Team Erra

No, you have to be resident abroad. You can either be domiciled in the USA, OR show intentions to re-establish domicile.

just to be doubly correct, this means that I am allowed to keep my apartment in the USA, while I live and become a resident in India for 6-9 months. That will prove we're ready to reestablish ourselves in the USA. Just a little nervous of the proof of "resident" vs. "living there" in another country.

New Delhi asks for this all the time. It's best to provide them whatever they might issue a 221g for prior to the interview. They've also been known to ask for a copy of the beneficiary's voter id card and last five years of voting records.

We turned in a guest list, a notarized statement that my fiance doesn't vote, 12 notarized letters of support from our families and friends, a letter and pictures detailing my bridal shower, screen shots from our theknot.com page, a renewed letter of intent that answered questions I thought they might have like why we hadn't physically met each other's parents, evidence of us interacting with each other's family via email, phone or Skype, why we didn't have a large engagement party, why we went the K1 instead of marriage route, pictures of all of his stuff I've brought home over the past year and integrated into our home, phone logs, email logs, Skype logs.

I provided all of that and when we walked up to the CO's counter, the 221g was already printed and ready for us. BUT, when the CO saw me and found out who I was, in the trash it went. Moral of my story: be as prepared as you can be and still expect a 221g. If at all possible, show up for the interview too.

By the way, I've read multiple stories where New Delhi or other Indian consulates issued a 221g for evidence that they already had in their possession and when the beneficiary pointed that out and tried to make them look at it, they said they wouldn't review it and it would have to be turned into the VFS again. Proof that they don't look at everything you send them.

I totally agree with you! Having the guest list in advance, a list of people who know you are engaged, the letters of support, bridal shower, etc plus the voting records were all included in our 221g and then later denied for "expiration" Having this in advance is a lesson learned!!!

I also agree that you could recieve 221g, because that is how we felt - they put us into 221g evidence for reasons that we had covered.

ALSO... our Consular officer was not happy that we had photo copies of our photos. Crrazy minor detail - get real photos.

Ok to make a long story short my fiance was denied unfairly for k-1 visa ( this is because the CO was having a bad day, he denied 4 pther people same morning.) anyhow.. we have talked to senators and wrote more emails and faxed mor fases than anything..and so far there is no word and now our application expired. Yet we have not heard anything. Now we are looking into marriage in new delhi and to file cr-1 once we get confirmation that our case has no more hope. So here is where the questions start, we want to do a civil ceremony non religious and just wanted to know if anyone else has done it here? and do we need witnesses and if so how many? anything else you can tell would help like how long did it take to get the marriage certificate afterwards? Thank you guys!!!

Sherry

If you have not already started this - it could be a headache for you as well. After our denied K1 visa, (reason was expiration, unofficially, but I see our mistakes) My fiancee and I are marrying in Delhi in November - civil ceremony and a small religious one. Getting Married in India isn't always easy. You will want to go to Delhi with your man at least 30 days in advance as per Special Marriage act (look that up). I also went to the US Embassy in Delhi and recieved my "single status - no objection" letter from the US Embassy. Then with your fiancee go to the Marriage Registrar's office with a BUNCH (bring at least 10 because for some reason, our office wanted my photo on every single paper) of passport sized photos of both of you and fill out the intent to marry forms. Be persistent with the offices as we recieved the wrong form (from the wrong office). You want to go to the office closest to where your fiancee lives. This is huge. Because I was American, I am sure the office we went did not want to take the risk on me at the South Delhi office so sent my man to the other office. Anyways.. you also need to notarized letter that you are not related, of sane mind, etc...this is all in the forms you will recieve at the office. Plan to make a day of it because nothing goes on in 1 day in India. And plan to go back the next day - because that is just how India is. I have just learned that. My fiancee also needed a domicile document, notarized proof that he lived where he lived. Lastly... 3 witnesses must be there (and the US embassy will want a bunch of photos) for the civil ceremony. I wish you luck - I know it is painful and long, but when you remember that the two of you being together is MOST important it is worth it all.

You need to reside in India for 6 months consecutively. Things have changed a lot.

Will it go quicker/smoother? My fiancee and I are marrying in Delhi in November 2011 and we plan to be married with my travelling between the two countries for 2 years, I will get my PIO card after a year and then after 2 years or so I might move to Delhi 6 months straight to apply at US Embassy to bring over my husband. Is that a better plan - if it's an option for a couple?

When my fiance's visa petition went into admin review, at the interview they were unsatisfied at the photo copies of our photos, so be sure to bring real photos with your documentation. I think another mistake we made was not turning everything in, including more evidence (even though NVC forwarded it!) to VFS in advance. I would highly highly encourage it because in our experience, they were not impressed with what he had on hand, they want to review it before the interview.

