Nairobi embassy experience - April 2012 - Help!!!

[jabulani 1]

Hi VJers,

My husband had a bad experience at the nairobi embassy today, they denied him visa. I had petitioned for him, I am a USC based in tx. To give a little background, we met in 2000 and got married in 2007. He tried to visit me 3 times between 2008 and 2010 but they denied him saying i should petition for him. Now i petitioned and denied him the visa saying that he stated in one of the interviews that he had a son. My husband does not have a son and does not have any recollection of such a conversation. He went to window no. 10 and found a blonde lady who was mean and never looked at our documents. She only asked him for his passport and told him she

1. When i wife went to the US? 2006

2. When we got married? 2007

3. Why we withdrew our first petition? I (the USC wife) was short on cash at the time and i checked with immigration lawyer who said it was okay since my husband could still try come and visit me. I did mention that in my petition and USCIS had no problem with it.

4. Do you have a son? no, and then she said they can't proceed until he tells her about his son. My husband does not have a son. but the lady kept on insisting that he has a son and said he is not credible that he may have another wife that they do not know about. My husband does not have another wife and neither does he have a son. She then said her word was final at the embassy and the documents will be returned back to uscis, if he wants he can take them back to the lawyer but she said it is going to take a year.

So my question is does anyone know a good immigration lawyer in TX? I also want to contact my senator/congressman about my case and see if they can help me get my husband here. Does anyone know why the lady said it will take a year once they return my case to US? I am writing an email to the embassy to see if there is any document that they need to show proof that my husband is only married to me and has no son (though i have no idea what document that would be).

They gave him a slip saying failed to establish bonafide relationship yet she did not look at the evidence that we had. She only asked for my husband's passport.

Does anyone have the email contact for the nairobi embassy consulate?

Your responses are highly appreciated.

Edited April 19, 2012 by jabulani

[jabulani 1]

Hi VJers,

My husband had a bad experience at the nairobi embassy today, they denied him visa. I had petitioned for him, I am a USC based in tx. To give a little background, we met in 2000 and got married in 2007. He tried to visit me 3 times between 2008 and 2010 but they denied him saying i should petition for him. Now i petitioned and denied him the visa saying that he stated in one of the interviews that he had a son. My husband does not have a son and does not have any recollection of such a conversation. He went to window no. 10 and found a blonde lady who was mean and never looked at our documents. She only asked him for his passport and told him she

1. When i wife went to the US? 2006

2. When we got married? 2007

3. Why we withdrew our first petition? I (the USC wife) was short on cash at the time and i checked with immigration lawyer who said it was okay since my husband could still try come and visit me. I did mention that in my petition and USCIS had no problem with it.

4. Do you have a son? no, and then she said they can't proceed until he tells her about his son. My husband does not have a son. but the lady kept on insisting that he has a son and said he is not credible that he may have another wife that they do not know about. My husband does not have another wife and neither does he have a son. She then said her word was final at the embassy and the documents will be returned back to uscis, if he wants he can take them back to the lawyer but she said it is going to take a year.

So my question is does anyone know a good immigration lawyer in TX? I also want to contact my senator/congressman about my case and see if they can help me get my husband here. Does anyone know why the lady said it will take a year once they return my case to US? I am writing an email to the embassy to see if there is any document that they need to show proof that my husband is only married to me and has no son (though i have no idea what document that would be).

Your responses are highly appreciated.

They gave him a slip saying failed to establish bonafide relationship yet she did not look at the evidence that we had. She only asked for my husband's passport.

[rodceasar 34]

I am familiar with the women you mention for she interviewed my wife and then me secondly. All that you state seems to be the case across the board. Fortunately, we were kept the entire day and had a 2nd interview with another consular officer who interviwed us both for there was no way I was going to leave that place without incident.

So sorry to hear about your situation but they are a tough embassy. After being approved, the women tried to tell me about how lucky we were for they rarely approve visas the first go around! She then tried to tell us that our police report was expried and had to return to Uganda to obtain a new one which was untrue for it hadn't expired but the 2nd interviewing officer indicated that we had another 30 days.

