I returned from Dakar yesterday.
We were denied and handed a paper stating he is ineligible due to an alleged ' misrepresentation ' on a B2 ( tourist visa ) he filed
2 years ago to come visit me.
He filed the electronic form for the B2 online ,which was very unfamiliar to him and he submitted it in a hurry.
He stated his name as SteVen instead of StePHen and made a typo about his birth year, date and month was correct. Sometimes friends address him as Steve or Steven and so have I in the past.
He was accused of falsifying his identity.
When he asked me, I even told him not to worry about entering yes to the question if he ever used another name before because I felt the V versus the PH was just a slight varience and a non issue. How wrong I was !
He truthfully stated that YES he applied for a visa before ( B2 ) on the K1 forms.
He truthfully stated his passport was lost / stolen on the K1 forms.
He brought his passport and birth certificate for the B2 interview along............so if he was falsifying his identity he certainly would not have done that, nor would he have admitted he filed before.
The CO didn't like the following facts :
Passport lost / stolen.
V versus PH in his name Stephen, year of birth typo in B2 application.
Delayed birth certificate.
Delayed death certificate of his late wife.
( Sierra Leonean priority was not exactly running to register births and death during the 10 year brutal war but how to stay alive !
As recently as 2 years ago, teachers were send out to peoples homes to encourage them to register their children's birth again and obtain the birth certificates. )
They questioned his conversion from muslim to christian, he was raised as a nonpracticing muslim by a nonpracticing muslim father who married a Christian woman.
Lo and behold here is the clincher. As he entered to the window I was also called up and she went through all " hiccups ' with us.
Her folder on our case was about 3 inches thick.
She thumbed through it and then we almost fainted as we saw copies of our pics from our traditional religious ceremony.
The only way they could have obtained them would have been through our email accounts.
I quickly recovered and said yes we did have a religious ceremony and NOTHING was signed, certified or registered.
She said : I don't believe it but okay I would be willing to let that go..........but you have too many other things in the case
and though none in itself is grounds for denial the fact remains we are looking at the whole picture and with all these issues we have to deny the visa.
On the paper the following was marked :
On **** 2006, you submitted a visa application to a consular officer that listed your name as Stephen and your date of birth as ******** On ****2006 you submitted a visa application at the US Embassy in Conakry, stating that your name was Steven
and date of birth ******** ( 3 years off / typo ). Since you submitted a false identity when you applied for a visa and your identity is material to your eligibility for a visa , you are ineligible under INA section 212(a)(6)©(1) for misrepresentation of a material fact. She held the application info up for us to see but I was too shocked to read all.
My knees got weak and I almost fainted and Stephen sobbed. I asked to speak with the Chief CO and was refused. Somehow we made it outside.
Immediatley outside I had to focus on getting our friend out of trouble who innocently took pics of the embassy and the guards with his new cam phone while he waited outside for us.
The guard was beside himself and yelled at him and asked me : do you know this man and when Stephen tried to help and said the pics can just be erased, the guard became hysterical and I had to tell Stephen to be quiet that I am handling this. The guard told both to be quiet and that they were not allowed to say anything or they will go to the police station.......the guard rudely challenged Stephen to dare to erase the pics himself......he was just itching to drag him off to jail.
It was an aweful scene. I then intervened and said our friend was just excited about taking pics with his new phone and didn't realize it was against the law to do so and to please let him go and forgive the mistake and that I as a USC was fully aware of that fact.
They talked respectfully to me only and yelled loud at both of them and said they have no rights here at the embassy and to shut up.
I was able to convince them to not take the friend to jail.
We went home and Stephen had a very severe melt down.
I was just numb and channeling my focus on comforting him. Days later I crashed. Then 4 days later I got mad and said we are going back to the embassy. Once there I demanded to see the Chief CO and they said come back 3 hours later, at 2pm. We did but the guards said we go in only at precisely 2pm and not sooner. The searching and processing us through security took about 10 min. We waited and waited and I again said we want to see the CO but was told he looked for us at 2pm and we were not there
( oh yes we were and had another security guard vouch for us, call the phone and tell them so ! ) and that he was in a meeting now and didn't know when or if he would return.
I said I won't leave until I speak with him even if it would be 12 midnight , that I am a USC and demand to speak to him.
Around 4pm he came to the window. I was surprised that he was speaking kindly to us as I expected a green eyed monster by that time.
I said we were not given enough time to explain ourselves and wanted the chance to do so. He said he could not make an exception for us but would look at through our case and to submit to him a written letter and return the following day. We talked about 10 min. and he said if he would make an exception for us soon his entire waiting area would be full with everybody else.
He said if he deems that his subordinates denied the case in error he can overturn it.
I held up my bag of about 20# of evidence I dragged along in my carry on , listed all I had and said this was never even looked at.
The denial letter was already signed before our interview by him.
We typed a letter throughout the night on a borrowed laptop, put it on a memory stick and he went to a cafe to print it out.
Neither one of us was able to get into our mailboxes in 2 different cafe's.
Then the lights went out and we continued with a flash light until the wee hours, slept 3 hours and went back to the embassy.
Fully expecting to be personally handing the letter to the Chief we were told he is not available and she would take our letter but didn't think he would overturn it and that he looked at our case.
I said I was leaving Dakar tomorrow and Stephen the following day. She said she doesn't know when he would read the letter.
Nothing...no call came.
I went home a total basket case.
Then Stephen went to the airport but was told no flights go out on Thursdays even though the Slok airline confirmed the flight the day before. Also when he booked the ticket for Dakar the travel agency didn't forward the money to Slok and he was unable to
pick me up from the airport and had to depart 2 days later, so the first 2 days I was by myself. But thanks to Taurean and her husbands family and friends I was very well taken care of and the friend declared he would be my body guard.........he was, in the thickest traffic he would stop the cars like a cop so I could cross the street.
The dance of weaving in and out of traffic was as usual nerve wrecking but a well orchestrated symphony to all Nationals.
Thanks Taurean and Moussa for a place to stay and taking care that we had food the entire stay. I deeply appreciate you both.
Thank you Heather, Nagishkaw and LovinLiberia and Taurean for calling me during some of my darkest days there and encouraging me and holding me together.
It was all very devastating and our tension and stress unbelievably high.
Today I woke up to an earth quake here in Illinois, 5.2 richter scale and I was still disoriented and thinking I was in Africa. I thought I was losing my mind and thank God people started calling me confirming the quake and I realized I was not going crazy.
Stuff fell off my table.
At noon today my 3. grandchild was born. Welcome little Bennett.
I went back to work answering the "how did the interview go " questions from everyone. I wanted to just vomit.
Now what ?
Well I am retaining legal counsel, spoke with attorney Mark Ellis and contacted Laurrel Scott who specializes in
waivers and we will keep fighting and hoping until all avenues are exhausted. It won't be easy. It won't be cheap. It will be
very difficult to overcome this.
When I arrived home a mail from the Chief CO said : I am sorry to say your letter was not convincing enough to overturn the decision and as discussed to go ahead and file the waiver. He would try to expedite it and sorry that Stephen already left Dakar and yes he would have to file it in person there along with bringing $ 545 in cash. I responded by saying I will retain legal counsel as I am not familiar enough with the process of the waiver and that I hope for his positive recommendation for a good outcome. The waiver will go from the embassy to the USCIS who then will adjudicate it and grant it or don't grant it. The CO can make a positive or negative recommendation. From there our last shot would be to appeal to a judge.
Folks watch your email accounts, things are going on I would never have believed if it wouldn't have happend to us and I can't say anymore as this is a puplic board and easily accessable by anyone.........get my drift.
We are law abiding , honest people who made a mistake, were perhaps careless 2 years ago with the B2 application but
we are not criminals and we did not commit fraud. We were never in trouble with the law excpet for my few speeding tickets.
The CO said they believe our relationship is genuine and don't doubt it but the focus is the alleged misrepresentation.
I am so stressed that I approached a man at the airport who was sitting there , thinking it was my ex and said what are you doing here ? Of course he looked at me a little strange and then I walked off realizing it was not him. Maybe it was due to the malaria meds and maybe I am just losing it.........but anyway, we will remain standing and hoping and praying for God to intervene.
