I am writing on behalf of a Russian friend of my wife's. My wife's friend -- call her Natalia -- entered the US seven years ago on a 90-day K-1 Visa, changed her mind about marrying her fiancee, and remained in the US illegally. She subsequently married another US citizen -- call him Martin.

Two years ago, Natalia moved back to Russia, and Martin petitioned on her behalf for a K-3 Visa. Natalia was interviewed in Moscow, passed the interview, and would have been granted the Visa had she presented her marriage certificate. She did not show it to them, and still has not done so. She won't say why, but I suspect that it might give away her secret -- that she was overstaying her 90-day visa at the time she married her husband.

Their next plan was for Martin to move to Russia to be with her, but that will never happen, because he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

I have researched this issue on the K-3 Forum, and I don't believe that expediting a new K-3 Visa application is going to work for her, and the deadline for filing the msising paperwork on her old K-3 applicaton is long past.

Can anyone tell me whether Natalia would be eligible for an I-601?

Im a little lost. How would presenting a marriage certificate reveal her secret. They would of done background checks based on her name etc that should of determined that already. Was it a prior marriage, as you state she didnt marry from the previous K-1..or is there no actual marriage certificate?

I was only guessing at why the marriage certificate was never sent to the Consulate because I am trying to make sense of it. It seems strange, but there it is. My wife has seen the marriage certificate; so we know that the two are legally married.

The facts are that she was required to forward an original copy of her marriage certificate by a certain date and did not do so. She does not have access to an American attorney, and her husband is about to have surgery and will need care afterwards; so he is not thinking about attorneys right now either. She asked us for suggestions as to what she should do, and we, never having been in this situation, hope that someone on VisaJourney will at least be able to point her in the right direction, be it an I-601, which was my best guess, a direct appeal to the Moscow Consulate, or some other approach.

So, did Natalia somehow NOT reveal her previous immigration history in her visa application? Surely this information (previous K-1, non-marriage and overstay) would have come to light independant of the mariage certificate?
She has access to US immigration attorneys; most of them will work via phone and email and you can usually find a bilingual one as well.

She can't file the I-601 (or any other waiver) until she has been denied the visa flat out (as a result of her overstay etc) and instructed to do so. This really doesn't sound like something she should try to handle herself.
If she has already lied on the visa application, I definitely don't think she should face this without legal help.

I believe there is more to the story than what N has told you so far.

yes I believe you have to be denied before the waiver.. I hope everything works out

My wife read Meauxna's post above and agrees with it. Her comment: "nobody knows what really happened in Moscow." The story I got, and am taking at face value, is that N was denied a K-3 because she did not submit all the required paperwork. My theory that she might have misrepresented the date of her marriage is just a theory. The only thing I know for sure is that N came back from her Moscow interview without a Visa.

At no point did anyone in Moscow suggest to N that she flie an I-601, as far as I know. That was my idea, based on searching the Forums for "hardship". Her original question to us was whether her husband could re-submit the K-3 paperwork and somehow get a new K-3 application processed in a couple of weeks because of his illness, and I knew that the answer to that one was "not a chance."

N lives mainly on her salary in Russia. M sends her a small amount of money monthly. She can't afford a Russian attorney, much less an American one.

Based on what I've read here so far, I'm not going to mention the possibility of an I-601 when I speak to her. I"m goiing to recommend that she phone the Moscow Consulate, tell them all the facts, the complete truth, whatever it is, and plead with them to accept her tardy marriage certificate, and that if that doesn't work, her husband must hire an attorney who specializes in hardship appeals.

Thanks for clarifying this for me.

If they had a K3 processed that means they also filed an I-130. After all this time it should be somewhere.

They can not file an I-601 until the consulate finds them inadmissible.

There may be opportunity to request an expedite based on her husband's illness. I would get evidence from his doctor to take with them to the embassy. Contact the Congressman's office for help on that.

If there is potential misrepresentation involved, it would be HIGHLY recommended to discuss with an attorney before contacting the consulate. Check www.visacentral.net for a low cost email consulation with an attorney specializing in 601 issues.