Interracial couples, post here!

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

To aid interracial couples currently going through immigration or those who will in the near future, I'm starting a thread about typical roadblocks interracial couples face when going through India that Indian/Indian couples often do not experience. Let's try to get a good idea of the success rates for interracial couples.

If you can, keep it in the format I've listed below.

My case:

Visa type: IR-1/CR-1

Consulate: New Delhi

Visa issued (if applicable)? Not yet in that stage

Second interview? N/A

AP? N/A

221 g issued? N/A

Gender of beneficiary: Male

Religious difference? Yes

Religious background of beneficiary: Hindu

Age Difference? No significant difference (He is one year older than me)

Method of meeting (online, in person, etc): In person while he was on a J-1 in the U.S.

Engagement Ceremony? A small informal one

Traditional (Indian) Wedding Ceremony (N/A if going through K-1)? Yes, traditional ceremony to follow civil ceremony

Has beneficiary ever been to the US? Yes

Does beneficiary have relatives in the US? No

Family approval? Yes from both sides

Co-Sponsor required? Probably

How much time has petitioner spent with beneficiary in person? Including the year he was in the US, about 15 months over a course of 3 years

If I missed anything significant please feel free to add lines!

[Caribbean Pirate 9]

We're not in India but I've been wondering if we will face any challenges as an interracial couple. Of course, in the business of people from different countries marrying I think interracial couples must be quite common.

What have other experienced?

[sachinky 465]

Edited to add later.

Edited March 1, 2012 by sachinky

[sachinky 465]

Visa type: CR-1

Consulate: Mumbai, India

Visa issued (if applicable)? Yes. Interview lasted 3 minutes.

Second interview? No.

AP? No.

221 g issued? No.

Gender of beneficiary: Female.

Religious difference? Yes

Religious background of beneficiary: Hindu

Age Difference? Insignificant. He's 4 months older than I am.

Method of meeting (online, in person, etc): In person while I was in the US on a 5 year F-1 visa. We met February 2008, junior year.

Engagement Ceremony? None.

Traditional (Indian) Wedding Ceremony (N/A if going through K-1)? Civil ceremony. We wore traditional Indian attire, exchanged rings and garlands in front of close friends and family. Then we had a reception for 200 guests.

Has beneficiary ever been to the US? Yes, twice.

Does beneficiary have relatives in the US? None from immediate family.

Family approval? Yes

Co-Sponsor required? Yes

How much time has petitioner spent with beneficiary in person? Total, before visa issuance, probably 2 years. We lived together briefly post-engagement.

Edited March 1, 2012 by sachinky

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

We're not in India but I've been wondering if we will face any challenges as an interracial couple. Of course, in the business of people from different countries marrying I think interracial couples must be quite common.

What have other experienced?

If you're going through Germany you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Interracial couples can have problems when they go through countries where marrying within culture and race is still the norm. In India for instance, the overwhelming majority of Indians still prefer to marry local. I don't know the exact statistic but I'd be willing to bet it's over 90%. There is more to it than just race however. India has been a high post for marriage based visa fraud in the past and many of these fraudulent couples were interracial.

Edited March 1, 2012 by AKSinghSingh79

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

I forgot to add one significant line,

Has the petitioner been previously married?

[Harsh_77 718]

OP – I know you guys were having hard time to go thru Delhi embassy, but I can speak from my personal experience.

I never experienced any such question or a threat from CO during interview that they did not approve of interracial marriage.

Even in India now days it is not very uncommon for ppl to have interracial marriage.

By the way I went thru Mumbai embassy, interview lasted of total 6-7 minutes, I do not know if it made any difference that I had lived in US, studied and worked in US.

I was never given any signal from CO that they did not approve the intterracial marriage.

[AKSinghSingh79 143]

OP – I know you guys were having hard time to go thru Delhi embassy, but I can speak from my personal experience.

I never experienced any such question or a threat from CO during interview that they did not approve of interracial marriage.

Even in India now days it is not very uncommon for ppl to have interracial marriage.

By the way I went thru Mumbai embassy, interview lasted of total 6-7 minutes, I do not know if it made any difference that I had lived in US, studied and worked in US.

I was never given any signal from CO that they did not approve the intterracial marriage.

They seemed to be much kinder towards married couples. That's good to hear that you had a positive experience.

