Tourist visa to K-1 visa with a lie

[geowrian 22,335]

11 minutes ago, YulenkaF said:

Generally she does not have to prove that she is divorced if at her packet of documents will be not divorce certificate.  

Generally, yes. But having claimed to be married in the past is a substantial difference from the norm. In this circumstance, the CO normally requests documentation of the claimed marriage being dissolved.

One can say they only lied on their past application, but how does the CO know whether they were lying before about their marriage or if they are lying now about it?

Edited November 3, 2018 by geowrian

[YulenkaF 42]

4 hours ago, geowrian said:

Generally, yes. But having claimed to be married in the past is a substantial difference from the norm. In this circumstance, the CO normally requests documentation of the claimed marriage being dissolved.

One can say they only lied on their past application, but how does the CO know whether they were lying before about their marriage or if they are lying now about it?

in my country there is a special extract about it. Hard to say because I still do not know where is she from..

[geowrian 22,335]

13 minutes ago, YulenkaF said:

in my country there is a special extract about it. Hard to say because I still do not know where is she from..

My wife's country also has a similar document (Certificate of No Marriage / CENOMAR). However, there are 2 major issues with this:

1) One could have married outside their home country. How does one prove they didn't do this?

Edit: This is always the case, but generally the CO has no reason to believe this might have occurred. In the OP's case, the presumption will be she may have married somewhere.

 

2) This relies on a central database that also acts as a legal basis for marriage. Can somebody legally marry and not have it registered at the federal (or equivalent) level? In many countries, there are ways to do this. Even in the US, it's possible (i.e. if the officiant doesn't turn in a marriage license or it gets lost, the marriage is still legal but there's just no formal record of it).

 

Edit 2: I'm not saying it's impossible case by any means. But it is very difficult and may take very long. A sample set of timelines is below:

1) Marry (anywhere): x weeks/months to meet somewhere and marry.

2) I-130 -> NVC - Interview: ~12-14 months currently

3) Case put into AP to check on the marriage validity issue (very likely IMO). ETA: x months

 

Case A (more likely IMO):

4) Visa refused and I-130 sent back to USCIS due to potentially not being legally married. ETA: ~2-6 months.

5) NOID issued and responded to: <= 30 days

6a) USCIS revokes the I-130. Process ends and needs to be restarted with a new I-130 + finding some way to overcome it next time.

6b) USCIS reaffirms the petition. ETA: ~x months

7) Reaffirmed petition sent to NVC then embassy. New medical needed. ETA: ~2-3 months

😎 Visa refused due to material misrepresentation. I-601 Waiver filed. ETA: ~1 year. Approval of the waiver is discretionary.

9) Another interview. ETA: ~1-2 months.

Total time: Likely 3.5+ years. Likely considerable attorney costs. Presumes the best case scenarios regarding success of showing that she was never married.

 

Case B:

4 ) Marriage is determined to be valid. Visa refused due to material misrepresentation. I-601 Waiver filed. ETA: ~1 year. Approval of the waiver is discretionary. New medical is needed.

5) Waiver approved. Another interview. ETA: ~1-2 months.

Total time: A little under 3 years? Presumes the best case scenarios regarding success of showing that she was never married.

 

Either way, the best option if they want to be married and be together would be to do so abroad. Or at least do that until the above processes complete.

Edited November 3, 2018 by geowrian

[Justjake 23]

Geo, thank you for the detailed answer.  It gives me a good idea about time frame.

Question:

During the interview, if my fiancee straight up tells the interviewer that she lied during the tourist visa process about being married, will that in any way change the requirements for needing a divorce certificate?  Would that be noted in an internal document, and have the K-1 visa denied based on misrepresentation, which hopefully then be rectified by appling for a waiver?

 

[Going through 5,668]

2 hours ago, Justjake said:

During the interview, if my fiancee straight up tells the interviewer that she lied during the tourist visa process about being married, will that in any way change the requirements for needing a divorce certificate? 

 

She would then have to provide proof that no marriage ever existed.