We are not ready to say a permanent farewell to each other .... we will never be ready for that. How would one do that ?!
We are taking one day at a time.
Sorry for the lengthy post and I feel like crawling under a rock to lick my wounds but our experience may help someone else.
I sincerely congratulate everyone who was part of the wonderful wave of approvals this month.
God bless.
Full Version: DENIED at 2. interview
WOW!!!!
THIS IS VERY DRAMAtIC AND SUCKS!!!!
THIS IS VERY DRAMAtIC AND SUCKS!!!!
omg i am so sorry all of this happened to u two......i can only offer prayers for u as there is nothing that anyone can say that will make u feel better..........i hope that u find peace and a way to deal with this problem so that it has a positive out come try to stay strong................
sara
I am so sorry to read what happened to you.
I know that the current administration has been intercepting correspondence from those of us who communicate with people overseas. There was a lot of controversy about that when it was first made public. But since then, it has quietly been swept under the rug. It's good that you remind us of it.
Probably, the threat to national security caused by Stephen's falsification of identity put a 'red flag' on you and everything was scrutinized after that. (Please detect a strong hint of sarcasm.)
Since you've got both a grandchild and a job, I'll guess that leaving America to live with your husband in a country where you're welcome and he's not feared would not be feasible.
I hope the best for you. I wish I had some really good wisdom and advice for you, I'm sorry that I don't. May you quickly find a way to solve this dilemma.
I know that the current administration has been intercepting correspondence from those of us who communicate with people overseas. There was a lot of controversy about that when it was first made public. But since then, it has quietly been swept under the rug. It's good that you remind us of it.
Probably, the threat to national security caused by Stephen's falsification of identity put a 'red flag' on you and everything was scrutinized after that. (Please detect a strong hint of sarcasm.)
Since you've got both a grandchild and a job, I'll guess that leaving America to live with your husband in a country where you're welcome and he's not feared would not be feasible.
I hope the best for you. I wish I had some really good wisdom and advice for you, I'm sorry that I don't. May you quickly find a way to solve this dilemma.
QUOTE(Richard and Li @ Apr 19 2008, 01:45 AM) 
I am so sorry to read what happened to you.
I know that the current administration has been intercepting correspondence from those of us who communicate with people overseas. There was a lot of controversy about that when it was first made public. But since then, it has quietly been swept under the rug. It's good that you remind us of it.
Probably, the threat to national security caused by Stephen's falsification of identity put a 'red flag' on you and everything was scrutinized after that. (Please detect a strong hint of sarcasm.)
Since you've got both a grandchild and a job, I'll guess that leaving America to live with your husband in a country where you're welcome and he's not feared would not be feasible.
I hope the best for you. I wish I had some really good wisdom and advice for you, I'm sorry that I don't. May you quickly find a way to solve this dilemma.
I know that the current administration has been intercepting correspondence from those of us who communicate with people overseas. There was a lot of controversy about that when it was first made public. But since then, it has quietly been swept under the rug. It's good that you remind us of it.
Probably, the threat to national security caused by Stephen's falsification of identity put a 'red flag' on you and everything was scrutinized after that. (Please detect a strong hint of sarcasm.)
Since you've got both a grandchild and a job, I'll guess that leaving America to live with your husband in a country where you're welcome and he's not feared would not be feasible.
I hope the best for you. I wish I had some really good wisdom and advice for you, I'm sorry that I don't. May you quickly find a way to solve this dilemma.
Thank you. Yes, it would not be feasible to live with my fiance in his home country and as a matter of fact an extreme hardship
for medical and financial reasons. I would not grow to be very old there and the unemployment rate is sky high and so is my debt here.
I also remember the media talk about intercepting correspondence and the puplic outcry before it fell into silence.
It can easily be abused, misused and one can feel quiet violated. Little did I think it would come to haunt me. I
better get off this subject for obvious reasons........the scale between risk of security and privacy invasion is a bit off balance though.
OMG....I cannot believe what happened! I am so so sorry. It brought tears to my eyes when I was reading your post. 
I really don't even know what to say...except you are in my prayers, and I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now. What a horrible experience you went thru. I really pray that you are able to get this reversed...it sounds like there are definite grounds for a review. Maybe you should consider going public. Write to Oprah, contact the media...try to get them to tell your story. It sounds crazy...but at this point you have nothing to lose. (I assume you already contacted your congressman) I remember a post awhile ago that was from a reporter asking for volunteers who wanted to tell their immigration story. Not sure if it was legit..but u might try looking for the post. My heart goes out to you and your fiance.
God Bless
I really don't even know what to say...except you are in my prayers, and I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now. What a horrible experience you went thru. I really pray that you are able to get this reversed...it sounds like there are definite grounds for a review. Maybe you should consider going public. Write to Oprah, contact the media...try to get them to tell your story. It sounds crazy...but at this point you have nothing to lose. (I assume you already contacted your congressman) I remember a post awhile ago that was from a reporter asking for volunteers who wanted to tell their immigration story. Not sure if it was legit..but u might try looking for the post. My heart goes out to you and your fiance.God Bless
All I can say is that this is the government at it's worse. That making the mistake of using a nickname and having a typo for you bithdate on the application together makes you inadmissable is senseless. The "wedding" pictures" is there a chance either of you distributed them to a friend/family memebr and they did a home visit to that person ? Or that you posted them somewhere ? To get into you email they need a court order. His email they can access using a clause in the patriot act but they are not supposed to use it for private correspondence.
I hope that you can work through this mess and get things resolved. It just burns me up to see someone with an honest relationship held hostage by a typo and to watch other cases where my heart knows the marriage is based on falsehood fly through. Stories like yours make us all lose sleep wondering if some small error could through us into some similar hell.
I would contact every person that I could find that might add a positive voice to your case. Maybe if you can generate a wave of support they may listen.
Enjoy the new grandchild they grow up to fast.
I hope that you can work through this mess and get things resolved. It just burns me up to see someone with an honest relationship held hostage by a typo and to watch other cases where my heart knows the marriage is based on falsehood fly through. Stories like yours make us all lose sleep wondering if some small error could through us into some similar hell.
I would contact every person that I could find that might add a positive voice to your case. Maybe if you can generate a wave of support they may listen.
Enjoy the new grandchild they grow up to fast.
Oh, I am sooo sorry to hear what has happpened. I was really looking forward to you coming back and telling the good news. This really sucks and I hope things will get better real soon. You have been at this a long time and if anyone deserves to be approved, it is you. Great days are coming, keep positive. God bless.
Omoba, I can't believe what I have just read. I'm very sorry for everything that you and your fiance are going through. I hope your lawyer can help you be successful as you move forward.
I love you, Sister.
You have a lot of courage to come and post your story here. I don't think I would've been able to do it. Maybe it will benefit someone in the future.
I'm so sorry to hear your story. I hope things work out for you, sooner rather than later.
that email thing is scary and creepy. gotta love that patriotic act, huh?
that email thing is scary and creepy. gotta love that patriotic act, huh?
My prayer is that God will give you wisdom from above to get past this setback. Be blessed now and we wish you all best.
Thank you everyone for the support, I sure do need it. I need all the prayer I can get.
Stay strong.
I am so sorry to hear what is happening to you and your SO. I am in shock and really disturbed by this so I know you guys are really suffering with all that has happened. I will definitely keep you in my prayers because that is all that I can offer you besides my empathy. Stay strong and keep your head up. Justice will prevail and your SO will be with you one day. Once again I'm sorry to hear that this is happening to you guys.
So sorry to hear about this. My heart hurts for you and your fiance. I hope that things will be successful with your appeal.Good luck
Hello Omoba,
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
I am truly heartbroken to hear this discouraging news. But, if anyone can be positive it's you!!! I know that it means more time apart, but you can get through this. I will be praying that your waiver does quickly and is granted. My heart is with you!!!
I am truly sorry to hear about your experience....God is in control, there will be light under the tunnel. Dont give up. Quitters always lose and winners never quit.