I do know that many issues in my original post were addressed towards K-1 couples on their interviews. They always seem to have a much more difficult time when dealing with Indian consulates.

[Bec_Dipu 103]

Visa type: K1

Consulate: New Delhi

Visa issued (if applicable)? Yes

Second interview? N/A

AP? Yes - Aug 3, 2011 - Nov 9, 2011 for background check

221 g issued? Sort of, filled out but ripped up and thrown away when CO spoke to me (petitioner)

Gender of beneficiary: Male

Religious difference? Yes

Religious background of beneficiary: Muslim

Age Difference? Female petitioner 2 years older

Method of meeting (online, in person, etc): In person at work while he was here on B1/B2

Engagement Ceremony? No

Traditional (Indian) Wedding Ceremony (N/A if going through K-1)? N/A

Has beneficiary ever been to the US? Yes - 90 days total

Does beneficiary have relatives in the US? No

Family approval? Yes from both sides, notarized letters provided

Co-Sponsor required? No

How much time has petitioner spent with beneficiary in person? Two trips totaling 90 days by beneficiary to US, 3 trips totaling 50 days by petitioner to India since meeting.

Additional:

Has the petitioner or beneficiary ever been married? No

Did the petitioner attend the interview: Yes

There are a five specific K1 cases that may not be active on here anymore that went through hell in India and one K1 case that didn't have any problems at all. You may have trouble getting some of them to deliver their stories here as I'm not sure how active they are. There may be other K1 interracial India couples on this site, but it's hard to tell because VJ doesn't collect that information. You have to go by pictures and names or just flat out ask.

I agree with your observation that K1 interracial couples seem to have a much harder time than married couples in India.

For any interracial India K1 couples, I would recommend reading my story and those of the following users (you may have to look up their posts or contact them privately - please be sensitive to their struggles if you ask them for information as some are still going through the process) :

Sherryandyasphal (denied)

RCG (denied)

Team Erra (denied)

Lynn n Sam (denied)

Catknit (denied)

Maria and Varun (I think: approved, Maria attended interview)

Me: Bec_Dipu (approved, AP for background check, Rebecca attended interview)

[sachinky 465]

Has the petitioner or beneficiary ever been married? No

Did the petitioner attend the interview?: No

Edited March 2, 2012 by sachinky

[sachinky 465]

IMO, this has nothing to with race and more to do with the fact that most non-Indian USC petitioners are completely unaware of local customs and traditions and are susceptible to being duped by dishonorable beneficiaries. Most of the K-1 denials are out of the norm cases (tons of red flags) -- like I reiterated, we are an inter-racial couple and we faced absolutely no issues. Neither did Tatyana (I can't remember her screen name) whose husband's interview was a day after mine. Anwesha and John were a K-1 couple and neither did they have any obstacles to overcome.

Again, it has far less to do with race and other factors like age, socio-economic status, whether you met in person or online. The last one, IMO, is a HUGE one. People really underestimate that one. A relatively significant age gap (you clearly look like his mother) and you met on Facebook and were proclaiming love for one another in a span of three months. Oh, and he lives in some rural area and goes to some random college? Yeah, not going to fly.

Edited March 2, 2012 by sachinky

[sachinky 465]

I will say this, most of the people who have been denied, I too would have denied them too, based on their profile picture alone. I would also wager that most of those aforementioned cases were not run-of-the-mill cases, that is, there were OTHER red flags in play, apart from the "race" issue.

If I, a stranger on the internet, am having doubts about the validity of your relationship, you can be rest assured that the CO (who has extensive knowledge of the land, its people and its culture) has his doubts as well. I realize that this will not be a popular opinion but then, the truth is never popular.

[sachinky 465]

So that's three successes out of the three inter-racial cases that went through India the same time I did. Two CR-1s, and one K-1. All other factors: normal, no red flags. They would come across as an average, every day couple, save the difference in skin color.

Frankly, at the end of the day, success rates matter very little. I am convinced half the cases on VJ are fraudulent (that is the beneficiary is just looking for a GC, the petitioner is in it for "love") and so to me, the success rates do not mean anything. Given that I am now filing for ROC and a bunch of people who used to post in the NVC threads with me have now fallen by the wayside (in a mere two years), I would rather the success rate be low if that means that fraudsters are unsuccessful in their attempts to get a GC.

