Marshmallow-E

Hi K1visaHopeful, Thank you for answering my questions and providing additional insight! We now feel more confident about my case!

Hi Sukie, A cover letter explaining our financial situation does sound like a great idea! Thanks for your help!

Thank you for your ideas, Edward and Jaycel!

Hi Lemonslice, Thank you for your advice! We’ll definitely work on living wills, retirement plans, and savings. I forgot to mention that both my spouse and I are still in school or training, and we only work part-time jobs that don’t offer many benefits like pensions, 401(k)s, or health insurance. My spouse is covered under his parent’s health insurance, while I currently don’t have any health insurance. His phone plan is also under his parents, whereas I have my own plan.

Hello, everyone. I applied for I-485 based on a K-1 visa in April this year. A few days ago, I received an RFE asking for additional proof of our married life since the ceremony. In our initial application, we only submitted our marriage certificate and wedding photos as bona fide relationship evidence. The screenshot shows what the RFE is requesting. So far, we’ve gathered the following evidence: Joint lease agreement Joint auto insurance policy Proof of living at the same address (driver’s licenses, pay stubs, bank statements, Costco membership) Evidence of being listed as emergency contacts for each other at work Additional wedding photos Photos from other life events Sworn affidavits from my spouse’s family After getting married, my spouse and I have taken on different financial responsibilities. He pays for rent and internet, while I cover auto insurance and groceries. We handle the remaining expenses separately. I added my spouse as an authorized user on my credit card, and he added my name to the internet bills after receiving the RFE. My questions are: Should we open a joint savings account to strengthen our case? Will actions taken after receiving the RFE raise any red flags with USCIS? Does the evidence we’ve gathered so far seem sufficient for approval? Do we need to notarize the sworn affidavits? We are aware that we should include a government ID for each of them. I’d appreciate any advice or insight. Thank you!

Hi W199, thanks for your reply! The protection order related court records indicate that my fiancé was charged with domestic assault-misdemeanor, its disposition is "dismissed". The protection order is also canceled. I am not sure if there are arrest records attached to it since police records have not been delivered yet and my fiancé doesn't have much memory of this either. My fiancé managed to get a file stating the protection order is canceled but it seems not to be certified. We will try to get a certified version of this paper next week. I plan to submit the court records, police records, and cancelation paper for this. I also wonder will explanation letters help for this, for example, explaining that the petitioner was mentally ill, the beneficiary is aware, and the protected person (actually his mom) is no longer in danger. Am I just making things more complicated here? For the new drug charge, I will see what we can get. If there isn't much strong evidence, I probably will choose not to disclose. I also want to ask, if somehow, he gets charged in the future for drug possession and the case is still pending during a CR-1 processing, will we get denied for this? Finally, I want to say that we are aware that all the advice we get from this website is not legal advice and we are the ones responsible for all the decisions. I am very grateful for your continuous help!

Hi, I want to make an update about our application and hopefully, it can help other people in the future as well. We received the RFE letter yesterday and it turns out that USCIS was asking for court and police records of an old case. The case was already dropped and that was the first time his family realized that he needed help for his mental health. My fiancé was hospitalized for a long time after this and the case was handled by his father. His parents are separated and there are a lot of miscommunications going on. I was aware of that incident before we filed but didn’t know it was a dropped case. I completed the majority of the application form and the application was submitted under miscommunication. Anyway, we have the court records now and the police records are still on the way. I wonder if we only need to submit the records or also correct the form since we selected “no”. About the drug case, I consulted with some criminal lawyers (honestly we can’t afford one) and they responded that currently there is no charge under his name. But it doesn’t mean he will not be charged in the future. As for when it will happen, nobody knows. Besides, I am still waiting for responses from some immigration lawyers, just trying to get some help and ideas from them if possible. There is a lot of uncertainty and I am not sure what is the best option in this situation. But we probably will reply to USCIS for whatever they want and also disclose this new arrest record. I believe we can manage to get a certified court record stating “no records found” for now and submit it alongside the package. We are also working on getting a passport for my fiancé and if things go wrong, we can get married in my country and file a CR-1 visa. I also want to know, if there is a pending criminal case, will the CR-1 visa get denied as well? I am sorry that it’s a long post and I very much appreciate your time reading and responding if you’d like. Below is the RFE letter for your information. Thanks!

Hi, I don't know if we will get this disposition certificate yet if this is a pending case. We will see what we can get first. Sorry that this matter causes so many confusions. I shouldn't have posted so much without knowing further information probably. Sincere apology to everyone who has helped us here.