QUOTE(Omoba @ Apr 19 2008, 01:16 AM)
I returned from Dakar yesterday.
We were denied and handed a paper stating he is ineligible due to an alleged ' misrepresentation ' on a B2 ( tourist visa ) he filed
2 years ago to come visit me.
He filed the electronic form for the B2 online ,which was very unfamiliar to him and he submitted it in a hurry.
He stated his name as SteVen instead of StePHen and made a typo about his birth year, date and month was correct. Sometimes friends address him as Steve or Steven and so have I in the past.
He was accused of falsifying his identity.
When he asked me, I even told him not to worry about entering yes to the question if he ever used another name before because I felt the V versus the PH was just a slight varience and a non issue. How wrong I was !
He truthfully stated that YES he applied for a visa before ( B2 ) on the K1 forms.
He truthfully stated his passport was lost / stolen on the K1 forms.
He brought his passport and birth certificate for the B2 interview along............so if he was falsifying his identity he certainly would not have done that, nor would he have admitted he filed before.
The CO didn't like the following facts :
Passport lost / stolen.
V versus PH in his name Stephen, year of birth typo in B2 application.
Delayed birth certificate.
Delayed death certificate of his late wife.
( Sierra Leonean priority was not exactly running to register births and death during the 10 year brutal war but how to stay alive !
As recently as 2 years ago, teachers were send out to peoples homes to encourage them to register their children's birth again and obtain the birth certificates. )
They questioned his conversion from muslim to christian, he was raised as a nonpracticing muslim by a nonpracticing muslim father who married a Christian woman.
Lo and behold here is the clincher. As he entered to the window I was also called up and she went through all " hiccups ' with us.
Her folder on our case was about 3 inches thick.
She thumbed through it and then we almost fainted as we saw copies of our pics from our traditional religious ceremony.
The only way they could have obtained them would have been through our email accounts.
I quickly recovered and said yes we did have a religious ceremony and NOTHING was signed, certified or registered.
She said : I don't believe it but okay I would be willing to let that go..........but you have too many other things in the case
and though none in itself is grounds for denial the fact remains we are looking at the whole picture and with all these issues we have to deny the visa.
On the paper the following was marked :
On **** 2006, you submitted a visa application to a consular officer that listed your name as Stephen and your date of birth as ******** On ****2006 you submitted a visa application at the US Embassy in Conakry, stating that your name was Steven
and date of birth ******** ( 3 years off / typo ). Since you submitted a false identity when you applied for a visa and your identity is material to your eligibility for a visa , you are ineligible under INA section 212(a)(6)©(1) for misrepresentation of a material fact. She held the application info up for us to see but I was too shocked to read all.
My knees got weak and I almost fainted and Stephen sobbed. I asked to speak with the Chief CO and was refused. Somehow we made it outside.
Immediatley outside I had to focus on getting our friend out of trouble who innocently took pics of the embassy and the guards with his new cam phone while he waited outside for us.
The guard was beside himself and yelled at him and asked me : do you know this man and when Stephen tried to help and said the pics can just be erased, the guard became hysterical and I had to tell Stephen to be quiet that I am handling this. The guard told both to be quiet and that they were not allowed to say anything or they will go to the police station.......the guard rudely challenged Stephen to dare to erase the pics himself......he was just itching to drag him off to jail.
It was an aweful scene. I then intervened and said our friend was just excited about taking pics with his new phone and didn't realize it was against the law to do so and to please let him go and forgive the mistake and that I as a USC was fully aware of that fact.
They talked respectfully to me only and yelled loud at both of them and said they have no rights here at the embassy and to shut up.
I was able to convince them to not take the friend to jail.
We went home and Stephen had a very severe melt down.
I was just numb and channeling my focus on comforting him. Days later I crashed. Then 4 days later I got mad and said we are going back to the embassy. Once there I demanded to see the Chief CO and they said come back 3 hours later, at 2pm. We did but the guards said we go in only at precisely 2pm and not sooner. The searching and processing us through security took about 10 min. We waited and waited and I again said we want to see the CO but was told he looked for us at 2pm and we were not there
( oh yes we were and had another security guard vouch for us, call the phone and tell them so ! ) and that he was in a meeting now and didn't know when or if he would return.
I said I won't leave until I speak with him even if it would be 12 midnight , that I am a USC and demand to speak to him.
Around 4pm he came to the window. I was surprised that he was speaking kindly to us as I expected a green eyed monster by that time.
I said we were not given enough time to explain ourselves and wanted the chance to do so. He said he could not make an exception for us but would look at through our case and to submit to him a written letter and return the following day. We talked about 10 min. and he said if he would make an exception for us soon his entire waiting area would be full with everybody else.
He said if he deems that his subordinates denied the case in error he can overturn it.
I held up my bag of about 20# of evidence I dragged along in my carry on , listed all I had and said this was never even looked at.
The denial letter was already signed before our interview by him.
We typed a letter throughout the night on a borrowed laptop, put it on a memory stick and he went to a cafe to print it out.
Neither one of us was able to get into our mailboxes in 2 different cafe's.
Then the lights went out and we continued with a flash light until the wee hours, slept 3 hours and went back to the embassy.
Fully expecting to be personally handing the letter to the Chief we were told he is not available and she would take our letter but didn't think he would overturn it and that he looked at our case.
I said I was leaving Dakar tomorrow and Stephen the following day. She said she doesn't know when he would read the letter.
Nothing...no call came.
I went home a total basket case.
Then Stephen went to the airport but was told no flights go out on Thursdays even though the Slok airline confirmed the flight the day before. Also when he booked the ticket for Dakar the travel agency didn't forward the money to Slok and he was unable to
pick me up from the airport and had to depart 2 days later, so the first 2 days I was by myself. But thanks to Taurean and her husbands family and friends I was very well taken care of and the friend declared he would be my body guard.........he was, in the thickest traffic he would stop the cars like a cop so I could cross the street.
The dance of weaving in and out of traffic was as usual nerve wrecking but a well orchestrated symphony to all Nationals.
Thanks Taurean and Moussa for a place to stay and taking care that we had food the entire stay. I deeply appreciate you both.
Thank you Heather, Nagishkaw and LovinLiberia and Taurean for calling me during some of my darkest days there and encouraging me and holding me together.
It was all very devastating and our tension and stress unbelievably high.
Today I woke up to an earth quake here in Illinois, 5.2 richter scale and I was still disoriented and thinking I was in Africa. I thought I was losing my mind and thank God people started calling me confirming the quake and I realized I was not going crazy.
Stuff fell off my table.
At noon today my 3. grandchild was born. Welcome little Bennett.
I went back to work answering the "how did the interview go " questions from everyone. I wanted to just vomit.
Now what ?
Well I am retaining legal counsel, spoke with attorney Mark Ellis and contacted Laurrel Scott who specializes in
waivers and we will keep fighting and hoping until all avenues are exhausted. It won't be easy. It won't be cheap. It will be
very difficult to overcome this.
When I arrived home a mail from the Chief CO said : I am sorry to say your letter was not convincing enough to overturn the decision and as discussed to go ahead and file the waiver. He would try to expedite it and sorry that Stephen already left Dakar and yes he would have to file it in person there along with bringing $ 545 in cash. I responded by saying I will retain legal counsel as I am not familiar enough with the process of the waiver and that I hope for his positive recommendation for a good outcome. The waiver will go from the embassy to the USCIS who then will adjudicate it and grant it or don't grant it. The CO can make a positive or negative recommendation. From there our last shot would be to appeal to a judge.
Folks watch your email accounts, things are going on I would never have believed if it wouldn't have happend to us and I can't say anymore as this is a puplic board and easily accessable by anyone.........get my drift.
We are law abiding , honest people who made a mistake, were perhaps careless 2 years ago with the B2 application but
we are not criminals and we did not commit fraud. We were never in trouble with the law excpet for my few speeding tickets.
The CO said they believe our relationship is genuine and don't doubt it but the focus is the alleged misrepresentation.
