My Husband Was given a letter today and says he is ineligible

[nab-400 16]

They basically does not believe that your relationship is not valid and they are not able to make decision and sent the case back to USCIS for decision, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WITH ME, they will ask him to reach out to USCIS, USCIS will say we don't have the case, call back when we receive the case, you will keep calling and calling, and after three month they will say, yes we received the case but unfortunately, the embassy sent the case late and now we are unable to open the case and you need to refile. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, AND WE REFILED AND I AM NOW IN USA

[HFM181818 750]

there is a disconnect....if the CO said she believed the relationship, then there would be no reason to send it back...if the police record is clean, no reason to send it back...I suppose at this stage an inquiry from your representative might get an answer.

[nab-400 16]

Well they don't tell you the reason, all they say here is the 221G and go deal with it. That's it. and we went and talked to senator,representative, governor you name it, and same answer we have to wait until embassy send the case back, we sent request to embassy to send it back, but with no success, but the amazing part is we filed again after that and took about three months, and i got visa.

[dwheels76 5,469]

If the CO said she believed the relationship was real, but still sent it back, there is something wrong....not sure what...but that makes no sense, unless.......the beneficiary has something in his background that you are not aware of, but the CO is, and wants USCIS to now be aware of whatever it might be, if it might affect his eligibility....I guess you'll find out when you get a letter back from USCIS...I cannot think of another reason...if it was a lack of income on your part, the case would not be sent back. You would have been asked to provide a co-sponsor.

So something else is out of whack....ask him to think of anything in his past that might be bubbling up on the radar screen.

As to old men marrying teens in the PI, well, I cannot answer for those COs, but I can tell you from my own experience in a couple of other countries in which I served that I would put those cases under an electron microscope, as red flags would be fluttering like mad in most of them....few, if any of those should have been 'rubber stamped.'

As far as denials from other countries, it might just be that many of those folks are not posting their results on this site, instead of believing that every case in the world except Ghanian ones are being approved.

Good one HFM. Right on point.Exactly. I know of many cases here on VJ for Lagos that are denied and they disappear or people change VJ member name and come back asking questions like a new member. It's just seems like the world is picking on Ghana right now and that's not the case. Just people are posting more.

I so wish I could have your old job

[tarzan31 27]

Hello everyone,

My husband went for his interview 2 weeks ago and was asked to go and bring new birth certificate, photos and phone records. The consular only looked at the picture and gave him a letter that he is ineligible based on INS section 221. And have been asked to wait till i hear back from USCIS what can I do? Please help us. Do I take a lawyer?

Question, you listed on your profile that you filed a k-1 application. Yet you refer to this man as your husband. Are you married, did you file for IR-1/CR-1 ????

[Amhara 460]

sadwek33 - did you file jointly with your husband on your tax returns? If so, did you include a copy of your returns in the petition when you sent it to the USCIS? If you didn't file jointly, what was your filing status for the year you were married?

[saddwek33 0]

I filed as single because he is not here presently. They asked for tax information for the last 3 years which I provided and they asked my husband to bring the current year tax 2014. He had that as well when he went for the interview. I filed for 1-130 petition for alien relative spouse.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

They basically does not believe that your relationship is not valid and they are not able to make decision and sent the case back to USCIS for decision, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WITH ME, they will ask him to reach out to USCIS, USCIS will say we don't have the case, call back when we receive the case, you will keep calling and calling, and after three month they will say, yes we received the case but unfortunately, the embassy sent the case late and now we are unable to open the case and you need to refile. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, AND WE REFILED AND I AM NOW IN USA

K1's aren't reviewed and expire, IR/CR's do not expire.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

I filed as single because he is not here presently. They asked for tax information for the last 3 years which I provided and they asked my husband to bring the current year tax 2014. He had that as well when he went for the interview. I filed for 1-130 petition for alien relative spouse.

Please fill out your timeline and put IR/CR instead of the K1 on your profile, it just confuses people.

Filing single when you are married is incorrect. You can get him a ITIN number with his passport page copy and file MFJ , I suggest you

amend it. While this isn't a reason to refuse to issue a visa, it could come into play if overall insufficient evidence was submitted.

"Some pics" as I said is not enough. Some chats aren't enough. You need to present your personal story as a couple and show meeting,

growth and flow of the relationship sprinkled with important events such as wedding photos but not just exclusively only one phase of

your relationship.

No lawyer is needed now. When you get your NOID/NOIR letter and you don't think you understand what they want then you can consult one.

Meanwhile collect the items I suggested earlier and re submit everything pertaining to your relationship with your response.

[archie119 9]

It's simple u guys live apart, remittances to your spouse, would have been an excellent source of evidence, also courier package receipts, also insurance and 401 k beneficiary documents, also visiting during holiday periods

[Amhara 460]

Filing single when you are married is incorrect. You can get him a ITIN number with his passport page copy and file MFJ , I suggest you

amend it. While this isn't a reason to refuse to issue a visa, it could come into play if overall insufficient evidence was submitted.

