SmallTownPA

Unless yo got an RFE you are most likely going to get a canned 'you should get a reply in 45 days' reply.

Air quotes on the 'should' part, because you will not.

13 hours ago, therealree said:

2) a letter from the Vietnamese government confirming that my birth certificate does not exist, with secondary evidence.

Time for a call to the local Vn Embassy/Consulate.

A letter from mom/dad/sister/brother/caretaker is also going to help.

Many countries didn't have a well planned birth record system, especially 3rd world countries where everything was super local and handled locally.

I would also research your options for the Canadian Gov't, you had to have been recorded when you entered Canada.

57 minutes ago, Patricia Owuh said:

Unlockable is absolutely right. You just openly admitted marriage fraud, so good luck. You're going to need it.

Come on now, calm down.

There is no way USCIS is going to be able to link OPs post and a future I-129F/I-130.

There is no need to virtue signal.  Technically I (and MANY,. MANY other) have committed fraud by marrying on a B2 visa.  And even though I wrote that I met my ex while she was here on a B2 visa, and we talked beforehand, not one flag was raised, in fact we got approved in record time back in 2015.

If anything just the annulment alone MIGHT raise a flag, but unless OP writes the exact same thing on the RFE or the application OP has almost nothing to worry about.

I AM NOT CONDONING MARRIAGE FRAUD.  Time out in 4... 3.. 2.. 1..

7 hours ago, Dr Paul said:

The marriage was legit. The only reason I filed for annulment was because we had no connection after and she was disrespectful. I used the term "friends" because she was never really serious with me but then she also wouldn't let go of me so I thought marrying her would let her stay. Meanwhile my now fiance was serious with me so I decided to choose her instead 

The phrase 'legit marriage' and 'annulment' do not mean what you think they mean.

I expect USCIS to take a closer look at your case simply because you previously filed for immigration benefits and then annulled the marriage.

Plus now you are a multiple filer.  So you need a waiver.

6 hours ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

Per USCIS, 5-7 months. Took us 6 months exactly.

In 2020?

When I filed in early 2019 it was 5 months to get to the interview stage. 

Current K1 filed in Dec 2019 is 9 months old TODAY.

8 hours ago, Lucky Cat said:

The immigration process requires a great deal of knowledge, planning, and thinking ahead.  That's why you keep things such as boarding passes and photos.  You must "be in it to prove a relationship to the Government"  It just makes the process much smoother.

I read the I-129F requires no proof of a relationship.  Only that you met at least once and plan to marry within 90 days of entry into the US.  But from the 'romanticized' western definition of 'fiancee' and marriage, most people assume that there is a pre-existing relationship.

You may file this petition if you are a U.S. citizen and:
1. You and your fiancé(e):
A. Are legally free to marry and intend to marry within 90 days of your fiancé(e)’s admission to the United States;
and
B. Have met each other in person within the two years immediately before you filed this petition, unless you establish
that either:

The interview for the K1 visa is to root out marriage fraud, not test the relationship. 

OFF TOPIC - DON'T GET ALL RILED UP ABOUT THIS PART

Since divorce is a 50/50 possibility, there is no real benefit to an exceptionally long courtship.  Many long and successful marriages resulted from 'love at first sight', and many marriages that have years long courtships end in divorce.  In many cultures long courtships are a waste of time and effort.  Although divorce is usually seen as a negative (usually due to religion, not common sense) I see no problem with quick marriage and if need be, quick divorce.  Marriage (legally) is just for the tax breaks.  The only thing that separates calling someone your husband/wife and a serious GF/BF is the marriage certificate.

9 hours ago, Allovertheworld said:

I don't see them as important.

 

Who knows they are going to meet their fiance if you are traveling and happen to meet the person while on vacay or business?

 

 

USICS sees is differently.  They want 3rd party proof that you met in person.  While a entry/exit stamp is probably the gold standard that you at least went to X, a boarding pass is secondary evidence to that fact. 

Its not foolproof, but its rules out a lot of shenanigans.