 

Easy to prove one is divorced. 

 

Much harder to prove one has never been married after swearing on official paperwork they were.

[Justjake 23]

I talked with my fiancee some more last night, and she brought up a possibility.  

She put someone's name that she knows as her husband. The consulate never called to verify.

Can she marry him and get a divorce to facilitate a divorce certificate?

Or is that making things worse and complicating the situation?

[Crazy Cat 39,267]

8 minutes ago, Justjake said:

I talked with my fiancee some more last night, and she brought up a possibility.  

She put someone's name that she knows as her husband. The consulate never called to verify.

Can she marry him and get a divorce to facilitate a divorce certificate?

Or is that making things worse and complicating the situation?

Retro-active marriage?  Nope.....

9 minutes ago, Justjake said:

I talked with my fiancee some more last night, and she brought up a possibility.  

She put someone's name that she knows as her husband. The consulate never called to verify.

Can she marry him and get a divorce to facilitate a divorce certificate?

Or is that making things worse and complicating the situation?

I thought "the agency" put a man's name on the application as her husband............

[Justjake 23]

That's what I thought as well, but it was clarified last night during our talk.  

I didn't think retro-active would work, but I thought I would ask anyway. 

Thank you for your response. 

[Going through 5,668]

9 hours ago, Justjake said:

I talked with my fiancee some more last night, and she brought up a possibility.  

She put someone's name that she knows as her husband. The consulate never called to verify.

Can she marry him and get a divorce to facilitate a divorce certificate?

Or is that making things worse and complicating the situation?

Much worse and more complicated.  Lies compounded with lies never work out well.  And what you suggest is touching upon visa fraud, since technically she would be "marrying" and "divorcing" the other man only so that she is eligible to marry you.  If she's willing to enter into a false marriage with the first guy, the automatic presumption may be that she's entering into a false marriage with you later on solely for immigration benefits.

 

And, as mentioned above, the dates would be retro-active when compared to everything else on record.

 

You said earlier that she has proof of never being married....if she's eligible to do the waiver later on, then go with that proof.

[aaron2020 11,651]

10 hours ago, Justjake said:

I talked with my fiancee some more last night, and she brought up a possibility.  

She put someone's name that she knows as her husband. The consulate never called to verify.

Can she marry him and get a divorce to facilitate a divorce certificate?

Or is that making things worse and complicating the situation?

Brilliant.  Makes things worse and more complicated with more lies. 

Here honesty and credibility is central to passing the interview.  Compound her original lie with another lie is not the way to go.

[YulenkaF 42]

did you talk with a lawyer?

PS: I still think that in this situation spouse visa has more chances as K1

[Justjake 23]

When she first brought up the idea, I had the wherewithal to say that we should do this on the up and up, and that not being honest can only cause more issues.  I glad she agreed with my assessment, but as i mentioned before, I am looking at what can be done, and that's why I mentioned it to the forum, as you all have the experience.  

Thank you for reminding me to stay on the straight and narrow, I believe that this is a path worth doing properly. 

This week I plan on submitting the I-129 and get everything going. 

[Justjake 23]

1 hour ago, YulenkaF said:

did you talk with a lawyer?

PS: I still think that in this situation spouse visa has more chances as K1

I have not talked with the lawyer yet. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday. 

[TM92 527]

On 11/3/2018 at 6:41 AM, YulenkaF said:

The worse may be if she is from list of ban countries, he did not say where is she from.

I think if they want they will try and they will be issued...

On 11/3/2018 at 11:23 AM, YulenkaF said:

in my country there is a special extract about it. Hard to say because I still do not know where is she from..

@YulenkaF, my guess would be China from the original post:

On 11/2/2018 at 5:30 PM, Justjake said:

She stayed in the US for under 6 months and returned back to China.  During that stay, is when we met and fell in love.

[Ryan H 3,791]

6 hours ago, Justjake said:

This week I plan on submitting the I-129 and get everything going. 

 

It's the I-129F that you need to file, I-129 is a form filed by employers for non-immigrant workers.