My case is complicated. Spouse visa denied 5 years ago. Am I able to sponsor new petition?

[little_mon 1]

hi guys, let me explain my case to you.

1) I am a US citizen through naturalization 10 years ago. I stay in US in these 10 years.

2) I came back to my home country for a short vacation and met a guy (my ex-husband) in 2014 and then we got engaged. 

3) I came to US after the short vacation and filed K1 petition for him. It was denied because USCIS believed our relationship was not true. (We didn't have too much material to prove our relationship at that time).

4) Then I came back to my home country and got married with him. 

5) I came to US and filed i130 for him. It was denied as well for the same reason. (USCIS didn't trust our marriage) My ex-husband was never successfully come to US.

6) Then in 2015, we got divorced.

 

Now I got married again last year with my current husband (he is in US now and is in H1B visa). We had a baby born this year and we also brought a house together. I have a few questions

 

1) Am I able to file family based green card for my current husband?

2) Will the former denied petitions affect my new petition?

3) will I need to prove the fidelity of my former marriage (the denied petition in 2014)? 

4) what is the chance of approval of my new petition?

 

thank you guys so much in advance. This forum helps me a lot

 

[little_mon 1]

If I posted to the wrong sub forum, please help me move to the correct place. Thanks. 
 

[HRQX 4,146]

11 minutes ago, little_mon said:

1) Am I able to file family based green card for my current husband?

2) Will the former denied petitions affect my new petition?

3) will I need to prove the fidelity of my former marriage (the denied petition in 2014)?

1) Yes

2) No

3) No

12 minutes ago, little_mon said:

my current husband (he is in US now and is in H1B visa)

Is he doing adjustment of status or consular processing? Both are valid options.

[little_mon 1]

1 minute ago, HRQX said:

1) Yes

2) No

3) No

Is he doing adjustment of status or consular processing? Both are valid options.

Thank you for the reply. He will be doing AOS since he is in lawful stay in US now. 

[Ryan H 3,901]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas forum.

[arken 4,199]

Make sure your current husband knows everything about you former marriage and husband in case it is brought up during the interview.

[little_mon 1]

36 minutes ago, arken said:

Make sure your current husband knows everything about you former marriage and husband in case it is brought up during the interview.

Thanks. Will do. 

[little_mon 1]

2 hours ago, HRQX said:

1) Yes

2) No

3) No

Is he doing adjustment of status or consular processing? Both are valid options.

Thanks. When I consulted 3 lawyers, 2 said that they would not assist since my case is complicated. The third one was pretty interesting. She said I’d better not to file any petition within 5 years after denial. Also, she said, in order for new petition to be approved, I should justify my previous petition (prove it was not marriage fraud). Otherwise my previous petition might be handed to the immigration court for marriage fraud. She really scared me. 
 

That’s why I want to consult you guys. 

[Babu Frik 1,179]

I'm not aware of any waiting period for denials.

Even if it was approved there's only a 2 year waiting period to file again for a new spouse.

 

[little_mon 1]

25 minutes ago, Babu Frik said:

I'm not aware of any waiting period for denials.

Even if it was approved there's only a 2 year waiting period to file again for a new spouse.

 

Right. I think she might be misunderstood my case. She might think I obtained my greencard by marriage and then divorced. I remember that 5 years are for the case that beneficiary obtains greencard and divorces later cannot do petition in 5 years. 

[geowrian 22,339]

USCIS denied the I-129F due to  lack of evidence of a bona fide marriage? That doesn't seem right...there is no such requirement to provide that evidence with an I-129F.

Or did you mean the visa was refused at the consulate? That would make much more sense.

Then you married and the I-130 was denied by USCIS, which is also uncommon (typically the bar is pretty low and they let the consulate do the more intense evaluation.

 

It's also uncommon that 2 lawyers would not take the case, and the 3rd's opinion was only slightly more optimistic.

 

To be 100% clear, I'm not suggesting anything funny going on. But it does sound like there's more to the story here that would explain the above items. Were there any red flags with your prior case? What country was your first spouse from? How much time was spent together in person?

 

Technically, there is no bar on petitioning a new spouse here and they are to look at the merits of the new case only. That said, if they suspect you were engaged in marriage fraud previously, your credibility for another marriage--based benefit is zilch. So you have no actual requirement to prove anything about the prior petition, but I would not be surprised if it does come up and they are skeptical of a new spouse. This is all assuming that they suspected fraud previously.

 

No idea where the 5 year waiting period came into play...you're a USC and it's been well over 5 years since you initially became an LPR, so the 5 year ban doesn't apply. I mean, more time together and a longer wait isn't bad, but 5 years is an arbitrary number.

[Quarknase 1,072]

I second what Geowrian says. What was the background on the denials, especially the I-130? No RFE’s were mentioned but especially an I-130 doesn’t just simply get denied imho. Was the case denied at that stage, or later at interview stage? How soon after denial did you file for divorce? And a K1 has low requirements for proof of bonafide relationship, was there an interview? What happened there?

