MBMRes

Just to clarify, the email from the congressional office was the more recent email of the two.

We submitted our K1 visa application in June. Everything was approved at USCIS and NVC with no problems and no Requests for Evidence. We were told 1 month ago by the Bangkok embassy that my fiance will not be given an interview and that our application would be sent back to USCIS because they need "clarification" about the IMBRA criminal conviction that I have from 12 years ago that I disclosed in the i-129F. I do not see what other "clarification" there could possibly be, as we did follow all of the instructions in the i-129F and we never Received a request for Evidence.

We called USCIS and we were told that applications sent back from the embassy are automatically forced to expire. We were told they are automatically held for 6 months, which is obviously less time than it would even take to apply for a new visa.

I contacted my local Congressman and the senior Senator from my state. These were their responses:

Most recent response from conrgressional office:

" I received the following response from the National Visa Center over the weekend:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the K1 (fiancée of a United States citizen) petition filed by XXXX on behalf of YYYYY with case number BNKXXXYYY.

According to Department of State’s records, YYYY visa was refused by the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Her petition appears to be currently located at the U.S. Embassy and is in the process of being returned to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) via the NVC. The National Visa Center has no record of receiving this petition at this time. Please allow more time for this case to be transferred to our office. Upon receipt of YYYY petition it will be forwarded to USCIS, accordingly. Any further inquiries should be directed to USCIS at that time. The receipt number for this case is XXXXYYYY.

Our liaison requested more time for the U.S. Embassy in Thailand to return the petition. Once the embassy sends the petition to the NVC, then they will forward it along to USCIS. Once the NVC or USCIS has the returned petition, then our office should be able to determine the reason why your fiancée’s visa was refused. I will follow up with the NVC in a few days to see if they have received the petition and to see what options are available to expedite it if things don’t seem to be moving."

Most recent response from senate office:

"To give you a quick update. The Embassy in Bangkok says they have sent the file back to USCIS for “review” they do not say it has been denied. I have contacted CSC but they have not received the file yet so they cannot provide any additional information at the moment. The National Visa Center has confirmed the case is in the process of being returned but has not arrived there yet. (The Embassy will send the file to the NVC, who will return it to USCIS). I am going to keep checking in with them until the file is received and we can get more information. The NVC suggested we check back in 2 weeks.

CIS can renew the expiration date, they don’t when the Embassy has denied the visa, that does not appear to be the case here. I am hopeful, that once they get it back they will renew the date while it is being reviewed. Most of the time when a file is sent back from the Embassy it means the case has been denied, that does not appear to be the issue here. Once the file is back with CIS we will be able to find out more."

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We were given the news from the Bangkok embassy more than a month ago. If they re just going to decline this (or wait for 6 months), then it sounds like we should have re-filed immediately and just hoped for the best -- although I don't see any reason why the exact same thing wouldn't happen again.

I cannot see how this is fair at all. We followed all of the instructions and paid all of our fees. We were never even given an interview and our application is just being thrown in the garbage.

There is no real reason for a denial here. The IMBRA conviction was a non-violent, 3rd degree misdemeanor that occurred 12 years go (when I was in college). This is not an Adam Walk Act issue in any way.

What should we do at this stage? Just wait for them to tell us we are delayed/expired/denied?

Since it was returned without an interview they 'might' review it but I doubt it. You should contact your senator / congressman as soon as possible

and stress to him that you did comply with all requirements and weren't granted an interview and since USCIS does not review returned K1's

you are requesting an interview either at USCIS field office and / or the consulate to have a chance to submit your evidence.

Post your outcome when you have heard back. Best wishes.

Honestly, thank you. Really appreciate the opinions.

I am generally not a conspiracy person, but the fact that they will review a new application in 2 weeks (and completely ignore a simple pending application) sounds to me like USCIS is only interested in collecting application fees.

I honestly cannot come up with any other logical conclusion.

K1's aren't reviewed, they are purposely expired. Long legal story why and I am not getting into it here.

You can re file a K1 or do a CR1 the next time as spousal visa's get a chance for a rebuttal if they are returned and don't expire.

Think what you may have omitted and make sure every possible document is submitted.

You could have contacted them through your senator immediately after the interview for a second interview, to submit more evidence

but that ship seems to have sailed if they have already returned the petition.

There was no interview. My fiance emailed the Embassy in Bangkok because she wanted to make sure they had her current address and she was told that the Embassy cannot process the case because it was sent back to USCIS.

We were never given an opportunity to submit a Request for Evidence. We would have sent them anything they asked for, but nobody ever contacted us in any way (other than the NOA mail to tell us that we were approved for USCIS and NVC).

As far as things we didn't include, I don't see it at all. The Embassy asked for a clarification of the IMBRA conviction that i received 11 years ago. (Non-violent crime and we were told by an attorney that this should not be an obstacle for her in getting her visa.) In the i129F, the instructions ask us to include a "separate sheet of paper to provide information about the crime involved, the date of conviction, and the sentence." I include a full page explanation of the event and an official document from the court showing the disposition date. This is literally the only court document that the court has available.

