VISA APPLICATION WITH PENDING CRIMINAL CASE

[JJMT 5]

Good day!

 

I am a Filipino engaged to a Filipino-US citizen. My fiancée is trying to get me to US for us to get married and she applied for a fiancé visa for me. Our petition has already been approved by USCIS and we just got our case number from NVC 2 weeks ago through follow up emails but we haven't received the official email from NVC with the detailed instructions yet. However, this would mean that it will be just a matter of weeks for us to get an interview schedule.

 

My  biggest concern is that, I have an ongoing VAWC case filed by my ex-live-in partner way back in 2021. I was not aware of the case being filed, nor received subpoena regarding the complaint. A warrant was issued by the court and I got arrested, and this happened in the middle of last year. Now I am just on bail. Unfortunately, we did not come into an agreement and we won't be having our formal trial until May of next year.

 

How will this affect my visa application? Did someone here have experienced or know people with a similar case as ours and how did you/they overcome the situation in regard to the visa application? Are there any possible actions I should do so I could be granted a visa despite the pending criminal case?

 

I would greatly appreciate if you could attend to my questions and for any helpful tips, suggestions and/or recommendations.

 

Thanks!

[W199 461]

3 hours ago, John and Janena said:

Good day!

 

I am a Filipino engaged to a Filipino-US citizen. My fiancée is trying to get me to US for us to get married and she applied for a fiancé visa for me. Our petition has already been approved by USCIS and we just got our case number from NVC 2 weeks ago through follow up emails but we haven't received the official email from NVC with the detailed instructions yet. However, this would mean that it will be just a matter of weeks for us to get an interview schedule.

 

My  biggest concern is that, I have an ongoing VAWC case filed by my ex-live-in partner way back in 2021. I was not aware of the case being filed, nor received subpoena regarding the complaint. A warrant was issued by the court and I got arrested, and this happened in the middle of last year. Now I am just on bail. Unfortunately, we did not come into an agreement and we won't be having our formal trial until May of next year.

 

How will this affect my visa application? Did someone here have experienced or know people with a similar case as ours and how did you/they overcome the situation in regard to the visa application? Are there any possible actions I should do so I could be granted a visa despite the pending criminal case?

 

I would greatly appreciate if you could attend to my questions and for any helpful tips, suggestions and/or recommendations.

 

Thanks!

Obviously you are not getting a K-1 visa while on bail with a violence against women case pending against you. Depending on the outcome of the case, you may never get it. 

[JJMT 5]

1 hour ago, W199 said:

Obviously you are not getting a K-1 visa while on bail with a violence against women case pending against you. Depending on the outcome of the case, you may never get it. 

Thank you for your input W199.

 

My lawyer and I are confident on winning the case. I have no doubt about it. I guess our main concern is the time before the case gets closed and what should I do during this time. Should I continue processing my application? Will the embassy give us time until we get the court decision or can we delay the interview until the court has made a decision regarding the case?

[Mike E 11,750]

7 hours ago, JJMT said:

I am a Filipino engaged to a Filipino-US citizen

How did she become a U.S. citizen?

[W199 461]

Hi

 

Any update on this so we can all be educated on how this works? How did the embassy handle this with the pending court date? Did they give you more time until the trial is over?

[JJMT 5]

Hi everyone… My apologies if took me a very long time to give you an update about my visajourney…

 

So what happened is that I had to prolong my interview schedule, rescheduled it 3 times, waiting for my court case to reach final conclusion. And when I finally got a final decision date, I started working with my medical examination. During my medical examination at St. Lukes, they had to wait for my court case final decision before I am cleared with my psychological evaluation (required but not limited to people with court case, with tattoos, andeven those who got divorced). So I had to reschedule my visa interview for the last time (4th time). Good thing I still have one more option to reschedule, otherwise, I will have to pay for another MRV fee…

 

I won the case and St Lukes cleared all my medical documents and was adviced to proceed with the visa interview… During my visa interview, the visa officer was nice (Some of them were intimidating, but I noticed on that day that most of the applicants were approved… just be polite, honest and always show a friendly face) and she started asking details about my relationship with my fiance, how well I know her, how our relationship started and how long as it been, have we met in person, etc… then she asked if I got arrested so I told her about the court case and that I have documentation regarding the final judgement. Everything went well actually but I was given a 221g (I was already expecting it based on my research) because I need to get a written explanation from NBI and have it sent to them along with my court documents (instructions are provided in the 221g document).

 

This was the timeline: I was cleared by St. Lukes on October 28, 2024, interviewed on October 29, 2024, visa was issued on December 3, 2024, shipped the next day and received it on December 8, 2024. I arrived in the United States on December 13 and got married on December 17, 2024.

I’m now in the process of my Adjustment of Status application and already got an interview schedule next month, 10 weeks after they received my application… Hoping and praying it goes well…

 

All I can say is trust the process and lots of prayer… Everything is going to be all right in God’s perfect time… ☺️

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:12 PM by JJMT