Six weeks of K-1 Administrative Processing and counting

[FeelingYoung66 11]

My Fiancee's K-1 interview in Montreal was January 8th. Everything went smoothly at the interview until the CO indicated that my Fiancee did not have the correct document to show that she was divorced. What my Fiancee did have with her at the interview was a copy of the divorce court's "final decision", a document that had clearly been acceptable to both the USCIS and the NVC, and which had also been reviewed and given a blessing by our Immigration Attorney as perfectly adequate to show that my Fiancee was indeed divorced. (Admittedly, my attorney doesn't handle Canadian cases very often. Most of her experience is with other Consulates around the world.) The CO did however reassure my Fiancee that all else was in order, and that the K-1 Visa would be granted upon receipt from her of an official "Divorce Certificate" with a raised seal issued by the court in which she was divorced in 2011. So the impression the CO left was that this would be a simple matter and would likely only cause a short delay. A 221g was then issued along with specific instructions on how to send the document to them. Somewhat stunned, my dear Fiancee met me on the very cold and snowy street outside and tried to explain what had just happened. She was upset to say the least. So was I. Our plans for a celebration that day were crushed. We had traveled nearly 4700 km just to get there for the interview. (Btw.. name another country where someone has to travel anywhere near that far to get to a Visa interview. It's ridiculous.) I immediately texted our Attorney in the U.S. about the 221g. She was surprised, but tried to keep things positive by saying this would only cause a "short" delay. Since the CO had essentially implied the same, we consoled ourselves with that. A "short" delay.

 

Fast forward to now. My Fiancee traveled back to her native BC and was able to get the "Divorce Certificate with raised seal" and immediately sent it to the Consulate in Montreal using the prescribed method. The Consulate received it on the 16th of January. It has now been over five weeks since they received it, and more than six weeks since the interview itself. There has been no apparent movement to our case status. It remains in "Administrative Processing". The only indication that anything is going on at all is that there have been three changes to the case updated date during this time. At my request, my Attorney sent an email to the Consulate about 10 days ago to ask about the delay. Four days later she received back a form type response that gave no specific information at all. It was more a polite acknowledgement of my Attorney's email request.

 

Suffice to say that my Fiancee is by now "losing it". This delay has caused an awful lot of stress in our relationship. To be honest, the entire K-1 process seems designed to put an enormous amount of strain on a relationship.to begin with. She is in Canada (without her passport for the last six weeks) and I am in the U.S. at my job and helping to take care of an ill loved one. She chose not to even attempt to travel to the U.S. during the K-1 application process after the 129f filing. That's just how careful she is. Our plans for getting married in early March are now cancelled. Our Attorney is as blind as we are to what's going on up there in Montreal. It seems to me that the amount of time that has now gone by is a very abnormal amount without an answer of some kind. What would have taken the CO at the interview about 30 seconds to accomplish (i.e., examining the divorce certificate that they now have) has now taken at a minimum five and one-half weeks additional and counting.. and that just doesn't make any sense to me. What could possibly cause such a delay? Thoughtful replies please.

[geowrian 22,336]

1 hour ago, FeelingYoung66 said:

What my Fiancee did have with her at the interview was a copy of the divorce court's "final decision", a document that had clearly been acceptable to both the USCIS and the NVC, and which had also been reviewed and given a blessing by our Immigration Attorney as perfectly adequate to show that my Fiancee was indeed divorced.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Canada.html

Quote

Canadian divorce records are maintained by provincial and territorial courts. Primary evidence of divorce is the original or court-certified copy of the final divorce decree from the court where the divorce took place. Some provinces also issue a "Certificate of Divorce" similar to a large or full-size marriage certificate (a computer-printed extract of information on currency style stock paper, 21.6 x 17.8cm or 7 x 8.25 in., with an intaglio border). The Certificate of Divorce is also acceptable evidence of divorce, though it has no information about child custody.

Is this what was was provided?

 

1 hour ago, FeelingYoung66 said:

Btw.. name another country where someone has to travel anywhere near that far to get to a Visa interview. It's ridiculous.

