The hoping not to be denied at Casablanca thread

[msheesha 548]

I agree. I think the quality of the proof outweighs the quantity.

For a consulate like Morocco, hours and hours and hours of chat time could signify what the consulate seems to be on the look-out for - unemployed, desperate young man with a lot of time on their hands to be on the internet. Possibly - not in all cases of course.

[Crossed_fingers 128]

I don't know about the statistics of K-1's versus CR-1's. Zaytoona, Azura, Couscousapplepie, Beth wa Salim come to mind off the top of my head as fairly recent K-1 approvals, although I'm not sure how many VJ members' K-1's were denied in that time. And that would be a meaningless sample size anyway. I think I was looking at it wrong earlier, though. I was thinking that among APPROVED couples K-1 visa holders are just as likely to be fraudulent as CR-1 visa holders. I still think that's true. Bottom line is that the typical marriage fraud pattern is to marry long enough to get the 10 year or naturalization and then bolt, however they first came into the country. But I realized after reading Je veux ton amour's reply that it might have to do with what happens to the DENIED couples. I suppose getting married before filing indicates you will keep trying even if you are denied, whereas perhaps engaged couples are leaving themselves an easier way out if immigration doesn't work. I'm not saying that IS the case, just the appearance of it. I wonder if the statistics on how many denied CR-1's come back versus how many denied K-1's try again bear that out, but I bet they do.

I think that boat loads of evidence "should" be overkill...but I'm not sure whether it actually does harm couples by making them look defensive, or if the couples who get approved with little evidence would have anyway, etc. IMHO, 99% of scammers and real couples are going to have the same stuff. Real couples will communicate a lot and take a lot of pictures together, including with genuinely happy family members, because they love each other. Scammers will communicate a lot and take a lot of pictures together, including with genuinely happy to get the visa family members, because they know that's what the consulate wants. Some real couples won't have that stuff for legitimate and understandable reasons, and some scammers won't have that stuff because they were lazy. Yet historically lots of couples came on here and said they thought they would be denied "for sure" because of red flags but they brought in tons of proof and organized it well and so who is to say the evidence didn't help? I do agree though, and this is coming from someone who only met her fiance online just over a year ago and who only visited twice, that things like a long period of time of knowing each other and multiple visits should count more than 300 pictures taken in one week and hot and heavy chat logs that only span a short period of time.

BTW, Msheesha, you're welcome about the other thread. I was glad to see you speaking out about that, too.

[Always+Forever 7]

I think about all u can do is go in the way u feel comfortable with & go from there. They are going to make up their minds no matter how much or how little evidence u have. I've heard approvals & denials both ways. I think they've made up their minds before they even come in for the interview. And of course they want to test your relationship....if your relationship isn't strong enough to get through all of this...then there is no way u will make through a marriage...atleast in my opinion Best of luck to those with up coming interviews.

Malika

[Miss smarty pants 84]

Good news!

It is nice that we have seen the recent approvals from Casa. But I want to share a positive statistic for the Cr-1 filers since we know K-1s generally have a hard time at this consulate. Last year 2009, there were 1,308 I-130 visas issued from Casa last year. This information came stright off the dept of state website. We VJ people sure must be a small sample. I KNOW we haven't heard of that many approvals! LOL.

[KittyPollitt 284]

I wanted to add that I feel the way I do about not overdoing it with evidence, not only because it can look overkill, but because it seems like a worldwide trend that whether an application is approved or denied- they rarely look at that evidence anyway. It adds a lot of seemingly unnecessary stress on the applicant to have to gather all that evidence together, when they could be mentally preparing for the part of the interview that really counts- the face to face time with the CO..just my opinion, again..

[msheesha 548]

Sarah,

Sorry if you already mentioned it, but if your husband has his visa by August (when you have to leave, right?), will you guys all be coming back to the US together?

[msheesha 548]

I agree with Sarah. For the most recent interview, I prepared my husband with the description someone used on here. I told him that he has to imagine or believe that the CO assumes he is a fraud and he has to prove otherwise. It worked, thank Allah.

I also agree, in many instances, that they have already decided prior to the interview whether they will issue the visa or not. I may be wrong. In other instances, like in Sarah's case, it seems like they are undecided and need another CO to bounce the decision off of.

[Crossed_fingers 128]

Good news!

It is nice that we have seen the recent approvals from Casa. But I want to share a positive statistic for the Cr-1 filers since we know K-1s generally have a hard time at this consulate. Last year 2009, there were 1,308 I-130 visas issued from Casa last year. This information came stright off the dept of state website. We VJ people sure must be a small sample. I KNOW we haven't heard of that many approvals! LOL.

The 1,308 includes parents and children being brought over, too. The number of spousal visas is 785. Still a nice high number, though! I wonder how many apply each year and are denied. Wish I could find statistics like that for K-1's, too.

[KittyPollitt 284]

Sarah,

Sorry if you already mentioned it, but if your husband has his visa by August (when you have to leave, right?), will you guys all be coming back to the US together?

That's the plan.. Damn I really hope they're not gonna flip on us and I have to go mental on Blvd Moulay Youssef. Because I'm at a point now where I have cab fare, and I'm not sure I can control my actions.. you know?

[Miss smarty pants 84]

The 1,308 includes parents and children being brought over, too. The number of spousal visas is 785. Still a nice high number, though! I wonder how many apply each year and are denied. Wish I could find statistics like that for K-1's, too.

I didn't see the statistic for how many applied and are denied. Would be interesting to know....but I didn't see it posted anywhere. I also didn't find any specific statistics for K-1s.

[tnh9479 1]

I was wondering about stats after reading this thread this morning as well. Here is the link.

Check out XVII - lists types of nonimmigrant visas and numbers by issuing office. On page 9 it states only 378 K visas were issued by Casa in 2009. I really would like to know how many applications are received by that (or any) office and how many are denied. I wish there was a link for XX because that would be real enlightening.

[Crossed_fingers 128]

I was wondering about stats after reading this thread this morning as well. Here is the link.

Check out XVII - lists types of nonimmigrant visas and numbers by issuing office. On page 9 it states only 378 K visas were issued by Casa in 2009. I really would like to know how many applications are received by that (or any) office and how many are denied. I wish there was a link for XX because that would be real enlightening.

Thanks for digging a little deeper and finding that statistic! I am such a numbers nerd. That probably includes a small number of K-2 approvals so the K-1 number is probably even smaller.

I have noooooooooooooooooo sense of how many people apply, though. Are 90% denied? 50%? 25%? Who knows!

[Miss smarty pants 84]

I was wondering about stats after reading this thread this morning as well. Here is the link.

Check out XVII - lists types of nonimmigrant visas and numbers by issuing office. On page 9 it states only 378 K visas were issued by Casa in 2009. I really would like to know how many applications are received by that (or any) office and how many are denied. I wish there was a link for XX because that would be real enlightening.

Those statistics for K visas also includes K-3s. So I guess there really are no specifics for the k-1 alone. Wish I had seen that a long time ago and maybe I wouldn't have wasted so much precious time (and money) if we had just married back then.

[tnh9479 1]

Ok...not specific to Casa, but worldwide...application numbers and denials for all visa categories at this link.

29127 K-1 applications 27678 K-1 visas issued

[tnh9479 1]

Visas issued by Casa in 2009: K1 = 232 K2 = 3 K3 = 140 K4 = 3

link