samename

About a year ago I searched the internet over and over again after my first visa interview on nov. 28th for the information I'm puttin across but cudn't find any or incomplete. After my experience I felt I need to share this with others who might be in the same situation I was a year ago. My kid brother and I live in Ghana. Our step-father and my biological mom filed an IR2 visa for us. they hired a lawyer who started the process and by august 2011, she sent us the forms for our signatured and we did,so by 1st week in sept. she received it and filed it to the visa center in u.s. By mid october we received the good news, our interview date was scheduled for nov. 28th 2011. We were so happy, we thought it was goin to be like when we get there they were going to ask us questions anyhow and bam..the visa in our passports. we were lyk when we get the visa, the next day we out of this country for good. Now the D-day arrived and by 9:00 am we found ourselves in a qeueu entering the embassy. we sat in the consular section for hours until around 2pm we were called into a room with one big headed guy with small eyes ready to interview us. the Tension was very high and what made it worse was the fact that he kept asking do you have anything to prove that ur mom and step dad are really married, I tot, don't u f**kin 've that in ur system. that's f**ckin america we talkin aba. u shud have evrythin. he kept throwin some documents we presented at us, gosh i felt man this is not good. fear griped me knowin they will deny us. he then took a white paper and asked us to perform DNA and gave us another interview date scheduled for 25th June 2012. ####### 7 gud months! and this man was like, don't worry as soon as the DNA results are in we will call u to bring ur passports and give you the visa. that gave us a lil bit of hope that its really not goin to get to that 7 months. My mom paid and performed the DNA in u.s on dec. 6th 2011.she was told when the kit to perform the dna on us arrives at the embassy here in accra they will call us by phone. we Waited for over a month and half but no call so I wrote to them via email,waited for 5 days no response. I sent the mail over and over again about 6 times and immediately a response came that our DNA sample collection has been scheduled for 10th may 2012 and by april 29th I shud cam to the embassy for the appointment letter. I started searchin the internet to find out how long it wil take for DNA results to arrive and the distance between our DNA appointment and our second interview. now 10th may arrived for the DNA, went very smoothly and then 25th june 2012 also arrived for our second interview. we got there at 1pm as stated in the appointment letter. all hopes were high knowin that will be it, no more go n come. so this nice lady interviewed us, also throwin documents at us, said we need to add some tax return documents and some more proof,thus relationship b/n our mom and step-dad. she took the white paper and scheduled us for 25th sept. 2012(3 months interval) She also asked us to bring a new police certificate and new medicals. Gosh we were so dissappointed. she ended by saying gooodluck but jux left with a straight face. I was lyk f**k that visa man, I'm even tired. Days went by and finally 25th sept. was here. we arrived there around 1pm as stated on the letter. sat there for a few hours until the place was almost empty and she called us. Honestly I didn't know what to xpect anymore. she asked us a couple of questions, saying she wanted some more proof, In my head I was lyk take ur visa, we don't want it anymore. she proved very tough wantin to dig out any information that may complicate the proof we provided but as long as the Lord God Almighty reigns, everything went as he the Lord God Almighty had planned it. she asked us to sit down and in a few minutes say lyk 5 min. she called us and gave us a green leaflet thus the visa collection ticket to come 2nd nov. 2012 for our visa. Gosh I cudn't hide the joy I jux kept thankin the lord. we drove straight to churchees restaurant to celebrate with some junk food..lol. fried rice,pizza etc. 2nd nov. arrived and we stormed the embassy with a lot of confidence. but upon waiting for hours they told us it wasn't ready so was rescheduled for 9th nov. the day arrived and we went for our visas. It took virtually a year from start to finish. now I don't even feel lyk rushin outta ghana anymore!!! I Know this is a very long story and some people might find it quite boring. but I know if you get frustrated after ur 1st interview..u will definately need this so u know what to expect. If you need any info. you can ask, if i 've i will provide. thank you!!!

First and foremost I would like to thank God for giving me the strength to keep going... Secondly... I would like to thank everyone who responded to my questions. I may not be the brightest person when it comes to this journey, but I thank you and visa journey. To my favorite friend out there, thank you from the bottom of my heart. For anyone who are awaiting decisions hold on...God is in the neighborhood. Have a blessed night!

