katietw95

Yes. 251

Just got notice in the mail. We are approved! Our case status just updated today, and I had not had the chance to check it. Did not expect it at all. Best surprise to receive in the mail!

Hello everyone (:

My husband's visa interview is in about a week at the Mumbai consulate and we're super nervous! I think our relationship may bring up some red flags for the following reasons, and I just want to help my hubby prepare for them as best as possible. 1. We married our first time meeting. We talked for 2 years before I came to India to meet my husband in person, and we got married the next month. I've heard this may bring up a red flag. Another problem is my husband has been denied for a visa before, a student visa. He was unable at the time to prove his ties to India, so we're also worried about that. The last is he doesn't currently have a job. His family wanted him to visit them for a month in another state before he leaves for the US, so he didn't really have a choice but to quit. What's the best way we can prepare for this? What questions might they ask? Does this give us less of a chance of getting a visa?

Thank you for your time!

Well, my husband and I had a similar situation when he interviewed last year at the New Delhi embassy.

We had met online and had been together for over 3 years before I was able to travel to India to meet him (due to my age at the time that we met). I was a college student when I went to meet my husband, so that was really my only chance to be able to go over there to visit him. We decided to get married while I was there, and that took place towards the end of my trip there (I was there for a total of 2 months).

The only issues at the embassy that we had was that they felt like it was odd that his parents were so accepting of me since I am Caucasian and that they were accepting of me staying in their home with him while we were unmarried.

We ended up with a 221(g) and had to submit more evidence (even though they did not look at any of the evidence that my husband brought to the interview). Originally, my husband had taken all of our chat logs from email, FB, WhatsApp, etc. along with two huge photo albums of pictures of us together, screenshots of our Skype Chats showing the date and duration of the Skype Call, ticket stubs/itineraries showing my trip to India along with the trips we made around India and to Dubai as well. As said, they never looked at it at the interview. So whenever he submitted the evidence in response to the 221(g), he submitted all that PLUS WhatsApp conversations I had with his parents, aunt, and cousin (to show that they are accepting of the relationship), a complete photocopy of my entire passport showing date entry stamps, two affidavits from each of his parents, a detailed long affidavit that I wrote talking about our relationship (one from me and one from him too). I am sure that there is more that we submitted, but I cannot remember at the time because it was a while back.

After submitting all that, he was approved for his visa within like 2-3 days. So, it is hard to say exactly what will happen at the interview. I hear that the New Delhi embassy is harder than the Mumbai one. However, I am unsure how true that is. Plus, we had had some issues in dealing with the embassy in regards to his visa before the interview. And my husband told me that the Indian CO brought it up to him at the interview and seemed angry that he had to answer the emails that I had sent to the Embassy trying to get some clarification on the problems we were having (we had been bounced back in forth between NVC, USCIS, and the Embassy in regards to our visa). So, it is likely that he may have given him a hard time due to that.

Best thing to do is to be prepared and have evidence to back everything up. You should be fine.

One time I went to an "engagement party" held by my high school history teacher from India and it was a huge celebration, endless food, tons of people, etc....so I don't know about India as a whole (that was my only experience) but I get the impression that for some cultures it's a really big deal.

Yeah, it is a big thing in Indian culture. It is usually a huge affair and celebration.

You'll need to schedule an infoPass appointment, bring all your receipt notices and evidence of why you need the expedite.

Examples:

- evidence of financial hardship

- job offer letter

- letter from potential employer stating that you need to join by certain date or job offer will be withdrawn

^^This is the best approach.^^

We expedited my husband's EAD last year. However, we were only able to do so once he had a formal job offer. The employer provided him a job offer letter with the desired job start date. We included: the job offer letter, a brief letter that we wrote indicating that we wanted to expedite the EAD (we also included just our case details), and a copy of our NOA1.

We did it through our Senator, and it was approved within a week of us submitting it.

I am not sure how it works if you are trying to expedite based on financial hardship, but maybe someone can enlighten you on that as well.

Good luck!

You have to file it within 90 days of the card expiration date.

We used a cashier's check when we filed for AOS last year, and it was no problem. So, I am sure you can do the same with I-751 as well.

Should not be problem. I was 19 when I filed for my husband (he is 5 years older than me). We had no issues. Good luck!

