ColoradoSteve

We filed the paperwork for the AOS, AP, and EAD around the end of March. We received the NOA letters April 29. We just attended our biometrics appointment on August 27. So we had to wait nearly 5 months from filing just to get the biometrics appointment. I have no idea how long we will wait for the interview, if we will even have one. I read that some people are receiving their green cards without an interview.

What is the general trend now?

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

I have a question regarding the port of entry for my fiancee. We will be traveling together by air and will enter the US at IAH (Houston International Airport). Will my fiancee and I be able to go through the same line in immigration? If so, will we need to be in the line for US citizens or the line for foreigners? I am a US citizen, and my fiancee will have her foreign passport with K1 visa attached.

I really hope that it isn't necessary for us to go separate ways in the airport. IAH is gigantic and will be very intimidating and confusing for my fiancee. She has never encountered such an airport before...

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

The embassy is moving very quickly now. I just checked the status tonight and my fiancees passport is ready to be picked up. Only 3 week days after the interview! She will be coming home with me after Christmas.

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

After being trapped in the black hole of administrative processing for roughly 17 months, our case was finally approved yesterday!

My fiancee attended the appointment for the third interview at the embassy in Nicaragua. She had to resubmit the DS-160, acquire new police reports and medical exams, and provide proof of our ongoing relationship since the previous interview 13 months ago. She was only asked 3 questions at this third interview - "what is your name?", "when did your fiancee last visit?", and "show me a photo of you together". They also returned all of the evidence we had submitted at the 2 previous interviews.

They took her passport, and said it would be returned with the visa attached in 3 weeks. Does anyone know how long this actually takes in Nicaragua?

From what I have read people usually receive their passport with the visa stamp within 2-10 days. I will be visiting her for Christmas, and I would like to bring her home with me.

Regards,

Steve

TBoneTx,

I learned from informed sources outside this forum, that medical exams expire after 6 months. The DS-160 is only valid for one year. Police reports are also only valid for a limited time, and my fiancees are now more than 18 months old. Because the embassy sat on our case for so long, virtually everything we previously submitted has expired. There is no expiration date on the relationship evidence. However, everything we had previously submitted is now more than a year old. The embassy has nothing recent from the past 12 months.

I just noticed that new email from the embassy came from the "managuaIV" email address, not the "managuaFPU" address that was used for everything when we were under AP. Perhaps this suggests that our case is out of the FPU and back into the normal main stream of visa processing within the embassy.

Everyone,

My K1 visa has been in process in the embassy in Nicaragua for about 19 months. We attended 2 interviews at the embassy, the last of which was November 6th of 2018. Our case has been in the black hole of administrative processing this entire time. We have had no signs of action out of the embassy for an entire year, other than their useless replies to the three inquiries from my Senators office.

I finally received an email from the embassy after exactly one year of absolutely no activity. The letter was in spanish, so I had a bit of difficulty translating it. I am uncertain of the implications of the letter and what is happening. So I am posting the contents below, and asking for any insight as to what is happening. In short, the letter is requesting additional documentation, as well as a new DS-160 new medical exams, and says we need to schedule ANOTHER appointment. The letter also says our petition has been denied. It says we need to schedule another appointment for not submitting complete documentation. This is confusing to me, because we did submit absolutely everything they asked for 18 months ago, and all of the additional items they requested in our second interview one year ago.

It appears to me that we are starting over from where we were 18 months ago, and in fact they have assigned a completely different case number which is in the email. It seems that it is impossible to ever complete the process, because the embassy waits until all of the documents, evidence and medical exams have long since expired, before doing anything. Then they request we submit everything again. Here is the english translation of the letter I received, please provide opinions on what is happening. Do they actually intend to complete our case, or is this just another ploy to further delay everything?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This office informs you that your petition has been denied under Section 221 (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of the United States of America. To continue with your process we require you to provide additional documentation. If you do not submit the requested documents within one year, your request will be canceled.

       SEND DOCUMENTS THROUGH
OF CARGOTRANS
SCHEDULE APPOINTMENT

Before sending your documentation through CargoTrans, go to www.ustraveldocs.com/ni to create a profile and register. You can also register and obtain information by calling the Call Center, from Nicaragua at 7877-7600 and from the United States at
(703) 745-5479.
For not presenting complete documentation, you must schedule a new appointment by contacting the Call Center, at 7877-7600 from Nic. and at (703) 745-5479 from the United States. Similarly schedule your appointment online through: www.ustraveldocs.com/ni.

