The hoping not to be denied at Casablanca thread

[msheesha 548]

Yikes! You like those snails!? I can't get past the smell as I'm walking by.

Sorry, I don't know why I thought your interview was on Monday. Is someone else's on the 28th?

[KittyPollitt 284]

Yikes! You like those snails!? I can't get past the smell as I'm walking by.

Sorry, I don't know why I thought your interview was on Monday. Is someone else's on the 28th?

They're actually pretty good! They're spicy.. I still like them with garlic and butter better

I don't think there's anyone on Monday- Vanessa1 is up to bat on Tuesday with a CR1, and us on Wednesday with a super unique circumstances K1.. Lets pray for home runs..

[Crossed_fingers 128]

They're actually pretty good! They're spicy.. I still like them with garlic and butter better

I don't think there's anyone on Monday- Vanessa1 is up to bat on Tuesday with a CR1, and us on Wednesday with a super unique circumstances K1.. Lets pray for home runs..

I was going to say, "I'll keep my fingers crossed for you both," but then I realized with my user ID that would be redundant. Good luck!

[ErikaAndHamit 73]

Hey Monica, have you thought of PM'ing "pshbrk" here on VJ on what to do next? I think he is/was a CO or worked for USCIS or is an immigration attorney (he sure comes across as one of the aforementioned, but doesn't admit to anything) and is a wealth of info and there doesn't seem to be a question he can't answer.

I have asked him questions before when I was a newbie and he is very straightforward and VERY knowledgeable. Also, so is "Bobby& Umit".....give it a try! I read somewhere once that you needed to withdraw your K-1 before proceeding with another visa or it sits for quite sometime....I just hope you get answers on what to do soon! Sorry, if I missed something and am giving naive advice!

[LaL 418]

Hey Monica, have you thought of PM'ing "pshbrk" here on VJ on what to do next? I think he is/was a CO or worked for USCIS or is an immigration attorney (he sure comes across as one of the aforementioned, but doesn't admit to anything) and is a wealth of info and there doesn't seem to be a question he can't answer.

I have asked him questions before when I was a newbie and he is very straightforward and VERY knowledgeable. Also, so is "Bobby& Umit".....give it a try! I read somewhere once that you needed to withdraw your K-1 before proceeding with another visa or it sits for quite sometime....I just hope you get answers on what to do soon! Sorry, if I missed something and am giving naive advice!

Noooo - pushbrk is just another lay person when it comes to immigration. Also - imho - PMing members for immigration advice isn't the best course of action.

[KittyPollitt 284]

Noooo - pushbrk is just another lay person when it comes to immigration. Also - imho - PMing members for immigration advice isn't the best course of action.

Probably good advice- unless you're PMing Marc Ellis, or maybe Kiyah about refusals..

[KittyPollitt 284]

Well, Vanessa1 has her interview for CR1 in the morning, I'm gonna go down there and sit with her while she waits for her husband in the consulate.. And then my fiance has his interview the next day.

I've decided, since I've been here for 4+ months, not to include a stack of old chat logs, since I sent some with the petition. I'm just sending him in with his forms, my passport and our daughter's passport along with boarding passes to show we've been here, a small book of good family photos, our daughter's birth certificate with his name on it, and I added an Evolution of Relationship letter, like what they suggest at the Manila consulate, to address the fact that I failed to provide much info about how we met online in the original petition.

I really hope it's enough evidence. I don't have much more to offer them. I've grown to feel that loading them down with too much stuff as evidence can give the appearance of over compensating, and that's just as bad as bringing nothing at all. I want him to stand on his own honesty and sincerity, and God willing, we'll be just fine.

I'm so ready to get all this overwith and go home to see my family again.. And have some Maryland crabs before the season's over. And some Ben and Jerry's. And a Whopper. With a Mountain Dew.

Sarah

[Crossed_fingers 128]

Mmmm American food.

I think that's a good plan to include an evolution of relationship letter. I've been thinking about including one with the I-129F, or at least treating the "Question 18" addendum like an EoR. I don't know how many people have actually tried this with Casa, but it seems like that would help put the pieces together and help the CO's make use of all the evidence they get.

