Any Solutions to Resolve I-130 Notice of Intent to Deny

[Michellle 9]

Hello VJ Family,

 

I am a US citizen waiting to receive a NOA2 for my foreign husband but recently received a NOID from USCIS, so 'm looking for feedback on whether any possible options for resolution might be available concerning my issue.  Let me provide background on the story:

 

My now foreign husband and I first met in 2008 while working together in Iraq as government contractors.  When we met we were both involved in a relationship, he with a live-in girlfriend back in his home country, and me with a boyfriend in another foreign country.  Neither of had any ideal our relationship would become so serious and while we eventually moved on with our lives, we always kept in touch from time to time because we shared a deep bond, and held a hope that one day we'd meet up again as single people who could someday be married; so we kept in touch throughout the years as casual friends.  Fast forward to 2019, we reconnected on a deep an serious level and realized that we still loved each other just as much as we did when we connected back in 2008.  Except now, neither of us was involved in a relationship with anyone else, so we decided to get married.  We did all the necessary background checks to prove to the Ugandan government that both of us were freee to marry in that neither of us were married to anyone else, so our application to marry was accepted after the 20 day waiting period required by the Ugandan Registry. 

 

August 2019 we married and filed the I-130 packet in September 2019, received the NOA1 in October 2019. In May 2020 USCIS issued an RFE asking that we provide proof that my husband had ended a previous marriage.  We responded to the request with a sworn/notarized statement from husband that he has never been married to anyone but me.  The Ugandan Registry also provided a certified/true letter documenting that a search of their records also proved that my husband had never been married, except to me.  September 24, 2020 USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to deny based on the following:

 

1.  they said that when I submitted the I-130 form they asked how many times has the Beneficiary been married and I answered 1 (I thought they were referring to his marriage to me, so this is why I entered 1; and immediately following that question they asked for the date of the marriage, so I listed our wedding date

 

2.  they said that a search of their records shows that my husband had applied for a Tourist Visa to visit the US in 2011 and on the application he indicated his marital status as "married" and he also listed the name of the girlfriend he was living with at the time. 

 

3.  They also said based on this knowledge this makes my marriage to my husband invalid which is grounds for denying the I-130 packet.

 

Prior to all this knowledge from USCIS my husband had already told me when we reconnected back in early 2019 that he had tried to apply for a visa to the US to come and visit me.  When we got the RFE from USCIS in May 2020, my husband also told me that when filling out the form when they asked about his marital status, he selected the option "married" because he didn't see a box for "girlfriend".  Now mind you he and his then girlfriend began living together in 2007, so when my husband was working in Iraq with me in 2008, I knew the girlfriend was living in his home back in Uganda.  I knew about the girlfriend back in 2008 but trusted that my husband was telling me the truth about not being married to her.  He always told me that he and she were NOT married, either legally or by native custom law and that in his country in order to be married to someone you had to do so legally for it to be recognized as a marriage.  

 

So we responded to the RFE showing proof that my husband was never legally or by native custom law married to the girlfriend, and that I am the only person he's ever been married to.  In fact, in 2015 my husband was still overseas working as a contractor, and the girlfriend whom he was still with got fed up with the relationship, and informed by husband that she was seeing someone else and would be leaving my husband for the other man.  So she left my husband in 2015 and married the other man whom she is still married to until this day.

 

So this is the issue I'm looking for possible answers to:  

 

1.  aside from all the certified/sworn documentation we have already provided to USCIS in the RFE, how can we prove to USCIS that my husband and the girlfriend only lived together as boyfriend/girlfriend and that they were never, ever married; that no documentation such as a divorce decree, annulment or termination of that prior relationship exists because it was a simply case of two people living together BUT not legally married.

 

Right now my husband and I are thinking that our only recourse is to get the once girlfriend to sign a sworn statement with the Ugandan Registry office attesting that she and my husband were never married and that she left the relationship and married her now legal husband in 2015.

 

If anyone has any advice in such matters, I would greatly appreciate hearing your feedback.  This matter has us so stressed right now, especially since we have to find a solution within 30 days from 24-September.

 

Thank you.

 

[Crazy Cat 42,519]

 

35 minutes ago, Michellle said:

they said that a search of their records shows that my husband had applied for a Tourist Visa to visit the US in 2011 and on the application he indicated his marital status as "married" and he also listed the name of the girlfriend he was living with at the time.