I am so stressed that I approached a man at the airport who was sitting there , thinking it was my ex and said what are you doing here ? Of course he looked at me a little strange and then I walked off realizing it was not him. Maybe it was due to the malaria meds and maybe I am just losing it.........but anyway, we will remain standing and hoping and praying for God to intervene.
We are not ready to say a permanent farewell to each other .... we will never be ready for that. How would one do that ?!
We are taking one day at a time.
Sorry for the lengthy post and I feel like crawling under a rock to lick my wounds but our experience may help someone else.
I sincerely congratulate everyone who was part of the wonderful wave of approvals this month.
God bless.
We were denied and handed a paper stating he is ineligible due to an alleged ' misrepresentation ' on a B2 ( tourist visa ) he filed
2 years ago to come visit me.
He filed the electronic form for the B2 online ,which was very unfamiliar to him and he submitted it in a hurry.
He stated his name as SteVen instead of StePHen and made a typo about his birth year, date and month was correct. Sometimes friends address him as Steve or Steven and so have I in the past.
He was accused of falsifying his identity.
When he asked me, I even told him not to worry about entering yes to the question if he ever used another name before because I felt the V versus the PH was just a slight varience and a non issue. How wrong I was !
He truthfully stated that YES he applied for a visa before ( B2 ) on the K1 forms.
He truthfully stated his passport was lost / stolen on the K1 forms.
He brought his passport and birth certificate for the B2 interview along............so if he was falsifying his identity he certainly would not have done that, nor would he have admitted he filed before.
The CO didn't like the following facts :
Passport lost / stolen.
V versus PH in his name Stephen, year of birth typo in B2 application.
Delayed birth certificate.
Delayed death certificate of his late wife.
( Sierra Leonean priority was not exactly running to register births and death during the 10 year brutal war but how to stay alive !
As recently as 2 years ago, teachers were send out to peoples homes to encourage them to register their children's birth again and obtain the birth certificates. )
They questioned his conversion from muslim to christian, he was raised as a nonpracticing muslim by a nonpracticing muslim father who married a Christian woman.
Lo and behold here is the clincher. As he entered to the window I was also called up and she went through all " hiccups ' with us.
Her folder on our case was about 3 inches thick.
She thumbed through it and then we almost fainted as we saw copies of our pics from our traditional religious ceremony.
The only way they could have obtained them would have been through our email accounts.
I quickly recovered and said yes we did have a religious ceremony and NOTHING was signed, certified or registered.
She said : I don't believe it but okay I would be willing to let that go..........but you have too many other things in the case
and though none in itself is grounds for denial the fact remains we are looking at the whole picture and with all these issues we have to deny the visa.
On the paper the following was marked :
On **** 2006, you submitted a visa application to a consular officer that listed your name as Stephen and your date of birth as ******** On ****2006 you submitted a visa application at the US Embassy in Conakry, stating that your name was Steven
and date of birth ******** ( 3 years off / typo ). Since you submitted a false identity when you applied for a visa and your identity is material to your eligibility for a visa , you are ineligible under INA section 212(a)(6)©(1) for misrepresentation of a material fact. She held the application info up for us to see but I was too shocked to read all.
My knees got weak and I almost fainted and Stephen sobbed. I asked to speak with the Chief CO and was refused. Somehow we made it outside.
Immediatley outside I had to focus on getting our friend out of trouble who innocently took pics of the embassy and the guards with his new cam phone while he waited outside for us.
The guard was beside himself and yelled at him and asked me : do you know this man and when Stephen tried to help and said the pics can just be erased, the guard became hysterical and I had to tell Stephen to be quiet that I am handling this. The guard told both to be quiet and that they were not allowed to say anything or they will go to the police station.......the guard rudely challenged Stephen to dare to erase the pics himself......he was just itching to drag him off to jail.
It was an aweful scene. I then intervened and said our friend was just excited about taking pics with his new phone and didn't realize it was against the law to do so and to please let him go and forgive the mistake and that I as a USC was fully aware of that fact.
They talked respectfully to me only and yelled loud at both of them and said they have no rights here at the embassy and to shut up.
I was able to convince them to not take the friend to jail.
We went home and Stephen had a very severe melt down.
I was just numb and channeling my focus on comforting him. Days later I crashed. Then 4 days later I got mad and said we are going back to the embassy. Once there I demanded to see the Chief CO and they said come back 3 hours later, at 2pm. We did but the guards said we go in only at precisely 2pm and not sooner. The searching and processing us through security took about 10 min. We waited and waited and I again said we want to see the CO but was told he looked for us at 2pm and we were not there
( oh yes we were and had another security guard vouch for us, call the phone and tell them so ! ) and that he was in a meeting now and didn't know when or if he would return.
I said I won't leave until I speak with him even if it would be 12 midnight , that I am a USC and demand to speak to him.
Around 4pm he came to the window. I was surprised that he was speaking kindly to us as I expected a green eyed monster by that time.
I said we were not given enough time to explain ourselves and wanted the chance to do so. He said he could not make an exception for us but would look at through our case and to submit to him a written letter and return the following day. We talked about 10 min. and he said if he would make an exception for us soon his entire waiting area would be full with everybody else.
He said if he deems that his subordinates denied the case in error he can overturn it.
I held up my bag of about 20# of evidence I dragged along in my carry on , listed all I had and said this was never even looked at.
The denial letter was already signed before our interview by him.
We typed a letter throughout the night on a borrowed laptop, put it on a memory stick and he went to a cafe to print it out.
Neither one of us was able to get into our mailboxes in 2 different cafe's.
Then the lights went out and we continued with a flash light until the wee hours, slept 3 hours and went back to the embassy.
Fully expecting to be personally handing the letter to the Chief we were told he is not available and she would take our letter but didn't think he would overturn it and that he looked at our case.
I said I was leaving Dakar tomorrow and Stephen the following day. She said she doesn't know when he would read the letter.
Nothing...no call came.
I went home a total basket case.
Then Stephen went to the airport but was told no flights go out on Thursdays even though the Slok airline confirmed the flight the day before. Also when he booked the ticket for Dakar the travel agency didn't forward the money to Slok and he was unable to
pick me up from the airport and had to depart 2 days later, so the first 2 days I was by myself. But thanks to Taurean and her husbands family and friends I was very well taken care of and the friend declared he would be my body guard.........he was, in the thickest traffic he would stop the cars like a cop so I could cross the street.
The dance of weaving in and out of traffic was as usual nerve wrecking but a well orchestrated symphony to all Nationals.
Thanks Taurean and Moussa for a place to stay and taking care that we had food the entire stay. I deeply appreciate you both.
Thank you Heather, Nagishkaw and LovinLiberia and Taurean for calling me during some of my darkest days there and encouraging me and holding me together.
It was all very devastating and our tension and stress unbelievably high.
Today I woke up to an earth quake here in Illinois, 5.2 richter scale and I was still disoriented and thinking I was in Africa. I thought I was losing my mind and thank God people started calling me confirming the quake and I realized I was not going crazy.
Stuff fell off my table.
At noon today my 3. grandchild was born. Welcome little Bennett.
I went back to work answering the "how did the interview go " questions from everyone. I wanted to just vomit.
Now what ?
Well I am retaining legal counsel, spoke with attorney Mark Ellis and contacted Laurrel Scott who specializes in
waivers and we will keep fighting and hoping until all avenues are exhausted. It won't be easy. It won't be cheap. It will be
very difficult to overcome this.
When I arrived home a mail from the Chief CO said : I am sorry to say your letter was not convincing enough to overturn the decision and as discussed to go ahead and file the waiver. He would try to expedite it and sorry that Stephen already left Dakar and yes he would have to file it in person there along with bringing $ 545 in cash. I responded by saying I will retain legal counsel as I am not familiar enough with the process of the waiver and that I hope for his positive recommendation for a good outcome. The waiver will go from the embassy to the USCIS who then will adjudicate it and grant it or don't grant it. The CO can make a positive or negative recommendation. From there our last shot would be to appeal to a judge.
Folks watch your email accounts, things are going on I would never have believed if it wouldn't have happend to us and I can't say anymore as this is a puplic board and easily accessable by anyone.........get my drift.
