关于check/AP 的技术资料

现在签证版满眼的check，关于check的提问基本上就三种：
clear到哪里了/我某某某日期的什么时候能clear?
怎么催促/加急/联系使馆邮箱电话？
我的case在哪？

以下片段摘自Gary Chodorow的文章

希望还在AP的早日clear

1. An individual will be refused a visa by a consular officer and refused admission by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector at a port of entry if there is reason to believe the individual is coming to the U.S. to violate U.S. laws prohibiting export of goods, technology, or information.(*)

(*)INA § 212(a)(3)(A). The goals of the law are to stem proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery systems; to restrain the development of destabilizing conventional military capabilities in certain regions of the world; to prevent the transfer of arms and sensitive dual-use technology to terrorists; and to maintain U.S. advantages in certain militarily critical technologies. 9 FAM 40.31 Exhibit 1.

2. A nonimmigrant may violate export control laws not just by physically removing the technology from the country. Under the “deemed export rule,” an export takes place whenever it is released to a nonimmigrant within the United States, including by discussing it or allowing the nonimmigrant to inspect it (such as reading technical specifications).

3. (During the interview)The officer will refer to the “Technology Alert List” (TAL) to determine what technologies are sensitive. ***The current version of the TAL is a “sensitive” document that has not been released to the public***

4. A consular officer is “not expected to be versed in all the fields on the [TAL] list,” so mistakes are possible about whether a particular technology is covered by export control laws.

5. SAOs are only mandatory for nationals or employees of the state sponsors of terrorism listed above that seek to engage in activities listed on the TAL. For others, an SAO is unnecessary if the ground of inadmissibility “clearly does not apply.”

6. The State Department instructs officers to perform an SAO whenever an officer has any “doubt.”

7. Notably, the State Department apparently has not provided guidance on when an SAO is not needed.

8. If the officer decides that an SAO is needed, the applicant should be informed orally and in writing. The written notice may be entitled “221(g) Administrative Processing.” The officer will forward a request for an SAO to the State Department in Washington, DC. (注：原文就是request for an SAO, 官方公开文件也是这个意思。所以你的case并没有被移交其他机构adjudicate,大家也就别问＂我的case在哪＂这类问题了，答案肯定是＂at post＂，问＂我的SAO什么时候出来都比上面问case在哪有营养)

9. (...)more documentation may make it “clear” that the applicant doesn’t intend to violate export control laws, in which case an SAO won’t be required. Such documentation should focus on proving that (a) the technology related to the trip is not included on government export control lists; (b) although the technology is included on a government export control list, it is not subject to export control because, for example, it is publicly available; or (c) an export license has been secured that covers release to the visa applicant. (注：简言之就是利用更多的文档证明自己没问题，要摆证据，切记一定要真实！去面签之前看看the good wife，学一下律师是怎么利用证据的)

10. (...) it may be helpful to provide more than a minimum amount of information to the Consulate is that the time it takes to complete the SAO “is directly related to the completeness of the information” provided by the applicant. Incomplete information could delay the SAO for more detailed investigation or for submission by the applicant of further documents.(注：指望通过面签当日避免交材料而减短AP时间的都退下吧…)

11. What Will Happen After the Interview?

After a consular officer decides that an SAO is necessary, that officer or another consular employee drafts an SAO request, which contains information from the applicant’s forms, documents, and interview. That request case may be reviewed and approved by a supervisor. It is then transmitted to the State Department’s Visa Office in Washington, DC. Any supporting documents should be summarized in the SAO request and scanned.

The Visa Office distributes the SAO request to the State Department’s Bureau of Nonproliferation and other government for review. These other agencies contacted, depending on the technology involved,** may **include the FBI, CIA, Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Export Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Agency, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Interpol, and others. The Visa Office then summarizes those agencies’ responses and prepares an SAO stating that the Visa Office does or does not have an objection to issuing the visa, or that more information is needed.

The SAO is returned to the Consulate, where a consular officer makes a decision to issue the visa, refuse the visa, or temporarily refuse the visa to investigate further or to request additional information from the applicant. A visa issued after an SAO will contain an annotation showing the date of the SAO clearance and the purpose of the trip, such as “Clearance received 05-JUN- 2008. Visit to Ajax Inc. in Dallas, TX.”

12. Once the officer determines that an SAO is necessary, the Consulate will not waive the SAO or take any other action on the visa application pending the SAO outcome, regardless of the urgency or importance of travel. The State Department’s Visa Office does have the “limited” ability to expedite “a small number” of SAOs. A request for expedited processing should be made to the Consulate. If the Consulate agrees to assist, the Consulate must explain to the Visa Office the urgency of the case. “Urgent cases usually involve medical emergencies, humanitarian concerns or significant U.S. Government interest in the traveler’s early arrival in the United States.” (注：如果Consulate同意给你加急，他们就必须给Visa Office解释为什么给你加急。）

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skyzhangty 发表于 2013-8-3 18:24
所以vo只是负责发出一个SAO请求，然后收集各个部门的response，然后决定是否签发签证是么？
整个SAO的过程 ...

从这个律师的文中看，是这样的， FAM的Procedure里面也说是request，这个request包括了Consular Officer的面谈记录。

SAO有很多种， Visa Mantis, Visa Donkey等等，CO可以要求各种visa动物签证，所以我也不确定long check到底发生什么。也许只是由于一些安全部门介入，比如DHS，FBI，甚至CIA，导致搜集结果变的拖沓严重。

skyzhangty 发表于 2013-8-3 18:24
所以vo只是负责发出一个SAO请求，然后收集各个部门的response，然后决定是否签发签证是么？
整个SAO的过程 ...

一旦CO收到SAO回复，十个工作日内必须作出决断