This is not unique.  Multiple members have received RFEs directly tied to lying about marital status on previous B2 visa applications.  This borders on misrepresentation, and it can be serious.  To date, I cannot recall anyone successfully resolving this kind of issue.  Members just never return to update us later.  Please keep us posted as you go forward.

 

You might have to get an attorney to help you get out of this mess.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[Crazy Cat 42,519]

42 minutes ago, Michellle said:

Right now my husband and I are thinking that our only recourse is to get the once girlfriend to sign a sworn statement with the Ugandan Registry office attesting that she and my husband were never married and that she left the relationship and married her now legal husband in 2015

Doing this may or may not be helpful, but it would be an admission of lying on the B2 application.   You need more than just a statement from the girlfriend.  Unfortunately, proving a negative is almost always difficult.

[JeanneAdil 6,681]

In order to overturn a NOID ,  you have to prove that the issue is wrong

and his previous B1 said he was married in 2011 to another 

Being able to prove he was not married means he lied on the application 

 

if you google "what happens if i lie on a visa application?"

you will find many answers all saying about the same like the following:

 

Lying Is a Ground of Inadmissibility (I.N.A. § 212(a)(6)(C)(i).) So if the lie is discovered, you've got double trouble: not only the original problem about which you thought it necessary to lie, but a new bar to your being admitted to the U.S. in any capacity.:

 

and this:

 

 

 

What Happens if I Lie to a U.S. Immigration Officer? | Nolo

www.nolo.com › legal-encyclopedia › what-happens-if...

 

1.  

This bar to good moral character affects you as long as you were under oath and you told the officer something you knew was false. As you can see, lying to an immigration officer can have extreme consequences including permanent inadmissibility, deportability, and not being allowed to apply for U.S. citizenship.

 

A lawyer will be happy to take the case and your money but if you want to be together,  maybe you need to think about living in his country 

Edited September 26, 2020 by JeanneAdil

[Crazy Cat 42,519]

53 minutes ago, Michellle said:

when they asked about his marital status, he selected the option "married" because he didn't see a box for "girlfriend". 

Did he use an agent for this B2 application or did he complete the application himself?

[JeanneAdil 6,681]

9 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

Did he use an agent for this B2 application or did he complete the application himself?

Good question but even if someone else did it,  he would have had to known what they wrote and given the name of the gf 

 

and she writes that in a later application to visit her he lied again 

 

" in early 2019 that he had tried to apply for a visa to the US to come and visit me.  When we got the RFE from USCIS in May 2020, my husband also told me that when filling out the form when they asked about his marital status, he selected the option "married" because he didn't see a box for "girlfriend"."

[Chancy 6,243]

59 minutes ago, Michellle said:

they said that a search of their records shows that my husband had applied for a Tourist Visa to visit the US in 2011 and on the application he indicated his marital status as "married" and he also listed the name of the girlfriend he was living with at the time. 

 

^ That is your biggest issue right there.  By submitting that tourist visa application form, your husband swore to the US government, under penalty of perjury, that his answers were true and correct to the best of his knowledge and belief.  Submitting a visa application with false statements is misrepresentation and can lead to being inadmissible to the US.

 

By submitting evidence that your husband was in fact not married in 2011, you are actually providing evidence that your husband misrepresented himself in an effort to gain entry to the US.  In other words, proving that he was not married means proving that he committed immigration fraud back in 2011.

 

If you still want to pursue US immigration for your husband, I suggest you do research on I-601 waivers and find a good immigration lawyer with lots of experience with such waivers.  This is not a DIY case.  I wish you well.

 

[dwheels76 5,469]

Surely your husband new the difference between married and girlfriend. Like @Chancy stated he lied on an application. Getting some ex girlfriend to do what? You could get her to do anything.

 

Also you said you checked Uganda's court records of marriage. Did you ever think that she came to visit her long time boyfriend and got married in Iraq where he lived.

 

I would strongly suggest a a lawyer. But this fraud is something that I don't see him overcoming.

 

Edited September 26, 2020 by dwheels76

[dwheels76 5,469]

I will say this also. I have seen and read and know many of couples (mostly Nigeria) that have done this But what is troubling to me is he didn't tell you this upfront. He told you after the fact. You could have maybe done something upfront instead you filed without knowing he lied on a government application.

