U & I

Dude you are fighting a losing battle, I would lean to what DEEP said, it is not a normal or a genral practice in Indian culture of living togeather without marriage.

Some vacations do happen without each of the families knowing about, but when you use those pictures for the legal purpose it totally changes the things.

Those vacation time togeather and both of your families aware of it does make it sound like you were married and as you said you just became USC so as a CO I would think you were married and were just waiting to be USC before you file for her.

Exactly and thus applying for K1 is the visa fraud the CO is talking about instead of CR1.

I think the best option would be get married and file for CR1, you can reach out to senator or congressman as per my experience it would not help much as CO can clearly justify to senator or congressman they are doing what they are appointed to do.

I did not get the NOC from US Embassy as DEEP mentioned and we never had any problem.

Sir, I am NOT fighting any battle here...was just presenting my thoughts on what Deep has said.

I already know and understand about everything you mentioned in your reply here. All I am looking for is suggestions and ideas...Getting married is an option I am considering...but my confusion here is for that first I have to withdraw my petition which is still under AP as we are not denied yet...and if I withdraw my petition, they will think that due to the investigation I am withdrawing it, which can create problem for my future spoual visa...you missed that point...I need suggestion on that matter.

Here is it... (I am not judging you or something, I have no right to do it), I am trying to help you.

1. ----against the “Indian culture and traditions”----- COs are vey picky about this. How many people out of whole Indian population are living together before marriage or taking long vacation (< than 5%, where in US , it is about > 95%))

--- The next thing, how her family feels about it? Did they allow it? Did they know about your vacation and .....?

----- Family in India does not allow it(about 95% of time, 5% is a very small number).... - BIG RED FLAG

BASED ON YOUR writing, it looks like that CO is saying that you guys are married and want to get K1 visa instead of CR1.

By the time, your case of out of AP, your K1 petition will be expired.

Best option now is get married and file for CR1.

I know you are helping here...I am not arguing..but what about those 5%...looking at the population of India, that 5% can be a significant number of people...( may be more than some of the european countries ) and they just can't overlook that fact....yes our family was aware of us taking out time together alone..they understood our situation of being away from each other and had faith in us where we would draw the line and be responsible..I know it sounds like a speech but that is the fact in our case..and we were honest about it.

I mentioned clearly in my post that CO is saying that we are married and trying to commit a visa fraud here...which is a sad part.

About your suggestion of getting married, I would have to first withdraw the fiancee petition and that could indirectly mean that I am scared of the investigation as also suggested by other VJ members...that's why I am confused about that option.

Also, about expriring the K1 petiton, other memeber suggested that it doesnt matter once you have had your interview done. so again what you are saying is little confusing for me. Please advise.

Below is the snap shot of our case so far.

1st interview – 26th July – CO was not convinced why we want to marry in US while my family lives in Dubai and my fiancée’s in India - Visa wasn’t granted- issued 221g to submit list of guest present for our engagement ceremony to verify our relationship.

28th July – we submitted list of our guest present at our engagement ceremony along with my fiancé’s passport

August 2nd - Consulate returned my fiancée’s passport with a letter stating that we have been put under “Administrative Processing”

September 6th – Consulate called my fiancée for a 2nd interview-again drilled her on the same topic that why we want to marry in USA when both of our family lives in Dubai and/or India – why don’t we just get married in India or in Dubai – They were not satisfied with our reasoning and still have suspicion that we are already a married couple – Visa wasn’t granted – Issued a letter again stating that we have been put under “Administrative Processing”

Possible red flags in our case

1. Both my and my fiancée’s immediate relative does not stay in USA

2. We have been in relationship over 4 years and I have visited her every year for over a month

3. We took vacation together once during my annual trip

As per CO – it is totally against the “Indian culture and traditions”. Their argument is why someone would want to marry in US when their family is not living there and that couples don’t go on vacation alone before their wedding.

