Ellio

I heard that applicants who enter the US with K-1 visa do not have an interview. Also a letter about a notice of visa interview waiver comes to you.

Wrong

Update

All went well at POE in Vegas. Just have your envelope, blue customs form and your passport ready at the visa page when you approach the border control desk. You no longer need the white I94 form (for the K1 process) that is handed out on the plane, it is all done electronically now.

I had no questions at the border control desk, just escorted through to secondary inspection were I waited for about 5 minutes then was given my passport back and a little leaflet that explains how to obtain your "I 94 Admission Number". Basically it's this online link

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html

Fill in the answers to the questions and you get your number back immediately.

Other than that, all good except for the car a/c broken and the house a/c broken yesterday (96 in the house ). It's fixed now though, phew. Next step.......... Married at the end of the month at a beauty spot next to the Missouri river.

Update

Visa in hand today. 2 weeks from courier collection to delivery. For anyone reading this who is about to or has just sent in their passport mine went through the process of AP for 6 days, Ready for 1 day, AP for 1 day then Issued for 5 days before it showed up on courier website for delivery. The courier also sent me a text the day before. They sent all my Subject Access Report back to me and the huge brown envelope to carry.

My visa is only valid for 5 days, mmmmmm.......... It's down to the chest x-ray from the medical only being valid for 6 months. Your medical is 1 year but not the chest x-ray. I took a gamble yesterday and booked my flights for Sunday. Fly into Vegas then connect 4 hours later back to Missouri ( home ). Looks like rather a strange route but I'm a bit of a saver. This route is only 1 connection, 13 hours flying and £385 in total.

My interview was on the 15th April just past. Very quick and straight forward although I was quizzed for the "Affidavit of Support" by the first CO I saw. I had to convince her I didn't need it at this stage. The second CO interview was just a few basic relationship questions and me Proberbly offering more information than I needed too, being rather chatty when I'm happy ?. At the end of what was about a 5 minute, 5 question interview I was told it went very well but I needed the "subject access report" AHHH! It kinda threw me a bit because I wasn't expecting any further delays. I had had to give up the lease on my apartment about a month before due to it being a 6 month rolling lease and am staying in a hotel just now. Anyway I had to wait for the subject access report 35 days and sent it in by courier a few days ago. Everything should be ok from here but I am not booking anything just yet, I've had my share of bad luck!

Can I just ask....... Did your subject access report come on Tamper proof paper with an authenticity blue line at the top and bottom?

Mine did not but I have seen some that have!

Thanks Chris

I got it from his timeline. I do LOVE people who keep up their timelines.

So aside from this intellectual debate. Who wants to lighten it up and take a poll. I'll wager $10 that he sails through the interview, as long as he doesn't walk in and gush "I have a CIMT and lied on ESTA."

I love a good wager ? but I have to agree he will sail through without any issues.

That's correct Nich, I was unaware of the status of his application, i don't think it was mentioned as to what stage it was at. Fortunately he still has the main forms to fill in and he will admit to the CIMT on those forms. There really should not be any issues when this is done, although I do know of some-one who had the misrep thrown at them for not declaring it on old I 94 forms and the new ESTA. The problem was overcome though but it caused delay.

Good luck Chris.

Hi Rebecca. Yes I did go without my subject access report, more fool me and it cost me what I expect is a delay of about 8 weeks by the time it's sorted. I'm hoping to have visa in hand in the next few weeks though. I only had 1 caution for "public disorder", no court, no fine etc. I expected worse for some reason but that was just my paranoia I think ?.

One thing I forgot to mention to chrisclassic though is that "misrepresentation" requires the non disclosure of a "material fact" . The offence would not have been material to him obtaining the visa but still may cause issues down the line with the dreaded Administartive Processing for non disclosure. So get in touch with USCIS or the embassy depending on where you're at in the process and fix it now, save yourself potential problems on interview day.

Hi chrisclassic.

