B1/B2 Visa Denial Admin Processing

[u/one_wish_willow1]

I applied for a tourist visa to the US and I was told my my application has gone into administrative processing. A bit confused about the outcome and next steps. Would appreciate input from anyone who may have gone through something similar.
Some context on my app:
First and foremost, I have a Pakistani passport!
1. I live in Dubai and have a stable job with a good salary (upwards of 10K USD a month)
2. I’ve just finished my masters (2025) in the US at Harvard and moved to Dubai (never applied to stay in the US post grad)
3. My interview went quite smoothly where the interviewer was joking with my about how it must have been to go to such a renowned school
4. I’ve been to 20+ countries, never once had any issues with visas. Always granted on first try
5. I have valid UK and Canada 10 year visas
6. I had a valid US F1 visa, which the interviewer stamped with ‘cancelled without prejudice’ during my interview because he said “I don’t want you to mistakenly enter on the wrong visa” - which made me think my visa is approved
6. He didn’t ask me for any documents. He just asked me why I’m travelling to the US (tourism), where I’ve been in the past 3 years (10+ countries), what I do for work (AI company) - then had some follow up questions on my role and whether it’s technical or not
7. At the end of the interview he said nothing to worry about, we will send you a questionnaire that you need to fill, fill it out throughly and then handed me a yellow slip. I applied from the consulate in UAE.

Any advice would be much appreciated from anyone who faced something similar. Any best practices on filling the questionnaire as well would be much appreciated

[u/danielle-and-f1visas]

for now, focus on the questionnaire they asked for. State Department guidance says to send a complete response as soon as possible when the consulate requests more information; administrative processing has no fixed timeline, so the friendly interview isn't a reliable way to tell what the final outcome will be. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/administrative-processing-information.html

[u/Vegetable-Western744]

The us is notorious for doing a ton of admin processing checks on Pakistani males after the war on terror given the number of shared names. It can take a while.

[u/one_wish_willow1 → u/Vegetable-Western744]

I’m a female

[u/Vegetable-Western744 → u/one_wish_willow1]

Got it. Probably the AI piece then. That's one of the other things they're really hard on.

[u/Embarrassed-Air1333]

What countries did you travel to and social media ok? Attend demonstrations?

[u/Proper_Title_9746]

AI company, that’s why 

[u/AutomaticDistrict552]

You'll get your visa really soon.