为什么你的美国签证申请比其他人慢许多 [美国媒体]

What happens behind the scenes when you apply for a U.S. visa (such as B1/B2, J1, or H1B) stamp in a U.S. consulate?

问题标题: 在你递交美国签证申请之后, 申请会经过哪些幕后流程, 比如B1/B2(商务签证), J1(新闻记者类签证), 或是H1B(工作签证)?

I'm really curious to know what exactly happens when one applies for visa in a U.S. consulate (in Canada or India for example). Why some people have to go through additional administrative process, and why the process could take so long? Why do they repeat the administrative process again if you leave the country for even one day? Why no one cares about all the complaints of people who are stuck out of the country away from their loved ones? (Just search google for "221g administrative processing canada" for example!)

问题: 我真的很好奇, 当一个人在美国驻外(比如加拿大或者印度)使领馆递交了签证申请后, 整个流程是如何的? 为何有些人必须经历额外的流程? 为何整个过程会变得如此冗长? 为何一个人即使离境一天也必须重复这个过程? 为何没人关心那些被阻挡在这个国家国门之外而无法与家人团圆的申请者, 没人愿意聆听他们的抱怨? (用Google搜索一下"221g 加拿大行政流程"为例.)


Tobiloba Oni, A jukebox of questions.
Written Aug 3, 2012

Tobiloba Oni, 问题点唱机.
写于2012年8月3日.

Administrative processing, officially referred to as Security Advisory Opinion (SAO), could be a most frustrating process for US visa applicants. The Office of the Secretary of State for Visa Services maintains, though, that it is a necessary process for sifting out terrorists, spies, and unscrupulous people that illegally transfer sensitive technologies. It also claims it only affects 2% of applicants, so if you're unlucky to be chosen, be prepared to wait 12-360 days for a response, which might be a revocation of your previously approved visa. Most times, though, you would be approved. 

"行政流程", 官方叫法是 "安全评估", 对许多签证申请者来说最令人沮丧. 尽管如此, 美国国务院签证办公室坚持认为这个过程能够筛查出恐怖分子, 间谍和可能窃取美国敏感技术的人. 签证办公室声称, 只有2%的申请者受这个流程影响. 所以假如你运气不佳, 那就准备好等上12至360天, 命背的甚至非但会等来一纸拒签, 甚至以前批准的签证都被注销. 当然大多数情况下, 你的申请还是最终会被批准的.

What they do during administrative processing is pretty much background checks. Based on your background, application data or, specifically, nationality, you will be assigned one or more categories or class: 

这个行政流程其实主要是背景调查. 根据你的背景, 申请信息以及尤其重要的一点--国籍, 你会归为以下一类或几类.

Visas Mantis: (potential illegal transfer of sensitive technology)
Visas Bear (for foreign government officials, representatives to international organizations, and their families)
Visas Donkey (name hits, certain nationalities)
Visas Merlin (for refugees and asylees)
Visas Eagle (certain nationals of Cuba, China, Russia, Iran, Vietnam)
Visas Condor (certain nationalities e.g Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain,    Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon,    Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan,    Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates,Yemen.)
Visas Hawk (for immigrant visas). 
Visas Horse (diplomatic visa holders of certain nationalities) 
Visas Pegasus (officials of Commonwealth of Independent States)

螳螂: 可能窃取敏感资料的人.
狗熊: 服务于外国政府的人士, 国际组织代表及其家人.
驴子: 与(受控人士)重名者, 某些特定国籍的人士.
魔灵(<亚瑟王传奇>中的魔法师): 难民或庇护者.
老鹰: 古巴, 中国, 俄罗斯, 伊朗, 越南等国的某些公民.
秃鹰: 阿富汗, 阿尔及利亚, 巴林, 埃及, 厄立特里亚, 印尼, 伊朗, 伊拉克, 约旦, 科威特, 黎巴嫩, 利比亚, 马来西亚, 摩洛哥, 安曼, 巴基斯坦, 卡塔尔, 沙特, 索马里, 苏丹, 叙利亚, 突尼斯, 土耳其, 阿联酋和也门等国的公民.
黑鹰: 移民签证申请者.
骏马: 拥有外交签证的某些外国人.
飞马: 独联体国家的官员.