I met Tita online and visited her 2 times in the Philippines. I took lots of pictures and supplied some texts of out messenger conversations and all was fine. I even furnished a copy of the receipt of the engagement ring purchase. She came over on a K1 we had a small civil ceremony here in 2007 and had a nice church wedding in Philippines in 2011, which her parents really appreciated.
All this said, you might consider K3, marry there for her parents if it looks like tourist visa might be a problem. Very important to do the right thing for her parents. Remember the immigration process should never drive decisions as much as the way you treat your wife and her family, that will last forever. May God bless you +++

Please grow up a bit. When you marry and live with your spouse there are chores to be done before you can go have fun. If you live in a regular compound there are things to do in the yard, things to fix on the house, things that need to be done with the car. Inside there are dishes to wash, clothes to clean, floors to sweep. It doesn't matter who does which chore as long as the chores are done you can go enjoy your life. You whine like a child about the chores your wife expects you to help with . It seems you tihnk you should do no chores and enjoy your life and your wife should take care of all of the chores. You both need an adult talk about dividing the work. You can either pick separate chore or slipt the ones to be done ( you do dishes on even days , she on odd ) The same for the bills , you each need some money for yourself ( or to send to family if that is what you do with "your" money) You need to act like a husband and not like a spoiled child that expects their mother to give them everything and not interupt their play. I don't side with her for being a USC but I am ashamed at the way you want to be a child when you took the role of a husband.

1. give her all of your money.
2. give her each future paycheck
3. clean the house every two days
4. wash the car weekly
5. wash dishes twice a day
6. iron her clothes every two days.
what you did NOT do was successfully bargain prior to your post, so now you must bargain to your detriment.
and that's ok - you reap what you sow.

Who was in office in 2006/2007? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Obama.

I hope my experience this morning can help some other people out there who feel they should have heard something by now.
We had a May 8th receipt date. I have called into the 800 number on numerous occasions and everyone said "just keep waiting." So this morning, I called and asked for a supervisor (is this the "Tier 2" I've heard about?)
The supervisor looked up our case and we learned we were actually approved back on November 5th but never heard anything about this.
I contacted the NVC after that and learned that the packet was actually sent to the embassy on November 20th!
So if anyone thinks things are lagging in Vermont, call and ask for a supervisor!

You can call your phone company, cable, internet gas, electricity and tell them that they need to put his name in the bills. They will tell you no we can't. Here is the trick: tell them to write "ATTN your husbands name" right under your name. That's what I did with my bills. and it works. put the car in your name and his name, send the new title and the registration since it will be in both of your names. The bank, add his name to the account and order checks. that will show both your names. Print all the bank statements and write a paper and explain why you didn't have enough since you just opened it in february. buy rental insurance in both names.

Charlesandmerie, the OP is asking for someone with experience about how these additional evidences are being handled at NVC... Did you have experience of what you just commented or you were speculating? Well, for the fact that DS230 allows you to submit additional evidence of ongoing relationship means that what you have just posted lacked expertize... Workers at NVC are well trained to understand the importance of every piece of evidence you submitted and they place it in your case file... The only reasonable thing to worry about is whether they can missplace a document, which in itself can happen unintentionally... When you sarcastically suggest NVC destroys documentary evidence because it's well detailed far more than the mere academics, you didn't sound professional... Now, Debbie remember to make a replica copies of everything you send to NVC including photo evidence and make a cover letter stating all items included in chronological order... The cover letter makes the work easy for whoever that's reviewing your package to locate the items he/she needed without stress... You know this is what I have done and it was great!
P.S DS230 allows you to send in unlimited documentary evidence... You can review the instruction if you're not too sure... Wishing you the best of luck, Debie

