Visa denied in Algeria

[allousa 1]

Sorry sorry this is happening to you.

jPaula's advices is SPOT on. We had to go through the waiver process which you have to prove hardship. I would apply alot of the same principles in your case. We submitted lots of pictures that had both of our families in the same pics. I think that helped alot. We also had letters from both my parents and his. Pile on the evidence hard. You HAVE to not take this personal! Good luck.

[morocco4ever 63]

The short relationship is a big red flag, but if you weren't permitted to show any evidence how would they have known that? Was that information in the forms that you sent to the USCIS?

My husband had a friend that got married about a week after we did. She got there to visit him a few days before I arrived, so we spent a lot of time together. I had known my husband almost a year, but she had only known hers for a few weeks. Even though there was no other red flag for this couple other than the fact that they had just met they did get denied a visa. Of course this is out of the UK. They told him that he was only using her for a visa even though by the time of his interview she was pregnant with their 1st child. She fought hard and won, but it was hard on her due to the fact that she had to give birth without him there. I really suspect that the reason was that they didn't hardly know each other when they got married. They were close to the same age, and she is a fairly attractive woman. Not thin, but just a little chubby. Nothing that would strike anyone as odd.

They have been married now for over 5 years, and are expecting their 3rd child. I won't say their life together has been a bed of roses however. Both being young it never struck them to discuss their goals, their expectations, and their culture differences. I must say this is one of the big reasons I took a lot of time getting to know my husband first. I was so naive about the visa process, so I didn't realize the impact all of these things would have on it.

If I remember correctly, she spent a lot of time visiting with her husband and his family during the time between their denial and their success. That must have strengthened their case and provided them with additional evidence of their commitment to each other and determination to stay together. I don't remember if gis denial was as severe as this one seems to be, but, if it's based on their lack of time spent together, more time together can't hurt. However, I'm not convinced that that's all there is to it here, based on what I've read so far.

It's hard to say if it is a serious, but from what they told me I think it was similar to our denial, just based on different reasons. Her husband got the visa shortly before my husband did, so it took nearly as long as ours did. But again I am not convinced that the short time knowing each other is the reason for this denial. If they were not allowed to submit evidence how would they know about the short time knowing and visiting?

And to be honest I don't think she is going to get a straight answer from the consulate. The reason for the denial appears to be based on the husband, so would be considered confidential, even from her as the petitioner.

[Staashi 371]

I'm actually thinking it runs deeper than denial based on the one-week visit...as I said earlier, a 221g denial is one thing - it can be petitioned blah, blah, blah...I see there being more to this. If they didn't even look at your info and just were ready to deny, I have a feeling something came up in an FBI name check or some other background processing.

[MrsAmera 41]

I have to agree with Staashi. I think there must be some other reason aside from the short visit that triggered such a severe reaction. That being said if it is an FBI name check issue or DHS thing - that doesn't mean it's accurate. I hate to say it but there also might be something in your spouse's past either distant or recent that he didn't think would be an issue but came up.

[Staashi 371]

I have to agree with Staashi. I think there must be some other reason aside from the short visit that triggered such a severe reaction. That being said if it is an FBI name check issue or DHS thing - that doesn't mean it's accurate. I hate to say it but there also might be something in your spouse's past either distant or recent that he didn't think would be an issue but came up.

Amen, Sister. That's where my mind is going.

[DanniandMary 1]

I have to agree with Staashi. I think there must be some other reason aside from the short visit that triggered such a severe reaction. That being said if it is an FBI name check issue or DHS thing - that doesn't mean it's accurate. I hate to say it but there also might be something in your spouse's past either distant or recent that he didn't think would be an issue but came up.

Amen, Sister. That's where my mind is going.

My family is not happy about my marriage. I would not put it past them to contact the embassy. Do you think that would cause denial if my family told the embassy they thought he just wanted a greencard?

[morocco4ever 63]

I have to agree with Staashi. I think there must be some other reason aside from the short visit that triggered such a severe reaction. That being said if it is an FBI name check issue or DHS thing - that doesn't mean it's accurate. I hate to say it but there also might be something in your spouse's past either distant or recent that he didn't think would be an issue but came up.

Amen, Sister. That's where my mind is going.

My family is not happy about my marriage. I would not put it past them to contact the embassy. Do you think that would cause denial if my family told the embassy they thought he just wanted a greencard?

Your family would have had to have something concrete to give them, not just that they suspect something. Did they ask him anything? Or did he give them anything?

[DanniandMary 1]

I have to agree with Staashi. I think there must be some other reason aside from the short visit that triggered such a severe reaction. That being said if it is an FBI name check issue or DHS thing - that doesn't mean it's accurate. I hate to say it but there also might be something in your spouse's past either distant or recent that he didn't think would be an issue but came up.

Amen, Sister. That's where my mind is going.

My family is not happy about my marriage. I would not put it past them to contact the embassy. Do you think that would cause denial if my family told the embassy they thought he just wanted a greencard?

Your family would have had to have something concrete to give them, not just that they suspect something. Did they ask him anything? Or did he give them anything?

