601 QUESTION ASKED AT LONDON

[dwar49 0]

Not sure if i missed something in all my research on 601 waivers. Today when my fiancee submitted our 601 at her interview, the man that went thru the package kept asking her for her hardship letter. Okay now that is the first time i had heard that one. In our package we had the letter from me outlining my exreme hardship, along with supporting documentation, and a letter from her talking about the circumstances of her overstay and other information about her situation at the present.

He told her he couldnt accept the package without a hardship letter from her explaining why it would be a hardship on her not to move to the states. After she explained and showed him the letter from her talking about the circumstances and other information he did accept the package, but it really confused my fiancee.

Everything i have read (including the official handbook on how wiavers are decided upon) never once mentioned that the foriegn national had to submit a hardship letter.

This took place at the london embassy. I was wondering if anyone else had the same experience, or did i miss something?

[rebeccajo 14]

Yes, there needs to be hardship letters from both the petitioner and the beneficiary. It's been frequently discussed in these forums.

[kitkat1 5]

I'm surprised by this too because all of the information I've read about waivers in Ciudad Juarez indicates that the USC needs to write the letter and prove extreme hardship to them if the fiance's visa is denied and they need to relocate permanently to the other country.

Then again, I read this on the CDJ website:

IMPORTANT LETTER

Extreme Hardship Statement should be addressed and documented as completely as possible by both the applicant and the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative.

Does London post any guidelines for applicants?

[Baileyj96 0]

Not sure if i missed something in all my research on 601 waivers. Today when my fiancee submitted our 601 at her interview, the man that went thru the package kept asking her for her hardship letter. Okay now that is the first time i had heard that one. In our package we had the letter from me outlining my exreme hardship, along with supporting documentation, and a letter from her talking about the circumstances of her overstay and other information about her situation at the present.

He told her he couldnt accept the package without a hardship letter from her explaining why it would be a hardship on her not to move to the states. After she explained and showed him the letter from her talking about the circumstances and other information he did accept the package, but it really confused my fiancee.

Everything i have read (including the official handbook on how wiavers are decided upon) never once mentioned that the foriegn national had to submit a hardship letter.

This took place at the london embassy. I was wondering if anyone else had the same experience, or did i miss something?

[Baileyj96 0]

Well that was screwy. It completely left everything i wrote in my last post.

What I said was:

They do require a letter from both but I've never heard of them wanting one with the reasons why it would be a hardship for her not to move to the US. I've actually never seen anything posted as to what their letter should contain. What we did was explain the circumstances that led to his crime. Expressed much regret for what had happened and copied and pasted key items from my letter and incorporated them into his. We also included character letters of reference. We based ours on what someone on another site suggested. We had no idea since there is nothing posted about the second letter. I heard about it on immigrate2us.net.

Very strange they would state that this is what her letter should contain.

I will say that I think it is very acceptable to write another letter and mail it in to DHS. Just write a short note and explain what the embassy stated to you and include you LDN #. As long as your not under review I see nothing wrong with that and since you just filed you should have some time to do that if you wish.

They took several of our supporting documents out and we were not comfortable with that so he mailed copies back in as soon as he got back home.

this is the page with their address or you can wait until you receive your post card from them. It should be on there.

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/uscis/index.html

best wishes,

Vicky

[dwar49 0]

thanks for the info. We did give them a letter describing the circumstances of her overstay and what happened. Basically as you said Bailey. We probably will send them the documents that they took out as i think they support part of my letter.

Everything i have read clearly states that the decision to approve the waiver is based on the fact that there would be extreme hardship to the USC. Nothing talks about hardship on the part of the UKC. Since we did include the letter from her talking about her circumstances that led to the overstay and a little about her current situation we are going to leave it at that. The funny thing was it was like he hadnt even seen the letter from her (all signed and dated) until she pointed it out. Once she did that he took the package without further comment. So maybe he just hadnt noticed the letter (must have been blind) and used the word hardship to describe the letter she was supposed to submit. I dont know, i have looked all over and every thing i can find talks bout hardship the USC only. Really think he was a little confused on what was supposed to be in the letter from her.

I'm surprised by this too because all of the information I've read about waivers in Ciudad Juarez indicates that the USC needs to write the letter and prove extreme hardship to them if the fiance's visa is denied and they need to relocate permanently to the other country.

