MiJim

I'm finally at the end of a long journey. VJ has been an incredible resource through the past 4 years, and so I felt like posting this to help others who may be in the situation I was in, as I was constantly on here looking for information during my own complex "visa journey."
Filed joint ROC petition, while separated, exactly one year ago today. Filed for divorce a month later. Got an ROC interview date in October, but divorce still wasn't final. Requested to reschedule the original interview. Final divorce decree came two days later.
Today, I went with my attorney to the field office, and we waited for about an hour. We were called by one of the immigration officers who apologized for the wait, but he needed to do a background check. 20 minutes later, the officer came back out and called my name. He asked "do you have your final divorce decree?" - Which I did. We then went into the officer's office where he placed me under oath.
I had spent the entire past week going through anything and everything I could find as far as evidence of bona fide marriage. I was very confident that this would "go well" since I remember my entire relationship and marriage in detail. There was nothing he could have asked that would have caught me off guard. I was a bit nervous though since my ex wife and I had never had a joint lease, nor did we have an impressive assortment of joint assets. We had two joint bank accounts, joint health insurance and a joint dental plan. Beyond that, most of the evidence was in the nature of random mailers addressed to the both of us, three years of joint tax return transcripts, and affidavit from a close friend and my own very detailed 12 page statement. Main piece of evidence was a photo album spanning three years of traveling together.
After the officer swore me in, he began asking straightforward questions like "when is your birthday?", "what is your address?" etc. He then started asking me questions about my ex and I's relationship from beginning to end. He was very polite the entire time, yet firm. My ex and I had moved a lot due to the both of us working in seasonal retail jobs, so he asked a lot about dates, exact addresses, how long we'd been at this address, that address and so forth. Eventually, he said "I'm just going to tell you right now, you're approved, but I have to do this just to have it all down in writing." He then asked "did you have joint bank accounts? Joint health insurance?" to which I replied "yes" and grabbed a couple of papers to show him, to which he replied something in the lines of "that's okay, I've seen them in your file." He then said something in the lines of "Your statement was very well written, and you have an incredible amount of pictures. Everything looks okay, I can tell it was real and unfortunately didn't work out. I don't need anything more." He then said something in the lines of "Congratulations, I realize that this has been tough, but we're done. Best of luck to you!" He shook my hand, and showed me and my attorney out.
My ex wife wrote an affidavit, but the officer never asked for it or any other additional evidence. He told me and my attorney that the case would have likely been approved without an interview if we had been divorced when initially filing. SInce we filed jointly, but were separated, CSC had sent it to the field office.
Overall, the main lesson I can share with others here is this: FRONT LOAD YOUR PETITION, and be creative with your evidence if you lack joint assets. My own 12 page statement was extremely detailed, and spanned the entire relationship from first meeting until today. The officer told me straight up that the statement was well-written, detailed and therefore extremely helpful. Also, pictures can be excellent evidence if you do it right. Think quality over quantity. All pictures submitted with the petition clearly showed that they were taken at different locations, during different seasons and many of them were with family members. 15 - 30 pictures from different locations, with clearly distinguishable backgrounds, different holidays and seasons, as opposed to sending 300 selfies and all they show is that you know how to use a camera.
Also, ROC petitions are mostly DIY. However, if your marriage is failing at the time you have to file ROC, I recommend at least consulting with an attorney, especially if you live in California where even simple divorces can take up to a year. Mine was uncontested and still took 10 months, which made the entire case a lot more complex. Overall, the waiver interview was "the easy part." If your marriage was genuine, and your memory is in reasonable shape, you will be fine.
Front load, front load, front load. I cannot stress this enough. I carried a 2 pound stack of papers (anything and everything) with me, and he didn't ask for anything at all.
Thank you everyone on VIsaJourney for all the help and support over the past 4 years.

An I-864 can be withdrawn at any point before the I-485 is adjudicated; this includes at the interview.
 
Him cheating on you would not be a valid reason to file under VAWA, if that's all that happened (and there is no physical and/or mental abuse which rises to the level of "extreme cruelty", which is the required standard for VAWA).

People fear what they do not know. That's true in Bavaria, or in Arizona, maybe especially in Arizona! My fiancé is from the UK, and there are a few people in my life who think it's ok to make jokes, "if he was from Mexico you wouldn't have to go through all this, he could just walk over the border like the rest of them." Hey, guess what? My engagement is not an opportunity for you to proudly display your ignorance!
Perhaps now would be a good time for you to learn a little "Southern grace," U.S. style. The next time someone says something hurtful or stupid, you just smile as sweetly as you know how, and say, "well, bless your heart," (or the German equivalent.) In Savannah, GA, where I went to school, that's Southern for "go $* yourself," and when done properly, it can make you feel a whole lot better. Best of luck!

Are you sure everything is on hold, I'm not, why would an RFE for AoS affect EAD/AP especially as they were filed separately and I believe these things are processed separately as well.

