DENIED at 2. interview

[Ta Ta 1]

I returned from Dakar yesterday.

We were denied and handed a paper stating he is ineligible due to an alleged ' misrepresentation ' on a B2 ( tourist visa ) he filed

2 years ago to come visit me.

He filed the electronic form for the B2 online ,which was very unfamiliar to him and he submitted it in a hurry.

He stated his name as SteVen instead of StePHen and made a typo about his birth year, date and month was correct. Sometimes friends address him as Steve or Steven and so have I in the past.

He was accused of falsifying his identity.

When he asked me, I even told him not to worry about entering yes to the question if he ever used another name before because I felt the V versus the PH was just a slight varience and a non issue. How wrong I was !

He truthfully stated that YES he applied for a visa before ( B2 ) on the K1 forms.

He truthfully stated his passport was lost / stolen on the K1 forms.

He brought his passport and birth certificate for the B2 interview along............so if he was falsifying his identity he certainly would not have done that, nor would he have admitted he filed before.

The CO didn't like the following facts :

Passport lost / stolen.

V versus PH in his name Stephen, year of birth typo in B2 application.

Delayed birth certificate.

Delayed death certificate of his late wife.

( Sierra Leonean priority was not exactly running to register births and death during the 10 year brutal war but how to stay alive !

As recently as 2 years ago, teachers were send out to peoples homes to encourage them to register their children's birth again and obtain the birth certificates. )

They questioned his conversion from muslim to christian, he was raised as a nonpracticing muslim by a nonpracticing muslim father who married a Christian woman.

Lo and behold here is the clincher. As he entered to the window I was also called up and she went through all " hiccups ' with us.

Her folder on our case was about 3 inches thick.

She thumbed through it and then we almost fainted as we saw copies of our pics from our traditional religious ceremony.

The only way they could have obtained them would have been through our email accounts.

I quickly recovered and said yes we did have a religious ceremony and NOTHING was signed, certified or registered.

She said : I don't believe it but okay I would be willing to let that go..........but you have too many other things in the case

and though none in itself is grounds for denial the fact remains we are looking at the whole picture and with all these issues we have to deny the visa.

On the paper the following was marked :

On **** 2006, you submitted a visa application to a consular officer that listed your name as Stephen and your date of birth as ******** On ****2006 you submitted a visa application at the US Embassy in Conakry, stating that your name was Steven

and date of birth ******** ( 3 years off / typo ). Since you submitted a false identity when you applied for a visa and your identity is material to your eligibility for a visa , you are ineligible under INA section 212(a)(6)©(1) for misrepresentation of a material fact. She held the application info up for us to see but I was too shocked to read all.

My knees got weak and I almost fainted and Stephen sobbed. I asked to speak with the Chief CO and was refused. Somehow we made it outside.

Immediatley outside I had to focus on getting our friend out of trouble who innocently took pics of the embassy and the guards with his new cam phone while he waited outside for us.

The guard was beside himself and yelled at him and asked me : do you know this man and when Stephen tried to help and said the pics can just be erased, the guard became hysterical and I had to tell Stephen to be quiet that I am handling this. The guard told both to be quiet and that they were not allowed to say anything or they will go to the police station.......the guard rudely challenged Stephen to dare to erase the pics himself......he was just itching to drag him off to jail.

It was an aweful scene. I then intervened and said our friend was just excited about taking pics with his new phone and didn't realize it was against the law to do so and to please let him go and forgive the mistake and that I as a USC was fully aware of that fact.

They talked respectfully to me only and yelled loud at both of them and said they have no rights here at the embassy and to shut up.

I was able to convince them to not take the friend to jail.

We went home and Stephen had a very severe melt down.

I was just numb and channeling my focus on comforting him. Days later I crashed. Then 4 days later I got mad and said we are going back to the embassy. Once there I demanded to see the Chief CO and they said come back 3 hours later, at 2pm. We did but the guards said we go in only at precisely 2pm and not sooner. The searching and processing us through security took about 10 min. We waited and waited and I again said we want to see the CO but was told he looked for us at 2pm and we were not there

( oh yes we were and had another security guard vouch for us, call the phone and tell them so ! ) and that he was in a meeting now and didn't know when or if he would return.

I said I won't leave until I speak with him even if it would be 12 midnight , that I am a USC and demand to speak to him.

Around 4pm he came to the window. I was surprised that he was speaking kindly to us as I expected a green eyed monster by that time.

