RFE received - "COUPLES BONA FIDE INTENT TO MARRY"

[JoSteph 3]

We applied in March and received the following RFE: Two items on the RFE are simple document fixes, but the third is giving me a little bit of concern.  The RFE included the following: "COUPLES BONA FIDE INTENT TO MARRY - As evidence of the beneficiary's intent to marry you within 90 days of her arrival in the Unites States, you submitted a statement from the beneficiary. However, beneficiary's statement is insufficient to establish her intent to marry you.

 

On May 28, 2018, the beneficiary applied for a B1/B2 non-immigrant visa. She indicated that she was a domestic helper for ___________ in Singapore. During the beneficiary's interview with the consular officer on June 6, 2018, the beneficiary stated the her employer, ___________, is her fiancee and had been working for Mr. ________ for six years.

 

The record also shows that the beneficiary lived in Singapore from January 1, 2003 to July 5, 2018 and worked for ___________________ from January 1, 2013 to July 4, 2018.

 

You stated in the petition that you met the beneficiary in April 2018 in the Philippines, traveled with the beneficiary to Costa Rica in August 2018 for three weeks, then traveled back to the Philippines in December 2018 to be with the beneficiary again. Although you stated you were with the beneficiary in April, 2019, her application for a B1/B2 non-immigrant visa indicated that she was engaged to be married to ________________. As such, submit additional evidence to show that you and the beneficiary have a bona fide intent to marry. Evidence of a bona fide intent may be, but is not limited to:

1. Further details on how you and the beneficiary first met and made the decision to become engaged.  

(We met in April as I was on vacation in the Philippines and she was too, we both have our passport stamps and copies of our tickets as well as my receipts from the hotels I stayed in while I was there. There was no romance and our proof of that is our chat records where we had lengthy discussions about affection and the importance or non importance of it in a relationship.  I expressed concern on a number of occasions because she had been so cautious when we spent time together in Philippines.  No touching at all, so I was concerned that she might not enjoy being touched.  She was reserved because she was living with and working for her boyfriend and she wasn't sure she was ready to consider leaving him although the relationship had soured to the point of sleeping in separate beds and living as domestic helper and boss.  Further, she had no plans of leaving him when we met.  She liked me, I liked her and that was it for about 4 months.

2. Evidence of correspondence between you and the beneficiary. (We have thousands of messages back and forth between us over the past year and a half.)

3. Plans for the wedding and reception that you and the beneficiary have considered (We have made lots of wedding plans as we are planning to have a non-official beach ceremony in the Philippines so her family and friends can attend)

4. Evidence of financial support. (I have all of my receipts from Remitly where I have supported her and her 2 sons since she went home in July of last year.)

5. Subsequent trips to visit the beneficiary. (After our first meeting, we flew to Costa Rica and spent 3 weeks together there, lots of photos and receipts, I flew back to Phil in December of 2018 and spent nearly 3 weeks with her and her family, I flew back again in June of this year and spent 2 more weeks with her)

6. Any other evidence that can show that you and the beneficiary have a bona fide intent to marry."  

 

Any thoughts that could help us navigate this RFE question?

[Nitas_man 3,100]

Wow

 

 

 

 

[JoSteph 3]

2 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Wow

Can you shed some light on the comment?  Any helpful advice is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

11 minutes ago, JoSteph said:

 

Wow at the accumulated dossier on this girl.

 

The request is straightforward.  You need a carefully documented timeline, with every step supported by evidence:  receipts, passport stamps, communication, photos.

 

NOTE:  Having or planning a “ceremony for the family to attend” in the Philippines on a K1 before she leaves for the US is begging for denial.  You might as well marry there and file CR1.  

 

What you arrange in the US is up to you but if you’ve texted or talked about it that’s the part they want to see with yellow highlight.  Highlight a few examples of the discussions as examples and summarize them nicely by time and date.

 

Worst case:  If they don’t believe you intend to marry, see NOTE then pull the trigger and do it.  It’s a re-file, but it will clear up this issue.

 

Good luck

 

 

[JoSteph 3]

That is almost word for word, what the attorney I spoke with today, said.  Thank you.

 

I do believe we have ample evidence of a legitimate relationship.  I do understand that USCIS is doing their job and seeing the red flag of divided loyalties on my fiancee's part.  

 

I didn't think that a ceremony in the Philippines which was non-official would be a red-flag, but appreciate your insight.  It won't be mentioned and we won't plan on that.  The only other thing we have already done is spend countless hours on Viber, looking at photos of wedding dresses, her sharing them with me.

 

But with all the trips 8 weeks of time together after her breakup with her ex, plus the significant financial support I can show, sent via Remitly, plus thousands of chat messages between us since April of last year, should be ample evidence of a serious relationship.  She left the other guy because it wasn't working out, she decided that in June of last year.  The tourist Visa she applied for was legitimate. She had an invitation from the Pageant Director of the "Miss Filipina International Pageant" in Los Angeles to come as her guest.  My fiancee was heavily involved in the pageant scene in Singapore, holding my titles and crowns.  She had hopes of developing a career that would free her from the life she was living as a DW.  We thought the tourist Visa was a good idea if she was approved.  She owns a nice house in Iloilo, has and had money in the bank at the time of the application and had meaningful employment.  These were the things we thought would make it easier for her to visit me in the US and I thought it was a chance to steal her heart so to speak as I knew she was frustrated with her current relationship.  He kept her waiting to marry him for over 6 years and then at a party in May of 2018, told mutual friends in front of her that he saw no reason to get married since they were already living together.

 

Hopefully the evidence will demonstrate our bona fides.  But plan B would be to marry and reapply, just as you and the attorney said might have to be the way. Grrrrr.

[Greenbaum 12,258]

11 hours ago, JoSteph said:

That is almost word for word, what the attorney I spoke with today, said.  Thank you.

 

I do believe we have ample evidence of a legitimate relationship.  I do understand that USCIS is doing their job and seeing the red flag of divided loyalties on my fiancee's part.  

 

I didn't think that a ceremony in the Philippines which was non-official would be a red-flag, but appreciate your insight.  It won't be mentioned and we won't plan on that.  The only other thing we have already done is spend countless hours on Viber, looking at photos of wedding dresses, her sharing them with me.

 

 

I'm not going to opine other then say that I wouldn't talk about a non-official-ceremony or what ever you want to call it but here are cases where it has backed fired on others. Please don't think it will not happen to you. Buyer beware!

 

There have been may cases that what you see as a "party" to what the CO sees as a possible "wedding". I would hate to see you come all this way and get denied because of an innocent picture. Why give the CO "ammunition" to use against you in ways you never thought possible. I'll give you an example and from there you'll need to make your own decision. If you want more information than in the upper right corner of this page is a search box. Use the words "marriage ceremony" and you will have more examples. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/641345-k-1-visa-wedding-ceremony/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690759-k1-interview-denial/

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690759-k1-interview-denial/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/665760-221g-confusion-where-is-my-fiances-case/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/639695-k-1-visa-denied-what-now-appeal/