US Immigration from South Africa

Hi all. Beneficiary here. Married in 2014 to US citizen, filed I-130 petition in that same year.

20 August 2015 - I was refused at my interview (actually, exactly 6 years ago) due to a CIMT (shoplifting - one lipstick in 1990 when I was 18 - I'm almost 50 now - theft committed by the person I happened to be with, without my knowledge - was arrested as an "accessory" but charged and convicted in chambers without my knowledge of "theft".) I didn't even know that I had a criminal record until I filed my I-130 petition and saw it on my police clearance. I declared everything in my petition, and was still denied at the interview. Subsequent request for reconsideration under the petty offense exemption was ignored, and I was told to file a waiver.

At that point we just abandoned the process because we had already been apart for too long, and didn't have the extra $5,000 that we would need to file the waiver.

Current situation: My husband's mom passed away in May 2021, and he had to return to US to take care of things. We had been living together in Vietnam (Hanoi) for the prior two years. He is unable to return due to COVID-related visa restrictions for entry into Vietnam. We re-hired Lizz Cannon, and she is just about ready to go ahead and file the waiver.

Is there anyone else in a similar position now - that is, just about to, or already filed an I-601? Is there anywhere I can go to see current processing times, and updates from others who are going through this right now? Would love to connect with others in a similar boat.

Hello,

My fiance is from South Africa, but we met in Shenzhen, China when we were both working there from 2018-2020. I know she is required to obtain a Chinese Police Clearance Certificate. However, it seems as if this may be an extremely difficult or at least considerably expensive endeavor. Is there anyone on here who has had success in obtaining this document? We still have some friends in China and were thinking that maybe they could facilitate the collection of this certificate.

I also read that it is possible that thje consular may waive this requirement if you can prove that the document is unobtainable. Is this realistic or common? Has anyone successfully demonstrated that a Chinese Police Clearance Certificate is unobtainable? Has anyone been approved for a K1 Visa without this document?

Thank you so much for any help or advice.

Hello,

I recently received my NOA2 from the USCIS (July 26, 2021) and am now waiting for a case # to be issued by the NVC. My fiance is South African, but she has recently moved to South Korea as she wanted to work while we were waiting for the Visa to process. Is it possible for her to be interviewed at the Consulate in Seoul instead of in South Africa?

If so, how do I go about facilitating that? Can I change her address of residence with the NVC? How soon can I do that? I know the waiting period in between NOA2 and NVC case number is about 30 days, should I begin calling them at that point?

My fiance and I have ran into a small snag with our K1 post filing. Just last week our I29F was received and shortly after we found out some new information from his mother. It seems, his biological father was not listed on his birth certificate (which we still don't have due to a backlog at home affairs in SA). Instead, she thinks she may have listed her former spouse as his father or simply listed the father unknown and registered him under her married name which matched hers at the time. We only found this out when requesting the official copy of his birth certificate and being told a the surname must match either the father or the mothers last name. Given that his biological fathers surname is different he could not have been listed as the father.

My question is do we wait until we have the official birth certificate to make an update or go ahead and do an amendment now with an explanation and then make the final correction once we receive the official certificate. Based on the NOA1 phase one my initial thought is we should be ok to wait out the 4 to 6 weeks to get the certificate. Any thoughts? Has anyone else needed to make any amendments?

I recently Moved from South Africa to the USA 15 days now, Please what is the next step. I need some help