70-page application?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Just a question -- what will you do if your expedite is rejected? Will you withdraw your petition and file again later when it's more convenient for your schedule?

Edit: brain thinking of one thing and hands typing another.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Honey Crumpet

[Heysofia 6]

OP there is no need for you to be saying members are "joking" about your situation and then being harsh to them, they are just giving their advice. To be realistic, expedites are only really given in life or death situations, the USCIS isn't really going to care too much about the fact that you may lose out on a few grand. The way they see it, if you're committed to this, then you're committed to any losses along the way. The beneficiary is giving up EVERYTHING in their country, so I don't think they're going to think much on the US citizen losing out on a bit too.

So yes, there MAY be a small chance that it will be approved, but as our experience goes on this site, they have only seem to be approved for life or death situations. If you do get approved that's great It will be good knowledge for VJ too to see a case like this approved.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Heysofia

[madtownguy 164]

It does not vex me, I just think you need to come back to reality. You are talking about normal problems that basically all women feel when they get married. I'm sure 90% of people who file could come up with a reason for an expedite. I can think of a bunch for myself but none that I think anyone will bite on. I could be wrong and maybe I'm stupid for not filing one myself. I wish you luck in your journey though.

[lilQueenP 15]

Just a question -- what will you do if your expedite is rejected? Will you withdraw your petition and file again later when it's more convenient for your schedule?

Edit: brain thinking of one thing and hands typing another.

We've talked about that a lot. It's a tough call. We'll have to cross the bridge when we get to it.

[lilQueenP 15]

OP there is no need for you to be saying members are "joking" about your situation and then being harsh to them, they are just giving their advice. To be realistic, expedites are only really given in life or death situations, the USCIS isn't really going to care too much about the fact that you may lose out on a few grand. The way they see it, if you're committed to this, then you're committed to any losses along the way. The beneficiary is giving up EVERYTHING in their country, so I don't think they're going to think much on the US citizen losing out on a bit too.

So yes, there MAY be a small chance that it will be approved, but as our experience goes on this site, they have only seem to be approved for life or death situations. If you do get approved that's great It will be good knowledge for VJ too to see a case like this approved.

I don't think my response was harsh, given what was written: only straightforward. But certainly, I might have misread what I felt was a lack of tact.

I have heard of expeditions given for financial loss far less than what I presented, so who knows. On the other hand, someone told me that ALL Haitian visas are supposed to be expedited now for humanitarian reasons. I didn't request an expediting under that because I feel that ALL Haitians (as well as many in other countries) should qualify for that & didn't see our case as special. Honestly, my fiance is one of the fortunate Haitians who DOES have full-time employment, etc. But it was (and is) truly the reason I gave that I felt was the "legitimate" claim.

Again, all I can do is submit. They said "financial loss", so I responded to such. We'll find out

[BrockUK 26]

So yes, there MAY be a small chance that it will be approved, but as our experience goes on this site, they have only seem to be approved for life or death situations. If you do get approved that's great It will be good knowledge for VJ too to see a case like this approved.

I have to agree with you on this one. My fiancee who is the USC has Stage 2 Brain cancer and was approved of the petition being expedited. For some reason when it was at Stage 1 they denied it. Guess they have a set standard at what life or death situations are.

Any case, don't get disheartened if you do not get it approved. You love him right? Of course you do, why would you file this petition if you didnt? You are on the start of this brand new advneture with your partner. Sure it maybe a long round, but in the end it will be worth it.

Good luck!

[madtownguy 164]

You must live in a different US than I do. The people who have had expedites done for less loss of money and haiti being an expedite because of humanitarian reasons does not sound like the US government at all.

[Fight for Love 98]

we did more than 70pages(ym/fb logs) but we never had any problem. as long that you make it easy for them to understand what that document for...label it...maybe sure separate important document(such as I-129F application/passport bio page/boarding pass/letter of intent/etc) to different folder then make another folder for the proof of communication. goodluck

[lilQueenP 15]

I have to agree with you on this one. My fiancee who is the USC has Stage 2 Brain cancer and was approved of the petition being expedited. For some reason when it was at Stage 1 they denied it. Guess they have a set standard at what life or death situations are.

Any case, don't get disheartened if you do not get it approved. You love him right? Of course you do, why would you file this petition if you didnt? You are on the start of this brand new advneture with your partner. Sure it maybe a long round, but in the end it will be worth it.

Good luck!