It depends very much on the consulate, and what evidence you frontload.
When a consulate denies a visa and returns a petition they are asking USCIS to revoke the approval, essentially saying that the petition never should have been approved. They have only two valid basis for making this request. The first is that they have discovered evidence which they believe would have resulted in the petition being denied if USCIS had known about it. The second is that they have discovered something that USCIS should have noticed, and that they believe USCIS clearly erred when they approved the petition. The second reason is unusual, but USCIS does occasionally make mistakes. The first reason is the most common.
Consular officers sometimes have to resort to dirty tricks in order to conjure up a reason to deny a visa, especially in high fraud countries. They usually do this when they have a strong suspicion that something isn't right about the relationship. When they intend on denying then they will sometimes cite reasons which may actually not be true. For example, the consulate in Saigon expects an engaged couple to have had a traditional Vietnamese engagement ceremony (see my avatar), and they impose some reasonably strict expectations on that requirement, which includes a celebration involving guests that number in the hundreds. It's very easy for a consular officer in Saigon to cite the engagement ceremony as a reason for denying the visa, claiming that this is a violation of longstanding local tradition and customs. In fact, the consular officer may not have even asked for evidence that they had an engagement ceremony, or may have even refused to accept the evidence if the beneficiary offered it.
This is where frontloading comes in.
A consular officer cannot deny the existence of evidence if it was included with the petition. For example, a consular officer in Saigon can't say that a couple never had an engagement ceremony if the petitioner included pictures of the ceremony and celebration with the petition, and specifically labeled the pictures as such. The consular officer also couldn't claim that the celebration was too small to satisfy tradition and customs if one of the pictures clearly shows a banquet hall filled with more than 100 people.
Occasionally, a consular officer will deny on a basis for which evidence to counter the CO's claim was frontloaded with the petition. In these cases the CO usually just didn't see the evidence before issuing the denial. If USCIS actually readjudicates a returned petition in this case then they'll almost always reaffirm the approval and send the petition back to the consulate.
Frontloading can be very useful if:
1. You specifically know what sort of things are cited as reasons for denial at your consulate.
2. You know what aspects of your own case might be considered red flags at your consulate.
3. Your frontloaded evidence proves you've met local customary requirements, or it addresses specific red flags in your case.
On the other hand, if you just start loading up your petition with all of the evidence you've got then you're setting your fiancee up for a difficult interview. For example, if you include 100 pages of chat logs then you've given the consular officer LOTS of evidence the consular officer can use to grill your fiancee.
Consular Officer: On February 14th of 2009 you thanked your fiance for the Valentines Day gift. What exactly was the gift, and what exactly did your fiance say in response?
Would her memory be good enough to know exactly what you said on that day? The CO has the answer in front of him in black and white, so he'll know if her answer is correct.
Frontloaded evidence should either help support your case or specifically address red flags, but it's crucial that your fiancee know in detail everything you've frontloaded. In many cases, a consular officer will ask a question not knowing the precise correct answer - they just want to know if the beneficiary has a credible answer. Almost any believable answer is better than "I don't know". In the case of frontloaded evidence, you've given the consular officer the correct answers, so your fiancee had better know them.

Just checked USCIS website & it made me shout with Joy & Excitement!Petition approved after 117 days...God is good! to oThers who aRe stiLL waiting...goodluck...please guide me for the next step Vjers...thanKs to this site who guided me along the way...I was the one who prepared all the docs needed...my bf just signed them & forwarded to CSC...no RFE!God bless us aLL!cHokDee tUk tUk kHun...

Just a heads up for any that in the process of purchasing airline tickets.. I work in the reservations department of an airline and 90% of the time it will be cheaper to buy a ticket with a return than it is to buy one that's one way.. You just never use the return flight and you can claim a refund for some of the taxes of the unused part of the ticket.

APPROVED K1 TODAY 11-02-2012 HAPPY PRAISE THE LORD

The I-129F is a multi-purpose form, used for K-1 visas for fiance(s ) and
K-3 visas, a non-immigrant spousal visa.
At the moment, the I-129F was approved prior to the I-130, so it's quite possible a K-3 interview (with more doc intake) will occur at the IV unit.

Moormin.
I do have a sworn and notarized testimony from him and his willingness to testify under oath at court. But I will be honest with you, I don't want any more stress in my life. I have to let this go. My focus is on my daughter and I. This is the relationship, which will heal me and give me purpose. I don't want to see a courthouse from inside again. As they say: ' Everybody pays for their deeds, some day, everybody. '
All I wanted to do, is to share my story, my mistakes. If I just saved one person from being destroyed as I was, it was worth the effort.
Laci

ICE doesn't have time to investigate every accusation of a US citizen being used to get a green card. They have 20 million illegal aliens to worry about. Their biggest concern are the ones who are dangerous criminals, and they've been ordered to focus on those.
USCIS will be required to consider her application for a green card based on abuse. She'll have to prove she entered the marriage in good faith, which generally means evidence of comingled finances and cohabitation. Does she have any of this evidence? She'll also need to prove the alleged abuse. Does she have anything like this? Police reports, medical reports, etc.? USCIS will not report to you on the progress of her application because you are no longer involved in it. However, they will consider the complaints you've filed when evaluating her VAWA petition, especially if you filed those complaints long before she filed her petition. You may never know if she was successful. Don't worry about it. Move on with your life. Have no further contact with her unless it's supervised. She may try to use any opportunity to collect evidence for her VAWA application, and that includes calling the cops on you. She can't pull this unless she's alone with you.
I'm sorry this happened to you. It sucks. The consulate in Saigon is known to be a difficult one, and there's a good reason for this. Most Vietnamese girls aren't scammers, but the ones who are can be really vicious.

this is horrible and i can't believe how everyone here is justifying what was done to his wife. This is not humane and this is just ridiculous. We are just forgetting that as human we have some rights and we have rights to be treated with respect, doesn't matter who it is.. they all should be treating her with some respect. if they don't want her to be in the country, then deny her .. dont give her the visa, or dont allow her to come to USA, but don't disrespect her and humiliate her like this. why are we accepting this as "standard procedure"? what is so Standard about it?
is that the standard we have to live by now? come on guys.. we deserve to be treated as human first and if you want to discriminate certain people, then dont hide it. Now i know many of you here will say no no it is not discrimination... how is it ok for you to go from England to USA on 90 day visa as many times as you want, but not ok for her to travel to USA with a visit visa? why they are humiliating her but not other visitors from european countries?
I think we need to say "NO" it is not ok for them to do it and stand up for it.

