denied

[LylAndLu 3]

i have emailed my senator twice with no response. not going to get help from them until i get home and can call them. i have always heard that if you are denied for a k1 visa there is no point in getting married and filing for marriage visa as getting married proves nothing.

If you have access to internet you might have access to Skype, if you put calls to the US on Skype are around 0.015 per minute. I would try to get hold of a human being while still there in case the file can get turned around. Who is your Senator? (truth is some are more responsive for these kind of cases than others).

[LoveinPeru 2]

when are you getting back to the U.S? you could always use skype to call your senator from Algeria so that you can try and start working on getting things turned around ASAP.

[coraliesolms 47]

Yes, they are slow in returning emails, but phone calls are rarely ignored. You will have to sign a privacy waiver for them to go ahead and work on your case, usually they will allow this to be printed off the internet and faxed to them, along with your case number your full name and the beneficiaries full name.

Now, the senator him/herself will usually not get involved, but their offices usually have "immigration liasons" that deal with this sort of thing. They will get in contact with someone at the Algiers consulate and hopefully stop your case from leaving the consulate. At which point you will hopefully get a second interview. If it happens to get back to the NVC before they contact the consulate, they will work with the NVC on finding out exactly what made them question the validity and hopefully get it sent back to the consulate, and which point you will want to bring EVERYTHING you have that proves your relationship is legit (letters from family on both sides, more pictures and emails etc).

As for CR-1s being denied after K-1's I dont have any statistics at hand, but usually it helps a little bit.

Keep us informed as to what happens after you reach your senator!!

[villaspurs 65]

[snip]

I am seeing a disturbing pattern of visa refusals, Stokes interviews, AAP and other abuses directed largely at non-white or non-European beneficiaries. Is anyone else seeing this?

This isn't anything new--at least not the "non-white/non-European" part. When you look at the consulates reported to be considered high fraud, they are overwhelmingly in non-white, non-European countries. Beneficiaries from these countries almost always undergo more scrutiny at the consulate than in places like Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, etc.

[moroccogirlny 100]

i have emailed my senator twice with no response. not going to get help from them until i get home and can call them. i have always heard that if you are denied for a k1 visa there is no point in getting married and filing for marriage visa as getting married proves nothing.

FALSE Many cases have been approved 2nd time around(either k1 or CR1)

First your case was not "denied". The consulate sends it back to USCIS for recommendation, USCIS makes the decision. Should USCIS close your case you will have the opportunity to refile.

[USColombia 6]

we are writing down all their questions and our answers. I can't get them to tell me anything specific other than they don't believe our relationship is real. comparing our interviews, my fiance and I have decided that it is our age, some misunderstandings of some questions on my part and them interpreting one of his answers in a way that he did not mean and our relationship timeline is the issue. the woman that interviewed him was incredulous that he would want to marry a woman that has a son that is 19 and he is 25. was very sarcastic in wanting know how he thought he could make us into a family. he tried to explain to her that my son is on his own and living with his own fiancee and that he would not try to be a father to him but a friend. she did not allow him to explain fully but cut him off. i'm not getting any response from my senators office nor response from emails to the consulate. i guess i will just have to wait until i am home and start making phone calls. does anyone know how quickly they will return our file to NVC?

Absolutely dreadful, don't give up - I'm sure they'll offer a second interview. Stay strong and positive, you'll find a way.

For others who may be nearing your situation - could you post the questions you were asked? Never heard of the book question... Thanks!

[Harsh_77 716]

we are writing down all their questions and our answers. I can't get them to tell me anything specific other than they don't believe our relationship is real. comparing our interviews, my fiance and I have decided that it is our age, some misunderstandings of some questions on my part and them interpreting one of his answers in a way that he did not mean and our relationship timeline is the issue. the woman that interviewed him was incredulous that he would want to marry a woman that has a son that is 19 and he is 25. was very sarcastic in wanting know how he thought he could make us into a family. he tried to explain to her that my son is on his own and living with his own fiancee and that he would not try to be a father to him but a friend. she did not allow him to explain fully but cut him off. i'm not getting any response from my senators office nor response from emails to the consulate. i guess i will just have to wait until i am home and start making phone calls. does anyone know how quickly they will return our file to NVC?