Our reasoning is that – I have been living in US and my family in Dubai for a very long time. I have more acquaintances and friends in US than in India. Also, it makes more sense for me to marry in a country where I have planned to live my entire life. My family also feels more comfortable in US than in India (for obvious reasons). My fiancée has a very small family so they don’t really mind if we get married in USA.

About taking vacations together – CO seems to know India only through their books and training manual….they are NOT really seeing the social changes India is going through – specially in big urban cities – where many couples whom I personally know – have been living together without getting married. So I find CO reasoning of doubting our relationship based on we took vacation together as completely absurd. Also, at one point CO asked why I didn’t file for my fiancée earlier and why I waited for 4 years during our relationship. He totally ignored the fact that I became US citizen only last year & have been living in US on different visa status. Just can’t comprehend that CO ignored such a vital fact.

In conclusion, we haven’t been denied the visa yet but the way they treated my fiancée during her second interview then not issuing the visa…is just making me very pessimistic about our chances of actually getting a visa now ((there were 5 people together interrogated her and they even went to the point of asking my fiancée if we have had physical relationship during our vacation together…disgusting – I wanted to accompany her during the interview but they denied me an entry into the consulate..they made me wait outside the consulate)

I need help and advice from my fellow VJ members. I need your opinion and suggestion as what they make out of our situation? What are the options we have now? Is it time for me to write to the senator or should I just wait to hear from Consulate again?

I know I still have the option to get married and then file for the spousal visa – but I understand very well that it would be again a 9-10 months waiting period and there is no guarantee that the consulate would not put us back in AP based on our K1 visa case earlier. Also. Personally, me and my fiancée are just too tired of waiting and have reached the peak point of our frustration of being away from each other.

I am also exploring other option of temporarily living US and move to Dubai with my fiancée and then file for her later as my wife from there. But I don’t know the procedure for US citizen living in a foreign country and then filing for spouses.

At this point, I have many questions and very few answers. Any help and suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Below is the snap shot of our case so far.

1st interview – 26th July – CO was not convinced why we want to marry in US while my family lives in Dubai and my fiancée’s in India - Visa wasn’t granted- issued 221g to submit list of guest present for our engagement ceremony to verify our relationship.

28th July – we submitted list of our guest present at our engagement ceremony along with my fiancé’s passport

August 2nd - Consulate returned my fiancée’s passport with a letter stating that we have been put under “Administrative Processing”

September 6th – Consulate called my fiancée for a 2nd interview-again drilled her on the same topic that why we want to marry in USA when both of our family lives in Dubai and/or India – why don’t we just get married in India or in Dubai – They were not satisfied with our reasoning and still have suspicion that we are already a married couple – Visa wasn’t granted – Issued a letter again stating that we have been put under “Administrative Processing”

Possible red flags in our case

1. Both my and my fiancée’s immediate relative does not stay in USA

2. We have been in relationship over 4 years and I have visited her every year for over a month

3. We took vacation together once during my annual trip

As per CO – it is totally against the “Indian culture and traditions”. Their argument is why someone would want to marry in US when their family is not living there and that couples don’t go on vacation alone before their wedding.

Our reasoning is that – I have been living in US and my family in Dubai for a very long time. I have more acquaintances and friends in US than in India. Also, it makes more sense for me to marry in a country where I have planned to live my entire life. My family also feels more comfortable in US than in India (for obvious reasons). My fiancée has a very small family so they don’t really mind if we get married in USA.

About taking vacations together – CO seems to know India only through their books and training manual….they are NOT really seeing the social changes India is going through – specially in big urban cities – where many couples whom I personally know – have been living together without getting married. So I find CO reasoning of doubting our relationship based on we took vacation together as completely absurd. Also, at one point CO asked why I didn’t file for my fiancée earlier and why I waited for 4 years during our relationship. He totally ignored the fact that I became US citizen only last year & have been living in US on different visa status. Just can’t comprehend that CO ignored such a vital fact.

