Notice of Decision letter from USCIS

[MichaelAndKha 0]

Hey guys,

I just received a letter from the USCIS, which is a "Notice Of Decision". It reads as follows:

This notice is in reference to the Form I-129F, Petition for an Alien Fiance(e). filed for Kha xxx xxx,

pursuant to Section 101 (a)(15)(K) of the Immigration and nationality Act, as amended. The petition was

approved on 03/18/09, and was forwarded abroad to a United States Embassy/Consulate with a validity

period of four months. Subsequently, the petition has been returned to the United States Citizenship and

Immigration Services (USCIS) with a finding that the beneficiary was not issued the requested K-1 visa.

Since the period of validity has now expired the petition will not be re-validated. Therefore, in accordance

with 8 C.F.R. 214.2(k)(5), all USCIS action on this petition is concluded as of the date of this notice.

The petitioner may choose to file a new Form I-129F, Petition for an Alien Fiance(e), for the beneficiary

with fee. However, if the petitioner files a new Form I-129F for the beneficiary, the petitioner will need to

meet all the requirements including, evidence to establish meeting the beneficiary in person within the two

years before the date of filing the new petition as set forth in 8 C.F.R 214.2(k).

Christina Poulos

Director

Ok, here is our situation.

Me and Kha just got married when I went to Vietnam a couple of weeks ago. I just got my copy of the marriage

certificate which was translated in English. We are planning to file a new CR-1 visa request.

My question is this; Do I need to respond to this letter by writing an appeal or do I just let it go and move

forward with the CR-1 visa process?

Maybe I should contact a lawyer like Marc Ellis or somebody.

Any help would be appreciated

-Michael

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Hey guys,

I just received a letter from the USCIS, which is a "Notice Of Decision". It reads as follows:

Ok, here is our situation.

Me and Kha just got married when I went to Vietnam a couple of weeks ago. I just got my copy of the marriage

certificate which was translated in English. We are planning to file a new CR-1 visa request.

My question is this; Do I need to respond to this letter by writing an appeal or do I just let it go and move

forward with the CR-1 visa process?

Maybe I should contact a lawyer like Marc Ellis or somebody.

Any help would be appreciated

-Michael

No, you don't need to respond to that letter. It's not a Notice Of Intent to Deny, or NOID. They're saying your K1 petition is expired. You can go ahead and file the CR1 petition.

The CSC has been doing something interesting with new K1's that were filed after the first K1 was determined to have expired (as they've determined yours has). They've been sending NOID's for the second K1, citing the CO's reasons for denying the first K1. It will be interesting to see how they respond to a CR1 filed in the same circumstances. If you get a NOID after filing a CR1 then you must respond with a rebuttal.

[ScottThuy 140]

Here link is a topic that Marc posted discussing the K-1 issue and the NOID's.. It will be interesting as Jim noted to see if a CR-1 will avoid the NOID...

IMO a NOID is actually a good thing as they spell out what the CO used as cause for denial in the first filing.. which many times is not clear... if it is spelled out in the NOID, then it can be addressed in the response and when approved by USCIS, the CO, according to policy, can't use that same reason again...

the notice of expiration is just that ... they are letting you now that the previous petition has expired... now you can file your CR-1 and best of luck to you this go... with luck she will be here by Christmas...

[Kevin and 10]

Hey guys,

I just received a letter from the USCIS, which is a "Notice Of Decision". It reads as follows:

Ok, here is our situation.

Me and Kha just got married when I went to Vietnam a couple of weeks ago. I just got my copy of the marriage

certificate which was translated in English. We are planning to file a new CR-1 visa request.

My question is this; Do I need to respond to this letter by writing an appeal or do I just let it go and move

forward with the CR-1 visa process?

Maybe I should contact a lawyer like Marc Ellis or somebody.

Any help would be appreciated

-Michael

You could file the "rebuttal" along with your I-130 petition. Can't guarantee that they would accept it as an official rebuttal since a NOID wasn't issued, but its worth a shot to see how they will handle cases like yours.

