Name Check (namecheck) Notes

[keelec]

Recently someone asked me a question offline about the Namecheck. I believe that it has been covered earlier, but this is a summary as I understand what is happening.

 

Here are some notes that I scribbled together.... Sorry that I don't have any good references now.

 

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Unfortunately the USA has been extremely secretive about the immigration process. They say that there are several agencies involved with the visa processing at the NVC. However, the only agency that the INS will identify is the FBI.

 

I doubt that most of the people answering the phones at the NVC or DOS even know the full extent of the processing in general, or specifically about the cases.

 

Anyway, the FBI does what is called a name check. Basically they are supposed to look at the immigrant's history to see if there is anything that would preclude the USA from issuing a visa. They use the fiancee's or spouse's name, city, and birth date to try to determine whether there are potential issues.

 

Some things they would look for is whether or not you have committed a crime in the USA, whether you have had a visa to the USA and committed "visa fraud" or "overstayed the visa". They would also look for anything else that might cause concern with the visa process.

 

The majority of the cases are supposed to be resolved within a few days, and something like 98% are supposed to be resolved within 120 days (I think). However, if there is concern about a case, then it has to be hand evaluated and the time to do so can be considerable. It is usually nothing that the applicant has done, but the problem occur based on someone else with a similar name.

 

Ummm, apparently the FBI doesn't like repeat namechecks. Thus, if an identical request follows one that was completed a short time before, rather than reconfirming the previous answer, they often just ignore the second request for information. Thus, sometimes the NVC or consulate will be waiting for a confirmation that will not come. Perhaps there are other communication issues between the agencies involved too.

 

I haven't had any confirmation, but the process is not supposed to involve the US Citizen.

 

Now, in general, a single "Name Check" should suffice. However, if the consulate has any concern, or a reason to believe that the initial name check was incomplete, then they can trigger a second name check (this apparently happened in Irina's and my case). For example, if you fill out your DS-230 and spell your name slightly differently on the new form (put in a space or leave it out), then it automatically triggers a secondary name check. Sometimes a foul up with a maiden name can also trigger one.

 

What I don't understand is why they don't require the spouse or fiancee to come in early in the process for "biometrics" including finger prints. I would assume that the more information that they have about an applicant, the easier it would be to determine if there was a security risk. For example, if there are two Li Hong's born on the same day (or same year). If they have the fingerprints from a previous court case that one of them was involved in, then they should be able to immediately exclude the second one based on different finger prints.

 

Anyway, I guess the INS wasn't meant to make any sense.

 

----- Clifford ------