In conclusion, we haven’t been denied the visa yet but the way they treated my fiancée during her second interview then not issuing the visa…is just making me very pessimistic about our chances of actually getting a visa now ((there were 5 people together interrogated her and they even went to the point of asking my fiancée if we have had physical relationship during our vacation together…disgusting – I wanted to accompany her during the interview but they denied me an entry into the consulate..they made me wait outside the consulate)

I need help and advice from my fellow VJ members. I need your opinion and suggestion as what they make out of our situation? What are the options we have now? Is it time for me to write to the senator or should I just wait to hear from Consulate again?

I know I still have the option to get married and then file for the spousal visa – but I understand very well that it would be again a 9-10 months waiting period and there is no guarantee that the consulate would not put us back in AP based on our K1 visa case earlier. Also. Personally, me and my fiancée are just too tired of waiting and have reached the peak point of our frustration of being away from each other.

I am also exploring other option of temporarily living US and move to Dubai with my fiancée and then file for her later as my wife from there. But I don’t know the procedure for US citizen living in a foreign country and then filing for spouses.

At this point, I have many questions and very few answers. Any help and suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

If you have had your interview the expiration date means nothing anymore.

Ok..thanks for the info.

Our case has been put under AP so we don’t know when we would get the visa and our notice of action has an expiration date of September 14th. Should I contact the consulate to extend the notice date? Or is it only for those who haven’t had their interview yet. I am confused and needs some help before I contact the consulate. Please advise.

So finally after waiting under AP for a month, US Consulate Mumbai has called my fiance for a second interview with just her passport and no other documents...can any one share their experience about second interview ? what kind of questions we should be prepared for ? what should we expect as a outcome ? Any input will really help us prepare...thanks a lot.

So finally after waiting under AP for a month, US Consulate Mumbai has called my fiance for a second interview with just her passport with no other documents...can any one share their experience about second interview ? what kind of questions we should be prepared for ? what should we expect as a outcome ? Any input will really help us prepare...thanks a lot.

just needed some assistance or advice, but any help would be great. My fiancee had her interview for the K1 fiancee visa at New Delhi and was given a white colored 221G that said submit the followoing documents with your passport to the VFS, the documents asked for were:

1 Notarized explanation from you and your petitioner of how and when you first met and why you decided to get engaged.

2 List of all engagement ceremony guests,their relationship to you,their addresses and their phone numbers.

3 Itemized emails and/or postmarked letters or cards between you and your fiancee.

4 Photos of you and the petitioner before,during,and after your engagement.

5 Notarized statement signed by the applicant's parents discussing their views of the engagement.

6 Notarized copy of your fiancee's passport.

7 Voter's ID card and Voter's list for the past 5 years of the beneficiary

She just submitted the documets asked for with her passport to the vfs a couple days ago. My question is how long does the embassy take to look at the documents, do they issue the visa if they are satisfied with all the documents. With the above documents we also submitted a reciept from the hotel where our engagement took place, we also submitted a statement written from the hotel stating that the 2 of us were engaged on so and so date. I have also made 2 trips to india after my engagement, we also submitted the enagement album ,what should I be expecting to hear next, if anything at all.

Let me give you a little more info, we are both punjabi sikhs, she is only like 7 months older than me. Please give me any advice that may be helpful.

Usually they issue visa in 1-2 weeks IF ( a big if ) they are satisfied..if they decide to check on the evidences in can take upto month..for ex..As you already know in our case, they just asked us to submit the guest list...and its already been a month since we heard anything from them.

