State Department Clarifies Changes in Online Visa Status Updates

When a foreign national applies for a visa, there are only two potential outcomes – visa issuance or visa refusal.  Though in the past, CEAC also used “administrative processing” to describe the outcome of certain visa applications, those applications had technically been refused under Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) even though the outcome may ultimately be overturned. Such cases may go from “refused” to “issued” if the applicant can demonstrate to a consular officer that s/he is eligible for a visa or if information comes to the attention of the consular officer from other sources that resolve any outstanding issues relating to the applicant’s eligibility for the visa, such as the results of a background or security check.

In spite of this explanation, some sources have suggested that the change, while technically accurate, may also have been made to limit mandamus actions asserting that an application in administrative processing has not been adjudicated.

When reviewing a case status update, the visa applicant should refer to the instructions the consular officer gave at the end of the visa interview and to https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html for more information about his or her case.

Where an application is ultimately refused, the applicant should receive a separate notice related to the refusal. If it is remains unclear as to whether the application has been refused or remains under administrative processing, the visa applicant or his/her immigration counsel may reach out to the particular post to confirm. Keep in mind that in some cases, the online "refusal" status is accompanied by a caption that states that if the applicant was told by a consular officer that their case was refused for administrative processing, then the case status will remain refused until processing is complete.

Fragomen is carefully following this change and will provide updates as they occur.