Can K-1 be cancelled during AP?

[Jordan J 3]

Greetings Everyone.

Fiancé had her K-1 interview, and now she is on AP(221g) for missing document. Everything was fine at the interview,
says Fiancé. The missing document have been submitted along with the passport as per officer's suggestion. Interview
was in Oct 2017 at Casablanca. Have not heard anything since then, just see the case has been updated with a new date.

Q1:
Can the K-1 petition be cancelled during the pending AP? Can we get married in January 2018 and File for Spouse Visa,
if we didn't hear from consulate. What is the process? Is there a waiting time to re-file under different category. 60 days
for AP have not yet passed. We are just not sure how long the AP will go on.

Q2:
The NOA2 approval letter has a expiration date in Jan 2018. What will happen to the K-1 visa, if the visa is not approved
by NOA2 notice expiration date.
 

Most of you would suggest to wait out until the end of 60 days and inquiry later about it. But is there any other alternative?
Would really appreciate if someone with similar experience can please shed some light to these Questions we have.
 

Thank you all in advance.
 

-Jordan

[RJandHamid 1,129]

What do you mean by the case has been updated with a new date?

 

What was the 221g for? Casablanca is known to be incredibly slow in processing cases after submitting additional documentation. I would wait out the full 60 days, and if they have her passport they will need to contact her at some point. Has she been emailing them asking for an update? 

 

Since the consulate has the case, they could extend the NOA2 expiration date if needed. The visa itself is valid 6 months from the date of her medical exam. 

[Jordan J 3]

Thanks for the reply...
 

I mean the on the embassy website case tracker.. which shows me the status.
https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx

The 221g was for the police report from another country. We just couldn't get
the report on time. I was thinking to postponed the interview date, but was
fearful that I may get pushed back due to holiday season.

No she is also waiting as I told her to wait, no emails sent out yet. Everything

gets hung up for this one missing document.
 

Anyways I hope she hear from them soon.. We both are first time getting married,

no children and same religion.

 

-J

 

 

[RJandHamid 1,129]

So the case status date updated, but is still under administrative processing? That is usually a good sign. Once they receive and process the requested police report, they need to work on issuing the visa, so in a way, every case goes through an administrative processing phase. Our interview in Casablanca was successful and we had several days of the standard administrative processing status. If the date was updated to a very recent date, it is likely a sign that they are working on the visa, and the status may change to 'issued' within a week or 2. 

 

If there is no further update in the next week or 2, I would start emailing the consulate and inquire about the case. They may not respond (they are awful with communication), but I've seen cases be updated faster through constant emailing and trying to get them to do something. 

[BuiQuang 95]

stoping the k-1 does not eliminate the problem.  u will start over with a cr1 with the same problem.  doesn't make sense.  have patience.  

[Jordan J 3]

That's good to hear. The last time they updated was Nov 27th last week. I will start emailing them

from Monday, I will keep it down to at least 3-emails per week. I don't think I want to annoy them

yet; than what's expected. If it passes 60 days, they are sure to hear from me everyday.

 

How long was your AP? If I may ask.

-J

[Jordan J 3]

@BuiQuang

 

I will tell her to have more faith and be a bit more patience.

 

-J

[RJandHamid 1,129]

Our case was under AP for 3 days, but we didn't need to submit any additional documents. 

 

Morocco has been requiring the DS-5535 from some (but not all) applicants lately, which is resulting in anywhere from 2-4 months of additional AP. You case is a little different so I'm hoping AP goes fast for you, but no one can really give an estimate. 

 

Going back to one of your first questions, if you were to go and get married in Morocco, you would need to file for a new visa, the CR1 visa. The CR1 process is taking around 12 months now, so I definitely would be patient for now and start contacting the consulate for updates next week. 

[Jordan J 3]

@RJandHamid

They actually made her to reply to an email which had DS-5535, which she did next day.
Wow! additional 2-4 months!! I am not sure how she will react to this when she hears it.

 

No.. in this case I don't think CR1 is a good way to go. I have also heard this from others
We will wait as we have no choice.

She has a 6-months of Training to finish starting in January, she is worried if the Visa can
disturb her study in between and doesn't want to leave the course. Can visa be extended?

She has 3 months to get married from the date of issue.

 

-JJ

[RJandHamid 1,129]

Actually the 90 days to get married start the day she enters the US, not the day the visa is issued. 

The visa will be valid for 1 time entry to the USA from the date it is issued up until 6 months after the date of her medical exam. The consulate may be able to extend the visa validity date, but you would have to contact them to get that sorted out and we all know what a pain they are to work with. 

 

So for example, if her medical exam was October 1, 2017, she would be issued a visa that is valid for US entry until April 1, 2018. Then you would have 3 months from the day she enters the USA to get married. 

If the AP process takes longer than the the 2-4 months that you may need to wait because of the DS-5535, they may extend the validity date, but I'm uncertain about this. 

[RJandHamid 1,129]

Here's a thread about the DS-5535 in Morocco and other countries. I've spoken with at least 2 people from Morocco who were asked to submit the DS-5535 and did eventually get their visas after a few months of waiting. It does take a lot of patience, and I think that emailing the consulate for updates (even if they never responded), made it seem like they were doing something...

 

 

[Jordan J 3]

@RJandHamid

 

I'm pretty sure it will disturb her studies if it arrives in March or April. I have told her to

be more accommodating and be willing to let go the course. By the time she comes here

I hope it's not Ramadan, I also prefer not to get married anywhere close to it also.

 

Hmm... what can I say.. As far as contacting embassy for extension, I am not even going

to try. I will just convince my fiancé to be more understanding and be willing to pack her

luggage anytime when she gets the text from Aramex to come and pick-up her visa.
Hopefully very soon.

 

-J

[RJandHamid 1,129]

Good luck, I hope your AP waiting period is on the shorter end, inshallah. 

 

Keep us updated! 

[Jordan J 3]

RJandHamid

 

Thank you for the feed back. I will keep you posted. Insha'Allah may your

words come true and the waiting ends soon..

 

-J

Edited December 7, 2017 by Jordan J

[EandH0904 1,184]

@Jordan J Since your case has been in AP for awhile you might want to contact your Congressman's Representative in the US. Ours was most helpful with locating where our petition was. Presuming her petition is still in Morocco, they just extend the expiration date on. However if her petition was sent back to the US, it's expired. 

 

I agree with the others that you should find out what's going on with the AP/K1 before you get married. I recently got married in Casablanca - it's not quick and it's not cheap and then you have to wait 12-18 months for the process to be approved. 

 

You say she is doing a training for 6 months - you might want to look if that training/education is transferable to the US. A lot of education in Morocco unfortunately does not transfer for any meaningful purpose. If it's not going to apply to her life in the US, and your K1 gets approved she may just want to abandon it. I'm certainly not suggesting she cancel the training by any means - just something to consider.