Is Your Case Really Different?

[Gagan and Lindsay 2]

As I sit and read the forums daily, I keep telling myself "my case is different" as a means of trying to stay positive through this process. This takes the edge off the fear that my fiancé and I will go through all this waiting and end up getting denied or put in AP...but the question has been looming the last several days...

At what point does your case stop being "different"?

I don't mean to be a debby-downer and in all reality...everyone's cases are ultimately different and everyone's outcomes can be different...I know that...

My fiancé and I have built a strong case and we just want to be together so bad like so many other couples...it's almost made our relationship somewhat different because we are going the extra mile to make sure we have documentation of EVERYTHING... My first thought before every decision is "can we use this as documentation?" which was not at all how I thought this journey would be...

When I visited an immigration attorney a couple months before we started our process, I was so naive and now I feel so tainted by the government...It may be years after we are married that I let go of the feeling that we constantly have to prove our relationship and love is true...

But alas, we are building great memories that will last a lifetime and that we will have documented. We will have an amazing love story to tell our kids and grandkids and we are determined to live happily ever after...

Just some thoughts on a lonely and cold winter's night... ;-)

[Boiler 43,622]

Initially we were going to go the other way, but things happened and I ended up here.

Remember you always have two options at least.

[TBoneTX 43,290]

Everything depends on your consulate. Study the reviews on yours thoroughly, and prepare.

[Rufus2012 175]

A few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, for the lastest year they published statistics (2010 IIRC), 96% of K-1s were approved without incident. On appeal (how they defined appeal is unclear), a further 3.2% were approved. A total of 99.2% of applications are approved, and the overwhelming majority of them without any hitch.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this website is not necessarily a representative example of K-1 applicants. While I haven't done any number crunching, I suspect that there is a greater likelihood that people join when they have problems. You're going to read the horror stories here because someone needs help and is asking for it. If nothing goes wrong with someone's case, and they're not the chatty type, they just don't exist here.

[Bec_Dipu 103]

At what point does your case stop being "different"?

My first thought before every decision is "can we use this as documentation?" which was not at all how I thought this journey would be...

I don't think you have any hope of your case not being different. You are different from a vast majority of US/Indian cases. It can't be helped. Hopefully, though, you'll be different from most of the cases that have similarities to yours, such as race or religion differences. Fair warning though...you very well may escape the denial like we did, but it does seem as though men are placed in AP often when they are the beneficiary in India, regardless of any other factors in the relationship. So you may have to wait through an additional background check but that's way better than what could happen. The good news for you is that you got to learn about these other Indian cases during the process, so you can be proactive and prepared.

If you do get put into AP for a background check (and they won't tell you that's why, you just have to assume), make sure you involve your senator as soon as it hits 60 days. Dipu got his visa approved on 10/21 but they didn't get around to printing it and mailing it to him until 11/09, when they got our congressional inquiry. Three weeks wasted.

Good luck...we'll be rooting for you!

[Bec_Dipu 103]

By the way, I don't want to sound like a Negative Nancy.

I just don't believe in telling people not to worry, it will all work out when the truth is, it will all work out if you put in the time and effort and have honest expectations of what could happen and are prepared for every outcome. THEN it will all work out.

I see a lot of people post on this site saying comforting things like, "It will be OK," and "Hang in there, it will happen soon!" Those platitudes are great if they make you feel better but they certainly won't help you achieve a successful outcome and they completely ignore the fact that some people SHOULD worry. Worry leads to action, action leads to results.