My recommendation would be to get a lawyer and you both be there at any future interviews.

[afoyoswa 178]

You might try posting about your situation in the Nairobi Embassy thread because there are loads of people there with experience with this embassy, but no one will be able to give you very much advice unless you fill in your timeline or provide specifics about your process. You mention some type of visa, but your profile refers to naturalization (yours?), so I'm not clear on what you're trying to do.

[Ben and Jill 37]

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

[rasta 37]

They gave him a slip saying failed to establish bonafide relationship yet she did not look at the evidence that we had. She only asked for my husband's passport.

what did the denial letter say the 221g? ask if he was given a yellow slip or white slip . yes when they return your case to the usa it takes almost a year before uscis sends your a NOIR notification of intent to revoke. at this point you have the option to appeal with more evidence or let the petition expire.

best option is to get in contact with a good lawyer so you can see about filing another petition with a waiver or contact your congressman to do an inquiry to find out why he was denied , also if you can go to the law courts in kenya to get a statement showing that he has no children and no records exist of him being a father of any child might help; best of luck its a tough consulate, but you have to be honest with your answers and be persistent contact your congressman ,senator , church,mosque,temple, get people to write affidavits that are notarized that know your situation,

[rasta 37]

get in contact with mr ogueri in dallas, good immigration lawyer 214) 363-5857

although i didnt use an immigration lawyer , but it is good to get a consultation

[jabulani 1]

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

below is a summary of the interview and our history. The questions my husband was asked were as follows:

When did your wife go to the US? his answer (2006)

When did you get married? his answer (2007)

Do you have a son? his answer (No)

Goodmorning,

I am naturalized US citizen who filed a petition for my husband. My husband had his interview on April 19/2012 at window number 10. He was interviewed by a lady who insisted that he has a son and she said that he probably has another wife somewhere. My husband is only married to me and we met in 2000 and have been together since 2002 (got married in 2007). I am not sure why the interviewer kept on saying he has a son yet my husband told her he has no recollection of any statement like that.

I had initially filed for my husband back in 2008 but my case was rejected as improperly filed and was returned back (bounced check). I went ahead and withdrew the case as per an immigration lawyer who said it is okay to try and have him visit me as I re-organize myself financially to file again in 2010. When my husband tried to visit me during my master's graduation in 2010 the interviewer told him to ask me to file since I had a green card. When filing during the second time (2010) I did mention that I had filed for him previously when submitting the case to USCIS and I believe they investigated that and found no issues and went ahead and approved my case.

In the visit interviews that my husband had prior to this, no one mentioned anything to him to do with a son so I am not sure where that came from during this petition interview. She did not go through any documents that we had to show evidence of our relationship and instead stated her word is final and gave him a red slip indicating that he failed to establish bona-fide relationship. We do have all the documents including my travel stamps to Kenya as evidence.

I would kindly like to know what documents we need to provide to prove that my husband and I are legally married and have a bona-fide relationship. We did have our marriage certificate, oath document to show that we had both never been married before and other documents but she did not look at any so I am not sure what documents she requires. My petition is only for my husband and he is the same man I had petitioned for back in 2008. We have been together and in contact before and after I left for the US and I have visited him 4 times in the past 5 years. Please advise. Thank you in advance.

[jabulani 1]

what did the denial letter say the 221g? ask if he was given a yellow slip or white slip . yes when they return your case to the usa it takes almost a year before uscis sends your a NOIR notification of intent to revoke. at this point you have the option to appeal with more evidence or let the petition expire.

best option is to get in contact with a good lawyer so you can see about filing another petition with a waiver or contact your congressman to do an inquiry to find out why he was denied , also if you can go to the law courts in kenya to get a statement showing that he has no children and no records exist of him being a father of any child might help; best of luck its a tough consulate, but you have to be honest with your answers and be persistent contact your congressman ,senator , church,mosque,temple, get people to write affidavits that are notarized that know your situation,

it said failed to establish bona-fide marriage but they really never looked at any documents we had. I would like to try and get in touch with my congressman. I have also written a summary of my case in one of my posts...thanks for the info.

get in contact with mr ogueri in dallas, good immigration lawyer 214) 363-5857

although i didnt use an immigration lawyer , but it is good to get a consultation

Thanks I have called the number and got an email address to email him. He was not in the office.

