Sharing a language

[Sandra G. 5,047]

She is older than you,with 4 children and from a poor district as you said. I would not choose K1 visa at all, but go back there get married and apply for CR1 visa.Good luck.

[duraaraa 203]

She is older than you,with 4 children and from a poor district as you said. I would not choose K1 visa at all, but go back there get married and apply for CR1 visa.Good luck.

She being older than I am, having four children, and living in a poor district are all evidence that I've submitted on my I-129F. Therefore, if the USCIS approves this, I don't think that the embassy can use it as a reason not to issue the visa. From what I can tell, the denial must be based on new evidence, not seen by the USCIS.

Am I mistaken?

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

She being older than I am, having four children, and living in a poor district are all evidence that I've submitted on my I-129F. Therefore, if the USCIS approves this, I don't think that the embassy can use it as a reason not to issue the visa. From what I can tell, the denial must be based on new evidence, not seen by the USCIS.

Am I mistaken?

Yes, but it might not apply in your case. There are a fair number of older American women on VJ that have been denied K1 visas for their younger male partners from high-fraud countries just based on the embassy's feelings on their case.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Your finances should be ok for the K1 if you submit current pay stubs and a letter from your employer. (if you had a co-sponsor you could send her with one from them as well just in case) The 134s are tricky. its up to the consulates discretion. You can do a google search or a forum search for info about other users experience with the consulate youre going to be using.

Have you looked forward to the AOS process though? the financial requirements for it are different (the 864 form) They require 3 years of tax returns. If your last years return was not sufficient and you havent yet been in your current job for a year, you may not qualify w/o a sponsor.

As for proving the relationship is legitimate, that burden is going to fall on your fiance, not you. Normally theyre not going to have much interest in a letter explaining the reasons why you love her, theyd rather make that determination themselves by doing their own investigation, but you could 'creatively' insert things like that. When you make your video showing you can speak the language speak about your love for her. When you write your letter showing you know the language, write a basic paragraph explaining the purpose of the letter, then take advantage and blab on showing off your language skills by detailing the reasons you love her.

[duraaraa 203]

Yes, but it might not apply in your case. There are a fair number of older American women on VJ that have been denied K1 visas for their younger male partners from high-fraud countries just based on the embassy's feelings on their case.

I can understand that, but our case is kind of the opposite... I (the American petitioner) am the younger male, and the beneficiary is the older woman. We lived together for nine months in Mongolia, and I have a three-year visa. I don't know if Mongolia is considered a very high-fraud country at this point, although I know they are tough on B visas.

I will try my best for the K-1, and let you know the results. I still have a lot of waiting ahead of me, unfortunately.

Edited January 10, 2013 by duraaraa

[duraaraa 203]

Your finances should be ok for the K1 if you submit current pay stubs and a letter from your employer. (if you had a co-sponsor you could send her with one from them as well just in case) The 134s are tricky. its up to the consulates discretion. You can do a google search or a forum search for info about other users experience with the consulate youre going to be using.

Have you looked forward to the AOS process though? the financial requirements for it are different (the 864 form) They require 3 years of tax returns. If your last years return was not sufficient and you havent yet been in your current job for a year, you may not qualify w/o a sponsor.

As for proving the relationship is legitimate, that burden is going to fall on your fiance, not you. Normally theyre not going to have much interest in a letter explaining the reasons why you love her, theyd rather make that determination themselves by doing their own investigation, but you could 'creatively' insert things like that. When you make your video showing you can speak the language speak about your love for her. When you write your letter showing you know the language, write a basic paragraph explaining the purpose of the letter, then take advantage and blab on showing off your language skills by detailing the reasons you love her.

I don't have three years of tax returns, so I will need a sponsor for the AOS. My parents would be willing, so I think it should be fine.

[Villanelle 4,122]

She being older than I am, having four children, and living in a poor district are all evidence that I've submitted on my I-129F. Therefore, if the USCIS approves this, I don't think that the embassy can use it as a reason not to issue the visa. From what I can tell, the denial must be based on new evidence, not seen by the USCIS.

Am I mistaken?

I think youre slightly mistaken. Basically you submit the initial petition to USCIS. It gets approved based on the fact that you are a citizen and eligible to petition someone for a K1 visa. But thats about it. It then gets forwarded to the embassy.

The embassy is the one that actually decides if the visa is to be issued or not. The USCIS didnt review anything you sent in in regards to evidence of the relationship being genuine, where she lives, the age difference, etc. Thats all done at the embassy. If the embassy decides theres something 'off' about you two, they wont approve her visa.

[WORMIEVADER 6]

We just went through the whole K1 process with our "unconventional" relationship, and hopefully I can ease your worries.

I flew to Senegal to attended the interview for the K1 visa, and we "sailed" though it, despite so-called "Red Flags".

Common language was one of our concerns - though he speaks french, my french is very basic. But we were able to demonstrate at the interview that we can communicate quite well with each other. I think our body language alone spoke volumes.

We also have a large age difference, religion, social status, education - I was driving myself crazy with worry. None of it came up in the interview. We had four visits lasting several weeks under our belt, so that probably helped as well.

I am sure you will be fine and neither age difference nor language will be a problem. You have plenty of evidence of a bonafide relationship. Especially if you can prove that you lived together for 9 months in Mongolia.