We are law abiding , honest people who made a mistake, were perhaps careless 2 years ago with the B2 application but
we are not criminals and we did not commit fraud. We were never in trouble with the law excpet for my few speeding tickets.
The CO said they believe our relationship is genuine and don't doubt it but the focus is the alleged misrepresentation.
I am so stressed that I approached a man at the airport who was sitting there , thinking it was my ex and said what are you doing here ? Of course he looked at me a little strange and then I walked off realizing it was not him. Maybe it was due to the malaria meds and maybe I am just losing it.........but anyway, we will remain standing and hoping and praying for God to intervene.
We are not ready to say a permanent farewell to each other .... we will never be ready for that. How would one do that ?!
We are taking one day at a time.
Sorry for the lengthy post and I feel like crawling under a rock to lick my wounds but our experience may help someone else.
I sincerely congratulate everyone who was part of the wonderful wave of approvals this month.
God bless.
QUOTE(MAO36 @ Apr 19 2008, 02:01 PM)
Hello Omoba,
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
The USCIS end of it is mainly concerned with security checks of both USC and beneficiary and background checks and documents of the USC.
The other end , the embassy does the checks more intensely on the beneficiary and of course the financial support documents of the USC. The foreign post does home investigations and crosschecks with other embassies for previous visa applications.
An approval of USCIS without embassy checks is in those terms not a 100% approval and things still can go wrong.
In my case the chief CO can now give a recommendation against us or in favor of us to homeland security and USCIS.
Once the case goes to USCIS it is out of the CO's hands.
The chief CO had the authority to overule the decision but chose not to and informed me about the waiver.
The CO handling our case did not inform us of the waiver option and said it is denied when I asked will the petition be returned for recommendation to revoke. She said no, that only happens if they think the relationship is not real and we think yours is real.
But we had to deny because of the " misrepresentation " ........ie. typos.
It is the foreign post not willing to go through with an approval unless USCIS grants the waiver. The system is set up this way.
Now, if USCIS grants the waiver then it goes back to the embassy and they have to approve it unless they come once again with new but overwheliming evidence.
A judge can make a final ruling if it goes back and forth and all options are exhausted.
This is my own research, if I hear anything different from the attorney I will share it here.
Thank you all for holding me up so I won't crash !
QUOTE(Omoba @ Apr 19 2008, 03:06 PM)
QUOTE(MAO36 @ Apr 19 2008, 02:01 PM)
Hello Omoba,
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
The USCIS end of it is mainly concerned with security checks of both USC and beneficiary and background checks and documents of the USC.
The other end , the embassy does the checks more intensely on the beneficiary and of course the financial support documents of the USC. The foreign
post does home investigations and crosschecks with other embassies for previous visa applications.
Thank you for the clarification. This is a sickening, gruesome journey and when I read threads such as what happened to you I literally get sick to my stomach. KEEP FIGHTING TO GET YOUR FIANCE HERE!!! You will prevail with a lot of prayer and supplication.
I'm scared to death of the interview part.
An approval of USCIS without embassy checks is in those terms not a 100% approval and things still can go wrong.
In my case the chief CO can now give a recommendation against us or in favor of us to homeland security and USCIS.
Once the case goes to USCIS it is out of the CO's hands.
The chief CO had the authority to overule the decision but chose not to and informed me about the waiver.
The CO handling our case did not inform us of the waiver option and said it is denied when I asked will the petition be returned for recommendation to revoke. She said no, that only happens if they think the relationship is not real and we think yours is real.
But we had to deny because of the " misrepresentation " ........ie. typos.
It is the foreign post not willing to go through with an approval unless USCIS grants the waiver. The system is set up this way.
Now, if USCIS grants the waiver then it goes back to the embassy and they have to approve it unless they come once again with new but overwheliming evidence.
A judge can make a final ruling if it goes back and forth and all options are exhausted.
This is my own research, if I hear anything different from the attorney I will share it here.
Thank you all for holding me up so I won't crash !
Omoba,
I try each day and each moment in my life to equate whatever happens with the will of God at that time. I try not to be bitter or resentful or even discouraged, because I know that at the end of it all, joy comes in the morning. It maybe hard to tell you at this moment in time to be patient and continue to trust God, but that is just what I will advise you to do. Stand firm and continue with the waiver process. You have made this determination to love and I believe in dealing with this little hiccupp, your love will grow stronger and stronger. Whatever is worth having, is worth fighting for. I will continue to pray for you and Steve. God bless you
I try each day and each moment in my life to equate whatever happens with the will of God at that time. I try not to be bitter or resentful or even discouraged, because I know that at the end of it all, joy comes in the morning. It maybe hard to tell you at this moment in time to be patient and continue to trust God, but that is just what I will advise you to do. Stand firm and continue with the waiver process. You have made this determination to love and I believe in dealing with this little hiccupp, your love will grow stronger and stronger. Whatever is worth having, is worth fighting for. I will continue to pray for you and Steve. God bless you
QUOTE(MAO36 @ Apr 19 2008, 03:15 PM)
QUOTE(Omoba @ Apr 19 2008, 03:06 PM)
QUOTE(MAO36 @ Apr 19 2008, 02:01 PM)
Hello Omoba,
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
I've never written you before but I have like many other threads been following your thread and was definitely anticipating an EASY approval. First let me me say I am sooo sorry about this unfortunate ocuurrence. I am confused though! How would they know your email addresses? Did they already have this infomation? Also, wouldn't USCIS have done this investigation of his name & past requests for visa's prior to them issuing your approval? i don't understand. Why did they approve it from the USCIS's stage and then come up with all these otehr issues. What is the process between the two? It's almost like the approval's from USCIS are not really true approval's????
I know this is overwhelming and if you're too traumitized to respond, I understand.
Again, I'm soooo sorry.
The USCIS end of it is mainly concerned with security checks of both USC and beneficiary and background checks and documents of the USC.
The other end , the embassy does the checks more intensely on the beneficiary and of course the financial support documents of the USC. The foreign
post does home investigations and crosschecks with other embassies for previous visa applications.
approval of USCIS without embassy checks is in those terms not a 100% approval and things still can go wrong.
In my case the chief CO can now give a recommendation against us or in favor of us to homeland security and USCIS.
Once the case goes to USCIS it is out of the CO's hands.
The chief CO had the authority to overule the decision but chose not to and informed me about the waiver.
The CO handling our case did not inform us of the waiver option and said it is denied when I asked will the petition be returned for recommendation to revoke. She said no, that only happens if they think the relationship is not real and we think yours is real.
But we had to deny because of the " misrepresentation " ........ie. typos.
It is the foreign post not willing to go through with an approval unless USCIS grants the waiver. The system is set up this way.
Now, if USCIS grants the waiver then it goes back to the embassy and they have to approve it unless they come once again with new but overwheliming evidence.
A judge can make a final ruling if it goes back and forth and all options are exhausted.
This is my own research, if I hear anything different from the attorney I will share it here.
Thank you all for holding me up so I won't crash !
Thank you for the clarification. This is a sickening, gruesome journey and when I read threads such as what happened to you I literally get sick to my stomach. KEEP FIGHTING TO GET YOUR FIANCE HERE!!! You will prevail with a lot of prayer and supplication.
I'm scared to death of the interview part.
Omoba, I am so sorry that you had to go through all that. I don't know that there is anything I can do for you but pray. I know that with your strength and faith you and Stephen will get through this. You are a strong woman for sharing your story
We love you
We love you
I am so sorry.
Omoba,
I am extremely sorry about what happened. I was waiting for a positive outcome and was shocked by the visa denial. This is very difficult emotionally and financially but things happen for a reason. Be strong and don't give up. I will keep both of you in my prayers.
I am extremely sorry about what happened. I was waiting for a positive outcome and was shocked by the visa denial. This is very difficult emotionally and financially but things happen for a reason. Be strong and don't give up. I will keep both of you in my prayers.
I'm speechless and in pain for you and your family. God sent your grandchild at just the right time. Thank God for small mercies.
