Visa Process

[Tahlisha 28]

Hi everyone,

I've been seeing a significant amount of comments about the K-1 process that I thought were strange and posed interesting questions. For example, I've seen several people mention that they had the feeling their case was already decided even before the interview occurred and that they felt like the CO's were unnecessarily hard on them during the interview. Because these are potential situations that we all face (and more selfishly, because I wanted peace of mind for myself in Youssef's and my own case), I asked my immigration attorney. Here are some things that he shared with me that I wanted to share with the group. I hope some of this information is useful to you! Here are some nuggets of information that the attorney imparted to me:

* Often, couples will petition for the K-1 visa and literally submit the mandatory documents and proofs, and send one or two small pieces of evidence in support of the authenticity of the relationship. It's incredibly important to submit as many different kinds of evidence as possible (i.e. phone records, emails, screen captures of facebook conversations between couple and relationship status, facebook interactions between each partner and significant other's friends/family, IM and Skype logs, photos of you together that show a date within the past two years, evidence of travel to visit the beneficiary fiance(e), videos--uploaded to a website and easily accessible by internet, and notarized affidavits from friends and family). The lawyer said you don't have to submit every single piece you have, because the CO actually has to read every single thing you submit and you don't want to frustrate them by overwhelming them since this can slow your process significantly. It's important, however, to include significant events and show time span across your evidence. Interactions with friends and family/affidavits/public relationship status postings are important because if your relationship were not legitimate you probably wouldn't be sharing about your relationship publicly. When USCIS gives you an RFE during the NOA processes, it's really important that you supply them with enough evidence to prove beyond any question that your relationship is legitimate, and not just send one individual piece of evidence to answer the concern. Also, he said that while you're in NOA phase they're basically looking at the legitimacy of your relationship from the petitioner's standpoint. They want to see that you're not being paid to bring someone over, in other words. That's why if you can provide several first hand testimonials on your behalf from American friends and family, it'll be very helpful.

* When the officers are going through your paperwork during NOA, they're basically marking a checklist of questions that need to be answered before they're satisfied of the relationship's authenticity on the petitioner's side. Don't misunderstand, they're still looking at whether the relationship seems legit from the beneficiary side, too. But the most important part of that will come during the interview. So if there are several questions or red flags that still need to be addressed or things about your relationship that seem suspect to the CO reviewing your file during NOA, these will be marked in red on the outline that accompanies your file to the consulate in the beneficiary's country (in our case, Morocco) for further probing during the interview--this is why some people have long, grueling, brutal interviews... because the CO has a list of things that look suspicious in your case sitting in front of them, and their protocol is to assume the relationship is fraudulent until proven beyond any doubt that it's legit. If the USCIS officer reviewing during NOA doesn't see anything that makes him suspicious about the relationship then that's when you generally will have very short interviews that seem more like a formality than anything else.

* Things that make the officers suspicious might include: significant age difference (particularly if it's the female who's older and outside of child-baring years), significant differences in attractiveness--I know this seems harsh, but the reality is that particularly in "high fraud posts" it's easy to understand that if the non USC party is very attractive and the USC partner is pretty homely that it might be a possible fraud attempt. This alone won't be a factor, but if it's paired with a large age difference, disabilities, previous marriages/children, etc., then it's a suspicion point. Disabilities are another one because a disabled petitioner might seem like an easier target if the beneficiary partner were in fact trying to trick the USC petitioner into thinking the relationship was legit. They also look at previous marriages and children. All the above factors are things that could be construed to make an easy target by just showing a little attention to someone who may not get much attention elsewhere. Again, I know it's harsh, but it's a reality that this is possible. The marriage/children thing is big in Arabic countries because divorce is frowned upon and, I'm sure, for other reasons as well. Other red flags might be multiple K-1 attempts or applications in previous relationships by either party or multiple failed attempts by beneficiary party to enter the US on other long-term visas. Think of it as relationship profiling. Once the officer is confident that the USC doesn't have an ulterior motive, the next thing to rule out is the possibility that the USC is being misguided or tricked by the beneficiary party. So if you have red flags in your case, it's best to minimize the possibility of the officer being suspicious from the very beginning by making sure you include enough of the various types of relationship proof.