[Ben and Jill 37]

below is a summary of the interview and our history. The questions my husband was asked were as follows:

When did your wife go to the US? his answer (2006)

When did you get married? his answer (2007)

Do you have a son? his answer (No)

Goodmorning,

I am naturalized US citizen who filed a petition for my husband. My husband had his interview on April 19/2012 at window number 10. He was interviewed by a lady who insisted that he has a son and she said that he probably has another wife somewhere. My husband is only married to me and we met in 2000 and have been together since 2002 (got married in 2007). I am not sure why the interviewer kept on saying he has a son yet my husband told her he has no recollection of any statement like that.

I had initially filed for my husband back in 2008 but my case was rejected as improperly filed and was returned back (bounced check). I went ahead and withdrew the case as per an immigration lawyer who said it is okay to try and have him visit me as I re-organize myself financially to file again in 2010. When my husband tried to visit me during my master's graduation in 2010 the interviewer told him to ask me to file since I had a green card. When filing during the second time (2010) I did mention that I had filed for him previously when submitting the case to USCIS and I believe they investigated that and found no issues and went ahead and approved my case.

In the visit interviews that my husband had prior to this, no one mentioned anything to him to do with a son so I am not sure where that came from during this petition interview. She did not go through any documents that we had to show evidence of our relationship and instead stated her word is final and gave him a red slip indicating that he failed to establish bona-fide relationship. We do have all the documents including my travel stamps to Kenya as evidence.

I would kindly like to know what documents we need to provide to prove that my husband and I are legally married and have a bona-fide relationship. We did have our marriage certificate, oath document to show that we had both never been married before and other documents but she did not look at any so I am not sure what documents she requires. My petition is only for my husband and he is the same man I had petitioned for back in 2008. We have been together and in contact before and after I left for the US and I have visited him 4 times in the past 5 years. Please advise. Thank you in advance.

The documents that you have (marriage certificate, oath documents, etc.,) I think would be good enough to submit; however, she didn't look at them. I'm really not sure of what else you can do. If it were a K-1, then it's easy to say get married and file a CR-1, but that's not the case here. You can try posting this in the Nairobi Embassy Thread...perhaps someone there can help. You can also ask "Vanessa & Tony", "Inky", and "Harpa Timsah" about your situation. They may not be familiar with the Nairobi Embassy, but they can assist with what the next step could possibly be, i.e., whether or not you can file another petition, etc. They are very knowledgeable VJ members. I am sorry about your situation and that I can't provide anymore help, but I know someone else here on VJ can assist you further. Good luck with everything.

[jabulani 1]

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

[jabulani 1]

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

Hi,

Thank you for your response. Below are the answers to the questions you asked me about my case:

I am a naturalized US citizen based in TX. I am Kenyan and so is my husband and there is a 3 year age difference between us. My first petition was rejected as improperly filed so after talking to an immig. lawyer they said it is okay to withdraw and file when I am ready. So wrote a letter and withdrew it at that point and my husband tried to come visit in the meantime. In 2008 and 2009 he was denied a visa because he does not qualify not enough ties in his country. Then in 2010 when i was graduating I invited him for my graduation, but they denied him and told him that I should file for him since I had a green card at that time. So I filed for him in 2010 and in that file i did state that i had filed for him before and the result USCIS gave me as rejected.

I met my husband in 2000, while still in kenya, started dating in 2002, I came to the US in 2006 (he proposed before I left). Got married in 2007. I have visited him 4 times out of the 5 years we have been away from each other. All the times I went was about 2 weeks or maximum 3 weeks which was my vacation time from work. His interview went smoothly until the woman asked him do you have a son? He said no. She asked him about his previous interviews and he said nothing about a son came up at his last interview and that he does not have a son (no recollection of such conversations with any officer). Then she said we can't continue with this interview till you tell me about your son and he said i do not have a son. Then she crossed her hands and said you probably have another wife somewhere and we don't know...well then I will deny your visa and send it back to the USCIS and it will take another year. Gave him a red slip 221g failed to establish bona-fide relationship and married for immigration purposes (the two parts were checked). They also checked the part that said case is being returned to US. Both my husband and I have not been married before and we have an oath from Kenya (where we got married to show that). My husband is also working on getting a form from the law courts to show that he has no child or any dependants.