Omoba, I'm very sorry I hope you can work this out with God's help
Saludos,
Caro
I hope you can work this out with God's help Saludos,
Caro
Thank you all.
It will be difficult to prove and convince the AO of EXTREME hardship. That is why I need an attorney, I have read it is not easy and to not even bother if not enough evidence exists. The extreme hardship burden of prove is the killer, it is not as simple as filling out a waiver form and submitting it.
It is also more difficult to present the case as a fiance , for married couples and with kids it is a little smoother.
The USC has to convince the AO that if the ' family member ' will not be allowed to be in the US, then extreme hardship is a direct result of it.
" Misrepresentation ", alleged or real, imagined or fact will automatically result in a lifetime ban of entering the US for the beneficiary.
It will be difficult to prove and convince the AO of EXTREME hardship. That is why I need an attorney, I have read it is not easy and to not even bother if not enough evidence exists. The extreme hardship burden of prove is the killer, it is not as simple as filling out a waiver form and submitting it.
It is also more difficult to present the case as a fiance , for married couples and with kids it is a little smoother.
The USC has to convince the AO that if the ' family member ' will not be allowed to be in the US, then extreme hardship is a direct result of it.
" Misrepresentation ", alleged or real, imagined or fact will automatically result in a lifetime ban of entering the US for the beneficiary.
Keep fighting for what you know is right, and you will prevail in the end. Keeping you both in thoughts and prayers
Some of my hardships so far are :
Emotional distress and I may have to see a counselor for my sanity.
My body is affected from repetitive work strain and I need surgery in the near future, therefore I need my fiance to assist and support me.
If I move to S/L I will die an early death due to the very bad sanitation conditions there, political unrest now and then, and the very high unemployment rate will not sustain me financially and I have high debt here ( thanks to the visa process ), and my children's father is ill with cancer and they would suffer if I leave the US, even though they are all grown.
My 94 year old mother who has only me left and lives in Germany would not see me as I would not be able to visit without money to travel.
It would rip us all apart.
There must be more but I can't think of any now.
Emotional distress and I may have to see a counselor for my sanity.
My body is affected from repetitive work strain and I need surgery in the near future, therefore I need my fiance to assist and support me.
If I move to S/L I will die an early death due to the very bad sanitation conditions there, political unrest now and then, and the very high unemployment rate will not sustain me financially and I have high debt here ( thanks to the visa process ), and my children's father is ill with cancer and they would suffer if I leave the US, even though they are all grown.
My 94 year old mother who has only me left and lives in Germany would not see me as I would not be able to visit without money to travel.
It would rip us all apart.
There must be more but I can't think of any now.
Have you considered getting married and refiling as a K3? Or would that not be helpful?
There are times I want to just stop all this insanity and want a normal and peaceful live without all this drama. I am sick of it. But that would mean
I will never see Stephen again. It is not feasible for me to move, people depend on me here also.
How can a couple survive a lifetime when seeing each other once a year for a few weeks. That is not fair to him either. I have talked to him of just
letting go and encouraging him to find a new start ............but he said he just can't say goodbye to me ........neither can I, so here we are fighting for our lives. We have invested 3 long years into our relationship.
Got to pack, going to see my new grand baby tomorrow.
Thanks again for letting me ramble on.
I will never see Stephen again. It is not feasible for me to move, people depend on me here also.
How can a couple survive a lifetime when seeing each other once a year for a few weeks. That is not fair to him either. I have talked to him of just
letting go and encouraging him to find a new start ............but he said he just can't say goodbye to me ........neither can I, so here we are fighting for our lives. We have invested 3 long years into our relationship.
Got to pack, going to see my new grand baby tomorrow.
Thanks again for letting me ramble on.
That won't work. Mark Ellis published an article that if couples on a K1 legally marry and the case file is not properly closed out first then the K3 would be considered also a " misrepresentation".
Furthermore, the exact same former hurdle must be overcome as it is buried deep in the security system and will hit the database for ever and on any type of visa as soon as his name is entered.
Furthermore, the exact same former hurdle must be overcome as it is buried deep in the security system and will hit the database for ever and on any type of visa as soon as his name is entered.
Salutations Omoba,
I was silently cheering for you. I am heartbroken and distraught to hear of your issues. I honestly felt in my heart of hearts that you would be victorious. I am praying for you to overcome this obstacle and to have to strength to hold on and call on the mighty name of Jesus. When the praises go up the blessings come down.
UNO
I was silently cheering for you. I am heartbroken and distraught to hear of your issues. I honestly felt in my heart of hearts that you would be victorious. I am praying for you to overcome this obstacle and to have to strength to hold on and call on the mighty name of Jesus. When the praises go up the blessings come down.
UNO
QUOTE(Omoba @ Apr 19 2008, 01:16 AM)
I returned from Dakar yesterday.
We were denied and handed a paper stating he is ineligible due to an alleged ' misrepresentation ' on a B2 ( tourist visa ) he filed
2 years ago to come visit me.
He filed the electronic form for the B2 online ,which was very unfamiliar to him and he submitted it in a hurry.
He stated his name as SteVen instead of StePHen and made a typo about his birth year, date and month was correct. Sometimes friends address him as Steve or Steven and so have I in the past.
He was accused of falsifying his identity.
When he asked me, I even told him not to worry about entering yes to the question if he ever used another name before because I felt the V versus the PH was just a slight varience and a non issue. How wrong I was !
He truthfully stated that YES he applied for a visa before ( B2 ) on the K1 forms.
He truthfully stated his passport was lost / stolen on the K1 forms.
He brought his passport and birth certificate for the B2 interview along............so if he was falsifying his identity he certainly would not have done that, nor would he have admitted he filed before.
The CO didn't like the following facts :
Passport lost / stolen.
V versus PH in his name Stephen, year of birth typo in B2 application.
Delayed birth certificate.
Delayed death certificate of his late wife.
( Sierra Leonean priority was not exactly running to register births and death during the 10 year brutal war but how to stay alive !
As recently as 2 years ago, teachers were send out to peoples homes to encourage them to register their children's birth again and obtain the birth certificates. )
They questioned his conversion from muslim to christian, he was raised as a nonpracticing muslim by a nonpracticing muslim father who married a Christian woman.
Lo and behold here is the clincher. As he entered to the window I was also called up and she went through all " hiccups ' with us.
Her folder on our case was about 3 inches thick.
She thumbed through it and then we almost fainted as we saw copies of our pics from our traditional religious ceremony.
The only way they could have obtained them would have been through our email accounts.
I quickly recovered and said yes we did have a religious ceremony and NOTHING was signed, certified or registered.
She said : I don't believe it but okay I would be willing to let that go..........but you have too many other things in the case
and though none in itself is grounds for denial the fact remains we are looking at the whole picture and with all these issues we have to deny the visa.
On the paper the following was marked :
On **** 2006, you submitted a visa application to a consular officer that listed your name as Stephen and your date of birth as ******** On ****2006 you submitted a visa application at the US Embassy in Conakry, stating that your name was Steven
and date of birth ******** ( 3 years off / typo ). Since you submitted a false identity when you applied for a visa and your identity is material to your eligibility for a visa , you are ineligible under INA section 212(a)(6)©(1) for misrepresentation of a material fact. She held the application info up for us to see but I was too shocked to read all.
My knees got weak and I almost fainted and Stephen sobbed. I asked to speak with the Chief CO and was refused. Somehow we made it outside.
Immediatley outside I had to focus on getting our friend out of trouble who innocently took pics of the embassy and the guards with his new cam phone while he waited outside for us.
The guard was beside himself and yelled at him and asked me : do you know this man and when Stephen tried to help and said the pics can just be erased, the guard became hysterical and I had to tell Stephen to be quiet that I am handling this. The guard told both to be quiet and that they were not allowed to say anything or they will go to the police station.......the guard rudely challenged Stephen to dare to erase the pics himself......he was just itching to drag him off to jail.
It was an aweful scene. I then intervened and said our friend was just excited about taking pics with his new phone and didn't realize it was against the law to do so and to please let him go and forgive the mistake and that I as a USC was fully aware of that fact.
