HELLO TO ALL, MY HUSBANDS INTERVIEW IN GHANA WAS DECEMBER 13, 2007. WE STARTED OUR PROCESS ON DECEMBER 14, 2006. ALL THIS TIME WE WAS TOLD THAT EVERYTHING WAS COMPLETE AND THAT NOTHING ELSE WOULD BE NEEDED BY AN THE NVC HERE IN THE U.S. AND BY AN EMPLOYEE AT THE EMBASSY IN GHANA. WELL, WHEN MY HUSBAND WENT FOR HIS INTERVIEW, THEY LADY THAT WAS INTERVIEWING HIM SAID THAT SHE HAS TO PEND HIS VISA BASED UPON THE RESULTS OF A 3 WAY DNA TEST. THIS TEST IS TO PROVE THAT OUR CHILD IS PATERNALLY HIS AND MATERNIALLY MINE. WHAT GARBAGE CONSIDERING WE ARE MARRIED AND I HAVE 3 OTHER CHILDREN FROM A PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIP. THEY HAVE NOW RESCHEDULED HIM FOR A NEW INTERVIEW ON MARCH 11 INWHICH THE TEST HAS TO BE COMPLETED AT NO COST TO THE EMBASSY BY THEN.IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE. THEY STATED THAT IT IS THE LAW! THE ONLY THING I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS THAT, IF ITS THE LAW WHY DOES NO ONE SEEM TO KNOW ABOUT IT UNTIL YOUR VISA IS PUT ON A PENDING STATUS! THE SITE THAT YOU WILL NEED TO GO THROUGH FOR THE TESTING IS WWW.AABB.ORG. HOPE THIS HELPS AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

I never heard of this being 'the law'. I don't have any children. But I do want to say that you are in my prayers.

THANKS I NEED ALL THE PRAYERS I CAN GET JUST TO GET THROUGH ALL OF THIS. I TOO HAVE NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING. THEY WON'T EVEN LET ME SEND THE HOSPITAL RECORDS AS PROOF THAT I AM THE MOTHER.

Thank you so much for posting this information.

I think that it is now becoming the standard for them to do DNA tests to determine family relationship. I know that Omoba had to go through this and there is another member here who had to take a DNA test but he has not been on here for some time.

Is your child a USC?

Is this for the child to come along on the visa to the US? I'm trying to understand if the DNA test is required for children that are already in the US. Is this your case?

Exactly my question

If the child is a USC it does not make sense that they would require a DNA test for the child since they would not need a visa to come here.

DNA is being implemented as a voluntary tool to establish beneficiary eligibility. It is not forced nor is it the law.
The alternative of not submitting such requested DNA can be long AP to verify documents or flat out denial of the visa by an incompetent CO.

I was wondering about that too. Doesn't make sense to me.

OUR CHILD IS A CITIZEN OF THE U.S. SHE IS HERE WITH ME IN THE U.S. OMOBA THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION. THE LETTER DID STATE THAT, BUT AT THE SAME TIME THE EMBASSY AND THE TESTING CENTER ARE SAYING ITS THE LAW. DUE TO MANY PEOPLE IN THE PAST USING OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN TO ESTABLISH RELATIONSHIPS. IF YOU COULD ALSO GIVE ME SOME INFORMATION ON WHY THE DOCUMENTATION FROM HOSPITAL OF BIRTH IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO PROVE THAT I AM THE MATERNIAL MOTHER? I CAN UNDERSTAND THEIR POINT ON WANTING A TEST DONE ON MY HUSBAND SINCE THEY HAVE ENCOUNTERED MANY DISHONESTLY IN THE PAST WHEN DEALING WITH CHILDREN. THIS TEST MAKES ME WONDER IF WE DID NOT HAVE A CHILD WOULD THEY HAVE ALREADY DENIED THE VISA? THEY HAVE OUR ORIGINAL MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE, ALL OF MY BOARDING PASSES, PASSPORT PAGES, ETC.... TO SHOW WHERE I WAS DURING THE TIME FRAME OF CONCEPTION. IF THERE IS ANY INFO YOU CAN PASS ALONG PLEASE DO SO...

This doesn't make sense on their part because this is a spousal visa, your child is not applying for their parent YOU are applying for your spouse. What if you didn't have children? If they didn't see the child as proof of bona fide marriage there should be other documents to back it up as there is for couples that don't have children. I think they are always going to find SOMETHING with a CR1 visa no matter what it is. This post was very helpful to me, my husband is in Nigeria, not Ghana, but they seem to have very similar types of COs and bs made up laws when it suits them. Can you please keep us informed as to how you go about handling this situation.. such as, if you do end up getting the testing done, how can your husband go about it in Ghana and get the results to the AABB accredited lab? And yeah, why isn't the hospital records enough to establish your maternity? There was a case in VJ a while ago in which this happened. I never learned the outcome and I was anxious to know. Thank you for giving us all a heads up and God bless you both, you will be rewarded for your sacrifices!

Okay... this makes no sense at all to me either. If this is Law then it must be a new one. My daughter was born 2005 and I went through the interview Aug 2007. Daughter was born in the US and is a USC. No DNA test was asked at the interview.

