I’ve heard that right now administrative processing occurs in almost 100% of cases for STEM specialties. Is that really true, or are there exceptions? Who recently had an interview with a STEM background — did they end up in administrative processing (AP) or not? I’m interested in recent cases.
I’m doing a PhD in Computer Science, working in theoretical computer science — basically pure math, and I mentioned that in the interview. I applied for a B-1 (business) visa to give a talk at a conference — I was pulled for additional screening. I knew beforehand that this was very likely to happen.
They mostly flag people whose professions are on the TAL (Technology Alert List) — biologists, physicists, cybersecurity specialists, and so on. Especially if the PhD is in those areas, but others get picked randomly as well.
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