An increasing number of Indian F-1 visa applicants are facing a bizarre and stressful situation: getting visa approval at the consulate, only to have their passport and status stuck in hell known as “administrative processing.”
One student who attended an interview on July 8 shared that the visa officer approved their application and kept the passport for stamping. But instead of receiving it back within days, the CEAC (Consular Electronic Application Center) portal showed a confusing “Refused” status, and hasn’t changed since.
With no communication from the embassy and their university start date rapidly approaching, the applicant is now panicking.
This isn’t an isolated case, as the student reports more than ten other students who interviewed with the same officer are experiencing identical delays. Meanwhile, those who met different officers on the same day have already received their stamped passports in 2–5 days.
Many believe the culprit is the newly implemented social media vetting rules. Under these changes, applicants must list all social accounts and keep them public.
Even innocent posts or private settings could trigger administrative processing, holding up passports for weeks, or worse, months.
Despite verbal approvals, these students are left hanging, unsure whether they’ll make it to the US on time. For many, this feels less like a delay and more like a quiet denial.
