Not sure if Attorney gave me good advice.

[my choice 0]

Sylvia-n-Joseph's advice is spot on from what I've read and have had a few attorney consults tell me... You should never cancel/withdraw a K1 petition even if you've married. A good attorney will respond with a rebuttal to the K1 that will include your marriage information - the attorney should be addressing 2 things - the K1 return and the new I130.

You do NOT want to set up yourself in a situation where you've created a misrepresentation.

At the end of the day, it's up to you on whether or not you want to use an attorney - there are loads of sources for information both here on vj and other internet sources. If money is an issue, legal help may be available to you thru other sources at a minimal rate. But with all of that said, even a small slip up, especially after a returned petition, can lead to a longer wait at the minimum - or in the case of some misrepresentations the need to file waivers, bars, etc etc.

I realize that for many people throwing around $1500-$2500 or whatever is a lot of cash. Trust me, it hurts to be writing out that check, I know!!! And I know Morroco is notorious for returned petitions, but I would not screw around with a returned petition. You have a HUGE strike against you already. HUGE. And, as sad as it is to say, you may have a storybook relationship - a great match etc etc...but from a legal standpoint, for whatever reason [and maybe nothing more than the CO waking up on the wrong side of bed] you have a record that states it didn't pass the test. And trust me, from someone who knows, it is heartwrenching to have some 3rd party who doesn't know you or your relationship randomly crush your dreams...it's been months for me and I still cry over it.

Find out all you can, research, get in touch with your elected people - see what you find out. If, after all of that you feel comfortable doing all the paperwork - great. For me - even though I feel like [after filing the I129 and a year of research/vj/attorney calls/badgering my elected peeps liasons] I'm sort of well versed in this and typically feel ok with forms, personally I don't want to screw things up more than they are.

I get the rebuttal, and have no problem doing so because I know that this relationship is real, and there was plenty of evidence and I welcome whatever the consulate has to say. But what you are saying just doesn't make since. If my petition is no longer valid what exactly am i trying to defend the authincity of my relationship? It's been 2mos and they still have not sent my paperwork back yet.

[catknit 144]

Ok - maybe I'm not explaining this in a way that makes sense - I would highly suggest you read the article posted earlier.

CO's do not have a complete say in the matter - USCIS can [and historically has] followed up on cases - if you look in the returned petition thread [sticky noted in MENA] you'll see a lot of info including the latest from USCIS which states that both service centers may just allow K1 petitions to be expired and not readjudicated.

In short, your case may still be "alive" as far as USCIS is concerned - and what you want to do now is tie it up as best you can so that your second case has no issues.

You need to rebut the original finding because if you ignore requests to do so you will, by default, be agreeing to the CO's findings [i beleive you will only get this request if the petition isn't allowed to expire]. Then if you have a new case saying you don't agree with his findings you are on the record agreeing with the CO [because you didn't rebut] and disagreeing with the CO [filing a new case stating you've married and all is well in your relationship]...one is true and the other can be construed as a misrepresentation. Does that make sense?

In your case, the rebuttal may be super simple. I'm sure that there are some examples out there to use for the cover letters, etc.

It took about 6 weeks for my petition to return from India - I got an email from VSC when it arrived back - supposedly it's based on whether or not enough paperwork has warranted a shipment back to the US from that specific embassy.

[morocco4ever 63]

The returned K1 can come back to bite you. According to the lawer I retained if you cancel it you are in effect agreeing with the findings of the interviewing officer.

Sounds like you hired the same attorney i got advice from. But if I am married there is no since in fighting for a fiance visa when I am now legally married.

The problem that you have is that the returned petition for the K1 has now placed a "fraud marker" on your case. The consulate did have the right to deny the visa, but they do not have the right to revoke the I-129f. So as long as that is floating around it could potentially cause you problems. It seems that in the recent past that the California Service Center is now expiring these petitions. This would give you the right to start with the I-130. But the problem that caused the denial will still come up if you don't find some way to prove more than what was proven with the first interview. You may think that you had plenty of evidence, but obviously the CO found something that made them suspicious. Most of the time the consulates will not tell you the exact reason, just that they doubt the validity of your relationship.

The lawyer was right, you might need to prepare a rebuttal if they do not expire your initial petition.