my uscis nightmare

[clayr1 3]

Anyone can help on this problem? My fiance failed her first interview in oct. 09 and now I got letter from uscis saying case closed. I refiled all paperwork and sent them all evidence ( plane tickets, phone bills, letters with postage marks, pictures, etc.) this was 3 weeks ago. They have yet to cash my check and I have heard nothing from uscis. I started this process over 2 years ago. Now back to the beginning. When my fiance went for interview she said 90% got the blue sheet only older ladies got the pink. I went to us consulate while on my last vacation to HCMC and they offered no help. I met other men who have this same situation at the consulate. Anyone know from experience what to do? I know Viet guys who marry Viet women have an easier time with K1 visas but having to wait 3 years is crazy. Anyone else having similiar experiences?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Anyone can help on this problem? My fiance failed her first interview in oct. 09 and now I got letter from uscis saying case closed. I refiled all paperwork and sent them all evidence ( plane tickets, phone bills, letters with postage marks, pictures, etc.) this was 3 weeks ago. They have yet to cash my check and I have heard nothing from uscis. I started this process over 2 years ago. Now back to the beginning. When my fiance went for interview she said 90% got the blue sheet only older ladies got the pink. I went to us consulate while on my last vacation to HCMC and they offered no help. I met other men who have this same situation at the consulate. Anyone know from experience what to do? I know Viet guys who marry Viet women have an easier time with K1 visas but having to wait 3 years is crazy. Anyone else having similiar experiences?

Did you send the second petition before you got the letter telling you the outcome of the first returned petition? USCIS tracks multiple petitions, and they won't process a new petition from the same petitioner until the old petition is officially closed. Also, since you had a petition approved by USCIS within the past two years, you need to ask for a waiver of the IMBRA filing limitations with your petition.

The California Service Center has been doing something new with returned petitions. They send a letter telling the petitioner that the returned petition has expired, and they are free to file a new petition. When the petitioner sends the second petition they issue a Notice Of Intent to Deny citing the CO's reasons for denying the first visa. I haven't heard anything about the Vermont Service Center doing the same thing, but you might want to read about this new tactic anyway:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/245030-k1-noids-at-california-service-center/

Your situation is not unusual. I would guess that the denial rate at the consulate in HCMC is well over 50%. What your fiancee noticed at the consulate was probably just an anomaly on that particular day. Many older women are denied or given blue slips, and many younger women are given pink slips. The age of the beneficiary is not really a deciding factor. What's more important is how well prepared your petition package was, and how well prepared your fiancee was for the interview. Successfully getting a visa out of the consulate in HCMC depends very much on how well you do your homework and prepare.

You might notice that some Viet Kieu have an easier time, but it only appears that way. I know many Viet Kieu who have failed to get a visa in HCMC. I also know some who have succeeded. The only advantage a Viet Kieu has over a non-Vietnamese person is that they know the culture and what is expected in a legitimate relationship in Vietnam. That's only a small portion of the battle. The biggest factor is knowing the consulate, and what circumstances will set off alarms. If you do your homework, you can make sure that your relationship passes the Vietnamese culture "smell test", and also doesn't have any unaddressed red flags that will cause problems at the consulate.

Spend some time in the Vietnam regional forum here. There's a wealth of knowledge to be gained from the experience of others.

[ScottThuy 140]

call them tomorrow and inquire as to the status.. they likely wanted to close out the ld case before acting on the new one... they dont like having two at one time...

[clayr1 3]

Did you send the second petition before you got the letter telling you the outcome of the first returned petition? USCIS tracks multiple petitions, and they won't process a new petition from the same petitioner until the old petition is officially closed. Also, since you had a petition approved by USCIS within the past two years, you need to ask for a waiver of the IMBRA filing limitations with your petition.

The California Service Center has been doing something new with returned petitions. They send a letter telling the petitioner that the returned petition has expired, and they are free to file a new petition. When the petitioner sends the second petition they issue a Notice Of Intent to Deny citing the CO's reasons for denying the first visa. I haven't heard anything about the Vermont Service Center doing the same thing, but you might want to read about this new tactic anyway:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/245030-k1-noids-at-california-service-center/

Your situation is not unusual. I would guess that the denial rate at the consulate in HCMC is well over 50%. What your fiancee noticed at the consulate was probably just an anomaly on that particular day. Many older women are denied or given blue slips, and many younger women are given pink slips. The age of the beneficiary is not really a deciding factor. What's more important is how well prepared your petition package was, and how well prepared your fiancee was for the interview. Successfully getting a visa out of the consulate in HCMC depends very much on how well you do your homework and prepare.

You might notice that some Viet Kieu have an easier time, but it only appears that way. I know many Viet Kieu who have failed to get a visa in HCMC. I also know some who have succeeded. The only advantage a Viet Kieu has over a non-Vietnamese person is that they know the culture and what is expected in a legitimate relationship in Vietnam. That's only a small portion of the battle. The biggest factor is knowing the consulate, and what circumstances will set off alarms. If you do your homework, you can make sure that your relationship passes the Vietnamese culture "smell test", and also doesn't have any unaddressed red flags that will cause problems at the consulate.