I don't see what additional "clarification" could possibly be given. We followed the instructions, and we were never given the opportunity to contribute anything else if needed.

Our K1 application was approved by both USCIS and NVC. Our information was sent to the US Embassy in Bangkok, and they sent our packet back to USCIS.

Reason: Clarification of IMBRA criminal conviction.

USCIS told me that they will not even look at these returned cases for a minimum of 6 months, and this would violate their own expiration period for the K1 application.

My question: How is this legal?

We paid our fees and submitted all of the information that was asked of us (we sent in official court documents and even written letter explaining the IMBRA conviction -- this was the instruction in the i129F). At the very least, they should extend the expiration period for the amount of time these government bodies needs to communicate with one another.

Our case is being "swept under the rug" and we will receive the same outcome as a denial if this continues. The IMBRA conviction did not involve a child and is not connected to the Adam Walsh Act in any way. I have been told that the IMBRA conviction is not grounds for refusal. But if this continues, it will be an indirect refusal.

My fiance tried to submit packet 3 for her K1 visa and she was given a message saying that her forms cannot be processed because our application has been sent to USCIS for clarification of IMBRA record. I called USCIS today and I was told that this would take an additional 6 months to process. This seems entirely unfair to me, I fully explained the event (Stalking 3rd degree while in college, took an Alford plea) and attached the court record (which was minimal but it is all they have available).

The USCIS supervisor sounded like they will not even look at this for a minimum of 6 months.

Is this common?

This is going to create a tremendous financial hardship for us because I have to maintain her apartment and living expenses for at least 6 more months. I just bought a house, and really cannot afford this now. This says nothing about the emotional difficulties this will create, as we have already gone a year without seeing each other. I am not sure how much longer we can keep this up.

An additional 6-month wait seems completely unfair to me, especially since I have disclosed this already and the crime is not part of the Adam Walsh Act. I was told a stalking conviction would not prevent my fiance from getting her visa.

So, my main questions:

Is this 6-month wait something that is typically seen?

Is there any way around this 6-month wait?

We were already approved by USCIS and NVC, and now we are given this terrible news.

I don't want to know the reason why she was rejected twice for a tourist visa, but you might look at the reasons why and ask yourself if those same reasons will be used for a K1. She must have some red flags to get denied a tourist visa and a K1 isn't easier than a tourist (in my opinion)

She was told it was unlikely she would return to her home country. They didnt even look at the documents she brought with her.

Below is a link to USCIS' website, which explains the K-3 process:

http://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/k3-k4-visa/k-3k-4-nonimmigrant-visas

As it states, to apply for a K-3, you must FIRST file an I-130 petition, once that has been accepted by UCSIS, you file the I-129 together with the NOA1 from USCIS. Whomever you spoke to at your local immigration office, was wrong. It happens all the time. I don't know how many times I've spoken to people at USCIS, NVC or the US embassy and got mixed or wrong information. The best source of information are the guides on VJ or information posted on USCIS' and the State Department's websites.

Right now, the K-1 visas seems to be processing pretty quickly, I've seen people on here get it within three to four months. The CR-1 visa will take about a year and will require quite a lot of proof of bona fidas of marriage. As far as I know, the K-1 visa only requires that you've met once within the last two years. So proof of that plus email/chat/phone logs and you're set for the K-1.

Thanks for the response.

Where are you seeing a 3-4 month time frame for the K1 visa?

I called USCIS three weeks ago (after the second tourist visa was rejected) and they told me they are processing K1s from August, so that would be loser to 8 months.

like I said that is incorrect, that person gave you wrong information, you cannot change one petition to the other, If you file the K1 you must go through with it or you will loose the payment, time, money and it will become voided the moment you marry

OK well, I don't know what to believe at this point. The person that told me this was an immigration officer.

I was told by someone in my local immigration office last week that it would be possible to change to the K3 after the K1 was filed.

We have been together for more than 2 years but we have very little evidence (I don't like taking pictures, we have nobody that can do a signed affidavit).

I dont want to wait for the CR1 to process, we have already been apart for 8 months and another 8-11 months would be very difficult emotionally and financially. We didnt understand this whole process when we got started, we thought she would just be able to get a tourist visa but after she was rejected twice for that we realized that the only option was the spouse/fiance route.

I am trying to figure out the best approach to take in order to ensure that there are no visa rejections and my fiance are able to start the waiting period as quickly as possible.

Here is the approach I was considering:

-File the i129f and check the box for the K1 visa.

-Fly to her country a month from now, and get married.

-Change the i129f application to check the box for the K3 visa (I was told this was possible by someone at my local immigration office)

-Hopefully, get the K3 approved and my then wife would be able to come back to the US and wait for a change to permanent status.

I understand this seems tricky but I already have not seen her for 8 months and we need to get the process going as quickly as possible. I am not able to go see her until at least a month from now, so I am trying to figure out a way to get the process started now. I was also thinking that we would be less likely to be rejected if we are actually married. We have been together 2 years but we have very little evidence, so I will need to go there anyway so that we can start accumulating evidence. I figured if I am there with her, we might as well get married.

If we get married after filing the K1 application, will be go to the back of the line when asking to get the K3 processed?