lilQueenP

BTW, I did update, and when I go in to edit it shows the CR-1, but here lists the K-1. So I'm not really concerned about it.

Well... CR-1 visa application was received by USCIS on June 26, 2013. Our interview date was October 8, 2014. We got stuck in that period when everything was taking way longer because of the whole fiasco with the illegals taking priority. Anyhow...

At our interview on Oct 8 they again said, "how do we know your wife is really dead?" We replied with, "how do you expect us to prove that when there was no body discovered?" We had valid death certificates (he had to re-do that after the first set were forgeries...we didn't know until our K-1 interview) which should have taken care of it.

So after seeing our distraught faces, and finding out that my husband had NOT just filed the death in March of 2013 (which would have been 3 years after the quake) but his cousin had filed the deaths in 2010 (my husband refused to stop looking for his wife and child until a couple of years later) but had gotten fake papers which was an extremely common scam going on at that time, the officer agreed to not close the case, but said their investigation would "take a long time."

Hubs and I started doing our own investigation. We collected names and phone numbers of people who knew about their relationship and could vouch for his first wife not having been seen after the quake. He happened to find business documentation for a business he had registered at the address where his wife was living at the time, giving support to that part of his story (they were separated at the time of her death). He also got insurance papers from his job showing that at the end of 2010 when he started there, he had put his nephew and a mutual friend of his and his wife on as beneficiaries. If his wife and son were alive, he would certainly have had at least his son on his insurance. The friend was on there with the understanding that if something happened to him and his wife and child were found, the friend would make sure the money got to them. Once he and I were married in March 2013, he immediately put me on the insurance. There is absolutely no indication that his job knew about his wife and child being out there somewhere.

Then we went to the town where his wife listed as her parents' home. She had told him she had no family, and that is not uncommon in Haiti, and he is also an orphan so there was no thought for him to push the matter. We got to the little town and met a really nice guy at a liquor store who remembered the father of hubs' first wife and confirmed he had died. In the middle of the conversation a couple of girls came by and the liquor store owner introduced the one who ended up being a granddaughter of the father of my husband's first wife. She confirmed that the first wife was an illegitimate child and so she never knew her or even knew about her, but it was common knowledge that her grandfather had a lot of kids with different women. My husband went back to that town several times after and met the father of the girl who would have been the half brother of the first wife of my husband. The brother allowed my husband to get his information and take a photo of his birth certificate proving that he was a half brother.

My husband also went to the church office where they had gotten married (the church they were married in was destroyed in the quake) and got a certificate showing the marriage and the name of the officiator.

We submitted all of this along with a long letter I helped him write telling his story. I told him that they have to see him as a human with real emotions and fears, or they will assume he was lying. He had to explain why 2 years after the quake he was still listing his status on his tourist visa application as "married" rather than "widowed." He explained in the letter that having been orphaned and later kicked out of his sister's house as a young teenager, the one thing he wanted in life was family and since he had not seen the bodies of his wife and son, he found that he was unable to let go of the hope that they were still alive. Not until he and I decided to make our own family was he able to move past, but the anniversary of the earthquake is still an extremely emotional time for him and probably always will be.

After this letter and supplemental evidence was brought to the embassy, it took them 2 days to call him and tell him to send his passport for the visa.

My advice is to keep at it. If you want this relationship, you have to be patient and push through. Don't sit back and wait. Give them more than enough evidence.

We did a K1 first and it was denied, then got married and re-filed a CR1. Confusing, I know.

We finally got the visa! Nearly 3 years, but well worth the wait. Hubs is coming Jan 9 and I am meeting him in Miami to spend a week with family before coming to MN. There is a 2 day cruise to Bahamas that I'd like to take with him on the 11th. Is that going to work? Is there going to be an issue with his visa being so new and him just entering the US on the 9th?

So the application is completed and they will email when the interview date is set. Since this application was sent June of 2013, what documentation of our relationship should we bring? here's what I had in mind:

chat logs for the past month or 2 (not all the conversations because that would be thousands of pages, but one snapshot every day or so).

two credit cards of mine were able to make him an authorized user without a SSN, so we'll bring those and the letters showing some financial dependency.

I'm on his work insurance in Haiti and have an insurance card with my name

proof of my name change

emails between myself and my apartment management showing our intent for him to live here when he comes

documentation of fertility care I am going through so that we can start a family once he gets here.

Anything else? This will be my 8th trip to see him and I already included boarding passes, passport stamps and photos. I've also sent 6 or 8 letters from others confirming their knowledge of and support for our relationship. And I sent phone logs and chat logs from the time of our application as well.

Same thing happened to us. We're just now finishing the tail-end of the CR-1 visa. Good luck!

FYI: After 40 minutes waiting to get through, Finally got the info. I have to send the affidavit of support form (I-864EZ) and then submit that before they will allow me access to the DS-260.