When I filed here i put all the basic requirements but it seems like i will have to send them more evidence, pictures and call logs. I am trying to get my senator and congressman to see if they can help and also an immigration lawyer to see if he can help stop the case from being returned. I have read here that Marc Ellis is a good one for such cases.

I think I have answered all your questions...let me know your insight. Thanks.

[Ben and Jill 37]

Hi,

Thank you for your response. Below are the answers to the questions you asked me about my case:

I am a naturalized US citizen based in TX. I am Kenyan and so is my husband and there is a 3 year age difference between us. My first petition was rejected as improperly filed so after talking to an immig. lawyer they said it is okay to withdraw and file when I am ready. So wrote a letter and withdrew it at that point and my husband tried to come visit in the meantime. In 2008 and 2009 he was denied a visa because he does not qualify not enough ties in his country. Then in 2010 when i was graduating I invited him for my graduation, but they denied him and told him that I should file for him since I had a green card at that time. So I filed for him in 2010 and in that file i did state that i had filed for him before and the result USCIS gave me as rejected.

I met my husband in 2000, while still in kenya, started dating in 2002, I came to the US in 2006 (he proposed before I left). Got married in 2007. I have visited him 4 times out of the 5 years we have been away from each other. All the times I went was about 2 weeks or maximum 3 weeks which was my vacation time from work. His interview went smoothly until the woman asked him do you have a son? He said no. She asked him about his previous interviews and he said nothing about a son came up at his last interview and that he does not have a son (no recollection of such conversations with any officer). Then she said we can't continue with this interview till you tell me about your son and he said i do not have a son. Then she crossed her hands and said you probably have another wife somewhere and we don't know...well then I will deny your visa and send it back to the USCIS and it will take another year. Gave him a red slip 221g failed to establish bona-fide relationship and married for immigration purposes (the two parts were checked). They also checked the part that said case is being returned to US. Both my husband and I have not been married before and we have an oath from Kenya (where we got married to show that). My husband is also working on getting a form from the law courts to show that he has no child or any dependants.

When I filed here i put all the basic requirements but it seems like i will have to send them more evidence, pictures and call logs. I am trying to get my senator and congressman to see if they can help and also an immigration lawyer to see if he can help stop the case from being returned. I have read here that Marc Ellis is a good one for such cases.

I think I have answered all your questions...let me know your insight. Thanks.

Hi, I responded to your email

[KASH2011 382]

The Famous petite Blonde @ window 10 !!! !

Sad to hear about what happened, i had my own experience too and it sucks when you work so hard to gather all that needed proof and it's not even carefully looked @.

This attorney was ma savior.

http://www.scottimmigration.net/

Scott and Associates, Attorneys at Law, PLLC © 2011

4801 Woodway, Suite 300E, Houston, TX 77056

Phone 713-467-5800 Fax 713-467-5801

Good luck.

[Ben and Jill 37]

The Famous petite Blonde @ window 10 !!! !

Sad to hear about what happened, i had my own experience too and it sucks when you work so hard to gather all that needed proof and it's not even carefully looked @.

This attorney was ma savior.

http://www.scottimmigration.net/

Scott and Associates, Attorneys at Law, PLLC © 2011

4801 Woodway, Suite 300E, Houston, TX 77056

Phone 713-467-5800 Fax 713-467-5801

Good luck.

Yea, LOL, it's AMAZING how this woman has become SO famous here on VJ...nearly everyone who has gone through Nairobi knows her and has experienced her cranky a$$ wrath. Now I know why they don't allow the US citizen inside the Consulate area...someone might try to strangle her, haha. You know what's funny? When she called Ben's name over the intercom, she sounded so sweet NOT!!! That's great advice about the attorney. I'm sure "jabulani" will contact them. Thank you "KASH2011" for your input.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Ben and Jill