They talked respectfully to me only and yelled loud at both of them and said they have no rights here at the embassy and to shut up.
I was able to convince them to not take the friend to jail.
We went home and Stephen had a very severe melt down.
I was just numb and channeling my focus on comforting him. Days later I crashed. Then 4 days later I got mad and said we are going back to the embassy. Once there I demanded to see the Chief CO and they said come back 3 hours later, at 2pm. We did but the guards said we go in only at precisely 2pm and not sooner. The searching and processing us through security took about 10 min. We waited and waited and I again said we want to see the CO but was told he looked for us at 2pm and we were not there
( oh yes we were and had another security guard vouch for us, call the phone and tell them so ! ) and that he was in a meeting now and didn't know when or if he would return.
I said I won't leave until I speak with him even if it would be 12 midnight , that I am a USC and demand to speak to him.
Around 4pm he came to the window. I was surprised that he was speaking kindly to us as I expected a green eyed monster by that time.
I said we were not given enough time to explain ourselves and wanted the chance to do so. He said he could not make an exception for us but would look at through our case and to submit to him a written letter and return the following day. We talked about 10 min. and he said if he would make an exception for us soon his entire waiting area would be full with everybody else.
He said if he deems that his subordinates denied the case in error he can overturn it.
I held up my bag of about 20# of evidence I dragged along in my carry on , listed all I had and said this was never even looked at.
The denial letter was already signed before our interview by him.
We typed a letter throughout the night on a borrowed laptop, put it on a memory stick and he went to a cafe to print it out.
Neither one of us was able to get into our mailboxes in 2 different cafe's.
Then the lights went out and we continued with a flash light until the wee hours, slept 3 hours and went back to the embassy.
Fully expecting to be personally handing the letter to the Chief we were told he is not available and she would take our letter but didn't think he would overturn it and that he looked at our case.
I said I was leaving Dakar tomorrow and Stephen the following day. She said she doesn't know when he would read the letter.
Nothing...no call came.
I went home a total basket case.
Then Stephen went to the airport but was told no flights go out on Thursdays even though the Slok airline confirmed the flight the day before. Also when he booked the ticket for Dakar the travel agency didn't forward the money to Slok and he was unable to
pick me up from the airport and had to depart 2 days later, so the first 2 days I was by myself. But thanks to Taurean and her husbands family and friends I was very well taken care of and the friend declared he would be my body guard.........he was, in the thickest traffic he would stop the cars like a cop so I could cross the street.
The dance of weaving in and out of traffic was as usual nerve wrecking but a well orchestrated symphony to all Nationals.
Thanks Taurean and Moussa for a place to stay and taking care that we had food the entire stay. I deeply appreciate you both.
Thank you Heather, Nagishkaw and LovinLiberia and Taurean for calling me during some of my darkest days there and encouraging me and holding me together.
It was all very devastating and our tension and stress unbelievably high.
Today I woke up to an earth quake here in Illinois, 5.2 richter scale and I was still disoriented and thinking I was in Africa. I thought I was losing my mind and thank God people started calling me confirming the quake and I realized I was not going crazy.
Stuff fell off my table.
At noon today my 3. grandchild was born. Welcome little Bennett.
I went back to work answering the "how did the interview go " questions from everyone. I wanted to just vomit.
Now what ?
Well I am retaining legal counsel, spoke with attorney Mark Ellis and contacted Laurrel Scott who specializes in
waivers and we will keep fighting and hoping until all avenues are exhausted. It won't be easy. It won't be cheap. It will be
very difficult to overcome this.
When I arrived home a mail from the Chief CO said : I am sorry to say your letter was not convincing enough to overturn the decision and as discussed to go ahead and file the waiver. He would try to expedite it and sorry that Stephen already left Dakar and yes he would have to file it in person there along with bringing $ 545 in cash. I responded by saying I will retain legal counsel as I am not familiar enough with the process of the waiver and that I hope for his positive recommendation for a good outcome. The waiver will go from the embassy to the USCIS who then will adjudicate it and grant it or don't grant it. The CO can make a positive or negative recommendation. From there our last shot would be to appeal to a judge.
Folks watch your email accounts, things are going on I would never have believed if it wouldn't have happend to us and I can't say anymore as this is a puplic board and easily accessable by anyone.........get my drift.
We are law abiding , honest people who made a mistake, were perhaps careless 2 years ago with the B2 application but
we are not criminals and we did not commit fraud. We were never in trouble with the law excpet for my few speeding tickets.
The CO said they believe our relationship is genuine and don't doubt it but the focus is the alleged misrepresentation.
I am so stressed that I approached a man at the airport who was sitting there , thinking it was my ex and said what are you doing here ? Of course he looked at me a little strange and then I walked off realizing it was not him. Maybe it was due to the malaria meds and maybe I am just losing it.........but anyway, we will remain standing and hoping and praying for God to intervene.
We are not ready to say a permanent farewell to each other .... we will never be ready for that. How would one do that ?!
We are taking one day at a time.
Sorry for the lengthy post and I feel like crawling under a rock to lick my wounds but our experience may help someone else.
I sincerely congratulate everyone who was part of the wonderful wave of approvals this month.
God bless.
We were denied and handed a paper stating he is ineligible due to an alleged ' misrepresentation ' on a B2 ( tourist visa ) he filed
2 years ago to come visit me.
He filed the electronic form for the B2 online ,which was very unfamiliar to him and he submitted it in a hurry.
He stated his name as SteVen instead of StePHen and made a typo about his birth year, date and month was correct. Sometimes friends address him as Steve or Steven and so have I in the past.
He was accused of falsifying his identity.
When he asked me, I even told him not to worry about entering yes to the question if he ever used another name before because I felt the V versus the PH was just a slight varience and a non issue. How wrong I was !
He truthfully stated that YES he applied for a visa before ( B2 ) on the K1 forms.
He truthfully stated his passport was lost / stolen on the K1 forms.
He brought his passport and birth certificate for the B2 interview along............so if he was falsifying his identity he certainly would not have done that, nor would he have admitted he filed before.
The CO didn't like the following facts :
Passport lost / stolen.
V versus PH in his name Stephen, year of birth typo in B2 application.
Delayed birth certificate.
Delayed death certificate of his late wife.
( Sierra Leonean priority was not exactly running to register births and death during the 10 year brutal war but how to stay alive !
As recently as 2 years ago, teachers were send out to peoples homes to encourage them to register their children's birth again and obtain the birth certificates. )
They questioned his conversion from muslim to christian, he was raised as a nonpracticing muslim by a nonpracticing muslim father who married a Christian woman.
Lo and behold here is the clincher. As he entered to the window I was also called up and she went through all " hiccups ' with us.
Her folder on our case was about 3 inches thick.
She thumbed through it and then we almost fainted as we saw copies of our pics from our traditional religious ceremony.
The only way they could have obtained them would have been through our email accounts.
I quickly recovered and said yes we did have a religious ceremony and NOTHING was signed, certified or registered.
She said : I don't believe it but okay I would be willing to let that go..........but you have too many other things in the case
and though none in itself is grounds for denial the fact remains we are looking at the whole picture and with all these issues we have to deny the visa.
On the paper the following was marked :
On **** 2006, you submitted a visa application to a consular officer that listed your name as Stephen and your date of birth as ******** On ****2006 you submitted a visa application at the US Embassy in Conakry, stating that your name was Steven
and date of birth ******** ( 3 years off / typo ). Since you submitted a false identity when you applied for a visa and your identity is material to your eligibility for a visa , you are ineligible under INA section 212(a)(6)©(1) for misrepresentation of a material fact. She held the application info up for us to see but I was too shocked to read all.
My knees got weak and I almost fainted and Stephen sobbed. I asked to speak with the Chief CO and was refused. Somehow we made it outside.
Immediatley outside I had to focus on getting our friend out of trouble who innocently took pics of the embassy and the guards with his new cam phone while he waited outside for us.
