Confused... denied

[Mako & Leakey 3]

My input in this is as follows; i know it may sound mean but i am being very neutral and looking at it from the consular point of view

When they asked you why you never went to India or were not interested in going to India or even visit his each others family , but would rather visit your friends in vacation trips, that raised a red flag on the seriousness of your relationship. I repeat again not that you dont have a relationship but the all the consular has is the picture you painted to him by your answers which makes the consular think and wonder. coz if i had a fiance' who is not interested in visiting my country and my family then, what kind of a relationship are they having.

Secondly as you stated that you stated that you prefered to go vsit his friends and not his family while remember, marriage is a unity of two families,

Honestly, it does not matter where you get engaged but you have to help your case and do drastic measures, just to make your case worthwhile, for example, i met m fiance in russia while studying there and she was living with her Aunt, her parents lived in Republic of Georgia, i decided not to propose to he rin Russia but in Georgia with her parents present, she had Russian permanent residency but i asked her to go back to georgia for the whole year when her case was being processed and have her interview in Georgia.. in short is .. no matter how many documents you have .. you have to help your case not only by assumption but by substantial evidence ..

But dont loose hope.... if you read my timeline you will see that on my first K1 application, i got DENIED too .. so i know what you feel..

this is what i would do .. send a letter to the USICS asking them to close the peition .. and then refile a new K1 visa but this time .. overcome those short comings that i mention above... and please .. safely keep all your boarding passes and travel documents.. so that you can send colored copies of them when you apply next...

People do say that now get married and apply K3 visa.. i am proof that i applied K1 visa twice back to back and i got approved... you stil have hope dont loose the hope

all i can say is .. Be smart and Help yor case by doing stuff that will boost your case like pictures with his/ her family members in their country makes your case much more genuine ....

[Cathi 5,794]

actually the interviews are done in Amman. If you check the US Embassy in Amman you will see they are held there. There is an entire section for Iraq

[Mel and Rudy 2]

I am sorry you were denied. I have heard of a lot of couples getting rejected at the New Delhi embassy especially if they're interracial.

You should have tried the Mumbai one if that was an option.

From what I can tell, the decisions are already made before they interview you. In my own case, I had a ton of evidence and the lady didn't bother looking at any of it. She asked me to sign some papers, there was some unrelated chitchat regarding work life in India and we were done.

One more thing. In my opinion, just one meeting is NOT enough. The process is expensive and you cannot afford to think about money. My wife and I probably spent over $20,000 between us just to make sure we had enough evidence before the K-1 interview and we've spent at least another $20,000 since.

She would take off work (which was extremely difficult) and I would take off school so we could meet every few months.

We had met thrice in India and once in Thailand by the time I was at the interview and I had included the boarding passes, hotel receipts, pictures with family and more in the evidence.

You can get married and go the CR-1 route but you WILL need more evidence. Spend time together. If you can live with him, do it. If you can't right now, at least add 2 more meetings in addition to this one by the time you're at the interview again.

Interview in Iraq won't be easy either as far as I know as MENA counties have higher scrutiny.

If you're heading back to the States right away, try your senator and congressman.

I know it sucks to be denied. As if we owe anyone proof for how we feel for another person but it's not over. It will take time but if you're both really determined, you can do it.

All the best

[Operator 1,927]

actually the interviews are done in Amman. If you check the US Embassy in Amman you will see they are held there. There is an entire section for Iraq

Perhaps it has changed?

http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iv-apply.html

Step 5. would indicate that interviews are conducted in Baghdad.

[Mel and Rudy 2]

As far as I know the New Delhi embassy allows DCF. You could get married, live together to fulfill the residency criteria and then file. I think the minimum is 4 months, I am not sure.

But at any cost, you would need a lot more evidence this time around unless you don't mind risking another denial. For starters, you could visit his family. Or have them come down to see you. You can include affidavits from his parents and yours, too.

