Denied Immigrant Visa at Consulate interview

[UH60Chief 6]

Hello everyone.

First off, thank you to anyone who reads this and gives advice. I have been on the Visa Journey for almost 2 years now and still really have no idea what to do. I have been researching and asking questions nearly every day since my wife and I started this whole process. I still feel as lost as I did the day we started. I will try to be as brief as possible.......

My situation: active duty military stationed in Germany. My wife is a local national. We initally filed the I-130 in February 2013 and the petition was approved in May. We went in for the Visa interview in September of 2013 and were informed that the visa was refused(denied) on the grounds of crimes reflecting moral turpitude under section 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). It stated that we are eligible for a waiver by filing an I-601. At this point, I decided it was time to get a lawyer.

The lawyer reviewed our situation in Septmber 2013 and said there was no way to prove "extreme hardship" and 15 years had not passed since the crime. To give a background of the criminal charges....at the age of 16(year 1999) my wife had 2 convictions involving the defacement of public property(vandalism). The real kicker is that her mother was the one who actually did the vandalization and brought my wife with her. Guilty by association I guess. She was only given community service as a punishment and has not had a single incident since then(she is now 31 years old). Next month will mark 15 years since the incident so we are now exploring the option of the I-601. The past year I have also incurred a major back injury in the line of duty which has left me 80% disabled. My wife helps me with basic daily tasks due to the immobility of my legs and right arm. Germany does not have any VA facilities so I would have to be in the US to be treated for my condition. So, the extreme hardship may work in our favor now as well. My wife is very involved in both the US Military community here in Germany and she helps out at animal shelters on the German side. We have 5 character letters from people that have known her for over 10 years and also letters of recommendation from high ranking officials in the US Army. She was evaluated by a prominent Psychologist to determine she is of no harm or threat to anyone and that these acts were just adolescent stupidity that was encouraged by her mother.

So now that I have blabbed long enough about our situation, here are my questions. The lawyer had advised us to wait until the 15 year mark(next month) and file a completely new application for the I-130 and green card. What I am wondering is why would we file a totally new application when we know it will get denied at the Visa interview and have to go the I-601 route anyways? From my understanding, the Consulate does not care if it has been 15 years, the I-601 approving authority is the only one that takes this into consideration. Is there some kind of affadavit the lawyer can submit with our application that can obtain a waiver with the Immigrant Visa? I am confused as to how this lawyer can make a difference. I have called the Conulate in Frankfurt and they said I can still file the I-601 under the refused Visa from last year. It seems like filing under the already refused visa would save a lot of processing time since we would have to go through the whole process again if we follow the advice of the lawyer.

I apologize for writing a novel for you guys, I am just very lost and trying to find answers. Nobody in the USCIS has been helpful when I ask questions. They just refer me to a seperate organization that supposedly handles all Visa questions and Issues. They have not responded to a single one of my emails and never answer their phone. If anyone has advice on what to do, you would have my utmost gratitude and appreciation.

[UH60Chief 6]

Just a caveat.... I believe I posted this in the wrong topic section. I am a US citizen so I should have posted under "Bringing Family members of US citizens to America"

[NikLR 13,220]

~~moved to waivers and AP from bringing family members of permanent residents because the OP is asking about waivers~~

OP if you legally live in Germany it is one of the few places in the world that has DCF so if you were to reapply, you could do so at the US embassy in Frankfurt. DCF takes significantly less time than the normal IR1 route.

But you should be able to get some better answers in this forum about your waiver issues. Best of luck.

[Jawaree 717]

Yes DCF would be a good idea , but if your I 130 was

kept active at NVC or Consulate by U or atty there is

no need to start from scratch Call Liz Cannon in MA

for a free phone consult.

Everyone has hardships U may have parents in the US

sick or getting old that U have to return home to help with

caring about them, Drs visits, banking etc although its a

first world country name the negatives there, & Y U cant

stay there permanently, state y u need her here to help

you with parents, her biological clock running & U both

desire kids, any illness U may have had even sinuses get a

letter from your Dr...the hardships has to be on you, and

a disposition of her case must be in the waiver packet.

Explaining her age and an apology letter from her would not be

a bad idea , DO NOT blame mom , she has to accept responsibility

that she was there and aware of the defacing

Edited August 18, 2014 by Jawaree

[UH60Chief 6]

Jawaree,

Thank you very much for the advice.