Russia. China. Probably at least 1 more? Only 1 post in each country handles IVs now (barring those who have 0 and have to interview at a post in a foreign country).

 

1 hour ago, FeelingYoung66 said:

What would have taken the CO at the interview about 30 seconds to accomplish (i.e., examining the divorce certificate that they now have) has now taken at a minimum five and one-half weeks additional and counting.. and that just doesn't make any sense to me. What could possibly cause such a delay? Thoughtful replies please.

It's impossible to know the exact cause of AP or how long it takes a specific CO to handle a specific case. There are some possible causes that come to mind:

1) The AP due to the missing document is complete but something else came up causing a delay, such as extended background checks or supervisor review.

2) Montreal is severely backlogged. It might just take that long to get to review your case with so many people also in the queue who need additional document or case review. Just because it was sent does not mean it's something the CO looks at right away. They have to handle both new cases and review of existing cases.

3) Review of the document might have been sent for an advisory opinion due to something in it, or possibly it needs document validation/verification so they are waiting for that to complete.

 

Either way, it's just a waiting game still. Hopefully it's not much longer.

Good luck.

Edited February 23, 2020 by geowrian

[Greenbaum 12,258]

The fact that the dates are updating means that someone is "touching" your case. This is due in part that the case is following a course of adjudication to the final decision, which may be the issuance of a visa. This whole process and those you have yet to face are time-consuming, they seem never to end, and with our lack of knowledge of what takes place to issue a visa, it impacts us personally. 

[NikLR 13,220]

Montreal is notoriously slow to looking at documents received.  I'm sorry for the long AP, but it's not abnormal for them with a missing document. Unfortunately it will take as long as it takes.  She can email them with an important looking header to see what is taking so long but chances are she will get a generic reply. 

Hold tight, it'll happen.

 

For Canadians we really do recommend the CR1 process but you're a little late finding that out. 

[FeelingYoung66 11]

Thank you for the above replies. I knew I could count on some calm and well thought-out advice. Thanks again.

 

I made a slight error about what my fiancee had at the interview to show she was divorced. What she had was a print-out of "Final Order" from the court in New Westminster, BC that granted the divorce. It's an official court document proving divorce that had been sent to her in pdf form (digitally signed by the court) from her divorce lawyer at the time of her divorce. The problem apparently (I'm guessing here) was that when printed-out on a home printer it is no longer a "certified" document? Anyway.. that's what she had with her, and the CO in Montreal rejected it. Some consulates might have let it go. It was, at the very least, strong evidence that my fiancee was divorced. But clearly the CO didn't consider it enough evidence.

 

Well the Consulate now has everything they asked for. An official"Certificate of Divorce" and a "certified" copy of the courts "Final Order" has been in their possession for 39 days and counting. I would not think that the Consulate in Montreal is so "backed-up" that someone could not have looked at these documents by now and given us a "go" if that's all that was lacking. Something else must be holding things up, and we are left to wonder what that could possibly be.

 

 

[geowrian 22,336]

7 hours ago, FeelingYoung66 said:

The problem apparently (I'm guessing here) was that when printed-out on a home printer it is no longer a "certified" document?

Sounds correct to me. You cannot issue a certified copy.

 

7 hours ago, FeelingYoung66 said:

Some consulates might have let it go. It was, at the very least, strong evidence that my fiancee was divorced. But clearly the CO didn't consider it enough evidence.

True...some COs might not have noticed. This one did.

It's not so much as the CO not being convinced as it is they have strict documentation requirements. They are the ones that could get reprimanded if the case was audited and approved without all the proper documentation.

 

7 hours ago, FeelingYoung66 said:

I would not think that the Consulate in Montreal is so "backed-up" that someone could not have looked at these documents by now and given us a "go" if that's all that was lacking.

My understanding is they are that backed up.

How long did it take USCIS to look at the I-130? The actual adjudication process is, on average, minutes, not hours. It's the backlog that took so long.

It's the same idea here. It's very possible nobody has actually looked at the document yet. Maybe they have - we have no way to know - but I wouldn't be surprised i that's all it was yet.