K1 visa denial - File CR1 - Pls. help!!!

[ScottThuy 140]

+1 (*100)

[member123 0]

Sorry, I've been really busy the past few days and haven't been able to to check in. I got a couple of PM's to look at this thread.

You've already gotten some very good advice, and links to some threads containing a lot of information.

1. According to Marc Ellis, the consulate in HCMC has started including this statement on their denial letters. They are aware of the potential consequences of a denial under paragraph 6C of INA 212, and they received a lot of criticism for not giving the beneficiary a heads up about what they were facing, so they began adding that statement. The links provided earlier in this thread give some detailed information about this.

In a nutshell, the consulate has sent the petition back to USCIS with a recommendation that the approval of the petition be revoked. Their reasoning is that the relationship exists primarily for the purpose of evading immigration law, which means that (in their opinion) the beneficiary was never really eligible for a visa, and the petition should never have been approved. The beneficiary's file is flagged with a marker that Marc and other immigration lawyers refer to as a "P6C marker", because it refers to paragraph 6C of INA 212 - the section on material misrepresentation; i.e., fraud. If the approval of the K1 petition is revoked then the P6C marker becomes a finding of fact - your fiancee will be guilty of fraud in the eyes of the US government. This will make her permanently inadmissible to the United States unless you can overcome the inadmissibility with an I-601 waiver. Those waivers are hard to get, so you want to do whatever you can to avoid this happening. If you receive a notice from USCIS that they intend to revoke the approval of the K1 petition then you must respond with evidence.

2. The Vermont Service Center will probably readjudicate your returned petition. You can't stop that process. An accusation has been made against your fiancee, and they won't take any other action on that petition until a decision has been made about that accusation. You could send a letter withdrawing the petition, but they wouldn't withdraw it until they reaffirmed it. You could send another K1 petition, but that won't be approved until the first K1 petition has been closed. You could marry and file a CR1 petition. They would approve that petition, but your fiancee won't get an interview until the K1 petition is closed. If the consulate receives the CR1 petition before a decision is made on the K1 petition then they'll sit on it until the K1 petition is closed.

Most people in this situation go ahead and get married and file a CR1 petition. If you choose to do this just be aware that she's not going to get the visa until a final decision is made on the K1 petition, and be prepared to respond with a truckload of evidence if you get a Notice Of Intent to Revoke (NOIR) for the K1 petition. You want to prevent the approval of that petition from being revoked.

3. This has been covered extensively in this thread. The issues that caused the K1 visa to be denied will also be issues in getting a CR1 visa. You have to address these issues.

4. Yes, this is an issue. The consulate suspects you may be using your status as a US citizen to act as a personal immigration portal. The fact that your fiancee wasn't aware that you'd sponsored your ex-wife strongly confirms that suspicion to the consulate.

There are several issues here. Your previous K1 alerted the consular officer to the possibility that you might be hooking up with foreigners just to help them immigrate to the US.

You made only two trips to Vietnam and got engaged. How long did you stay each trip? How much time elapsed between the trips? How much time went into preparing for your engagement ceremony? Did anyone else from your family travel to Vietnam for the engagement ceremony? Was the ceremony formal, or informal? How many people attended the party afterward? The consulate tends to frown on "modern relationships" unless they're convinced they are genuine. The much prefer people who follow Vietnamese traditions, and who take those traditions seriously. They don't like to see engagement ceremonies that are put together in a hurry, that are overly informal, and that don't involve a celebration with a large number of people (typically over 100). They like to see one or more members of the petitioner's family attend the ceremony since it represents a connection between two families and not just two people.

The consulate also likes to see relationships that develop over a period of time. Nothing will set them off faster than someone who meets their Vietnamese fiancee on the internet, travels to Vietnam the following month, has a hastily arranged engagement ceremony, and files an I-129F as soon as they return to the US. The more time you invest in the relationship, and the more trips you make to see your fiancee, the more convinced they will be that the relationship is sincere. Trying to rush things at the consulate in HCMC is the kiss of death.

Here is the contact info on Marc Ellis' website:

http://www.marcellislaw.com/contact.html

Thank you very much for your helpful infomation , Jim. Have a nice weekend !