RFE received help please

[Roel 7,192]

11 hours ago, H Al said:

Hi,

We received RFE in the mail today. They are asking for proof that I have met my fiance during the last two year. I provided my itinerary and passport stamps but it seems they are not sufficient.

They are asking for pictures or messages and I can't provide those. My fiance asked my hand after I came to US so in our traditions there is no way I can take pictures with him before that, I even deleted our old messages and was unable to restore them back.

So if I ask for a statement from a religious authority to confirm my excuse would that work? 

 

Thanks for your time. 

Deleting messages and not making pictures was such a huge mistakes.

Looks like you have to meet again and refile the K1 from a scratch.

[sweet01 39]

Hi,

 

I agreed on what others said that pictures are important. I remember my IO asked about it and let me show it to her at the interview at one point. I think Affidavits of your mutual friends and relatives would also help, also emails if you have deleted any text messages. A spouse visa would also be your next option as I have friends too who went through spouse visa and it’s processing is not that hard. Hope this helps. Best of luck. 

Edited September 5, 2018 by sweet01

[Roel 7,192]

Affidavits from friends or family aren't proofs of meeting in person. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

You’re not gonna be able to get around this. Not having pictures together is a major red flag for them to see you as a non Bonafide couple. You’re gonna have to meet again and take some pictures and submit them.

[TNJ17 1,329]

6 hours ago, Mr.Jose said:

Not providing photos, maybe you can get away with it, but no communication evidence at all?

 

To me unfortunately, it looks like you’re trying to avoid requirements and you’re using religious authority to help you bypass required documents.

 

Its like this, you traveled to a country for whatever reason and came back. Now you  found someone online or recommendation from a family member to marry, unfortunately in my view you never saw that person and only communicated via skype. Now for whatever reason you can’t travel, maybe tourist visa denial.

 

Passport stamps proove entrance to a country and not evidence for seing someone. 

This very much this. And the fact that the petitioner is also from that same country doesn’t make this any easier. She could have just been there on a regular trip then came back and “met” someone and said hey I was there just now so that fulfills the requirement, I’m good. Just because you were in the same place at the same time does not prove you actually met. The opposite is true as well. If you only have photos but no passport stamps that doesn’t work either because you can’t tell when a picture was taken. You’re gonna have to meet again and make sure to show that you are indeed a real couple or you’re never gonna get an approval specially coming from a country like Iraq with so much immigration fraud. Religion is no excuse to bend the rules.

[Shiran 1,134]

No point concentrating on the past. Did both you of delete messages? Is another meeting out of the question? You need something that specifically shows you at same place in same time, credit card statements? Hmm I wonder if they would accept location history from google from your smart phones, but that might be too non traditional? Think in terms of "what can we factually present them that proves we were physically together in the last 2 years?" 

 

Good luck!

[Perfect two 💑 1,147]

It will be difficult for you. Just providing passport stamps and itenary is not sufficient to proof that both of you meet on that trip and spending time together. I really think you need to start again. They will not be satisfied until you provide what they want (pictures and messages). Why can't you took a picture together? I mean, if your religion prohibit to take a picture only two of you, can't you take a picture with him and few other people at the same time too? 

[Sunnyland 639]

7 hours ago, sweet01 said:

Hi,

 

I agreed on what others said that pictures are important. I remember my IO asked about it and let me show it to her at the interview at one point. I think Affidavits of your mutual friends and relatives would also help, also emails if you have deleted any text messages. A spouse visa would also be your next option as I have friends too who went through spouse visa and it’s processing is not that hard. Hope this helps. Best of luck. 

 

I doubt affidavits from friends will do much in this case since they have no other proof, no pictures, not messages, no call logs. Nothing. It seems to me that in this case they tried as much as they could to delete any evidence from the start. Why?

One more thing, I have some friends that can testify that I'm blonde and tall but that won't make it true. 

 

OP,  know that from now on you both will need to keep EVERY single piece of evidence for future immigration path... AOS, ROC and N400. The journey does not stop here.

[sweet01 39]

45 minutes ago, Sunnyland said:

 

I doubt affidavits from friends will do much in this case since they have no other proof, no pictures, not messages, no call logs. Nothing. It seems to me that in this case they tried as much as they could to delete any evidence from the start. Why?

One more thing, I have some friends that can testify that I'm blonde and tall but that won't make it true. 

