I Charles Bennett filed for a K1 visa which is the I129F form. I filed for the fiancée visa with the assistance of my attorney Gregory Bryl. We filed this form on October 16, 2007 and on February 28, 2008 this application was approved and followed with open appointment letter for the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez. We attended this appointment on April 16, 2008. We ran into complications there because my fiancé and I was planning to marry in the US. We had went to the court house and got a marriage license on August 19, 2007 and planned to be married. At that time she was on a tourist visa. A friend of ours told us it was illegal to marry on a tourist visa and could be considered as fraud. At that point we hired our attorney and applied for the K1 visa.
My fiancée then returned to Mexico to wait for the K1 visa interview. For our interview we brought a photocopy of that unused marriage license to the visa appointment to show true intent to be married along with photos and emails to show we have been together with in the last two years, to meet the consulates requirements for the Fiancée visa.
On April 16, 2008 when we had our open appointment interview the Consulate Officer told my fiancée that was not good enough evidence and with the marriage license he believed that we were married, even though the license was unused. He sent her back to our hotel and told her to come back the next day so he could review the case. The next day when she returned he sent her away again and told her to get a certified letter from the office we got the license from with to state that the marriage license was not used.
On April 21, 2008 she went back to the consulate with the certified letter as well as some emails from the Jackson County Web Site -Marriage License to show correspondence about the unused marriage license. This was to prove we were not married. The officer then told her that it was his decision to approve or deny any visas and he believed despite the evidence that he still believed we were married. He sent her away without written reason for the denial.
Today April 22, 2008 we tried to appeal this decision at the US consulates office in Ciudad Juarez and they told us to contact our attorney and our congressman to help us. The guy at the window there said that we could talk with the chief officer to see if he can review our case but he was not available. He told us we could come tomorrow and stand in line again with the other 500 people there and maybe he would be available tomorrow but he could not give us an appointment or make us any guarantees to be seen. It is our hope that with the evidence that we are providing you that you can help us appeal this decision.
I am outraged that any U.S. Government office would refuse look up a document that is from another U.S. government web site ! Is this HOMELAND security ? Or are we denying our people the ability to find love regardless of race ,religion or geographic location. My Fiancée and I have been approved this Visa through the NVC and FBI backgrounds checks. Our case number is CDJ2008567315. However the person at the US consulates office in Ciudad Juarez thinks he must be above the law and polices that have put in to place.
My fiancée has had no infractions of the law and has never come to the U.S. illegally. She is free and clear to marry and has never had any children in fact her own parents reside in the U.S.. Now because of one mans opion My fiancée is denied the right to Marry in the US and to see her own Mother and Father. Please help us with this matter as we believe the decision is unfound and unjust. Thank you for your time and attention to our issue. Charles R Bennett

i fell bad sorry ...but not expert so can not help so sorry

That's a really horrible situation. I'm not an expert either, but I would recommend what they did...contact your lawyer and your congressman. Hopefully they can help!

As I read your story there are many bits of misinforamtion that participated in getting you to this awful situation. If your attorney guided you throughout this effort and even remotley suggested that the unused marriage license be presented as evidence, then he needs to be replaced.

Unfortunatly the CO is above the law, their decision is final.

What code did he write on the sheet ?

This will determine what can be done

I believe consulate employees are DOS and not DHS employees.

Yes the BIG mistake was the unused marriage certificate. Too bad you didn't know about this website before your interview and then you could have followed the guidelines here.

So is all that is needed to a document proving the license has not been used? How tough is that to get?

i am so sorry to hear about this and that ur going thru this......unfortunately the marriage license was bad idea......im not really sure how to get past that other than maybe make sure he case is closed and refile it? i dont know if that will do any good either contact a good attorney......... i will pray for u

I replied to other of your posts, but it is until now that I'm understanding what really happened. I was under the impression (from your other posts) that the reason of the denial was that you brought engagement party pictures to the interview. But as I'm reading now, bringing the marriage license to the interview was the real cause of the denial. Whose idea was to bring this document to the Consulate? And what was the purpose to bring it?

Your fiance was denied, because the marriage license made the CO assume that she is no longer eligible for a visa, because he got the impression that she is already married to you.

I know that at this point, "could haves" are good for nothing! BUT I have to say this, because it seems your lawyer did not give you the best advice. You guys could have gotten married, even if she was on a tourist visa, if you were at the point where you already had the marriage license and everything ready, you could have gotten married, then your fiance could have gone back to México and filed for K-3. Did your lawyer ever mentioned that possibility?

What did the Certification issued by the County about the unused marriage license said? I believe that it did not exactly stated that the marriage license was not used, the CO must have had a reason for not taking it as valid. Which document did the CO had to look online? It is better to bring all your documents printed, do not expect that they will get online to review the information. Also, in this case I think certified original documents would have been much better than just online copies.