New medical exams
Record of local police (district)
re-submit form DS-160
Present recent evidence of relationship (NoV / 18 - NOV / 19)

1 hour ago, Greenbaum said:

I have witness others who have replied to their congress representative every 60 days and finally their case started moving again. You may want to try again. Also, If the K-1 does not work out for you or you get tired of waiting then you may want to do the following.

 

1. Locate her to more friendly country as you said this maybe an option and the marry her their and file a CR1.

2. Refuse the K-1 and marry her in Nicaragua and then begin the CR-1 which typically gets approved because of the marriage aspect.

 

I wish you all the best in whatever you do. 

Thanks Greenbaum. I didn't think being married changed much of anything, other than it is no longer necessary to provide intent to marry statements, and there are slightly different forms to file. The beneficiary is still required to meet all of the same criteria, married or not. Anything that would cause her admission to the US to be denied as a fiancee would cause the same denial as a spouse. But I could be wrong.

I could see it might be helpful if the evidence of a relationship was weak. But we have been together for 3-1/2 years, and provided a mountain of evidence. Airline tickets, hotel receipts, a large pile of photos etc. etc. from SEVEN visits together. Skype logs, physical letters and cards with postmarked envelopes and such from the first 2-1/2 years of our relationship. Letters from half a dozen people who have witnessed our relationship in person, Western Union receipts showing my financial support for two years, engagement ring receipt. And more.

When I was at the second interview, I saw our file through the window that the consul had. It was literally three inches thick of solid paper, at least half of which was evidence my fiancee and I submitted.

I was under the impression that getting married would cause the entire process to start over again, and we would be back to square one where I was 18 months ago. And since my fiancee has Nicaraguan citizenship, we would be stuck going through the same embassy again, where I would expect the same result as before. Unless she obtains citizenship or legal residency in a different country, which would require years.

I have heard of numerous people who got married in a foreign country, and were unable (or required years) to get their spouse to the US. I would never be willing to marry someone without knowing if they could ever come to the US.

Best regards,

Steve

Everyone,

Thanks for the replies! I was in Nicaragua visiting my fiancee at the time, so I was unable to read all of the posts and referenced threads until now. I am still not sure what to do. We have been waiting on the results from our second interview for over 6 months now. Our case has been in AP since June of 2018. I have been constantly checking for updates on the CEAC website, and have noticed that the case has gone for months without being touched. The inquiry from my senators office on March 4 at least resulted in the case status being updated in March. But I now suspect that the status update wasn't because actual work was being done, rather that it was "touched" only to check the status for the senators office.

I sent two emails to the embassy last month (April), and they didn't reply or even acknowledge receipt of my emails. Months ago, they at least responded to my emails. I am guessing they are angry now because I contacted my senator and therefore ignoring my emails. And I have not been sending excessive emails. Generally I have sent less than one email per month. I only sent two emails last month because I received no response.

The case has not been touched again in nearly two months. I have been operating on the assumption that the embassy in Nicaragua has no intention of ever officially approving or denying our case. Rather they have decided to put it on a shelf forever, and claim that it is in AP so that they don't have to do any additional work, and so that I have no legal recourse to refute an actual denial. Perhaps my assumption is wrong, but I have no evidence to the contrary.

As I said before, my fiancee previously lived in Costa Rica for 9 years and had a job, friends, safety, and a good life there. She had to give up all of that forever when she needed to return to Nicaragua to complete the visa process. She did not have citizenship or legal residency in Costa Rica. She can not likely ever return. The economy in Nicaragua is in shambles, and she has no work there. She has been physically assaulted, has had to move three times, and now lives in constant fear. The financial cost to fully support her, pay for three visits to Nicaragua, and pay all of the visa related expenses has reached $20,000 in the past year. My savings are rapidly becoming depleted and I will soon run out of options. My fiancee can not tolerate living with the conditions there any longer. She has frequently fallen into depression because of her situation.

Soon she will be forced to leave Nicaragua to try to start a new life somewhere else. I think our only options will be to either force the embassy to complete the visa with a WOM, find a different method to get her into the US, or give up entirely and send her to some other country where she would have an opportunity to start a new life.

