Denied for K-1 After Waiting in AP for Two Years

[TNJ17 1,329]

Like others have said, the age and religion difference are most likely why it was denied. There really is no telling why it took two years. Some people are in AP for days, others weeks, months, yours took years. I don’t mean to accuse you or your fiancé of hiding information but you leave your interview knowing why you were denied. So maybe he’s hiding something because if they don’t believe your relationship is bonafide, they will tell you at your interview. 

 

Also, it is not surprising that they know about your financial issues in the past. They run an extensive background check on both parties, yes even the US citizen. USCIS knows everything about your life, probably more than you do. They ask those questions at interviews to find out if the relationship is bonafide. 

 

I would say say that the fact that your fiancé knew the answer to every question was what made the CO think he was rehearsed. Also, if you only had two visits and no visits while you were in AP is a red flag too because you were in AP for two years, in the eyes of USCIS, any real couple would have made visits during those two years. That’s too long to go without seeing your significant other. 

 

You just really have a lot of red flags and I would say if your relationship really is bonafide and you still want to be together, gather all you need and go over there or any other country and get married. You won’t hear back from USCIS, and if you do it will take months maybe years. You will just be wasting time. Go and marry and file to withdraw the K1 and start the paperwork for the CR1 ASAP because you are now looking at another two years probably before visa in hand. With all the red flags you have, you’re gonna need a lot of visits to get the CR1 approved so plan around that. Unfortunately this is gonna be pricey and take a long time for you so good luck. 

Edited July 6, 2018 by TNJ17

[MyLifeForYou 12]

14 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

Like others have said, the age and religion difference are most likely why it was denied. There really is no telling why it took two years. Some people are in AP for days, others weeks, months, yours took years. I don’t mean to accuse you or your fiancé of hiding information but you leave your interview knowing why you were denied. So maybe he’s hiding something because if they don’t believe your relationship is bonafide, they will tell you at your interview. 

 

Also, it is not surprising that they know about your financial issues in the past. They run an extensive background check on both parties, yes even the US citizen. USCIS knows everything about your life, probably more than you do. They ask those questions at interviews to find out if the relationship is bonafide. 

 

I would say say that the fact that your fiancé knew the answer to every question was what made the CO think he was rehearsed. Also, if you only had two visits and no visits while you were in AP is a red flag too because you were in AP for two years, in the eyes of USCIS, any real couple would have made visits during those two years. That’s too long to go without seeing your significant other. 

 

You just really have a lot of red flags and I would say if your relationship really is bonafide and you still want to be together, gather all you need and go over there or any other country and get married. You won’t hear back from USCIS, and if you do it will take months maybe years. You will just be wasting time. Go and marry and file to withdraw the K1 and start the paperwork for the CR1 ASAP because you are now looking at another two years probably before visa in hand. With all the red flags you have, you’re gonna need a lot of visits to get the CR1 approved so plan around that. Unfortunately this is gonna be pricey and take a long time for you so good luck. 

Thank you TNJ17 for your advice. My original question was about the timing on the filing of the I-130 with regard to the denial of the K-1 petition. I have one question that has come up after reading all of the advice: How do I "withdraw" the K-1 Petition? Is there a specific form and if so, do I file it simultaneously with the I-130 or do I have to file it separately. Thank you. 

[TM92 527]

2 hours ago, MyLifeForYou said:

How do I "withdraw" the K-1 Petition? Is there a specific form and if so, do I file it simultaneously with the I-130 or do I have to file it separately.

Maybe a similar letter to withdraw the K1 (but I'm not sure):

7 hours ago, geowrian said:

You can include a letter in the I-130 filing stating that you want to withdraw the I-129F just in case.

[Coco8 1,039]

I don't buy this "too rehearsed during the interview" idea people are putting forward. Some of the questions seem to be too out there to be rehearsed. I'd understand if you rehearsed too much  "how did you meet?" and other basic questions, but rehearsing an answer about a house she bought 10 years ago and had to sell during the 2008 bubble? That is some rehearsing!!! 