As some one who has been through the process, my only advice is this: judge your OWN case by it's merit rather than comparing notes or trying to come up with some mathematical formula to success. I spent a lot of time worrying about my case and trying to gather piles and piles evidence because I was measuring it against SOMEONE ELSE's yardstick. Whose case probably bore no similarity to mine. In a way, sure, I am glad that I was super-prepared but could I have spent that time more productively? Heck, yes.

Okay, that's enough posts in a day on one topic.

[TimeTravel 78]

As some one who has been through the process, my only advice is this: judge your OWN case by it's merit rather than comparing notes or trying to come up with some mathematical formula to success. I spent a lot of time worrying about my case and trying to gather piles and piles evidence because I was measuring it against SOMEONE ELSE's yardstick. Whose case probably bore no similarity to mine.

Well said!!!

[catknit 144]

Visa type: K-1

Consulate: New Delhi

Visa issued (if applicable)? Yes - after 3 rounds of AP and a reaffirmation

Second interview? Yes, after reaffirmation

AP? Twice with the 1st interview, once after 2nd interview

221 g issued? Yes, 3 - Twice after 1st interview, once after 2nd interview

Gender of beneficiary: Male

Religious difference? Yes

Religious background of beneficiary: Muslim

Age Difference? Minimal significant difference (18 months, I'm older)

Method of meeting (online, in person, etc): Online

Engagement Ceremony? None

Traditional (Indian) Wedding Ceremony (N/A if going through K-1)? N/A

Has beneficiary ever been to the US? No

Does beneficiary have relatives in the US? No

Family approval? Yes from both sides

Co-Sponsor required? No

How much time has petitioner spent with beneficiary in person? At the time of the first interview - 15 days, at the time of the second interview 7+ months

Has the beneficiary or petitioner ever been married: Yes, petitioner, once

Did the petitioner attend the interview: 1st interview, no; 2nd interview, yes

The race thing is just one more puzzle piece in a very complicated puzzle. I can't imagine the actual effect it may have on any individual case because each case is so unique. I know it would be great to come up with some magic formula to figure out how to successfully navigate this system but at the end of the day I don't think that is possible. An example, a guy working at an MNC hooking up with an age appropriate/attractiveness appropriate white american woman at a conference and then starting a relationship etc etc is completely logical. A 23 yo guy online in a village spends 4 months sweet talking in butchered english and then invites his 40+ hard smoking, white, obese divorcee, "girlfriend" with three kids on a trip to India and then proposes, well...that's a harder sell. There you may have a 50-50 split on getting a visa with factors other than race that tipped the scales.

For the most part, I would say a mixed raced marriage may get a 5-sec second look. More of a "huh" thing than an actual red flag. If there are other things going on, it may be more than a "huh"....

There are cases were I think it has been much more than a "huh" thing, especially with AA women sponsoring men from India. [Just for the record I'm white]. To me, that would be an interesting statistic to keep track of....Not wanting to speak in depth of someone else's case without their consent - but I know of one case with NO red flags, none, zilch, nada that was denied where the only thing that could be seen as "out of the ordinary" was the female petitioner being black. No prior marriages, no kids, no financial issues, plenty of pics with his family, no disparity in education/class/career objectives, no prior visa requests by him, statements that both families approved, no significant age difference, they worked together in India for 6+ months, typical, textbook workplace relationship/romance, etc, etc, etc - denied.

In retrospect, for the record, I would have denied our case too given the information we presented and how we handle the 1 and only visit we had prior to applying for the visa. I'm a bit of a literalist, we met the conditions and applied, in my head that meant we should have gotten the visa [naive, I know - but like a lot of people here, I had never dealt with immigration before or knew anyone who had]. Now, looking back at what we presented and how we presented it, it was a hot mess and reeked of fraud - having met online, the timing of my divorce, my ex's name, the fact I didn't meet his family on that trip, the fact that all of our pics were at touristy landmarks, the fact that no one from my family met him, etc. Even though we were both well in our 30s, had careers, we felt we were too old to follow the norms therefore we didn't follow typical marriage-based family integration protocols like me meeting his family and that did more harm than good.

All that being said, we're happily married, he's going thru ROC right now [had his biometrics appt today as a matter of fact]...and I completely agree with Sachinky - a whole LOT of the relationships here [on vj] seem to be somewhat sketchy. A lot of quick break ups, irreconcilable differences, other significant others, etc.

Imagine what a CO sees everyday?