What about trad wedding - do we disclose?

[Adrians Mom 0]

Hi Chi,

My discovery is that USC counsulars are not as "mean" as they are rumored to be, provided you tell the truth and have enough to butress your point.

Go in with every document required,confidence and a smile afterall you are genuine....oh and a lot of pictures too!

They socialize and know the culture there too.If you are not sure then operate on a need to know basis.

I think the whole essence of the interview is to ensure you are marrying for real and a traditioanl marriage prooves that.If asked why you were so sure as to go into marriage,tell the truth its becuse you love him.

They are humans with blood in their veins too.

GOOD LUCK

Thanks Eagleeye! Good point. My fiance has beeen kind of telling me that too. He says some of the consulars have been living in Nigeria a long time, and they are very familiar with alot of the Nigerian customs.

[knl 0]

You have been given a lot of good advice. If you are still worried about the CO finding out about the traditional wedding, change it up and say it was an engagement, if that is possible. Or just don't go through with having a traditional wedding, then you have nothing to worry about. I understand it is important for your family to have the traditional wedding, but if it is putting you at risk of not getting the visa, then why go ahead with it? Probably you are making this a bigger issue then it really is, just decide what you are going to do and don't worry about it. The reason I say that is, my husband and I, had an issue we off and on argued about before his interview. We met from his mother, she is a LPR in the US for more then 15 yrs. She(his mom) didn't want us to tell the CO we met from her. I didn't want him to lie at the interview and risk getting caught, it is mine and his relationship, not his moms. I put a post on vj once, to get advice on our situation, of lieing at interview or not. Of course everyone said DON'T LIE! But quite a lot of people told me, if we met through a family member, the CO would say I was being paid to get him to the US and deny the visa. If it was me being interviewed, I would definately not lie, it is something I really hate doing. So I told my husband, he is not to lie at all about anything!!! I don't care what his mom says. I decided at the last minute to go to Ghana and be there for the interview. I was let into the embassy and waited in the waiting room for my fiance (at the time) to finish. But the CO wanted to interview me as well. We stood right next to each other as the CO took turns asking each of us questions, one of the questions he asked me was the one I didn't want to face, SO How did you two meet?? I was so nervous to tell the truth, I said, from a friend, we were introduced over the phone. He wanted my friends name and I told him, her first and last name. (which I'm sure by then he knew that was his mom, we had to put her name on the applications). He wanted me to explain how we were put on the phone to talk that day. Which was to say hi and we exchanged email addresses. I never refered to my friend, as his mother. He did ask me if my friend was paying me to get him to the US and I told him no, she would never do that. Anyway, we had no problems at the interview. You'll have a little time to think about it, I see you got the approval on the petition, wonderful news!!! Of course in the end you are going to do, what you want to do. Just remember, if you don't lie, you never have to worry about getting caught. All this being said, I wish you the best and a speedy visa approval.

I know you didn't post your question, to hear my story, but I thought it would help you in some way. Sorry if it was so lengthy

Edited November 11, 2007 by knl

[Perseverance 1]

OK I know how everyone on VJ does not like lawyers so first of all, I know I could have done it myself with out the lawyer blah blah blah..heard it all dont need to hear it again...

With that out of the way, we used a lawyer, I felt better knowing that I had someone to answer legal questions and help us with the overwhelming paperwork. Before I traveled to Nigeria at any time, he would tell me whatever I did not to do ANYTHING that could be interpreted as a wedding ceremony... traditional, tribal, saying vows only to each other in a room alone...are you getting the idea? He said that you never know what could be concidered legal and binding in another country, he did not want us to risk having to start the process all over again, or have any problems of any kind. So we did not. I took his advice pretty seriously, this is a man who has done this sort ofthing for many many people and I trusted his advice.

During our interview we were asked more than once, by two different officers if we loved each other so much why did we not marry in Nigeria? We told them the truth that our lawyer told us not to, I even produced an email that the lawyer had sent me stating so. They seemed satistied with that.

As far as the officers in Nigeria not being mean...that may be the opinion of some, unfortunately that was not my experience, we were put through a lot of hell for nothing, I think that the first officer was having a bad day that first day he denied just about EVERYONE and sent a lot of people to the Fraud Investigation Unit. The first officer interviewed my husband twice before sending us there. The second time he interview him he told my husband that he would interview him last that day, I know he did this on purpose, he was a nasty mean man and he said a lot of horrible things to my husband. When we finally met with the officer in the Fraud Unit it was my chance to finally speak and really that officer was a nice man, he did his job but he was not an A$$ about it, really he did not see why were sent to his unit and assured us that everything would be fine.

Our case is pretty cut and dry, I personaly think that the first officer was prejudice and that he why he gave us such a hard time. I know of others who have had problems too. I did everything right and had trouble, I would hate to see you have trouble over something that should be a happy moment in your life. That is my experience and my opinion.

Edited November 11, 2007 by Heather & Justice

[Bassi and Zainab 1]

You know, you could always wait until after your interview to have the traditional ceremony. It's not legal and won't interfere with your entry on your visa and won't cause turmoil or confusion at the interview. Just adjust the date. That way your family is happy and you don't have to stress or consider lying or anything of the sort. Has anyone said this yet? It seems like the best of both worlds really. You have six months to use the visa to enter, so you can do the traditional wedding before you come to the US and do the legal one. Duh?

[Zee Bee 61]

You know, you could always wait until after your interview to have the traditional ceremony. It's not legal and won't interfere with your entry on your visa and won't cause turmoil or confusion at the interview. Just adjust the date. That way your family is happy and you don't have to stress or consider lying or anything of the sort. Has anyone said this yet? It seems like the best of both worlds really. You have six months to use the visa to enter, so you can do the traditional wedding before you come to the US and do the legal one. Duh?

Good point.

[Ta Ta 1]

But the same rules apply at POE ........ do not refer to the SO as spouse or they will refuse entry.

The applicant has to be free to marry until after entry.

[Bassi and Zainab 1]

But the same rules apply at POE ........ do not refer to the SO as spouse or they will refuse entry.

The applicant has to be free to marry until after entry.

The applicant is free to marry. They aren't getting legally married, they are worried about a traditional wedding being misconstrued during the interview process as a legally binding wedding and messing up their chances for a K1 visa.

[kunleseun 2]

bumping for updates

[kayj 0]

bumping for updates

dont include any information relating to traditonal engagement/marriage with ur K1 petition.