If you're doing DCF, you have to find a co-sponsor unless your job in the States will wait for you.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

You have gotten good advice and I don't need to repeat what others already are point on about more visits with him and meeting with family.

I noticed you said you submitted ' several months ' of chat logs etc. You need a consistent flow from day one to right before the interview, not just several months.

If a couple has been together for 4 years then that means you need evidence from day 1 to current when denied before and filing again so keep that in mind

for next time. You are talking many pounds of evidence by then.

You can try to ask your senator to intervene in asking the embassy to send your case to another embassy for another interview but that is a snow balls chance in hell.

Forget a lawyer, nothing he can do.

There is nothing to appeal with a K1 at CSC.
Your case will sit in storage and then you get a letter after about 6 months saying your petition has expired and you may refile.
CSC will NOT reaffirm the K1. Period. No NOID/NOIR letter will be send to you for you to overcome the lack of bona fide findings.
So scratch that off your options list.

Refile a K1 or marry and file a CR1. Careful when marrying in a third country he is not a citizen of. The requirements are murky at best and difficult to meet,

may change from one day to the next, open to personal interpretation, expensive and

you may need to be there for many weeks to get it done.

Take some time to regroup to get over the disappointment and shock and discuss what is best for you both and you will find clarity after a while.

Study the regional forums and IM with members from the countries you are involved with or thinking about marrying or interviewing in.

Personal experience from someone who has gone before you is a good teacher.

Pick the brains of those people and learn from their failures and successes.

For those trying to start drama about him being already married.....read the dang paper and understand it is a general list of varies reasons and comprehend

the words "either" and "or" in the letter. If the findings were that he was married they would slap the case with misrepresentation markers.

You will be in for the long haul with possible AP and I wish you the best. Don't give up ! It would be ideal if you could live a few month with him to make your case

strong.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I also think that people living in a second country often have a harder time, especially people originally from a poor/high-fraud country. Your fiance may appear as if he is doing anything and everything to get out of Iraq. First he goes to India, then he meets someone online and they meet once and decide to marry? How is your best friend from Jordan? Did you also meet him/her online? The trip where you met sounds like a group of friends hanging out, not developing a serious relationship that leads to marriage.

Best of luck to you going forward.

[Carie_Azan 35]

Wrong. Baghdad embassy is clearly open for business.

actually the interviews are done in Amman. If you check the US Embassy in Amman you will see they are held there. There is an entire section for Iraq

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

boarding passes, email volumes, chat logs, proof of first/earliest email, photos, our cell phone bills we got over seas for time/location, ring receipt, hotel bill receipts, letter of intent were sent with the original submission.

in the packet for the interview he head additional proofs he took what i had listed above, plus receipts of gifts he bought me on line that were mailed to my address, yahoo messenger, new letter of intents were written, photos together from when we met, letters and package tops to show mail addressed to and from each other with the stamp dates, email records taken over several months, skype logs over several months, phone chat records, facebook posts / photos, original engagement ring receipt and photos of it on, im not sure what else. we had a cosigner just incase. we had so much stuff.

he said the guy asked him to list the proofs and not really look at it, so he told him what he had and they took the forms and called him back in to say not convinced. almost 2 years talking for hours daily? this has been a long journey, and im ready to have him come home to me.

but i really think it came down to the fact that he was not interviewing in his own country. the man asked a lot of questions that my fiance said he felt the denial was coming. my fiance is iraqi citizen going to school in india, and just graduated recently with his masters, but we didnt meet in india, we took a holiday to Jordan, my bestfriend lives there, and i thought it would be good to meet her too if i was flying over the world. i could meet both at the same trip. but sounds the guy thought i flew to meet her and tour and not him! he kept asking why i didnt go to inida. well, i didnt want to go to india, i wanted to go some place else, to meet my friend and tour jordan with them. then he asked why didnt we marry in india. really? first because ive never been there, second we filed fiance. so many questions that were set up with negative tone.

anyways, what to do now. file in his home country? marry some place else and try again? how to appeal? get a lawyer?