Also, please be sure to have on hand who came to the wedding and as many photos of them or the guest book as possible, as this was needed for our administrative review. If you can have it before the interview and VFS the better off you'll be!

Did you had any pics with his family, any cultural engagement/ring ceremony where a lot of family members are involved because Delhi gives more weightage to this(my experience).

I think that it is better to consider for k1 now if you are planning a marriage in Nov.(After marriage,you will get CR1 visa in the end of 2012,which you can do anyway); apply a new K1, describing all these possible reason with front loading.

Have an engagement ceremony( if you have not done it yet), invite family/friends and take a lot of pics.

Search more and front-load old and new evidence in new petition.

After searching a lot, we are also going to apply for a new K1 next month including all these new engagement stuff.

no we had private engagement. no photos with his family.

Reason we want to get married in nov. versus another k1 visa because even if they choose to deny our marriage on some sort of fraud, we would be moving forward. we would also have our families together, too. we would be married and we could live in india. the end-all for us is not married and living in america. but married and together. If we went through another k1 we could have another year unmarried. I just don't know if getting married would be some sort of misrepresentation.... we would address any reason for denial from k1 but I still don't know what it is until we get a NOID, if we ever will.

Don't confuse USCIS with the Consulate. USCIS decided to let the expiration date of the approval rule their day but the visa was denied for a reason. Until you address the reason the Consulate didn't issue the visa, filing a new petition would be cruising for the same bruising.

Yes I understand that, but still don't know how to find out why we were denied. How do we address it? Just refile with front-load information addressing all possible reasons for their denial? that was my last post I amde, all possible reasons I had.

all my lawyer has said was "get married, there were no mistakes" on the first one and he doesn't know why we were denied either.

If you have a rejected K1 you can use the expiration as a reason to refile without waiting to hear from USCIS. Send the front loaded new petiton in with a letter stating you are assuming that the first K1 has expired. This forces them to pull both petitions and either send one of the 2 on to the embassy , effectively reaffirming the original or to send a NOID for the second petition , revealing the reason the virst petition was sent back.

Perfect..thank you. We have a letter from USCIS that told us,straight-up that we will not be revalidated because it expired, so I don't have to assume anything. I already have a counter-point letter ready of 8 reasons why they could have denied us (of course they haven't told us yet, just used expiration as the reason).

Question.... do I have to refile with K1? Can we get married with the possibility they will pull up our real reason for k1 denial? Or does that create more problems. We do want to get married in November and I will include all the reasons in our cr1 why we waited til November, etc.

We want to get married and I am willing to go to India and get married and be separate while married. Actually we will have more time together married cause I will stay with him family, and as unmarried couple I spend way lots of extra in a hotel.

I am looking for other possible reasons, from other people's experience as to why their petition was denied so I can cover my bases. Here are the reasons we have, anyone can send a few more.

here are the reasons I have in the letter, counter point to a possible denial...looking for more options

1. why we want to live in america vs. india (my business I have built)

2. why we had a 15 month gap between seeing each other (short term sacrifice to afford immigration process...now I see that as a mistake)

3. fiancee not being asked to provide my background, and barely being asked about me (I included all his questions and responses at interview)

4. how he's not "using me" for money

5. why he hadn't built up a full professional career

6. why our petition expired (6 weeks was stuck at lawyer's office, being niave)

7. proof of intent to marry as well as wedding planning details, and plans for children

I just thought of these, let me know what else to include

8. I will also include religious/cultural differences and how they make use stronger, not a bad thing

9. his denied tourist visa from 2009

10. I also don't have photos WITH his family, when we met we were all so nervous, never thought about it. This is a big reason why we want to get married vs. another k1 visa cause we'll have a lot of photos of our families together, my dad would come to india for my wedding and he'll meet his parents and photos galore!

11. ?? any others? we only have a 3 year age gap (I'm older) and met online 4 years ago but have huge evidence of communication.

What exactly was the reason for denial? If I missed it forgive me

There was no reason for denial...just expiration. It appears I am now a part of the new K1 process that I just found about on this forum.

Today we recieved the notice of decision from USCIS (california) that they will not revalidate our expired fiance visa that was sent back from the consulate.

It appears that this really was the consulates only reason for denial and also USCIS's only reason for denial. I thought there was something fishy going on....

Since this is not a request for evidence and it even tells me that I am free to reapply for k1.

question: should I respond, reapply for fiance, or go to India and get married and starts ir1/cr1? Since k1 is only 4 months, what is the validity of ir1/cr1? I can't seem to find it.

suggestions? EXCITED that it's at least concluded not waiting, waiting, waiting!! It's like the best 4 year anniversary gift we could ever get!

