Parents Green Card Interview Messup

[Vabsmith 47]

I had my mother's GC interview last week in the USA. I am the USC sponsor and petitioner. The interview centered on going over the I-485 application and verifying all the information.

My mom took help of an interpreter over phone while I sat next to her in the room with the officer. Everything went absolutely fine except for one question on the I-485-" have you ever denied a USA visa". The answer on the I-485 form to this question was - NO. Mom answered NO.. that tallied up and the officer was about to move to the next question but I interjected and said mom your visitor visa was denied the first time back in 2008 to that mom said "I remember I that i had to go for the visitor visa interview twice... "

 

The officer asked what was the reason for the denied to which the mother said she does not really know. However the officer was not convinced and said he was going to continue my mom's case and do a background check and she will to wait for 120 says to hear back.

In the hindsight I think I made a blunder by interjecting and saying the visitor visa was denied when in fact it was refused with a 221g...

I believe visa denial and visa refusal are different things and I should not have interjected and caused un-necessary confusion.

Is there anything I can do now to mitigate this situation?

 

 

[Crazy Cat 41,837]

Technically, a 221g refusal is a denial...... but the vast, vast majority of visitor visa denials are due to lack of strong ties to home country......which would have no effect on her adjustment.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Just let it play out.

[Vabsmith 47]

21 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Technically, a 221g refusal is a denial...... but the vast, vast majority of visitor visa denials are due to lack of strong ties to home country......which would have no effect on her adjustment.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Just let it play out.

Thank you!. Yes I do think lack of documentation showing strong ties to home country  was the main reason for 221g visitor visa refusal back in 2008 .... and yes i think not worrying about it at this point is what I should do...Hopefully the  case gets approved soon.

[Verrou 1,962]

dont think what u did its a blunder

i will do the same if i were you just to cover all ground

best of luck ! and let us know what is the outcome

[Dashinka 24,489]

Better to disclose it now than to have it come up in any subsequent background checks.  If it was for lack of ties, it should not matter, my wife was denied a B2 twice prior to our K1 journey and it had no bearing.

 

Good Luck!

[millefleur 5,046]

Lack of ties/suspected immigrant intent would've been 214(b). 221(g) is usually a denial for missing documents or administrative processing.

 

4 hours ago, Vabsmith said:

that tallied up and the officer was about to move to the next question but I interjected and said mom your visitor visa was denied the first time back in 2008 to that mom said "I remember I that i had to go for the visitor visa interview twice... "

What do you mean she had to go twice? She was called 2 times for the same visa application or she applied on two different occasions and was denied each time?

 

You didn't blunder by interjecting, but it was a blunder not to mention prior visa refusals on the paperwork. It sounds like the 120 days background check is just going to result in USCIS researching her past visa denial history and the reasons for it, that's all. It seems like a pretty logical conclusion since she was in fact denied but stated the opposite on the paperwork. If she was denied for standard reasons like lack of ties it's probably no big deal, will just take more time now because they have to do the background check.

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

I don't think you should be concerned.

It certainly should have been disclosed in the form, but you corrected that information during interview.

And she is in the US already, meaning they eventually approved her visitor's visa.

[Vabsmith 47]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

Lack of ties/suspected immigrant intent would've been 214(b). 221(g) is usually a denial for missing documents or administrative processing.

 

What do you mean she had to go twice? She was called 2 times for the same visa application or she applied on two different occasions and was denied each time?

 

You didn't blunder by interjecting, but it was a blunder not to mention prior visa refusals on the paperwork. It sounds like the 120 days background check is just going to result in USCIS researching her past visa denial history and the reasons for it, that's all. It seems like a pretty logical conclusion since she was in fact denied but stated the opposite on the paperwork. If she was denied for standard reasons like lack of ties it's probably no big deal, will just take more time now because they have to do the background check.

She was given 221g first time she applied for the visitor visa. She applied again after three months and the visitor visa was approved. This was back in 2008 and since then she has traveled several times back and forth to the USA. Yes the form had answered the question wrong. Any guess on how long the background check might take?

[millefleur 5,046]

2 minutes ago, Vabsmith said:

She was given 221g first time she applied for the visitor visa. She applied again after three months and the visitor visa was approved. This was back in 2008 and since then she has traveled several times back and forth to the USA. Yes the form had answered the question wrong. Any guess on how long the background check might take?

OK that makes sense, she might've just had extra administrative processing for whatever reason. I don't think there's anything to worry about.

 

Background check will take what it takes, if they said 120 days then maybe just assume the worst and she'll just have to wait.

[African Zealot 1,455]

Much ado about nothing. Parents petitions are among the easiest. Whether refused or denied, in this context essentially the same thing aka cool beans! You will both be smiling sooner than later.

[Vabsmith 47]

An update on this topic. Today I see the case status shows- the I-485 was approved. So I believe the mother should receive her green card in mail soon. So apparently the check they wanted to do did not take much time. Thank you all.

[ImmiGeek 59]

221G is not a denial, its a refusal with a reason and they give an option to give additional paperwork/details about the open issue mentioned on the 221G notice. Its NOT a SLAM-DUNK denial. BUT... a 221G may finally turn into a denial if the given open options are not closed(such as no response or given response time on 221G expired etc.)

[Chancy 6,241]

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