Visitor's Visa Question URGENT - HELP PLEASE

[libra]

My father has a valid b2 visa in his previous passport that expired. That passport had only 1 line for name (no surname or first name) and his name was written as Z W X Y in stead of W X Y Z (where W X Y Z are parts of his name). Consequently the visa that was stamped 6 years or so ago, had his first name as Z W X and last name as Y when his last name is actually Z. Upon the expiry of this passport he applied for a new passport and his name is correctly written - first name being W X Y and last name as Z. Now since the valid visa in the expired passport had his sirname as Y and first name as Z W X and didn't match with what he has on his current valid passport, he sent in a query to US embassy and got a response saying he should appear for a new interview as the name on the passport should match with that on the valid visa, that he did. During the interview he was not asked to show even a single document and was asked few basic questions as to how many times has he visited US, where he is going , what does his son do and what company I work for. The counselor retained his passport and didn't say anything. It has been 5 business days and he didn't get his passport back. Since it has been that long I suspected maybe they were doing doing some processing and upon my surprise when I checked the US embassy's admin processing link I see his passport # listed there. The web site clearly says if the embassy requires any processing they would hand out a pink slip and he was NOT handed out ANY pink slip or informed anything about it. Also the counselor interviewing him DID NOT ask him as to why is he applying for a new visa as his visa is still valid for 2 years or so and since he was not asked he did not consider appropriate to furnish this information regarding the issue change in the order of his name on the expired passport and the visa leading him to send a query to the embassy. What should I do, it is quite frustrating, he is 75 + years old, should I write to the congressman/senator ( I am a US citizen), shoud he call the US embassy or write to them ? what irritates me that he had a valid visa and becuase of sirname written before his first name on his previous passport and upon it's expiration his new passport had it correct, he had sent in a simple query to the embassy and was asked to apply for a new interview.
I am confused and disappointed, please advise on the next steps moving forward.

[Ron Gotcher]

It has been five days. The last three days were a holiday weekend. Visa processing can take some time, even when there are no problems.

[libra]

Thanks much Ron for the prompt response.

What confuses and disappoints me is when I checked the administrative processing link at the US embassy, India I see his passport # listed there, even though he was not given a pink slip as I mentioned earlier and as per their web site , they are supposed to hand the applicant a pink slip when any admin processing needs to be done.
Dad is 75+ years old and has visited US 4 times earlier. Should I then wait further ?? Is that what you are recommending ? what a simple change in the order of parts of one's name can lead to ??

[Ron Gotcher]

It may be that they don't need to do any administrative processing - that his application is simply being processed through normal procedures.

[libra]

Hi Ron,
As per their response to the email query they say they need to do mandatory administrative processing and will contact us when they are done with this.
Do you know if there is any difference between mandatory administrative processing vs administrative processing ??
Also any idea as to what does this administrative processing constitute - is it name check ? or could this be something else , as you know this is for a person applying for a B2 visa and is 75+ years old ? and this is the case when the visa was valid for another 2 years but due to an error on the previous expired passport containing the valid visa the visa had similar error and the new passport name was not matching to that on the visa as the name was corrected on the new passport.
Any idea on the time frame ? the US consulate does not provide information on how long will it take, all they say is they will contact once this is done.
Any sugestions on the next steps ??

[Ron Gotcher]

I don't know. Generally, security checks are not required for men over the age of 75.

[libra]

Thanks Ron for the response, greatly appreciate it.
I sent a fax yesterday to the embassy asking about an update / time frame for visa issuance and briefly describing the fact that we were advised by the consulate to apply for a new visa interview since the position of the given and last name was changed and was different on the visa in old passport to that on new passport.
Strangely enough, I got a response from the consulate via email in response to my fax this time saying that it is okay to travel on the valid visa even if there is a change in the position of the given name and last name. Though it is late in the game since as per the embassy's previous email/advise my father has applied and gone in for a NEW visa interview and is now awaiting the issuance of visa (they have even stamped cancelled without prejudice on his valid visa on the old passport)

Every time I send in a query to the general email address nivnd@state.gov I get the one line response saying your application is undergoing mandatory administrative processing as per Immigratin and Nationality act (221g) and the embassy will contact as soon as the processing is over.

Is there any recourse I have, how can I expedite this ?
Based on the latest email received from the consulate, it seems that there was no need for a new visa interview unlike what was advised to us earlier.

Thanks,
Saad