I-129F Denied at USCIS What Are My Options?

[Cherilyn 1]

We did reveal up front in a letter submitted with our original petition that we were completely aware of the misrepresentation of my fiance's martial status on his DS-160's and USCIS made reference to the information contained in our letter on our RFE notice. We provided documents from the agent and agency used by my fiance to show how this misrepresentation occured. I will inform this forum when I receive the notice of denial in the mail.

[SalishSea 18,079]

1 hour ago, Cherilyn said:

The RFE was for termination of prior marriages and couple's bona fide intent to marry.

We are assuming that my fiance's past DS-160 applications are the reason for the denial, he applied 3 times, 1st his marital status was Single, the 2nd time he used a agent to file his DS-160 and the agent put him as Married and the 3rd time  used a trusted agency and they put him as Married. He has never been married nor have I. We submitted as our evidence which was advised to us by an attorney a sworn affidavit of our martial status as having never been married. Does USCIS go beyond our submitted evidence and do a background check of mine and my fiance's actual marital status?

An unfortunate Nigerian 'trick' that usually results in denied petitions and visas in the future.

 

The problem is that he LIED on a visa application.  Even if he has some attorney's affidavit (weak evidence) of never having been married, the lie is a lot to overcome.

[Boiler 45,939]

We know how it occurred, he applied for a B and stated he was married.

 

I do not think I have come across a situation where it was disclosed when filing, all the ones I can think of came up at the Consulate.

 

 

[SalishSea 18,079]

50 minutes ago, Cherilyn said:

How could we provide evidence of marriages that never took place and have never existed?

Exactly.  You can't.  That is the consequence of the lie, and may well mean that you'll have to move there if you want to be together.   If you do some research on VJ, you'll see many who participated in this particular scam, with similar results.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

Unfortunately even the spousal route probably won't work since USCIS still wants to see that the 'previous' marriage was dissolved.

[arken 4,197]

The irony is that if the uscis/embassy accepts he lied, he may be able to get the visa down the road with a waiver. When they say "Nah, you didn't lie, we are sure you are a truthful person", there is no path to the visa as you can't submit an document that doesn't exist.

[Cathi 5,783]

You cannot blame the agency that prepared the petition when he is the one responsible for reading and signing said petition. It was his responsibility to make sure all information was true and correct.

Truthfully, he will probably never receive any type of immigration visa(or non immigrant)to the US as it's impossible for him to prove he was never married without a divorce decree. Be prepared to move to his home country or somewhere else abroad.

[Ifemi4835 38]

Because so many have been caught at the interview stage in Lagos regarding misrepresentation on prior visa apps...USCIS is now more involved in catching this in the beginning than allowing these petitions to reach the consulate..they are doing due diligence regarding beneficiaries prior marriage claims...some lawyers have advise to do a divorce at the traditional or customary court and not the high court to get around this then reapply going the I130 route...I would seek an immigration attorney versed in Nigerian immigration matters to help you resolve this if possible.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Ifemi4835

[Ifemi4835 38]

And I agree an affidavit would not work..immigration has him down as married not once but twice..they only want to see a legit divorce decree at this point or a thorough explanation for the misrepresentation which still can be dismiss as trying to circumvent the immigration system, this is extremely difficult to overcome 

[nastra30 2,323]

Oh, he lied on his B-2 applications as married. Then as others have already said he'll need to prove those marriages were dissolved. There's too much fraud in the system so USCIS or the embassy will not turn a blind eye to this one. Another alternative is to immigrate the other direction to Nigeria to be with your love.

[randy32 165]

8 hours ago, Cherilyn said:

The RFE was for termination of prior marriages and couple's bona fide intent to marry.

We are assuming that my fiance's past DS-160 applications are the reason for the denial, he applied 3 times, 1st his marital status was Single, the 2nd time he used a agent to file his DS-160 and the agent put him as Married and the 3rd time  used a trusted agency and they put him as Married. He has never been married nor have I. We submitted as our evidence which was advised to us by an attorney a sworn affidavit of our martial status as having never been married. Does USCIS go beyond our submitted evidence and do a background check of mine and my fiance's actual marital status?

Trying to travel by all means by using agents to promise to get you a visa has always been a bad idea. 

They have been paid, I would bet that they did not even sign the previous form.

Even if they did, you were supposed to have reviewed it before it was submitted.

Now your name is on it.

You will have to contact a very expensive lawyer to undo what has been done

[Sm1smom 255]

@Ifemi4835

How do you get divorced from a marriage that never happened in the first place? That document can’t be legit and isn’t that another lie over the previous lie?

[nastra30 2,323]

4 hours ago, Ifemi4835 said:

"...some lawyers have advise to do a divorce at the traditional or customary court and not the high court to get around this then reapply going the I130 route"

How can one do a divorce at any court for a marriage that never existed? This just compounds the lies with more lies.

Honestly, best advice for op is to relocate to Nigeria instead so they can live together.

[carmel34 3,650]

Another example of the many who faced this misrepresentation problem at some point in the process, facing the consequences of a previous lie when trying to get a tourist visa.  Then later when attempting to immigrate to the US as either a fiancé or spouse the misrepresentation comes back to bite them.  A "certificate stating that the person is single" does nothing to help your case, and it is not possible to get a genuine divorce decree for a marriage that never took place.  We have even seen cases like this when the Nigerian fiancé/husband got a fake divorce decree to try and overcome the lie and that only made matters worse.  An I-129F denial cannot be appealed except for very rare circumstances where it can be shown that USCIS made an error, in this case there was no error on their part, so no appeal.  You have three options in my opinion.  The first, with a very slight chance of success, would be to get married and file an I-130 for a spousal visa.  Include a letter with the petition admitting that he lied on the previous visa applications, stating he was married when he was not.  The petition could be denied for the misrepresentation, or it could go on to the visa interview, at which time the officer has the discretion to allow a waiver based on hardship to the US citizen spouse.  The hardship would have to be supported by documentation.  It's a long shot, and may not even get past the USCIS stage, but is probably the only chance for him to get to the US.  Make many more visits to be together during the CR-1 process which takes 1-2 years, to show that the relationship is truly genuine.  A denied CR-1 can be appealed, although it is a long process (1+ years), and a waiver for the previous misrepresentation could be requested during the appeal, again showing evidence of hardship to the US spouse.  If the CR-1 route and appeal fails (which is very likely and may take 2 or 3 years), option 2 would be for the US citizen to move to Nigeria so that you can be together.  Option 3 would be to break off the relationship and move on.  Sorry this has happened, but lying on a federal government form has severe consequences down the road, especially lies that are material to getting a visa to enter the US, which is clearly the case here.  Good luck!

Edited June 29, 2021 by carmel34

[Boiler 45,939]

If you got to the point where a Misrep finding was made there is a solution.

 

What seems to happen is that they issue a RFE for the missing Divorce Certificate(s).

 

Fake documents are well know in Nigeria so that will not work.