Logic check on a visa timeline here. My coworker, who earned his master’s in the US and currently works here, returned to China for the holidays. He attended his interview just over two weeks ago. The consular officer explicitly stated the visa was approved and retained his passport.
Since then, total silence. No request for additional documents, resumes, or interviews. I am trying to estimate the lag time here. Is a 14-day issuance delay standard for US missions in China right now, or should we be looking for ‘Administrative Processing’ flags? We need to know if we should be pushing to prod on a remote work contingency.
This is pretty normal for China right now. A 2-week gap after a verbal approval, especially when the passport was kept, doesn’t automatically mean trouble. A lot of cases sit in backend processing before printing, and that can take 2–3+ weeks with zero communication.
Administrative Processing doesn’t always come with doc requests, so silence alone isn’t a red flag. CEAC status is the only thing worth watching.
I wouldn’t start escalating yet. If it stretches past ~3–4 weeks with no movement, then it makes sense to prep a remote-work backup.