I-130 denied at interview - options?

[rahill 28]

My husband was denied a visa at the interview. They gave no specific reason which leads me to believe its the "not a bonafide relationship" reason. We submitted 2 years of Viber messages, evidence that we lived together for 6 months in his home country (apartment lease agreement in Ethiopia), wedding pictures, pictures of time spent together etc. Does anyone have experience or knowledge about this? Is our only option to simply re-apply and wait a year until they give us the same answer? Is it worth contacting a lawyer to try and get an appeal? Any suggestions welcome.

[jan22 3,056]

He should have been given a paper at the end of the interview.  What, exactly, does that paper say?  You need to know that before doing anything else.  It could just be some thing like he was placed into mandatory administrative procesing for security or background checks.  When that clears, the visa would then be issued.  It's important that you know before deciding the next course of action.

 

Sorry -- just saw the subject line.  The above response is if the visa was denied.  However, your subject line says the I-130 was denied.  You need to clarify to get the most appropriate answers.  Your timeline suggests it was the visa; if so, my first paragraph is still my response.

Edited October 10, 2017 by jan22

[rahill 28]

21 minutes ago, jan22 said:

He should have been given a paper at the end of the interview.  What, exactly, does that paper say?  You need to know that before doing anything else.  It could just be some thing like he was placed into mandatory administrative procesing for security or background checks.  When that clears, the visa would then be issued.  It's important that you know before deciding the next course of action.

 

Sorry -- just saw the subject line.  The above response is if the visa was denied.  However, your subject line says the I-130 was denied.  You need to clarify to get the most appropriate answers.  Your timeline suggests it was the visa; if so, my first paragraph is still my response.

So to be clear: they do not give you anything with any real info on it at the interview. Just the denial that is standard and generic. "After reviewing all documents and information presented, you have been found ineligible to receive a visa. This office has decided to return your case to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with our recommendation that the petition be revoked. Your original petition will be forwarded to the local service center where the petitioner originally filed." That's it. We had all kinds of evidence: phone/chat logs (going back almost 2 years) a joint leas agreement from when we lived together in his home country for nearly 6 months, wedding photos, photos of our time together, plane tickets, hotel stay receipts together.  

[Latonia 29]

why do you think the reason would be "not a bonafide relationship" is there something that was said in the interview to give you that idea

[rahill 28]

1 minute ago, Latonia said:

why do you think the reason would be "not a bonafide relationship" is there something that was said in the interview to give you that idea

Because in 2015 we applied for a fiancé visa and they basically did the same thing. Asked a few questions, gave him the standard denial without any other explanation and we never got a letter from USCIS or anything until 6 months later and the reason was "not a bonafide relationship." Also, they, unlike other peoples experiences, did not give him a notice with anything suggesting that there was something missing (document-wise) or a signature or some kind of clerical error. 

[pushbrk 12,898]

6 hours ago, rahill said:

So to be clear: they do not give you anything with any real info on it at the interview. Just the denial that is standard and generic. "After reviewing all documents and information presented, you have been found ineligible to receive a visa. This office has decided to return your case to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with our recommendation that the petition be revoked. Your original petition will be forwarded to the local service center where the petitioner originally filed." That's it. We had all kinds of evidence: phone/chat logs (going back almost 2 years) a joint leas agreement from when we lived together in his home country for nearly 6 months, wedding photos, photos of our time together, plane tickets, hotel stay receipts together.  

This is a hard denial indicating they will return the petition to USCIS.  In a few months USCIS will contact you and there will be at least some indication at that time, what the problem was.

 

The next step is to have your husband write a detailed report of exactly what happened from the time he arrived on interview day until he walked away with that paper.  His report should include at least the details of any and all conversations with officials, and contain each question he was asked, in order and the answers he gave.  You will need this to have any clue how to respond to USCIS's Notice of Intent to Revoke.

[agripa 100]

9 hours ago, rahill said:

Does anyone have experience or knowledge about this? Is our only option to simply re-apply and wait a year until they give us the same answer? Is it worth contacting a lawyer to try and get an appeal? Any suggestions welcome.

