Do I need a lawyer now due to expected NOIR

[ThessB 3]

I am the beneficiary.  My fiance and I applied for k1 & k2 visa.
My fiance is self-employed earning a gross income of $32k for 2015 with one dependent and never married. He did apply for k1 in 2008 and got an approved petition but it didn’t workout and she did come to the US.
I on the other hand, I was married twice but had both marriages nullified, meaning Im considered to have never been married.  I am an accountant with an 11-yr old daughter. I applied for a tourist visa in 2015 & got denied. I however did not declare that I have a sister in the US who arrived there in 2014 but did declare her when we applied for k1. When I was asked during the 1st tourist visa application about my husband because as per my passport, I was married, I said that he will apply in a later date but in fact havent been together for a while and my marriage to him legally ended on June 2014. Had no intention to mislead anyone or try to hide and cheat the system, I just received a lot of bad advice and I made very poor judgement.  If I did have that intention, I wouldn’t even mention any of it on the official k1 interview.
March 1 2017 was the interview and at the end of the interview, I was given a 221g requesting for a co-sponsor, additional bank account balance and chat logs which were provided. March 16 2017, I had my second interview and the CO had dug into my tourist visa previously denied and about my fiance's work, his previous fiance and my previous marriages, which were all supported by court decisions and all.  I left the embassy with a recommendation to revoke and was not provided with the details of the recommendation.  
In doing a few readings, my fiance is expected to receive a NOIR, which we can rebut within a period of time roughly 30 days or might not even receive it if the agency choose to just let the petition expire.  We do not want to give up as we love each other and would love to have a real family.  What are our options? What can we do? Should we cancel the petition and apply for a new k1/k2? Cancel the petition, get married and apply for k3? Wait for NOIR and rebut? Or wait for the petition to expire?  Your most honest opinion would be appreciated.
 

[EandH0904 1,184]

So in short, you withheld information on a previous visa attempt, and it caught up with you. 

 

You said you had proper documentation of the nullification of your marriages, right? So you could show that you were in fact married at those times and hadn't misled on your K1 visa? 

 

Did you write about your previous marriages on your k1 application or did you leave them out since you say it's like you technically weren't married? 

 

You say you got bad bad advice before so I don't want to give you any further but this sounds very complicated. In my opinion, canceling the petition now won't matter with a NOIR pending, this will all show up on future records still.  You may need to marry and do a CR1 for best chances but just remember all the previous issues and now this will likely come into question at that interview too so make sure all your proof is up front and you own up to past mistakes. 

[ThessB 3]

Thank you for your honest comments. The marriages were reported in our application. We do intend to wait for the NOIR and try to rebut. I also asked CO if we could apply again and he said yes.  Should we hire a lawyer now to assist NOIR rebut? Just hoping its not too late rectify the mistakes. When would we know when we can apply again maybe for CR1?

May be someone can give us a better light in how we should proceed and this time, we will take our time and be prepared.

Thank you to all as this site have helped us a lot and is continuing to help a lot as well.

[geowrian 22,335]

1 hour ago, ThessB said:

I on the other hand, I was married twice but had both marriages nullified, meaning Im considered to have never been married.  I am an accountant with an 11-yr old daughter. I applied for a tourist visa in 2015 & got denied. I however did not declare that I have a sister in the US who arrived there in 2014 but did declare her when we applied for k1.

 

1 hour ago, ThessB said:

When I was asked during the 1st tourist visa application about my husband because as per my passport, I was married, I said that he will apply in a later date but in fact havent been together for a while and my marriage to him legally ended on June 2014. Had no intention to mislead anyone or try to hide and cheat the system, I just received a lot of bad advice and I made very poor judgement.  If I did have that intention, I wouldn’t even mention any of it on the official k1 interview.

The above 2 segments likely will cause any CO to doubt your credibility. While you say you did not try to mislead anyone, you knowingly gave false information in an interview to a CO. This isn't to scold or anything like that, but just to point out that your credibility with them is pretty much shot. Any statements you make will need to be supported by verifiable documentation.

