Did a mistake. How to fix it or how bad could it be?

[edward toro 3]

OK I did one really stupid mistake and the embassy interview is just 3 days away.

the mistake is that I put that my wife never had a job on all the forms we filed and here's why I did it:

My wife lived in the States for many years; she studied for modeling and she only worked for the agency as part for her training. She did get pay for those jobs but she never filed an income tax because her earnings were only 4 to 5K a year so she didn't need to file one. Then when we got married her temporal status was over and we moved to her country. I opened a business there and she helped me in the company. She was not on the payroll. She just liked to help me.

So now she just had her medical and the doctor asked her if she had ever worked. She answer that she worked in our company. So How can We approach this problem at the embassy? If she tells the consular officer that she had worked in the pass they are going to have a different thing on their file.

I am right now in Bogota Colombia with my wife waiting for the interview.

Any advise will be highly appreciated.

Thank you VJ's members.

Edited March 20, 2010 by edward toro

[Lansbury 19]

I opened a business there and she helped me in the company. She was not on the payroll. She just liked to help me.

Think that covers it quite well.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

OK I did one really stupid mistake and the embassy interview is just 3 days away.

the mistake is that I put that my wife never had a job on all the forms we filed and here's why I did it:

My wife lived in the States for many years; she studied for modeling and she only worked for the agency as part for her training. She did get pay for those jobs but she never filed an income tax because her earnings were only 4 to 5K a year so she didn't need to file one. Then when we got married her temporal status was over and we moved to her country. I opened a business there and she helped me in the company. She was not on the payroll. She just liked to help me.

So now she just had her medical and the doctor asked her if she had ever worked. She answer that she worked in our company. So How can We approach this problem at the embassy? If she tells the consular officer that she had worked in the pass they are going to have a different thing on their file.

I am right now in Bogota Colombia with my wife waiting for the interview.

Any advise will be highly appreciated.

Thank you VJ's members.

Unfortunately you have lied, which if found out is a material misrepresentation which I'm sure you know is a lifetime ban.

Luckily her income is irrelevant SO the one thing I think is that YOU stuffed up and YOU didn't realise that she was working in the US. Working in your company kind of counts as working but is more about owning a business so she get the bonus of the income of the business so yes it counts.

I'm not sure of the Columbia process but has she already submitted her G-325A? Or is that something she hands in at the interview? Is this the form that you filed with the incorrect info? Or was it the DS-230?

The issue is she would have signed these documents and she signed them as correct. Your only hope is telling them that you didn't realise that the help she gives you at the store counts because she doesn't get paid and that you forgot about the modelling stuff in the US because it was only a small amount and no tax return needed to be filed.

This is all assuming that columbia isn't too difficult an embassy. I would hope that they see your need to make it right as how honest you are. Another one is that you sent them the wrong form and that was the wrong one and that you only noticed when making sure you had everything ready for interview that you'd sent the wrong one and that waiting for the interview seemed easiest. This assumes that it's only one wrong document that you sent, if it's more than one it's going to be harder.

Again luckily your wife's working history is pretty much irrelevant to the process but if you can fix it, fix it ASAP.

[Lansbury 19]

Unfortunately you have lied, which if found out is a material misrepresentation which I'm sure you know is a lifetime ban.

That is a very harsh interpretation of the what he said. His wife was training to be a model, as part of her training she undertook modeling assignments. It was part of her training. In much the same way as trainee teachers get sent to schools for practical experience as part of their training. She was paid for the assignments but it was still training and can be explained in that light. As to a material misrepresentation might I suggest you look up the legal definition of that because what he did falls quite a way short of it I believe.

As to her helping out unpaid. I volunteer unpaid as an emergency blood courier for the America Red Cross. When I applied for citizenship I most certainly did not list it as employment on the application because it isn't. I help out unpaid because I choose to do so, that isn't employment. In conversation walking to the interview the interviewer asked me what I did to fill my time out now I was retired I said "I volunteer with the Red Cross". Nothing at all was said in the formal interview about not showing it as employment on the paperwork.

I don't think he will have any problems at all. It would need an explanation if the doctor for some reason mention she worked in the medical report but what relevance is that to the medical. I don't think anything needs fixing it is best to see if it is raised in the interview and if so to explain it as I just have. Certainly no need to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Lansbury