Finnan, Fleischut & Associates

Travel Reminder – Security Clearances Can Cause Delays

A brief reminder to our clients and those foreign-born workers who travel abroad and who need visas to re-enter the U.S. incidental to their non-immigrant status:

Before a consular post may issue a visa, officials must go through certain procedures of verifying the validity of any USCIS approval upon which visa application is based, and must also obtain appropriate security clearances from the U.S. Department of State (DOS).  There are various levels of security clearance, and the criteria by which the consulates decide (or are instructed) to order the various types of checks are not fully known.  One thing is certain, once it determines that a certain type of security check is necessary, the consulate will not issue the visa until the security procedures are completed.  The need to complete such security clearances may delay the ability of any non-immigrant to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. in a timely manner.  While most security checks complete within a few days or weeks, in some cases applicants have experienced delays of many months.

Our office is aware of several recent cases coming out of the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, India, where requests for non-immigrant H-1B visas have been pending for more than a month for “Administrative Processing”.  This term most likely refers to a decision to request a particular security clearance; however consular officials have not provided any further details.  It is our impression that the affected individuals may not have been subjected to this type of delay prior to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai.  I