jabulani

If he's already transited through a POE, then he missed a chance to get this corrected. He was mostly likely just asking questions when INSTEAD he should have been giving directions to an Immigration Officer in Secondary inspection. It's difficult to remember to get this done, at the POE, when deplaning from an international flight.

For now, wait for the green card to arrive (you can call USCIS, get the tracking #, fwiw)

then later, file an I-90 to have it corrected for no fee.

It's tedious, at this stage. IMO, an IV error not fixed at the POE takes much time to get fixed after the green card arrives, but is worth it.

BUT .

IF he receives a 10 year card in the mail, soonish - you not need to fix anything.

Good Luck !

Hi All,

Thank you for your response. I wanted to let you know that my husband actually got his 10 year green card this past week. They seem to have corrected it based on what we told the at the entry. My husband and I were travelling back together and we told the officer that we had been given a CR-1 though we have been married longer than two years. Anywy it seems like they corrected the issue since we got the 10 green card. Thanks for your help.

Jabulani

Thank you for your response.

Did the CBP officer grant him IR-1 status at the POE? If not, you can file a form I-90, pay no fee, and have a 10 year green card issued.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. The officer did not grant IR-1 at the POE he told us we could call USCIS as he was also wondering why they gave him a CR-1. The POE was in Atlanta. I will look into the I-90 form. Should we file it right away before he gets his green card? He got to the US 3 days ago.

Thanks.

Hello All,

My husband and I have been married since Dec. 2007 but the visa he was granted shows CR1 instead of IR1. Has anyone had this experience before? What do I need to do to make sure he is a permanent resident and not a conditional one? He interviewed at the nairobi embassy and this is where the visa was granted. At the port of entry, the officer said he did not know why my husband was granted a conditional residence even though we had been married since 2007. Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jabulani

Hello All,

My husband and I have been married since Dec. 2007 but the visa he was granted shows CR1 instead of IR1. Has anyone had this experience before? What do I need to do to make sure he is a permanent resident and not a conditional one? He interviewed at the nairobi embassy and this is where the visa was granted. At the port of entry, the officer said he did not know why my husband was granted a conditional residence even though we had been married since 2007. Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jabulani

Hello All,

My husband and I have been married since Dec. 2007 but the visa he was granted shows CR1 instead of IR1. Has anyone had this experience before? What do I need to do to make sure he is a permanent resident and not a conditional one? He interviewed at the nairobi embassy and this is where the visa was granted. At the port of entry, the officer said he did not know why my husband was granted a conditional residence even though we had been married since 2007. Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jabulani

Hi All,

It has been a few months since i last posted...this post is mainly to encourage other people that may be going through the same thing that my husband and I had to go through at the Nairobi embassy. If you remember my story my husband had been denied the visa back in april at the nairobi embassy. After talking to lawyers, senator, congressman they all told me the next procedure would be to wait for the case to come back to US. However I emailed and emailed and emailed scanned evidence of our relationship and after almost 2 months from the date of denial, they called my husband and asked him to submit his passport. After a week we got an email on how to collect passport with visa...in short never give up...God is faithful and He will come through for you. You can do it by yourself though I know it is a pretty hard situation to be in emotionally.

Thanks and All the best.

Jabulani.

Hi All,

My husband got a call from the embassy requesting that he submits his passport via dhl. Has anyone ever experienced this at the Nairobi embassy and how long did it take before they gave you back the passport? Do they call you or do they email to let you know when it is ready to pick it up or does DHL do that?

Thanks in advance.