[BinhJerome 14]

You could file the "rebuttal" along with your I-130 petition. Can't guarantee that they would accept it as an official rebuttal since a NOID wasn't issued, but its worth a shot to see how they will handle cases like yours.

No there is no rebuttal since they are married now, which means they can not file for another K1 visa that is what a rebuttal would do would be to try and file for that again. As Jim and Scott said, this just means your first one is done and over with, and that you are free to file a new visa application, they made response to your K1, but since you are married you can not file for the CR1 as you have planned. Jerome

[MichaelAndKha 0]

Here link is a topic that Marc posted discussing the K-1 issue and the NOID's.. It will be interesting as Jim noted to see if a CR-1 will avoid the NOID...

IMO a NOID is actually a good thing as they spell out what the CO used as cause for denial in the first filing.. which many times is not clear... if it is spelled out in the NOID, then it can be addressed in the response and when approved by USCIS, the CO, according to policy, can't use that same reason again...

the notice of expiration is just that ... they are letting you now that the previous petition has expired... now you can file your CR-1 and best of luck to you this go... with luck she will be here by Christmas...

Thanks for the link to Marc's post. I just read through it, it seems like a lot to digest. I need to go through it again to full understand everything.

I'll try to contact Marc and see what he has to say about our case.

[MichaelAndKha 0]

No there is no rebuttal since they are married now, which means they can not file for another K1 visa that is what a rebuttal would do would be to try and file for that again. As Jim and Scott said, this just means your first one is done and over with, and that you are free to file a new visa application, they made response to your K1, but since you are married you can not file for the CR1 as you have planned. Jerome

Did you intend to say "you can now file for the CR1" as opposed to "not"

[BinhJerome 14]

Did you intend to say "you can now file for the CR1" as opposed to "not"

Yes, you CAN file for the CR1 whenever you want to. They have closed your original K1 case citing that it is expired, this means that you are free to file a new petition, but since you are married now this also means you can no longer file for the K1 visa, if you choose to file it must be either a CR1 visa or a K3 visa. The notice of experiation is in a way a good thing, it simply means that instead of the US officially making your K1 case a denial, they have simply let it expire instead of reiffirming your case and pushing it back to HCMC for another look. I think they do this for multiple reasons, but the main reason I feel for allowing a case to expire is so that they can get more money from the USC when they file for a new application, if it is reiffirmed then the most you would have had to pay would be for an updated medical exam since you have already paid a filing fee, and the visa fee at the consulate. so once again,

You CAN file for a CR1 whenever you choose to do so now that you are married, and you will not have to worry about the K1 visa, but...... You WILL have to address the reasons for your first denial, some of them if not all of them have been addressed already since you went back and are now officially married, but some other issues for your previous denial might come up, so read their reasons carefully before you file and make sure that you can disprove all their statements regarding their decision for denial. Good luck Jerome

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

There would be no point in filing a rebuttal now. A rebuttal is an argument in response, and there's not really anything to argue in response to. USCIS concluded that the petition was expired, so they closed they case. The only thing you could rebut was that decision, essentially arguing that the K1 case be re-opened. Since you're now married, that's the last thing you want to do.

Now, if you file the CR1 and get a NOID citing the CO's decision in the K1 case, you will have something to rebut.

I haven't seen one of these NOID's that Marc mentioned, so I don't know if it contains any more information than the CO provided in the denial notice given to the beneficiary after the interview. If it does, as Scott believes it might, then that would be useful in composing in a rebuttal for the NOID. On the other hand, if it only regurgitates what was already written on the denial notice...

I think Marc believes this is a better system because, apparently, some consulates were sitting on the second approved K1 petition waiting for USCIS to make a decision on the first returned K1 petition. Since USCIS had just let the first petition expire without ever making a decision, the second petition sat in limbo at the consulate indefinitely. I didn't know consulates were doing this, but Marc deals with a lot more cases then we read about here.

Personally, I don't view a NOID as ever being a good thing. Certainly, it's better than being left in limbo, but better still would be if the first case just died like USCIS had originally said, and both USCIS and the consulate focused on the second petition.