Thanks for all of your replies.

Regards,

Steve

Hello everyone,

My K1 visa case is still stuck with no progress in the Nicaraguan embassy. My fiancee has been trapped in Nicaragua for an entire year now, and the situation has been causing considerable hardship for us.

I met with an immigration attorney in February, and she suggested trying a congressional inquiry, through my state senators office. We did this 2 months ago, and as expected, it had no effect. The embassy did respond to the senator (they haven't responded directly to me since January). The only response they gave to the senator was the same as they have been telling me for the past 6 months, that the case was in administrative processing and I would hear from them soon.

My attorney suggested trying a mandamus action. She doesn't do federal court cases, but she referred to a different attorney who does. I haven't contacted the new attorney yet. I was unable to find any information with mandamus actions in context of cases that are held up in an embassy. Does anyone on this forum have any knowledge or experience with mandamus actions?

I know that a mandamus action is used to force a government entity to actually do their jobs, and complete a process or give a ruling on a case.

Best regards,

Steve

24 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

What was the reason for the multiple interviews/medical?

 

Can your congressional rep help in any way? (i.e. humanitarian, due to worsening danger?)

A second medical exam will be required because the process has been so slow, her first medical exam has expired. Medical exams are only valid for 6 months.

The second interview was required because my fiancee had been married previously (12 years ago) although the marriage was invalid because it was never recorded with the central registry. This fact was uncovered in the first interview, because they had a record of a 12 year old passport with the married name. I was unaware of this, so the embassy required a second "split" interview and additional documents.

Steve

10 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

Did your fiancee ever get her second medical exam? 

No. We are waiting for instructions from the embassy. They must send the information first, telling my fiancee where she needs to go for the exams. I have asked them several times for this, but always receive the same reply of "your case is in administrative processing, we will contact you when it is finished."

Steve

7 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Is your case still with the Fraud Protection Unit?

As far as I know. I haven't received anything informing me of any changes in status.

Everyone,

It has been a while since I have posted anything. My K1 fiancee visa case is still tied up at the embassy in Nicaragua , and there has been no progress in months. My poor fiancee had been enduring many hardships in Nicaragua. Recently, she was forced to find a different place to live (again) this time because of an abusive landlord. The landlord hired some thugs, and let them into my fiancees apartment where they proceeded to beat her up, because she refused to have sex with him. Then the new apartment she moved into was infested with bed bugs...

Our second interview happened on November 6th. I asked the person conducting the interview if he thought my fiancee could have her visa in time for Christmas, and he said that should be no problem. However, nothing has changed. Every time I send an email to inquire about the status, I am told that it is in administrative processing and that I will be notified when it is ready.

I hired an immigration attorney, and she noticed that the online status had been updated on December 27 saying that our case was ready for an interview. But my email inquiry several weeks later yielded the same response of "administrative processing". She sent an inquiry to the embassy two weeks ago, along with the form to notify them that she has entered the case as my attorney. However, she has received no response from the embassy. They had never failed to respond to my inquiries previously, always responding within 2-3 business days. My attorney is helping me do a congressional inquiry next through the state Senators office. There is nothing more that the attorney can do to help.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? We have been in the visa process now for 17 months, and I don't think she will be able to endure the conditions much longer in Nicaragua.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Steve

I was curious if the government shutdown is affecting visa processing. Specifically, my case has been stuck in "administrate procedure" at the embassy in Nicaragua for 10 weeks now. I know the state department is one of the areas potentially affected. Are the embassies directly affected by the shutdown?

Regards,

Steve

6 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Any update?

We finally had the split interview on November 6. The man conducting the interview was very friendly, my fiancee and I both felt very relaxed. He interviewed my fiancee first for an hour or more. Then he interviewed me for about 10 or 15 minutes, to cross check some of my fiancees answers.

The questions were all very easy, just very general questions. He didn't ask questions multiple times with different wordings. We never got the sense that they were trying to ask "trick" questions. He just asked my fiancee many different questions about me and my life, my family, our relationship and our visits together. Then I was asked a subset of the same questions. We got the sense that he was just confirming that my fiancee knew me and we had actually spent time together.