So sorry to hear about your situation. They can be very tough! The CO studies his case and picks questions intentionally that may trip him up. Obviously they have written in his file that he stated he had a son at a previous interview. That seems really really strange that they would have recorded that while he says he never said it. All I know is that many applicants for tourist visas in Kenya will claim that they have children or spouses even if they don't, so that they can better 'prove' ties to Kenya so they are not denied. I hate to admit it but my husband actually contemplated it when he tried to come to the US for a conference. Using better judgement, he was honest and was the only member of his committee denied for the conference. But now we are thankful and sure it was the right decision. It's got to be one of two things, either your husband mentioned something about a child, or there was a huge huge misunderstanding at one of his interviews. If the latter is the case, it is going to be tough to overcome this denial and prove that he never said that, because 1: the CO is always protected and 2: 'lying' during an interview can result in a permanent ban from the US. I think you have the best idea in mind; consult with an immigration attorney for advice and assistance. Definitely try to get a government official or someone with some authority on board, someone with a good deal of clout, and ask if they can get more specific details on his denial. I have a feeling that an email from you to the Embassy will only result in a generic response informing you that "Section XXX of the US Government immigration law yada yada states that blah blah blah." Some auto answer garbage! Use every resource you can think of and try your best to stay positive. Good luck with everything. I'll be praying for you both!!

Thanks for your response!!!

Hi,

I am a naturalized US citizen based in TX. I am Kenyan and so is my husband and there is a 3 year age difference between us. My first petition was rejected as improperly filed so after talking to an immig. lawyer they said it is okay to withdraw and file when I am ready. So wrote a letter and withdrew it at that point and my husband tried to come visit in the meantime. In 2008 and 2009 he was denied a visa because he does not qualify not enough ties in his country. Then in 2010 when i was graduating I invited him for my graduation, but they denied him and told him that I should file for him since I had a green card at that time. So I filed for him in 2010 and in that file i did state that i had filed for him before and the result USCIS gave me as rejected.

I met my husband in 2000, while still in kenya, started dating in 2002, I came to the US in 2006 through green card lottery (he proposed before I left). Got married in 2007. I have visited him 4 times out of the 5 years we have been away from each other. All the times I went was about 2 weeks or maximum 3 weeks which was my vacation time from work. His interview went smoothly until the woman asked him do you have a son? He said no. She asked him about his previous interviews and he said nothing about a son came up at his last interview and that he does not have a son (no recollection of such conversations with any officer). Then she said we can't continue with this interview till you tell me about your son and he said i do not have a son. Then she crossed her hands and said you probably have another wife somewhere and we don't know...well then I will deny your visa and send it back to the USCIS and it will take another year. Gave him a red slip 221g failed to establish bona-fide relationship and married for immigration purposes (the two parts were checked). They also checked the part that said case is being returned to US. Both my husband and I have not been married before and we have an oath from Kenya (where we got married to show that). My husband is also working on getting a form from the law courts to show that he has no child or any dependants.

When I filed here i put all the basic requirements but it seems like i will have to send them more evidence, pictures and call logs. I am trying to get my senator and congressman to see if they can help and also an immigration lawyer to see if he can help stop the case from being returned. I have read here that Marc Ellis is a good one for such cases.

Let me know your insight. Thanks.

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

Hi,

Thank you for your response. Below are the answers to the questions you asked me about my case:

I am a naturalized US citizen based in TX. I am Kenyan and so is my husband and there is a 3 year age difference between us. My first petition was rejected as improperly filed so after talking to an immig. lawyer they said it is okay to withdraw and file when I am ready. So wrote a letter and withdrew it at that point and my husband tried to come visit in the meantime. In 2008 and 2009 he was denied a visa because he does not qualify not enough ties in his country. Then in 2010 when i was graduating I invited him for my graduation, but they denied him and told him that I should file for him since I had a green card at that time. So I filed for him in 2010 and in that file i did state that i had filed for him before and the result USCIS gave me as rejected.

I met my husband in 2000, while still in kenya, started dating in 2002, I came to the US in 2006 (he proposed before I left). Got married in 2007. I have visited him 4 times out of the 5 years we have been away from each other. All the times I went was about 2 weeks or maximum 3 weeks which was my vacation time from work. His interview went smoothly until the woman asked him do you have a son? He said no. She asked him about his previous interviews and he said nothing about a son came up at his last interview and that he does not have a son (no recollection of such conversations with any officer). Then she said we can't continue with this interview till you tell me about your son and he said i do not have a son. Then she crossed her hands and said you probably have another wife somewhere and we don't know...well then I will deny your visa and send it back to the USCIS and it will take another year. Gave him a red slip 221g failed to establish bona-fide relationship and married for immigration purposes (the two parts were checked). They also checked the part that said case is being returned to US. Both my husband and I have not been married before and we have an oath from Kenya (where we got married to show that). My husband is also working on getting a form from the law courts to show that he has no child or any dependants.

