Form 221g Admin processing - No client contact - waiting

USA
, ,
1

Hello Anil,

Thanks for helping people with your knowledge.

Could you please advise on my case

I went to H1b interview on Jan 2nd week, mine is EVC model. I have i140 approved.

Question asked were pretty simple like salary, location and employer name, is my son a US citizen etc.

Then VO asked, do I have a mid-vendor, I said yes and asked for end client letter. Which I gave.

He asked when did I come to India, I said in April2019, there was a pause from his side, he did not ask me what I was doing in India.

In fact I was working for the same client wile in India. He went inside with client letter and came with a number on blue 221G

We were told they don’t need any documents from us, once the admin process is complete they will contact us, Our passports were returned.

My questions:

Why is my client or mid vendor not contacted yet, my colleague who went in December holiday time was issued 221g and the very next day his mid-vendor got all the questions.

In my client letter, there was HR signature, address and HR name, but contact details like email or phone number was missing. It was issued on company letter head but there was no phone number.

I am assuming this could be a reason for delay, however a single google search with a client name will give full details plus contact details of the HR signed it. Will they not do these verifications with info already available in their data base? My client is big with more than 50K employees worldwide plus they have sponsored many H1 & L1 visas.

Since I returned to India in April2019 and there was a gap for almost 10 months, is this a issue? I have worked for the same client thru same company since last 6.5 years. I was also supporting the same vendor from India all these months.

During my petition approval stage which happened from India using my I140, they issued a RFE to submit client letter, which we did and my case got approved. This happened end of Nov 2019.

Why is that the same client letter is retained again for further investigation?

Is there a way they can verify and validate all the details without contacting client or mid-vendor?

Note: My salary is also above L2 wage level for the job type.

Please advise, Thanks for your help!

2

Hi @Confused

There is no clear way of finding as to what they are trying to verify. They may have sent the request to some US agency.

You said that client filed your H1 and L1. Is that a correct statement?

1 Like
3

Thank you Anil,

I meant the client contact details should be in their system because they also sponsor H1 & L1 for their employees. The reason I said this was My client letter head does not have email or phone number on it, so I was suspecting this might be delaying them contacting the client regarding case.
My H1 is sponsored by my company only. Since the interview, nobody was contacted asking any details.

Is it a good idea to voluntarily send these details as additional information? Any harm? Can I send myself?

Thank you!

4

There is no harm in sending client contact details voluntarily.

5

Anil,

Is it mandatory to use my official email address to send these details? I was told by my employer not to contact them directly unless they ask, they said it has to go through the legal team, But I am not convinced and I strongly feel by giving these details voluntarily there is no harm. So I am thinking of using my personal mail. Kindly advise.

6

The email that you used to fill DS-160 should be good to use here.

1 Like
7

Anil, its been close to 50+ days, neither the client nor the mid vendor have been contacted by the consulate with questions. Usually they send emails with a list of question to clients. What can I do in this situation? They did not ask any documents from my employer either.

8

Hi @Confused

Which US embassy is it? Do you know the normal processing time at this US embassy?

The only legal option available to you if filing writ of mandamus to speed up form 221g processing.

This option can help if your application has been pending for more than normal processing time at that location.

Otherwise, you can only wait.

9

Here is an update, I received an email to submit my passports from Chennai consulate.

They did not contact my client or mid vendor, I checked with both of them. Don’t know how they did the client verification without contacting.

Although my employer asked me not to contact, I did contact consulate through multiple polite emails. Even offering to provide any details that could aid the process. I received an standard reply of “180 days wait time”. but within a day they approved it.

Lessons learnt, no harm in requesting for status, sometimes it may work.

Thank you Anil!

-Not confused now.

1 Like
10

Congratulations on your visa approval.

11

Anil,

Sorry to bug you again, I submitted the passports yesterday, it is still in transit and have not reached the consulate yet, However, the status on the CEAC website now shows as refused, the exact text is given below. but all these days it was showing as Adim process. The dates have not changed either. I am unable to understand, they just asked for passports a day before and now its been refused?

“A U.S. consular officer has adjudicated and refused your visa application. Please follow any instructions provided by the consular officer. If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing. You will receive another adjudication once such processing is complete. Please be advised that the processing time varies and that you will be contacted if additional information is needed. For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV or the website for the Embassy or Consulate at which you made your visa application.”

12

Hi @Confused

Nothing can be said until you receive your passport back. It could be a wrong update online too.

I suggest to wait and watch.

1 Like
13

Hi @Confused

I have verified and you are not alone. There are many people who got this status updated to ‘Refused’.
No need to worry.

1 Like
14

@Anil.Gupta,

Thank you for the clarification, I almost lost hope in this admin process. my passports have reached consulate today, hope they issue it soon.

Have a great day!

2 Likes
15

Hi Can i know when did you submit passport to the consulate?

16

Hello,

Dropped at VFS on 2nd and it reached Chennai consulate on 4th as per the travel docs, Whats your case? My CEAC status is not changed yet

17

Hi,
Thank you for giving reply.
My case is similar to you, i dropped at VFS on 2nd and it reached chennai consulate today as per the travel docs, even my CEAC status is showing as refused.

1 Like
18

HI, Keep me posted if you seen any updates, I will do the same.

19

@Anil.Gupta

March 05, I see the status changed again from refused to admin processing.

Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing. This processing can take several weeks. Please follow any instructions provided by the Consular Officer at the time of your interview. If further information is needed, you will be contacted. If your visa application is approved, it will be processed and mailed/available within two business days.

20

Hi @Confused

That’s fine. This change started happening for lot of people yesterday. I reported it on CEAC status change article as one user in Canada saw this change back to Administrative processing.