FOIA outcomes ?

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Just would like to know if anyone has filed a FOIA for their finace's K1 visa refusal.
What tips in filing a FOIA do you have and what was the outcome and how long did it take to hear back from them ?
Was the information given helpful ?

I know of one member who filed FOIA without the beneficiary's consent signature and received a letter about a month later

with just a few words (that reflected the CO's thoughts in notes) as "age difference" (which I say is discrimination and not factual reasoning)

and was not even a complete sentence.

Anyone else ? Any threads of personal experience ? Did it delay a newly filed I-129 petition ?

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Although I did not use that route , the advise I was given is that if you know the core reason it only slows future activity up because the file is sent to be used to respond to the request and then a future petition will wait until the request is finished and the file returned to be processed. We all know how slow files move when they have timelines that are publically know you can imagine how slow these special requests go. They will give you the words from the file that answer exactly what you requested after they remove things they determine that are outside your request. So a poorly worded request could yeild a series of random words taken from the CO's notes

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Although I did not use that route , the advise I was given is that if you know the core reason it only slows future activity up because the file is sent to be used to respond to the request and then a future petition will wait until the request is finished and the file returned to be processed. We all know how slow files move when they have timelines that are publically know you can imagine how slow these special requests go. They will give you the words from the file that answer exactly what you requested after they remove things they determine that are outside your request. So a poorly worded request could yeild a series of random words taken from the CO's notes

Thanks, yes I agree the request has to be worded exactly what you are looking for.

I am refiling in about 2 months so am wondering if I should or shouldn't file a FOIA.

The CO's reasoning for the refusal was : " I don't think your marriage would be a lasting one." When I asked her why she thinks so she

answered: " I just have a gut feeling." At that time my fiance protested and she sternly interrupted and said : "She asked me a question and I answered it."

So it is the general blanket of 'immigration benefits only' refusal I suspect as no factual evidence was given or said to us. Just her "gut feeling."

Am on the fence of filing FOIA or not just in case I need to focus more on something in the refiling I may be missing. We were 16 months

in AP so I do not want to prolong the processing either.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

My first denial was very explicit so there was no question about what to respond, They usually don't have any facts and kind of make fuzzy connections to red flags you have. You should be fine if you carefully submitted a new petition.