When I filed here i put all the basic requirements but it seems like i will have to send them more evidence, pictures and call logs. I am trying to get my senator and congressman to see if they can help and also an immigration lawyer to see if he can help stop the case from being returned. I have read here that Marc Ellis is a good one for such cases.

I think I have answered all your questions...let me know your insight. Thanks.

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

I'm so sorry! This is terrible. Has your husband emailed you a copy of the red slip he was given? If not, he should do that so you can provide it to your lawyer. My lawyer provided me with a document to give to the consular officer if the visa was denied, which requested that the petition not be returned but be kept in Kenya for a second hearing. Talk with your lawyer about the possibility of having something like that sent there. I wish I had more advice to give! Best wishes sent your way!

Thank you for your response. I will ask the lawyer about that when I talk to him this coming week.

My husband was denied a CR-1 visa. I am a USC based in TX. I emailed the embassy and they said they are going to send my case back to the DHS/USCIS and i will need to contact them if i need further info on the case. I am in the process of getting an immigration lawyer and contacting my senator in TX. Has anyone gone through this before? How long did it take before the case was re-affirmed or NOIR was sent to petitioner? How long will the whole phase be assuming case is re-affirmed and he gets an interview? thank you in advance.

Anyone with insight on this? The red slip my husband was given had two points checked...failed to establish bona-fide relationship. The other was something to do "...for immigration purposes" has anyone had this experience? What kind of evidence can I provide to fight this? I am currently trying to get a lawyer to see if my case can be adjudicated a second time at the nairobi embassy so I can attend and we provide more evidence. Any help will be appreciated.

My husband was denied a CR-1 visa. I am a USC based in TX. I emailed the embassy and they said they are going to send my case back to the DHS/USCIS and i will need to contact them if i need further info on the case. I am in the process of getting an immigration lawyer and contacting my senator in TX. Has anyone gone through this before? How long did it take before the case was re-affirmed or NOIR was sent to petitioner? How long will the whole phase be assuming case is re-affirmed and he gets an interview? thank you in advance.

Hi rodceaser yes I have photos of him with my parents and entire family. Ave taken the advice given by these wonderful people on here and we have agreed to try them out. Mind sharing ur experience with me?What happened and did u manage to sail through? Thanx(and btw am looking for any Kenyan who had been in my situation and sailed through I wish to ask a few Qns)

When they re-affirm what do they say? What kind of letter do you get? What is the difference with NOIR? What will you need to do when you get the reaffirmation vs. when you get the NOIR? Please advise.

what did the denial letter say the 221g? ask if he was given a yellow slip or white slip . yes when they return your case to the usa it takes almost a year before uscis sends your a NOIR notification of intent to revoke. at this point you have the option to appeal with more evidence or let the petition expire.

best option is to get in contact with a good lawyer so you can see about filing another petition with a waiver or contact your congressman to do an inquiry to find out why he was denied , also if you can go to the law courts in kenya to get a statement showing that he has no children and no records exist of him being a father of any child might help; best of luck its a tough consulate, but you have to be honest with your answers and be persistent contact your congressman ,senator , church,mosque,temple, get people to write affidavits that are notarized that know your situation,

it said failed to establish bona-fide marriage but they really never looked at any documents we had. I would like to try and get in touch with my congressman. I have also written a summary of my case in one of my posts...thanks for the info.

get in contact with mr ogueri in dallas, good immigration lawyer 214) 363-5857

although i didnt use an immigration lawyer , but it is good to get a consultation

Thanks I have called the number and got an email address to email him. He was not in the office.

Greetings, I am sorry to hear of your trouble with the Nairobi Embassy, but, I am not surprised. First, your profile states Naturalization…would that be yours? Please update your profile accordingly so that we may help you in the best way possible. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? More importantly, where is your husband from?? Kenya? Uganda?? Mauritius?? Quite a few countries are processed through Nairobi…we need that information.

