Technological Systems Issue (Dept of State)

[Randy W]

I'm not sure how this manifests itself at Guangzhou, but here it is from the Dept. of State Consular Affairs

 

Technological Systems Issue

June 15, 2015

 

UPDATE: We continue to experience technical problems with our visa systems. This issue is not specific to any particular country or visa category. We apologize for the inconvenience and we are working around the clock to correct the problem. Currently, we are unable to print most immigrant and nonimmigrant visas approved after June 8, 2015. In addition, U.S. embassies and consulates are unable to process new applications submitted on or after June 9, 2015. If you have a visa interview appointment scheduled for June 14-20, 2015, and you submitted your DS-160 online application **after June 9, 2015,** you should reschedule your appointment. If you submitted your DS-160 online application prior to June 9, 2015, you should plan to attend your scheduled visa interview appointment. Our embassies and consulates will be posting location-specific information on their websites, so please check the website of the location where you applied for your visa for more information.

 

The technical issues also affected the Department of State’s ability to adjudicate applications for U.S. passports accepted overseas between May 26 and June 14, 2015. If you applied for a U.S. passport overseas during this time frame and have travel plans within the next 10 business days, please consider requesting an emergency passport at the U.S. embassy or consulate at which you originally applied. Information about how to apply for an emergency passport is available on the embassy/consulate website.

For additional information on the systems issue, please visit our website.

 

We know this affects your travel, and we apologize. Please understand that we cannot respond to individual case inquiries via social media platforms. We will continue to post updated information as it becomes available.

 

 

[Randy W]

They are responding to some postings on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/travelgov?fref=nf

[Randy W]

From the Guangzhou consulate web site at http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/consular.html

 

 

Currently, we are unable to print most immigrant and nonimmigrant visas approved after June 8, 2015. In addition, U.S. embassies and consulates are unable to process new applications submitted on or after June 9, 2015. Individuals with non-immigrant visa interview appointments scheduled for June 14-20, 2015, should reschedule their appointments if they submitted a DS-160 online application after June 9, 2015. Appointments can be rescheduled by following the instructions located on http://www.ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-niv-appointmentschedule.asp. Individuals who submitted their DS-160 online applications prior to June 9, 2015, should plan to attend their scheduled visa interview appointments.

 

Adopting parents may email guangzhouA@state.gov for current information about adoption cases.

 

Immigrant visa applicants who have an urgent need to travel to the United States may send an email to http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn//immigrant-visa-unit-question.html with their name, passport number, and nature of the emergency. Please understand that only true emergencies of an extraordinary humanitarian nature can be considered for exceptional handling.

 

[tsap seui]

So the printing machine is broken....AGAIN!!!!! Guangzhou has more excuses than they have visas.

[yuehan123]

Yep, broken. Again. and in between somebody hacked everything. But, no it's not hacking related. Yeah, right.

 

Here's what the Travel.gov site said on the link Randy gave: "This issue is not specific to any particular country or visa category; this is a global issue. We do not believe these problems stem from any cyber-security hacking issues."

[Mick]

Printing machine broken again; Good Lord, let's hope this doesn't create another "Black Hole" like the one back in 2002-2003.

[Beachey]

We just submitted my Father-in-law's passport for a second visa through CITIC dropbox service. I believe it is headed down to Guangzhou. Tentative plan is for him to come in November. I wonder how long it will take?

[yuehan123]

NVC sent an e-mail to us on Sunday. At least the e-mail date claims it was Sunday, June 21. The e-mail is assigning a 'new', as opposed to a rescheduled interview date on July 28th.

 

This implies the system is fixed.

[Randy W]

 

The State Dept. is issuing Visa's again after database glitch. - in CFL

 

[jonathantwu]

The latest is that the biometric system where photos and fingerprints are stored is not functioning. When I did the electronic processing that was my big concern. Basically, you submit very large files containing the images of forms and photos sitting in NVC's inbox waiting to be processed. I was never comfortable about the ability for NVC to store them and sort them appropriately. It did work for my wife's CR1 fortunately.

 

According to NYT, the State Dept. is trying to "fix" the problem around the clock and may not even start again until next week. Just for background, US on average issues 50,000 visas a day. I have no idea how they are going to recover the damaged biometric info since early June and catch up with those already approved visas. Seems like they need to resubmit it unless there is a secure massive backup (which fails already) to make that happen. So the interviews have been scheduled at GUZ? The B-1?

 

Looks like a good mess to me and State Dept. is downplaying it.

Edited June 24, 2015 by jonathantwu (see edit history)

[Randy W]

The latest update is at the link I posted above - Technological Systems Issue

 

As of June 23,

 

Visa Systems Issues

• The Bureau of Consular Affairs reports that the database responsible for handling biometric clearances has been rebuilt and is being tested. 39 posts, representing more than two-thirds of our normal capacity, are now online and issuing visas. We are working to restore full biometric data processing.