I will throw my twopence worth in here seeing that I have just recently covered mountains of research on this in the last 5 weeks.

If anywhere on your subject access report (especially under offence description) the word " theft" is used, as civalservant has mentioned, it is indeed classed as a crime of moral torpitude, however petty it seems I know! . Now you should not have travelled on VWP last year you should have applied at the embassy for the visa and ticked "yes" to crimes involving moral torpitude. Don't get me wrong most people tick "no", but most people don't think they may be immigrating at some point in the future. Your VWP or online ESTA does not go and check the police national computer to check your UK conviction record. They rely on you telling the truth.

Now, if during your I -129f application you ticked "yes" to crimes CIMT and that offence is the only thing on your record as you say, I really don't see any issues for you. However if you ticked "no" to the CIMT question on your application and you are still in the early stages waiting for approval you may want to consider contacting them before it goes any further and correcting the mistake.

If you let this run to interview you COULD find yourself in a heap of trouble. The consular staff may look on the light side of the offence but the FACT that you withheld information in order to obtain a visa ( i know you didnt do it purposely ) is "Misrepresentation" ( immigration fraud ) and could ultimately cost you a lifetime ban.

The offence itself would be covered under the "Petty Offence Exception". http://nortontooby.com/topics/petty_offense_exception but only if you admit to it beforehand.

It's up to though. If you want to be on pins for the remaining time and wing it with prayer on the day, good luck. Me, I would do all I can to fix it ASAP before it goes any deeper. Your reason for offering late information on your K1 application is because you only just received your subject access report and have acted upon the issue immediately.

Good luck.

Ok then! The subject access report has finally arrived this morning. 35 days for mine but that is still under the 40 day limit. It is not quite what I thought it would be. It is basically just a cover letter with 2 additional sheets. 1 showing my personal details and the second showing offences. In my case just one caution for public disorder, nothing more. It looks like something anyone could have typed up on a PC though. I was under the impression it came on tamper proof paper with 2 blue lines of authenticity?

Oh well, this form does say "Subject Access Report" on it and this is the one I'm sending tomorrow with the courier. I'm still not going to risk booking any flight yet as I'm not sure of average timescales in the situation of having to send passport in for visa issuance and return. If anyone has had similar circumstances please send some advice over.

Although I was told that my medical expires on 6 June, I have come to find out over that last few days that the medical exam is valid for 12 months. It's the chest x-ray that is only valid for 6 months.

So fingers crossed that this part of the journey is coming to an end and we should get our pens out for the next stage of numerous form filing for AOS.

Hi again Nich Nick

Thanks for your reply but I was pretty sure of what I read so I copied it from the Embassy website for your future reference. As you can see it clearly states "discuss my no live trace at the interview" and also that court and prison records are NOT required for those convicted in the UK. We went through this carefully seeing that my fiancée is an attorney. Not immigration unfortunately

Police Certificates for the United Kingdom: A visa applicant who has resided in the United Kingdom for 6 months or more since the age of 16, is required to obtain a police certificate from the ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO). Further information is available from their website at www.acro.police.uk. This police certificate will serve to advise the U.S. Embassy, London whether or not any criminal conviction is held against him/her. The police certificate will be sent to the applicant's address provided at the time of application. Please note that the Immigrant Visa Unit considers the police certificate valid for 12 months from the date of issuance, not six months as stated on the certificate. If the police certifiate states "No Trace" or "No Live Trace", please be prepared to discuss your arrests/cautions/convictions with the consular officer on the day of the interview.

Court and Prison Records: Persons who have been convicted of a crime must obtain a certified copy of each court record and any prison record, regardless of the fact that he or she may have subsequently benefited from an amnesty, pardon or other act of clemency or the United Kingdom Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. (DOES NOT APPLY TO APPLICANTS CONVICTED IN THE United Kingdom)

As for them having a copy of my police certificate, you misunderstood. They took a copy of the police certificate at my medical and sent it to the embassy with the results. That is how they had a copy for 4 months, not because we didn't read or follow instructions properly.