I said we were not given enough time to explain ourselves and wanted the chance to do so. He said he could not make an exception for us but would look at through our case and to submit to him a written letter and return the following day. We talked about 10 min. and he said if he would make an exception for us soon his entire waiting area would be full with everybody else.

He said if he deems that his subordinates denied the case in error he can overturn it.

I held up my bag of about 20# of evidence I dragged along in my carry on , listed all I had and said this was never even looked at.

The denial letter was already signed before our interview by him.

We typed a letter throughout the night on a borrowed laptop, put it on a memory stick and he went to a cafe to print it out.

Neither one of us was able to get into our mailboxes in 2 different cafe's.

Then the lights went out and we continued with a flash light until the wee hours, slept 3 hours and went back to the embassy.

Fully expecting to be personally handing the letter to the Chief we were told he is not available and she would take our letter but didn't think he would overturn it and that he looked at our case.

I said I was leaving Dakar tomorrow and Stephen the following day. She said she doesn't know when he would read the letter.

Nothing...no call came.

I went home a total basket case.

Then Stephen went to the airport but was told no flights go out on Thursdays even though the Slok airline confirmed the flight the day before. Also when he booked the ticket for Dakar the travel agency didn't forward the money to Slok and he was unable to

pick me up from the airport and had to depart 2 days later, so the first 2 days I was by myself. But thanks to Taurean and her husbands family and friends I was very well taken care of and the friend declared he would be my body guard.........he was, in the thickest traffic he would stop the cars like a cop so I could cross the street.

The dance of weaving in and out of traffic was as usual nerve wrecking but a well orchestrated symphony to all Nationals.

Thanks Taurean and Moussa for a place to stay and taking care that we had food the entire stay. I deeply appreciate you both.

Thank you Heather, Nagishkaw and LovinLiberia and Taurean for calling me during some of my darkest days there and encouraging me and holding me together.

It was all very devastating and our tension and stress unbelievably high.

Today I woke up to an earth quake here in Illinois, 5.2 richter scale and I was still disoriented and thinking I was in Africa. I thought I was losing my mind and thank God people started calling me confirming the quake and I realized I was not going crazy.

Stuff fell off my table.

At noon today my 3. grandchild was born. Welcome little Bennett.

I went back to work answering the "how did the interview go " questions from everyone. I wanted to just vomit.

Now what ?

Well I am retaining legal counsel, spoke with attorney Mark Ellis and contacted Laurrel Scott who specializes in

waivers and we will keep fighting and hoping until all avenues are exhausted. It won't be easy. It won't be cheap. It will be

very difficult to overcome this.

When I arrived home a mail from the Chief CO said : I am sorry to say your letter was not convincing enough to overturn the decision and as discussed to go ahead and file the waiver. He would try to expedite it and sorry that Stephen already left Dakar and yes he would have to file it in person there along with bringing $ 545 in cash. I responded by saying I will retain legal counsel as I am not familiar enough with the process of the waiver and that I hope for his positive recommendation for a good outcome. The waiver will go from the embassy to the USCIS who then will adjudicate it and grant it or don't grant it. The CO can make a positive or negative recommendation. From there our last shot would be to appeal to a judge.

Folks watch your email accounts, things are going on I would never have believed if it wouldn't have happend to us and I can't say anymore as this is a puplic board and easily accessable by anyone.........get my drift.

We are law abiding , honest people who made a mistake, were perhaps careless 2 years ago with the B2 application but

we are not criminals and we did not commit fraud. We were never in trouble with the law excpet for my few speeding tickets.

The CO said they believe our relationship is genuine and don't doubt it but the focus is the alleged misrepresentation.

I am so stressed that I approached a man at the airport who was sitting there , thinking it was my ex and said what are you doing here ? Of course he looked at me a little strange and then I walked off realizing it was not him. Maybe it was due to the malaria meds and maybe I am just losing it.........but anyway, we will remain standing and hoping and praying for God to intervene.

We are not ready to say a permanent farewell to each other .... we will never be ready for that. How would one do that ?!

We are taking one day at a time.

Sorry for the lengthy post and I feel like crawling under a rock to lick my wounds but our experience may help someone else.

I sincerely congratulate everyone who was part of the wonderful wave of approvals this month.

God bless.

[funkyab 0]

WOW!!!!

THIS IS VERY DRAMAtIC AND SUCKS!!!!

[sara..... 371]

omg i am so sorry all of this happened to u two......i can only offer prayers for u as there is nothing that anyone can say that will make u feel better..........i hope that u find peace and a way to deal with this problem so that it has a positive out come try to stay strong................

sara

[Ursa Tripudio 2]

I am so sorry to read what happened to you.

