I-130 Notice of Denial

[tuesdaysgone 0]

Yesterday I received a I-130 letter notice of denial.

Basically it is because I failed to prove we are legally married.

My story, came to the US on an F1 student visa.

My wife is a US citizen, weve had a relationship for 2 years now. When I met her she was separated from her ex husband. Approximately 18 months after being separated she was legally divorced. We live in Alabama, in Alabama there is a 60 day wait period before one can remarry. At this point my student visa was about to end and after being together for a long time we got married in Florida. Before we had got married we checked online and checked with the courthouse that we can get married in Florida prior to the 60 day wait period ending. Florida waives the 60 day wait period for out of state residents. So on day 55 of 60 we got married. Came back to Alabama and filed for an i-130, i-485 and i-765.

In September we had the interview and from the beginning of the interview I knew we were going to be screwed based on the behaviour of the I/O and her lack of interest in our relationship.

At the time we did not have an attorney due to the high cost.

We wrote to the senator and congressman to see if they can assist. Some advice for you guys, don't bother they are of little assistance. They do not do anything more than a service request.

The same goes for an infopass, if you don't live close to the processing center, don't waste your time travelling 400 miles to get told f.a. An attorney I spoke to confirmed infopasses are a waste of time.

Anyway in feb I had requested an infopass before knowing the above. I was told the case is pending. I told her yeah no kidding i've been pending 6 months. She then said we will need to be interviewed again at some point.

A week later to cover ourselves in case our Florida marriage wasnt recognized by Alabama we got married in Alabama, no worries. Uscis are not aware of this.

So 2 days ago I received a letter i-130 notice of denial.

I have spoken to an attorney who said I got 2 options.

1. Make an appeal. The case law that USCIS are basing it on krud vs krud does not apply in our case, if anything it helps our case. She basically baffled the hell out of my brain as to why she believes we have a good chance of winning.

2. Refile.

I'm going to speak to her on Monday to clarify some questions.

If I make an appeal and the 30 day denial period expires, will this be allowed or will this mean I will overstay?

Can I refile in the US without going back to the UK? if i refile in time I wont be classed as out of status but I do not know if my ead will still be valid?

3. Refile in the UK for a CR1.

Any educated responses are appreicated. Smart asses keep your sarcastic comments to yourself.

With regards to option 3. File CR1 in the UK. I would use the Alabama marriage cert/license. There were no other reasons why we were denied. Evidence wise I have over 2-3inches of paper evidence.

[sachinky 465]

What kind of evidence did you provide?

What were the questions asked at the interview? Were you able to answer them correctly?

Getting married right before your visa expires is a red flag, IMO but it can be overcome with strong bonafide evidence.

You can always file for a CR-1 from U.K.

What does the denial notice state? Was your I-130 denied or was the AOS denied? Well, I guess if your I-130 was denied, then you have no basis for an AOS.

Honestly, I don't know if you can appeal a denied AOS from a F-1. I'm sure others will come along soon enough with more input.

Stick with your lawyer.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

** moving from "Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from Family Based Visas" to "Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas" as you are adjusting from a F1 visa and the prior forum is for K1, K2, K3 & K4**

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

I think your EAD may be near dead, it was based on the pending I 130 which is about to be denied. It wouldn't carry over to a new I 130. Not sure if it dies the day of the first 130 or on it's own clock. I am afraid an appeal based on the new marriage is bad, you have to be married when you file not file then marry ( USCIS logic) The question is was the divorce not truly final when you married or is it a confusion of laws. The 60 days , is that statue part of the divorce or the marriage laws of your home state ? If it is part of the divorce laws I think you are dead on the 1st I 130

[tuesdaysgone 0]

Evidence wise we provided all the typical evidence listed on here, im nothing going to go through a list but it was totally sufficient.

We were barely asked any questions, she asked us to confirm our id and tried to find faults with my application. There was no stokes 2nd interview. I wish there had because it would be a cakewalk.

With regards to getting married right before my visa expired. I'd tried to simplify for you guys as its a long story but basically, my student was good for another 3 years but I couldnt afford paying 8k a semester, also I lost $10k when the economy crashed in exchange rates, I couldnt find a job on campus until being there for 5 months again due to the recession. I couldnt get a student loan from the UK while the international student loan companies I knew of had stopped lending, again due to the economy. We were getting married anyway but believe the sooner we did it the sooner I could withdraw my student status.

Trust me if you knew us or read the sworn testimonies of people that know us, there would be no doubt in your mind that were for real.

It just says I-130 denied. I reckon your correct, if the I-130 is denied then the I-485 is useless.

The letter says I can appeal and the lawyer explained the basis for the appeal which i'm not a lawyer to explain it to you guys. But if it means I overstay my visa because i'm having to appeal then I will not be appealing.

I believe if I went back to the Uk, my wife files a cr1. We should have no issues.