 

 

 

 

[Amadia 711]

Hi OP,

 

I'm sorry you had to endure this denial. I can tell you that your case sounds very similar to one of the members who filed during my time in 2015 - older US female citizen married to a Muslim guy who was 27 yrs younger than she was. The officer had him in constant interrogation without her being present (she traveled to Turkey to attend the interview with him). Eventually, they outright denied her spouse the visa to come to America and she was awaiting the embassy to send the packet back to USCIS. The officer gave them no reason why but he did make it a point to tell her briefly before he denied the petition for her spouse that it was severely unnatural for a 'boy' to marry a grown woman and be in love.

She waited several months before following up with USCIS about her packet and was told that the file came back 1 month after the interview in Turkey. 

 

She decided to get an attorney to fight the case about her spouses denial. I have no idea what has happened to them since then but I knew it stressed her out being away from her husband.

 

Like everyone else suggested, wait until you get the reply explaining the reason for denial and so you will get the chance to respond accordingly.

[Boiler 43,804]

10 minutes ago, Amadia said:

Hi OP,

 

I'm sorry you had to endure this denial. I can tell you that your case sounds very similar to one of the members who filed during my time in 2015 - older US female citizen married to a Muslim guy who was 27 yrs younger than she was. The officer had him in constant interrogation without her being present (she traveled to Turkey to attend the interview with him). Eventually, they outright denied her spouse the visa to come to America and she was awaiting the embassy to send the packet back to USCIS. The officer gave them no reason why but he did make it a point to tell her briefly before he denied the petition for her spouse that it was severely unnatural for a 'boy' to marry a grown woman and be in love.

She waited several months before following up with USCIS about her packet and was told that the file came back 1 month after the interview in Turkey. 

 

She decided to get an attorney to fight the case about her spouses denial. I have no idea what has happened to them since then but I knew it stressed her out being away from her husband.

 

Like everyone else suggested, wait until you get the reply explaining the reason for denial and so you will get the chance to respond accordingly.

Perhaps she moved? Immigration is a 2 way street.

[nullaccount234 882]

It seems that you've gotten some good answers to your questions. As to why the case was in AP, apart from the factors already mentioned, how about the amount of face time? The timeline is not immediately clear.

 

You mentioned you had been to Beirut twice. You also wrote that you were present at his interview, so I'm assuming that was one of those two trips. Is that correct? Unless there are other trips not mentioned, it sounds like there was one trip were you first met, and then a second at the time of the interview. If this is true then I believe that must've certainly had impact on the case.

 

Additionally, I'm curious to know if this means you have not seen each other since the time of the interview?

Edited July 6, 2018 by LizM

[Amadia 711]

6 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Perhaps she moved? Immigration is a 2 way street.

True, but I know that she is still in Tampa FL. We connected on Facebook after I got approved for my CR1 and entered the US but then fell out of touch when I started working and building my life here.

[MyLifeForYou 12]

25 minutes ago, Amadia said:

Hi OP,

 

I'm sorry you had to endure this denial. I can tell you that your case sounds very similar to one of the members who filed during my time in 2015 - older US female citizen married to a Muslim guy who was 27 yrs younger than she was. The officer had him in constant interrogation without her being present (she traveled to Turkey to attend the interview with him). Eventually, they outright denied her spouse the visa to come to America and she was awaiting the embassy to send the packet back to USCIS. The officer gave them no reason why but he did make it a point to tell her briefly before he denied the petition for her spouse that it was severely unnatural for a 'boy' to marry a grown woman and be in love.

She waited several months before following up with USCIS about her packet and was told that the file came back 1 month after the interview in Turkey. 

 

She decided to get an attorney to fight the case about her spouses denial. I have no idea what has happened to them since then but I knew it stressed her out being away from her husband.

 

Like everyone else suggested, wait until you get the reply explaining the reason for denial and so you will get the chance to respond accordingly.

Thank you for sharing this story. Yes, the case you referenced sounds similar to our situation. We both knew we had an uphill battle ahead of us when we started this whole process, as I had read many of the difficult stories here on Visa Journey before filing the petition and was aware that the age/religion differences, plus other factors, would all be hurdles to overcome.  I had mentioned earlier that I filed a FOIA request in hopes of finding out any additional information. I will definitely follow your and everyone's advice on here about knowing the reasons for the denial before moving forward. 

[MyLifeForYou 12]

15 minutes ago, LizM said:

It seems that you've gotten some good answers to your questions. As to why the case was in AP, apart from the factors already mentioned, how about the amount of face time? The timeline is not immediately clear.