He said the first thing out of the ladies mouth at the embassy is "You are looking for visa sir" He said no and he said she kept yelling at him. He showed her messages where we met online. She asked why we met in tunis instead of Algeria. He told her that I did not have visa to Algeria and Tunis is safer to meet.She did not believe that his cousin and friend went with him to tunis. He showed pics in tunis of us all. She asked why he went by car to tunis. Dumb question. She asked about my surgeries. She asked the names of my friends where I use to work. I thought that was really odd. He said he dont' remember. She kept hounding him about names of friends from my old work. She asked about my kids (their age and where they went on the weekend). He showed them my new ss card and drivers license with my new name on it. He offered to show my plane ticket to tunis and she refused to look. She asked about his job. She asked what I do in my spare time. She did not give him a chance to think about time frames. She made him do the interview in english with no interpreter to help with words. He is pretty good at english but there are some words he does not know yet. She told him on everything she did not believe him. He said she just kept talking very fast and did not give him a chance. She gave him the paper of denial. She said it will take a while and we will contact you and that's it for the interview pretty much. Very negative and strange.

[jpaula 20]

The combative approach may have been rude, but to be honest, I do not see anything particularly strange about the questions he asked him.

I assume you and your husband communicate in English. The CO conducting the interview in English is a means of seeing how deep this communication can be.

Your going to Tunisia rather than Algeria may seem innocent enough, but there is another side to it as well. Yes, you have to get a visa to go to Algeria. It costs $100 and takes a few weeks, but it is utterly doable. You can also get married there, but it takes time to jump through the hoops and it also, inevitably, involves you husband's family--his extended family and even the neighborhood. So, if a CO is suspicious to begin with, going to Tunisia to get married can look like the quick, quiet way to do it. And the cultural in Algeria is not for a marriage to be either quick or quiet.

Nor is it the cultural norm for a man to marry a divorced woman with children.

None of this is to say that the marriage is not valid. But, I think the questions asked were the types of questions I would expect given the details of your case. They are stemming from certain red flags that should have been addressed up front in your petition. Perhaps you did so, but if you did not, I think you should be real honest with yourself about what your red flags are (and go through the posts here that discuss red flags) and build up evidence to address each of them.

There could also be much more to it all, but until you can get some kind of answer from the Consulate or USCIS it is hard to know what that is.

[Y's_habibitk 2]

I agree again with JPaula especially about the laguage issue. The fact is that most of us american petitioners do not speak our SO's laguage so they need to see that the beneficiaries have a good enough grasp of english... if they dont, Im sure the thought is: "how are they communicating and so in love?" I do see where the line of questioning was going with the tunis issue too. If you understand the culture norms and try to look at it from an outsiders POV, you will have some idea of what youre up against and what points to "fight" Sadly, you might never know why they denied him

stay strong, keep building your relationship together. There are alot of people who have been through this and they're here to help and provide support

[DanniandMary 1]

Thank you! I will let you all know if I get anymore news.

[mahboula 11]

I have to agree with Staashi and the other posters who said something just isn't right here. It seems like they know something about your husband(or think they do) that they aren't telling you. I know about 5 people who have interviewed in Algiers and not one of them was treated so rudely. All of them met online, by the way. Maybe the blonde lady from Casa got transferred to Algiers? The person that I know that had an interview most recently was approved without AP a couple weeks ago. He did say, though, that there were about 15-20 people interviewing that day, and only 5 people were fingerprinted and passports kept. I don't know what kind of visas they were trying to get though.

April, I am sorry this is happening to you. Everyone here has given you excellent advice. I wish I had more to give. Stay strong.

[maggieNomar 0]

TwistedK I am so sorry to hear about your case. So they canceled your application and you had to start all over?? That is horrible!!!

oh thanks. it was last year. now we are at the end of the second filing. prayerfully we will be successful this round. it was denied last year for lack of evidence, so this time around we went into overdrive

I haven't read through the entire thread but I hope someone pointed you to the denied topic pinned at the top and told you to contact Morocco4Ever or Kiya or Chiquita and get working. Every minute counts when trying to keep your file at the consulate vs. going back to USA. Once it's gone it will be a longggggg wait.

[DanniandMary 1]

I have to agree with Staashi and the other posters who said something just isn't right here. It seems like they know something about your husband(or think they do) that they aren't telling you. I know about 5 people who have interviewed in Algiers and not one of them was treated so rudely. All of them met online, by the way. Maybe the blonde lady from Casa got transferred to Algiers? The person that I know that had an interview most recently was approved without AP a couple weeks ago. He did say, though, that there were about 15-20 people interviewing that day, and only 5 people were fingerprinted and passports kept. I don't know what kind of visas they were trying to get though.

April, I am sorry this is happening to you. Everyone here has given you excellent advice. I wish I had more to give. Stay strong.

Yes I heard the same thing too. It was in fact a blonde lady who interviewed my husband. He said she was a witch.

[DanniandMary 1]

Who is this Ellis lawyer on here and is he any good??? I wonder if I can start a new application from the beginning????