Need some Advice

[roughlyworried 5]

First off, thank god I found this site! I’ve been anxiously researching questions about my case but have struggled to get good opinions or information. 

Here is my story a long with some questions:

 

So I met my wife online in April of 2020. Fell in love. And we got married online 2 and half months later (crazy, I know. Also worried this will look bad to immigration. Will it?). We waited and waited to find somewhere we can meet. Finally Thailand opened up and in April 2021 we met for the first time in person. I ended up staying until June 2021, and we both decided she would stay and I would go home and take care of a few things (including filing for the CR-1) and come back within a few months. November 2021, I came back to Thailand and have been here ever since living with her. Our I-130 was submitted mid December 2021. Now I have an urgent need to leave back to the states, and I’m not sure I’ll have my visa when I get back in a few months. But that’s for another day. Now that you have my story, here is some questions. 

I’m in my Early 20s and my wife is in her early to mid 20s (chinese).

1.    ⁠We are using a joint independent sponsor for financial support with The NVC. Is this likely to lessen the chances of our case being approved? Especially the young age. Further, would this effect the consular processing? Also, I only have 1 tax year (2021) filed, and my income was super low. Would this also negatively affect my case overall?
2.    ⁠At what point in the process do applications usually get denied or most likely to get denied? USCIS? NVC? Consular? Furthermore, with USCIS, do they usually deny it earlier or later in the processing timeframe? 
3.    ⁠The consular interview, are they usually very skeptical and/or deny a lot of visas for Chinese citizens and young lovers like us? If they does get denied at the consulate, do we have to restart from the beginning of the process (USCIS)?

4. Does anyone have a static on denied visa amounts for Chinese citizens or even overall for CR1 visas?

Really appreciate your time to read this and perhaps your response. 🙏🏻. Been on my mind a lot, and haven’t had someone solid to ask. Feel free to ask me for further information, and/or if you have any opinions on my story or things that come to mind. Thanks!

[Crazy Cat 41,888]

1.  Many, many people have joint sponsors.  If the joint sponsor is well qualified, there shouldn't be an issue.

2.  Once USCIS has approved the I-130 petition, and NVC has collected sufficient documents, the Consulate Officer is the SOLE approval authority for all visas.  The interview is the easiest part of the process for visas, I have been told.  Don't worry yourself to death.  Just continue to practice patience.  This process requires a great deal of knowledge, planning, time, patience, and money.  

3.  The most frequent causes I can remember for denial are:

   A.  One or both parties were not free to marry.

   B.  The CO has determined that the marriage was not genuine.  

   C.  The beneficiary had other inadmissible factors which required a waiver

4.  You can track the number of visas issued.  However, denials are not trackable, to my knowledge.

 

Good luck.  Stay busy, and plan ahead.   I'm sure other members have comments, too.

[JeanneAdil 6,511]

married online thru Utah zoom ?

or other 

[pushbrk 12,898]

I just want to add that your case is very strong because of the amount of time you've been together in person.  Also, odds and probabilities are not something to concern yourself with.  Chinese citizens are not denied visas because they are Chinese.

 

Please be more specific about your online marriage.  What do you mean by "independent joint sponsor"?

[roughlyworried 5]

6 hours ago, pushbrk said:

I just want to add that your case is very strong because of the amount of time you've been together in person.  Also, odds and probabilities are not something to concern yourself with.  Chinese citizens are not denied visas because they are Chinese.

 

Please be more specific about your online marriage.  What do you mean by "independent joint sponsor"?

Hello, thank you for your response. We’ve Definitely tried to stay together as long as possible, though it’s because we want to be together and not because of immigration. I do have this question. Our case is strong, but there are some factors that may weaken it, but I’m not sure to what degree.
 

Would the following weaken our case significantly? 1. We got married when I was 18 (so our young age). 2. That we got married so soon after meeting each other online (less than 3 months). 3. That her parents are still unaware of a marriage (because they are vehemently opposed to marrying a foreigner, although her mother is opening up to the idea). And 4. If they had visa problems/overstays in another country besides the US. 
 

