Tourist Visa Application Mistake; Potential issue for CR1?

[sahilbanga 2]

In January 2019, my wife was invited to her childhood friend's wedding in the US... We thought this would also be a good opportunity for us to meet since we hadn't seen each other in over a year. We were scheduled to get married in April in India. So she applied for a tourist visa in January. She was denied due to having no strong ties to home country. 

 

On the application, she responded "No" for relatives in the US because she didn't think a fiancé is considered a relative. In our culture, this is true... A fiancé is not considered a relative. We got married in India in April as planned and I have filed for a CR1. But now I'm losing sleep at night because of that mistake. 

 

Could the CO see this as willful misrepresentation or an attempt to circumvent the process? Should I disclose it in a letter during the immigrant visa application? It was an honest mistake. 

[junkmart 320]

8 minutes ago, sahilbanga said:

In January 2019, my wife was invited to her childhood friend's wedding in the US... We thought this would also be a good opportunity for us to meet since we hadn't seen each other in over a year. We were scheduled to get married in April in India. So she applied for a tourist visa in January. She was denied due to having no strong ties to home country. 

 

On the application, she responded "No" for relatives in the US because she didn't think a fiancé is considered a relative. In our culture, this is true... A fiancé is not considered a relative. We got married in India in April as planned and I have filed for a CR1. But now I'm losing sleep at night because of that mistake. 

 

Could the CO see this as willful misrepresentation or an attempt to circumvent the process? Should I disclose it in a letter during the immigrant visa application? It was an honest mistake. 

Deleted, because I was schooled that, according to DS160, a fiance is your relative.

Edited June 20, 2019 by junkmart

[payxibka 10,045]

Just now, junkmart said:

No. A fiance is not a relative in the US either. She gave the appropriate response.

Unless you read the definition that is on the ds160 form itself

[junkmart 320]

Just now, payxibka said:

Unless you read the definition that is on the ds160 form itself

OH, well I'm not familiar with that so I guess I"ll shut up.

[sahilbanga 2]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

Unless you read the definition that is on the ds160 form itself

She didn't... The travel agent was asking her the questions and filling the form for her online.

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, sahilbanga said:

She didn't... The travel agent was asking her the questions and filling the form for her online.

I guarantee she is not the first to answer this way.  Technically,  fiancee is not a immediate relative.   Why they include it in the form definition,  one can only guess 

Edited June 20, 2019 by payxibka

[Just Paul 4,595]

1 minute ago, sahilbanga said:

She didn't... The travel agent was asking her the questions and filling the form for her online.

She still paid the fee and went to the interview and was responsible for the form being filled out.   Probably not a big issue.   

 

You are still responsible for checkboxes that others click on your behalf.

[sahilbanga 2]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

I guarantee she is not the first to answer this way.  Technically,  fiancee is not a immediate relative.   Why they include it in the form definition,  one can only guess 

Oh man... I'm so worried. I noticed a lawyer advise someone else with a similar issue to disclose it upfront during the NVC application stage. I guess I should just do that to show good faith. It really was an honest mistake. 

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, sahilbanga said:

Oh man... I'm so worried. I noticed a lawyer advise someone else with a similar issue to disclose it upfront during the NVC application stage. I guess I should just do that to show good faith. It really was an honest mistake. 

It likely will not rise to the level you should be worried about,  but being up front is not a bad idea 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Is there just a weird DS160 pdf sample on the travel.state.gov website? I don’t see any definitions of who to list as family.

[sahilbanga 2]

Just now, SusieQQQ said:

Is there just a weird DS160 pdf sample on the travel.state.gov website? I don’t see any definitions of who to list as family.

Ive seen the DS160 form. It does say Fiance is considered relative. The issue is my wife didn't see the form with her own eyes... She responded to a travel agent verbally asking the question and filling it out on the computer. 

[SalishSea 17,928]

16 minutes ago, sahilbanga said:

She didn't... The travel agent was asking her the questions and filling the form for her online.

A travel agent was filling in a visa application for someone?  That seems like a really bad idea.

[SalishSea 17,928]

1 minute ago, sahilbanga said:

Ive seen the DS160 form. It does say Fiance is considered relative. The issue is my wife didn't see the form with her own eyes... She responded to a travel agent verbally asking the question and filling it out on the computer. 

She is still responsible for what is on the form she signed, regardless of who filled it out.  Let this be a lesson to others not to entrust something like a visa application to a travel agent....

[sahilbanga 2]

1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

She is still responsible for what is on the form she signed, regardless of who filled it out.  Let this be a lesson to others not to entrust something like a visa application to a travel agent....

Yeah it's pretty common in India where not everyone has a computer and/or internet access. But lesson definitely learned... I'll just disclose it during the NVC stage and hopefully the CO will understand. 

[payxibka 10,045]

9 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Is there just a weird DS160 pdf sample on the travel.state.gov website? I don’t see any definitions of who to list as family.

Family information page.  Bottom right hand corner.  I couldn't believe it myself