Afterward, your information is forwarded to the pertinent agencies for a very thorough check-- mostly FBI. Others could be CIA, DEA, U.S. Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, Interpol, and the Department of State's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.

然后, 你的个人信息就会转给有关部门进行非常详细彻底的筛查--主要是FBI. 其他的诸如CIA, 禁毒局, 美国商务部, 财政部下属的海外财产署, 国际刑警和国务院下属的国际安全和防扩散机构。

This is where the delay really occurs. If everything goes well, you can have your approved visa in as little as three weeks, but if there is a problem of any sort, a delay could be anything from 30days to 360days. The most painful part is that you dont know exactly how long it's going to take, and there are no step by step updates, so you are stuck in a timeless time of waiting. Here are some reasons for delay:

这个过程最为冗长. 如果没有查出任何问题, 你可能最快3周就可以下签. 但是, 如果很不幸, 有任何地方出了岔子, 耽搁的时间可能从30天延长至360天. 当然最痛苦的莫过于你根本不知道到底哪里出了岔子, 还要继续等多久, 也就是说对你而言, 这种等待近乎遥遥无期的. 以下是几种最可能造成申请延长的情形.

1. Errors in the visa submission : The US Embassy from the country you are applying might mistakenly submit your information in a wrong format (different from what the agencies want), so the agency returns the data to the embassy. This obviously prolongs the security check and approval process. This situation happens every now and then, but it seems that the various agencies are working to standardize the submission format, which would help reduce such mistakes.

1. 签证申请中犯的错误: 你申请签证的美国大使馆在提交你的申请时采用了错误的格式 (没有采用 "有关部门" 要求的格式), 所以 "有关部门" 把数据重新传回了大使馆. 毫无疑问这延长了安全审查和准签的时间. 这种情形在过去甚至现在都在不断发生, 不过幸运的是不同部门目前好像正在一起将申请过程标准化, 这会减少这类错误发生.

2. False Hits(Especially for Visas Mantis and Visas Condor): If your name matches that of someone on the FBI's (or any other agency's) list, you will be subjected to more scrutiny till you are either cleared or marked as a concern to security. Imagine if you are from a country with many identical names, this process will take much longer for you, and this accounts for most of the average processing time differences across various countries. 

2. 误报警(尤其针对螳螂和秃鹰): 如果你正好和FBI(或者其他部门)监控的某人撞名, 恭喜你, 你会享受更加严格的审核, 直到你最终洗清嫌疑, 或者确认你就是他们要找的人. 想象一下, 你正好来自一个有很多重名的国家, 这个过程对你而言可能会尤其漫长. 这也是造成不同国家审核时间差异的主要原因.

3. Visa Burden: If you apply at a peak time, when a lot of people are seeking to travel, this process will obviously take much longer. The agencies do not have enough personnel to deal with the spike, so they just do the best they can. Sometimes there are even backlogs, and this is why some people dont get their visas for more than a year. More so, the agencies prioritize certain visa classes, therefore when there is an overload, certain requests are sidelined. For example, the FBI prioritizes Visas Condor and Visas Mantis.

3. 签证官的工作量: 如果你在高峰时期申请, 比如很多人同时选择这个时候旅行, 毫无疑问签证申请时间会变长. 对于申请高峰 "有关部门" 人手一直不够, 他们也只能尽力而为. 有时甚至有大批排队的申请者, 这也是为何有些人的签证耽搁了一年以上. 另外, 有关部门必须加快某些签证类别的审理, 这也导致在工作量高峰时节, 很多其他申请只能靠边站. 比如, 当FBI加快秃鹰和螳螂的审理速度时, (其它类别就倒了霉).

