K1 Visa. Cant get Cenomar

[james sherard 1]

Here's an oddball situation.

my Filipino fiance and I got married in the Philippines while I was a Canadian citizen. Shortly after I became an American citizen and applied for her K1 non-immigrant fiance visa to come to the USA. I assured her that our marriage was not registered because I am now an American citizen. Turns out I was wrong and she cannot get her Cenomar now because it shows she's married to a Canadian citizen (me.)

We've done the interview but the US Consulate wants the official PSA Cenomar in order to issue the Visa. ( she was actually issued a Cenomar but it wasn't the official PSA Cenomar and this led us to believe we could proceed without mentioning her being married to a Canadian citizen (me)

So close but so far. What are my best options? And yes I can re-apply for a k-3 Visa but I'm wondering if I can salvage the K1 Visa process somehow with some type of amendment. I just don't know.

Thank you: James

[Illiria 980]

No k1 is for unmarried people you are married and trying to get a fiancé visa you are not enitilted to as you don’t meet the requirement is fraud and can get your wife banned for life for material misrepresentation. 

 

Edit: Just saw that she has gone to the interview, this is not good. For the K1 you submitted letters stating you are free and intending to marry in the us. By submitting her application she is claiming she is eligible for the fiancé visa when she wasn’t.

 

This may not be fixible, you will need to pull the application and refill for a spousal visa. K3 and the spousal visas are taking the same amount of time so making the k3 effectively obsolete. When she comes to interview for the spousal visa they will see your marriage certificate has a date prior to the k1 interview and she will be questioned on this and possibly denied but might be offered a waiver possibility. You then most likely need a lawyer to help you submit the waiver, hard but not impossible to do without lawyer.

 

Getting a new nationality does not reset your marital status

Edited February 1, 2018 by Illiria
Added info

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Yup, a marriage anywhere in the world, as a citizen of any country regardless if you change citizenship later on, doesn't matter, married is married. 

 

You needed to apply for a CR-1 spousal visa since, as above stated, K-1 is for unmarried people who intend to marry eachother.

 

At this point I would say you should withdrawl the petition immediately and state a misunderstanding and then apply for the appropriate CR-1 visa and start over.

[geowrian 22,339]

1) K-3 is effectively dead. It would be a CR-1/IR-1 now instead.

2) She may have comittee material misrepresentation by pursuing a K-1 visa (and therefore claiming to be free to marry) even though she was already married to you. This would result in a permanent (yet waivable with a strong case) ban on any visa to the US.

[Boiler 46,969]

At numerous points you have to state you are single, so a year or so for a IR1 and another year or so for a waiver.

[Unlockable 7,318]

@james sherard

 

First and foremost, stop trying to scam the immigration process. You have already been told how much of a mistake it is to claim to be single when you are not when trying to immigrate on a visa specifically for you to be single.

 

Right now, the K visas are not an option (K3 is essentially obsolete, but regardless you case is too complicated).

 

You can move forward with a spousal visa but here is the issue .... you spouse may very well face a denial for misrepresentation. This means a possible ban, waiver, added scrutiny to your case, etc.

 

You pretty much shot yourself in the foot with your plan. 

[acidrain 325]

You say the marriage isn't registered but then admit it's registered in the Philippines. If you filed papers and had your wedding officiated you're going to have an uphill battle proving you had no idea you were married. Why would you think your wedding would be treated differently as a Canadian? I'm a Canadian who married in Vegas but nobody including our government has said our wedding isn't legit. Why did you register the marriage if the wedding was not real? 

 

A piece of advice on top of all the great advice is you should be calling your fiancé your wife. The both of you are already legally married.

[TBoneTX 47,030]

Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the CR-1 Process forum -- OP is married.

[pushbrk 13,421]

"Read carefully, interpret literally, then answer accurately." has never been more appropriate advice.  Not a lot of thinking going on between those ears.  Did the OP really think married people aren't married anymore if they move to a new country?  The OP had to sign sworn statements before a US Consular Officer to get his  “Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage”.  Did he REALLY that meant nothing?

 

A material misrepresentation was committed more than once by him and at least once in writing and once verbally under oath by her during the interview.  Maybe plan on moving to the Philippines.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

4 hours ago, pushbrk said:

"Read carefully, interpret literally, then answer accurately." has never been more appropriate advice.  Not a lot of thinking going on between those ears.  Did the OP really think married people aren't married anymore if they move to a new country?  The OP had to sign sworn statements before a US Consular Officer to get his  “Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage”.  Did he REALLY that meant nothing?

 

A material misrepresentation was committed more than once by him and at least once in writing and once verbally under oath by her during the interview.  Maybe plan on moving to the Philippines.

He said he got married as a Canadian and not an American. 

[pushbrk 13,421]

20 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

He said he got married as a Canadian and not an American. 

Good catch.  That means he had to jump through even more hoops to get his papers in order.  My friend spent all week in Manila last week getting what he needed from the Canadian Embassy.  http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/philippines/consular_services_consulaires/marriage-mariage.aspx?lang=eng

 

Although it's still a “Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage”, the procedure is likely different.

[CEE53147 559]

Get an attorney to do all future immigration filings!!!!!

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

On the bright side, you can still probably spend your life with your Filipino wife in North America if you're unsuccessful with a CR1 application due to previous misrepresentation. That's assuming you didn't renounce your Canadian citizenship.

[TNJ17 1,329]

You never should have applied for a K1 Visa. K1 Visa are for unmarried people. If you’re married, no matter what country you got married in, you’re married everywhere. That’s a given. You need to file for a spousal visa. Your K1 will never get approved. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

Those people who are saying you can apply for a waiver are wrong. There is no waiver for this. K1 literally means fiancé Visa, and the main requirement is that you are single, unmarried, and free to marry. Anyone who applies for a K1 Visa who’s already married will get denied. There’s no way around it. If you wait until they deny your visa, it will be a long waiting process because the denied petition will be sent back to USCIS where it will sit for months waiting expiration. Only after it expires will you be able to file for the spousal visa. You should cancel your petition immediately so you don’t have to wait so long. There might be a waiver or some kind of waiting period before you can file the spousal visa. A little word of advice, always do a full research on every process and understand the details of every step throughout the process and make sure you are eligible for what you are actually applying or you run into problems like this that could have been easily avoided had you done your homework on the process.