... in response to HELP!!! Visa Question..., posted by Chris F on Mar 7, 2005In addition to all the good suggestions made here on this thread,
it is generally suggested that visa applicants with name issues
on official documents (errors, discrepencies, and inconsistencies
however small) at least start the necessary steps to correct them
locally however long it might take, simultaneously as they proceed
ahead with their petition process at USCIS.
The Consulates which do the final processing on visa applications
conduct careful and intensified security name checks on visa
applicants. Errors, discrepencies and inconsistencies in official
documents (or even simple spelling mistakes on a person's name
on forms) can be a source of delay in final visa issuance (such as a
person's or parent's name spelled one way on the long-form
birth certificate compared with a different way on the
baptism certificate).
Another problem which has come up with security name checks
at the Consulates is the problem of "false hits", which can potentially
delay visa issuance significantly. Consulates do a name check of visa
applicants with reference to a criminal database called NCIC. If the
visa applicant's name gets a "hit" in the criminal database, the case
can be pulled for more scrutiny, a process called Administrative Review.
A "false hit" refers to a visa applicant with a common or similar name
to a person in the crimimal database, but is obviously not that person
at all, but just shares a common or similar name with that person.
The problem is that when such as hit occurs, the Consulate is required
to wait for final clearance from FBI and NVC before they will clear the
case for visa issuance, adding processing time which can be weeks and
in some unusual cases even months. There has been a dramatic increase
in "false hits" recently especially at the Consular posts in Latin countries,
due to the recent expansion of the NCIC database to add 7 million new
names, and due to the fact that in Latino countries there are fewer surnames
and greater name-similarity. In fact, reportedly about half the names in the
NCIC database are Latino.
This is all the more reason to be as accurate as possible with names
in documents, forms and all submissions to the Consulate.
For more information about the security name check process
at the Consulates for those interested in reading about it, see:
http://www.usaimmigrationattorney.com/SecurityNameChecksAndAdministrativeReview.html
Good luck to all.