EDIT: my wife and daughter lived with me in Canada for a year and half so that might have something to do with my case.

I assume you are a naturalized African immigrant ?

If you are a USC by birth then this is the first time I have heard of a DNA request in this case.

If you are naturalized then it is common for paternity / maternity DNA testing in your circumstance.

If foreign documents have to be verified, it can take a very long time and DNA gives quicker results to satisfy the embassy.
Limited staff and resources make document verification time longer.

What the embassy is looking at here is relationship eligibility. The proper relationship to all parties will be established without doubt
through DNA testing. If the results are satisfactory then the visa will be granted, sometimes as in my case not without a second
in depth interview, sometimes without.

No, if you did not have a child together it would not have meant denial at all. If you are a naturalized African immigrant you may would
have had to undergo DNA to prove you and your husband are not blood related. If you are a born USC or are of a different race then
there would be no DNA.

It is also common to DNA test fiances that do the K1 to rule out that they are related.
It gets complicated but is the easiest way for the embassies to establish eligibility for the visa applied for.
Make sure you contact a lab from the embassy ' accredited and approved ' list.
Call around and ask for a discount.
If you need more info on a less expensive lab pm me.

And again, no it is not the law but a suggestion to submit DNA, without submitting it you can jeopardize the visa.
Testing labs have no clue what immigration law is.
Bottom line, if the CO wants it........submit it.

YES, I AM A U.S. CITIZEN FROM BIRTH. THIS IS WHY I DON'T UNDERSTAND!

This is a load of BS

A DNA test to establish paterniry is unnecessary because (1) you are petitioning for a spouse and (2) your daughter is a USC.

You are not petitioning your daughter as a foreign born citizen so I am confused as to why they want the DNA test

But unfortunately the CO wants it, so as much as we think this is stupid and useless, the CO is the one who is going to give you the visa, not us. I want to know what the CO is thinking.

Fatima Kamel, I send you the info in a pm.
I see no reason for you as the USC needing DNA.........but then I did not see reason for DNA for my fiance and his daughter as we are only
doing a K1 and not a K2 follow to join !
I think they all get the regulations confused. We had no choice but to comply even the congressional inquiry
was useless and they said there is some kind of mysterious connection that they want to explore in their investigation / DNA request.
We complied and they are satisfied with the outcome. We lost over a month to fight it.

The 2. interview will be in April.........no, they could not just ship the visa/passport to him, we have to make ANOTHER trip to Dakar, his third
trip..........1. interview, then DNA test and now the 2. interview.......ching ching........thousands of dollars later here we are after a year in AP.
There is no DNA collection point or consular in Sierra Leone so all had to fly to Senegal. We have been through hell and back.

Divine Mercy, if DNA is required from a foreign spouse, the lab here in the US sends the kits to the approved medical panel physician
for specimen collection who then ships the kits back to the US lab for processing.
The lab then ships the results to the embassy upon which the embassy will contact the beneficiary for another appointment or visa pick up
if all else is satisfactory.
The price for the kits , processing and shipping fee is all included in the quote you will get and also for the collection state side when needed.

Thank you for explaining all of this. What if I wanted to do it now to get it out of the way, could the lab send the results to me and we present it to the CO at the time of the interview before the question is even asked? Or would they believe that the results were tampered with since it wasn't sent directly to them? We're seriously thinking about just doing it now to prevent a delay later (although I don't think this ensures that there will not be a delay, they can come up with anything and put us in AP)

I'm so sorry you had to go through this nightmare!!!

The rules are so strict and you are right , the embassy does everything to avoid tempering with the results.
That is why my fiance and his daughter had to fly out to Senegal for the specimen collection.

It may help and it may not. I am dealing with Dakar and have no clue what Lagos would do if presented with DNA results.
Lets say you are both at the interview and the CO either puts you in AP or tells you they want a test.
You whip out the results ........well it depends entirely on the CO and what side of the bed he / she got up that morning.
Chance is they take it and chance is they won't.
It is a gamble.
If you don't mind wasting $600-800 take the chance, but the testing can be completed in 3-4 weeks from collection to embassy
receiving the results. Having said that, after the embassy received our DNA they put us back in the bottom of the pile to wait for
another 5 months for the Dakar famous 2. interview.
Maybe ask some labs and find out if they had any feedback from clients who have prematurely done DNA tests on their own and what the embassy
did about it. Make sure you go by Lagos embassy experience only.
If you ask the embassy now then they may say oh yeah a DNA test good idea, we should request that and you give them that idea.

Maybe there have been issues in the past with the foreign SO leaving the US and taking a child(ren) back with them and then LD paternity/maternity issues arising for all that. Maybe they are just trying to get all those kinks worked out from the very begging so if that issue would ever come up, there would be no doubts.

Or in my case to make sure his daughter was his daughter and not his sister, cousin or child bride

Hey Jomo's girl we still have to do the lunch thing

YES, I GOT THAT PM THANKS, THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION TOO ITS BEEN VERY HELPFUL TO ME. WHICH EVER LAB WE DECIDE TO GO TO I WILL POST THE OUTCOME.