So sorry. Makes me sad to hear stories like that, but I think it's amazing that you are fighting with your fiance. It is a fantastic love story! Glad they FINALLY worked with you.

[Rae Anne 44]

So. My first posting. I sent in everything a couple of weeks ago. With this was the entire packet of materials. Now, I'm seeing that I didn't need to send everything at once? Will this hurt? This is what I sent:

1. Request to expedite based on very strict school attendance (if I miss in the semester, I'll be forced to repeat the semester & that's about $11K in tuition...expensive school, I know). Who knows if they'll aprove. If not, it's going to cause some real issues, but we'll cross that road when we get there. MY mistake, I missread the processing times as the time for the whole thing. With this, I included a very detailed letter, including photocopy and URL of the attendance policy, printouts of my enrollment & costs, etc, plus a letter from my school.

2. G-1145 Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance We've already gotten notification of this.

3. My check for the fee.

4. 1-129F Including cover letter as this site spelled out, and the application form itself.

5. My G-325 & Biographical info. This included passport photo, letter of intent to marry, my G-325, and divorce records (I sent the originals & will get another copy for myself). I also sent a copy of my birth certificate & photo copy of the ID page of my passport showing U.S. citizenship.

6. His G-325 & Biographical info. Including same as mine, except birth cert. & passport.

7. Proof of relationship/having seen each other in the past 2 years.

- His profile from the language exchange site we met on, showing his photo & vitals, & showing my photo as his friend there (not necessary, I know, but I felt it helped to complete the story).

- Emails & Yahoo IM messages back & forth including dates & such. I included things that talked about real concerns with family & dreams & even how hard the long-distance is, because I felt it was a pretty good indication of what a GENUINE relationship deals with. Total, sent 3 pages of emails & 2 of messages.

- Facebook profile pages for both, showing pictures & exchanges between us as well as relatives on both sides, establishing the extended relationship (my mom & nieces on his page & his cousins on mine). Also figured this helps them find us on Facebook to confirm if they want.

- Phone records. I buy minutes online through salutHaiti.com, which allows me to print out phone activity for 30 days.

- Photo copy of passport pages with stamps for my first trip to Haiti.

- Photo copies of my boarding passes

- Photos of us together, including an index of photos. 7 in all. I wrote the dates & locations & gave a descriptive. I KNOW this isn't "proof", since this can be made-up (dates & locations), but felt it would help maybe. Photos are mostly close-ups of us, which I heard is not great (we didn't always have someone to take the photo), but showed many settings including with friends & family (his sister), and in different outfits (since they were taken over a 3-week period). One shows my engagement ring on my hand (which is around his waist), and another shows a kiss. I took presentation sleves (clear) and cut them so that they were single pages, double-sided taped the photos to them (one-sided, since numbers & descriptions were also on the photos themselves) & put that inside an in-tact sleve. I didn't have photo pages, so that was my choice.

- Email confirmation showing the purchase of ANOTHER ticket to go back to Haiti (I hadn't left at the time I filed)

In addition to all of this, I clipped the whole thing together in a manila folder (clipped only to the back page, so it opens neatly as a book) AFTER adding post-it-notes to indicate what they are looking at, and highlighting things such as names & dates on documents. I also put our surnames on the bottom of every page in case anything would get separated. I scanned the whole packet in, and emailed it to myself and to my fiance, and made 2 printed copies for our records.

My hope is that this is not over-kill, and will not hurt us in any way. Right now we're working on acquiring more stuff for the interview, including new emails & messages & an update of the phone calls (I'll print it out just before), boarding passes & whatnot. I'm a little concerned that I should be there for the interview, but might not be able to manage it with school & such. How much will this affect me?

Looking for affirmation at this point, since I can't un-do anything I already sent. And hoping maybe this will help someone else who is just starting the process.

Did you include intent to marry affidavits signed by you and your fiance? If not, some adjudicators may not care, others will send you an RFE. Just saying. I don't think anyone's intention on here is to be unfairly cynical or mean. It's just, this is a long, complicated process. You are bringing someone to this country for permanent residency. No one in the federal government takes these applications lightly. Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but did you consider getting married in Haiti (there's a significant *surplus* of churches there) and filing for I-130 (spousal visa)? What's done is done. I think a 70 page application isn't overkill considering where your fiance is from. Haiti is a very poor country and the CO's at the embassy will always consider the possibility that your fiance is just trying to win a green card to the land of plenty. It's not fair or right - it's just reality. Best of luck!