I believe we have followed this process to the letter and certainly not let ourselves down by ignorance of understanding the process. I guess I am just venting due to the timescales of this and the biggest delays have not been caused by us. You had a great timeline but I am simply showing the other side of that coin even with accurate following of the guidelines and requests.

Well, that's 33 days of waiting for the subject access report and no sign of it. You are not allowed to chase it up within the 40 days the police have to get it to you though. Problem is, by the time I get this report and send it off with my passport and get the passport back with visa (hopefully) my medical will have expired as of 6 June. What a process this is!!! Does it ever end? Anyone else had similar luck to mine through this?

Hi Rebecca and thanks for putting that appeal out there for people to reference. It is a source of inspiration for those who may end up facing those circumstances or similar. I was worried about my circumstances but after many many hours of researching I am more settled now and just waiting on my SAR to hopefully move forward once again.

This is a good read and took me ages to find but it cleared a lot up for my peace of mind.

This guy was from Ireland and had quite a serious criminal history. It took a few years but eventually they were together. More importantly it covers 'misrepresentation' in detail and how they overcame it.

https://95795ca1-a-798a15c4-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/us-visa.co.uk/beta/Articles/inadmissibility-and-waivers/Willful%20Misrep%20and%20CIMT--redacted.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7coLGZDNww_YqN1veD2La_8xibSvJamJsUcxS1O3lAeEozJtQyC37vg3nYg5j8VYI0yajBAoaospHvqTD2k96rl4MowM2lhp0ARbAuH5VEkzc8v8LUDcKgiGX1GvDZXQ8nZHYRBPcjFnZYLcAlPquaaCrPWkS5TOBF_OxpOeHV1HAvlNSY4Qg5hw_4JrstGxrWOMKg-dbVPclO6F8COPyLFihGKNo92olcnJiBbcX5z5fxT2hHep72MIeiGwq78rWHvDy4Np-uAGv5hkcRhC5WJVXpp8hMlyXI2MWBU49tvlfWZNWog%3D&attredirects=0&d=1

Hi Mitch48, what mindthegap just said above is absolutely correct. I have just recieved a denial on a 221g pending the subject access report. I have had my head around this kind of scenario for the last month almost and have covered a lot of info. some of which is pretty hard to find. I feel ok now though because whatever happens I am prepared for, even if it takes years.

What mindthegap is explaining is called the 'petty offence exception' and is only useable under the exact criteria which he has explained. However, where you may very well run into problems is when you are filling out your visa questions you will obviously be fully open and honest and tick yes about the CIMT. Now if someone through the process decides to cross reference your ESTA application with your VISA application they could deny you based on immigration fraud from the misreprestation on the ESTA (the fact that you are there now on the wrong visa is fraud). However (again) for you to have committed immigration fraud through misrepresentation you would have had to willingly and knowingly lied on your ESTA. The answer to that is of course you never willingly or knowingly lied on anything you simply didn't understand the term CIMT. Albeit in its self ignorance of the law is no excuse I found cases where denials were eventually overturned based on the many misunderstandings of the term CIMT. In the end it will come down to how serious the crime is considered if you have to appeal a denial.

If I had to do this process again I would definitely use a US immigration lawyer if you have a CIMT. Otherwise you will risk the chance of the denial from the cross reference of ESTA V VISA application and most likely a long appeal process that I have read can take years.

Good luck when the time comes

I had to fill it out on the day, at the interview window because I to was in the understanding that I didn't need it. This was only 2 weeks ago.

Ok, I got one of my reports back but this was just the local report and does not state that it is a subject access report so it's pretty useless for this 221 request. Strangely though this report or custody record as it reads is all nonsense. It says I was bailed and requested to reappear on a date 3 months later. Then I did reappear on said date, was arrested , cautioned and released with just the caution. No I wasn't! I was arrested on the night, held overnight, charged the next day and told to behave myself on you go! I won't complain though, I think the caution will be a lesser charge than the Affray anyway. I will just continue to wait for the Dooming subject access report.