It is definitely not an Indian family thing. With me being a white lady who met my husband, who is from India, it is definitely not a traditional thing for Indians to marry out of their own race. However, I am very lucky to be blessed with wonderful in-laws. My husband's family is absolutely amazing. They have always been supportive of us, and they absolutely adore me. I am so sorry that you are having such a horrible experience with your in-laws. Just know that, as everyone has said, it is not just Indian families. Unfortunately, some families, regardless of where they are from, are just that way.

A lot of times when the embassy is printing the visa to place it in the passport they put you in AP. Usually, it will change back soon to ready or issued.

Since you are K-1, has it changed on the CEAC Status Check site to Non-Immigrant visa? If so, then it is highly likely that what I described above is what is going on.

For some reason, on like K-1 or K-3 visas (I am unsure about any other non-immigrant visa), the CEAC site will say Immigrant Visa, but right before they issue it, it changes to Non-Immigrant visa.

Congrats!

That is the best way to be. Also, we never did a ring ceremony when we got engaged either. We did not even do a tradition marriage, just a court one. So, if that makes you feel a little better.. than good!

Yes, do not get discouraged. I truly do believe that as long as your relationship is real that even if you are set back that you will get approved eventually. Just stay positive. Bring as much evidence as possible.

Good luck to both of you!

Katie, I was wondering do you think we should be extra prepared and bring letters beforehand or wait till we get the 221g and have the letter ready to be sent.

I truly hate that we have to deal with this prejudice mindset at this embassy but glad to know if you show the evidence that they still approve just takes a little extra longer.

Also Abhishek, there is a guy on here who just wrote about his approved visa experience in detail at Delhi on Tuesday and if you want to read about it to calm your nerves.

It truly does stink. we never truly realized how odd our situation was; we never realized that it fell so far out of cultural norms, as they tried to say. Yes, I recommend to just take everything before hand. Hopefully, you will be able to be given the chance to present what you have. I believe we just got a cruddy officer honestly. Also, keep in mind that we are married and we applied for K3 (some how we were lucky and ended up with a K3 otherwise the process would have been a lot longer with the CR1). I am unsure if being a K1 makes a huge difference, but regardless, I think the advise is still helpful.

Thanks a lot for Ur input...do u remember if it was this same Chinese looking women?

No problem! And, no, my husband told me that he was an Indian man.

Also, if possible for you to go attend the interview, I would definitely try to. I did not because I am a student, and we also did not think we would have any problems. But, after the fact, we wish that I would have attended because I could have easily gotten permission to be off from college from the Dean.

It really stinks that it happened to us because his family absolutely adores me, and they were also heartbroken when they had heard about our embassy experience.

To give you any idea, while my husband was in the embassy, they called his brother and grilled him asking him why they would allow for us to stay together unmarried. He just told them that his family is open minded and that they love me and their was no problem, but again, they did not want to listen. They were completely baffled I guess. What makes it worse is my husband was there from like 7-8am to 3pm. His brother drove him, and he waited all day long outside for him to come out.

Talking from experience...

Though we were married and applied for K3 visa, we had trouble at the New Delhi Embassy. We are also an interracial couple. We had tons of pictures, Skype screenshots, emails, Facebook chats with my family, my WhatsApp chat logs with his family and him, receipts from trips we took, my boarding passes to India, and tons of more stuff. However, our CO was stuck on the fact that his family was accepting of me (being white) and allowed for us both to stay at a flat that they own above their flat when we were not yet married. Plus, the CO did not look at a single piece of evidence we brought, so from what it seems, he had already made a judgement on what he wanted to do, and he was not ready to change his mind.

Long story short, we ended up with a 221(g), and we were allowed to submit more evidence. They wanted detailed letters from us describing how we met, our relationship. They also wanted sworn affidavits from his parents describing us and acknowledging that they are accepting of our relationship and the marriage. I also sent in a a copy of my entire passport, along with a few other items. So, my husband submitted that along with everything else he had originally taken to the interview. He was incredibly detailed on everything. he wrote notes on stuff telling them to look at certain pages to see certain things. We also referenced pieces of evidence in all of our letters. I also got a letter from one of my college professors and my employer who know about the marriage; we already had stuff from my parents side.