• We issued more than 45,000 visas yesterday. Beijing alone issued nearly 15,000 visas.

• Our team continues to work 24/7 to restore the systems to full functionality.

• We will continue to bring additional posts online until connectivity with all posts is restored.

• We deeply regret the inconvenience to travelers waiting for visas.

• We continue to post updates to our website, travel.state.gov.

Q: How long before you restore full system functionality?

We anticipate that the system will be fully reconnected this week. We plan to work over the weekend to clear our backlog.

 

[yuehan123]

... Basically, you submit very large files containing the images of forms and photos sitting in NVC's inbox waiting to be processed. I was never comfortable about the ability for NVC to store them and sort them appropriately. ..

 

NVC has requested prior to this issue: "Please place your case number in the subject line of the email and keep your attachments below five megabytes (MB)." Here:

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Submit_documents.html#method1

 

5 mb is not so much. I had to resize all my .pdfs for submission. These 10 files were all submitted electronically April 15. By April 22nd I had an e-mail that 6 of the 10 files I had already sent were needed.

 

This time (April 22) they specified "Please place the Case number in the upper right hand corner of each page of every document." Prior, they had only requested the Case number in the Subject line and in each Document Title.

 

On May 12th they again requested 4 of the 6, the same as the first 10 I had already sent. So, these 4 files were sent 3 times.

 

On June 16th I received an e-mail that "...all documents have been received." Note that this took place during the down time period.

 

Later, the snail mail arrived postmarked June 18th stating the Interview has been scheduled. Therefore, yes document processing and Interview scheduling continued during the down time.

Edited June 24, 2015 by yuehan123 (see edit history)

[jonathantwu]

 

... Basically, you submit very large files containing the images of forms and photos sitting in NVC's inbox waiting to be processed. I was never comfortable about the ability for NVC to store them and sort them appropriately. ..

 

NVC has requested prior to this issue: "Please place your case number in the subject line of the email and keep your attachments below five megabytes (MB)." Here:

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Submit_documents.html#method1

 

5 mb is not so much. I had to resize all my .pdfs for submission. These 10 files were all submitted electronically April 15. By April 22nd I had an e-mail that 6 of the 10 files I had already sent were needed.

 

This time (April 22) they specified "Please place the Case number in the upper right hand corner of each page of every document." Prior, they had only requested the Case number in the Subject line and in each Document Title.

 

On May 12th they again requested 4 of the 6, the same as the first 10 I had already sent. So, these 4 files were sent 3 times.

 

On June 16th I received an e-mail that "...all documents have been received." Note that this took place during the down time period.

 

Later, the snail mail arrived postmarked June 18th stating the Interview has been scheduled. Therefore, yes document processing and Interview scheduling continued during the down time.

 

 

 

Good for you. I never heard a peep when I did my wife' EP in 2013. It only takes another "hardware issue" for all the people to lose their case files not to mention if they fall in the wrong hands (yep, it already happened to OPM)

[yuehan123]

I suppose you are being sarcastic. who knows on these forums. I tried, in my limited way, to agree with you.

[Randy W]

. . . another update June 24

 

Visa Systems Issues

 

 

 

The Bureau of Consular Affairs reports that 50 posts, representing nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of our nonimmigrant visa demand worldwide, are now online and issuing visas.

 

Posts overseas issued more than 60,000 visas on June 23. Mission China alone issued nearly 25,000 visas.

 

Posts overseas have issued more than 150,000 non-immigrant visas since June 9. For context, if systems had been operating normally, posts would have issued approximately 450,000 visas during the June 9-23 timeframe. We expect to close this gap rapidly over the next few days.

 

We will continue to bring additional posts online until connectivity with all posts is restored. All posts worldwide are now scheduling interviews with applicants, including those who applied after the systems problems began on June 9.

 

We deeply regret the inconvenience to travelers who are waiting for visas.

 

We continue to post updates to our website, travel.state.gov.

 

Q: Reports indicate that your backlog is 700,000 visas. Is this accurate?

 

No. While there is a large backlog of cases to clear, it never approached that level, and we have already made good progress issuing those visas. Many posts are working overtime this week, and we expect to eliminate the backlog in a week or less.

 

. . .

 

 

Q: What does this mean for travelers seeking visas?

 

All posts are now interviewing applicants. Please check the website of the nearest embassy or consulate for interview appointment availability and up-to-date messages.

 

Q: How many people were affected by this outage?

 

During the past two weeks, consular sections have continued to interview travelers who applied June 8 or earlier. Those posts reconnected to our system are now issuing visas for those applicants.