We were married through Utah, on Zoom, with an officiant, with my grandmother and mother as witnesses. We also have affidavits from them, and a close friend of Stephy’s in China. 
 

joint sponsor, I may have worded wrong but someone to also claim financial responsibility for my wife besides me. My step father is the one most likely to do this. 

[pushbrk 12,898]

2 hours ago, Kyl123 said:

Hello, thank you for your response. We’ve Definitely tried to stay together as long as possible, though it’s because we want to be together and not because of immigration. I do have this question. Our case is strong, but there are some factors that may weaken it, but I’m not sure to what degree.
 

Would the following weaken our case significantly? 1. We got married when I was 18 (so our young age). 2. That we got married so soon after meeting each other online (less than 3 months). 3. That her parents are still unaware of a marriage (because they are vehemently opposed to marrying a foreigner, although her mother is opening up to the idea). And 4. If they had visa problems/overstays in another country besides the US. 
 

We were married through Utah, on Zoom, with an officiant, with my grandmother and mother as witnesses. We also have affidavits from them, and a close friend of Stephy’s in China. 
 

joint sponsor, I may have worded wrong but someone to also claim financial responsibility for my wife besides me. My step father is the one most likely to do this. 

Your time spent together easily trumps the issues you see as weaknesses.

 

You are the primary sponsor, even if you have no income or assets.  Your stepfather can be the joint sponsor, but you'll need an I-864 from your mother/his spouse also, whether SHE has any income or not.

[SteveInBostonI130 3,459]

21 hours ago, Kyl123 said:

First off, thank god I found this site! I’ve been anxiously researching questions about my case but have struggled to get good opinions or information. 

Here is my story a long with some questions:

 

So I met my wife online in April of 2020. Fell in love. And we got married online 2 and half months later (crazy, I know. Also worried this will look bad to immigration. Will it?). We waited and waited to find somewhere we can meet. Finally Thailand opened up and in April 2021 we met for the first time in person. I ended up staying until June 2021, and we both decided she would stay and I would go home and take care of a few things (including filing for the CR-1) and come back within a few months. November 2021, I came back to Thailand and have been here ever since living with her. Our I-130 was submitted mid December 2021. Now I have an urgent need to leave back to the states, and I’m not sure I’ll have my visa when I get back in a few months. But that’s for another day. Now that you have my story, here is some questions. 

I’m in my Early 20s and my wife is in her early to mid 20s (chinese).

1.    ⁠We are using a joint independent sponsor for financial support with The NVC. Is this likely to lessen the chances of our case being approved? Especially the young age. Further, would this effect the consular processing? Also, I only have 1 tax year (2021) filed, and my income was super low. Would this also negatively affect my case overall?
2.    ⁠At what point in the process do applications usually get denied or most likely to get denied? USCIS? NVC? Consular? Furthermore, with USCIS, do they usually deny it earlier or later in the processing timeframe? 
3.    ⁠The consular interview, are they usually very skeptical and/or deny a lot of visas for Chinese citizens and young lovers like us? If they does get denied at the consulate, do we have to restart from the beginning of the process (USCIS)?

4. Does anyone have a static on denied visa amounts for Chinese citizens or even overall for CR1 visas?

Really appreciate your time to read this and perhaps your response. 🙏🏻. Been on my mind a lot, and haven’t had someone solid to ask. Feel free to ask me for further information, and/or if you have any opinions on my story or things that come to mind. Thanks!

1.  If the joint sponsor has qualifying income, then this is not an issue.  Many young couples, especially those who are still in college/university, use joint sponsors with no problems.

 

2.  USCIS processes the case based on qualifying evidence.  They do not make judgement calls, for the most part.  Think of it as more black and white decision making.  NVC is even more black and white - you pay the fees and submit the correct documents.  They definitely do not evaluate relationship evidence.  The CO at the consulate/embassy has visa approval authority and will definitely judge the relationship. 

 

3.  Many young couples get approved.  Some older couples get denied.  It is more based on the strength of the evidence presented than age or country. 