Only need certified translations if it's not in the native language of his country where he's immigrating from.

I'm going insane in this process!

The website says we now have to submit the DS-260 form, but when I click it, there's no option or no such form. Is it the DS-261 form? If so, why don't they say that?

Also, I aparently need certified translations of all the documents. Can anyone tell me where I might obtain such translations for a reasonable fee? Are there some places that are better to use than others?

This whole thing is confusing me so much!

We've been approved by the NVC, now need to get info on the next step. The residential mail system in Haiti is nonexistent. I would email the US Embassy in Port au Prince, but don't have the receipt number. All the numbers I have for the DOS are busy all the time. Anyone have advice?

We applied for the visa for my husband & it was received 6/26/13. Nothing, and then almost 6 months later, they said they sent it to TX for faster processing. Now they tell me they need proof of my husband's first marriage being legally over (she died in the Haitian 2010 earthquake). I sent a copy of the death certificate along with a note telling them that there's also a copy in the original packet.

Why oh why? And this is the SECOND application for us after the first (K-1) was denied because of paperwork (Haiti has a lot of fraud & some of the paperwork wasn't good).

The baby is a US citizen, born here & with mom. SO I think they won't need one, from what you're saying. Andif they do, then they'll have to just go with the process. Thanks all!

My niece is also undergoing the visa process, but is getting married in February & then filing the application. Her fiance is also from Haiti. They have a baby together as well (she meets her daddy for the first time in January!)

Problem is, mom is brown-hair, brunet Caucasian. Dad is black Haitian. Baby is blond-hair blue eyed... and I mean SKY blue eyes! And yes, I know the question is... it is really his kid. Yes it is. Not a doubt in my mind, because I know my niece & this is her one-and-only. So, I'm suggesting they look into getting a DNA test before they even file, so they have it for the "proof" portion as well as if there are questions. Has anyone else dealt with this? Any ideas on how they can best get the test done? Her fiance is in school in Dominican Republic. Can they do the test there, or do they need to do something else?

Thanks

Funny thing is my husband has traveled to Latin America numerous times & on his trips to Mexico, he was offered help getting over the border, but he refused to do it the illegal way. His cousin did & walked right across with no problem (the border guards aren't looking for black guys crossing the Mexican border).

I sent a letter to my congresswoman & got a "don't bother us again for another 6 months" response. I'll continue to work on this. Can you guys share what you're working on? I'm thinking that some well-worded op-eds (letters to the editors) would be good. Can we start a huge campaign between us, sending letters to as many newspapers and magazines as we can manage? The only way to stop this (David & Zoila are right) is to hurt the vote for Obama & his party. If we make the public aware of the problem, it can affect more than just complaining to the offices... although I think both are important. I've been telling people this is going on & they think I'm making it up.

My husband's passport expires next year. What is the requirement for his passport? And will he receive a US passport, or will he need to get another one from Haiti?

They are incredibly careless. I had the same issue. We emailed the correct document showing the ACTUAL date and they fixed it. They said a week, but I called & made a "stink" about them screwing up, so that they had it corrected within 24 hours.

No. We're not married yet. The plan is for me to return in March to get married, and then file again.

I think I understand. Thanks!

Here's my question. My fiance and I were just denied the K1 Visa for reasons out of our control (details are in another thread, and not something I want to spend time on now). We were advised by the officer to get married in Haiti and start over as a spouse visa.

My question is this: how do we prove our "ongoing marital union" when I will be returning to the U.S. (for school and such), and he will be remaining in Haiti? We have a lot of the documents required for the K1 visa such as phone logs, messages and emails, boarding passes (I've been to visit him three times in six months), my engagement ring, etc, but does that establish our marriage?

I can get affidavits from my niece, who has gone with me to Haiti twice, as well as from several family members of his. I can show medical records indicating that we're doing family planning (fertility treatments are in the forecast). We'll also have photos of the wedding and such. What else can we do?

I'm really heartbroken and a little defeated right now. I just want to be with this man, and it seems so unfair that such horrible and uncontrollable circumstances and the decision of someone behind a glass window, decides whether we can be together or not.

Thanks for your help.

We're taking this very carefully. My fiance is checking personally at the City Hall and National Archives to see what can be done. He is speaking with friends and family to get ideas as well. I'm in contact with some people on this end to make sure that all options are exhausted before changing things too drastically.

He was told that he could divorce on grounds of abandonment, which will take at least a year and cost around $1,000 U.S. That is an option for us, but then with the spouse visa, puts us at 2 years more of waiting. By that time, I'll be done with Graduate School and will be looking towards my PhD. My PhD is Ethnomusicology-focused, with a lot of field research in Haiti, but classroom study in the U.S., which will require a lot of time in Haiti, and a significant amount of time in the U.S. We really need to be able to move back and forth if possible. And I don't want to get in the middle of another program and then have more issues.