 

You mentioned you had been to Beirut twice. You also wrote that you were present at his interview, so I'm assuming that was one of those two trips. Is that correct? Unless there are other trips not mentioned, it sounds like there was one trip were you first met, and then a second at the time of the interview. If this is true then I believe that must've certainly had impact on the case.

 

Additionally, I'm curious to know if this means you have not seen each other since the time of the interview?

Thank you for the question LizM. I am sorry for not stating this earlier, but the two visits to Lebanon I had referred to were our first meeting and then the second visit was at the time of his interview. Both took place in 2016. Then I visited in March of 2017 and again this last Christmas (2017). We had all the documentation of those visits, but was never asked to submit any new evidence. 

 

And yes, I have gotten some great answers to my questions. Thank you all for helping us out. 

[dentsflogged 352]

16 hours ago, Mmagic said:

I have to say the age and maybe different religion has to do something with it. The norms in Arab countries, Older men can marry younger women, very seldom you see younger men marrying someone older than them and especially by 20 yrs different. Maybe there was not enough strong evidence to show and convince her. 

Also, by him answering every question to the tooth, she might thought all this was rehearsed to start with. 

 

My ten cents only. 

I don't pretend to know a lot (or anything!) about Arab cultures or the Muslim religion and practices, but I asked one of my workmates whose family is from Turkey & who is a practicing Muslim, and he said that its literally unheard of  as far as he knows that any man would marry an older woman who is divorced and has a child with her ex husband.   So there's 3 red flags right there, I'd imagine. 

[MyLifeForYou 12]

2 minutes ago, dentsflogged said:

I don't pretend to know a lot (or anything!) about Arab cultures or the Muslim religion and practices, but I asked one of my workmates whose family is from Turkey & who is a practicing Muslim, and he said that its literally unheard of  as far as he knows that any man would marry an older woman who is divorced and has a child with her ex husband.   So there's 3 red flags right there, I'd imagine. 

Yes, we had multiple red flags going in and we were aware of that. We did our best and now we just need to move ahead. This is truly a journey and you have to just work through it. 

[MyLifeForYou 12]

7 hours ago, Coco8 said:

I don't buy this "too rehearsed during the interview" idea people are putting forward. Some of the questions seem to be too out there to be rehearsed. I'd understand if you rehearsed too much  "how did you meet?" and other basic questions, but rehearsing an answer about a house she bought 10 years ago and had to sell during the 2008 bubble? That is some rehearsing!!! 

 

 

 

 

Thank you! That is what I was trying to explain earlier. There is no way we would have ever known that the CO would bring this kind of stuff up. It was just by chance that my fiancé even knew about that whole house flipping incident. In short - the questions the CO asked during the interview were ones that could never be rehearsed. You either knew about the situations or not. They were totally random events and facts from my past. 

[nullaccount234 882]

3 minutes ago, MyLifeForYou said:

Thank you for the question LizM. I am sorry for not stating this earlier, but the two visits to Lebanon I had referred to were our first meeting and then the second visit was at the time of his interview. Both took place in 2016. Then I visited in March of 2017 and again this last Christmas (2017). We had all the documentation of those visits, but was never asked to submit any new evidence. 

 

And yes, I have gotten some great answers to my questions. Thank you all for helping us out. 

No worries. Just trying to piece everything together. As per your timeline, you submitted the I-129F on 2016-01-29. So that must've been just after your first trip then. I'm not a CO but I believe this definitely had impact on the case. The small amount of face time matters.

 

Good news is you've seen each other four times now and will have seen each other more before a potential CR1 approval. So if that was an issue before, I don't think it will be as much going forward, just continue to see each other. I wish you good luck!

[EmmNM 179]

51 minutes ago, MyLifeForYou said:

Thank you for sharing this story. Yes, the case you referenced sounds similar to our situation. We both knew we had an uphill battle ahead of us when we started this whole process, as I had read many of the difficult stories here on Visa Journey before filing the petition and was aware that the age/religion differences, plus other factors, would all be hurdles to overcome.  I had mentioned earlier that I filed a FOIA request in hopes of finding out any additional information. I will definitely follow your and everyone's advice on here about knowing the reasons for the denial before moving forward. 

Do FOIA requests really work? I can't find a post where someone got an answer. I can only find posts asking how they do it. PLEASE keep us posted on your journey.