These are the red flags that I am seeing thus far:

1. You withdrew your first petition, yet applied for a visitor’s visa THREE times (denied all three times).

2. Somehow the Embassy got the idea that your husband has a son. Perhaps in the earlier interviews that he had for the visitor’s visa, this was brought up? Where did the Embassy get this information from?

And what does this question mean? “When I wife went to the US?”

Where did you meet your husband? You met in 2000 (12 years ago)...where have you both been living for the past 12 years? How many times have you visited him in his country? How much time have you spent physically together? There's a lot of unanswered questions that if we knew, we could assist you more. And, I am sorry, but, the immigration lawyer who told you that you could withdraw the first petition because your husband could simply come and visit you was WRONG.

I am a firm believer that visa approval/denials are made before the beneficiary even walks through the door. Did you frontload your petition with proof of your relationship? Was all your paperwork in order?

Yes, we all know the blonde woman very well. Nearly everyone gets her (my husband had her as well). She had her mind made up well before your husband approached the window, that’s most likely why she refused to listen to him or look at any of the documentation he brought with him (although she seems to treat nearly everyone the same way whether she approves or denies them). There have been a couple of interviews where I read she was actually nice to people. The email for the Consulate in Nairobi is: immigrationvisanairobi@state.gov.

If you could provide the information asked, perhaps we can assist you more.

below is a summary of the interview and our history. The questions my husband was asked were as follows:

When did your wife go to the US? his answer (2006)

When did you get married? his answer (2007)

Do you have a son? his answer (No)

Goodmorning,

I am naturalized US citizen who filed a petition for my husband. My husband had his interview on April 19/2012 at window number 10. He was interviewed by a lady who insisted that he has a son and she said that he probably has another wife somewhere. My husband is only married to me and we met in 2000 and have been together since 2002 (got married in 2007). I am not sure why the interviewer kept on saying he has a son yet my husband told her he has no recollection of any statement like that.

I had initially filed for my husband back in 2008 but my case was rejected as improperly filed and was returned back (bounced check). I went ahead and withdrew the case as per an immigration lawyer who said it is okay to try and have him visit me as I re-organize myself financially to file again in 2010. When my husband tried to visit me during my master's graduation in 2010 the interviewer told him to ask me to file since I had a green card. When filing during the second time (2010) I did mention that I had filed for him previously when submitting the case to USCIS and I believe they investigated that and found no issues and went ahead and approved my case.

In the visit interviews that my husband had prior to this, no one mentioned anything to him to do with a son so I am not sure where that came from during this petition interview. She did not go through any documents that we had to show evidence of our relationship and instead stated her word is final and gave him a red slip indicating that he failed to establish bona-fide relationship. We do have all the documents including my travel stamps to Kenya as evidence.

I would kindly like to know what documents we need to provide to prove that my husband and I are legally married and have a bona-fide relationship. We did have our marriage certificate, oath document to show that we had both never been married before and other documents but she did not look at any so I am not sure what documents she requires. My petition is only for my husband and he is the same man I had petitioned for back in 2008. We have been together and in contact before and after I left for the US and I have visited him 4 times in the past 5 years. Please advise. Thank you in advance.

Hi VJers,

My husband had a bad experience at the nairobi embassy today, they denied him visa. I had petitioned for him, I am a USC based in tx. To give a little background, we met in 2000 and got married in 2007. He tried to visit me 3 times between 2008 and 2010 but they denied him saying i should petition for him. Now i petitioned and denied him the visa saying that he stated in one of the interviews that he had a son. My husband does not have a son and does not have any recollection of such a conversation. He went to window no. 10 and found a blonde lady who was mean and never looked at our documents. She only asked him for his passport and told him she

1. When i wife went to the US? 2006

2. When we got married? 2007

3. Why we withdrew our first petition? I (the USC wife) was short on cash at the time and i checked with immigration lawyer who said it was okay since my husband could still try come and visit me. I did mention that in my petition and USCIS had no problem with it.

4. Do you have a son? no, and then she said they can't proceed until he tells her about his son. My husband does not have a son. but the lady kept on insisting that he has a son and said he is not credible that he may have another wife that they do not know about. My husband does not have another wife and neither does he have a son. She then said her word was final at the embassy and the documents will be returned back to uscis, if he wants he can take them back to the lawyer but she said it is going to take a year.