 

4.  You can check here to see the number of immediate relative visas issued per country.  I do not know of any statistical source for denied visas.  https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/AnnualReports/FY2021AnnualReport/FY21_TableVIII.pdf

 

[Crazy Cat 41,888]

10 hours ago, Kyl123 said:

2. That we got married so soon after meeting each other online (less than 3 months).

My wife and I married 2 and a half months after meeting online.  No issues with visa approval. 

[AfroKing 48]

I just recently learned from someone who was put on administrative processing for months that there's a thing called "over-perfection" to COs. In his words, the consular said his file were just too perfect for comfort for his circumstance and he told him he will have to wait, so he can be convinced. Crazy as that may sound, they just want naturally flowing event chart with your circumstance; too much Planning could hurt one's case as you start to have documents that aren't really reasonable.

 

Do not be scared of nothing, be sure of your relationship and PHYSICAL TIME SPENT TOGETHER IS KEY!! Focus on that

 

Each case is evaluated on it's uniqueness. So, just follow your own flow. 

 

There had been cases where too much physical presence was questioned because the CO felt based on the job of the Petitioner, how in the world were they able to spent a long time away from their work(CO questioned employment) and its the same situation for another which aided the case. In short, get the normal documents right, pay visits when you can and all will be well.

 

 

 

[pushbrk 12,898]

8 hours ago, AfroKing said:

I just recently learned from someone who was put on administrative processing for months that there's a thing called "over-perfection" to COs. In his words, the consular said his file were just too perfect for comfort for his circumstance and he told him he will have to wait, so he can be convinced. Crazy as that may sound, they just want naturally flowing event chart with your circumstance; too much Planning could hurt one's case as you start to have documents that aren't really reasonable.

 

Do not be scared of nothing, be sure of your relationship and PHYSICAL TIME SPENT TOGETHER IS KEY!! Focus on that

 

Each case is evaluated on it's uniqueness. So, just follow your own flow. 

 

There had been cases where too much physical presence was questioned because the CO felt based on the job of the Petitioner, how in the world were they able to spent a long time away from their work(CO questioned employment) and its the same situation for another which aided the case. In short, get the normal documents right, pay visits when you can and all will be well.

 

 

 

Yeah, never "contrive" evidence that would not be reasonably expected.  Just because you read something on a list of possible kinds of relationship evidence does NOT mean each thing is expected.  For example, comingling of finances for couples who have never actually lived together as residents of the same country are not expected.  Making it happen for no reason except immigration evidence, is "contrived".  Such actions (contriving evidence even though it's real) are "suspect".

[roughlyworried 5]

On 9/1/2022 at 2:50 PM, pushbrk said:

Your time spent together easily trumps the issues you see as weaknesses.

On 9/1/2022 at 5:30 AM, pushbrk said:

I just want to add that your case is very strong because of the amount of time you've been together in person.

 

Thanks for your reply. 

I should add that on the I-130, I hadn’t come back to meet her yet when we applied. So on the I-130, we had only spent beginning of April to Mid-late June together in 2021 (about 2 and half months). So the amount of time we’ve spent together since the application (which was applied and submitted before we could provide additional evidence we’ve been together) was not included. In addition, for the time we spent together, I was only able to attain documents from one or two places showing both of our names in the same hotel that accounted for about 1 month of the time together. Considering this, would you still say that those two and half months are strong evidence?

[pushbrk 12,898]

11 hours ago, Kyl123 said:

Thanks for your reply. 

I should add that on the I-130, I hadn’t come back to meet her yet when we applied. So on the I-130, we had only spent beginning of April to Mid-late June together in 2021 (about 2 and half months). So the amount of time we’ve spent together since the application (which was applied and submitted before we could provide additional evidence we’ve been together) was not included. In addition, for the time we spent together, I was only able to attain documents from one or two places showing both of our names in the same hotel that accounted for about 1 month of the time together. Considering this, would you still say that those two and half months are strong evidence?

Plenty strong for USCIS and you'll have evidence of all the rest of the time together, for the interview.  My EX and I had 8 days together before filing.