Will us immigration law violation affect k1?

[vbcm 0]

 

vbcm  0

Replied: Monday at 11:46 PM · Report

Thank you for your response. It's ok I understand that you were busy. I appreciate your reponse. I'm sorry about my ambiguity. Before my fiance's entry denial, she and the kid stayed with me for less than 6 months. The kid went to school for 3 months only since this is not their purpose coming to the U.S. I just didn't want his education to be interrupted. Then they came back to Vietnam before the entry ended. 2 weeks after, she decided to go to America to visit her daughter's graduation. My fiance and the child were denied entry since last time she stayed too long and the kid went to school. They were asked if they still wanted to enter or voluntarily went back. Since my fiance chose to go back with the kid, there was no bar for her and the kid. They said she could still apply for another tourist visa but it would be difficult. 

 

The U.S custom said to my fiance when she got denied entry that it was illegal for the kid to go to school on a tourist visa. I was kinda irritated. Then her older kid, who has studied in America for 3 years came back to renew her student visa got denied a visa renewal. The US consulate officer said her mom stayed there for too long, her brother went to school and she has another visa pending since we filed our petition in June. So her daughter is in Vietnam waiting with my fiance and her brother. 

 

I wonder if the event in the past will hurt our chance of getting k1/k2 visas. Also how difficult is the HCMC embassy?

Edited August 17, 2017 by vbcm

[PedroDaGr8 245]

Saigon is considered a VERY hard embassy for K1, CR1 and tourist visas, from what I have heard. Not the hardest per se, I would say a few of the ones in Africa are harder, but they are certainly one of the hardest. Vietnam is considered a high fraud country and K1/CR1 cases are treated with inherent suspicion. Similarly, B visas are treated as if you plan to immigrate illegally and not come back. Unlike some countries, it is very routine to deny K1 applications in Saigon. You have to prepare a LOT of evidence to overcome the inherent suspicion of fraud and not every case can do it. It is better to know this going in, than to come unprepared. We considered ourselves lucky that my wife was living in BKK at the time for work (not an easy embassy but certainly not nearly as hard as Saigon).

 

As for this case, having a denial of entry is a huge black mark on her record. It would not surprise me if they give her a REALLY hard time. The child attending school makes it look like her goal is to bring her family to the USA, not to marry you. The denial of entry indicates to the embassy that she might have had immigrant intent while on a non-immigrant visa, not a good thing. While your intentions were quite noble and commendable, they were also in hindsight pretty foolish. School is considered a public benefit/service and the kid going to school is considered utilizing a public benefit as well as establishing a tie to the USA. I can't say whether this will be enough to deny a K1 but K-visas are very hard to get in Saigon, this might be enough to raise doubts about the bonafides and intents of the relationship. You will need to really work on your relationship and provide loads of evidence to make sure that the truth of the relationship is established. Pictures together, pictures with your family, chat logs, travel tickets, gifts sent to each other, holidays celebrated together, etc. etc. You need to anything and everything there. Even then, there is no telling if it will be enough. Truthfully, if K1 fails, it might be easier to go the CR-1 route instead. There is usually less suspicion of fraud (its still there but less) because you already have a legally binding relationship (unlike engagement). It might be enough of a difference to shift the scales from denied to approved. Either way though will be very hard, she should expect an EXTREMELY rigorous interview, with dozens of questions on your relationship and this black mark doesn't help things. It's not an impossible mountain to climb, just very difficult. 

The older kid being denied is not surprising, or at all worrisome, since you have filed for her on a K process. In fact, it is entirely expected that she would be denied. Much like a tourist visa, student visas are non-immigrant visas. Part of the process of obtaining a non-immigrant visa is showing that you do not have immigrant intent. This means demonstrating you have sufficient ties to your home country that you will go back. While the requirements of a student visa are more lenient than a tourist visa because it is understood you will be in the USA for a WHILE; they are still there. A processing K application, contiguous with any non-immigrant visa is almost always an instant denial. 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by PedroDaGr8

[vbcm 0]

4 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Saigon is considered a VERY hard embassy for K1, CR1 and tourist visas, from what I have heard. Not the hardest per se, I would say a few of the ones in Africa are harder, but they are certainly one of the hardest. Vietnam is considered a high fraud country and K1/CR1 cases are treated with inherent suspicion. Similarly, B visas are treated as if you plan to immigrate illegally and not come back. Unlike some countries, it is very routine to deny K1 applications in Saigon. You have to prepare a LOT of evidence to overcome the inherent suspicion of fraud and not every case can do it. It is better to know this going in, than to come unprepared. We considered ourselves lucky that my wife was living in BKK at the time for work (not an easy embassy but certainly not nearly as hard as Saigon).

