IMBRA pending charges

[Lillyandkip 26]

Hi everyone

We got our NOA2 on June 8th and are now waiting for NVC to receive it.

My fiancé (the USC) made a really bad mistake last week. He got pulled over for a DUI and 2 misdemeanors for drug possession. He only had one conviction about 10 years ago for minor possession of alcohol so we answered no for "Three or more convictions for crimes relating to a controlled substance or alcohol not arising from a single act?" in the 129F petition which was true at that point and actually still is.

As I said we already got approved 3 weeks ago before the other charges happened. He got his court date set for the end of July so he still didn't get convicted for the DUI and the drug possessions. I'm so worried now if this will still have impact on our visa? Does anyone know if we will have to send any documents to the NVC or notify them? Or will it be enough if I take the documents to my Visa Interview?

Thank you so much in advance!

[Rc123rc 528]

Those questions are for the non-USC being petitioned. You should be fine. However, anytime someone is pulled over for DUI and drug possession in a relationship, I would have to think twice.

[AussieNemesis 16]

Those questions are for the non-USC being petitioned. You should be fine. However, anytime someone is pulled over for DUI and drug possession in a relationship, I would have to think twice.

You are not correct. The arrest history of the USC can also be relevant. Perhaps you should check the information you are giving to people.

Lillyandkip - I am not sure if it would affect your petition. As you were approved before this incident, I don't know if they ever recheck the info.

Edited July 3, 2016 by AussieNemesis

[Rc123rc 528]

You are not correct. The arrest history of the USC can also be relevant. Perhaps you should check the information you are giving to people.

Lillyandkip - I am not sure if it would affect your petition. As you were approved before this incident, I don't know if they ever recheck the info.

You might be correct but I was not aware there were any questions and/or background checks on the petitioner, only the beneficiary. If I am wrong then my apologies to you and the OP for misleading information. I will check the relevant application forms for I-129F for reference and also in reference to IMBRA which is International Marriage Broker Regulation Act.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

I always was under the impression the background checks on the USC/petitioner occurs between NOA1 & NOA2. Once approved and sent onto embassy the remaining background checks are geared toward the Alien Fiance/beneficiary.

[Lillyandkip 26]

Thanks for your responses. Made me feel a little better!

[Villanelle 4,121]

You might be correct but I was not aware there were any questions and/or background checks on the petitioner, only the beneficiary. If I am wrong then my apologies to you and the OP for misleading information. I will check the relevant application forms for I-129F for reference and also in reference to IMBRA which is International Marriage Broker Regulation Act.

IMBRA imposes requirements on international marriage brokers and is designed to also protect 'immigrant women' that may become victims of domestic abuse. IMBRA is actually part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). IMBRA impacts both "international marriage" brokers who offer online dating/matching services and U.S. citizens petitioning for fiancée visas.

For the Brokers "IMBRA's specific requirements for online "international marriage" brokers (IMBs) includes: (1) IMBs must check the U.S. National Sex Offender public registry and respective state public registry for each U.S. citizen client; (2) IMBs is required to gather mandatory criminal and family background of each U.S. citizen client. This includes any criminal conviction, domestic abuse case, divorce history, number of children and age, states and countries where the U.S. citizen has resided since age 18, and previous fiancée visa petitions; (3) IMBs are obliged to provide the above-mentioned information to the foreign client lady. This information must be provided in the client lady's native language; (4) IMBs must have the client lady sign a written consent authorizing the IMB to release her personal information to the U.S. citizen client. IMBs may incur civil and criminal penalties of up to $25,000 and up to 5 years in federal prison for each violation of IMBRA's requirements."

For the USCs there are 3 things-

1. U.S. citizens applying for fiancée visas (K-1 visas), must provide information about their criminal convictions; specifically, those related to domestic abuse, sexual assault, etc, in form I-129 (K-1 application form).

2. U.S. citizens were limited in the number of fiancée visas they can request. For instance, if the U.S. citizen has already filed 2 or more fiancée visa petitions and at least 1 of them was granted, he has to wait 2 years from the filing date of the last-approved visa petition to apply for another fiancée visa. Some waivers apply to this rule.

3. U.S. citizens ready to file their 3rd fiancée visa petition will be notified of and placed in a 'special visa petition database.' This database was created to identify those who abuse the system.

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So for Miss Lilly here is some general advice and info:

The general process is if you check off yes on the initial 129F (for reasons of 3 or more convictions) you are required to provide certified copies of court and police records) You need this to get the 129F approved at USCIS. They then pass on the info to the fiancee at the Embassy. Often the Embassy uses this info as a sneaky way to check how much you know about your USC. They may ask questions about the charges or outcome to see if it matches the paperwork. So the alien should always be familiar with the paperwork and whats contained in it.

So technically when you submitted the petition and it was approved it was done so with the current info. (One conviction). Things have since changed. There are many policies and laws with the USCIS. I cant quote you exactly where it is but trust me they have a thing about reporting changes. If something changes and they are not aware of it and you get approved they can re-open your file (when/if they find out). They will investigate and see if you were still eligible for the benefit with the new info they have. Usually they find No because you misrepresented a fact when it was approved (not telling them of the change).

Right now you are in a tough situation. Technically there is only one conviction. As long as theres just one conviction you do not have to say anything. Remember they are only looking at final convictions not on going cases. Theres a chance your fiancees court matters wont be done in July. He could ask for an extension or there are all kinds of delays. As long as there is no conviction on file you would be fine to go to the interview and accept the visa.

If the conviction happens before you get the interview/visa then the proper thing to do is to alert them of the change. Granted you could just do nothing and hope they never find out- which is a real possibility but there is a proper way to deal with it.

Depending on where you are in the process and when the conviction occurs several things can happen. You can tell them at the Embassy and bring all the proof and they may approve you. Or they can tell you it has to go back to USCIS because they are the ones who add it to the file. If it happens when its at USCIS then you would just tell them and they would add it.

I dont really know. There are a lot of variables. It would most likely cause a delay though when you notify them unless like I said the CO accepts them and approves you.