All

A friend of mine's son (USC) got engaged in pakistan about over 4 years ago. Due to the cultural values and customs he has not communicate with his finace but they had a ceremony and have pictures from that time. Both were under 18 at the time like 17 and 16 years old. Now the son over 21 has applied for K1 and got an RFE to prove he has met her in last 2 years. He has not visited pakistan since he got engaged. I need to know will they approve his petition if a copy of his US paaport pages for entery and exit to pakistan are sent from 4 years ago along with affidavit from parents from both sides. All answers are appreciated. Thanks

There is something called waiver for meeting in last 2 years which is mentioned on USCIS website for K1 visa requiremnts...below is the exact text from the website,

"You met each other, in person, at least once within 2 years of filing your petition. There are two exceptions that require a waiver:

1. If the requirement to meet would violate strict and long-established customs of your or your fiancé(e)’s foreign culture or social practice.

2. If you prove that the requirement to meet would result in extreme hardship to you"...

so in conclusion you will have to prove that it was against the custom and tradition...

My personal advice...get married and file for spousal visa...K1 route is dangerous specially for Muslims as consulate views them totally against the norm and scrutinize everything..and there is an added risk of Administrative processing...I am talking from my own experience...since he going there better to do NIkah and file it then..they can always do their reception back in US.

So out interview date is on September 7th and we are trying to get the PCC. We already have the police clearance from the city that I live....My fiancee went to Ahmedabad today and she was told that the office doesn't issue PCC for K1 visa anymore. Apparently there's a new officer who doesn't know that PCC is required for a K1 visa. She said that she will only give it if it was for spousal visa. She even went to the point saying that "how come these parents are allowing their girls to go to the US without marriage." She said that "K1 is an illegal visa."

We are frustrated and not sure what to do. I just sent in an email to the Mumbai consulate and trying to figure out what to do. Any ideas??

M.

I believe you are talking about PCC from Police Station. If yes, then you don't need PCC from them..just get it done through the passport office. That's all they need.

Our case has been put under AP at Mumbai Consulate since last week. It is still early days but the whole scenario has been emotionally very draining for both me and my fiancée.

We are planning for a trip to Dubai to celebrate Eid (a Muslim Holiday) with our family there.

Is it advisable to travel while the case is under AP? I just want to make sure that we are not giving any reason to the consulate to delay the process further.

Your opinion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Anyone with the similar scenario ??

Our case has been put under AP at Mumbai Consulate since last week. It is still early days but the whole scenario has been emotionally very draining for both me and my fiancée.

We are planning for a trip to Dubai to celebrate Eid (a Muslim Holiday) with our family there.

Is it advisable to travel while the case is under AP? I just want to make sure that we are not giving any reason to the consulate to delay the process further.

Your opinion will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I just called Department of State to understand the reason behind why our case has been put under " Administrative Processing". I asked them is it becuase of the "FBI name check" or "Document verification". They refused to give me the information saying its the local embassy's properitory information and they can't give me the details..

However, I read on some of the old postings here that some of the VJ memebers were able to get this information from them and were advised to call them every week to check on the status...

Has any one called DOS recently and has their experience to share ?

Becky & Dipu got the same from Delhi Consulate...may be you can get in touch with them...

I did...thanks for the input..

Dipu and I had his interview this morning. Dipu was asked to take the oath, sign the DS-156K form and was asked these questions:

1) Who am I (addressed to Dipu about me)? Answer: I am the petitioner.

2) How did we meet? Answer: Met at work when his company was taking over work from mine for outsourcing.

3) Have you ever met her parents? Answer: No, but I met them over Skype a few times. I have met her grandparents in person last June, Father's Day weekend.

4) How many times have you been to America? Answer: Twice

The CO then said that the case is in adminstative processing. Then he asked if either of us had ever been married and we both said no.

Then the CO said go to the next window and the lady would explain AP to us. He kept Dipu's passport and returned all documents including evidence and original certificates. The CO kept the medical report but not the X-rays.

When we went to the next counter, the woman gave us a letter that had already been printed prior to our arrival at the CO's window that stated:

Please bear with us while your case undergoes mandatory administrative processing.

