The CEAC system has been updated with the case data. Interestingly this was made available at the exactly the same date as last year, and the year before.

This confirms my suspicion that there is a logic switch to only make the 2017 data available from 2017 (in pseudo code, show DV year data where year <= year extracted from sysdate). This is really BIZARRE programming – and as I have stated before the US government really needs some help on their IT side!!!

Anyway – a recap for those that are not aware of what the CEAC data is. CEAC is a government database/web page that allows people to enter their case number and get some basic status information. The site can be access at this link and you can enter the case number without leading zeros. So – if your number is 2017AF00012345, you would enter that as 2017AF12345. If you enter a real case (not a “hole”) a window pops up with some basic case status information. From this, for cases which are scheduled,  we can see the number of derivatives on each case, the embassy, the original entry date, last updated date and so on.

 

So what do the status codes mean.

The first status for every case is “AT NVC”. You can ignore the text on the case – the case has not been passed to NVC.  What this status means is that the case is in one of the following situations.

  1. The case is not yet current.
  2. The case is current, BUT the DS260 has not be submitted at all, or it was submitted but not processed yet – and therefore not scheduled.
  3. The case is current, the form is processed, but it is waiting to be scheduled (typically because the cases have not yet been sent to the embassies yet).

“In Transit”

This status is shown for a brief period when KCC has scheduled the interview, and transferred the case to the embassy. However, the embassy has not yet updated CEAC to acknowledge they have received the case.

“READY”

This is the next status after in transit. It means the case has arrived at the embassy for interview. Sometimes a case will continue to show ready even after the interview.

“Issued”

Pretty obviously – this is the status we all want to see! The interview took place, was successful and the visa has been approved/issued.

“Refused”

This is the status no one wants to see, meaning the interview took place and the selectee was denied. A derivative can be refused, while the principal is approved. However, if the principal is refused – all the derivatives are refused also – even if the embassy fails to update CEAC.

“Administrative Processing”

This is when someone did not have all the documents at the interview OR some additional checks are needed before the case can be adjudicated. AP can last a few days or several months. The status updates during that time are meaningless.

Derivative number.

For cases that are scheduled we can see the related derivative numbers. Case 01 is the principal and derivatives are case 02, 03 and so on.