months now...any idea about what is the time line for it? it drives me nuts, :crying: :crying: not knowing the result. Any comments, would be highly appreciated.
Thank you
Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-21 11:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresCan a Embassy Denie K1 Visa?
Hey guys, the thing here is (and I hope Atif doesnt mind me saying this ) is that the female is older than the male. Everyone keeps saying age difference is not a problem, and thats very true i f its reversed. But its not the "norm" for most cultures to accept that a female is much older than the male in the relationship. He is from Pakistan, my fiance is from India. Both countries find this a "suspectful" circumstance, and it is a big deal for them when it comes to deciding our cases.

Hope this helps every one to understand his nervousness.


Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-27 05:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresSecond marriage to English man.
I agree!! No one outside of ur relationship with ur girl should make judgements. I married a wonderful man, but we had so many differences we couldnt make it work. My fiance i have now, I met before my marriage broke up. He had absolutely nothing to do with my break up . To the outside world it may look that way. NO one could see behind the walls of our home. The pain that I was going thru or The fact that I worked so hard to keep my marriage together.. going to counselors, etc. Finally I realized it was hopeless and I moved on. My husband will be first to say, he was to blame, he defends my relationship with my fiance to anyone who critizes. I dont ask for anyone to approve of my decisions.. but i do ask that others dont judge my situation. NO one has the right to do that but the parties involved. Appearences are not always what they seem.


There was nothing mentioned at our interview about the fact that i knew my fiance two years before my marriage broke up. So I dont think it will be a problem as long as both of you are free to marry at time of the petition.

Good Luck!

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-28 12:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAge difference a problem for K-1 Approval
Yes we are still waiting for his approval.. We were placed on Administrative Processing after his interview. All they will tell us now is "Sorry its taking longer than expected, we will contact you when we are thru".


Best of Luck to you!!


Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-28 01:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAge difference a problem for K-1 Approval
I think it all depends on the Country, Embassy, and who the Officer doing the interview is whether the age difference matters or not. And also which is older the male or female in the relationship. I am 15 years older than my fiance. He is from India, where that is not the "norm". We had not even gave our age difference a second thought as being a problem until we found this site just before his interview on Nov. 15.

Another lady on vj was going thru the same thing and her fiance was from India. They were giving her a hard time because of the age difference. It had already been 8 months since his interview and still no visa. So of course this gave us some nerves. We quickly prepared more proof of evidence, and I wrote a letter explaining our love for each other despite our age differences.

Interview day came, the first interviewer was a lady. She was horrible. She said such mean things to my fiance about our age differences. She asked him "how could you possibly feel attracted to her?" His reply, "it isnt attraction, its Love." There were other nasty things she said, but they are not worth repeating. After that he was interviewed by two others, both men, and they did not make any issue out of it at all .

Just be prepared to defend ur age differences, have plenty of proof of ur ongoig relationship.. And be totally honest about everything. The embassy even called me on the day of my fiances interview and interviewed me over the phone for almost an hour. There were a few questions i didnt know the answer too ....one being "what was the name of your fiances college" I answered truthfully... I cant pronouce most of ur names, ask me who his friends were during his college days,, ask me what he studied, ask me what was some of his "antics" he pulled.. I can answer. but I dont know the name of the school. " Honesty is always the best policy!! that is never more true than when dealing with immigration. And btw he didnt ask me one question about our age

Best of luck to you... I hope your journey is "snaggle " free, and you are soon with your loved one.

Vick/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-22 05:21:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresOne day left until the interview date!
Good Luck !!! Be sure to let us all know as soon as its over. I cant wait to hear the good news Im sure your gonna have for us!


Vicki /Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-03-03 05:15:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresWe Got The Visa!!!
Wonderful News!!! Im so glad for the both of you! I know you must be walking on air right now!!


Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-03-03 09:52:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresK-1 Interview -- Confused
The day of my fiances interview in Chennai,, they (Embassy) called my home early morning (5 a m) and interviewed me by phone for over an hour. So it really does differ from case to case. Just wanted everyone to know it is a possibilty ..


Thanks
Vicki/ Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-27 09:15:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresUrgent!
Hello guys,
We need the phone numbers of DOS along with the prompts.
Thank you.
vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-03-30 02:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresK1



What advice can you tell me


Learn patience early

:thumbs:


I agree fully. Please dont take offense (its not inteded to be offensive) but im amazed at how people are so worried after two weeks ...... My fiance and I have been into this journey for nearly a year... Already on AP for almost 5 months..... this is a long long journey for some, so start now and be prepared for delays, long waits, and lots of frustration. IN the end your journey may be short, but in case its not then at least you will have saved ur sanity.