Tell me one thing: Do you know any married couples other than other VJ people, who have both names on their utility bills?
I can't.
Joint bank account, certainly, perhaps credit cards as well, but nobody has two names on the gas bill!

If you need to talk we are all here for you. Good Luck.

OK...I don't care if I get thread banned. Cases like this are the reason immigration is so difficult for people with BONAFIDE marriages and relationships to get through this broken system of ours. I will be the one to pass judgement. You just withdrew a petition for K1, now you're in "love" with a woman who has barely been married on a k1 to a different man and you want advice from those of us who would do anything to have our SO with us??? Those of us who have done everything legally, who love and miss our SO. Who have been separated for months, some couples for years. Couples like my husband and I, who did everything by the book,went through the entire process start to finish only to be told that we are in the black hole of administrative processing, we have to wait until the process is done. It has already been 2 months since we have been put in AP, and it could be months and months more before his visa is issued, we just don't know. We have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on travel expenses for me to go to see him every 3 or 4 months just so we can spend a few weeks together as a married couple in the same country, countless hours on skype and msn, phone and texting. the list goes on and on. I wouldn't trade one minute of it, because my husband and I know in the end we WILL be reunited, that we have a real and true marriage and we love each other, and that all of the stress and pain and worry of being apart will have been worth it. Your whole story is a hot mess and exactly the reason it is so difficult for the rest of us. I said what a lot of people here are thinking. Sorry for the rant people, I am just so tired of reading these stories, I really really am.

I don't know you, I don't know her, but you said she got her "about 6 months ago". That means she's under 6 months married. She was "meant" to have been so in love with her fiance (now husband) that it should still be all good. I know rationally relationships aren't perfect, but you certainly don't want to be the rebound, and especially in a visa/GC situation where I assume her USC husband would be concerned she used him. Given what you've said, he would be fair in this assessment and you would be caught up in all that drama and anger. Better to wait until she sorts out her situation OR she divorces, leaves and you file for her. I personally wouldn't, she's shown that her fiance's don't hold her fancy for long.

make it out to Uncle Spooky Turtle.
Once he cashes it, he'll tell you how to fill out the 2nd check, to the proper entity.
Spooky Rocks !

I understand how you feel, waiting sucks, hang in there!
I was thinking California maybe trying to fly threw them before all the young currently illegal immigrants apply for their work permits?

The title of your thread says "cash"........never ever send cash to anyone through the mail. Use check, money order, gift certificate, paypal, Xoom, or a million other ways.......never cash.

When we first submitted our I-129F (on June 22), VJ predicted our case would be adjudicated by November 22nd. NOW with every day that passes, that predicted date gets closer and closer. In all, more than ONE MONTH has been shaved from our predicted wait time. WAY TO GO CSC! Vermont better start picking up the slack.
NOA 1 date: June 22
Originally predicted adjudication date: Nov 22
Today's predicted adjudication date: Oct 19th
M&J

Beautiful attitude to take! God bless the remainder of your journey and may the request be a very simple one!

Remain calm Have your evidence and remember your Married folk, everything will be Great. Wishing you Good Luck

can i have your noa2 hahaha

I do believe there is still misrepresentation. However, the big question is - was the answer recorded? Frankly, the OP's questions have been answered, we have brought up red flags in his case, and I don't think there is a lot more we can help him with.
Meanwhile (and ceadsearc, I am not including you on this) there have been some judgmental responses in this thread. We are not here to judge, we are here to give advice and help people at whichever stage of their journey they are on. Comments to the effect of "You liar! You tried to game the system! People like you make me so mad!" are not helpful or germane to the thread. They are opinions ONLY.

The fact of the matter is that you lied,you were not single when you entered this country. It's obvious you only wanted to get into the US, and you can't tell me you didn't intend to immigrate considering you were in fact married six months ago. Makes me so angry for those of us who are doing things the legal way

I hope I misunderstood you.
Your new wife wants you to give up custody of your two young boys, because she wants her own? Great. Tell her to go find a guy who doesn't have children. I hope you're not even considering this. Put her on the first plane back.
Do you have any idea the damage it would do to your boys if you ship them off, essentially reject them, in favor of "new" kids? You can't do that to them. If she doesn't want your boys then she doesn't want you. End this before she gets pregnant. She will never treat your boys like her own. Don't hurt them that way, please.

Not a hater - just raising our infant son alone until my fiance gets here. It's really, really tough. That's not enough to buy an expedite though.
I don't think it makes someone a hater to say "that really isn't fair" when a lot of people are waiting in a long line and someone gets to skip it without a reason over and above what the others are going through. I have nothing against OP. I truly don't think that's fair.
M

It's a false statement... They are working fast on some petitions from certain countries, that's more accurate!

the system is broken big time!

If its true, I am very happy for you. Cogratulations. But this would prove the system DOES NOT work. Thousands of petitioners before you already waiting 5, 6, 7 months.