 

As for this case, having a denial of entry is a huge black mark on her record. It would not surprise me if they give her a REALLY hard time. The child attending school makes it look like her goal is to bring her family to the USA, not to marry you. The denial of entry indicates to the embassy that she might have had immigrant intent while on a non-immigrant visa, not a good thing. While your intentions were quite noble and commendable, they were also in hindsight pretty foolish. School is considered a public benefit/service and the kid going to school is considered utilizing a public benefit as well as establishing a tie to the USA. I can't say whether this will be enough to deny a K1 but K-visas are very hard to get in Saigon, this might be enough to raise doubts about the bonafides and intents of the relationship. You will need to really work on your relationship and provide loads of evidence to make sure that the truth of the relationship is established. Pictures together, pictures with your family, chat logs, travel tickets, gifts sent to each other, holidays celebrated together, etc. etc. You need to anything and everything there. Even then, there is no telling if it will be enough. Truthfully, if K1 fails, it might be easier to go the CR-1 route instead. There is usually less suspicion of fraud (its still there but less) because you already have a legally binding relationship (unlike engagement). It might be enough of a difference to shift the scales from denied to approved. Either way though will be very hard, she should expect an EXTREMELY rigorous interview, with dozens of questions on your relationship and this black mark doesn't help things. It's not an impossible mountain to climb, just very difficult. 

The older kid being denied is not surprising, or at all worrisome, since you have filed for her on a K process. In fact, it is entirely expected that she would be denied. Much like a tourist visa, student visas are non-immigrant visas. Part of the process of obtaining a non-immigrant visa is showing that you do not have immigrant intent. This means demonstrating you have sufficient ties to your home country that you will go back. While the requirements of a student visa are more lenient than a tourist visa because it is understood you will be in the USA for a WHILE; they are still there. A processing K application, contiguous with any non-immigrant visa is almost always an instant denial. 

 

 

Thank you for your responde. Regarding this matter, I have already talked to 2 lawyers and one person at the immigration office and they all said the same thing that we should be fine because we have been together before that event in the past happened. They said had she known me after she got denied entry, they would suspect it's not a bonefide relationship. But she stayed with me when she and the little kid were in America and I helped the kid go to school. Plus the kid going to school and their staying were not the purposes of the trip. She just wanted to visit her daughter but I asked her to stay longer with me. We could not get married at that time, cause we both did not finalize our divorce process. But we've been together for 4 years and we have very strong evidence about our relationship and intent to get married.

Edited August 17, 2017 by vbcm

[PedroDaGr8 245]

19 hours ago, vbcm said:

Thank you for your responde. Regarding this matter, I have already talked to 2 lawyers and one person at the immigration office and they all said the same thing that we should be fine because we have been together before that event in the past happened. They said had she known me after she got denied entry, they would suspect it's not a bonefide relationship. But she stayed with me when she and the little kid were in America and I helped the kid go to school. Plus the kid going to school and their staying were not the purposes of the trip. She just wanted to visit her daughter but I asked her to stay longer with me. We could not get married at that time, cause we both did not finalize our divorce process. But we've been together for 4 years and we have very strong evidence about our relationship and intent to get married.

Seems reasonable enough, all are valid points.  At the end of the day, you always want to CYA as best you can. You will want to make sure that you have significant amounts of evidence to not only document that you met before THAT trip but also that she only planned to stay for a short visit. The more details you can verify with evidence the better things are. If possible, you can try and prove that the kid going to school was not pre-planned. Good luck with things, I do think that with this long of a relationship and loads of other information, you will be OK. Just make sure that you have meetings (ideally several) AFTER your divorces were finalized. They can sometimes decide to treat meetings before a finalized divorce as suspect, or ignore them all together(though that is rare). All in all, I don't see any major hurdles otherwise assuming you can document anything and everything as well as possible. That being said, even for simple cases Saigon is a very hard embassy. So go in to this prepared and expect them to try to trick her with their questions, asking about her intent on that trip repeatedly in a variety of ways. The questioning in Siagon for K1 and CR1 are notoriously complex. Good luck to the both of you and hopefully you get good news soon.

[vbcm 0]

On 8/19/2017 at 1:16 AM, PedroDaGr8 said:

Seems reasonable enough, all are valid points.  At the end of the day, you always want to CYA as best you can. You will want to make sure that you have significant amounts of evidence to not only document that you met before THAT trip but also that she only planned to stay for a short visit. The more details you can verify with evidence the better things are. If possible, you can try and prove that the kid going to school was not pre-planned. Good luck with things, I do think that with this long of a relationship and loads of other information, you will be OK. Just make sure that you have meetings (ideally several) AFTER your divorces were finalized. They can sometimes decide to treat meetings before a finalized divorce as suspect, or ignore them all together(though that is rare). All in all, I don't see any major hurdles otherwise assuming you can document anything and everything as well as possible. That being said, even for simple cases Saigon is a very hard embassy. So go in to this prepared and expect them to try to trick her with their questions, asking about her intent on that trip repeatedly in a variety of ways. The questioning in Siagon for K1 and CR1 are notoriously complex. Good luck to the both of you and hopefully you get good news soon.

Thank you so much for your responses. We will prepare for all possible questions and more evidence. I appreciate your advice