I suggest you read lots of past posts and see what are all the situations that can occur during this K1 process. And you will see that no two cases are alike, some may get first NOA in a matter of days, others it may for whatever reason be much longer. Throughout the stages of the K1 a few of them went smoothly and quickly for us, and others have been a headache.



Much luck to you and yours!


Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-04-19 08:44:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresTax records required?
Our case was much more difficult... I sent the copies of my last three years tax returns to the interview with my fiance.. For some reason they requested them again. I resent. Then the embassy requested that I have the IRS send transcripts of the last three years tax returns sent "directly too the embassy". This was so difficult to do as the IRS refuses to send to anyone but the actual tax filer. After a month and half of going back and forth between the embassy and the IRS, they (IRS) finally agreed to send them to the DOS in care of me! And then there was a delay in the DOS sending them on to the embassy. All in all a pain in the *** just for them to get a copy of what my fiance took to the interview with him in the first place! Sometimes I think they just try to make it as difficult as possible for us just for the heck of it.

Good Luck to All

Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-04-21 08:51:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresShould I start worrying ?

Totally normal, you have to get used to it, you got a ways to go yet.


Best advice you can get! Dont start stressing too soon, or else you will lose ur sanity long before this journey is over.....


Best of luck to all
Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-04-21 12:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresGetting thru to the DOS
Hey,
I just tried to get thru to the DOS using the 202-663-1225, P1, P1, P4, P1, P0 (number and prompts I got from VJ a few months ago). The prompts have changed and I was in voice response hell for several minutes before I finally gave up. Does anyone know a fast way to reach them??


thanks
;)

Vicki /Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-04-26 11:20:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduresdifference
I dont know the difference but im sure there is one....and the reason is my fiance called embassy and enquired about our administrative "processing" and the lady he spoke with was quick to correct him and say it was "review" not processing. Also we have been on "administrative review " for six months now, and I call the DOS about once a month and I am always told the same thing. "There has been no Security Checks ordered by the embassy".... They keep telling us that whatever is going on is within the embassy itself. So there must be a difference between the two... just dont know what it is! If anyone else knows, please post because im dying to know myself!
And does anyone know if the embassy itself does security checks or are they all done at the DOS?? Can this get anymore confusing???

Good luck to all

Vicki /Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-05-13 17:42:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduressecurity checks
In our case AP stands for Administrative Processing and we are almost clueless as to what it means. It has nothing to do with security checks, because we have called the DOS many times in the last 6 months and they say no security checks have been ordered. And when we inquired at the embassy about our Administrative Review they were quick to correct us and say it wasnt Review it was Processing. When our congressman inquired they were told "we are validating information received at interview" so I dont know what all Administrative Processing entails, but I do know its a vicious black hole that seems to have no end!


Vicki/Bala

Edited by vicki/bala, 19 May 2006 - 08:25 PM.

vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-05-19 20:24:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduressecurity checks
A little over 6 months on AP/AR for us guys......I cant think of anything more maddening. Good Luck to everyone out there ....and pray that we hold on to our sanity!!!!! (I can feel mine slipping away a little each day ) (smile)


Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-05-19 16:17:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresWhat is home field investigation?
Hello guys, Bala again. Im in AP (admin. processing) for 2 months now. Some body told me that AP is different from AR. i.e, AP is done in home town where as they do investigate on home field. What kinda investigation it is?

How much i miss my fiance, that much i pray for all of you....to get visa soon.
Love
Vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-02-03 07:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresInterview and Age Difference



That is really not that much age difference. Sometimes they look a little closer at a couple with a bigger age difference but they can not refuse it for that reason.

I had a much bigger one last year. My (former) fiancee was 27 and I was 63. I have heard of cases where the only question they asked the fiancee in the interview was "How are you today" Mine got a pretty good grilling and she had a bit of an attitude which was normal for her anyway. We got a 221G (intent to deny) but got the visa a few weeks later with a fair amount of effort. My gal missed a couple of questions which was the reason for the 221G I would recommend you spend a little time reviewing anything they might ask. Someone advised me not to do that so she would be relaxed. If I had not followed that advice I would have been much better off.

Just for the record my gal kept her attitude and ended up going home after 89 days in the USA. I will likely be filing a new K-1 with my new gal here in a few weeks. Still a big age difference but not quite as much. This one is 37.

Good luck. Check down on the regional discussion here for Russia and you might find more info.


Turboguy,

What questions did she miss?