[lilQueenP 15]

You must live in a different US than I do. The people who have had expedites done for less loss of money and haiti being an expedite because of humanitarian reasons does not sound like the US government at all.

"USCIS is currently expediting all petitions in which the beneficiary is from Haiti."

and...

"If your petition is for your fiancé(e), but you have not yet filed, then you may submit your completed Form I-129F petition to the appropriate USCIS service center where it will be processed. Your petition will be automatically expedited if the beneficiary is in Haiti."

Here's the original source

Edited September 6, 2012 by ptilda

[Rae Anne 44]

I don't think my response was harsh, given what was written: only straightforward. But certainly, I might have misread what I felt was a lack of tact.

I have heard of expeditions given for financial loss far less than what I presented, so who knows. On the other hand, someone told me that ALL Haitian visas are supposed to be expedited now for humanitarian reasons. I didn't request an expediting under that because I feel that ALL Haitians (as well as many in other countries) should qualify for that & didn't see our case as special. Honestly, my fiance is one of the fortunate Haitians who DOES have full-time employment, etc. But it was (and is) truly the reason I gave that I felt was the "legitimate" claim.

Again, all I can do is submit. They said "financial loss", so I responded to such. We'll find out

That may be but they will still scrutinize it fully. See: my comments about Haiti being a poor country.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Rae Anne

[lilQueenP 15]

Did you include intent to marry affidavits signed by you and your fiance? If not, some adjudicators may not care, others will send you an RFE. Just saying. I don't think anyone's intention on here is to be unfairly cynical or mean. It's just, this is a long, complicated process. You are bringing someone to this country for permanent residency. No one in the federal government takes these applications lightly. Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but did you consider getting married in Haiti (there's a significant *surplus* of churches there) and filing for I-130 (spousal visa)? What's done is done. I think a 70 page application isn't overkill considering where your fiance is from. Haiti is a very poor country and the CO's at the embassy will always consider the possibility that your fiance is just trying to win a green card to the land of plenty. It's not fair or right - it's just reality. Best of luck!

Certainly, I understand that to one degree or another, we're all in the same proverbial boat (no pun intended).

We did include our affidavits of intent. Each of us wrote a letter providing a brief history of our courtship (we met, we fell in love, we intend to get married) as outlined here on VJ. So thankful for the helpful sources here! I'd be lost without them. Not to mention the members. They are both originals, signed & dated (he sent his to me).

We did think about getting married in Haiti, but I understand that is considerably more time. While that is not an impossibility, we decided to go the K-1 route after reading advice. Can you explain the advantages of a spouse visa over a fiance visa? I can't really say why getting married & THEN filing is an advantage, but I see that some people say that is the case.

Certainly no shortage of churches in Haiti But my family is not there. Of course, HIS family is not here & it's uncertain whether we can bring ANY of them over (working hard on his sister, who raised him after his parents died). But we might end up going back for a ceremony or reception that his family can attend. We've not gotten too far into that yet... just working on one step at a time!

It was actually surprising to me that Haiti is considered LOW fraud. Everyone I've talked to, has very little problem from there. Maybe it's the fact that, while fraud MIGHT be attempted, limited resources don't make it a financial draw for Americans to marry Haitians for that purpose? Maybe it partially has to do with the family values of Haiti that seem to place considerably more importance on marriage & commitment & so even if Haitians are drawn to marry Americans for a G.C., it SEEMS to me (this is totally unscientific) that these Haitians pick American spouses that they truly love & truly can STAY married to. Maybe I'm wrong? Who knows. It's certainly an adventure.

[lilQueenP 15]

we did more than 70pages(ym/fb logs) but we never had any problem. as long that you make it easy for them to understand what that document for...label it...maybe sure separate important document(such as I-129F application/passport bio page/boarding pass/letter of intent/etc) to different folder then make another folder for the proof of communication. goodluck

Fantastic. Thanks! Don't want to risk making them cranky!

[lilQueenP 15]

Just an update: Checked the USCIS website today & got this report:

"Post Decision Activity

On September 5, 2012, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

For approved applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include USCIS sending notification of the approved application/petition to the National Visa Center or the Department of State. For denied applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include the processing of an appeal and/or motions to reopen or reconsider and revocations."

Not sure if it is the regular Haiti expediting that made it go through so fast, or if it was my request. But thought this might give some insight into the conversation.

Thank you all for your help & input. It's been very helpful.