Approved !!!!! Refiled K1, Stokes, 5 year journey over.

[Pishi_Pishi 63]

I am so happy that you won the battle and never gave up! Big Congrats!!!!!!

[lonelywithouthim1 36]

OMG OMG OMG I am soooo happy for you guys, I have tears in my eyes. I know exactly how you feel, we went through it too and you were there to help me through it. THANK GOD for finally ending this nightmare....Congratulations my friend, it's time to breath :-)

[msbau764 245]

Thank you each and everyone for your warm wishes and genuine bona fide happy dances (couldn't resist the lingo).

congrats. can you help those that haven't finished the process and give us an indication what red flags in your case may have caused the initial denial? it seems weird that you would be singled out like that.

[Mike and Yaoling 46]

True love will find a way. Great job for sticking it out and congratulations! Best of luck, health and happiness to you and your loved one!

[SweetDelish 38]

Congratulations! I know this will give hope to others waiting in similar situations to you.

[Samlyd2012 38]

Congratulations, infact i remembered the very first day i registered on this website which was in 2012, you are among those people who replied my first post, having read everything about what you guys have passed through, infact i am very happy and grateful to God for what he has done for you guys. May his name be exalted. Congratulations once again

[Kay&Jay 44]

Congratulations!!!!Im so happy for you guys.

[Tina and Johan 206]

That's incredible!!! I've never read about the embassy contacting the petitioner for a separate interview. You rocked it! I can't wait to now read about when your fiance is HERE!

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Thank you all for the touching comments and best wishes. Getting teary eyed from your warm thoughts for us.

Two have inquired about potential red flags I may have had.

There was no justified red flag and we addressed everything.

Problem was that she refused to look at more evidence we gave to her after she requested it, she did not specify what she wanted.

It was the catch all generalisation of : Convince me but I really do not care to be convinced. Nothing warranted 16 months in AP and a

refusal without concrete reasons. It was a discretionary belly ache.

I am a naturalized USC, his is a high fraud country, I had filed a petition before for an ex fiance that I met 10 years ago who

never made it here. I pulled a 007 on him and ended the relationship due to my findings. None of these are true red flags.

There were adequade trips to spend time with him. We have some age difference and no I am not great grand mother and he doesn't look like

he is 18. CO #2 loved our photos and said he can see the love between us. Even if he would have denied us too, he was totally professional

and kind in his questioning and that is how it is supposed to be done. I am not with the crowd that proclaims CO's must be rude to do their jobs.

Nonsense.

All was addressed in detail to USCIS and again to the consulate. Nothing was hidden, everything out in the open and in a pro active

transparent manner with 12# of quality evidence. It was a master piece if I do say so myself, only topped by our second filing which was the mother

of all mothers.

There were no issues in our history that warranted the bias we received from the first round. Not only did she take our time and years from us,

she tried to take our dignity.

CO's must give factual evidence of their findings and aren't supposed to assume or speculate, have a personal bias or readjudicate

the case on mere 'gut feelings or suspicious thoughts.

I don't want to give another minute to the wrong that was done to us and go back to celebrating

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

but why didn't you try another way?

I have no idea what you mean. What other way ?

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

For those who wonder why a CR1 would not have worked for us and why we repeated a K1, read here of another detour of our journey and envision

me as Bridezilla during the attempt to go the marriage route. I have changed my future wedding dress 3 times so far. Can you say "nervous break down" ?!

My sweetheart kept me balanced through it all, bless his heart.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/418887-north-cyprus-marriage-application-nightmare/

[Wendy71 26]

Our 5 year journey has ended successfully !

We met in 2009 and I filed the first petition in 2010 which was approved after 51/2 month at CSC, however the K1 was refused after

16 looooong months in AP.

Petition was returned, I fought for reaffirmation like a trooper but USCIS let it expire in storage as usual.

Time was wasted with that battle.

Re filed in 2014 and CSC approved the petition in 58 days.

NVC transferred our case to the wrong embassy and it took about 2 months to get it to the correct consulate.

Interview was Oct 22.

Very courteous CO, polite and professional, unlike the rude CO we had the first time around.

My fiance was asked about 35 question for an hour with several repeat questions.

A fresh police report was then requested even though the current one had not expired.

He also requested a certified divorce certificate which I had definitely already send (frontloaded in petition and again for interview).

He said we will be in AP and awaiting the additional items but not to worry it would not be as long as the last time.

I was in contact almost non stop the entire night with my fiance on skype right before entering the embassy

and after the interview we talked again.