Calm down your senators office is not going respond you in like 10 mins. They need some time to respond back and when some time which is within couple weeks depending what else is going on in their office and how big a staff they have.

[Harsh_77 716]

This isn't anything new--at least not the "non-white/non-European" part. When you look at the consulates reported to be considered high fraud, they are overwhelmingly in non-white, non-European countries. Beneficiaries from these countries almost always undergo more scrutiny at the consulate than in places like Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, etc.

Al422 - there is no such thing as white and non-white not getting visas. Your observation does not seem to me entirely true but sounds like its more bias.

Also you need to put in consideration that countries non-whites comes from have larger number of visa frauds.

[pushbrk 12,083]

I am seeing a disturbing pattern of visa refusals, Stokes interviews, AAP and other abuses directed largely at non-white or non-European beneficiaries. Is anyone else seeing this?

The above is a Red Herring. Google, "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc" and have a read.

What you're seeing is related people from "poorer" countries with high motivation to improve their lives by cheating the system to get to the USA or other "Western" industrialized countries. They aren't poor because they aren't white and so neither are they seeing extra scrutiny because they aren't white.

Consular posts that see a lot of fraud, deal with visa applicants differently than in posts where there's little fraud. How much fraud, tends to track with the motivation and to a certain extent with the culture.

The cause is the fraud not the skin color, as in, it's not the clothes that make you look fat.

[SimplyMacy 4]

our interview was yesterday and I was in attendance. we had all the standard proof of a relationship e.g. chat logs phone records text logs letters from family and friends. He was interviewed by a woman in english and then given the same questions by a man in arabic. he answered consistently and truthfully for over an hour. I was then interviewed by the same man for about an hour. We were given no specific reasons for denial just the usual "appears to be for immigration purposes" statement. i'm fairly sure that they did not like the fact that I had met him in may 2009 and went to see him in december 2009. the man said " that was quick!!" they also did no tlike our 15 year age difference. that's all i can think that it would be since we co,pared our answers to their questions afterwards and we gave the same;

so, i have tried contacting my senator, no response yet; what about getting in touch aith an attorney, and how do I find a good one?

Im so sorry to hear that. Dont give up! Wait for senators help or your attorney. I am 15 yrs younger than my petitioner but they never question me about it. All the best! Fight for it! You are just in a high fraud country. Show and prove your true intent.

[Karonya and Adel 8]

If you have access to internet you might have access to Skype, if you put calls to the US on Skype are around 0.015 per minute. I would try to get hold of a human being while still there in case the file can get turned around. Who is your Senator? (truth is some are more responsive for these kind of cases than others).

when are you getting back to the U.S? you could always use skype to call your senator from Algeria so that you can try and start working on getting things turned around ASAP.

I leave for home tomorrow morning. that is why I said I would wait until I was home to start calling

Absolutely dreadful, don't give up - I'm sure they'll offer a second interview. Stay strong and positive, you'll find a way.

For others who may be nearing your situation - could you post the questions you were asked? Never heard of the book question... Thanks!

yes i will when I am home.

Calm down your senators office is not going respond you in like 10 mins. They need some time to respond back and when some time which is within couple weeks depending what else is going on in their office and how big a staff they have.

?? I don't know why you feel the need to tell me to calm down. i was not complaining that I had not had a response just letting everyone know that I had tried to contact my congressman so they could leave that out of their suggestions. I am calm and I don't need your "10 minutes" sarcasm. if you have nothing helpful to say don't post.

Im so sorry to hear that. Dont give up! Wait for senators help or your attorney. I am 15 yrs younger than my petitioner but they never question me about it. All the best! Fight for it! You are just in a high fraud country. Show and prove your true intent.