We have retained your passport to more quickly process your visa when the processing has been completed. When the processing is complete, we will send your passport and visa to you via VFS.

The woman did not give us any details as to why we are in AP or how long we could expect it to take.

Has anyone had this experience at New Delhi? Is it because Dipu is Muslim and his background check isn't finished yet? How long should I expect this to last? Is this a stalling technique so that they can deny our visa when the petition expires on Aug 21?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Is it because Dipu is Muslim and his background check isn't finished yet?

The answer to this question is unfortunatley YES. We went through the same expereince only ours was in Mumbai. Our case has been put into AP as well - Reason being the religion ( unfortuante but true ). You are lucky in a way that they kept his passport so hopefully it won't take long. In our case, they returned my fiancee's passport with a letter about AP. Based on the VJ's experiences - it could take anywhere between 2weeks to 2years. And the most frustrating thing about the whole scenario is that they don't respond to your querries while you are in AP...sort of a punishment on being from a particular religion and region...I will pray that we all come out of it soon...keep us posted..

Hey U & I... Sorry to hear about your predicament. I read through your posts and was wondering, did your fiancee not explain to the CO that through the Fiancee Visa route, she would get to come and be with you much sooner than through the Spouse Visa route? Or did she explain that and the CO just didn't understand?

And, unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question above, but please keep us updated!

thanks for the sympathy...

CO did ask why you are going through K1 visa route and not get married and file spousal visa...

My fiancee told her exactly what you mentioned here...that since we are already in a long distance relationship from last 4 years and that we want to be together after our wedding...and we thought that Fiancee visa would be faster and best way to avoid seperation after wedding...on her reply, CO responded very rudley to her saying that's BS...from where and how you are getting this information about Fiancee and Spousal visa..my fiancee calmly replied to her saying my fiance is a US citizen and been living there from a long time and offcourse he has done his research...on hearing this response CO kept quiet and moved to the next round of abuse and allegations...

Basically, they treat u very badly..I am holding on to put our review of the interview till we get some results as I don't want to sound like a sour grape...

Hi,

your visa is not denied unless they tell you that your visa is refused , i am attaching a letter , this is what i got back with my passport , and i think you have also got the same thing . if that is the case then u dont have to panic .

Yeah this is exactly they gave us...thank you so much for your assurance and help..

I am bit relieved now...I will pray for u specailly during this holy month..thx

I hope tht both of us gets re-united with our loved ones soon..

Hi ,

first of all ramadan mubarak , i think your situation is very clear, there is nothing to worry about , 221g is given due to various reasons , when the first time you got the 221g it was because of the lacking documents that's why they asked you to submit the gust list , now when the CO is convinced of your relationship and she has approved your visa now just before your visa will be granted they will do a fbi name check , and i am pretty sure your current 221g is beacuse if the fbi name check , the reason y i think this is because they have not asked you to submit any additional documents , i have also got the same letter from the mumbai embassy . so don't worry we cannot predict a time line for security checks but according to the fbi website 98% of the name checks are done within 120 days . so jus relax and pray .

Thank you .

Thanks dear..Ramzan Mubaruq to you as well.

I am afraid to say that CO has not approved our visa yet..my fiance got her passport back without no visa stamp and just this letter with no specific details other than notiying us that its in AP

I am really tempted to believe in your assurance that its a good sign towards getting a visa but letter says that submit the passport back to VFS with required documents..do you see my confusion here

Just don't know what is happening there...

On July26th, my fiancée had her interview at Mumbai Consulate. They gave her 221g with a note to submit only the guest list of people who attended our engagement ceremony as additional documentary evidence. We submitted the list to VFS Mumbai on July 28th.

Today on August 2nd, Consulate returned her passport via VFS with a letter stating that our case has been put into “Administrative Processing” and has asked us to submit the additional documents within 1 year. Now here is the catchethey didn’t mention what documents to submit again on the letter. It just say your case has been put into AP under section 221g.