Also, I'll be 40 in a couple of years and we'd like to start a family. With our religious beliefs, we want to wait until there's a legal marriage, but it's very tempting to go ahead and try to have a child... but then traveling back and forth alone with a small child is going to be tough, not to mention that we would want the child to be born in the U.S., and so he wouldn't be here for that.

So disheartening. But we are praying and trusting God.

I am truly sorry if you found my post offensive. I could only respond to what you posted.

No where in your first post did you mention anything about anyone at the consulate being 'not surprised at the numerous fake documents presented while we were there.' in fact you said something to effect of the woman looking at you in disbelief.

And now youre adding another confusion and somewhat more complicated layer to this- the child does not have birth certificate either.

I do agree with the above poster though, if fake documents are heavily present there (another element you left out in your original post) its your fiances responsibility to ensure he is not victim to it. Yes, its a difficult thing to do in a time of mourning, but thats how it is.

So again my comments were based on your original post.

What do you do now? Well, for US immigration purposes he is still married. He either needs proof of a divorce or a death certificate for his wife.

The reason she checked off 'marrying someone to obtain a GC is not allowed' as the reason for denial was because she was doing you a favor. DO NOT APPEAL THE DECISION. If she checked off that you are denied because you submitted phony documents to USCIS, you would be in serious trouble. So leave it alone. Do not send a letter saying we were denied on the basis of our relationship not being valid when it should have been because our docs were phony but now we have real docs, please approve us. Submitting phony docs can cause a permanent visa ban as it is fraud.

Submitting another K1 will cause your first K1 to be looked at again and the discrepancy in documents may be discovered (what you previously submitted vs what you have, the fake vs the real) and the next agent may not be so kind as to over look it as she did.

So go the spousal route if you want to bring your fiance to the US.

This is actually somewhat useful. If the first post had been such, it would have been much more productive.

There was no question about a death OR birth certificate for the baby.

As I stated multiple times, there was no surprise that the documents were fake, and multiple others had the same issue. There was no accusation on that part, and they let all the others go through. That was not the issue.

No offense, but theres something a little off about your fiances story. He believed his wife and child were deceased, yet continuously said yes on his visa applications. (claiming it was an emotional issue, even though he had a death certificate) Then when it came time to obtain the transcript, he had to have someone else obtain it for him, because he couldnt get off work... The death certificate he also had then turns out to be fake as well.

So now you have a fiance in possession of a two fake death certificates and two fake transcripts and there is NO sign of the wife or the child. He is claiming complete ignorance as to how these fake documents came about into his possession and youre posting how do I secure a future with this man??

You are clueless about Haiti and about the earthquake. I did not post this to get Judge Judy-esque advice, but to get real help.

He did not believe (or want to) that his wife and child were deceased, his family members insisted that he file the report when they weren't found. And they did it for him, which is often the case in Haiti.

Not one of the officials were surprised at the numerous fake documents presented while we were there. It is difficult to get the official ones, and people work very hard to appear as officials to get your money. That is part of the culture here.

He does not have two death certificates. The baby was a newborn and did not have a birth certificate yet. That is how it works in Haiti where most babies are still delivered at home.

He is not claiming complete ignorance. He knows where he got them... from the friends/family members who did his bidding. That is the way in Haiti. There are many unemployed who are happy to do what they can for a couple of Haitian dollars. He has his cousin deliver lunch to me, and that regularily gets messed up... it's part of being in Haiti.

Do yourself a favor. Read something about Haiti and about the earthquake. Find out how people mourn when there is not a body found, and then reevaluate how idiotic your assessment sounds.

Have a nice day.

I welcome feedback on the questions that I originally posted.

Here's the short version. My fiance was married. They had a baby boy, and the morning of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, his wife and child went out to the doctor's office and didn't return. After a couple of months, he was strongly encouraged to report it as a death, but had a really hard time doing it, so his friends said they'd help him. Since then, he has applied three times for a visitor visa to the U.S. He has a cousin who lives in Miami, whom he's never met, but who has supported him and put him through college and been like a distant mother to him since his parents died when he was a child. He wanted to visit her, but was never given the visa. Each of the times he applied, he was asked if he had a wife and child, and he said yes. No further questions were asked. He still believed they might show up at a refugee camp or in a hospital or somewhere. But he still had the official death certificate. He just couldn't bring himself to saying "yes, but they are dead", because he didn't want to believe it

Over the past couple of years, we started to get to know each other through an online language site (he working on his English, me interested in French and Creole). Shortly after his last interview, he opened up to me about the situation, and through that process, we began to get really close, resulting in our current relationship.

