I am an British guy who has filed for a k1 visa to marry my American girlfriend. She has been living with me here in England for almost 6 months on a visitors visa and must return next week. We are well into the k1 visa process but as I have a criminal record we are sure I will need an I601 waiver. I have 2 crimes on record. 1 was for smashing a window (criminal damage) around 5 years ago. I recieved a small fine. 2 was for Arson for setting fire to a car (my friend did the deed but I was with him). I received a 12 month prison term and served around 3 months. This was just under 5 years ago. I have 1 youth court conviction as well, however I was 16 at the time (1994).

It wouldn't be hard to prove extreme hardship for my girlfriend. She helps her Mother look after handicaped (spelling?) children as well as her older who was left with the mental age of 10 after a severe car crash. This is just 1 example of why she cant leave America.

My question is, what are my chances of entering America to marry my girlfriend with an I601?

Thanks, Martin

Your chances are excellent. London is said to have the highest 601 approval rate in the world and they are relatively fast (under 6 months generally). Check out the 601 forum on immigrate2us.net for help on writing the hardship letter and best of luck.

Thanks, thats just what I wanted to hear. There is no other reason to think I would be declined, cheers.

Sir Woods, My husband is here after we filed a Waiver for him because of 2 crimes one of CMIT. You will have to file a waiver for sure but due to the fact that you served time and that you have more than one crime --- my husbands last crime was 23 years ago and we had about 6 letters of good character. As far as the prison term, the time served means nothing -- it is the maximum sentence time that is looked at - another thing they might question why your fiance was tin the UK with you for 6 months if she is required to be at home helping her mother - I think you need to get a much beefier story as to why she cannot immigrate to the UK with you -- Go to www.immigrate2us.net to read several examples of approved Waiver letters ---

good luck

Think this is the first time that I have disagreed with KitKat, but you are going to have to prove alot more than hardship with a CIMT.

My fiancee and just had our 601 waiver request denied in the UK. She has no criminal record and the waiver was for a Visa overstay of over 1 year. We were able to prove EXTREME Hardship however were denied because the officer said that my fiancee's character did not warrant consideration. I have contacted Laurel Scott and retained her to file an appeal, based on the fact that in the case of an overstay once the extreme hardship is proven they do not consider anything else. She is filing a motion to reconsider based on the officer not following procedure.

Now however in your case it is entirely different, let me quote parts of our denial letter so that you can understand what you are up againest.

Even though i did prove extreme hardship part of what i had submitted was dismissed on the following grounds.

I quote

As previously stated, hardship to the alien, or any other family member is not a consideration, Therefore any hardship suffered by (my Name) children or parents cannot be considered in these preceedings.

Now since your fiancee has been in the UK for 6 months i really doubt that her handicapped mother is going to be a consideration.

Second issue that you have to over come is your criminal record. The previous post concerning sentencing is correct and in addition

I quote

Furthermore as noted above the decision to grant a waiver such as this is a matter within the discretion of the attorney general. The favorable exercise of discretion depends in each case on the nature and circumstances of the ground to be waived. and on the presence of any additional advers matters to include evidence of bad character (see matter of Mendez-Moralez Interim decision #3272 (BIA 1996)

What that refers to is that not only do you have to prove extreme hardship by the USC you must also prove that the alien warrants consideration due to criminal record. Since your crimes do fall within the area of moral turpitude, and are not that far in the past, you are going to have a very difficult time proving that. I can not stress enough that you need a really good lawyer to even have a chance of approval. Granted it is always up to the officer deciding the case but when you are have multiple offenses in the recent past your chances of approval decrease dramatically.

I dont mean to sound like you dont have a chance, but do not take this whole proceedings lightly. Currently it takes 12 to 15 weeks for the UK embassy to make a determination and that time can be extended to 12 to 15 months when CIMT are involved. Then at that point you would probably be denied and then your only option would be to file an appeal which can take up to another 18 months. Again strongly recommend you get a good lawyer and ensure that you have alot more hardships than just a handicapped mother in law. Only a lawyer can give you the straight story, but beware there alot of lawyers (supposed experts) that will take your money and file the waiver only to have it shot down at the end.

Good luck to you, you have a hard road ahead especially with immigration issues here in the US becoming such a big deal right now.

It is well known that CIMT and Overstay waivers are viewed differently. They (USCIS) are a lot harder on overstays than people with CIMT.
The fact is that everything that the OP posted is within the grounds of being accepted. There are only a few permanent bars ie: murder, Kidnapping.

To the OP,
Submit the waiver with hardship letters, keep it simple don't clog your waiver with irrelevant crap. Hardship letters, doctor report for the mother, character references and all that jazz.
Why I am not always quick to tell people to get a lawyer, in your case I would tell you to consult one at least so you can write the hardship letter correctly. Not saying you couldn't but you have a few different things there that might be tricky.

My wife lived with me in Australia for 1 year before I got my visa approved after submitting my 601. You don't have to tell them that she has lived with you, I didn't, just let them know of the hardships.

Good luck