Does any one have same kind of experience? How long does it take to complete the administrative process? There is nothing in our case like, race, religion, age which could raise suspicionDuring her interview CO said I am convinced of your relationship but she was stuck on 1 point that why u didn’t get married here during my several trip to meet her? They had a doubt that we are already married and so asked us to submit the guest list of people so that they can verify. We submitted the list asap as we have nothing to hide. So what’s taking them so long to just call people and check about the validity of our relationship?

Can someone please help me understand this whole mess ? I will really appreciate some guidance on it and the things I can do. I am planning to write to senators/congressman to get more specific answers. I have read on several forum that there is nothing you can do while under A/P. But there must be some way to get specific answer why its been put under AP.

On July26th, my fiancée had her interview at Mumbai Consulate. They gave her 221g with a note to submit only the guest list of people who attended our engagement ceremony as additional documentary evidence. We submitted the list to VFS Mumbai on July 28th.

Today on August 2nd, Consulate returned her passport via VFS with a letter stating that our case has been put into Administrative Processing and has asked us to submit the additional documents within 1 year. Now here is the catche…they didnt mention what documents to submit again on the letter. It just say your case has been put into AP under section 221g.

Does any one have same kind of experience? How long does it take to complete the administrative process? There is nothing in our case like, race, religion, age which could raise suspicion…During her interview CO said I am convinced of your relationship but she was stuck on 1 point that why u didnt get married here during my several trip to meet her? They had a doubt that we are already married and so asked us to submit the guest list of people so that they can verify. We submitted the list asap as we have nothing to hide. So whats taking them so long to just call people and check about the validity of our relationship?

Can someone please help me understand this whole mess ? I will really appreciate some guidance on it and the things I can do. I am planning to write to senators/congressman to get more specific answers. I have read on several forum that there is nothing you can do while under A/P. But there must be some way to get specific answer why its been put under AP.

I thought I submit this as sepearte post to get quick responses....

My fiance had her interview at Mumbai Consulate on July 26th. CO gave her 221g and have asked her to submit guest list of people present at our engagement ceremony. We submitted the list on July 28th along with her original passport. Dooes any one has any experiences to share about how long they take to make a decision after submitting the documents they have asked for ?

Does anyone has any expereinces where the consulate have asked for guest list as an additional documents ? What was the outcome and how long it took for them to reach the decision...any help will be greatly appreciated...

I thought I submit this as sepearte post to get quick responses....

My fiance had her interview at Mumbai Consulate on July 26th. CO gave her 221g and have asked her to submit guest list of people present at our engagement ceremony. We submitted the list on July 28th. Dooes any one has any experiences to share about how long they take to make a decision after submitting the documents they have asked for ?

Does anyone has any expereinces where the consulate asked for guest list as an additional documents ? What was the outcome and how long it took for them to reach the decision...any help will be greatly appreciated...

So finally we submitted our guest list to Mumbai embassy on Thursday...does any one has any experience about how long they take to make a decision after submitting the documents they have asked for ?

Hi,

My fiance interview(for K1) was done on May 6th, 2011 in Islamabad. Since then his case is in AP. Now when I send emails to consulate asking status update, no one responds. I called state dep. and per them case is stil pending under AP. it's been 3 months already. I sent a letter to the visa services Administrator in state department as well as to Consulate but haven't received any response yet. It's very frustrating and hard to go through this time period. Even my marriage is planned but waiting on visa issuance. They have his passport as well. Do you think should i send direct email to one of the officers in embassy? Please suggest..if so should it be addressed to CO or AMB.

Please respond.

I am very much concerned and going through tough time because of this delay.

Thank you in advance.

They won't respond back when the case is in AP..only options you have is to wait..also may be you can try and get your local senators and congressmen involved..most likely they will come back with the same answer..but no harm in trying..I sympathise with your situation..may be his name is help up due to security clearence/FBI name check and it usually tends to take a long time..