 

"Prior to all this knowledge from USCIS my husband had already told me when we reconnected back in early 2019 that he had tried to apply for a visa to the US to come and visit me.  When we got the RFE from USCIS in May 2020, my husband also told me that when filling out the form when they asked about his marital status, he selected the option "married" because he didn't see a box for "girlfriend"."

[carmel34 3,657]

I'm so sorry you are going through this, it must be frustrating and stressful.  There are lots of similar posts in the past couple of years here on VJ, where the foreign husband lies on a tourist visa application by stating "married," then later when applying for an immigrant visa they are asked for proof that the previous "marriage" was ended, which of course is impossible to prove since there was no previous marriage.  Unfortunately, we never hear back from the original posters with reports of successfully overcoming this very big challenge, because it is clearly misrepresentation to try and gain entry to the US, it's dishonest and lying, and comes with serious consequences.  Here are the recommendations that make sense in your case:

 

1.  Get a good lawyer, experienced in similar situations, to help (Hacking Law is one mentioned often on VJ), this will be expensive and take a long time, with no guarantee of success.

 

2.  Your husband could write a sworn statement, get it notarized, explaining that he lied on the previous tourist visa application, and that he admits this mistake but would like to face head-on any consequences.  Send this document to respond to the NOID.  There may or may not be a possibility of a waiver for this situation.  If there is, you can submit documents to convince USCIS that a denial of the spousal visa petition would mean severe hardship for the USC spouse.  It may be difficult to prove but not impossible, and will take a long time, it may also require that you follow steps 1 and 2 together as a good attorney can help with the waiver process.  Your husband could be facing a lifetime ban from entering the US because lying to the US government is a serious situation that they do not take lightly.  Your efforts to prove that he was single when you got married, in response to the RFE, only made the situation worse because he previously stated he was married when he in fact was not.  So coming clean and admitting his misrepresentation may or may not work, but it's worth looking into.

 

3.  Investigate countries in the world, other than the US, where you could live together as a married couple.  This could include his home country, obviously, but there may be other places where you could both immigrate and make a new life together.  This may or may not be an option, depending on your circumstances, but if the above two paths do not allow you to be together in the US, it may be the only way you can live together.

 

4.  If none of the above work out, you could either continue a long distance relationship, seeing each other occasionally somewhere outside the US, or you can travel to be with him as often as you can, or you might decide to end the relationship.  Hopefully that won't happen.  Maybe all the suggestions you are receiving will give you some hope and you can some day live together and be happy.  Good luck!

[NancyNguyen 1,658]

Lying on a ds-160 is not uncommon, you need a lawyer to clear it up. It is not DIY. 

[Michellle 9]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.   We definitely know that we will have to get a lawyer involved.  I think I was looking more for information on whether anyone had ever been successful in correcting such an issue.  While we now realize that my husband did misrepresent himself on the B2 application, I know that he did not do it with the malicious intent of trying to hide anything.  In Ugandan culture many folks live together as boyfriend/girlfriend and refer to themselves as being married without realizing that such a reference is not a LEGAL marriage and can have future repercussions.  I also know that he didn't try to deceive me in this matter he just simply didn't remember that he'd selected this "marital status" on the B2 form back in 2011. 

 

Well, regardless of the issue at hand the deed has been done; what we must do now is find an experienced lawyer and move forward in hopes of resolving the issue regardless of the outcome.  Again, thank you all for your feedback....have a nice day

Edited September 26, 2020 by Michellle

[Crazy Cat 42,519]

1 minute ago, Michellle said:

In Ugandan culture many folks live together as boyfriend/girlfriend and refer to themselves as being married without realizing that such a reference is not a LEGAL marriage and can have future repercussions. 

Some agents actually purposely lie about the marital status....thinking it will enhance the chances of success.........but the applicant is fully responsible.

[payxibka 10,047]

Just now, Lucky Cat said:

Some agents actually purposely lie about the marital status....thinking it will enhance the chances of success.........but the applicant is fully responsible.

Not limited to just agents

[Crazy Cat 42,519]

Just now, payxibka said:

Not limited to just agents

So true!!!!!