4. Hits: If your name and information submitted by the Embassy matches the one in any agency's database, then you might want to forget about traveling any time soon because they will resort to fetching as much information as they possibly could. This would take a long time since they might have to request information from other non-related sources-- sometimes this could require judicial approval. In addition, some agencies are yet to centralize their information storage systems, which means that it could be necessary to request paper files from branch offices. If you are considered a security threat, the agency will write a security advisory opinion on you and then send it back to the State for Visa Services, who then revokes your visa. 

4. 黑名单报警: 如果使领馆提交的申请者姓名和信息正好符合某个部门数据库里的某个人, 那你最好还是别急着订机票, 你的行程将遥遥无期, 因为这些部门将会尽可能从你身上挖掘出更多信息. 这个过程非常耗时, 因为他们可能必须从某个无关的部门获取信息--有时会需要法院批准. 另外, 很多部门还没有来得及统一管理他们的信息存储系统, 这意味着可能需要从下属部门调取纸质文件. 如果他们认为你是安全威胁, 这个部门会写一个关于你的安全评估然后送往签证审批部门, 后者会注吊销你的签证.

Below is an chart (from wikipedia) that shows how a Visa Mantis is processed:

下面一张图来自维基百科, 它显示了螳螂申请者是如何被审理的.

  

The biggest problem of the waiting process is that you do not have any access to the nature of the delay. You could call the consular a million times, and they would say the same exact thing-- "your application is undergoing administrative processing..." While the reasons of establishing such procedure is understandable, it seems inhumane to put people in the prison of time just because they want to travel to the United States-- mostly to add to economic or/and intellectual growth of the nation. It is thus evident that the US government, especially in the context of this problem, is yet to realize the delicate balance between securing borders and opening doors. 

等待期间的最大问题是, 你根本无从知晓你的申请为何会被耽搁. 你可以给领事馆打无数电话, 但得到的回复都是相同的--"你的申请正在走行政流程..." 尽管人们都理解建立这种流程的目的, 但是让他们如此无助的等待--仅仅因为他们要去美国--也是一件不人道的事情, 尤其考虑到这种耽搁对美国经济和智力的影响. 在这种情况下, 美国政府似乎并未意识到, 如何在出入境安全和国家开放之间找到平衡.

Is the government aware of the pains this process causes to applicants (See https://openhomelandsecurity.ide... )? Apparently, they are aware, and they say they are working towards a faster and better system-- although they admit that it will always be thorough and thus protracted. But the good news is that there are signs of improvement. The agencies and State for Visa Services are working towards a more efficient partnership in order to streamline the process. The agencies are hiring more personnel and upgrading their technology tools to meet the demand for visa checks. Hopefully, things will get better in the coming years. 

政府意识到申请者承受的痛苦了吗? (见 https://openhomelandsecurity.ide... )? 毫无疑问, 他们完全知晓. 他们也致力于建设一个更好更有效的系统, 尽管他们自己也承认, 这是个深远和漫长的过程. 好消息是, 已经有改进的苗头了. 有关部门和签证部门已经开始建立一种更加高效的合作关系, 以此使申请过程更加顺畅. 有关部门将要雇佣更多人, 更新他们的系统以满足签证审核的需求. 希望后面几年能看到这些改观.

However, it is important for visa applicants to apply well ahead of their intended travel date if possible. This gives some cushion for the time required for the processing just in case such applicants are picked. And for those who are stuck in the timeless time of administrative processing, I encourage them to remain hopeful, and in unusually long cases, consult an attorney, contact a senator, or an organization such as the International Visa Office for individuals in the scientific community (including students)

然而, 签证申请者如可能仍然尽早提交申请, 以免被抽到审核时有个缓冲. 对于受阻于无穷尽等待的申请者, 我鼓励他们保持信心. 对于等待时间特别长的申请者, 建议他们咨询律师, 联系议员或者组织, 比如包括学生在内的科学工作者可以尝试联系国际签证办公室.