Reading archived messages, it looks like the people who used to be successful years ago were the ones who came in with boatloads of evidence. 300 pictures, a thousand pages of IMs and emails, etc. I wonder if that's still the case. FWIW, on my first visit to meet my fiance (we did not get engaged on that visit), immigration was the last thing on our minds and I came home with plenty of touristy pictures but only about 10 of the two of us together. I met a few dozen family members and stayed with his immediate family but only wound up with 1 pic with his mom, 1 with his sister, and 1 with his dad in the background. I wasn't very good about saving IMs and emails back then either....because we were more focused on developing the relationship and deciding whether we were right for each other (you know, like a real couple, LOL) than about documenting a "genuine relationship" for the consulate. It made me frustrated to think that a scammer who educates himself about what the consulate wants would have been clever enough to whip out the camera every 10 minutes on my trip and to have me pose with all his family members, and would end up with a stronger packet of evidence for his troubles, whereas we were more concerned with actually getting to know each other than creating evidence. I tossed some boarding passes and we didn't save any receipts, either. Oh well! The CO's do have such an incredibly tough job, I don't know what else they should look at other than mountains of pictures and IMs......but I am still holding out hope that they will look at the context of your relationship and make the right call based on the fact that you have a daughter together, you've been living with him for months, and most importantly that he can speak about you with passion and honesty.

Best wishes to you and to Vanessa1! I hope this is a great week of approvals!

Edited June 29, 2010 by Crossed_fingers

[KittyPollitt 284]

Reading archived messages, it looks like the people who used to be successful years ago were the ones who came in with boatloads of evidence. 300 pictures, a thousand pages of IMs and emails, etc.

This was my opinion in the past, too.. I've been on here lurking for a while now.. but I noticed that the chunk of people who were denied in the past couple months on VJ went in with a truckload of evidence, and were still denied. And the ones who were approved (and this seems to be a global thing), weren't approved because they had 400 emails and 300 photos, because the CO never looks at them. So I reckon, better to have a small amount of very relevant evidence, than a copious amount of late night chat logs and over-posed photos in djamaa el fnaa. Besides which, I already sent them excerpts from 4 months of chat logs and over-posed photos from our engagement party

I don't know what else they could want from me. If they want a pound of my flesh, as I've said, I have plenty to spare!

[treehugger 23]

And the ones who were approved (and this seems to be a global thing), weren't approved because they had 400 emails and 300 photos, because the CO never looks at them.

My husband (the USC) only sent in an affadavit from his father to USCIS - I have to admit I was worried that he should have sent in a couple of photos at least, but it was fine. At my interview I had around 30 photos, taken over several months, in both countries and with our families, and the engagement and wedding. Did the CO even ask? Nope.

Then again we've been in AP for 18 weeks and counting (name checks) so I think we've paid our dues!! I'd much rather have been asked for more evidence, of which there's plenty, then be stuck in the 'black hole'

Good luck for tomorrow I hope it goes well

[msheesha 548]

I have good news to add to Vanessa's good news out of Casa. My husband's visa was also approved and will be ready this week! Thank you to everyone who posted their experiences so that we were as prepared as possible. Here's some info about our process. I hope it's helpful to others.

My husband estimated that the interview lasted 30 to 45 minutes. He said he was conversation style, rather than just questions and answers. He said the CO gave him positive comments throughout the interview i.e. - "good answer", "That's nice", etc.

She asked the basic questions --- how did we meet, what does he love about me, work information, schoool/degree information, my relationship with my family, what he will do when he's here. Those are the types of questions that are jumping out in my memory right now. There didn't seem to be any questions that were out of the ordinary. My husband commented that the CO was interested in whether I had a good relationship with my family (which I do). There were not many questions about what we did when we were in Morocco together, other than asking where I stayed when I visited. To prepare my husband, one of the things I said was that the CO's assumption was that he was a fraud, and it was his job to change the CO's mind. I've read advice that the beneficiary should answer yes or no when possible during the interview and say as little as possible. I didn't think this was helpful advice, and told my husband to pretend he was having a conversation with someone in his family - and to tell the CO any and everything about our relationship that he would tell the family member.

For proof we provided phone bills and pictures. Also, copies of my boarding passes and passport. We used the computer when we first met but have talked and texted multiple times daily for the past two years so we provided the record of that. I am able to print out my cell phone bills online that show the times he calls me and the calling card I use when I call him has a feature that I can also go on line to print out a call history. So, we were able to show we've talked on the phone several times daily and texted countless times daily for the past couple of years. For pictures, I had a photo book made up from an online photoshop that had chronicled our relationship, so we used that for proof. Very organized and all in one place. The CO asked if he had more pictures, and he said yes, but not with him. The CO didn't ask for more to be brought in. The pictures in the book were over the course of our relationship. They showed our wedding, they showed me with his family, and they showed us when we've been away together on vacation in Morocco. They also showed my family here with gifts from his family, and vice versa.