 

1 hour ago, ThessB said:

In doing a few readings, my fiance is expected to receive a NOIR, which we can rebut within a period of time roughly 30 days or might not even receive it if the agency choose to just let the petition expire.  We do not want to give up as we love each other and would love to have a real family.  What are our options? What can we do? Should we cancel the petition and apply for a new k1/k2? Cancel the petition, get married and apply for k3? Wait for NOIR and rebut? Or wait for the petition to expire?  Your most honest opinion would be appreciated.

NOIRs are no longer sent for K-1s (this is actually a good thing in most cases). The petition will be returned to USCIS and then left to expire. As for options, you can wait for it to expire (or cancel it) and then re-file, where they will review the previous K-1 and potentially send an RFE, He will also need a waiver since this would be his 3rd I-129F and it he has had an approved I-129F within the past 2 years. Either one of those conditions requires the waiver.

 

Or you can marry and go the CR-1 route instead. That would be my suggestion. In either case, I'm doubtful of getting a different result without addressing the underlying cause(s) of the rejection. I think additional proof of a bona fide relationship is necessary. Based upon the history you've provided, my suspicion is that the CO doesn't believe in a genuine relationship and that you are just trying to get a green card. More face time, more evidence, etc. is how to best address those issues. This will not be a quick process.

 

K-3 is obsolete. It would just be a waste of time and effort and turn into a CR-1 anyway. K-3 was common back when the CR-1 was taking years to process. Now a CR-1 is taking around a year.

[ThessB 3]

geowrian, thank you very much for taking the time to be precise on the situation.

Will they be returning the packet because they took all original documents? When will we know that the petition already expired? Do we need a waiver if we file a CR-1? What kind of document can we submit for RFE of the previous denials? 

Apologies for all the questions, will take our time to file and be prepared for the next hurdle ahead.

 

[EandH0904 1,184]

When you got your noa2 it listed your expiration date at the top, 4 months from approval 

[ThessB 3]

Valid from 09/28/2016 to 01/27/2017 but my interview was 03/01/2017 and 03/16/2017 was the second interview with 221g rexommendation to revoke.

Does this mean that even from the day I had my interview it already expired?

[geowrian 22,335]

28 minutes ago, ThessB said:

geowrian, thank you very much for taking the time to be precise on the situation.

Will they be returning the packet because they took all original documents? When will we know that the petition already expired? Do we need a waiver if we file a CR-1? What kind of document can we submit for RFE of the previous denials? 

Apologies for all the questions, will take our time to file and be prepared for the next hurdle ahead.

 

No problem. It's a tough case now so questions are more than expected. I don't normally recommend getting an attorney as usually K-1 and CR-1 are DIY cases, it might not be a bad idea to seek out a good immigration attorney when you are ready to refile. I wouldn't be worried about the I-129F/I-130 (depending if you go K-1/CR-1) petition...that's usually fairly simple. Even the waiver needed for the I-129F route is just a written statement and basically a formality. However, the visa application and interview part is where I think they would be the most use in your case.

 

I don't believe they will return the I-129F packet. There shouldn't be anything in there that was not able to be recreated or reproduced...? You can contact USCIS to verify when they receive the petition, but I don't think there's an automatic notification. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't count on it. Honestly, it may be several months from the interview...the embassy usually auto-renews the I-129F as long as it's  in their hands.

No waiver is needed for the CR-1. The waiver is just for multiple filings on the I-129F. A CR-1 uses the I-130.

It all depends on exactly what they come back with as the cause. However, if my assumption is correct that it's the lack of a bona fide relationship, then front loading your I-129F petition would be the way to go. This means providing plenty of proof of a valid relationship (photos, call logs, screenshots, chat transcripts, emails, etc.) along with the I-129F or I-130 packet. If going the CR-1 route, you can also add more evidence (i.e. from filing onwards) during the NVC stage.

 

23 minutes ago, EandH0904 said:

When you got your noa2 it listed your expiration date at the top, 4 months from approval 

Correct, but the embassy likely auto-renewed it since then because it was still being actively processed there.

