Enter the US while the old visa stamp is still valid and have an administrative processing on new visa application

Hi there,

I have a complicated situation. My visa stamp is valid until Dec of 2016, and I went back to visit family in Oct of 2016, so theoretically I did not have to renew my visa, since it is still valid. However, I decided to renew my visa anyway while I was home, since I thought I might need to go for a business trip in another country next year and have to re-enter the US. The problem is this time my visa got administrative processing and I had been waiting for a month and did not hear back. My question is: can I ask for my passport back from the consular and just try to enter the US, since the previous visa stamp is still valid? Thank you for the help!

Yes, that is worth a try. You can ask them to return the passport and then use the old visa stamp to return to US. However, I cannot say w/ certainty that they would not touch the old visa stamp when returning the passport.