I know that the current administration has been intercepting correspondence from those of us who communicate with people overseas. There was a lot of controversy about that when it was first made public. But since then, it has quietly been swept under the rug. It's good that you remind us of it.

Probably, the threat to national security caused by Stephen's falsification of identity put a 'red flag' on you and everything was scrutinized after that. (Please detect a strong hint of sarcasm.)

Since you've got both a grandchild and a job, I'll guess that leaving America to live with your husband in a country where you're welcome and he's not feared would not be feasible.

I hope the best for you. I wish I had some really good wisdom and advice for you, I'm sorry that I don't. May you quickly find a way to solve this dilemma.

[Ta Ta 1]

I am so sorry to read what happened to you.

I know that the current administration has been intercepting correspondence from those of us who communicate with people overseas. There was a lot of controversy about that when it was first made public. But since then, it has quietly been swept under the rug. It's good that you remind us of it.

Probably, the threat to national security caused by Stephen's falsification of identity put a 'red flag' on you and everything was scrutinized after that. (Please detect a strong hint of sarcasm.)

Since you've got both a grandchild and a job, I'll guess that leaving America to live with your husband in a country where you're welcome and he's not feared would not be feasible.

I hope the best for you. I wish I had some really good wisdom and advice for you, I'm sorry that I don't. May you quickly find a way to solve this dilemma.

Thank you. Yes, it would not be feasible to live with my fiance in his home country and as a matter of fact an extreme hardship

for medical and financial reasons. I would not grow to be very old there and the unemployment rate is sky high and so is my debt here.

I also remember the media talk about intercepting correspondence and the puplic outcry before it fell into silence.

It can easily be abused, misused and one can feel quiet violated. Little did I think it would come to haunt me. I

better get off this subject for obvious reasons........the scale between risk of security and privacy invasion is a bit off balance though.

[ose_n_me 0]

OMG....I cannot believe what happened! I am so so sorry. It brought tears to my eyes when I was reading your post. I really don't even know what to say...except you are in my prayers, and I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now. What a horrible experience you went thru. I really pray that you are able to get this reversed...it sounds like there are definite grounds for a review. Maybe you should consider going public. Write to Oprah, contact the media...try to get them to tell your story. It sounds crazy...but at this point you have nothing to lose. (I assume you already contacted your congressman) I remember a post awhile ago that was from a reporter asking for volunteers who wanted to tell their immigration story. Not sure if it was legit..but u might try looking for the post. My heart goes out to you and your fiance.

God Bless

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

All I can say is that this is the government at it's worse. That making the mistake of using a nickname and having a typo for you bithdate on the application together makes you inadmissable is senseless. The "wedding" pictures" is there a chance either of you distributed them to a friend/family memebr and they did a home visit to that person ? Or that you posted them somewhere ? To get into you email they need a court order. His email they can access using a clause in the patriot act but they are not supposed to use it for private correspondence.

I hope that you can work through this mess and get things resolved. It just burns me up to see someone with an honest relationship held hostage by a typo and to watch other cases where my heart knows the marriage is based on falsehood fly through. Stories like yours make us all lose sleep wondering if some small error could through us into some similar hell.

I would contact every person that I could find that might add a positive voice to your case. Maybe if you can generate a wave of support they may listen.

Enjoy the new grandchild they grow up to fast.

[knl 0]

Oh, I am sooo sorry to hear what has happpened. I was really looking forward to you coming back and telling the good news. This really sucks and I hope things will get better real soon. You have been at this a long time and if anyone deserves to be approved, it is you. Great days are coming, keep positive. God bless.

[reeses16 8]

Omoba, I can't believe what I have just read. I'm very sorry for everything that you and your fiance are going through. I hope your lawyer can help you be successful as you move forward.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I love you, Sister.

[LovinLiberia 0]

[LovinLiberia 0]

You have a lot of courage to come and post your story here. I don't think I would've been able to do it. Maybe it will benefit someone in the future.

[sara535 15]

I'm so sorry to hear your story. I hope things work out for you, sooner rather than later.

that email thing is scary and creepy. gotta love that patriotic act, huh?

[Arinola 0]

My prayer is that God will give you wisdom from above to get past this setback. Be blessed now and we wish you all best.

[Ta Ta 1]

Thank you everyone for the support, I sure do need it. I need all the prayer I can get.