So that's the proof and interview situation.

As for getting through an initial denial -- our K1 was denied. It was a huge complication that had nothing to do with validity of relationship. I'm not going to get into the specifics b/c it's such a weird fluke, I don't think it would help anyone anyway. But, what I will say is that we never gave up. Even when there was an indication that there was an ineligibility time limit, we persisted. I sent letters and emails, and my senator and congressman immigration caseworkers also got involved. And, at the risk of being slammed for saying something positive about the Casa consulate, they were always responsive to us, and I can say I felt like they treated us fairly. They may not do that all the time, but they definitely did with us. For that, I'm very grateful. I also do think that they deal with seeing fraudulent situations every day, and it's our responsibility to ensure that we are prepared to illustrate that our relationships are not fraudulent.

There are things that I think definitely helped us; we had no red flags. We are close in age, with my husband a little older than me. There are no glaring differences in socioeconomic issues. My husband has a job and a life in Morocco that is comfortable. There will be no significant monetary gain or loss for either of us with my husband immigrating. There is no religious difference. I've been Muslim for over ten years, and did not convert after meeting my husband. We met on a Muslim website, where we were both seeking a Muslim partner. There are similarities in family dynamics - we are both close to our families, and this was specifically asked about in the interview.

The other piece of advice I have is related to legal advice. After the complication with the K1, we hired an immigration attorney. The advice of the lawyer was completely the opposite of what seemed correct - just reapply, this time for the I-130. The lawyer indicated the K1 complication wouldn't have any bearing on the I-130. I knew the lawyer was wrong, but wanted to believe it was that easy. So, we followed that advice. I consulated with two other international immigration atty's who have more experience working in consulates (and not just here in the US, keeping people here). They both had the same advice - of course the K1 denial and complication would impact the I-130, and we shouldn't file until the K1 issue was cleared up. I didn't listen to their advice, which was more "legally correct" than the lawyer I had hired. They were right, BUT by the grace of God, we were able to advocate and get the visa sooner than we thought. While the lawyer we had gave us bad legal advice, it got us to where we are now. So, when people ask about whether or not to get a lawyer, I never reply because our experience with the lawyers through this was such a mixed bag - all 3 were right, and all 3 were wrong. So, I still don't know how to answer the question about lawyers.

So, I hope that is helpful to people who are going through this process. I'm grateful that I had vj to read and lurk on while going through the process. I hope there is other good news out of Casa soon

[moroccogirlny 100]

Well, Vanessa1 has her interview for CR1 in the morning, I'm gonna go down there and sit with her while she waits for her husband in the consulate.. And then my fiance has his interview the next day.

I've decided, since I've been here for 4+ months, not to include a stack of old chat logs, since I sent some with the petition. I'm just sending him in with his forms, my passport and our daughter's passport along with boarding passes to show we've been here, a small book of good family photos, our daughter's birth certificate with his name on it, and I added an Evolution of Relationship letter, like what they suggest at the Manila consulate, to address the fact that I failed to provide much info about how we met online in the original petition.

I really hope it's enough evidence. I don't have much more to offer them. I've grown to feel that loading them down with too much stuff as evidence can give the appearance of over compensating, and that's just as bad as bringing nothing at all. I want him to stand on his own honesty and sincerity, and God willing, we'll be just fine.

I'm so ready to get all this overwith and go home to see my family again.. And have some Maryland crabs before the season's over. And some Ben and Jerry's. And a Whopper. With a Mountain Dew.

Sarah

I'm craving Philips Seafood

Good luck tomorrow !

[KittyPollitt 284]

My fiance, our daughter and I sat in the cafe with Vanessa this morning while she waited for her husband. It was really wonderful to finally meet her, after we've kept in touch for so long and leaned on each other through this harrowing ordeal. When her husband walked in and I heard her cries of joy, tears came to my eyes. After all we've collectively been through, it was an amazing experience to see someone's dreams come true before my eyes. I wish the same for everyone on Visa Journey. And I pray that we get the same good news tomorrow. I want to feel the relief Vanessa feels.

Sarah

[msheesha 548]

I don't know how you and Vanessa are doing it. The stress and anticipationg being there for the interview must be immense! I hope there will be more happiness at the cafe tomorrow Sarah - yours!

[Crossed_fingers 128]

Congratulations to Msheesha and Vanessa!!!