Beneficiary's Tourist Visa Stolen in the Past - Preparing for K-3 Interview

[visaproblem 0]

Hi all,

I could really use some advice from the knowledgeable folks on vj regarding what is for me a complicated and stressful dilemma. Please help!! Currently, my wife and I are preparing for our K-3 interview that we hope will be in December or January with any luck.

My wife's Ecuadorian passport with a valid US tourist visa was stolen about 7 years ago by her boyfriend at the time. My wife was in her early twenties and very scared and surprised after her boyfriend physically/roughly stole her passport/purse/national ID/money. She was unaware that he was a criminal before then. She reported the robbery to the police, saying she was robbed by an unknown person because she was afraid of retaliation if she reported his name. This is a fairly common experience in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The police report makes no mention of the circumstances of the robbery or a name of the robber. My wife did not know that she needed to report the stolen visa to the American consulate as well. She also didn't tell her family or anyone else that the visa was stolen, because she says that people would be very judgmental in Ecuador, and view her negatively like she was a criminal and did something wrong for being in a relationship with a criminal.

Fast forward to July 2008, when my wife and I met via her cousin giving me her email address because she thought we would like each other. Thinking I wasn't interested in a long distance relationship, I figured it would be fun to make a penpal/friend and practice Spanish with a cute Ecuadorian. Anyway, we hit it off, obviously , and my future wife wanted to meet me in person and visit her cousin here in the States, so she applied for a tourist visa. Her interview was in Sept 2008 and the visa was denied. One reason given was that she didn't have enough connection to Ecuador because her bank account wasn't high enough, the counter evidence was that she had a job, family in Ecuador, and a family house of which she was part owner. Another reason given for denying her application was that she didn't report her stolen US visa to the American consulate. Another problem was that the police report for her stolen passport, ID, and money had a small smudge on the date.

In the past year my wife went to the appropriate police bureaucracy to get an official police report with the date fixed. The new report was filed appropriately with the consulate, and we received an email from the consulate saying we didn't need to do anything further with them to document the stolen visa.

So here we are preparing to schedule our K-3 interview. We got married in May 2009, have received our NOA2 for the I-129f, and are waiting for the Ecuadorian consulate to receive our application from the NVC and assign us a case number. We have a tremendous amount of proof that our relationship and marriage are valid. The validity of our relationship is just really obvious, and we are natural together. We've been constantly collecting anything that can be used as evidence since I had read how the consulate in Guayaquil can be incredibly difficult and that Ecuador is considered a high-fraud country for visa purposes. I think the main potential difficult spots on our application are related to my wife's previous visa being stolen, and the denial of her subsequent petition for a tourist visa. Can anyone give me guidance on how severe this issue might actually be? Any ideas on how difficult this could make our interview/visa process?

My wife and I are also unsure of what to say to the consulate about her stolen tourist visa in the interview, if we are asked. She emphatically believes that in Ecuador, as a foreign citizen applying for a visa in the US consulate, they will automatically assume the worst. She strongly believes that it would a very bad idea to say in the interview that her ex-boyfriend stole her passport. My wife says that they will assume she is a bad, corrupt person, who probably sold her visa. She says that Ecuadorians understand that it is common to be intimidated into not reporting a crime, but that the people working at the consulate would not understand this, and will think it is crazy and very wrong that she didn't report the name of the assailant. What she says makes a lot of sense to me, but I am really hesitant to go into an interview, swear to tell the truth, and then potentially not tell the truth about this item. I think our first response about the visa would be as simple as possible and true, i.e., "My visa was stolen. I reported it to the police. I didn't know at the time I had to report it to the consulate. I reported it to the consulate later, once I knew I needed too." If we are pressed for details, I'm not sure what story to give, the truth as to who stole it, or something that might play better like saying it was stolen by a stranger (thus my wife is not guilty by any association). Saying it was stolen from her house might not work, because then she would have probably known the assailant (and the supposed judgmental logic is that she should have reported the name to prosecute the person and have her visa returned, or she is a bad person for associating with a criminal). We could say that it was stolen at the airport when she was trying to leave the country, but what if we are pressed to prove she had a ticket and actual plans? If one went the storytelling route, my best guess would be something neutral and unprovable, like she was going to make a photocopy of her passport, or she was going to a travel agency to see about possible trips and maybe buy tickets to visit a friend or relative in another country if there was a good deal. It's possible to find holes in any story though, right? I need help to resolve this dilemma!!!

Alright, I would really appreciate any help/advice. It is just stressful to think that we could have problems getting the visa now that we are so close. It's tough because my wife was the victim of a crime, and she did what she had to do to be safe. I swear we are good, authentic, typically honest people. We are trying not to stress too much, but it is difficult sometimes given how important getting the visa is for us (probably doesn't have to be mentioned to this crowd ).

Any advice or related experiences?

Thanks much~

[visaproblem 0]

After thinking about it and discussing it further with my wife, I think we will stick with the true story regarding my wife's stolen visa. We don't want to be trapped in a scenario where we haven't told the truth. That could have serious immigration consequences, I assume. We will just rely on our strong evidence and that in this case it also essential that the consulate officer really senses that we are telling the truth, even if the story is complex and can be judged negatively. If it takes longer to prove what we say is true and get the visa, so be it. I hope the consulate will understand that my wife couldn't report the name of the robber for fear of retaliation, and that she didn't know she needed to report it at the consulate. She also reported this to the police a few years late because her ex-boyfriend said he worked at the police, and she didn't want him to find out and retaliate.

We are also going to get a second opinion from a good immigration agent in Guayaquil that we know.

If anyone else has any thoughts, advice, or opinions, they'd be greatly appreciated.