Alot of good points made here....but at the stage you are at in the visa journey and for you to write this means something....not necessarily something bad. but its something that you should evaluate. Its so hard to say or judge....so on that note....I strongly advise you to listen to your Intuition. Only you know the real intentions and you only will find out the real intentions.....Good luck and God bless.....(Praying it's nothing)

I don't believe that anyone would lie about their status if it was denied... I think there's a kind of mix up somewhere, otherwise, who amongst our member here is the alleged lier? There might be a sudden change and maybe the individual was tired of sharing? Maybe after some deeper such a person wanted to move on to the next level by coming back to get the strength need to continue here, I don't know... But I am not holding brief for anyone that tell lies... But I feel nobody can claim approved when denied actually, it make no sense at all... Let's verify our facts and continue to help one another... Moreover, this forum is mostly anonymous posters, hence nobody really get to meet you unless you choose to be fully identified... I hope we can focus on more realistic issues rather than trying to insinuate that some people are lying... The help I got from people here in this forum made me believe that people here are truthful and not liars... May God bless all

Just got off the phone with my spouse. Guess what, her visa was approved. She will pick up her visa next Wednesday. To God be the glory.

I don't know if you explained to her that in Islam we have to believe in Jesus pbuh and christianity. As a matter of fact since God told us to believe in those religions that means that we are already Christians and if you don't believe in Christianity, simply you can't be a muslim. I don't know if you have any basic knowledge about Islam. But muslims are required to believe all prophets and all religions and all the holey books that came to the prophets before Muhammad pbuh. That means that you literarely belong to those religions before you would be a muslim otherwise you are not. Explain that to her and give her some verses of the Quran so you can convince her of that. Divorce is not a solution for everything. Just be patient with her and explain to her Islam step by step, treat her like a kid who just started learning. I want to remind you that you have to have a strong belief in Jesus pbuh before you are a Muslim. Many people have a wrong understanding of Islam, go ahead and explain it to your wife, if she understood that you really believe in Jesus pbuh already tell her divorce is not necessary. I explained that to my wife, since she wanted to make me convert to and I suggested her to read some Quran. I didn't even make, her she read it herself at the end she wanted to convert. Be easy brother, force will not make it right. Remember: You can't force nobody into a religion, it's a choice. Besides it's between them and God. You can't decide what God wants. If he wants her to understand that you believe in Jesus pbuh she will. Don't force her. Don't forget, don't force her. The prophet Muhammad pbuh didn't do that. You don't either.

Consider divorcing in Nevada. I know many California residents who did so. I was divorced in Nevada and entire divorce from filing until having final divorce decree in hand was 2 weeks. In California you have the 6 month mandatory wait. In order to divorce in Nevada it is a very easy requirement to meet the residency requirement.
To establish Nevada residency and qualify for a divorce in days: one (1) party must currently reside in Nevada for at least 6 weeks. To prove your residency type a Resident Witness Affidavit that another resident signs stating that he/she has seen you living in Nevada for 6 weeks. The witness must be at least 18 years of age who has lived in Nevada for at least the past six (6) weeks and may be a relative, friend, co-worker or an employee of a Lodging Establishment where you are residing.
Divorcing in Nevada was simple as long as both parties agree. If its contested it will be more difficult no matter where you divore and would likely take over 6 months in California.

I'm not sure what your divorce laws are in California but I do know that everything needs to be finalized for you to file the petition. You have to send in a copy of the divorce decree with the petition. If it isn't finalized when you file, your petion will be rejected. If that means waiting a mandatory 6 month period before you are offically divorced, I highly recommend you sit back, plan your paperwork and file as soon as it's over. Anything else, jumping the gun, will result in a denial. Don't risk it!
Good luck!

The pay-stubs are your proof. Because frankly anyone can type up an employment letter. Just have your pay-stubs that show total year to date totals and you are good to go.

On topic.
So I woke up this morning to email advising that they (USEM Lagos) was unabel to reach my Fancee on the phone (which was a good thing because they woudl have received crying and wailing).
Basically they had to reschdule our interview out by 2 weeks.
WHen I relayed the news to my Fiancee was totally devastated emotionally that it's now going to be another two weeks until she see's me. Her Mum said it took 2 hours for her to console herself.
This is how it's supposed to be. Two beating hearts are supposed to be yearning for each other, trying their gosh darnest to be joined at the earliest opportunity. It's not supposed to be dragging ones feet and making excuses.
Good luck to all of us on this journey.