At the end of the day, after we submitted the evidence within a week he was approved.

So, I am just sharing this with you because I know that they view the whole interracial thing there as a red flag. Plus Anh map is wrong above when they say that affidavits are not useful because that is exactly what they requested from us.

Well, to be honest, anything that they ever sent my husband, he never recieved it. We eventually got my Senator involved, and he was able to get the letter that we needed from them via email. So, I would jsut be really pushy with them, and if that does not work, get the Senator involved.

That embassy is incredibly aggravating to deal with, and sometimes, it is necessary to just get a little firm with them (though do stay polite ).

Good luck!

Yes, that is perfectly fine. I am literally in the same boat as you (I am currently a student and work a part time work study job right now). At the time, I had not worked in 2012. I did not start my work study job until 2013 (8 hours per week during the school year), and I made way, way below the required amount to file taxes, plus my parent's always had claimed me on their tax returns anyways. I submitted exactly what you are talking about, and we never had any troubles. My husband has been here now for over 6 months, we adjusted from K3, and he now has his green card. So, we never had problems. Just, as said above, make sure your co-sponsor fits the poverty guideline requirements.

Good luck!

This is our experience: my husband came in early March on a K3 visa.

We applied for both just in case one was faster than the other. However, both of our petitions were approved at the same time, so we assumed we would automatically get the CR-1 visa. But, apparently, NVC got their hands on our approved I-129f petition before the I-130 petition, so they sent our file to the embassy. We took a risk and went with the K3.

Once he got here, we immediately sent the stuff in for the Adjustment of Status. He has had his greencard now for like two weeks.

So, in total, if you include AOS, it took us a little over a year. This includes the fact that we did get an RFE during the AOS process.

The biggest differences are that: 1. K3 route costs much more; 2. If you come on the K3 visa, you cannot work until you receive your EAD (which you apply for with the AOS); 3. You typically will get here faster.

Personally, I am glad we went the K3 route because I know people who started the CR-1 process around the same time we did, and they are either not done with that process yet or they just recently have finished and immigrated to the US. Really, it depends on your personal situation. It also depends on which petition NVC sees first (if both are approved at the same time--which they most likely will be).

No problem. I hope you do not have to do that either; it was really frustrating. Apprently at that time there was something up with the site. I am not exactly sure... Good luck!

Well, I do not remember exactly the order that it should be in, but if you schedule the visa interview appointment, and it does not ever give you an option to schedule the biometrics.. Well, then, you need to call the embassy. This happened to us. I am warning you, though, that my husband had to be really pushy and firm with getting someone to help him. The first time he called the lady was unable to help. He called again and was real firm with them about it, and after she tried a couple of things, she was able to schedule it for him.

So, I recommend trying to schedule the Visa appointment first. If it never prompts you to schedule the biometrics appointment, then, call the embassy.

And yes, the fingerprinting happens at another location (Nehru Place I believe).

Good luck!

Ryan's post is definitely correct. It is definitely a good idea to go because I feel like it does help the case. However, if you do decide to go, I do know that the Mumbai consulate does not let in the spouse for the interview, but the Delhi embassy does.

In our case, we did not send any evidence proof at all with our I-130 petition. We had no problems at all with it getting approved. Everything else that everyone is saying above, though, is what my husband took to the embassy.

Also, quick question, are you, the USC, of Indian descent or other? I know this may sound personal, but I ask because I, myself, am of Caucasian descent and there were issues at my husband's interview because of this. We had literally everything plus some that everyone above listed. But, since I am white and our marriage was not typical to cultural norms because of that, the officer had a hard time believing that my husband's family was accepting of our marriage. Because of this, we ended up with a 221(g), and we had to include sworn affidavits (plus any other bit of evidence that we could find that we did not include at the first interview) from his parents describing their relationship with me and their approval of the marriage. So, if you fall into that situation, you may want to consider having something like that whenever you do go to the interview at the embassy.

Good luck!

Well, speaking from experience, we just got married and got the marriage certificate at the marriage office. We never got it attested. We had no problems at all. Our case was processed within the normal processing time, and he is now here in the US and has been for a while now.

Got my green card today!!!!

Received my Green card in the mail today

Same here