I am a green card lottery winner in DV2007 all the paper work has gone fine and they set me an interview appointment at the US embassy in my country. The conseular officer didn't ask much, took my signature and finger prints, and gave me a paper indicating that an administartive process will be going and they will notify me when done. They aslo took my passport so they will send it back with visa when done. This was 5 months ago and still no news since then and still keeping my passport. Every time I call they tell me that they still working and all I have to do is to wait. Some friends told me that it is normal to take all this time and it is ok, can anyone tell me if this is ok and if there is still a hope to get a visa. Note, my case number is 10xx, while the current announced case numbers cut off on the state department visa bulletin website is much more so my case should have been processed months ago.

They took your passport? Isn't that odd?

yes they did !!! and this is the normal thing here in my country they take the passport and make you pay the visa processing fees (755$) then they tell you that they will return your passport back when the processing is done (may be with or without a visa !!!)...they also keep telling that you may be waiting till DV2007 expiration date 30 sept. 2007....during this they will keep my passport too

What country are you from? It's not normal for any country to take your passport unless they are giving you a visa!

quote:

Originally posted by intacount:
yes they did !!! and this is the normal thing here in my country they take the passport and make you pay the visa processing fees (755$) then they tell you that they will return your passport back when the processing is done (may be with or without a visa !!!)...they also keep telling that you may be waiting till DV2007 expiration date 30 sept. 2007....during this they will keep my passport too

US embassy/consulates has been known to take one's passport during interview time and return it later when a decision has been made, be it rejection/approval.
It could take 24hours, or it could take months.

what happens if it takes months and expires????

Not sure, but they might as well stamped the visa on the old passport. You don't have to get a new US visa for a new passport if you have a valid one in your old, expired passport.

quote:

Originally posted by intacount:
They aslo took my passport so they will send it back with visa when done. This was 5 months ago and still no news since then and still keeping my passport. Every time I call they tell me that they still working and all I have to do is to wait.

Nothing to worry about. This is a normal practice. Your Visa has been approved and the data has been sent to State Department for varification, in Washington D.C. US consulate has nothing to do with this verification. Untill they receive the clearance from state department they are helpless. I know some cases which took almost a year in getting clearance. By the way you can get your passport back if you desire to travel to another country in the mean time.

Thank you all for your rich participations and for "marmaduk" he is right it is the same with me they took the passport during my interview.I thought it is the same for all too !!!
"Young Man" I can see that you are experienced about this, and for the passport, you are right they told me the same, that I may ask to get it, but they said that this may delay the visa processing too.
I also would like to ask if it is a gaurantee that my visa has been approved when my case number is lower than the cut off number announced on the state department website?

what made me confused and started to worry, that I got to know that the paper they gave me indicating that i should wait till the administartive process is done, is not being given to all applicants(some and some). so some have already took their visa especially when they are "family" even if they had their interview later or had a high case number.
Should this paper indicate that somthing is wrong or it is normal too??!!

Depends of what the paper says? Does it mention an ineligibility?

yes, the paper says that i am ineligible to receive a visa under the section 221(g) which i think it is related to indicate that further documents is required from the applicant....but the officer did not ask for any further documents he checked(X) beside an item indicates that an administrative process is needed and i should wait for it to be done and once it is done they will contact me....this process took them 5 months so far without news !!!!
hope that "Young Man" is right

Yes, it doesn't sound like a serious problem. The processing can sometimes take a very long time.

I thought they will ask him for a certain waiver first to remove the ineligibility first, and then they will ask for administrative processing. isn't that right?

regarding the passport this is very normal now, among their procedures and I think they use that for any name check sometimes or background check. and that is when it takes a year or over a year.

i forgot to tell you that they took my passport too and i am on family based petition visa (k3) and also they asked me for the same waiting time and it is like 7 monthes for me now. in adminstrative processing there is nothing to worry about except the time they take it is from 6 to one year according to some other posts

intacount
I am sorry regarding the waiver it is just I saw 212 instead of 221g so i mixed up
it is just some other documents are required from you. that is all. but in my case they asked me to complete those documents first and then they asked me to wait the admin. processing

thank you all for all of your responses, but i still would like to know if it is possible to get the time run out till 30 sept 2007 without having a response from the embassy. i mean could even a clearance take that long so that i could lose my change to get a visa, or just having me interviewed means that they should send a reply to the embassy within the time limit for the DV2007.....thanks

quote:

Originally posted by intacount:
... but i still would like to know if it is possible to get the time run out till 30 sept 2007 without having a response from the embassy.

unfortunately, yes
"Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2007 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2007 registration."

quote:

i mean could even a clearance take that long so that i could lose my change to get a visa

yes...
there have been cases where getting appointment for AOS interview took so long that the deadline passed... some people sued USCIS over that and won.
I doubt people who are reviewing your case will care much about the deadline. I am guessing, how long it will take depends on WHY your case was reffered to administrative processing.

it will be greatly appreciated if any ex-diversity visa lottery winner could tell me the steps he has been through till he got the green card...especially the processing time it took between the interview and the issuance of the visa and also wether he has been refered to administrative processing or not after the interview (how long the administrative processing took?)

thank you all for your replies they were really of great help especially the one of "Young Man" which gave me alot of hope....now you can congratulate me cause i have just received my visa finally after 5 months of administrative processing....i wish for you all the best...thanks again