She never did tell me what one was other than she missed it. The one I know about is they asked her the name of my kids. She knew I had two grown kids but it was not something we spent much time talking about. Actaully she could have picked any two american sounding names and the interviewer would not have known. It is not on the information they have anywhere as far as I know. I have a feeling my current gal could not answer that and she met them two weeks ago. Now that it has come up, maybe just for the fun of it I will ask her and see if she gets it right.


Not true!!! My fiance was grilled for nearly half a day,,,,,,and the the interviewer called me at 5 in the morning and asked me the same identical questions. There were a couple I didnt know one being what was the name of Bala's college. I told him, "I dont know and I can barely repeat your names anyway. If you ask me who his college buddies were, and what he studied , and even to tell some funny things that happened at that time, I can tell you.....But I dont know the name of the school. " That satisfied him
When dealing with Immigration the best rule of thumb is to be totally honest, if they discover one lie, they can deny you on that grounds alone.

What I cant understand is why do they assume if you dont know a family members name then your not in love??? What the heck does that have to do with love??? I was married to my ex husband for 7 years, and I dont even know his mothers name. (honestly)


Best of luck to everyone
Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-03 18:50:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresIntervew tomorrow
MUCH MUCH LUCK!!!!

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-07 20:51:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures45 and been divorced 3 times already....could this be a problem filing a 1-129F for my Fiance?

Rebecca, we may have to agree to disagree on this one.


This is my opinion of what the bottom line is here....

The man with the gold makes the rules.
The Federal Government makes the rules.

It doesn't matter if you feel outraged, humiliated, embarrassed or whatever. The CO is the one asking the questions and making the decision.
The CO can make his decision and it can be referred to his supervisor or appealed if you feel it was not based on material fact, but rather his personal opinion.

Their job description doesn't contain do's and don'ts for polite societal niceties and boundaries about the propriety of questions.
Yes it does. They are required to be courteous and have due regard for the rights of the person being interviewed. They are not to cause duress to an interviewee.

I'm sure some are more tactful than others. Some probably have better ways of getting the information they are seeking rather than ask a flat-out rude question.
If an interviewer asked a "flat-out" rude question - you would be quite within your rights to ask them to re-phrase that question.

But....they aren't paid to be nice. They're paid to be thorough. And that's the bottom-line cold hard fact.

They are required to be courteous, polite and it is not their job to determine the "viability" of any marriage only the validity.

Take a look at The Adjudicator's Field Manual on correct and acceptable interviewing procedures. http://www.uscis.gov...pter-32-21-46-3

Finally!!!!!!!!! someone gets it! We are all humans here and should be treated with respect and not like a criminal. Really, my fiance was made to feel so low, so much so that he wasnt even able to talk about some of the things that were said to him. All because im older than he is, and divorced, and thats just not the "norm " in India. It had nothing to do with the "rules" but what this evil female interviewer thought about our relationship!





Good job!

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-11 15:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures45 and been divorced 3 times already....could this be a problem filing a 1-129F for my Fiance?
ok let me try again... somehow im just not wording right what im trying to say....

you are right shonjaved..... they can look into why my past marriages failed all they want. I too was married to an immigrant the last time around. But it had nothing to do with immigration fraud. And my relationship with Bala is very real..... so yes.. your right...absolutely right. As far as doing their job, if they need to ask a thousand questions as to why my marriages failed.. they are welcome to do so. If they need to prove that im not going into a fraudulent marriage then by all means, ask whatever you want. But thats where it ends. There are professional ways to ask questions. But then the personal comments or opinions should never come into play ... Let me give you an example . Im also older than Bala... and the interviewer made a rude comment to Bala at the interview..."how could you possible be attracted to her, when she has children and is older than you?" Im sorry but I work in customer service and there are many times that I may have a personal opinion about a situation, but I dont get paid for my personal opinions.. I get paid to go by my companys rules. so in a condensed version.. they should check everything that looks suspicious out thoroughly, but they should never let their personal opinions come into play when making final decisions. I read a post on vj before.. a lady was older than her fiance, they were denied. And the interviewer actually told her, that she had made up her mind to deny them even before they got to interview. Because she felt that coming from different religions and her being older would cause problems. I would think that was a clear case of denial based on personal opinions.

geez I hope ive made it clearer this time..(smile)
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-10 13:29:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures45 and been divorced 3 times already....could this be a problem filing a 1-129F for my Fiance?
Sorry if you misunderstood my statement. I only meant that Yes, they should consider everything when making a decision as to if the relationship is real or fraud. But once they determine the relationship is real.. then beyond that its no one's business how many times a person has been married.. or for what was the reason for the divorces. NO one has a right to make moral or culture judgements for anyone.
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-10 09:08:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures45 and been divorced 3 times already....could this be a problem filing a 1-129F for my Fiance?
ive been married three times... and they didnt make a big deal of it at my fiances interview.......their job should be to look at the legal facts and not make decisions on personal opinon..

good luck !

