Denied after 2 years of waiting

[wxgal 0]

I'm in this administrative processing limbo for more than 20 months now. After reading about your experience, I start to realize it's probably better to switch K1 to CR1 as soon as possible for us.

[jan22 3,056]

Some points that might clarify some things for you:

First, consular officers do not have the authority to approve waivers; waivers involve more agencies that just the Department of State. They can decide whether the applicant has proven to "their satisfaction" that one of the exceptions to being ineligible under 212(a)(3)(D) apply, but if they can't do that and the person is found ineligible, the waiver always has to go to other offices for approval. (The only completely on-site process for any waivers I am aware of is at Ciudad Juarez, which has a large USCIS waiver office on-site. Even there, the waivers for a 212(a)(3)(D) have to go to Washington for approval, I believe.) BTW, some of the links in other posts refer to the process for waivers in non-immigrant visa cases; the same process does not apply in immigrant visa cases. Be sure you are always reading information about procedures for immigrant visas.

Second, the reason you were advised to get married and file for a CR-1 is that the only waivers possible for a 212a3D ineligibility are for spouses, parents, children and siblings of US citizens or spouses and children of permanent residents. Once the consular officer decides that there is no clear evidence that one of the exceptions applies, there is no waiver available for a 212a3D ineligibility for a non-immigrant visa, even one that eventually turns into permanent residency.

Third, the (3)(D) visa ineligibility is just that -- an ineligibility for a visa of any type. If, for example, you did apply for the visitor visa, she would still be found ineligible under exactly the same ground of ineligibility, so save your money and level of frustration and forget applying for another visa -- wait out the process on this one, since it is the only one for which a waiver is available.

They certainly could have done a better job of explaining all of this to you, IMO.

[forgetworld 0]

On 3/5/2015 at 4:46 PM, JRF said:

What they should have explained is that as your spouse she qualifies for the waiver, but that the consulate typically will not grant the waiver but rather send it to "Washington".

I have specific experience with the process, the waiver, etc. (not China, but similar as you can see from my background). You should have already prepared a dossier that explains in detail your wife's rationale for party membership (job related), the fact that she did not hold any sort of office, etc. We also provided documentation that showed the link between party membership and job promotion (with everything translated). We provided this at the time of the interview at the consulate, and it was forwarded to the Visa Services office with our case file. We spent about 4 months in AP. My wife quit the party and the job at the same time - perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, the approval was granted shortly after we submitted this paperwork to Visa Services. I can't remember if we submitted this paperwork to the Consulate and then to Visa Services, or direct to Visa Services. At that point my wife had been in AP for about 3 months.

We had an attorney with experience in these matters assist - I spent a lot of time on paperwork and at the end of the process I felt like I understood the process as well as the attorney. Nevertheless, his fee was worth what we paid in that we were prepared ahead of time for what to expect, and, with documentation to support the waiver request. That said, end to end it was almost 18 months.

PM me if you want more information. Best of luck.

Hi JRF,

Can you share your attorney's contact with me, I'm applying for the green card, and I also have the problem I was a communist member before, my parent help got the member I'm never involved with any activity.  I concern this will influence me.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

***** two and a half year old thread locked.  Please ask questions about your own case in your own thread. *****