CONGRATS!

I'm still waiting on NOA2... but good to see that K1s can get done in Vn.

21 hours ago, WandY said:

There are A LOT of scammers and people trying "help".

Getting a visa to the US is serious business in many countries.

I dated a woman from China that worked at a 'marriage agency'.  Since she spoke English she would actually 'be' the woman in the profile that the man would talk to.  She had a 'cheat sheet' of things the woman paying for the service liked, as would get paid per hour for WeChat conversations.  Way back I even experienced this.  Met a woman on a dating site, chatted, and when it came time to video chat I could clearly hear the interpreter talking to her.  The hilarious thing was that she denied anyone was there.  Hung up, deleted.  Sulk for a while. 

Sadly, for men, a foreign woman will almost always take the the advice of one of her 'friends' over them.  Even know my fiancee (with copious amounts of help from other Vn women, facebook groups etc) is telling me how I should fill out forms 'to make them ok'.  LOL NO sweetheart.  I've done this before and we'll put the down CORRECT answer, not the 'best' one.

• 4 x photos from my last visit 
• My flight itinerary 
• Hotel receipt 
• Screenshot of his train ticket to meet me in NYC 
• 3 x cards/letters that we've sent 
• 15 x screenshots from WhatsApp (5 from my visit to see him and 10 from when we are apart) 
• 4 x screenshots from when we video call 

No value at all.  They do not prove MEETING IN PERSON.  Do the '4 photos' include BOTH of you? 

You need to include the entry AND exit stamp from the passport.  The entire page.

Copies of the ACTUAL boarding passes.

You evidence is poor and does not meet the I-129F criteria proving MEETING IN PERSON.

There is NO REQUIREMENT to prove 'continuing relationship' for an I-129F.  Only that you met at least ONCE in the past two years and that you intend to marry (you should both have signed letters of intent to marry within 90 days of arrival in the US).

You seriously need to READ THE I-129F instructions again.

So does everyone get the same

Your case is currently being adjudicated. You should receive a notice of action* within 45 days.

reply when you make an 'out of normal processing time' inquiry?

3 hours ago, joe.b said:

Yes, there definitely was speculation on my part! I was asking because I wasn't sure if my speculation was correct. (And to be clear, I am not saying that I think that a transfer of money, large or small, is indicative of a sham relationship/marriage. I'm just not sure how U.S. immigration officers look at it.) I appreciate your reply!

No one knows what the CO is thinking.  Its not very productive to try and devine an outcome.

It could be that Monday is 'no one get's a K1 day!' because reasons.

And VJ is not a very good place to try and figure out whats going on.  You only get one side of the story, and you never see and paperwork/evidence.

Two people with almost identical circumstances can have wildly different outcomes.

If you care for your fiancee, then support them.  If you're asked about it, tell the CO the reasons.  In Vn I basically doubled my fiancee's income to support her and her son/family.  Nothing illegal/questionable about sending money to the person you care for.

1 hour ago, Stein said:

Well, flea's case was a little different since he had an interview scheduled for March and it was cancelled.  If any other K1 that hadn't had an interview scheduled before COVID I don't see the same outcome happening for school.

Previous interview scheduled means what?  There are probably a lot of K1/K2s that had interviews scheduled that were cancelled. 

DoS is really screwing up the interpretation of the POTUS EO (it should not include K1s, at all, its a non-immigrant visa) and I think more than a few consulates will give leeway if you have anything that resembles a reasonable request, like a kid wanting to start school.

Now with Vn having 100's of cases, they might close up shop again... bottom line it never hurts to ask.

On 8/5/2020 at 6:40 AM, Luckycuds said:

Please do completed your VJ timeline. Click your user name and then add/edit timeline. I want to point out You took a year to respond to the RfE and Covid has only stopped things since March so please don’t use that as an excuse. You need to reach out to the embassy to see if they will extend it but sounds like bad planning on your part. You made your journey extra long.