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-10 06:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresK1 visa in hand!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :star:
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-23 04:19:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresTax Returns
The chennai embassy actually insisted on transcripts vs the copies of returns my fiance took with him..
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-28 19:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresFinally, we got the visa!!!!!
Congratulations and Best Wishes !
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-06-30 04:01:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresIt's official our petition was returned to USCIS
Just called DOS this morning and was told that our petition was returned to USCIS from Chennai Embassy, and that it would be around 4 months before we would receive a letter. She said at that point we could appeal. Got on my phone to senator and was basically told they have no power to do anything except to check on cases for us. He said their office was told that the case was sent to fraud division, and we needed to be patient and let them look at our proofs. I asked him "what proofs? the embassy wouldnt take any and refused to look at most of what my fiance had."... Everytime my fiance tried to give proof or say something he was given the same reply, "sir we dont believe you ".

So what does this mean for us now? Do we just wait patiently for a denial after waiting a year already? I have heard that even appeals are not successful most of the time.

Any info would be helpful.. Im so near to just giving up ..

Thanks
Vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-07-14 09:07:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresMY apologies
I apologize to everyone for yesterdays behavior if I offended anyone. It really wasnt my intentions. I had a rough day, I cried so much my eyeballs ached.. I really do care about every one here and wish everyone the best of luck with their journey. I know as well as anyone the ups and downs of it all. And I also know that some days we need to give support and uplift others and some days we need to get it for ourselves. Yesterday was a bad day for a few of us.. Our petition was sent back... Shon is back on AP hell and another petitioner was denied. Im sure the three of us will come out fighting now that we have had a day to recover.

With that being said... I pray that the next few days we see nothing but threads filled with good news.

Thank you to everyone here who is patient and kind and willing to point out when someone needs to "chill".

Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-07-15 07:51:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresHang in there everyone we will all make it!!!!!
wow! Thanks for the lift! Just recently we were told our petition was sent back to the USCIS and I thought seriously of just giving up this fight. But true love never gives up. I realized I have no choice but to keep fighting, no matter how long it may be. Its a difficult journey we have chosen to take, some days I am strong and Bala needs my strength and other days he is the strong one while I draw my strength from him.
Best of Luck to All


Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-07-22 04:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresShe got the visa!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-07-26 04:47:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAbility To Withdraw Applications
exactly there is no way anyone can even begin to guess how long a K-1 will take. It depends on many factors, the country, the embassy, the couple (if there are red flags concerning) etc. I had planned a FEb 2006 wedding. (sigh) We applied in June of 2005 and we are still waiting. (but again ours was a little outside the norm) Ive seen visa's approved in four months and I've seen people who are still waiting after a couple of years. Either way Good Luck, I hope that yours is a success story!!!!

Vicki/Bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-07-26 04:55:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresPetition sent back
Some of you may remember about a month ago my posts about Bala's second interview not going so well. We have since found out that our petition was sent back to the states. Does anyone know how long it will take to get a NOID (notice of intent to deny) letter? SomeOne at the DOS said 4 months.. Ive been told by another 6 months and yet another ... that they didnt know how long it will take. And what are our next steps.. What can we expect from here? Any Suggestions ?

Thanks

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-08-06 10:14:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresDoes having child with fiancee mean auto approval?

It should be noted that not only is it not an auto approval, it's also not a skip to the head of the line. Cases involving children are not giving preferential treatment. Having a child will not get you an automatic approval or to the US faster.



Im not saying ur wrong about this , but once when I called the DOS to check on my AP, I was asked by the lady if I had children with my fiance. I told her no. She replied "too bad, because if you did this would go faster for you". At the end of the same call she mentioned again that they give "preference " if you have children with the fiance.." Dont know if she knew what she was talking about or not, but she did say it.


Best of luck

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-08-07 09:07:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresLiving abroad while app is pending
Just to let you know.....I understand all cases are different but do consider......the foreign embassy did call to my home to interview me ........so to say only his fiance will be interviewed may not be correct.......I was questioned almost an hour on the phone, while my fiance was being questioned in a room at the embassy.....

vicki/bala
vicki/balaFemaleIndia2006-07-04 12:27:00