Denied Petition

[STL_HCMC 0]

Hi martindart,

So does your fiancee speak English? Were they not satisfied with her English?

STL_HCMC

She was given the blue paper and they (consulate) asked me, to send them, a video of me speaking Vietnamese (Fiancee said I did ok B+) she bias of course. I learned of the 8 people reason when I got the written letter from the consulate about 6-7 months after they denied her.

[martindart 0]

Hi martindart,

So does your fiancee speak English? Were they not satisfied with her English?

No, Yet we seem to understand each other for the past 2.5 years. She does understand English text "somewhat" well. We chat to each other daily since 2004 via web cam and yahoo messenger. I just bought her a computer for her home so she does not have to go in the rain anymore. That was the consulate first reason to deny was her lack of English speaking skills, and then, and then, and then they just keep adding reasons and forgeting the pattern. My Senator is involved, my congressman too. One Senator come to my home. That was a surprize!

Consulate worte to me today via email after waiting 7 days sice I wrote to them about the status of our petition and said we have yet to recieve your reaffirmed decision from NSC. How do they know it was reaffirmed ?

STL_HCMC

She was given the blue paper and they (consulate) asked me, to send them, a video of me speaking Vietnamese (Fiancee said I did ok B+) she bias of course. I learned of the 8 people reason when I got the written letter from the consulate about 6-7 months after they denied her.

[STL_HCMC 0]

Hi martindart,

How did they interpret your video of speaking Vietnamese?

Do you communicate in Vietnamese with her via webcam and Yahoo Messenger?

How did you meet her?

No, Yet we seem to understand each other for the past 2.5 years. She does understand English text "somewhat" well. We chat to each other daily since 2004 via web cam and yahoo messenger. I just bought her a computer for her home so she does not have to go in the rain anymore. That was the consulate first reason to deny was her lack of English speaking skills, and then, and then, and then they just keep adding reasons and forgeting the pattern. My Senator is involved, my congressman too. One Senator come to my home. That was a surprize!

Perhaps they received an electronic notification from the NSC about the reaffirmation of your case, but have yet to receive the physical paperwork on it. If I remember correctly, that is how the consulate is notified (electronically first) of the approved case once it arrives at the NVC, and then they await the physical case file that is shipped.

Consulate worte to me today via email after waiting 7 days sice I wrote to them about the status of our petition and said we have yet to recieve your reaffirmed decision from NSC. How do they know it was reaffirmed ?

STL_HCMC

[martindart 0]

Hi martindart,

How did they interpret your video of speaking Vietnamese?

I have no idea? I sent the video to my fiancee and she delivered it to HCMC

Do you communicate in Vietnamese with her via webcam and Yahoo Messenger?

some simple words in Vietnamese most time in English.

How did you meet her?

Met her online at a website called Vietsingle in late 2003

No, Yet we seem to understand each other for the past 2.5 years. She does understand English text "somewhat" well. We chat to each other daily since 2004 via web cam and yahoo messenger. I just bought her a computer for her home so she does not have to go in the rain anymore. That was the consulate first reason to deny was her lack of English speaking skills, and then, and then, and then they just keep adding reasons and forgeting the pattern. My Senator is involved, my congressman too. One Senator come to my home. That was a surprize!

Perhaps they received an electronic notification from the NSC about the reaffirmation of your case, but have yet to receive the physical paperwork on it. If I remember correctly, that is how the consulate is notified (electronically first) of the approved case once it arrives at the NVC, and then they await the physical case file that is shipped.

Consulate worte to me today via email after waiting 7 days sice I wrote to them about the status of our petition and said we have yet to recieve your reaffirmed decision from NSC. How do they know it was reaffirmed ?

