NVC Filers - March 2012

[foobaz123 39]

More Canadians get denied than you probably think. Once you get married to an American, or even have a boyfriend, it's much tougher to get through the US border. And if you're unprepared with no strong ties to Canada, then they'll just deny you. And sometimes even when you do have proof, they can still deny you. The second time I got denied, I was just going to visit my husband for either a week or two, had a return ticket and everything, but the officer kept saying I had immigration intent and couldn't let me in until I had my visa He warned me that if I tried going through the border again that I could get banned Worst day in my entire life.

But, that's in the past. Hopefully when I fly back to Canada this June, I won't have the same problems when I return And if I ever see that border officer again, I'm going to be very tempted to punch him in the face

*hugs for the worst day*

I'm hoping we doesn't have that worst day in April..

I feel much the same about the VO who denied Sue's visitor visa way back when after a very through and in depth interview covering every possible aspect of the evidence she brought showing her deep ties to China in the 30 seconds they allotted to it.

I'm curious though, did you mention your husband or did they? I presume they asked what the purpose of your visit was?

Edited March 3, 2012 by foobaz123

[Saylin 1,605]

I feel much the same about the VO who denied Sue's visitor visa way back when after a very through and in depth interview covering every possible aspect of the evidence she brought showing her deep ties to China in the 30 seconds they allotted to it.

I'm curious though, did you mention your husband or did they? I presume they asked what the purpose of your visit was?

Their first question usually is what's your purpose, and I of course replied to visit my husband for a week (or two, can't remember). Then they directed me to secondary, where I was questioned by a Mr. Arboleda who, after dogging me with questions for half an hour, finally denied me So I had to turn around and go back home. Pretty much cried the entire time. Thankfully, my husband decided that very night to drive up to Canada and fly east to visit me for a week (Funny enough, he got badgered at the border as well, for visiting ME! )

But anyways, I can relate to your wife's refusal. Definitely not fun at all. No matter how much evidence you have, they can always deny you. Honestly, those border officer and VOs have way too much power and often abuse it.

[foobaz123 39]

Their first question usually is what's your purpose, and I of course replied to visit my husband for a week (or two, can't remember). Then they directed me to secondary, where I was questioned by a Mr. Arboleda who, after dogging me with questions for half an hour, finally denied me So I had to turn around and go back home. Pretty much cried the entire time. Thankfully, my husband decided that very night to drive up to Canada and fly east to visit me for a week (Funny enough, he got badgered at the border as well, for visiting ME! )

But anyways, I can relate to your wife's refusal. Definitely not fun at all. No matter how much evidence you have, they can always deny you. Honestly, those border officer and VOs have way too much power and often abuse it.

What makes this worse is that their power is virtually beyond question. Which is to say if they deny you, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. There is higher power you can go to that isn't also in their chain of command. No independent source of appeal. If, heaven forbid, they tell us no in April our options come down to simply fight it out over several years, with never any assurance of victory, or I move to China.

[Saylin 1,605]

What makes this worse is that their power is virtually beyond question. Which is to say if they deny you, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. There is higher power you can go to that isn't also in their chain of command. No independent source of appeal. If, heaven forbid, they tell us no in April our options come down to simply fight it out over several years, with never any assurance of victory, or I move to China.

That's why I think then need to strip some of their powers, or at least have an easier method of appealing. I've heard horror stories where the VO would just be pissed off that day or not like how someone looked, and would just flat out deny them, not even having a real basis for denial. Absolutely ridiculous!

[foobaz123 39]

That's why I think then need to strip some of their powers, or at least have an easier method of appealing. I've heard horror stories where the VO would just be pissed off that day or not like how someone looked, and would just flat out deny them, not even having a real basis for denial. Absolutely ridiculous!

Yep. That's basically what happened with Sue's visitor visa. She brought all sorts of evidence of ties to China. None of that mattered. She was young, single. Chinese and without property and such. All of that is the standard formula for instant denial.

If the VO spills coffee on themselves right before our interview, as the example I gave earlier, we could be screwed and have a multi-year fight on our hands all because they were in a bad mood.

[ny123 0]

Thanks a lot to all!

[keysjangle 145]

A friend of mine got denied while trying to travel to New Orleans to see her then-boyfriend for lack of ties. She worked for about two months, tried again, got through and hasn't been back. She got married and filed for AOS from the States and has been living there happily since.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Gervl

[Laure&Colin 558]

A couple months ago I remember searching the DOS website and finding a memo sent to all visa issuing posts (I don't know how that document could be accessible from a regular search!!), with some remarks and guidelines regarding immigrant visas. What struck me from reading it was:

- COs have to provide a valid reason to deny a visa. I guess "not bona fide" is an easy one but they still have to give details about what makes them think it isn't. So theoretically at least, they can't deny just because they had a bad day.

- the general aim of DOS is to reduce the number of denials and eliminate 221G given for lack of one or more documents (for security reasons, because people have to come back to the embassy thus increasing the number of visitors entering into the building or complex). Since issuing a visa when documents are missing is prohibited, they strongly advised on improving information given to the applicant on what exactly is needed. I guess USEM Paris missed that part... (K1s get a list of what is needed in their packet 3 but us IR1/CR1 must magically guess that we have to renew birth certs and the likes...)

The general impression I had when reading was: they're not actually trying to keep you out. They even want to give you your visa as smoothly as possible.

Of course when I read posts here about horrible experiences at embassies I'm thinking that something got lost in translation to CO behavior...

[Trav&Shell 83]

Hi Saylin - what's this spreadsheet you add people to, and how does a girl get on it once she gets her NOA2?

[Alia&Jerald 5]

Is NVC open on saturdays? Is it possible that the IV bill be released for payment on the weekend?

[Olomi_811 130]

Hoping someone can make this understandable for me. I'm looking at the i-864ez for the beneficiary's address would you use their foreign address or the USC's address and write the letter explaining what you have done to show the USC's address as their future domicile?

Thank you in advance,

[Darnell 8,478]

On a more positive note... we received and paid our IV bill! :dance: :dancing:

SuperDuper Congratulations!!

To celebrate, please practice making Venison jiaozi and the 11 different flavours of poutine gravy.

It was interesting reading your posts about all the evidence you supplied at outset as nowhere on the government site does it say to provide a s**t load of evidence. In fact the instructions for the I-130 just say to submit one or more of the following types of evidence. So I can completely see that people who just follow the instructions could end up being denied.

You realize this is embassy and country specific, yes?

The I-130 instructions never reflect the LOCAL guidelines for an IV unit.

[Trav&Shell 83]

To celebrate, please practice making Venison jiaozi and the 11 different flavours of poutine gravy.

11 different flavors of gravy?!?! What, really?!?!

[Laure&Colin 558]

Is NVC open on saturdays? Is it possible that the IV bill be released for payment on the weekend?

No. If the IV fee is not invoiced by Friday night, then nothing's gonna change over the week-end, as far as I know. Sometimes you may receive emails on Saturdays (I guess they were actually sent on Fridays).

[Saylin 1,605]

Hi Saylin - what's this spreadsheet you add people to, and how does a girl get on it once she gets her NOA2?

The spreadsheet is linked in my signature. And I just added you

Is NVC open on saturdays? Is it possible that the IV bill be released for payment on the weekend?

Like Laure already said, nope, NVC does not work on weekends. They're government employees, no way do they work on Saturday or Sundays

And I don't think I've ever seen a case that had an IV bill invoice over the weekend, for the above reason. Yes, you might get an email, since they're generated early and then takes awhile to get to you. For example: I found out my interview date on a Friday afternoon, yet only received the email at 6am on Saturday.