221g blue slip at chennai consulate, full time job, salary mismatch due to maternity leave

Interview Date- Nov 12,
Docs submitted by the attorney - Nov 20th
Administrative processing since Nov 12th
Documents asked - proj description, company tax returns, current and previous LCAs, 2 years w2 and 12 months pay slips.

This is my third H1b stamping with the same company (working for the company for more than 7 years).

Been in the USA since 2005, have been on H1b since 2010.

I work as a full time employee with a US based company ( it is NOT a consulting company)

Here is the conversation I had with the Visa Officer(VO)

VO: What company do you work for

Me: XXX

VO: Where is it located

Me: City,State

VO: What is your designation

Me:Sw Developer

VO:What is your salary

Me: xxx,xxx USD

VO: For how long is the company in business

Me: 20 years

VO: Do you have a detailed job description

Me: I explained to her about the project and provided her a word document that had my job responsibilities

VO: Can I see your W2 and payslips

Me:Gave the last 3 years W2 and last 3 months paystubs

VO:I see a discrepency in your salary and the mentioned wage

Me: I was on maternity leave in 2016 and 2018.2017 should be good.

VO: She said she needs to verify something and asked me to wait few minutes, she returned and asked me if I have the company’s tax returns

Me: I said No

VO: She said that’s fine , you can always email us documents, then she asked me if I have previous LCA (not the current LCA)

Me: I said I did not carry previous LCA, I have only the current LCA

VO:Do you have payslips for 2016,2017

Me: I said no since I did not carry the documents

VO: She asked me to wait until one of them call me again, and an Indian lady called me again after 1 hour

She asked me if I have my children’s birth certificate

Me: I said no

VO: She asked me my children’s and my husband’s DOBs and she wrote it down on a piece of paper

She asked me if my husband works in the same company to which I replied no

VO: She asked me to wait again and after close to an hour, the officer gave me the 221g form and asked me to provide all the documents, and told me that she will not keep the passport with her at this point so I can submit all the documents together. She also mentioned that I do not have to come back for another interview.

I am concerned since I am stuck up in India with my kids and this could be a long wait, it has already been close to 4 weeks since we submitted the documents and there is no updates since my interview.

When I searched on the internet, I did not find anyone with similar issue, how long do you think I would have to wait before I get a response from them.

Hi @221g_mat

There is no fixed time line in these kind of cases. Looks like visa officer has suspicion that you were not paid correctly and wants to verify it before they can issue visa.

Has your employer been contacted by embassy yet? Did you ask your HR?

No, embassy has not reached out to my employer yet.

the company attorney also said the same thing , so in his response to the 221g he has included all the details related to maternity leave ( Short term disability pay).

I guess I just need to sit back and wait.

Hey Anil,

I have been waiting for 9 weeks since my interview and 8 weeks since we submitted the documents.There has been no communication with the embassy, they have not reached out to my employer or asked for more documents or called for a re-interview. What do you think could be happening with my case?

I emailed Chennai consulate 3 times, the last response had a line saying that they have received the documents and the rest of the response had the automated text.

Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do at this time except to wait.

You can try contacting your local US congressman and see if they can help.

The other legal option is to file writ of mandamus to expedite form 221g processing, but, it can only be useful if you file after waiting for about 3 months.