STL_HCMC

[gupt0014 0]

Well, DUH! JK! ;-) The more you change clothes, and take pics at different places, and different times, the better. The more pictures you take, the better as well. That way you have a variety of things to choose from. Everytime, while in India, we went out, I changed clothes, hairstyles, etc. We had many monumental backgrounds to choose from, the Taj Mahal, India Gate, Agra Fort, crowds, malls, etc. I even had a selwar kameez made for our engagement party. All the Indians know what I'm talking about. Don't forget to choose from a range of dates as well, and include the name, date, and place on the back of the pics. For every date I had; my clothes, hair, and background were different. The key is VARIETY!

You can change clothes and hairstyles all you want. When you met once, you met once. They see that just looking at the dates when the pics were taken or how many boarding passes/flight itinerary you send.

We sent 5 photos, one from each time we met until then, supported by the tickets, hotelbills,...

THAT's the kind of stuff that matters...not how many different hairstyles you can do.

Just because they are slow, doesn't mean they are stupid.

I agree 100%...You can try all the dog and pony tricks you want and they don't mean $hit!!!

The INS officer is not studying hair styles and picturesque backgrounds. As long as you have met, you have met…period!!!!

There must be more to this than what is being relayed here.

[wait4ever 0]

I feel for you guys, and have no advice. BUT your advice about the clothes is good. I don't know what is going on with some of those consulate guys... that is discussion for another thread... but it would seem you really have to put on a 'show' for them.

When you think about it, that guy could have easily been fooled by a scam marriage if someone met thier scam-fiancee for one day and wore 10 different sets of clothes. Makes you wonder why a guy would base an important decision like that on clothing... but he did and I suppose everyone needs to comply.

During our Interview my fiancee presented 52 photos and the consular officer choose only three and took them. Many of these photos were of our ceremony in VN. In the consular report that denied our petition he wrote it appears the ceremony had only 8 guests. In reality, we had over 60 people present I sent along other photos showing many more people in the back ground to disprove what the consular office said. I also had all my fellow employees at the Elementary School where I work sign a signiture petition endorcing the fact I world marry my fiancee within the required 90 days of her arrival. I believe this new information insured Nebraska Service would reaffirm their decision (as they did) those 40 signitures helped.

Was she given a blue sheet at the time of the interview and that is when they said there were only 8 people at your cerimony? Was she outright denied at the interview or did they ask for further evidence?

She was given the blue paper and they (consulate) asked me, to send them, a video of me speaking Vietnamese (Fiancee said I did ok B+) she bias of course. I learned of the 8 people reason when I got the written letter from the consulate about 6-7 months after they denied her.

The folks at USCIS must just shake their heads when they see a denial like this. Denied for number of guests at a wedding? Wearing the same clothes in pictures? Does this outweigh the proof of relationship(e-mails, letters, trips)? Where is the concrete evidence that USCIS wants when a petition is returned to them? The Conoff seems to have made speculative judgements in this case. What a waste of time and people's lives.

[Yodrak 7]

martindart,

Two thoughts on this:

- What information did you provide when you wrote to the consulate asking about the status of your petition?

- The consulate would not receive the petition back from the NSC unless it had been reaffirmed. In other words, if you asked them if they'd received the petition back yet that would be a clear indication to them that the approval had been reaffirmed.

Yodrak

Consulate worte to me today via email after waiting 7 days sice I wrote to them about the status of our petition and said we have yet to recieve your reaffirmed decision from NSC. How do they know it was reaffirmed ?

gupt,

It's clear that having met is not the issue in this case.

Agree that there may be more to the case than martindart has told us, but that may not be his fault. The consular officer is not going to go into detail with martindart or his fiancee as to why he had reason to believe that the petition should not have been approved.

Given that the USCIS has reaffirmed the decision to approve, it is disturbing that the consular officer did not give martindart and his fiancee more of an opportunity to overcome his concerns while the case was still with the consulate rather than sending it back to the USCIS. But, as you say, there's a lot that we don't know.

Yodrak

.... As long as you have met, you have met…period!!!!

There must be more to this than what is being relayed here.