 

OP,  know that from now on you both will need to keep EVERY single piece of evidence for future immigration path... AOS, ROC and N400. The journey does not stop here.

I agree when you said it doesn’t stop from K1 process as you’ll need every evidence  you have from this process until N400. What I meant and forgot  to say is that affidavits with friends or relatives that is “notarized” would help too ( you cannot fake it since a friend or relative need to be in front of a notary official to sign). I had affidavits with notary on it. I believe it helps on my case. But of course, it’s not just that, pictures do matters a lot too. Wish OP the best. 

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

3 minutes ago, sweet01 said:

I agree when you said it doesn’t stop from K1 process as you’ll need every evidence  you have from this process until N400. What I meant and forgot  to say is that affidavits with friends or relatives that is “notarized” would help too ( you cannot fake it since a friend or relative need to be in front of a notary official to sign). I had affidavits with notary on it. I believe it helps on my case. But of course, it’s not just that, pictures do matters a lot too. Wish OP the best. 

Affidavits normally carry little weight. A notary only verifies a signature, not that the content of the affidavit is true.  "A picture is worth a thousand words", they say.  That's why, in this instance, pictures together carry much more weight than a statement by friends.  Personally, I would not use affidavits as primary evidence.

[Baz20 42]

 

I read a K1 case decision some time ago. Where the case was initially rejected since the petitioner used the religious exemption for not meeting the "physical meeting" requirement. His/her case was later approved when he submitted the personal statement along with the statements from the religious leader, and fiance 's father ( I am not sure about notarized or non-notarized).  I will also advise to contact local congressman's office and ask for help. I know that this may be difficult but I think you should try this and not lose hope. 

[Villanelle 4,122]

On 9/4/2018 at 8:46 PM, H Al said:

Hi,

We received RFE in the mail today. They are asking for proof that I have met my fiance during the last two year. I provided my itinerary and passport stamps but it seems they are not sufficient.

They are asking for pictures or messages and I can't provide those. My fiance asked my hand after I came to US so in our traditions there is no way I can take pictures with him before that, I even deleted our old messages and was unable to restore them back.

So if I ask for a statement from a religious authority to confirm my excuse would that work? 

 

Thanks for your time. 

 

 

20 hours ago, H Al said:

Thanks for your response. Yes it's not allowed to take pictures with non relatives, like it's ok if we take pictures in public events but not like my situation, we are both from Iraq but from different cities and when I was there we weren't engaged so we couldn't take pictures for no reason. I submitted a statement written by my brother saying me and my fiance have met but it wasn't notarized. Do you think I have to ? My fiance doesn't have pictures or messages for the same reason I mentioned. It is a conservative society and we weren't engaged so we couldn't keep any reference.

Thanks a lot for your time and help. 

You should respond to the RFE. You already paid for it and will not get it back. Its a second chance and its foolish to not take advantage of it before spending money to travel just to create evidence for refiling.

 

So you need to come up with whatever you can to send in response. You can include a letter explaining your culture/religion and its impact on the evidence you are submitting. Explain your relationship-how it started. Then in as much detail as you can the actual meeting and events around the meeting. Find anything you can submit proof for. Messages, receipts, notarized affidavits from witnesses etc. 

If you are denied then you are denied. You will then have to determine what needs to be done to satisfy the requirements when you refile. 

[SalishSea 17,827]

3 hours ago, Baz20 said:

 

I read a K1 case decision some time ago. Where the case was initially rejected since the petitioner used the religious exemption for not meeting the "physical meeting" requirement. His/her case was later approved when he submitted the personal statement along with the statements from the religious leader, and fiance 's father ( I am not sure about notarized or non-notarized).  I will also advise to contact local congressman's office and ask for help. I know that this may be difficult but I think you should try this and not lose hope. 

What would the local congressman's office do?  They do not bend the statutory INA requirements.  They can inquire for out-of-processing petitions, but they will not intervene if someone made errors in their petition or wishes to get around the rules.  

 

And if you read more of the admin decisions, you will see that no one gets the "religious exemption" if they have indeed met in person, but failed to document it, or met outside of the two year requirement, etc.

[Roel 7,192]

Just a personal opinion, I cant believe there are  religious out there that forbids taking pictures. I mean, I thought we are not in medieval ages anymore.