Hi All. So far, this forum has been a lot of help - but the more I read the more apposite answers I can find. So here is my direct situation:

My fiance's petition was sent back to USCIS March 10,2011. I know usually they don't tell you why, but our letter said that at the interview, the CO asked my fiance failed to provide details on my background.... (although he was never asked, AND it was never asked in our 221g.) We provided more documents for AP, and we were told "the new information was not conclusive".

Here are the questions he was asked at interview:

How did you meet: online, April 2007

When did you meet: May 2008 - India

Where will you live when you get to USA: with me, of course!

Do you have any relatives in USA: no (no we met online)

What are your eductional qualifications: graduate in business commerce

I read on these forums that these questions probably pin point exactly why his petition is being returned. I have provided evidence to counter-point 6 reasons why he could be denied (including the time apart (fees vs. cost of trip), why petition expired, why we are choosing to live in America, his professional career and plans, etc)

So my new question is 2 points:

I have heard various suggestions on what I do with my counter-points. Send them in, have our immigration lawyer send them in, wait til I recieve a NOID?

And secondly, we are prepared to get married and do CR1 once this is completely finished, if they refuse to reaffirm it on the expiration.... how do I front-load proof of him knowing my background? I never even thought to include letters of "why this happened" or "why that happened" I only included tons of proof of relationship (4 hugely committed years) and it appears their proof of a genuine relationship isn't there. I now know our mistakes, but how do I prove that? He had a notarized letter of all the reasons why he loves me, though it's cheesy, I guess it didn't prove what they wanted?

Thanks so much, let me know if I need clarification

Whether you fight the NOID, re-apply or get married and apply for a spousal visa (the K3 is dead- you would be applying for a CR-1), you need to find out exactly why the denial happened, so you can avoid the problems next time.

With him not being rich, do you mean he didn't fulfill the terms of the affidavit of support? With them thinking your relationship is not genuine, is there any indication why? Meeting online is normal, but how many times did you meet in person? Does his family approve? Is there a large age difference? Was he unable to answer certain questions in the interview?

If you choose to re-apply for a K1 or a CR-1, just cancel the current file first by sending a letter to the USCIS (and, to be safe, the embassy).

Thanks -

There is a small age difference of 3 years (I'm older, he's 22). Our file was sent back because "the beneficiary did not provide detailed information on the petitioner's background" So he failed to provide something we were never asked to provide. I have been to India 4 times (3 times at the time of the interview) for a total of 21 days. Once we are married I'd be able to stay at my in-laws place but out of respect I stay at a hotel. I've met his family, but we were all so nervous we never took pictures. We fulfilled the affidavit of support but the consular officer must have immediately thought he was using me for money or a way into the States because she never even asked him question about ME. His questions at his very short interview were:

how did you meet, when did you meet, where will you stay (with her), do you have any relatives living in America, what are your education qualifications, let me see the documents (and she looked at 2 after being totally disgusted at our huge packet of papers and proof of relationship).

When we added our proof of relationship and over 200 people, names and phone numbers, who know we are engaged.... it still didn't seem to make a difference. I have proof of wedding venue deposits, letters of recommendation from professionals and pastors, notarized letters from his Dad (mom doesn't speak english - but knows all about me and approves - in fact his parents married for love when it was incredibly rare to not have an arranged marriage).

When we do get ready to reapply with CR-1, I will do with without legal representation because I can submit documents on my own and get denied... I don't feel he has been helpful in our fight currently... I will include photos of our civil ceremony, photos with his family, photos of my family with his family, photos of ceremony, photos of us both wearing our rings, photos in their home, photos outside all of us together... what else should I include to prove this is a genuine relationship and marriage? We are so devasted because this took 15 months and I only visited him once in that time to afford legal representation/his flight. We also will be so on the spot to make sure the petition doesn't expire.

Hi All!

I had legal representation to help with bringing my fiance from India to America after almost 4 years together. Our petition expired while still waiting for the interview to be scheduled. We required additional documents and processing following the interview - which we provided. 3 weeks later we learned that our petition was not revalidated becuase my fiance "failed to provide information on petitioner's background" - something he was never asked to do and that our information was "non conclusive" and therefore sent back to the national visa center. Our immigration attorney said he had never seen this in 25 years.

Apparently, it seems they think we did not have a genuine relationship since we met online or becuase he's not rich or something ridiculous even though we had a lot of proof of relationship.

Anyone know anything about this - what to do or a next step? Would LOVE some help. I don't know if we can move on to K-3 spoue visa yet cause I don't think our case is officially closed out. Would love advice.