First, as others have recommended on here, have your husband write down everything about his interview. Every little detail; it's important to have a complete account of what went on, both for yourself and if you chose to hire lawyer, for them as well. If you feel comfortable, post it here on VisaJourney.

 

You have been given a hard denial. Notice that they used the word "ineligible". You are "ineligible" for a CR1/IR1 visa IF the petitioner is NOT a US citizen or they don't believe the marriage is bonafide. Unfortunately, you likely fall into category 2. You cannot simply "reapply". What will happen now is that your petition will be sent back to USCIS (with a short stop at the NVC). USCIS will then decide whether to re-affirm your petition or (more likely) send you a Notice of Intent to Revoke. In this notice, they will provide some additional information detailing why they will not grant you a visa. You will be given a chance to rebut this, I would recommend having a lawyer to do so. It will likely take 12-18 months before you get this notice. 

 

In the meantime, you will need to visit your husband as OFTEN  and as LONG as you can over the next year. As many trips as you can and save all evidence of these trips. This will put you in a good position to rebut within 1-1.5 years. Good luck!

 

 

[caliliving 606]

what kind of red flags do you have? is your husband alot younger then you? 

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

Many countries such as ours give no reason / they just mark 221 g

Now, it wil be returned / may take about 6 months (like ours) to get the letter

NOIR or NOID 

they are different

If NOIR you have the opportunity to send in additional documents and explanation to help your case and try to get it reaffirmed (time limit on  this will be stated in the letter)

If NOID you can appeal (fee and notice (offical)  to the court to change your case)

in our case they accepted my appeal and stated marriage was bona fida and to reapply (costly and time consumming)

if i can help if you decide to appeal , send me a message

sorry as we all know this is heartbreaking

 

[rahill 28]

18 hours ago, pushbrk said:

This is a hard denial indicating they will return the petition to USCIS.  In a few months USCIS will contact you and there will be at least some indication at that time, what the problem was.

 

The next step is to have your husband write a detailed report of exactly what happened from the time he arrived on interview day until he walked away with that paper.  His report should include at least the details of any and all conversations with officials, and contain each question he was asked, in order and the answers he gave.  You will need this to have any clue how to respond to USCIS's Notice of Intent to Revoke.

Yes. So he went over the interview with me and I can honestly not identify any red flags based on the line of questioning. But I know its good to keep track of that anyways. I'm concerned that this "letter" that is supposed to arrive once the file is sent back to the USCIS won't actually arrive. Before we got married, when he first proposed and I had to return to US for a teaching job, we applied for a fiancé visa and they denied us much in the same way and they NEVER sent any letter to us. I, when I returned to Ethiopia 3 months later, contacted the embassy and they told me it was because the officer deemed our relationship "not a bonafide relationship" but we literally never got a letter and our file (to my knowledge) was never even sent back to USCIS...I mean maybe they did eventually but the certainly never notified us. We then got married and began this process over a year ago. So frustrating. If this was fraud, why would we live together in his home country for 6 months????? Going to speak to a lawyer today to discuss options moving forward. 

[rahill 28]

5 hours ago, adil-rafa said:

Many countries such as ours give no reason / they just mark 221 g

Now, it wil be returned / may take about 6 months (like ours) to get the letter

NOIR or NOID 

they are different

If NOIR you have the opportunity to send in additional documents and explanation to help your case and try to get it reaffirmed (time limit on  this will be stated in the letter)

If NOID you can appeal (fee and notice (offical)  to the court to change your case)

in our case they accepted my appeal and stated marriage was bona fida and to reapply (costly and time consumming)

if i can help if you decide to appeal , send me a message

sorry as we all know this is heartbreaking

 

Thank you. This is helpful. I'm totally crushed, of course. But just working on the next steps. I'm meeting with an attorney today to discuss next steps. I hope we get an opportunity to get the case reaffirmed. Either way, its heartbreaking because we have to wait. I plan to visit in December but I'm currently a teaching fellow at University and can't stay longer than a couple weeks and we've been living apart since January. I will message you about appeals...thanks!