[Starburst 4]

I don't know much a bout the denial process, but I just wanted to wish you the best of luck!

I hope you get it all sorted it!

/starburst

[VanessaTony 3,567]

1. You cannot appeal denial of AOS from any visa other than a spousal/fiance visa... not that I'm aware of anyway and this is a common conversation about why doing it this way is bad

2. You are now guilty of polygamy... kinda. You lied on an official document when you got married the second time stating that you were not married. Your marriage in Florida is recognised in the other states. The only time it wouldn't have been is with same-sex apparently (from what I'm reading).

You need to annul either the first, or second marriage... getting married while already married is illegal... whether it's to the same person or not. I would get this side of things sorted BEFORE you leave.

Good luck. I'd go home and file CR-1 personally.

[tuesdaysgone 0]

I thought the same with regards to the EAD card. The attorney says otherwise, as long as a new application is pending then Im supposed to be ok, apparently its written in some immigration law but I'm not confident about it.

[tuesdaysgone 0]

I am not guilty of polygamy if my marriage is void in Alabama. Hence remarrying.

[sachinky 465]

Oh, I get it now. They had issues with the date of the marriage and whether it was technically valid/legal or not.

Not that they thought you had only married for immigration purposes.

Personally, a CR-1 looks like your best bet now.

What's the status of your F-1 now? Are you still in school? Is your I-20 still valid?

Be aware that if your AOS has been denied and you're no longer a student, you maybe accruing "out of status" days which depending on the duration, can earn you a ban if you leave the U.S.

Edited March 19, 2010 by sachinky

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I am not guilty of polygamy if my marriage is void in Alabama. Hence remarrying.

I'm sorry but yes you are. You are not permitted to get married in ALABAMA in the 60 days but married outside is fine. The marriage licence in Florida is recognised in Alabama whether it was before the 60 days or not. You have now re-married (by your own statement) your wife. You lied on the Alabama licence when you ticked that you weren't already married.

I am unable to re-marry in Australia even though Australia won't let me register my US marriage licence. I am, in every single country and every single state, married. Just as you were in Florida.

From here: http://www.usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/divorce_laws/divorce_and_remarriage/index.shtml

"Alabama - A final decree of divorce ends the marriage relationship as of the date of the decree. The remarriage of either party to the divorce to a third person is prohibited for 60 days following the decree. A divorce decree may also indicate whether the guilty party may ever remarry. However, if there is no such prohibition in the decree against the defendant's remarriage, any marriage of the defendant after 60 days following the decree is valid. A marriage contracted in Alabama before the end of the 60-day prohibited period or in violation of the prohibition against remarriage would be held to be void in Alabama. (See GN 00305.160D.) However, Alabama would hold to be valid a marriage entered into in another State within the 60-day period or contrary to the prohibition against the remarriage of the guilty party if the marriage met all statutory requirements of that second State and if the parties had not gone outside Alabama for the marriage in order to evade its prohibitions against remarriage. A marriage entered into in another State in contravention of the restrictions imposed by Alabama would be recognized as valid in other States, since such restrictions have no extraterritorial effect. (See GN 00305.155 for validity of remarriage in States which have adopted the Uniform Marriage Evasion Act.)

So, you need to get divorced in either Florida or Alabama. I could look up whether annulment is permitted but I seriously think you need to speak with a solicitor to make sure you won't get into trouble for polygamy. In fact, the second marriage is technically void, but you would need to make sure it gets annulled.

[sachinky 465]

A week later to cover ourselves in case our Florida marriage wasnt recognized by Alabama we got married in Alabama, no worries. Uscis are not aware of this.

Uh, what? I don't understand.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

If you provided a marriage certificate then how is USCIS claiming you have failed to prove marriage?

Unless you understand this important bit of info you have no basis to make any decision. The same holds true for anyone trying to give you advice. If you want meaningful input then instead of the "Basically" explanation tell us how USCIS claims you failed to prove marriage, are they claiming your Florida marriage is invalid?

As others have stated, AOS from any visa other than K1/K3 is risky as these is no avenue of appeal if you get denied. Unless you can fix the (as of yet undisclosed) problem with the first denial there is no point in filing any further petitions.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Uh, what? I don't understand.

They have married each other twice, without ending the first marriage they got married a second time.

In Alabama there is a restriction of 60 days from the date of divorce decree to get married IN Alabama. They didn't read the law that stated getting married OUTSIDE of Alabama is permitted in the 60 days and instead decided to get married in Alabama to make sure it's valid there.

They've got themselves into some deep doo-do.

[tuesdaysgone 0]

USCIS's standpoint is that the Florida marriage license is not valid in Alabama because the state that which we reside does not recognize it. So in the state of Alabama there are no 2 marriages. Therefore we're not legally married in Alabama, hence we were free to marry in Alabama.