I'm so sorry, I understand your frustration and you have all the right to be upset. However, in all fairness, with all this new information that you wrote, it is my understanding that the CO is not trying to be above the law, unfortunately you gave him enough reasons for him to doubt that your fiance was eligible to get a K-1 when you presented the marriage license, and on the second interview the documents you presented (apparently... because I still do not understand what is it exactly what you submitted or what the documents said) that still, did not prove that you did not get married.

The CO decision may not be fair to you, but unfortunately he had basis to believe that your fiance did marry you in the U.S.

I'm sorry, but the best you can do is consult with a new lawyer, one who is specialized on this type of process and denials. Did the CO sent back your petiton to the U.S. already?

I'm really sorry, that you got into this terrible situation, at this point you really need to contact a good lawyer because you don't want to waste any more time with another mistake.

Best of luck!

Apparently, they already presented this document, but it was "misworded". I'm guessing it did not exactly say the license was not used, because the CO rejected this document for some reason.

that's totally dumb !!!! I agree with advices from eric and teresa, definetly

The Consulate Officer stated that it was his Belief that were were married and ineligiable for this visa on the paper he gave us it sad File for the I 130, However we have to be married to fill out this form !

We Did Provide a Original Certified letter from the county we got the Marriage license from. It even showed the License was unsed. We got our document from the same office we got the marriage license from it is also public record in our state. We had the document fed ex to Juarez and it took us two days to get it !!!

Thanks for the reply let me clearifly a few things that seem to be foggy ! One thing is that we had the original documents Fed Ex to Juarez. The document was issued with the States rasied seal and was Notarized. The Letter stated that on this date a Marriage License was purchased and not used. The Marriage License had numbers on there that matched the Certified letters conformation. This is the document that the Consulate Officer requested and then denied stated that he wanted our state to say that we was not Married. That is why I brought additional copys of the emails and contacts as well as the US Governmet website so they can see that no Marriage has taking place between me and my Fiancee. The reason we brought the Unused Marriage License in the first place was we were under the direction of our attorney to show true intent of wanting to be married and to follow the laws to get married under the right visa ! He stated this is to show the consulate officer to that we were clear and free to be married and that an unused marriage would show that. I am new to this whole process and Now it is turning in to a Living Nightmare and not like a Wedding we had dreamed of !!!! I really do apperciate all the advice and insight it is what is keeping me grounded from going crazy through this whole process. However it continues to be my belief that we did do exactly what the consulate officer asked of us !!! I think denial is what he had in mind and there was no document we used to statisfiy him. I would love to be wrong and so the Journey continues !!! By the way as we believe our file is still in Juraez for review and as of this afternoon our Congressman has recieved a Fax from the Consulate General stating that he is reviewing our case. Also as stated before the Consulate officer did recieve the original certified document signed and notarized stating that we were not married. So we could only hope that this whole process can be over soon ! We welcome anyones thoughts on this together we are strong !

Chuck, what were the documents you wanted the CO to look online? I'm confused...

Did the CO explain why he thought the certificate from the County was misworded?

That's the most important thing to remember! This process seems so unpredictable most of the time. You guys have had a lot of problems that seem unreasonable. Just remember why you're doing this and that when it's all done you'll be together and it will all have been worth it. Keep us posted on what happens, it sounds like you got some very bad advice from your lawyer. I hope that everything works out without you have to wait through another application process!

I was hoping that the CO would look online to see that we were not married per the website i provided him. It is a government website. it was just to back up the others papers i printed off for him. I did not want hime to think that what i was providing was fraudulaent.

The CO officer did state that with the Certified Letter/Statement we had sent via Fed Ex that it stated the marriage License was not used. He wanted it to say that we were not Married. He did not like the word "Unused" that is why it was important to review that emails to that office and also see the website we had for him. SO what are your thoughts.

Thank you for clearing that up. If you did submit the right documents, then there is no reason for the denial!

That is great news that the petition is still at the Consulate and that it is being reviewed! Hopefully with your Congressman intervention and the papers you submitted that prove you are both legally free to marry, it will all be solved.

My only thought is, that your lawyer really screwed up by advising you to submit the license.

Keep us posted, I wish you guys the best!

Thanks for youadvice and your kind words !!! We will Keep you updated !!!!

Where is your worthless lawyer now?

Get him to fax to the consulate, on his letterhead, that is was under his advice that you submit the unused marriage license.

Have him grovel profusely to the consulate in that letter.

Our Attorney has made an appeal for us and we are waitng to hear what the next step is ! So what would you suggest is a good step for us ! What can we lookarward too ! I am sure and from the post we are not the only ones this has happended to !!! However we are strong enough to fight for what is right !!!! Thanks for the reply !!!

I hope everything works out! Good luck.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

He did get a document from his county. but the CO did not want to see it. So he is being a chopF$$K the CO is