Yes, filing single is incorrect. Technically, the filing status IRC (Internal Revenue Code) is obscure enough that this isn't tax evasion/fraud, but it does go against the spirit of the law and I would think looks pretty bad in the eyes of the CO. If I were a CO, this would throw up a red flag, but then again, I'm from a tax background.

They may be looking for married filing jointly or married filing separate - something that indicates you are representing yourself as married before another federal agency. If I were married, I would have gotten an ITIN for my guy. Not only is MFS way more expensive, MFJ just looks better. That filing status requires consent by both parties. I would especially have filed MFJ if I was expecting Ghana!!!

This would be especially worse if the CO was trained on things to look for on the tax return (they probably are) and you were able to claim tax credits by filing single that you would not have gotten if your husband was on your tax return.

Just another thing to consider. Sorry this happened to you.

[Amhara 460]

I have known my husband since 1998 it all started as friendship. I traveled to the States in 2000 and started schooling but our relationship started when I went back in Ghana in 2010 which I spent a month over and was mostly with him for the Christmas holidays. I came back to U.S and went back to school which he was also in school at that particular time. I filed for the 1-129 Fiance Visa which was denied based on the fact that we have not had a one to one encounter and 2 years has passed. I was given an option to appeal which I did but was denied again after I have payed all the fees. I then decided to go back home last year May to get married in other to bring my husband over.

Oh, and another thing I think you should address is the not seeing each other physically for two years. Explain why this happened - in your answer to USCIS - not necessarily to us.

They may be wondering why you married instead of just visiting him and filing K-1 again or why you filed K-1 without meeting the requirements.

For example, I could not visit my fiance in his country, but we would need to meet in a third country, so we would not be able to meet as frequently as we would if he lived in a place like the UK, for example. Whatever your reason for meeting less frequently, make sure you address it.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

While we all know that high fraud countries are extra scrutinized and therefore some genuine applicants will fall through the cracks and get denied

when they shouldn't, the latest coming out of Ghana is ridiculous. Thread upon thread almost daily of denials when they have submitted good quality

evidence, have gone above the basic requirements, been compliant, dotted every i and crossed every t, additional requested evidence brought

to the interview is not even looked at (why request it then per 221g ?).

The OP in this case seems to not have understood what all is involved

and has not been able to submit adequate evidence; there are also plenty of those members here......however, the denials are still like someone

left the flood gates open and unreasonably high in numbers for Accra currently as opposed to several years ago when the same happened

with Nigeria, for THOSE who did submit more than enough and have no red flags. People don't just say the CO was rude but usually say why

they thought that and what exactly was said in a very disrespectful manner.
No one can convince me that every CO does a good job just as no one can convince me that all CO's that deny are rude. Life isn't that simple.
The CO's that have a chip on their shoulder need to be re trained when enough complaints to the consular post with questionable

high returns have been made. It isn't hard to recognize a different flip in pattern and Ghana has flipped (out).

I have been on immigration boards for years and one can clearly see a pattern unfold with different embassies, then often a switch is turned with the

"changing of the guards" and a different pattern comes into play.

[lutz 41]

I have a hard time believing how they can think some cases are fraudulent, I mean really. Who on earth would go through this process, spending money to fly back and forth, the emotional investment, the financial investment in lawyers, etc. if they are not real.

There is something going on with Ghana, and I can't believe those who say there isn't, that many countries go through this, we just don't hear about it. So many people (myself included) did everything correctly and applicant was still denied.

The interviewer believed our relationship, my husband has a clean police record (he too is a church person, very involved in good things). He's never been married before. So it's none of those things.

Edited October 15, 2015 by lutz

[Amhara 460]

I have a hard time believing how they can think some cases are fraudulent, I mean really. Who on earth would go through this process, spending money to fly back and forth, the emotional investment, the financial investment in lawyers, etc. if they are not real.

There is something going on with Ghana, and I can't believe those who say there isn't, that many countries go through this, we just don't hear about it. So many people (myself included) did everything correctly and applicant was still denied.

The interviewer believed our relationship, my husband has a clean police record (he too is a church person, very involved in good things). He's never been married before. So it's none of those things.

Dude, seriously? There are hundreds of cases of fiance/spousal visa fraud. Money spent is no proof at all. Someone trying to get to the US may have the means to have the USC visit and such. Money plays an part, but it can be negative as well as positive.

There seems to be red flags that may not have been addressed in this case. They should allow more time to explain, but VJ helped me learn how to front load, and I think that helped our CO during my fiancé's interview. Lutz, you had several red flags yourself, if I recall. Sure, you may have done everything right, but not addressing red flags initially makes a refusal easier.