Spend some time in the Vietnam regional forum here. There's a wealth of knowledge to be gained from the experience of others.

[clayr1 3]

Yes the first filing ended with a closed letter saying no further action will be taken. I met others at us consulate there who have experienced the same thing but now this is getting old over 2 years and I am square 1 would getting her pregnant do any good? Everyone tells me to wait wait wait but this is just dragging on. Thanks for your reply.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Yes the first filing ended with a closed letter saying no further action will be taken. I met others at us consulate there who have experienced the same thing but now this is getting old over 2 years and I am square 1 would getting her pregnant do any good? Everyone tells me to wait wait wait but this is just dragging on. Thanks for your reply.

Not exactly square one. A little older, a little wiser, and hopefully not looking forward to failing again at the next interview.

Some people have said they were certain they were approved because their fiancee was pregnant, but I've seen people with pregnant fiancee's fail. I don't think it makes any difference. If a girl was trying to scam her way into the US then she'd be more than happy to get pregnant in order to do it. I'm sure the consular officers know this.

If you expect to succeed next time then you need to figure out what caused you to fail the first time, and address it thoroughly. You also need to figure out what other red flags might exist in your case, and address those as well. Here's a short list of the things that have been cited by consular officers in HCM when they've denied a visa. Do any of these apply to you?

1. Introduced by a family member of the beneficiary. CO's suspect the reason for the introduction is family reunification, and NOT a sincere relationship. They will suspect this even more if the beneficiary has several family members living in the US.

2. Beneficiary recently divorced. The CO suspects the beneficiary AND her foreign husband have devised a plan to get BOTH of them to the US. The beneficiary goes first as the fiancee or spouse of a US citizen. Once she's secured her immigrant status in the US, she dumps the US citizen who petitioned for her, and sponsors her original husband to immigrate.

3. Petitioner recently divorced. This is especially a problem if the petitioner still lives with his ex-wife, or if he's got some financial problems. The CO suspects he's getting paid to sponsor the beneficiary, and he'll remarry his ex-wife once the beneficiary has secured her immigration status in the US.

4. Short time between introduction/first meeting/engagement. The CO thinks the couple are working off a checklist, and trying to get each item completed as quickly as possible. Traditional relationships in Vietnam do not progress this quickly.

5. No engagement ceremony, or very small engagement ceremony. The engagement ceremony, or Dam Hoi (also called Dinh Hon) is a BIG DEAL in Vietnamese culture. It serves multiple purposes. It announces to the community that the couple are officially off the market. It also serves as a way for the community to acknowledge and accept the couple and their relationship. It's also a good excuse for a party!

6. No common language. The CO will wonder how a relationship can develop between two people who can't even communicate.

7. Petitioner has visited the beneficiary only once or twice. This may be coupled with #4. For instance, making only one trip and having an engagement party within days of arriving in Vietnam. The CO believes the couple are just trying to meet the minimum requirements to get the visa.

8. No clear plans beyond getting the visa. This one has been coming up more frequently lately. The CO asks the beneficiary about the wedding plans; where will it be, how many people will attend, what will it cost, where will you go on your honeymoon, etc. If the beneficiary doesn't know, then the CO suspects that the visa is ultimate goal, and not a life with the petitioner.

There's other stuff too, but that's enough to get you thinking.

There's a prominent immigration attorney you've seen discussed in the VN regional forum, and who occasionally posts on this forum. He has an interesting theory, and it's backed up by a policy memo which was sent to the consulates in 2004. According to his theory, the CO can't deny a visa for a reason that USCIS knew about when the petition was approved. To do so is comparable to readjudicating the petition, which is something CO's do not have the authority to do. He's written an article about it here:

Article

According to his theory, if you find any red flags in your own case then you should address them with evidence you 'frontload' with your petition. If USCIS approves the petition then, according to his theory, you've removed the red flags as potential reasons to deny the visa, effectively disarming the consular officer. Does this work? I don't know if anybody knows for sure. I do know that there were several red flags in my own case, and that I followed his advise and frontloaded evidence to address them, and we beat the odds and got the visa. My fiancee (who is now my wife in the US) was asked only three questions at the interview.

[clayr1 3]

Ok we were not introduced by any family member, neither has been married or divorced, she speaks with a about 2nd grade english vocabulary, met in 11/07 Dam Hoi 5/08, I've visited her 6 times and CO said only 3 or 4 days together, wedding plans are not etched in stone because she is not here but aware of have to marry in 90 days yes she got crossed up on my education level and livilyhood but she knew where I worked and do for a living nail tech. My thought is uscis is only waiting to see how long they can drag this out before someone gives up.