[rahill 28]

11 hours ago, caliliving said:

what kind of red flags do you have? is your husband alot younger then you? 

yeah, 7 years age difference. But other than that, I don't see what red flags there could be. We lived together for 6 months after we got married, we've been together for 2 years. I lived in Ethiopia for 18 months and we had documentation showing all of this. 

[rahill 28]

18 hours ago, agripa said:

First, as others have recommended on here, have your husband write down everything about his interview. Every little detail; it's important to have a complete account of what went on, both for yourself and if you chose to hire lawyer, for them as well. If you feel comfortable, post it here on VisaJourney.

 

You have been given a hard denial. Notice that they used the word "ineligible". You are "ineligible" for a CR1/IR1 visa IF the petitioner is NOT a US citizen or they don't believe the marriage is bonafide. Unfortunately, you likely fall into category 2. You cannot simply "reapply". What will happen now is that your petition will be sent back to USCIS (with a short stop at the NVC). USCIS will then decide whether to re-affirm your petition or (more likely) send you a Notice of Intent to Revoke. In this notice, they will provide some additional information detailing why they will not grant you a visa. You will be given a chance to rebut this, I would recommend having a lawyer to do so. It will likely take 12-18 months before you get this notice. 

 

In the meantime, you will need to visit your husband as OFTEN  and as LONG as you can over the next year. As many trips as you can and save all evidence of these trips. This will put you in a good position to rebut within 1-1.5 years. Good luck!

 

 

I'm very skeptical about this "additional information" they supposedly supply. They never sent us ANYTHING when we applied and were denied a fiancé visa 2 years ago. I only found out that it was because they deemed it "not a bonafide relationship" once I called the embassy directly after I went back to Ethiopia. We got married and lived together for 6 months in Ethiopia after that.. And we had evidence of all of this! So, this is totally insane to me.... I do plan to visit in December and will actually probably move back there after I finish my PhD in June. Also, meeting with a lawyer today. Of course this is going to be difficult to pay for on a PhD fellowship stipend. 

 

As for what went on, here's the scoop:

 

After establishing that I am fluent in Amharic (his mother tongue) they interviewed him in Amharic. They asked what I do and how he met me. He explained that I was in Ethiopia doing PhD research, that I'm a PhD student of Ethiopian History and even said something about my dissertation research. They asked him what university I study at, he replied correctly. They asked him how far away I live from my university, he replied correctly. They asked him if I was ever married before, he said no (correct). They asked who my parents were and if they were aware of the marriage. He said yes and he knew their names. He also said he spoke to my mom on the phone after we got married. They asked for the documentation that he had (join lease on the apartment we rented together for 6 months, photos of our marriage and time together in Ethiopia going back 2 years, call/chat logs, affidavit to support and income evidence, tax documents and W-2s). They took the documents. And that was it. The end. He said it was all of 3-5 minutes.

[pushbrk 12,898]

27 minutes ago, rahill said:

Yes. So he went over the interview with me and I can honestly not identify any red flags based on the line of questioning. But I know its good to keep track of that anyways. I'm concerned that this "letter" that is supposed to arrive once the file is sent back to the USCIS won't actually arrive. Before we got married, when he first proposed and I had to return to US for a teaching job, we applied for a fiancé visa and they denied us much in the same way and they NEVER sent any letter to us. I, when I returned to Ethiopia 3 months later, contacted the embassy and they told me it was because the officer deemed our relationship "not a bonafide relationship" but we literally never got a letter and our file (to my knowledge) was never even sent back to USCIS...I mean maybe they did eventually but the certainly never notified us. We then got married and began this process over a year ago. So frustrating. If this was fraud, why would we live together in his home country for 6 months????? Going to speak to a lawyer today to discuss options moving forward. 

That was a fiance visa case.  In a spouse visa case you WILL get the NOIR letter from USCIS.

[rahill 28]

48 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

That was a fiance visa case.  In a spouse visa case you WILL get the NOIR letter from USCIS.

Ok. Well, that's good to know. I will be eagerly awaiting this letter. And to be clear, if it's an NOIR letter, you have the opportunity to get your case reaffirmed, yes? As another user pointed out if its an NOID, you have an opportunity to appeal the decision but we would have to reapply and start from the beginning. In either case, we are in for another lengthy wait, I'm sure.