I contacted Liz Cannon and plead my case to her. She thinks it will be easy to obtain a waiver so I am going to go with her. Our first consultation is tomorrow via Skype. I will let you all know how it goes.

[Zombie69 363]

Jawaree,

Thank you very much for the advice.

I contacted Liz Cannon and plead my case to her. She thinks it will be easy to obtain a waiver so I am going to go with her. Our first consultation is tomorrow via Skype. I will let you all know how it goes.

Yeah, it is strange that why your lawyer will tell you to file a brand new 1-130 application since it has been approved. You are right, if you do that, when you get to the interview, the officer is going to request a waiver, but the difference is you won't have to prove extreme hardship anymore because you just need to prove that 15 years have passed, and your wife has been rehabilitated. I just submitted my 601 waiver in April, and I also got two CIMT misdemeanors, but my situation is different from yours because my spouse is much older than me, and he will really suffer from extreme hardship if I am denied, so my lawyer thinks my case is a fairly easy one. Anyway, I am still waiting for my waiver decision and it has been almost 4 months, and I hope my decision will come soon. Good luck to you.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Zombie69

[Boiler 43,397]

Your original Lawyer gave you awful guidance, fortunately you are now on the correct track with Liz Cannon who has an excellent reputation.

Some waivers if needed are easier to put together than others, but I can not believe you could not have got one approved.

[Jawaree 717]

UH60 chief with any CIMT although so long as

Liz will tell U cover all bases, U will need to add

hardships. there is 2 ppl fighting hardships that

occurred over 20 yrs. Waivers are discretionary

(don't take it lightly) Liz is reasonable & a str8

shooter ...Good Luck Bro

[El Mayimbe 6]

Thank you for your service and good luck.

[UH60Chief 6]

Jawaree,

I cannot thank you enough for pointing us in Lizz Cannon's direction. In the last 2 days, she has been extremely helpful and has given us hope. We decided to ditch our other attorney and hire her. She reviewed our case and seems to think we should have no issues obtaining an approval. Apparently our previous attorney was an absolute moron that had no knowledge of immigration law. I will document how this process goes along for anyone else that may find themself in this situation.

[Jawaree 717]

Dude I wish U all the best Liz is a str8 shooter who is an EXPERT on waivers

U R welcome my brother

[Darnell 8,478]

~~moved to waivers and AP from bringing family members of permanent residents because the OP is asking about waivers~~

OP if you legally live in Germany it is one of the few places in the world that has DCF so if you were to reapply, you could do so at the US embassy in Frankfurt. DCF takes significantly less time than the normal IR1 route.

But you should be able to get some better answers in this forum about your waiver issues. Best of luck.

I wanna echo this,

as

if'n yer still in Germany, you qualify for filing DCF, and

that one month window you need will fall inside of the timeline for filing to approval, so it'll all fall off prior to visa interview.

That's my 2 cents about it, anyway.

[UH60Chief 6]

Just an update to my situation.......

The I-601 has been filed and was received by NVC on 10 October 2014. We requested it to be expedited due to circumstances surrounding our situation. At first we received no recognition of the expedite request. Our attorney sent another request and it was acknowledged that the expedite was requested but if we do not hear anything back within 15 days, we should assume the expedite was denied.

This is where it starts getting confusing........ 15 days passed by and we did not hear anything. My congressman's office requested an inquiry on our case and USCIS informed them that our case had been approved to be expedited on November 3rd but there was no estimated completion date. Our attorney then called USCIS and was told there was no information of our case being expedited. She also said if it did happen to be expedited, this presents an issue because they are supposed to reach a decision within 15 days(we are now just shy of 30 days).

Has anyone had similar issues like this? It would appear that USCIS is feeding false information to either the congressman's office or my attorney. I really would like to know what the actual status is but all they tell me when I call is that my case was received on 10 October and that no further information is available.

[Boiler 43,397]

There is no timeline I have ever seen mentioned for a waiver expedite.

Just quicker

[Jawaree 717]

My understanding is Congressional liasions get

more accurate info than attys....They tend to give

generic responses to applicants sometimes attys

some ppl with straight forward cases expedited

cases moves faster than one with CIMT ....guess

due to extra checks...have U check CEAC status?

put in NVC # example MEP********** .Try that, I seen

expedites run into 3 mths as it still has to go thru the

process