Hi, thanks for your opinion. I am totally confused now to be honest. I barely know anything about the legal stuff as you see. I will get those records done first.

I see, thanks so much for your explanation! I believe he was arrested, charged, and held in jail, not a mental health facility. It does look like a mental health crisis and we don't know why he didn't get much medical assistance. I agree with you that this looks like a pending case and we probably will only know better after we get the police records.

Yes, they are the same. All the dates in this screenshot are the same. I hide them for privacy reasons only.

Here is the FBI report regarding this drug possession charge. Any helpful information here? Should we expect a charge from the court in the next few months? We haven't got the certified court records and police records done but should have them this week.

Hi, this is the screenshot from the jail roster, I didn't see "30.01". Also, I want to make a quick update here. We got an "RFE" a couple of days ago and the mail hasn't arrived yet. We ran an FBI background check on the petitioner as well, the report does include this drug thing. But there is no information about the court. I am concerned that he will get a charge later from the court. His family believe that he was "on hold". I don't really understand what that means to be honest. As for these mental health court records, they didn't show in the FBI report. I saw this from HHS. Maybe it can explain it to some degree. "A HIPAA-covered health care provider or health plan may share your protected health information if it has a court order. This includes the order of an administrative tribunal. However, the provider or plan may only disclose the information specifically described in the order. "

That totally makes sense to me! Thank you for the reply!

Thank you for this explanation!

Hi W199, there is no better way to express my gratefulness for your patience and kindness! Thank you for being so supportive! Those mental health court records came up under the "Probate or Mental Health" category. If I unselect that option, they won't show up. I spoke to him and his family again regarding this charge. His family explains that he was let go after a 72-hour hold with the charge dropped or the charge didn't exist in the first place. I don't know if this misunderstanding is caused by his family's ignorance, my lack of knowledge, or maybe both. I googled this 72-hour hold in Minnesota (not sure if it applies to other states). (e) A person held under a 72-hour emergency hold must be released by the facility within 72 hours unless a court order to hold the person is obtained. A consecutive emergency hold order under this section may not be issued. I have been thinking about our future marriage and what it means to me because this incident has been draining my energy heavily. I am not sure what we are going to do next yet. I feel that both my fiancé and I need a break to recover and figure things out. No matter which way we choose eventually, we are going to get a copy of certified court and police records for this drug possession thing and make things straight. Also, I saw you mentioned FBI record will be needed even if we choose a CR-1 visa. I did a little research on CR-1 and found out that I-130 doesn't require information for criminal records. Those crimes that will prevent US citizens from petitioning an alien relative fall under The Adam Walsh Act. I really need to do more research on CR-1.

Thank you! I will also do some research on this!

Thanks for your reply and kindness! I agree that CR-1 visa is a better option for us probably. It was bad timing when we submitted our application last year. I remember back then Chinese travel visas were not available yet due to the pandemic. I will discuss with my fiance about this. By the way, do we need to withdraw our k-1 case or just switch to CR-1 directly?

Sorry for the late response. I searched on their website and nothing new came up except for those old records I have seen already. We probably need to go to the courthouse to get more information.

Hi, that's what I am confused about. I spoke to his family and they said he was just let go. They didn't give him any papers. I checked the public records and saw his charge. There isn't much helpful information. State of charge, bail information, and court appearance are all left blank.

I am very thankful for the information you provided! We will consider a CR-1 visa for sure if we get denied in the future. Congratulations on your NOA2 by the way!

Hi, thanks for your reply! As far as I know, the drug case seems to be dropped and they released him after a 72-hour hold without requesting further procedures. I believe there will not be a trial or sentencing. Sorry that I forgot to mention that his charge is 5th-degree drug possession. As for the old mental health court records, I can not say for sure that there are no fingerprints taken as I don't know further details currently. Could I ask where I can get this information? My fiance is still trying to recover from this incident. I wish I could help with the visa process at least. I appreciate your advice a lot and I am fully aware of what I am doing or whom I am marrying. We have been through a lot together and we have been there for each other all the way. I just hope we can get this visa successfully in the near future.

He is the petitioner, sorry about being unclear.

Hello, everyone! My fiance and I are August 2022 K-1 visa filers and our case is still being processed. My fiance was arrested and charged with drug possession a couple of days ago and has been released. Should we send a letter to USCIS now and explain everything or just wait until we get an RFE? Also, I found out that he has some mental health court records as well. Do these count as criminal records? Should we include this information as well? We were stupid and ignorant when we filed and didn't dig deeper into this. And we marked "no" to the part 3 question4.a. Will this be a huge mistake? Please give us some advice! Thanks 😭