American Embassy in Islamabad

[ghalib]

O.K.....for the handful of us who have their loved ones "stranded" because of the recent embassy closing.

I understand that they're now processing the immigrant visa petitions now wiht limited staff. Does any one here know of anyone whose case was recently processed by Islamabad? Are they arranging interviews now?

My dad's case has been delayed because of that moron, Ausama Bin Laden, cowardly act.

Please repond!

[ak]

They never really stopped processing visas.

Everything depends on where visa processing stage your petition is.

Your should receive three packages INS.

1) Letter stating that your petition has been received (the priority date)

2) Letter stating your petition has been approved. Now comes the waiting game. Because of the bombings they evacuated the embassy and therefore stopped sending the approved petition from US to Islamababad. This is a critical path until your petition becomes "current" meaning the petition has been sent from the National Visa Center you are assigned you are stuck. After staff returned and backlog of petition from the Pakistani side were cleared they starting sending apps to Islamabad (This was around mid January).

3) You get sent documents to provide income information your beneficiary gets a package require about 10 items.


----

Now the US is basically out of the picture. you application will be processed by Islamabad Consulate. Once your beneficiary send the form in saying he has all the required documents the interview date will be assigned.

This could take a long time too depending who it is (fiancee, wife, kids, other relative).

Once your relative is waiting for an interview date you can possibly get it sped up by calling your local Congressperson. They tend to have a person that deals solely deals with consituent immigration issues.

--Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to make sure that you have made it to all the intermediate bases before expecting anything to happen in Islamabad.

--To answer you question---No, I don't know of anyone that has been sceduled for an interview.


Some numbers that might help.

---Vermont Visa Center (you might be assigned to a different one) 603-334-0700


Southeast Asia Desk in DC 202-647-9823 you can ask them for status on COnsulate in Islamabad.


----Now I'm venting---
The problem isn't Osama Bin Laden or US. It is Pakistan diplomacy. NS or someone should be trying to decrease the overall time of this process. From what I have heard Visa processing times for other countries in that area Bangladesh, Turkey, India are much shorter.

[ghalib]

AK Bhai:

I have gotten all of this. The case is current because it was filed by a citizen and It was sent to Islamabad before the bombing. The only reason its being delayed is because the embassy is operating at reduced levels after being closed for almost five months.

I was just wondering if anyone here knows how the processing is going. You're right about the fact that the congressman might be able to help, but not always. Thanks for taking time out to write such a long reply. I really appreciate the response.

[This message has been edited by ghalib (edited March 10, 1999).]