I don't think there is any benefit to the timelines now, as the dates are horrifically skewed and we have no insight as to how the algorithm works or will handle these artificial delays.   It will skew the times for at least a year. 

The timeline keeps telling me I am past due (been 10 months) yet almost no K1s have been issues in the last what, 6 months?

On 8/3/2020 at 4:53 PM, milimelo said:

Except they’re not doing interviews for k-1 visas as they’re not mission critical. 

Several people have posted getting K1 interviews for 'reasons' like 'I want to enroll my step-child in school'.

I think with in spite of the EO. many consulates will allow K1 interviews if you have anything close to a decent reason.

22 hours ago, joe.b said:

I have a question about money transfers between fiances. Specifically, if there are small but regular payments from me, the U.S. citizen sponsor, to my fiance, the non-citizen beneficiary, is this considered suspicious if/when bank documents get reviewed by immigration agents? Let's say it's approximately $100 per month. I understand that immigration officials might find it suspicious if the beneficiary is sending payments, especially large payments, to the U.S. citizen, as it might look like the sponsor is getting paid for a sham marriage (or whatever the case may be). In our case, it's that $100 a month is a relatively small amount for me, but for my fiance in India, it could go a long way.

 

So the basic question is whether payments are only considered suspicious when it's from the beneficiary to the sponsor, or is it suspicious in either direction? If people think the circumstance I outlined could be considered suspicious, then I suppose I'd likely hold off sending my fiance money unless it's truly necessary.

 

Thanks for any input.

You have a lot of speculation in this post.

A bonified relationship would include co-mingling of assets.  In fact its one thing they look for once you AoS.

Things like dowery's, wedding/engagement gifts etc are normal, and in some cultures still required.  If asked, just tell them why the money was transferred.

I've supported my fiance with over $6,000 for bills, illness, gifts, living expense.  I am 100% not concerned if they ask me anything about it.

On 8/2/2020 at 3:03 PM, YuyuNYC said:

Vietnam and New Zealand are also issuing US visa now, but not sure if they started to process K1 yet. 

Vn just had an outbreak in DaNang and went crazy with the lockdowns.

From 0 (lol, sure) to 300+ cases in a week or so.

I've heard that a few K1s were scheduled in Vn but they had a good reason to expedite. 

I think some consulates are going to have fairly loose interpretations of 'emergency' due to the POTUS EO.

If you have anything close to a reasonable request (like school) then try it.  I cannot see them being overly busy with only 'mission critical' applications.

Worst case is they say no. 

8 hours ago, geowrian said:

No legislative changes have been made to the public charge rule to read. The law says nothing about any timeline for usage, or really anything other than very basic constraints that the CO or IO must believe the applicant will not become a public charge.

The rules around public charge have changed recently, and do set more of a framework for making that determination.

 

I don't get the reference to the 12 out of 36 month usage criteria. True, that (generally) won't apply to a new K-1 holder, but all the other public charge totality of circumstances factors apply (FAM: https://fam.state.gov/FAM/09FAM/09FAM030208.html#M302_8_2_B_2, USCIS: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/policymanual/resources/Appendix-TotalityoftheCircumstancesFramework.pdf).

I don't think anybody mentioned an issue with prior or current usage in the OP's case.

You must have missed the entire part where they clarify everything.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/14/2019-17142/inadmissibility-on-public-charge-grounds

DHS is revising its interpretation of “public charge” to incorporate consideration of such benefits, and to better ensure that aliens subject to the public charge inadmissibility ground are self-sufficient, i.e., do not depend on public resources to meet their needs, but rather rely on their own capabilities, as well as the resources of family members, sponsors, and private organizations.[10] This rule redefines the term “public charge” to mean an alien who receives one or more designated public benefits for more than 12 months in the aggregate within any 36-month period (such that, for instance, receipt of two benefits in one month counts as two months). This rule defines the term “public benefit” to include cash benefits for income maintenance, SNAP, most forms of Medicaid, Section 8 Housing Assistance under the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program, Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance, and certain other forms of subsidized housing. DHS has tailored the rule to limit its effects in certain ways, such as for active duty military members and their families, and children in certain contexts.