Edited March 20, 2017 by geowrian

[ThessB 3]

geowrian, i really appreciate all the feedback provided. It is really helpful and I think Im having more understanding now than before. The main question now is when will it expire. We will not make any sudden change on our situation/relationship like getting married which might again get into conflict. We will plan better and be more organized.

But if we do reveive the NOIR, how can we rebut the claim? Do we need a lawyer to draft a statement. Whether we still get denied or affirmed after the rebut, we still have every intention to re-apply and be together as a family.

 

Thank you all in advance for the honest opinions, comments and feedback. 

 

[ThessB 3]

4 hours ago, ThessB said:

 I applied for a tourist visa in 2015 & got denied. I however did not declare that I have a sister in the US who arrived there in 2014 but did declare her when we applied for k1. When I was asked during the 1st tourist visa application about my husband because as per my passport, I was married, I said that he will apply in a later date but in fact havent been together for a while and my marriage to him legally ended on June 2014. Had no intention to mislead anyone or try to hide and cheat the system, I just received a lot of bad advice and I made very poor judgement.  If I did have that intention, I wouldn’t even mention any of it on the official k1 interview.
 

Will this be a ground for misrepresentation of material fact or fraud if I did mention it during k-1 petition and did not withhold any facts thereafter. Im not trying to justify and make excuses on this poor judgement but I just need to know where I stand. 

 

[geowrian 22,335]

13 hours ago, ThessB said:

geowrian, i really appreciate all the feedback provided. It is really helpful and I think Im having more understanding now than before. The main question now is when will it expire. We will not make any sudden change on our situation/relationship like getting married which might again get into conflict. We will plan better and be more organized.

But if we do reveive the NOIR, how can we rebut the claim? Do we need a lawyer to draft a statement. Whether we still get denied or affirmed after the rebut, we still have every intention to re-apply and be together as a family.

 

Thank you all in advance for the honest opinions, comments and feedback. 

 

 

12 hours ago, ThessB said:

Will this be a ground for misrepresentation of material fact or fraud if I did mention it during k-1 petition and did not withhold any facts thereafter. Im not trying to justify and make excuses on this poor judgement but I just need to know where I stand. 

 

To find out the current expiration, you will need to contact whoever currently has it. I'm assuming it's still at the embassy in AP right now. If not, it should be back at NVC. Yeah, taking any kind of sudden action likely isn't the best route...immigration is a (long) process. My suggestion would be to wait for the petition to go through AP and be returned to NVC.

 

*If* you get a NOIR, generally having a lawyer to assist with the response is preferred IMHO. But as noted above, you won't get a NOIR with the K-1 process as that workflow was revised several years ago. That's one reason why the CR-1 route would be preferred for the next time in your case...it would permit getting a NOIR/NOID, responding to it, then hopefully having it reaffirmed and sent to the embassy again. That said, the goal would still be to not have to go through the NOIR process and try to get accepted at the interview, obviously.

 

Your past actions still could have been viewed as misrepresentation once they were discovered, yes. Telling a truth now doesn't make previous falsehoods go away or remove the consequences. Bringing it up sooner and on your own definitely leaves a better impression than waiting on it or having them bringing it up to you. Although, it doesn't sound like they actually put a misrepresentation mark on your case. They very likely still recorded the discrepancy, and therefore would still be skeptical. Always be 100% honest with anybody in immigration. It's better to be honest now than perpetuate false information...which could come back to haunt you at any point later in your immigration process.

[ThessB 3]

Thank you very much for that very informative and honest feedback.

Thank you for assisting and being brutally honest.

It definitely put our minds and hearts at ease. Taking all your advices and will ensure to take it slow, plan and be organized.  Gather all required information & documentations carefully.  

But for the meantime, just enjoy and relax. Bless you geowrian. Will definitely be asking for more advice as we start with the new journey of CR-1 ahead.

 

[ThessB 3]

Can anyone enlighten us when our k-1 petition will officially expire?