I was there on Monday just past. 10 am interview and 2.30 pm return train plus I walked from the station to the embassy and back. I had time for everything and no rushing about.

Ps, if anyone sends for a subject access report you are supposed to get a receipt from the governing body before you get the report. If you don't get a receipt within a couple of weeks they haven't received your request (call them and check), so you will need to send it again as I did yesterday!

Hi tedyc, I got my passport back but was told to get the embassy courier to collect it as soon as I have the subject access report. What I don't understand is they must do security checks on criminal records at the start of this process. I assume they are checking fr crimes of moral torpitude. Since yesterday i have researched ths topic in depth and it covers alot of what could be petty crimes as well as some very serious ones such as murder. Mine was getting into a fight after a few beers, arrested, held over night, charged with affray and then released the next morning. No court, no fine. However, reading into moral torpitude i may have intended to harm someone. I was in a fight! Im not just gonna stand around and take a beating! Yesterday I sent off for the subject access report then I find out that there is actually 2 kinds of report. Local and PNC. The 221g does not specify which it is so I guess I will order both now. Mentally I'm beaten down with this process and am almost at the point of handing it over to an immigration lawyer now. I will wait though until I get a straight out denial which I'm sure is coming.

Ok, an update. I did apply for the report and am still waiting for it. My interview was yesterday and the interview went very well but I did get 221g for this report even though it's never been mentioned before in any correspondence. They have had my police certificate for 4 months and could have asked me to supply the subject access report at any time but they wait for the interview date. So between them losing relationship evidence in the US (delay caused), losing ALL my packet 3 over here (delay), never sending me a interview letter (almost a major delay), asking for an affidavit of support yesterday? And then 221 me yesterday (causing yet another delay), this process is now gong to take approx 1 year and 2 months if it ever ends at all. Times like this just make you realise how badly organised this whole process is and for the first time in almost 2 years has casted doubt on our future. Are we jusr destined not to be? Very very disappointed.

Well done on the timeline mindthegap, I have had paperwork lost at both ends, evidence in the US and ALL my forms over in the uk, delaying us by about 4 months. Frustrating I know!

Yeh I know about the form but I have never been asked for it throughout the entire process. Other than reading these kind of sites I would never have heard of it. I am wondering if anyone has been caught by surprise and asked for this at interview stage without ever having known about it?

Hi guys, I have my interview arranged finally for the 15th Apr. it will be almost 1 year since application process began. I have one concern though that I can't seem to find an answer to on here. My police certificate says ' NO LIVE TRACE'. Now I understand what it means, it means I have spent convictions. It was actually for getting involved in a fight outside a restaurant in 2006, no injuries to anyone but everyone was arrested and released the next day, no fines, no court, nothing, just a simple " behave yourself and don't do it again".

Now though as I prepare for this interview in detail I notice a couple of people on sites talking about needing more in depth paperwork on any certificates with the wording 'NO LIVE TRACE". It does not request this anywhere that I can find, they have not asked for this in my interview letter nor at any stage through the entire process. They have had a copy of my police certificate since my medical back early December. Has anyone had similar circumstances with this and has any factual advice? And did anyone recently get asked for this additional paperwork?

Much appreciated

Yip, thanks Nick, it does say that and I have another on its way to me. I will leave it for 4 weeks now then chase it up again if i have heard nothing. Hope they got the papers this time. Again I sent them special delivery and someone did sign for them this morning. Fingers crossed once again.

Thanks Nick. Just found out that my forms sent in November apparently were never received, so I have sent them again this morning but now am afraid that our petition will be classed as out of date as the 4 months validity started on 8th October 2012 and therefore ran out 8 Feb. It will be extremely frustrating if this is the case because this is not my error and may set us back to the I-129f application stage again ( square 1 so to speak ) . Very concerning really but thank you for your advice Sir.