Then again, I read this on the CDJ website:

IMPORTANT LETTER

Extreme Hardship Statement should be addressed and documented as completely as possible by both the applicant and the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative.

Does London post any guidelines for applicants?

KitKat

They have a website that leads to the handbook that is used to determine if the waiver is approved or not. Again only talks about hardship to the USC. Although it does say that circumstances of the applicant should be taken into consideration. I think we are fine although I am going to take Bailey's advice and mail another letter to be included in the package. Cant hurt, although not sure how to prove hardship on her part.

Yes, there needs to be hardship letters from both the petitioner and the beneficiary. It's been frequently discussed in these forums.

rebeccajo, where does it state that there should be two hardship letters? I have read many times that the UKC also submits a letter (which we did) that talks about the circumstances of the overstay and other supporting evidence that indicates they are repentant however never once have i heard that you put an actual hardship letter in. My fiancee's letter talked about the unusual circumstances of her overstay and what led up to it, and her feeling about me and how hard it would be on me to move to UK. My letter specifically addressed my hardships although did mention that she had few family ties in the UK.

[nigel 7]

Hi,

How much was the overstay? anything under 180 days can be forgiven anything more than 180 days but less than 1yr a waiver will be ask plus hardship letters from the USc and Alien...The DHS is more interested in the USc Hardships ie....work, college , medical ie... Family needs him there in the USA ect...

Here On VJ we have a uk601 waiver forum there you will find out about all this.....also there is a website immigrate2us.net and look for forum 801 waivers there you will find stickeys hardship letters from members who have been Approved and also been denied....please read this will give you a better idea, but act fast if you want the DHS to take you both serious......

Sorry but i dont mean to spook you but do not take this hardship 601 waivers for granted....put whatever you need in them letters.....make it short and to the point....what i mean is dont over do it but also dont under do it...if ya know what i mean....

Like i said take a look at the forums and ask whatever you need im sure members here and the other site will be glad to help.....

I wish ya Well....

Ps well said Bailey....ya getting a bit of a pro....

[rebeccajo 14]

rebeccajo, where does it state that there should be two hardship letters? I have read many times that the UKC also submits a letter (which we did) that talks about the circumstances of the overstay and other supporting evidence that indicates they are repentant however never once have i heard that you put an actual hardship letter in. My fiancee's letter talked about the unusual circumstances of her overstay and what led up to it, and her feeling about me and how hard it would be on me to move to UK. My letter specifically addressed my hardships although did mention that she had few family ties in the UK.

If you re-read my answer, I didn't say it is stated anywhere.

I said it is well documented in this forum that a hardship letter is required for both the beneficiary and the petitioner.

What I did not state is that the term 'hardship' is possibly used in a generic manner around here.

I see you are one who does your homework. So am I. I'm also a great believer in supplementing that with recent experiences of others. I believe the combination creates a broader understanding of any procedure.

You asked if you had missed something. I have no way of knowing what you may or may not have overlooked. I merely pointed you in the direction of the past experience of the good people in this thread. Which is something you won't find in a manual, but is highly relevant nonetheless.

Having said that, I was relieved to read their recommendations that you supplement the consulate with further information.

Edited October 21, 2006 by rebeccajo

[dwar49 0]

Rebeccajo, thanks for the answer. I didnt mean to sound short with you. I have done alot of research on the 601 process and put together what i consider a very good hardship letter (i had posted it on a couple of boards and gotten good responses). We also detailed my fiancee's circumstances of the over stay in another letter, plus included supporting documentation for my letter. We just were surprised by the individual's original insistance of having two hard ship letters. I really think that we met all the requirements, and that his use of the term "hardship letter" was generic.

Hi,

How much was the overstay? anything under 180 days can be forgiven anything more than 180 days but less than 1yr a waiver will be ask plus hardship letters from the USc and Alien...The DHS is more interested in the USc Hardships ie....work, college , medical ie... Family needs him there in the USA ect...

Here On VJ we have a uk601 waiver forum there you will find out about all this.....also there is a website immigrate2us.net and look for forum 801 waivers there you will find stickeys hardship letters from members who have been Approved and also been denied....please read this will give you a better idea, but act fast if you want the DHS to take you both serious......

Sorry but i dont mean to spook you but do not take this hardship 601 waivers for granted....put whatever you need in them letters.....make it short and to the point....what i mean is dont over do it but also dont under do it...if ya know what i mean....

