K1 petition rejected

[DirtyHarry 5]

My fiancee's K1 visa petition was rejected barely 10 minutes ago and I am numb. The reason given was INA 212(a)5(A),9FAM40.1NFA - invalid immigrant visa or fiancee petition.

This was at the New Delhi consulate.

We are both Indian and of the same religion. I am 40 years old and she is 34. I have been married before. I went through a long painful divorce that ended in May 2012. I filed her K1 visa in June. She has also been married once before and her husband passed away in a car accident. She has a 12 year old daughter who is going to be my step daughter.

The consular officer was a lady. She asked my fiancee many questions. I visited India twice between May and January 2013. We had all the proofs of travel and about 15 pictures of our trips to various places. The CO asked her many times why we did not get married and file a spouse visa. She answered that she had family problems and her brothers were against the marriage. We did not have a formal engagement ceremony. My fiancee tried to convince the CO to the point of begging. She has had a very rough past but the CO was adamant.

I found one other thread in this forum. I will contact the senator, Congressman and a lawyer too. A I am too emotional and angry right now.

Edited March 6, 2013 by DirtyHarry

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

My fiancee's K1 visa petition was rejected barely 10 minutes ago and I am numb. The reason given was INA 212(a)5(A),9FAM40.1NFA - invalid immigrant visa or fiancee petition.

This was at the New Delhi consulate.

We are both Indian and of the same religion. I am 40 years old and she is 34. I have been married before. I went through a long painful divorce that ended in May 2012. I filed her K1 visa in June. She has also been married once before and her husband passed away in a car accident. She has a 12 year old daughter who is going to be my step daughter.

The consular officer was a lady. She asked my fiancee many questions. I visited India twice between May and January 2013. We had all the proofs of travel and about 15 pictures of our trips to various places. The CO asked her many times why we did not get married and file a spouse visa. She answered that she had family problems and her brothers were against the marriage. We did not have a formal engagement ceremony. My fiancee tried to convince the CO to the point of begging. She has had a very rough past but the CO was adamant.

I found one other thread in this forum. I will contact the senator, Congressman and a lawyer too. A I am too emotional and angry right now.

Sorry Bro, I know that feeling very well.

Good luck on future steps and I foresee a wedding for you in India and then a Spousal petition.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

How long did you know eachother before you met?

Are you related and how have you been introduced?

Did you get citizenship through your previous marriage?

[DirtyHarry 5]

How long did you know eachother before you met?

Are you related and how have you been introduced?

Did you get citizenship through your previous marriage?

Hello Penguin,

We have been communicating since Jan 2012. We met each other on a very respected Indian matrimonial site. No, we are not related in anyway. I did not get my citizenship through a previous marriage. I came to the US on a work visa, my company filed a green card and then I filed for citizenship. I was married for 14 years from 1998 to May 2012 although we were separated since May 2008.

I have sent an e mail to Mark Ellis. I have no faith in this subjective process anymore. I had been advised by people to get my fiance on a tourist visa and do all that bogus stuff which I refused because I believed I didn't have any need to lie. It is so upsetting to see talk of amnesty for millions of people when people like us follow the rules and get clobbered for it.

I am leaning to going to India next month and getting married. This will give my fiance a reassuring feeling. Waiting for the appeals process seems like a black hole and I fear I will wait 4 to 6 months in vain. I don't want this relationship to suffer because of these problems.

[DirtyHarry 5]

Does it make sense for me to start an online petition? I have nothing to hide. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Maybe a petition on the Whitehouse site? I don't konw what else to do. I am waiting for the Senator and Congress men's e mail replies. Mark Ellis is out of the country and can only talk tomorrow.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Online petition is a waste of your time and effort. A senator/ congress man may be able to get you a second interview, but it depends on how good they are.

Getting married and having a couple more visits before the next interview would be a good idea. Sorry this happened to you.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Well it seems like the denial code they gave you "212(a)5(A),9FAM40.1NFA - invalid immigrant visa or fiancee petition." Means they do not believe your relationship is genuine. Delete out the part about immigrant visa (because its the same code used for workers) and it basically says 'invalid fiance petition'. They do not believe you are legitimate fiances.

Possible problems:

Your fiance disclosed that her family (brothers) are against the marriage.

You did not have a formal engagement ceremony (Im assuming its customary?)

You got divorced in May 2012. You met this woman when? Jan 2012? That was before your divorce was final. Thats a red flag. You need to show your divorce was already in the works before you met her. You say you visited her in May 2012 (the first visit) and the filed the petition in June 2012. That was less then a month after you met her. (a very short time). You then also had one visit after the petition in Jan 2013. (am I getting all this correct?)

Your choices are: wait for the petition to be returned to get a new interview. This is kind of risky. Some times they get sent right back, sometimes they dont. Some people wait a year or more for it to get reaffirmed to get a new interview, some people get a new interview right away. I cant tell you how long its going to take, neither can a lawyer, neither can your reps or the call center. You can search the forums and youll see varying experiences. Theres no rhyme or reason to it.

Your other choice is to get married and pursue the CR spousal route, where you know the basic time frame. Have additional visits and work on the potential red flags and issues they are going to have with your relationship because they do exist. If youre going to hire an attorney they will help you address them, if youre not you can get assistance with them here but it will require you to disclose additional information.

[Darnell 8,478]

Another choice would be to file a new I-129F on Thursday.

[DirtyHarry 5]

Thanks for your responses. I have been really emotional yesterday. I am starting to get to my senses today so I apologize for my blabbering posts before.

Can I really file a new I-129F on Thursday without revoking the prior I-129F? I am not going to do that but it just sounds fishy.

Capri,

I am leaning towards the path of the going to India and getting married. I was separated for 3 years prior to my divorce. I'm not sure how to prove the separation. We had been bickering over money and finally settled our differences in April. I had put up my profile on shaadi.com which is a respected Indian matrimonial site in Dec 2011 stating I was legally separated. I should have taken a screen print of that but I did not. I started my communications with my fiancee in Jan 2012. That is what I mean when I say that I "met" her in Jan 2012.

How do I revoke my I-129F? Should i wait to respond to USCIS inquiries to clear any doubts before I revoke the I-129F. I had planned to go to India in April to get my fiancee to the US. I am considering going to India and getting married in April. I read somewhere that I should clear this past problem with the USCIS before I get married. Based on what you say this could mean waiting for a year to hear back from USCIS. What a freaking mess!

I spoke to an attorney today but he was not good. I am talking to Marc Ellis tomorrow too but if you can give any advise I will appreciate it.

Thanks/

[DirtyHarry 5]

I want to avoid the scenario that YuAndDan has mentioned in the thread below. He says that if I get married, my fiancee could potentially be permanently barred. How do I prevent the scenario described below from taking place?

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/151802-visa-denied-got-212a5a/

[DirtyHarry 5]

I have spoken with Marc Ellis and he said there was no problem in moving ahead with getting married and filing a spouse visa.