So my question is does anyone know a good immigration lawyer in TX? I also want to contact my senator/congressman about my case and see if they can help me get my husband here. Does anyone know why the lady said it will take a year once they return my case to US? I am writing an email to the embassy to see if there is any document that they need to show proof that my husband is only married to me and has no son (though i have no idea what document that would be).

Your responses are highly appreciated.

They gave him a slip saying failed to establish bonafide relationship yet she did not look at the evidence that we had. She only asked for my husband's passport.

Hi VJers,

My husband had a bad experience at the nairobi embassy today, they denied him visa. I had petitioned for him, I am a USC based in tx. To give a little background, we met in 2000 and got married in 2007. He tried to visit me 3 times between 2008 and 2010 but they denied him saying i should petition for him. Now i petitioned and denied him the visa saying that he stated in one of the interviews that he had a son. My husband does not have a son and does not have any recollection of such a conversation. He went to window no. 10 and found a blonde lady who was mean and never looked at our documents. She only asked him for his passport and told him she

1. When i wife went to the US? 2006

2. When we got married? 2007

3. Why we withdrew our first petition? I (the USC wife) was short on cash at the time and i checked with immigration lawyer who said it was okay since my husband could still try come and visit me. I did mention that in my petition and USCIS had no problem with it.

4. Do you have a son? no, and then she said they can't proceed until he tells her about his son. My husband does not have a son. but the lady kept on insisting that he has a son and said he is not credible that he may have another wife that they do not know about. My husband does not have another wife and neither does he have a son. She then said her word was final at the embassy and the documents will be returned back to uscis, if he wants he can take them back to the lawyer but she said it is going to take a year.

So my question is does anyone know a good immigration lawyer in TX? I also want to contact my senator/congressman about my case and see if they can help me get my husband here. Does anyone know why the lady said it will take a year once they return my case to US? I am writing an email to the embassy to see if there is any document that they need to show proof that my husband is only married to me and has no son (though i have no idea what document that would be).

They gave him a slip saying failed to establish bonafide relationship yet she did not look at the evidence that we had. She only asked for my husband's passport.

Does anyone have the email contact for the nairobi embassy consulate?

Your responses are highly appreciated.

I agree with the guidance provided via the link above! Be sure to read it thoroughly! This embassy will give you hard time, if they have any indication or suspicion of fraud. Therefore, be well prepared with as much evidence as possible. I, the USC, did attend the interview with my wife, although I can't guarantee that you would be able to enter the embassy for it dpeends on your approach to enter. The guards are fairly nice. Also, most interviewees will not receive the visa on the same day, however my wife and I did after being interrogated continuously. After all was said and done, it was worth it for obtaining it on that very day and leaving for the US, the following day.

Thank you for your responses...does he need to pay anymore money, other than his medical which he has already done? I filed a petition for him from the US but i was not sure if they are going to ask him for money again at the embassy. Please let me know and as always...thank you for your responses.

Hi,

My husband will be going for his interview at the nairobi embassy next week thursday. I am a usc based in tx and i will not be able to go to my home country to attend the intvw with him. Is there anyone who's recently been interviewed at the kenyan embassy for IR1/CR1 visa? What docs do they ask for and what kind of questions do they ask? What is the process once one gets the visa? after how long do you get back your passport?

Thanks.

Hi All,

Does anyone know how long it takes for my naturalization certificate to be returned to me after i have recieved my Passport? I got my passport last week and still waiting for my naturalization certificate to be mailed back. I applied through usps in atlanta, GA.

Thanks.

If you go to the particular consulates website and check, you'll see that all the March dates have been taken. The list for the following month is released by the 15th of the current month. Not sure which consulate you're talking about, but if it's Mumbai, I'm sorry to say you don't stand a chance for March, and neither do I.

Where can I go to check the available visa dates for my consulate?

Hi All,

Anyone experienced nairobi embassy interview lately? What kind of questions do they ask you? How about the documents? How long do they take before they return your Passport with the visa?