* The next big hurdle is proving that you're in a relationship that has a chance of lasting. So especially if you're from different cultural or religious backgrounds, you need to be able to show not only that you've talked about these differences, but how you handle misaligned beliefs and behaviors as they arise. For example, you need to be able to show that you can communicate effectively--this one's particularly big if your native languages are not the same. It also helps to show that you're actively working on improving your communication (maybe by taking language courses in the other partner's language). It's also important to show the officer reviewing your case that you are willing to be open-minded about your cultural and religious differences and that you're able to deal effectively with the differences or that you have discussed how to handle them (i.e. raising children, dealing with finances, family matters, religion, etc.). Basically, they're trying to protect the USC from getting into a situation that's supposed to (ideally) be a lifetime commitment before the person really understands the added difficulty of an intercultural marriage (since marriage is difficult enough even when you come from the same backgrounds).

Again, I know some of this is a bit harsh to read, but this came straight from the attorney. And I wanted to put the info to everyone here with hopes that it might help some of you better prepare throughout the process. Best of luck to you all!

Aswesome info and thanks for sharing.... There is another situation that seems to be the norm with Casa... And that is folks not actually be denied, but being told their case requires further review and is then sent back to the states and then allowed to expire at which point you are sent a nice letter stating your case has expired and has been closed and you are welcome to file again.... This happen to us and many, many, many other couples... Our g221 had other checked and when I tried to find out what that meant I got the run around... That was 2 years ago... WOW time flies.... I have since gone back and we married there.. Trying for the CR-1 this time around... Did everything you mentioned... I hope this time everything works out.....

[Tahlisha 28]

Honestly it's all a freaking ####### shoot.... My brother inlaws wife is not muslim and they fight all the time now about Islam..... She calls herself a christian but she doesn't practice her faith but they have issues about x-mas, her having a dog, his paying zakat, the list goes on..... and the Jerry Spring madness... ( my husbands sister's husband and his brothers wife were once married to each other) Sister inlaws hubby converted just to marry her... But he doesn't practice islam... My husband wanted to marry a muslim woman who was loved him for him and he found me... but we have all the issues... His brother and sister marry for god knows why has all kinds of craziness... I mean really there is so much more but would take too much time to type here and they have no problems...... So not fair..... Actually a lawyer told me it may be because of them that we are having the issues we are having... Still it is not fair... :crying: :crying:

[Shoot Em Straight 385]

Aswesome info and thanks for sharing.... There is another situation that seems to be the norm with Casa... And that is folks not actually be denied, but being told their case requires further review and is then sent back to the states and then allowed to expire at which point you are sent a nice letter stating your case has expired and has been closed and you are welcome to file again.... This happen to us and many, many, many other couples... Our g221 had other checked and when I tried to find out what that meant I got the run around... That was 2 years ago... WOW time flies.... I have since gone back and we married there.. Trying for the CR-1 this time around... Did everything you mentioned... I hope this time everything works out.....

Lucky for you both....Mine was a poorly askew photo copy of that nice letter...not even the original looking letter!

[MIBEN 83]

For example someone asking what he should say when the CO asks him to explain his love for a woman 17 years his senior, as in the thread above this one???

Call me crazy, but if I'm a CO and the guy has to post a question about how he can explain his way out of a 17 year age difference on a visa website, I'm gonna be skeptical!

That was one of the first questions they asked my husband, why do you love her? His response, "because she is a good person, very nice, very respectfully and very straight she does not play games." lol I was in the Army at the time and he was referring to my command presence I tried to tone it down but I was not too successful but his response made the CO laugh. I did not agree with his response, I did not feel it explained his love to me but the CO was satisfied with his honest response. That is the only thing the applicants can do is be honest. I always told him, "

their decisions will not change the fact that you are my husband."

[venusfire503 54]

It might be a good idea to pin this.....

venusfire