One thing I have learned on this journey is that as unfortuante as it is, we do have to play by the rules. Written or unwritten.

I personally think this was a very big flag.

Good luck and when you regroup, do it with even more research.

[PrincessHalo 7]

Yea only once, the main reason is that we are both college students, so we were trying to save money by not traveling. It was so hard but we were doing our best to be patient for the benefit of our future. One bedroom apartment, part time job and college makes travel difficult.

But now we know we must try harder and make bigger sacrifices. No way no chance we are giving up.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

One thing I have learned on this journey is that as unfortuante as it is, we do have to play by the rules. Written or unwritten.

I personally think this was a very big flag.

Good luck and when you regroup, do it with even more research.

Unfortunately the written 'rules' are not including the unwritten "rules" which are non- transparent, dished out and decided upon with tons of disretionary freedom by speculative and assumptious CO's and often only discovered by trial and error and then only apply for some couples and not others.

If each high fraud embassy would list their "quirk" preferences on their web sites then we all would understand what the hell they really want.

One can't be expected to play by the rules that one does not know and that are lurking in the shadows.

It appears to be a flag to an assumptious CO but it made perfect sense to the couple. They followed all the "written rules" and only now

are being told of the beast called "embassy specific unwritten bs rules." Hindsight is often the only gained insight into this broken legal immigration system.

[Morningmist 76]

Some of us have read the "dang" paper and just because there is an "either" and an "or" doesn't preclude him from qualifying for "the either" or for "the or". I can read and I can understand. It just seems weird they would even have that in the same stanza. I got into AP once and they generally don't list conditions that might have absolutely nothing to do with my case at all. In one way or the other I could qualify for the reasons they stated. They don't let you know for their own reason. No one is trying to start drama. But she has only met him once and hasn't met his family or his friends and hasn't met him at his current place of residence so no, him being married before or currently isn't exactly a far fetched idea for someone else who isn't involved in the relationship.

[PrincessHalo 7]

All are entitled to suspicions, looking at this from a file / procedure standpoint. But I am confident in the man and the person I love, who is the most amazing man ever. Im sure previous marriage is not an issue. We are very close and very open and I believe in him, and in us. I am happy every day to love him and be loved by him. <3

Anyways, back on track and toward the topic " what do we do next"

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Some of us have read the "dang" paper and just because there is an "either" and an "or" doesn't preclude him from qualifying for "the either" or for "the or". I can read and I can understand. It just seems weird they would even have that in the same stanza. I got into AP once and they generally don't list conditions that might have absolutely nothing to do with my case at all. In one way or the other I could qualify for the reasons they stated. They don't let you know for their own reason. No one is trying to start drama. But she has only met him once and hasn't met his family or his friends and hasn't met him at his current place of residence so no, him being married before or currently isn't exactly a far fetched idea for someone else who isn't involved in the relationship.

I do think it is far fetched to say he may be married when the OP has just found out her case was returned due to the CO not being convinced of a bona fide relationship. There are many VJ members who have met once and haven't met family who have partners that aren't married, muslim or non muslim.

They generally DO list situations that have nothing to do with the reason in the general 221g letter and perhaps your embassy does not do so. Had their findings been him being married there would be a specific misrepresentation marker listed or if that was suspected then they would be in AP for a prolonged home investigation. The CO clearly said he is not convinced which is the catch all phrase for we don't feel like issuing the visa because your entire case is not strong enough and we doubt you are genuine given on what you submitted.

[PrincessHalo 7]

Thanks,

So I'm thinking my options:

appealing, but it looks like this case might not be appealable?

Moving to a 3rd party country, marry, stay there for a while and file marriage visa

Or... ? Other ideas

Should I find an immigration lawyer?

Thanks