FAM is not law.  Actually there is a very weak test for public charge via the I-134.  The I-134 is not legally binding.  Its an 'info sheet'.  Its not until you hit AOS and the I-864 that things get real.

On 4/20/2020 at 8:18 PM, Solaris81 said:

We are also in the middle of a global pandemic... 

That means nothing to me.  Unless you are old/sick you should be at work.   The 'cure' is worse than the illness.

So many media lies about what happened... but this is not a place for theories.  USCIS never shut down or posted anything about stopping/reducing paperwork.  Only in person interviews.

So actually more people should be able to work on scanning/typing etc.

18 hours ago, Greenbaum said:

I'm not incredibly good at reading between the lines, but nowhere in your original post did you say pull out a string. You're missing the entire point of this exercise. There is evidence that this did not go well for others. I'll add some more links as the "search" key is not working. 

 

There have been may cases that what you see as a "party" to what the CO sees as a possible "wedding". Why should the OP give the CO "ammunition" to use against them in ways they never thought possible? I'll give you an example and from there they'll need to make their own decision. If you want more information than in the upper right corner of this page is a search box. Use the words "marriage ceremony" and you will have more examples. See if it is working again. 

 

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/641345-k-1-visa-wedding-ceremony/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690759-k1-interview-denial/

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690759-k1-interview-denial/

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/665760-221g-confusion-where-is-my-fiances-case/

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/639695-k-1-visa-denied-what-now-appeal/

 

Dude (or dudette) I picked one of your links AT RANDOM AND READ IT.

You did not, did you???

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690759-k1-interview-denial/

"Finally, I proposed to her and we had a social ceremony with all the bells and whistles. It was not religious nor civil, but we did have a ceremony,"

They had a WEDDING CEREMONY and submitted photographic evidence of it.  APPLES and ORANGES.

Now, tell me how two people standing next to each other in a tux and dress is indication of any sort of CEREMONY.

I will 1000000% believe you that YES, if you had a CEREMONY, the CO will have all sorts of red flags.  But the photos are not what got those K1 denied.  THE CEREMONY did.

Please read them first before you hold them up as proof.

I took engagement photos (in full garb) and also had an engagement party (in regular clothes).  There is no way you can look at the engagement party and think 'that's a ceremony'.  It was a bunch of people eating.  Ditto for the tux and dress photos.  We were on a beach.  With no one around.  And a park, and a temple (aka tourist trap). 

As usual, no one actually read the 'public charge' legislation.

The jist is that you cannot have been on 'public assistance' (and there is a list of what are officially considered public assistance')  for more than 12 months out of a 36 month rolling period.

So no, if you are jumping right in to AOS from K1 then there is no way you can be on public assistance for 12 months prior to applying.  IF you delay, then yes, there is a possibility you could trigger the law.

Read the rules, folks, its all written down for your convenience.

As for lawyers, there are plenty of VJ posts about how wrong these lawyers are.

As for LGBT.  No one cares.  You're married and you're going to AOS. 

On 4/17/2020 at 2:25 PM, baze92 said:

4-5 months is about average time from what I’ve seen the last several months . So why do you say it’s taking longer ?

I submitted an I-129F early this year, 3 months.

That fell through.  Submitted another i-129F and we are at 4+ months.  So yeah taking longer.

If you look at the 'processing times' they have already adjudicated PAST my NOA1 date at CSC.  CSC is processing NOA1s dated 12/24/2019.

"December 10, 2019, we received your Form I-129F"

So at by that number we are at least two weeks long, and over 6 weeks compared to Spring of 2019.

For the I-129F all you need is a letter with 2 sentences.  Most of that RFE is boilerplate.  You cannot plan anything until you get the K1 visa. 

Can you post your letter of intent (with names etc redacted) so we can see why they would ever question intent to marry from the Service Center?

From the consulate?  OK, that would make more sense.  From the CSC?  Something is amiss.