We provided some additional evidence - the additional legal documents requested of my fiancee, photos of our last 2 visits together (which occurred after filing the petition), WhatsApp logs, and letters from 4 different friends and my sister, who have all witnessed our relationship. Two of these friends had actually traveled to Costa Rica and were with us for part of two different visits.

The man conducting the interview told us that my fiancees medical exams were going to expire in a week, and that they would be unlikely to complete the visa before then. So she would need new exams. I asked if she would be able to have the visa in time to be with me for Christmas, and he said that should not be a problem. He said we would hear from them within 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, we have heard nothing from the embassy about our case. My fiancee has not even received instructions for getting the new medical exams. It has been nearly 5 weeks since the interview. I sent an email asking about the status of our case, and was only told that it was in "administrative processing" and we would hear from them soon. I know the embassy will close on December 15 for the holidays, and will not reopen until sometime in January. We have given up all hope of being together for Christmas.

I don't know what to do next. I don't understand why they continue to delay our case. Nicaragua has become a dangerous place, and my fiancee has suffered many hardships there over the past 7 months.

Thanks for remembering my plight! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Steve

1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

Is that considered a Stokes interview?   I thought that was only for spousal.   What was the reason given for the second interview?

People on this forum told me I was going to have a Stokes interview. But Stokes interviews are used to check the validity of marriages. So I think the proper term for what we experienced was a "split interview". That is what the embassy called it.

The reason for the additional scrutiny was there were a few problems at the first interview with documentation for my fiancee. Her name was misspelled on a document (she had to get this corrected). But the main problem was that she had been married 12 years earlier, but never disclosed this. Actually, the marriage was not valid, because it was never registered with the central registry in Managua. She had attempted to get a divorce certificate many years ago, but failed, because there was no record of the marriage. She had a "clean" certificate of singleness that said she had never been married. The central registry told her she was single.

Unfortunately, she had used the married name to obtain a passport many years earlier (which had been lost, stolen, and replaced several times with new passports with her non-married name). She had forgotten about obtaining her first passport when she was "married" 12 years earlier. The embassy had records of the previous passport with the married name, but there was no mention of the marriage, hence the problem.

The embassy said that she needed to provide more documentation to prove she was who she said she was. She was required to fix the documents with spelling errors, and to obtain a literal birth certificate, a divorce certificate, and provide old expired IDs with her current unmarried name. She found an old expired cedula, drivers license, and some other old ID.

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

I had a second K1 interview with my fiancee at the embassy in Nicaragua. The interview was nearly 3 weeks ago, and we have heard nothing. My fiancee and I both thought the interview went well. The man conducting the interview was very polite and friendly. He interviewed my fiancee (the beneficiary) for more than an hour, asking her many simple but varied questions about me, my family, how we met, and about our visits together.

Next he questioned me for only about 10 or 15 minutes, cross checking a subset of the answers he received from my fiancee. He told us that we would be contacted with further instructions within 2 weeks, and that my fiancee would need to redo the medical exams, because her original exams would expire in about a week (they are only valid for 6 months) and they wouldn't be able to complete the visa before then. He said she would need to get the new exams, and send the results along with her passport to the embassy through the cargo-trans office. I asked if she could arrive in time to spend Christmas with me in Colorado, and he said yes.

But the visa wasn't approved (or denied) at the interview, because they still had to verify the additional documents they had requested from my fiancee (literal birth certificate, divorce certificate, several old expired IDs). They told us we would be receiving instructions within 2 weeks, but we have heard nothing. Nearly 3 weeks have passed.

How long do they have to approve or deny a visa after a second (split) interview? What should I do next if I don't get a response? I already sent an email 2 days ago.

I started the paperwork for the K1 visa about 15 or 16 months ago. I met my fiancee 3 years ago, visited 6 times before the first interview, and have been engaged nearly 2 years. It is becoming unbearable being apart for so long.

Thanks everyone for all the past advice.

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

I finally received a response from the Nicaraguan embassy a few weeks ago. They have more or less resumed normal operations. I have an appointment for the second interview in the first week of November.

