K1 DENIED- Whats next?

[IzzieLove 3]

Hello everyone, let me share my story with you all. We applied for the k1 visa back in summer of 2017 and last week he finally made it to bis interview. Everything was going well until the officer went through our proof of relationship file and found 1- out of the hundreds of texts we submitted, my fiance jokingly called me his beautiful wife/bride and 2- a picture of me and his family in Ghana at a restauranr celibrating the fact that we are engaged. I labeled the picture “engagement dinner” and stamped the date of the dinner. Because of these two incidents, they accused us of being married and denied us under 221G. We both have never been married and we arent married to each other. We didnt have ANY pictures of us wearing matching traditional african print  fabrics or wedding rings. We do not have any wedding/marriage certificate and no evidence of us being married. 

 

To me, it makes no sense to deny a couple based on a picture and a text. Im American and engagement party refers to a celebration of an engagement, NOT A WEDDING. The guy who interviewed my fiance was a black American man and to me it feels like he was just looking for a reason to deny us. On the paper he wrote CR1 Spouse visa and told my fiance that we are married and filed the wrong visa class. I will attach the letter he gave him to this post. Please learn from our “mistakes”. We’re both in our early 20s and calling each other wifey and hubby is very common. I am just angry that they denied us and did not ask us to submit evidence to prove we are both single and never been married. The letter said that our petition will be sent back to NVC and then to USCIS. I called the NVC and they have yet to receive the case. I am just so discouraged that after waiting over a year and spending all this money, it has come to this. These people are literally destroying families and lives. We’re both clueless and dont know what else to do.

 

has anyone ever been in a similar situation?

 

has anyone ever appealed a denial?

 

My dream was not to get married in Ghana but to do it back home in the States. Is the spouse visa our only option now?

 

If yes, how soon can i petition a spouse visa? Do i have to officially wait for our k1 case to close?

[queloque67 30]

What does his race have anything to do with it?

[IzzieLove 3]

I am saying that he was black American just to show that there was no cultural barriers and he should have understood the term “engagement party”. I am Black and American as well!

[amy1411 51]

7 minutes ago, Gwendo said:

Hello everyone, let me share my story with you all. We applied for the k1 visa back in summer of 2017 and last week he finally made it to bis interview. Everything was going well until the officer went through our proof of relationship file and found 1- out of the hundreds of texts we submitted, my fiance jokingly called me his beautiful wife/bride and 2- a picture of me and his family in Ghana at a restauranr celibrating the fact that we are engaged. I labeled the picture “engagement dinner” and stamped the date of the dinner. Because of these two incidents, they accused us of being married and denied us under 221G. We both have never been married and we arent married to each other. We didnt have ANY pictures of us wearing matching traditional african print  fabrics or wedding rings. We do not have any wedding/marriage certificate and no evidence of us being married. 

 

To me, it makes no sense to deny a couple based on a picture and a text. Im American and engagement party refers to a celebration of an engagement, NOT A WEDDING. The guy who interviewed my fiance was a black American man and to me it feels like he was just looking for a reason to deny us. On the paper he wrote CR1 Spouse visa and told my fiance that we are married and filed the wrong visa class. I will attach the letter he gave him to this post. Please learn from our “mistakes”. We’re both in our early 20s and calling each other wifey and hubby is very common. I am just angry that they denied us and did not ask us to submit evidence to prove we are both single and never been married. The letter said that our petition will be sent back to NVC and then to USCIS. I called the NVC and they have yet to receive the case. I am just so discouraged that after waiting over a year and spending all this money, it has come to this. These people are literally destroying families and lives. We’re both clueless and dont know what else to do.

 

has anyone ever been in a similar situation?

 

has anyone ever appealed a denial?

 

My dream was not to get married in Ghana but to do it back home in the States. Is the spouse visa our only option now?

 

If yes, how soon can i petition a spouse visa? Do i have to officially wait for our k1 case to close?

 

I will say go ahead and apply for spouse visa 1-130 but you will have to travel to meet him

[IzzieLove 3]

Do you know if we can do this right away or wait until the case closes? It just happened and I’m planning on traveling there eventually 

[Ontarkie 14,234]

I'm sorry this happened to you. As you just joined I'm not sure if you have been reading much on this site. But things like using the terms wife and husband are a big no no. Many threads with members warning others not to do this. If you are not married than do not use those names. Also some countries engagement parties are not the norm. You need to look at what the norms are for that country not the US. 

 

Sadly now you will have to get married and file a spousal visa. There is no appealing. You can file as soon as you get married. 

[geowrian 22,337]

Yup, this isn't unusual when they see photos of a celebration, especially if dressed up. This is not uncommon with Ghana either.

The CO was not 100% certain that you were not married yet due to the evidence he saw...which I will note is what you submitted. Always be 100% certain that whatever you submit is helpful to your case.

 

The I-129F will be sent back to USCIS where it will sit to expire. there is no reason to wait for this to return...you can marry (anywhere in the world) then file an I-130 to start the CR-1 process. Include a letter with your I-130 packet stating that you want to withdraw the previous I-129F petition  with receipt number WACXXXXXXX.

[Ontarkie 14,234]

~~Duplicate threads merged. Please only start one thread for the same topic.~~

[IzzieLove 3]

That particular text message just slipped through the craps and I didn’t know the cultural interpretation with the term “engagement party”. However, it is evidence that we submitted, regardless of how it was communicated. We’re just hoping to find the fastest way to recover from this opportunity loss.

[kemm360 144]

40 minutes ago, Gwendo said:

I am saying that he was black American just to show that there was no cultural barriers and he should have understood the term “engagement party”. I am Black and American as well!

He’s not a supportive brother ☹️

[Boiler 45,559]

Too married for a K1 so you need to get married and do a CR1.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

8 hours ago, kemm360 said:

He’s not a supportive brother ☹️

 

9 hours ago, Gwendo said:

I am saying that he was black American just to show that there was no cultural barriers and he should have understood the term “engagement party”. I am Black and American as well!

If you will look around this site a bit you will see many cases where a "engagement party" in parts of Asia and Africa have led to a denial.

 

This is because a fair number of people want to be culturally sensitive to their fiancé will have Traditional Engagement Ceremony with their soon to be family and fiancé. They will then submit those pictures as evidence of a relationship but it can also be misconstrued as evidence of a traditional marriage ceremony. I have seen this countless times here on VJ and I wish people would read up on it before submitting evidence like this. 

 

You will now have to get married and file the CR-1, you can do this right away without having to wait. 

[amy1411 51]

9 hours ago, Gwendo said:

Do you know if we can do this right away or wait until the case closes? It just happened and I’m planning on traveling there eventually 

Yes you can

Do you by any chance why it took that long to get to the interview time basing on your comment that you turned it in summer 2017

[Jaquelly 1,647]

I believe they will just let your K1 die. I think you can cancel it and then submit the CR1. 

[Lucky_Mimi 87]

Is it okay to call your special someone "husband to be", "wife to be", "future wife" or "future husband" on the chat logs? Cuz I already printed it out. I was gathering evidences for the much awaited interview.

 

Also, my fiancèè bought Mr & Mrs sign from hobby lobby. I captioned it "Good finds my fiancèè (soon to be husband) bought from hobby lobby for our upcoming wedding"

 

Is it okay? Or no? 

Seems like the consulate is very sensitive with these things..