The guard was beside himself and yelled at him and asked me : do you know this man and when Stephen tried to help and said the pics can just be erased, the guard became hysterical and I had to tell Stephen to be quiet that I am handling this. The guard told both to be quiet and that they were not allowed to say anything or they will go to the police station.......the guard rudely challenged Stephen to dare to erase the pics himself......he was just itching to drag him off to jail.
It was an aweful scene. I then intervened and said our friend was just excited about taking pics with his new phone and didn't realize it was against the law to do so and to please let him go and forgive the mistake and that I as a USC was fully aware of that fact.
They talked respectfully to me only and yelled loud at both of them and said they have no rights here at the embassy and to shut up.
I was able to convince them to not take the friend to jail.
We went home and Stephen had a very severe melt down.
I was just numb and channeling my focus on comforting him. Days later I crashed. Then 4 days later I got mad and said we are going back to the embassy. Once there I demanded to see the Chief CO and they said come back 3 hours later, at 2pm. We did but the guards said we go in only at precisely 2pm and not sooner. The searching and processing us through security took about 10 min. We waited and waited and I again said we want to see the CO but was told he looked for us at 2pm and we were not there
( oh yes we were and had another security guard vouch for us, call the phone and tell them so ! ) and that he was in a meeting now and didn't know when or if he would return.
I said I won't leave until I speak with him even if it would be 12 midnight , that I am a USC and demand to speak to him.
Around 4pm he came to the window. I was surprised that he was speaking kindly to us as I expected a green eyed monster by that time.
I said we were not given enough time to explain ourselves and wanted the chance to do so. He said he could not make an exception for us but would look at through our case and to submit to him a written letter and return the following day. We talked about 10 min. and he said if he would make an exception for us soon his entire waiting area would be full with everybody else.
He said if he deems that his subordinates denied the case in error he can overturn it.
I held up my bag of about 20# of evidence I dragged along in my carry on , listed all I had and said this was never even looked at.
The denial letter was already signed before our interview by him.
We typed a letter throughout the night on a borrowed laptop, put it on a memory stick and he went to a cafe to print it out.
Neither one of us was able to get into our mailboxes in 2 different cafe's.
Then the lights went out and we continued with a flash light until the wee hours, slept 3 hours and went back to the embassy.
Fully expecting to be personally handing the letter to the Chief we were told he is not available and she would take our letter but didn't think he would overturn it and that he looked at our case.
I said I was leaving Dakar tomorrow and Stephen the following day. She said she doesn't know when he would read the letter.
Nothing...no call came.
I went home a total basket case.
Then Stephen went to the airport but was told no flights go out on Thursdays even though the Slok airline confirmed the flight the day before. Also when he booked the ticket for Dakar the travel agency didn't forward the money to Slok and he was unable to
pick me up from the airport and had to depart 2 days later, so the first 2 days I was by myself. But thanks to Taurean and her husbands family and friends I was very well taken care of and the friend declared he would be my body guard.........he was, in the thickest traffic he would stop the cars like a cop so I could cross the street.
The dance of weaving in and out of traffic was as usual nerve wrecking but a well orchestrated symphony to all Nationals.
Thanks Taurean and Moussa for a place to stay and taking care that we had food the entire stay. I deeply appreciate you both.
Thank you Heather, Nagishkaw and LovinLiberia and Taurean for calling me during some of my darkest days there and encouraging me and holding me together.
It was all very devastating and our tension and stress unbelievably high.
Today I woke up to an earth quake here in Illinois, 5.2 richter scale and I was still disoriented and thinking I was in Africa. I thought I was losing my mind and thank God people started calling me confirming the quake and I realized I was not going crazy.
Stuff fell off my table.
At noon today my 3. grandchild was born. Welcome little Bennett.
I went back to work answering the "how did the interview go " questions from everyone. I wanted to just vomit.
Now what ?
Well I am retaining legal counsel, spoke with attorney Mark Ellis and contacted Laurrel Scott who specializes in
waivers and we will keep fighting and hoping until all avenues are exhausted. It won't be easy. It won't be cheap. It will be
very difficult to overcome this.
When I arrived home a mail from the Chief CO said : I am sorry to say your letter was not convincing enough to overturn the decision and as discussed to go ahead and file the waiver. He would try to expedite it and sorry that Stephen already left Dakar and yes he would have to file it in person there along with bringing $ 545 in cash. I responded by saying I will retain legal counsel as I am not familiar enough with the process of the waiver and that I hope for his positive recommendation for a good outcome. The waiver will go from the embassy to the USCIS who then will adjudicate it and grant it or don't grant it. The CO can make a positive or negative recommendation. From there our last shot would be to appeal to a judge.
Folks watch your email accounts, things are going on I would never have believed if it wouldn't have happend to us and I can't say anymore as this is a puplic board and easily accessable by anyone.........get my drift.
We are law abiding , honest people who made a mistake, were perhaps careless 2 years ago with the B2 application but
we are not criminals and we did not commit fraud. We were never in trouble with the law excpet for my few speeding tickets.
The CO said they believe our relationship is genuine and don't doubt it but the focus is the alleged misrepresentation.
I am so stressed that I approached a man at the airport who was sitting there , thinking it was my ex and said what are you doing here ? Of course he looked at me a little strange and then I walked off realizing it was not him. Maybe it was due to the malaria meds and maybe I am just losing it.........but anyway, we will remain standing and hoping and praying for God to intervene.
We are not ready to say a permanent farewell to each other .... we will never be ready for that. How would one do that ?!
We are taking one day at a time.
Sorry for the lengthy post and I feel like crawling under a rock to lick my wounds but our experience may help someone else.
I sincerely congratulate everyone who was part of the wonderful wave of approvals this month.
God bless.
What a heart wrenching experience. I'm so sorry that you both had to go thru this. My thoughts and prayers are with you!
tess
I am sorry..My thoughts and prayers are w/ you and Stephen and I hope everything will be resolved very soon...
Omoba,
I am deeply shocked and saddened by this turn of events. I highly agree with you retaining an attorney because he/she can steer you through this difficult process. You and Stephen are in my thoughts and prayers. If there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know.
Keep up your positive attitude and don't let this break you. You are one of the strongest women on this site and it would be said if you let that go.
God Bless,
Judy
I am deeply shocked and saddened by this turn of events. I highly agree with you retaining an attorney because he/she can steer you through this difficult process. You and Stephen are in my thoughts and prayers. If there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know.
Keep up your positive attitude and don't let this break you. You are one of the strongest women on this site and it would be said if you let that go.
God Bless,
Judy
My heart breaks for you... as with the others, I can only offer prayers for you that God may grant you more strength in this time of trial. I will be holding you in my thoughts and prayers.
Omoba, I am sincerely sorry for this turn of events, but if anyone can overcome and prevail, it is you. I have been a member of VJ for a little while now, but your posts, above many else, have offered more information and education on this visa process than several other "official" sites.
I really do have faith that you will be triumphant in the end. I also believe that the end will arrive sooner rather than later. I was waiting patiently all last week for your good news, and was truly devasted to read this post. My heart broke for you, but all things happen for reasons we just cannot know or understand at times. I will pray for you, and look forward to your victory!
I really do have faith that you will be triumphant in the end. I also believe that the end will arrive sooner rather than later. I was waiting patiently all last week for your good news, and was truly devasted to read this post. My heart broke for you, but all things happen for reasons we just cannot know or understand at times. I will pray for you, and look forward to your victory!
I just wanted to say that reading your post brought tears to my eyes. Being so close tohaving my queen back in my arms, reading what you had to go through is heart breaking. Please stay strong and as positive as possible. I will keep you both in my prayers and with the Lord's help, you will be reunited soon.
I appreciate all the support and well wishes. I am currently with my new baby grandson in Chicago and caring for the little angel has been the best therapy for me, Stephen and I talk several times daily.
Thank you again
Thank you again
QUOTE(Omoba @ Apr 21 2008, 11:58 AM)
I appreciate all the support and well wishes. I am currently with my new baby grandson in Chicago and caring for the little angel has been the best therapy for me, Stephen and I talk several times daily.
Thank you again
Thank you again
Woa Omoba.
I am so sorry to hear about this I will keep you in my prayers.
you are in our prayers
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.