Like i said take a look at the forums and ask whatever you need im sure members here and the other site will be glad to help.....

I wish ya Well....

Ps well said Bailey....ya getting a bit of a pro....

Nigel

the over overstay was for over a year. We knew going in we would probably need 601 so had already done the research. My only concern was the individual questions that caught us flat footed. My fiancee included a letter from detailing her circumstances and current situation. We just didnt label it a hardship letter for the very reason you gave, DHS is primarily interested in the hardship to the USC. Thanks for the info.

[Baileyj96 0]

. We just were surprised by the individual's original insistance of having two hard ship letters. I really think that we met all the requirements, and that his use of the term "hardship letter" was generic.

I agree with you.

If you feel comfortable with what you submitted then I would stick with it. Just letting you know there was an options to send in more info if you felt the need to.

Good information to share since lots of information was lost when this site crashed a few months ago. I am sure it will help someone else in the future.

Thanks for sharing dwar49

Vicky

[rebeccajo 14]

Rebeccajo, thanks for the answer. I didnt mean to sound short with you. I have done alot of research on the 601 process and put together what i consider a very good hardship letter (i had posted it on a couple of boards and gotten good responses). We also detailed my fiancee's circumstances of the over stay in another letter, plus included supporting documentation for my letter. We just were surprised by the individual's original insistance of having two hard ship letters. I really think that we met all the requirements, and that his use of the term "hardship letter" was generic.

Eh, thanks for that. No need to apologize. This is an emotional thing. You're entitled to be wound up a bit. All is good.

I'm going to add this - there was a case here last winter where A CO advised the beneficiary he didn't even need a waiver and he found out later that he did. There was another case where the CO's accepted a waiver for an offense that was unwaiverable. I've just had a conversation with someone who says their London CO told them the petitioner did not need to provide a hardship letter.

My point? The CO's aren't the ones that grant the waivers. They only accept them at the window and probably aren't experts in what it takes for a waiver to be approved. They are well-intentioned and sympathetic but they aren't the man with the gold.

I think you should follow the examples of successful petitioners and submit what they submitted. Success breeds success.

[dwar49 0]

Rebeccajo, thanks for the answer. I didnt mean to sound short with you. I have done alot of research on the 601 process and put together what i consider a very good hardship letter (i had posted it on a couple of boards and gotten good responses). We also detailed my fiancee's circumstances of the over stay in another letter, plus included supporting documentation for my letter. We just were surprised by the individual's original insistance of having two hard ship letters. I really think that we met all the requirements, and that his use of the term "hardship letter" was generic.

Eh, thanks for that. No need to apologize. This is an emotional thing. You're entitled to be wound up a bit. All is good.

I'm going to add this - there was a case here last winter where A CO advised the beneficiary he didn't even need a waiver and he found out later that he did. There was another case where the CO's accepted a waiver for an offense that was unwaiverable. I've just had a conversation with someone who says their London CO told them the petitioner did not need to provide a hardship letter.

My point? The CO's aren't the ones that grant the waivers. They only accept them at the window and probably aren't experts in what it takes for a waiver to be approved. They are well-intentioned and sympathetic but they aren't the man with the gold.

I think you should follow the examples of successful petitioners and submit what they submitted. Success breeds success.

Thanks for the advice, definitly following that. I think we have submitted everything that they need, after talking to you and others here, i really believe you are right about the COs not being the experts. To be honest think i know more about the process than they do as i have researched it to death the last 10 months waiting for the interview knowing we would need it. the only thing we are going to do is send the supporting evidence to the DHS that the CO took out saying it wasnt revelant. (we both firmly believe it is). Thanks for all the info and yes right now is very emotional time, and i did owe you an apology. Stress and emotion is no excuse for me to be rude to someone that was trying to help.

[kitkat1 5]

Doug, confusion aside, I'm glad to her everything was submitted and she finally had the interview. Now you two are in the home stretch (and I'm jealous!) Best wishes for a speeeeeedy approval!

[dwar49 0]

KitKat

Thanks for the encouragement. Lisa is relieved (to the say the least) that the interview is over. She had quite a day yesterday. As always she came thru with flying colors and got the job done!!!! Keep us updated on your status as you have been a good friend and help thru out all this whole ordeal.

Best wishes for a speedy approval for your fiancee!!!

Doug and Lisa

[nigel 7]

ok,,,,yep i understand.....