How Much Info is Kept?

[ms_jinga_lala 0]

Hubby and I filed for a visa (K-1 since we weren't married at the time) in 2009. The visa was denied and we did not attempt again and didn't plan on it at the time. We didn't request our files back, though hubby did get his things back that he had submitted in India. Now we are going to file as a married couple (we are filing DCF in Delhi) and he's concerned about them looking into our old immigration case.

Now, FYI, we were denied after the CO flipped out on my husband and had to be removed from the room by another CO. We did not have the money for a legal battle though a lawyer was consulted and Senators were involved. On paper the embassy maintained they had not denied us and only sent the visa back for re-validation. USCIS subsequently closed the case in 2010 because it had been open too long. I still have all of the official letters to prove all of this should they be needed.

But after his experience hubby is a little scared of the interview. He's also talked to others (here in his city) that had horrific experiences at the Delhi embassy as well. He thinks they are going to pull up the case, see that a lawyer and Senators were involved and then they are going to give him a hard time again. It was a traumatic experience for him. So my question is:

How much information does USCIS keep on old cases? I know they have a record of the case and it has all our identifying information on there but does anyone know what kind of details they would have kept? How long do they keep it? Has anyone else had a past visa denial come up when they filed a second attempt?

Current visa being considered - CR-1

We have not filed yet

We do meet all the requirements for DCF and have most of our paperwork ready

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

They keep everything.

They will probably only look at the reason the case was sent back, not at the whole file again.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

The US government has a record of everything from the K-1 case. Computer databases are good for this kind of stuff.

The K-1 denial will come up in any future petition because you are required to disclose it.

[ms_jinga_lala 0]

I know it will come up. Hubby is concerned that the CO put in some kinds of damaging notes that may hurt us. I can't say one way or the other because I know the CO had to be taken out of the room and then was brought back but the second CO sat in the booth with him to ensure his behavior didn't continue. However, that gave him the opportunity to put in whatever notes he wanted. The only consolation I have is the apology letter that we obtained by getting our senator involved. I'm sure that stuff will be in there too and now hubby worries it will all hurt us when we didn't do anything wrong. By their own admission (in the letter and from the second CO removing him from the room and then watching him for the remainder of the interview) they were in the wrong. I guess we just have to pray that it doesn't piss of the next CO. Hopefully the first jackass has been fired by now.

Oh, and the official reason for denial (as listed in our letters) was because of expiry. I still have both letters, one from the CO and one from USCIS stating this.