Since then (last spring), I have been to visit him three times (including now). We have numerous photos, daily phone calls, Facebook messages every day, and we video chat almost daily. For the interview, we were asked to get a death transcript from the National Archives, which he had someone get for him (since he works full time and it's difficult to get off work). After a scare when the transcript did not get back to him, he finally received it.

Today at the interview, all went well until they informed us that the death transcript was fake, which was news to both of us. They then asked him why he had said he had a wife and child after the earthquake. We tried to explain that because no bodies had ever been recovered, he simply couldn't bring himself to speaking of them being dead, although he never spoke about them afterward, and even when the Embassy called his job, they confirmed that they had never been aware of any wife or child despite him having worked there for about two years.

The official told us repeatedly, "I am not questioning the legitimacy of your relationship, it's very clear to me that yours is a legitimate relationship." She explained in broken Kreyol that her concern was that if there was a living spouse out there, that would be the issue, which I totally understand. But after some time of them doing research, they denied. She said the case is closed. We were not asked to come back. She strongly discouraged us from trying another K1 visa, and suggested that he get a divorce and then we can marry in Haiti and do a spouse visa. We again explained that it will be impossible to attain a divorce when there is no wife (as far as we know). She then said (with signs of disbelief) that we could then get a legitimate death certificate (which turns out to be fake as well), and then have the civil union and start over.

When we got the sheet with the reason, it had the first option marked which stated that it's not allowed for someone to marry in order to obtain a greencard. Huh? Didn't she just tell us MULTIPLE times that the legitimacy of our relationship was not the question?

So what do we do? Our options are:

1. Call the DOS and try to get someone to hear how unconsistent this is, and see if we can get a second consideration.

2. Call my senator and see if they can do something

3. Do a petition? I hear this is a bad idea.

4. Get married in Haiti like she said and start over.

5. Get a lawyer.

6. I move to Haiti, which is the plan once I finish graduate school anyhow.

7. ????? (hoping to get some ideas from you all)

The problem is now that there is probably a mark of "likely fraud" on my fiance's file, which is going to make ANY visa in the future, nearly impossible I think. So what do we do? Can I fight it?

Please help. This man is my heart. It seems cruel that they can play with people like that.

Oh, and here's the kicker, he's had multiple visas out of Haiti, into Mexico, Pannama, Brazil and Dominican Republic, and always stayed for a short visit as promised, and came back.

You should be blaming the parents who came here illegally with their children in tow. Children who grew up here, went to school here, and are here by no fault of their own. These children want the opportunity to remain in the only place they know as home. Our government has a conscience...I find no fault in that. Obviously you don't know the first thing about this legislation. You are being selfish because it may take your case a month or 2 longer to get through USCIS, oh boohoo. Your case and check being lost has zero to do with Deferred Action.

Obama? Conscious? HA! Not in the least!

He is not here on a student visa and still waiting on #SS card.

I understand that, but I'm saying that the school might be able to put in for a temporary adjustment of status right away. No matter his status. Talk to them. They deal with this every day. One thing I've been learning is that it never hurts to ask. More often than not, you get what you need.

It is probably too late now. We will just wait and see what they say in their e-mail. They won't talk to us on the phone and I really don't know what to do anymore. I'm just sick of dealing with that ***. It seems like the consulate in Frankfurt is pretty good with replying to e-mails, so maybe I will just send them an e-mail and ask how to proceed. That NVC obviously doesn't want to help us. We're all alone dealing with the consequences of the mess THEY have created.

I think you're giving up too fast. I spoke to many people. When they ask for the DOB, tell them, "That's the problem. You guys entered it wrong. I need to speak to a supervisor immediately to have them fix this". You can also give them the correct DOB & see if it's been corrected. I got 3 emails back the day that our packet got sent to Haiti, saying "we're sorry, we can't help you, your packet is no longer here". Apparently, they keep the emails & ignore them until the packet is sent (my emails were sent on different days, but answered all the day after the packet left NVC). It's crappy, but that's what they do.

My guess is they fixed it, but don't want to spend time talking to you.

Don't be a victim. You'll get them to do it if you insist that it's their job. I sincerely believe this.

The NVC finally got back to me and said they couldn't assist us anymore, and to contact the consulate about it. This is how they steal away from their responsibilities! Anyway, we contacted the consulate and got a reply right away. They sad they cannot change anything on the petition, but have attached a copy of our e-mail to the I-129F. So I guess the problem has been taken care of now. Now just waiting for Packet 3.

I hope so. The punks! haha...

He probably wont be able to start classes without a #ss card. My husband can't do anything without one. He spends his time learning how to ride the city buses without getting lost. Lol! whish scares me to death but as long as he has his cell phone he says he's not lost. He has learned a lot about getting around. He spends a lot of time doing yard work. He loves the outdoors.

Might want to contact the school now. They are used to working with international students & sponsoring them (student visas). Find out what they need from him.