To frontload or not to frontload?

[diamondfloor 10]

Hi there,

Just starting out on the K1 journey and am excited to be doing so but am also scared to death! My partner and I have been together three years now, we have both been married (and divorced) twice previously and are now in our 40's. Its kind of scary to be doing it all again, especially with all the bureaucracy involved in our particular case.

We are in the process of getting our paperwork in order before we file and I'm sure we will have lost of questions along the way.

Here goes with the first lot!

I have been travelling back and for to the USA since 2007. I purchased a holiday home there in 2008 and straightaway applied for a B1/B2 visa totally ignorant of the US immigration minefield and was denied (my then husband and I were downsizing in the UK in order to be able to afford the holiday home, and were intending to spend roughly half the year in the holiday home and half in the UK). As I was homeschooling my kids I was, according to the embassy, 'unemployed', had 'taken my kids out of school' and had 'sold my home in the UK' therefore visa denied.

I travelled on the Visa Waiver program in 2008 and 2009 until the ESTA came in and I was denied authorisation. I then re-applied for a B1/B2 and got it.

I travelled on that during 2009. During 2009 my husband and I separated and divorced and we both met new partners. This is when my current partner and I began seeing each other. Fairly early into the relationship we realised that we also had business backgrounds in common and his corporation in the US sponsored me for an H1B position filed in December 2009.

This was approved but then I got a 221g at the Embassy interview (London), the petition was returned to USCIS for revocation, we responded, but the petition was ultmimately revoked because they did not consider the position to be a specialty position.

By this time (October 2010), our relationship had deepened and strengthened considerably and we were devastated that, not only would we now be unable to work together, we would potentially no longer be able to continue our relationship as the Embassy had cancelled (cwop) my B1/B2 visa and my ex had filed for residency of my two youngest children and I was caught up in that court case in the UK.

By July 2011, I had won residency based on my commitment to stay in the UK and raise my kids. My SO was unbelievably supportive and agreed that we would continue our relationship during the school holidays when my kids would be with their Dad. We believed I could still travel on the VWP and intended to do that.

But, I travelled to the US in August 2010 but was denied entry. Again, my SO stood by me and we have been able to spend time together at my home in the UK and have taken trips to Canada and Mexico since.

Sounds like a nightmare, no?

The up-side is that our relationship has only continued to grow and strengthen and we are more committed to each other as a result of the trials we have faced and the obstacles we have overcome to be together.

We have continued our relationship at our own pace, despite the challenges and are now ready to make a lifelong commitment to each other by getting married. We needed to be able to make the decision in our own time and for the right reasons, not through the pressure of the circumstances.

It would be soooo much easier if we could settle together in the UK, but he has a business in the US that he cannot leave...so we must run the immigration gauntlet again. Hopefully, with the background as above, you will understand my anxiety! I totally understand the decisions made by USCIS and the Embassy now that I understand more of the US immigration laws but I am also confused because I have always played by the rules and have done nothing wrong.

I am thinking that we will need to address the above in our initial petition in order to minimise the risk of rejection at the embassy stage but I am also aware that 'less is more' and that I now totally fall apart during visa interviews because of my past experience.

In your opinions, does it help to frontload? Would it help in a case such as ours which is likely to raise red flags? What do you see in the above that we need to address?

I have tons of pictures of us together, with our families, with our kids. I have passport stamps, emails, itineraries, and can get affidavits from friends relatives and probably my UK lawyer (because my SO was named in the legal proceedings over residency of my children).

I welcome your thoughts.

Thanks

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I don't think being denied a visitor visa or work visa or even denied entry has any effect on a fiancé visa. My opinion is give them what they need to approve the petition---

-proof the SO is a US citizen

- that you have met in person within the last two years (passport stamps, boarding passes, etc),

-proof that you are free to marry (every divorce decree)

-statements from each that you intend to marry...yada yada.....

People have compiled lists of things you can use to show being in the same place. Example we each had charges in Harrods on the same date and added that in with the passport stamps. Even being in another country (if you both got stamps) at the same time works. Throw in a few photos in Mexico or wherever and you should be good to go. You don't have to actually be in love and prove that. It says nowhere in the official instructions to send love notes and Skype logs. And at the interview in London they will not want to see any evidence of your relationship.

That's my opinion on front loading.

A tip since you were divorced-- (a copy/paste from something I've posted many times about the English divorce decree) Use a photocopy

Before applying, I had read that people were getting RFEs because they were not recognizing it as official. Here's what I sent and it was accepted with no RFE

A color copy so the red seal shows up.

Yellow highlighter over the sentence from "it is hereby certified that said decree...." and continuing to "...marriage was thereby dissolved."

Highlight DATED:xxxxxxxx

Yellow highlighter on the teeny, tiny print in the footer that says "Decree of Absolute (divorce)"

Edited June 25, 2012 by Nich-Nick

[amykathleen2005 441]

I don't think front loading ever hurt anyone. But I don't think it will make all that much difference.

[Mogambi 96]

The fear is that supposedly front loading too much is something that scammers tend to do, because they're nervous about getting caught, they try 'too hard' and send in way too much. So I think you can send in too much. BUT much better to ere on the side of slightly too much than risk getting an RFE and delay that comes with it.

Send in what you feel is a reasonable amount that they would not question that you've met and have a real relationship.

[diamondfloor 10]

Thank you!

[TBoneTX 45,090]

1. Pay close attention to anything that Nich-Nick says about the London embassy.

2. In regard to front-loading in general, see post #6 in this thread:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/374789-proof-at-interview/