Do your homework, frontload your application with lots of evidence and then relax.

[Villanelle 4,122]

The other two posters are suggesting (and I honestly dont know if they are correct or not, but they are both veteran members who have seen plenty of cases pass through here) but they are suggesting that based on the fact that your fiance is 10+ yrs older, has multiple children and lives in a poor area, the embassy may take the position that your relationship is NOT genuine regardless of the amount of evidence you have to the contrary, and deny the visa.

If that happens there is nothing you can do except get married and file for a spousal visa, so they are suggesting you abandon the K1 now and switch to the spousal before investing any more time into the K1.

[duraaraa 203]

I think youre slightly mistaken. Basically you submit the initial petition to USCIS. It gets approved based on the fact that you are a citizen and eligible to petition someone for a K1 visa. But thats about it. It then gets forwarded to the embassy.

The embassy is the one that actually decides if the visa is to be issued or not. The USCIS didnt review anything you sent in in regards to evidence of the relationship being genuine, where she lives, the age difference, etc. Thats all done at the embassy. If the embassy decides theres something 'off' about you two, they wont approve her visa.

Well, that's what I'm worried about. So I spend a lot of time thinking how to prove that there isn't anything 'off.'

I read something sent to the embassies by Colin Powell, I think, which read that officers should not fail to approve a family-related visa without substantial evidence. That evidence would then need to be submitted back to the USCIS as a reason to revoke. In the case of the older women petitioning for younger men, I wonder what the verbatim reason was of the denials. Being completely stereotypical here, perhaps it's 'he's using his youth and good looks to lure the sponsor into giving him a visa without a real relationship' or something of that nature. I wonder what reason they could give for assuming something is off in our case. She wouldn't have been able to bribe me or anything, I hold a good job, I lived in her country, and she and her kids love and know everything about me. Would anyone play devil's advocate here and think of a possible reason they could think of for assuming fraud? That way, I could try to prepare evidence to counter it.

Thanks.

[duraaraa 203]

We just went through the whole K1 process with our "unconventional" relationship, and hopefully I can ease your worries.

I flew to Senegal to attended the interview for the K1 visa, and we "sailed" though it, despite so-called "Red Flags".

Common language was one of our concerns - though he speaks french, my french is very basic. But we were able to demonstrate at the interview that we can communicate quite well with each other. I think our body language alone spoke volumes.

We also have a large age difference, religion, social status, education - I was driving myself crazy with worry. None of it came up in the interview. We had four visits lasting several weeks under our belt, so that probably helped as well.

I am sure you will be fine and neither age difference nor language will be a problem. You have plenty of evidence of a bonafide relationship. Especially if you can prove that you lived together for 9 months in Mongolia.

Do your homework, frontload your application with lots of evidence and then relax.

Thanks! Could you be more specific about the differences you were worried about?

I will do my best to relax. I should probably go back to Mongolia for the interview, as well.

[Villanelle 4,122]

You should not count on being allowed in to the interview and forgo collecting any other evidence of your ability to speak the same language. Whether or not you will be allowed in will be at the discretion of the person conducting the interview.

As for why they could assume fraud? Um, its rather simple. She lives in a poor area with many children. America is the 'land of opportunity'. Marrying you will give her and her children GCs and a better life. The only proof that you can offer to counteract that shes marrying you for the GC is her verbal statement that she is not. (which is why the other posters suggested going the spousal route- its a lot to put on the CO believing her)

[Cathi 5,747]

She being older than I am, having four children, and living in a poor district are all evidence that I've submitted on my I-129F. Therefore, if the USCIS approves this, I don't think that the embassy can use it as a reason not to issue the visa. From what I can tell, the denial must be based on new evidence, not seen by the USCIS.

Am I mistaken?

The ultimate decision is up to the CO . An approved petition merely means you are qualified to apply for the visa. I can tell you from experience(I attended the interview with my husband) I am considerably older, we applied for the CR1 spouse visa, age was brought up several times to my husband and to myself by the CO at the embassy. The CO has 100% discretion to deny a visa, even with an approved petition, if he does not think the relationship is bona fide. If you don;t mind my asking, how much older is she? As I said I am considerably older than my husband, 21 years, and the interview was not by any means easy for us, even with my husband being 100% fluent in English, reading writing and speaking. Just make sure you have all of your bases covered. Good luck!

Edited January 10, 2013 by mimolicious

[Jahwaree 83]

Dude I wish U sucess, I'd go with Darnell advise,post it to youtube then put into her email (I hear CO someetimes reuest to C ones emaol)

get the evaulation done and certified , just be well prepared.

[keljopy 1]

I would think the fact that you lived together for 9 months, especially if you have evidence of that, should really help your overall case. As far as the language goes, my husband and I communicated only in Spanish (there's some English mixed in now that he's been here a year, but at the time he spoke none) and it wasn't a problem. At one of the interviews, I can't remember if it was the visa interview (since fiancee is expected to be present in the Ecuador consulate) or the adjustment of status, but one of them did ask what language we communicated in and then some general questions about where I learned Spanish and how well I spoke it. Spanish is probably easier than Mongolian of course, but from your description it sounds like you are probably more fluent than I was, and we had no problems because of it.