Thank you, I won't be giving up. I did not expect an immediate approval but I also did not expect what basically amounts to a denial (to moroccogirlny, I know it is a recommendation for revocation but in the same way it is a denial also. the consulate "denied" to give him the visa and "denied" was the exact word out of the CO's mouth and from what I have read K1's rarely have the chance to provide new evidence. revocation, denial they end up with the same thing-- no visa) I say again I will be contacting congressmen when I am home and won't let this rest. there is no reasonable reason to refuse him a visa. no misrepresentation, no criminal history, plenty of proof of contact between us, 3 trips to algeria by me, letters from his father and mother and aunt and friends, no religious differences, we had the Islamic ceremony... everyone knows my age and that I have children and no one here has a problem with it. I am sure about my relationship with adel and i know they think I am a fool for believing him. they will be proven wrong. thanks, everyone, for the posts that were helpful and/or sympathetic.

[In a tizzy 7]

May I ask who conducted the interview? Was it a blonde lady or an arabic man? The reason I am asking is because I am an older woman engaged to be married to a younger Algerian man.

Because something is terribly wrong with this procedure. It's okay for an OLDER man to marry a YOUNGER woman, but not the other way??? That is injustice.

I hope you can secure some form of consultation and bring your honey to AMERICA. I wish you the best.

Sincerely, Deafemily

[Gocka 17]

Al422 - there is no such thing as white and non-white not getting visas. Your observation does not seem to me entirely true but sounds like its more bias.

Also you need to put in consideration that countries non-whites comes from have larger number of visa frauds.

Very true I agree with you, Russia,Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Albania are some of the hot spots for fraud and they are all white and European. Its truly not the color its the situation

I can understand why they would take that point of view. They have a very sexist attitude in that part of the world and I would bet my life that it was the fact that you had a son :/ its really sad because im sure your relationship is genuine but I am positive that since he is 25 and your son 19 they simply refuse to believe that its possible. Do not give up though if your relationship is real then you can prove it somehow.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Gocka

[Gocka 17]

Very good answer your right. If you just think logicaly about it, it makes total sense. Someone from Britan, France, Hollan, Germany is usually alot more well off then the middle east or africa or asia or even eastern europe, so in reality how many people in Britan in France in Germany etc are just itching to come to the USA? In reality most people from those countries would not even consider coming here let alone try to come in through fraud. The poorer the country the more imigration fraud, unfortunatly around the world the darker peoples skin gets the poorer they are but its still because they are poor not dark. Richer people from those parts of the world have no problem getting visas

The above is a Red Herring. Google, "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc" and have a read.

What you're seeing is related people from "poorer" countries with high motivation to improve their lives by cheating the system to get to the USA or other "Western" industrialized countries. They aren't poor because they aren't white and so neither are they seeing extra scrutiny because they aren't white.

Consular posts that see a lot of fraud, deal with visa applicants differently than in posts where there's little fraud. How much fraud, tends to track with the motivation and to a certain extent with the culture.

The cause is the fraud not the skin color, as in, it's not the clothes that make you look fat.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Gocka

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

the woman that interviewed him was incredulous that he would want to marry a woman that has a son that is 19 and he is 25. was very sarcastic in wanting know how he thought he could make us into a family.

Yes, the consular officers did assume that the reason why a 25 year-old man from Algeria would want to marry a 40 (?) year-old woman from the US might be -- at least to some degree -- fueled by the desire to live in the Land of Milk and Honey.

Whether or not that's true is irrelevant, as the assessment is up to the people in charge, not the beneficiary and not the applicant.

Compare it to a job interview. If you apply for a job and are being interviewed, the person conducting the interview is deciding on whether you get the job or not. Sure, you can complain to the interviewer's boss, but I doubt that this would get you the job.

i'm not getting any response from my senators office nor response from emails to the consulate. i guess i will just have to wait until i am home and start making phone calls.

Be realistic in your expectations. If you are a United States Senator and people who are unhappy with the decision of US Government employees contact you every few days and complain, do you really think you would butt in every time? Sure, if some documented abuse or scandal surfaces, perhaps, but if a woman complains that her fiance in Algeria did not pass the interview because the consular officers concluded possible abuse or fraud or call it whatever you want, I don't think that's something a US Senator would want to deal with. It's not his job.