Impact on any future petitions is probably the in-depth history to both prior cases. If USCIS suspicion was that you were part of attempted fraud (not victim to a scam/fraud artist with no knowledge on your end) it can be anything from challenging to impossible to sponsor a new spouse.

[little_mon 1]

2 hours ago, geowrian said:

USCIS denied the I-129F due to  lack of evidence of a bona fide marriage? That doesn't seem right...there is no such requirement to provide that evidence with an I-129F.

Or did you mean the visa was refused at the consulate? That would make much more sense.

Then you married and the I-130 was denied by USCIS, which is also uncommon (typically the bar is pretty low and they let the consulate do the more intense evaluation.

 

It's also uncommon that 2 lawyers would not take the case, and the 3rd's opinion was only slightly more optimistic.

 

To be 100% clear, I'm not suggesting anything funny going on. But it does sound like there's more to the story here that would explain the above items. Were there any red flags with your prior case? What country was your first spouse from? How much time was spent together in person?

 

Technically, there is no bar on petitioning a new spouse here and they are to look at the merits of the new case only. That said, if they suspect you were engaged in marriage fraud previously, your credibility for another marriage--based benefit is zilch. So you have no actual requirement to prove anything about the prior petition, but I would not be surprised if it does come up and they are skeptical of a new spouse. This is all assuming that they suspected fraud previously.

 

No idea where the 5 year waiting period came into play...you're a USC and it's been well over 5 years since you initially became an LPR, so the 5 year ban doesn't apply. I mean, more time together and a longer wait isn't bad, but 5 years is an arbitrary number.

Thanks. I like your reply. 
I may not explain my case clearly. Actually both of my two previous petitions were rejected after interviews with consulate. So they were rejected by the consulate. The red flag for my case is that my ex-husband and I didn’t have much time in person together. We met for a few days and then got engaged. The total in person time together before the second petition is just a few weeks. 
 

In both interviews with consulate, my ex-husband failed to show how our relationship was built up. 
 

I don’t know why the 3 lawyers responded like that. I just did free consultation with them on phone. Maybe I picked the wrong lawyers (first 2 were recommended by friends because of their employ based service, 3rd lawyer was selected by google search) or I didn’t explain well of my case (I said my cases were rejected in the interview stage because consulate believed my marriage was not real)?

 

Now my current marriage is pretty solid and we have a child and we bought a house together. I guess that will make me a little credible?

[geowrian 22,339]

7 minutes ago, little_mon said:

Thanks. I like your reply. 
I may not explain my case clearly. Actually both of my two previous petitions were rejected after interviews with consulate. So they were rejected by the consulate. The red flag for my case is that my ex-husband and I didn’t have much time in person together. We met for a few days and then got engaged. The total in person time together before the second petition is just a few weeks. 
 

In both interviews with consulate, my ex-husband failed to show how our relationship was built up. 
 

I don’t know why the 3 lawyers responded like that. I just did free consultation with them on phone. Maybe I picked the wrong lawyers (first 2 were recommended by friends because of their employ based service, 3rd lawyer was selected by google search) or I didn’t explain well of my case (I said my cases were rejected in the interview stage because consulate believed my marriage was not real)?

 

Now my current marriage is pretty solid and we have a child and we bought a house together. I guess that will make me a little credible?

Gotcha, thanks.

So the visas were refused, which makes more sense. The little time together would be the biggest basis for that. If that was the only issue, then I would be more optimistic than it may have sounded in my previous message.

 

Ah,employment-based cases and family-based cases are separate beasts. There's not much money to be made in most family-based cases with a lawyer, unless there are waivers or more complex technical elements. I can see why they weren't as eager to take the case now. The third one seemed more realistic, although the 5 year piece makes me wonder a bit, or if there was a misunderstanding of the circumstances. Hard to say.

 

The best thing I can suggest is to focus on your current marriage and showing quality evidence of it. Since you are living together in the US already, that's a plus. IMO, living together is the biggest evidence you have...the child itself is not a strong factor (frauds have kids, too...it sounds heartless but we've certainly seen people use a child as a means to try to immigrate). Living together, sharing bills together, being beneficiaries on insurance policies, and doing other "normal married" things together is really the best evidence you can have.

[little_mon 1]

4 hours ago, Quarknase said:

I second what Geowrian says. What was the background on the denials, especially the I-130? No RFE’s were mentioned but especially an I-130 doesn’t just simply get denied imho. Was the case denied at that stage, or later at interview stage? How soon after denial did you file for divorce? And a K1 has low requirements for proof of bonafide relationship, was there an interview? What happened there?

Impact on any future petitions is probably the in-depth history to both prior cases. If USCIS suspicion was that you were part of attempted fraud (not victim to a scam/fraud artist with no knowledge on your end) it can be anything from challenging to impossible to sponsor a new spouse.

Thanks. Both petitions were rejected at the interview stage with consulate. Very little time together with my ex-husband should be the main issue.