K1 visa denied at Montreal Consulate

[Hbomb 22]

24 minutes ago, Hbomb said:

Update! I can’t believe this. 

Remeber when at the Consulate, the CO told me the USCIS adjudicator forgot to ‘tick a box’ and legally she can’t give me the visa?

well, Montreal emailed me today and said:

 

USCIS needs to perform additional administrative steps under the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) before we can continue processing your case. Additional information regarding the Rights and Protections for Foreign-Citizen Fiancé(e)s under IMBRA is available herehttps://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/imbra.html

 

and now, check out the image with the unchecked IMBRA box. I can’t believe they are withholding my visa for this!! At least it sounds like an easy fix. 

So apparently that IMBRA box means if the petitioner has any sort of violent criminal record, USCIS must disclose it to the beneficiary. I can see why ticking yes or no on that box would be a big deal. Grrr.... it’s an easy fix but now I need to worry about the speed of mail. The Consulate sent my petition back two weeks ago and it’s still in transit. Humbug.

[NikkiFromCanada 233]

On 6/1/2018 at 11:04 AM, Hbomb said:

So apparently that IMBRA box means if the petitioner has any sort of violent criminal record, USCIS must disclose it to the beneficiary. I can see why ticking yes or no on that box would be a big deal. Grrr.... it’s an easy fix but now I need to worry about the speed of mail. The Consulate sent my petition back two weeks ago and it’s still in transit. Humbug.

Thank you so much for sharing. I just went and checked my box to make sure it's checked and it is. I am sending all the positive vibes I can that your case is resolved quickly! I have a really good feeling for you though! Please update us when you get news! 

[Hbomb 22]

1 hour ago, NikkiMarie said:

Thank you so much for sharing. I just went and checked my box to make sure it's checked and it is. I am sending all the positive vibes I can that your case is resolved quickly! I have a really good feeling for you though! Please update us when you get news! 

Thanks for the good vibes!!! I’ll keep this thread updated as the updates come along. I am, however, horribly pessimistic. They take so long to do everything, but I’ve been wrong about things in the past! 

[NikkiFromCanada 233]

15 minutes ago, Hbomb said:

Thanks for the good vibes!!! I’ll keep this thread updated as the updates come along. I am, however, horribly pessimistic. They take so long to do everything, but I’ve been wrong about things in the past! 

I feel like once the person who made the error realizes the effect the small error is having, they will quickly fix it and send it back! Good luck!! 

[Hbomb 22]

Here is another update. 

 

We contacted a lawyer regarding our options; as predicted he wasn't terribly helpful. 

We have the Senator's office tracking our case. However the returned petition has been in transit for 4 weeks now, and as of today the National Visa Center still has no record of the petition reaching their facility (and Montreal is a 5 hour drive away, plus the Consular Officer supposedly put a rush on our case). 

Neither the Senator nor the USCIS can do anything about expediting this because the petition is basically missing. 

 

So, my fiance and I have just accepted that we're screwed. I am particularly disgusted with how the consulate just sat on our application for two months and then made me take the medical and fly across the country for an interview, just to tell me that USCIS didn't tick the IMBRA box and that they couldn't issue the visa because of that. 

 

We have decided to get a civil wedding next week (before our big Catholic wedding in August), so that we can begin the I-130. He also qualifies for express entry into Canada so we are filing one of those, too. In the meantime we are considering visiting England as tourists for six months after the wedding while our paper work processes so that we can actually be together as a married couple.  

 

I wish the Consulate and the USCIS guys had an understanding of the horrible personal and financial ramifications that they have inflicted due to their negligence. Shame on them. 

[Brian&Prasha 1]

Wow... Gotta love big government. Best of luck to you.

[Ontarkie 13,960]

Starting the CR1 will just add another 15 months to this. You really should hold on rather then redoing everything all over. 

[geowrian 22,336]

I personally think it's too soon to abandon the process, but that is a personal choice to wait the weeks/months versus starting over. You gotta do what you think is best for yourselves.

Expect ~12-16 months for the CR-1 visa process.

 

If you do marry, be sure to inform the embassy that you are withdrawing the application, and the petitioner should inform the embassy and USCIS that they are withdrawing the I-129F.

[Hbomb 22]

It looks like acceptance of Canadian Cr1s doesn't take that much longer than the K1s. See the link below:

 

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?cfl=0&op1=&op2=&op3=&op4=1&op5=5,6,8,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,25,26,27,28,108,110,111,208,210,211&op6=All&op66=All&op7=Canada&dfile=No&adv=0

 

Either way he qualifies for Express entry into Canada, and that process is under 6 months, so either way we'll be together. Our wedding is on August 4th and at this pace I just can't see the NVC processing the case, sending it to California USCIS, them fixing the error, sending it back to the Consulate via NVC and then the consulate inviting me back for another interview... all in six weeks. 

[Ryan H 3,796]

Moved from Process & Procedures to Progress Reports.

[KBA 542]

On 6/15/2018 at 5:16 PM, Hbomb said:

It looks like acceptance of Canadian Cr1s doesn't take that much longer than the K1s. See the link below:

 

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?cfl=0&op1=&op2=&op3=&op4=1&op5=5,6,8,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,25,26,27,28,108,110,111,208,210,211&op6=All&op66=All&op7=Canada&dfile=No&adv=0

 

Either way he qualifies for Express entry into Canada, and that process is under 6 months, so either way we'll be together. Our wedding is on August 4th and at this pace I just can't see the NVC processing the case, sending it to California USCIS, them fixing the error, sending it back to the Consulate via NVC and then the consulate inviting me back for another interview... all in six weeks. 

I’m sorry to hear about your situation! This process has been unbelievable and I cannot believe they didn’t send you an RFE for this while the case was still at USCIS! My fiancé and I have been waiting a year for NOA2 (telling us security checks are still pending) and we have talked about whether switching to a spousal visa is worth it...but will start the clock over again 😩 especially when th the security checks. Good luck and I hope things work out! 

[JayHouser 209]

I would imagine an error on the part of USCIS qualifies for an expedite based on financial and compelling interest reasons?

[Hbomb 22]

9 minutes ago, JayHouser said:

I would imagine an error on the part of USCIS qualifies for an expedite based on financial and compelling interest reasons?

I hope so... only the petition itself is lost in transit so no one can see the error to correct it! Wedding in six weeks... not much we can do. Maybe we can get lucky and have the I-130 expedited due to this, but I’m not going to hold my breath. These guys have quite the “we don’t give a hoot” attitude.

[Boiler 43,735]

USCIS error would be a cause.

[Unidentified 2,930]

Sadly this is one of the reasons we shouldn't make any plans, book anything etc before we actually have our visa in hand. Sorry they messed up so bad and lost your application and I hope this mess will be resolved as soon as possible.