I finally drifted off to sleep and a couple hours later the phone rang.

I usually feel like a bed-head-grouch-in the morning before my first cup of java and let it go to the voice mail, especially

after being zombiefied and sleep deprived and fretting all night.

I felt an urge to answer and was so glad I did.

"Hello this is XXXX.....from the embassy and would it be ok to ask you a few questions...."

I shot straight up in bed and was wide awake and (how I don't know) switched to my professional voice. STOKES interview was all I was thinking.

He also said he could see the love between us from our photos but had questions.

I kept on babbling more than needed and he had to interrupt me a few times.

Hey...here was my chance and I wasn't going to let go convincing this guy that we are the real deal.

The next day I received an email that the K1 was approved, no new documents needed and for my fiance to drop the passport off for the visa.

Today I received an email for him to pick up the visa and the ceac online status said ISSUED.

Yayyyy ! I thank God first of all without whom I could not have prevailed for so long and who held me up when I was down,

my friends and support system and VJ was a huge help every step along the way.

I had told my fiance even if we aren't approved this guy is really very nice and professional and it goes to show you that

CO's don't have to act obnoxiously rude to dig and ask hard questions.

It can be done with tact and respect as it should.

This journey was the most difficult thing we had ever done and he got high BP out of it and I got digestive issues from all the stress.

AP was the hardest, the black hole of an abyss, unknown and frightening, topped off with the disappointment of the refusal and return.

He asked us why we hung in there so long and why didn't we just look elsewhere for an easier relationship after all these years.

My answer was because I am not a quitter. You just don't give up because it gets hard and you don't turn your back on your love

because things aren't going as smooth as you expected.

You stick it out ! My fiance was asked the same and said :" I could never leave her, I am fully committed because I love her so much."

My encouragement for you who are still on your journey and having a rough time, hang in there and keep on keeping on

one day at a time.

First filed K1 refusal and another CO's statement after I confronted her on one of my visits while in AP :

I asked what was the problem and she replied : " I just have a gut feeling and I don't think this would be a lasting marriage."

No factual evidence at all but she based her refusal on her gut feeling which may just have been a bowl of beans she ate that day who knows !

She wanted more evidence and we supplied 12 pounds of it to which she replied "I am not reading all of this I have no time for this".

I asked what evidence would she like to have and she replied : " I can't tell you that...convince me."

Seriously ?! It was all a nightmare. My fiance tried to tell her how much he loved me and she sternly told him to be quiet.

So how do you convince someone who doesn't allow you to talk and refuses to look at your evidence ?!

Current K1 : CO said you sure do have a lot of evidence but I understand why because of your previous experience.

I front loaded 600 pages of quality evidence spanning the relationship from the beginning to current,

various methods of communication to email exchanges with the previous CO, senators and congressman.

My gripes with the process and email to the CSC director and a 3 page relationship timeline

plus the previous filed petitions.

I then send a copy of it to my fiance to drag it all to the embassy.

At first they said it is too much we can't take it but he insisted that they take it and they did.

The assistant had to hand carry all of it from across town, my fiance can't

cross the border into the main embassy of the city.

It took me days to process that we were approved per email the next day, it all felt surreal. I couldn't even post it here yet.

I wanted to wait until the READY online status changed to READY OPEN, then from the still scary AP (issuing ap) to ISSUED.

I was still waiting to exhale.....still waiting for the next bomb shell to drop

on us.....well I exhaled now and we are so happy to begin our lives together under one roof.

Sweet success.

I thank God, who is my rock and strength, for victory in this very long battle.

Thank you VJ for all your help and encouragement.

Thank you my close VJ friends who were there for me year after year, on the phone and online,

even after some are now looking to ROC already and we started the journey at the same time, we will catch up !

Love you all and again thank you

That is great news isn't it a good feeling, my fiancé and I filed June 2012 ours went to Vermont RFE Dec 2012 he had to include letters from family members saying they had met me July 2013 a letter to say we needed a letter re written and dated sent it back got lost in the system Dec 2013 denial due to lack of material evidence of our relationship. We refiled April and finally got approved Oct 2nd, good luck with the rest of your journey

[layla92 1]

This is so touching! I am so happy for you two!!!!!

[Darnell 8,478]

Congratulations !

Whatcha cooking, to celebrate ?

Here's some kissy fingers for you !

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Congratulations !

Whatcha cooking, to celebrate ?

Here's some kissy fingers for you !

Fingerlickingchicken......Thanks Darnell.