NOA dated february 2012

[Marianouveau 0]

The marriage certificate won't help because you did not get married. If you got married the process will take longer.

Yes everybody who got in trouble or made mistake are those who hired lawyer to help them out.

I just received my interview date for my mom and son and I did all the process with my husband together. We did not pay any lawyer. We already have to spend so much money on paperwork translation and stuff.

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Take a deep breath, this site is here for support and advice. You should fill in/ create a timeline. It would help others to be able to better answer you.

Was the marriage cert. already expired by the time you sent in your I-129F packet?

Unfortunately, the status of your case is up to the USCIS reviewer who has your file at this point... You could get an RFE (request for evidence) or they could deny your visa if they think you are already married. No one can tell you for sure.

From what the OP has stated, he received the marriage certificate on January 3 and received the NOA1 on February 2, so the petition package was sent in before the certificate expired. Thirty days from January 3 is February 2.

[Myrussianbride 1]

But the adjudicator who will review your file won't know all of that backstory when reviewing the contents of your file. They'll see your I-129F fiancé(e) petition, flip through and see a marriage certificate included as well and make a conclusion that you may already be married, which makes you ineligible for filing the I-129F.

At this point, you can wait to see what happens, but also have a plan b in the event your petition is returned or denied. Plan b would include looking into the CR-1/IR-1 process (go here to read up on it), where you would marry and then file to have her join you in the U.S.

I was just on the phone with my attorney, and he said he included a letter stating her father's loss, and our intentions to be together.

Any thoughts?

[LeftCoastLady 441]

I was just on the phone with my attorney, and he said he included a letter stating her father's loss, and our intentions to be together.

Any thoughts?

See the second part of my response:

At this point, you can wait to see what happens, but also have a plan b in the event your petition is returned or denied. Plan b would include looking into the CR-1/IR-1 process (go here to read up on it), where you would marry and then file to have her join you in the U.S.

Welcome to the waiting game...

[Myrussianbride 1]

Yes, at this point there is nothing I can do anyways. I will just wait. If I get denied, how long will the other process take? (the CR-1)

Please advice, Thanks

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

From what the OP has stated, he received the marriage certificate on January 3 and received the NOA1 on February 2, so the petition package was sent in before the certificate expired. Thirty days from January 3 is February 2.

Oh oh..not good.

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Yes, at this point there is nothing I can do anyways. I will just wait. If I get denied, how long will the other process take? (the CR-1)

Please advice, Thanks

It takes approximately 9 months. You can see processing stats here for more estimates based on other VJ-ers who've filed for that petition: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/irstats.php

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

She left the the US on January 4th, a day after I got the marriage certificate since her father passed away in Moscow. (she was here in Houston for with her father's work visa, she had a one year visa, she was here also 4 years ago with the same visa...)

Her father went to Moscow for the new year's holidays and passed away before making it back to US. She went to Moscow to attend the funeral, but since her father passed away, her visa expires... and since the marriage certificate was not valid, we applied for K1.

Please comment! Thanks

Number 1 lose the lawyer. They should know better

Number 2, I think we have some confusion of terms here. Being a Texican by birth I see what you are speaking about. You have a marriage LICENSE, you do not have a marriage CERTIFICATE. Texas does this similar to Vermont. You get the license which is valid for 30 days to GET MARRIED. WHEN you are married the officiant SIGNS the license and sends it to the appropriate authority to be registerd and THEN you are married. The same document serves as both but until signed it is merely a license to get married, not a marriage certificate which says YOU ARE MARRIED.

Correct me if I am wrong.

It should not be in your I-129f package because an adjudicator can easily confuse this as something it is not (you did)

all you need to prove intent is a letter of intent (samples here at VJ) Without a letter of intent your petition will not be approved and I am not sure they will accept an expired marriage license as evidence you both intend to get married within 90 days of her arrival. Yur attorney is particularly stupid. But at least he does not make you pay all up front. Write off the $500 as "first semester tuition"

I suspect you are going to get an RFE for an explanation of the marriage license and a letter if intent from each of you.

[Myrussianbride 1]

you are right, it is a marriage license! My mistake.

The attorney did send a letter of intent explaining her father's passing and our intention to get married once she comes to US

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

you are right, it is a marriage license! My mistake.

The attorney did send a letter of intent explaining her father's passing and our intention to get married once she comes to US

So the license is not a problem as long as they see it for that. The letter should help explain that. You kinda flipped me out!

The problem you have now is that the instructions call for an "original statement..." from EACH person that they are willing and inted to marry each other within 90 days of the arrival of the foreeign beneficiary. Ther is no way the attorney can do that for you, not to say it has not been done. Basically you have to satisfy the adjudicator that gets your case.

I do not think the lawyer is doing you any good here. Check out the VJ sample letters of intent. Look under "example forms" above. Worst case it seems you would get an RFE for the intent letters. You could get your fiancee to sign and send you one now so it is ready. Do not send anything more to USCIS unless you get an RFE.

[didopage 337]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.... that there was a confusion between marriage LICENSE and CERTIFICATE. I still don't understand why buying a marriage license valid 30 days when your lawyer should know that getting the fiance visa takes months!! That's a complete waste of money (license and lawyer included), and that will highly make the adjudicator wonder if you guys are already married.

But oh well, just need to wait for the USCIS answer know.

[Myrussianbride 1]

Thank you guys! I will update everyone on what happens next.

[ChetT 9]

Tell us you already fired him. We like to hear that

Thank you guys! I will update everyone on what happens next.

[feli114 65]

you are right, it is a marriage license! My mistake.

The attorney did send a letter of intent explaining her father's passing and our intention to get married once she comes to US

Sorry to hear about your dilemma but I wanted you to know this. I hired an atty for just the petition. I got an rfe for which he wanted to charge . Long story short, we are on our own now. But the hardcopy for the rfe went to him, the noa2 went to him, and the letter for nvc went to him. So, if you fire your lawyer, send a letter to USCIS, and to NVC, and to the consulate if your case manages to make it out of this. Good luck to you. By the way, I was out 800 for my lesson.

Edited May 7, 2012 by feli114

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.... that there was a confusion between marriage LICENSE and CERTIFICATE. I still don't understand why buying a marriage license valid 30 days when your lawyer should know that getting the fiance visa takes months!! That's a complete waste of money (license and lawyer included), and that will highly make the adjudicator wonder if you guys are already married.

But oh well, just need to wait for the USCIS answer know.

It sounds to me like she was here, they intended to get married and got the marriage license, then the situation came up with her father and she left before using the license.Very logical and reasonable. I get it.

The attorney, brilliant guy that he is, thinks "Gee... she did not sign a letter of intent but she signed this marriage license which shows intent, so let's just send that with a letter explaining it and then we do not have to wait for her to sign a REAL letter of intent and FedEx it to us from Moscow for $67"

The flaw in that plan is that could blow up a fiancee application and/or the fact that the letter needs to state that she is willing to marry the petitioner within 90 days of arrival. The license does not accomplish that and some equally clever adjudicator could take her departure to mean she got cold feet and does not want to marry the petitioner, or at least was not sure. In short...a marriage license is NOT a letter of intent and an attorney cannot wirte a letter of intent for anyone else.

NOW what you should do is that each of you should print out a REAL letter of intent (VJs sample works great)and have her mail that to you. Keep it in your desk drawer for the RFE. You can download the sample letter and add her name and date to it, email it to her...voila!

She can sign it and mail it back. Normal slow boat mail from Russia will be fine.