K1 sent back to NVC / Will Mumbai recognize Utah online marriage?

[pushbrk 12,814]

9 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

The CO would have told informed the applicant.  They would not have waited. 

Correct.  Never in 20 years have I heard of a delayed decision based on the affidavit of support.  Something else is amiss in one person's history.  Sending back to USCIS because of information disclosed at the interview.  Could be a problem with either party or both.  The "both" that comes to mind is they did something in India, that makes them too married for fiancée visa but not married enough for a spouse visa.  Yes, that's a real thing.  Was there some kind of unofficial marriage ceremony or something that could be interpreted as that?

[littleredscooty 3]

9 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

The CO would have told informed the applicant.  They would not have waited. 

That is really helpful to know, thank you! We have done a records request, but in the meantime we are trying to go through everything and suss out what could possibly explain this.

[littleredscooty 3]

37 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

Correct.  Never in 20 years have I heard of a delayed decision based on the affidavit of support.  Something else is amiss in one person's history.  Sending back to USCIS because of information disclosed at the interview.  Could be a problem with either party or both.  The "both" that comes to mind is they did something in India, that makes them too married for fiancée visa but not married enough for a spouse visa.  Yes, that's a real thing.  Was there some kind of unofficial marriage ceremony or something that could be interpreted as that?

I just want to say, I really appreciate your feedback, as it's allowing for a lot of ideas on where to "look" at what could explain this. I have to agree if financials / affdavit were the problem, we would of already been informed at the interview and they wouldn't of put us in 221g over that, so I'm letting go of that angle.

 

We were initially going to do the CR1 route, get married in India and apply. We decided to do the K1 route instead because at the time, it seemed we would get to actually be in person much sooner than CR1 was going to allow. Before changing our minds, I had gone to the consulate and gotten something called an NOC, I had written the consulate to inform them of a marriage notice for us and needing to schedule the NOC. We did include the NOC as part of our petition as we didn't want to hide it, but we of course never actually did get married. I genuinely hadn't even remembered writing to them until recently when I went into my email to do a search of all contact and information coming to and from embassy.

 

Considering the context, the fact that we lived together for 3 months during one visit, some of the photos with family such as the photo where his family is gifting me jewelry, and one photo has several of our friends together for a luncheon, I think it's possible what you are saying "too married for a fiancee visa, not married enough for a spouse visa". I didn't know that was a thing. 

[Crazy Cat 41,608]

10 minutes ago, littleredscooty said:

I didn't know that was a thing

It, definitely, is a thing.  That's why we ALWAYS advise K-1 couples not to have any kind of ceremony which could be seen as a marriage ceremony prior to actually marrying in the US.  You might have discovered the source of the issue.

What is this "NOC"?  No Objection Certificate?  Is that part of registering a marriage in India? 

Edited June 16 by Crazy Cat

[littleredscooty 3]

6 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

It, definitely, is a thing.  That's why we ALWAYS advise K-1 couples not to have any kind of ceremony which could be seen as a marriage ceremony prior to actually marrying in the US.  You might have discovered the source of the issue.

What is this "NOC"?  No Objection Certificate?  Is that part of registering a marriage in India? 

We did not have any ceremony of any kind, the jewelry thing was actually a gift given the day after we were engaged, but its just that I could see how maybe someone got that impression, despite those photos being dated and an explanation given. But we were in street clothes, parents invited us over for tea and to give me the gift and we did take a photo, but it wasn't a ceremony nor did we have any type of ceremony.

 

The NOC is the no objection certificiate yes, thank you the full name was slipping my mind. It's required for me to get married in India.

[Crazy Cat 41,608]

7 minutes ago, littleredscooty said:

It's required for me to get married in India.

Did the CO mention it?  It is looking more like a "too married" situation.  

Edited June 16 by Crazy Cat

[littleredscooty 3]

3 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Did the CO mention it?

No, it was never mentioned and nothing was asked about why we had it, etc. Almost nothing about our relationship was asked but basic things such as how did you two meet and the like. At the time of interview, I already had the tax transcript available for the 2023 tax year, along with the three years prior to that, and all of them have my tax status listed as single. Wouldn't that have solidified to them that I was not married?

[Dashinka 24,372]

Even if the CO thought this was a situation where they thought the couple were “too married” for a K1, they should have informed the beneficiary during the interview rather than leave them in the dark.  That being said, this is certainly a possibility as to why this was sent back to USCIS.

[littleredscooty 3]

26 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Even if the CO thought this was a situation where they thought the couple were “too married” for a K1, they should have informed the beneficiary during the interview rather than leave them in the dark.  That being said, this is certainly a possibility as to why this was sent back to USCIS.

Thank you, I would like to think that very same thing. I really hope the records request is somehow helpful. This is just so puzzling to me.

[pushbrk 12,814]

2 hours ago, littleredscooty said:

No, it was never mentioned and nothing was asked about why we had it, etc. Almost nothing about our relationship was asked but basic things such as how did you two meet and the like. At the time of interview, I already had the tax transcript available for the 2023 tax year, along with the three years prior to that, and all of them have my tax status listed as single. Wouldn't that have solidified to them that I was not married?

They wouldn't need to mention it for it to be the issue.  The NOC is something the Consulate would know about and USCIS would NOT know about normally.  But, you included it in your I-129F filing, so THAT would not be new.  The Consular Officer may not have noticed it was included though.  

Anyway, if THAT is the problem, it will not complicate the spouse visa process.