Here is a quick refresher on what has happened with my case: The interview will be with the fraud prevention unit, as they had an issue with my fiancé on our first interview. Her name was misspelled on one of the documents, and she had been married briefly about 12 years ago. The marriage wasn't valid, because it was never registered with the central registry in Managua. She had attempted to obtain a divorce certificate many years ago, but failed because there was no record of the marriage. She had an official certificate of singleness stating that she was single. Unfortunately, she had obtained a passport 12 years ago with the married name, and the embassy had obtained record of this. I wasn't aware of the previous marriage, and so I didn't mention it in the petition or any documents I provided. So the embassy requested that my fiancée obtain various additional documents, including a divorce certificate, a literal birth certificate, and get the misspelled name corrected on her other documents. She did all of these things, and now we have a second interview pending.

I asked the embassy if I needed to obtain any updated documents or records, since the first interview and my documents are from June. They told me I didn't need any updated documents, but that I should bring additional evidence of our relationship, if I have it.

I am wondering what additional evidence I can provide. My relationship has been ongoing for nearly 3 years. I already provided photos, airline tickets, hotel and rental car receipts from the 6 trips when I visited her in Costa Rica. I also provided letters from friends, coworkers, and the owner of a hotel where we stayed on several occasions. We have provided screen shots and records from Skype and WhatsApp of our conversations. We provided many cards including the postmarked envelopes that we had physically mailed to each other over the years. We provided receipts from Western Union and MoneyGram where I have been supporting her the entire 6 months she has been staying in Nicaragua, and for all of the times I helped support her when she was in Costa Rica. I also provided the receipt for the engagement ring I gave her 22 months ago.

Any ideas on what else I could provide? I don't know what else they could possibly want from us...

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

I sent another email to the embassy, and I finally received a response from the MNGFPU@state.gov address. They acknowledged receipt of my email, and said that they were currently "reorganizing" their calendar. They said they would contact me when they were ready to have me schedule a second interview. However, they didn't mention a likely timeline. I don't know if I will be waiting days, weeks, or months.

How long should I wait before I ping them again, assuming I hear nothing in the near future?

Regards,

Steve

Everyone,

My fiancee has obtained all of the additional documents the embassy in Nicaragua requested at our interview back in June. The instructions she received from the embassy in June said to gather the requested documents, then to request an interview by sending email to MNGFPU@state.gov . The instruction sheet referred to this interview as "Split interview".

This email address is not one I have seen or used before for the embassy. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with this address? Am I correct in assuming that this address means MaNaGua Fraud Prevention Unit?

I sent an email to this address 5 days ago requesting an interview, as instructed. But as of yet I haven't received any response or acknowledgment. How long should I wait before sending another email? Does anyone know the current status at the embassy in Nicaragua? I know that day to day life in Nicaragua has largely returned to normal in recent weeks. The roads are all open, busses and public transportation are all operating again.

For a quick recap of my situation, my fiancee and I had our K1 fiancee interview back in June. But unknown to me, my fiancee had been previously married and divorced 13 years ago. It turns out the marriage was invalid, so there was no public record of the marriage. My fiancee's certificate of singleness showed that she was never married. It was invalid because the lawyer who prepared the marriage paperwork wasn't certified to do so, and therefore never registered the marriage with the central registry in managua. Unfortunately, she had obtained a passport 13 years ago with the married name. That passport had long since been lost and replaced with others (with her non-married name). The woman conducting the interview found a record of the 13 year old passport, with the married name. This, along with a misspelled name on another document, made her question the identity of my fiancee. My fiancee was asked to obtain a divorce certificate, a literal birth certificate, several old expired ID's with her current name, and to correct the document with the misspelled name. It took 2 months of work, and many visits to various lawyers, judges, and government offices in Nicaragua. But my fiancee finally has all of the new requested documents, and we are trying to get an appointment for the next interview.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Steve

7 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

You're going to have a Stokes interview.  See this thread, pinned atop this forum:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/207292-embassy-wants-petitioner-at-next-cr-1-interview-any-advice/

 

This was almost certainly prompted by your lack of knowledge about your fiancee's previous marriage... and her not having told you about it.  The communication issues (her minimal English, your minimal Spanish) are a strongly associated factor.

Thanks TBoneTX. I would never have suspected that I would receive such an interview. I would have thought it would be reserved for individuals that had more "obvious" issues, such as widely different ages, having never met in person, being from a high fraud country, having just recently met, etc. etc.

I explained to the interviewer that we mostly communicate in Skype and WhatsApp, since we live 2000 miles apart and these are free to use. We use Google translate heavily. When we are together, our language skills have been sufficient for "all practical purposes" and we break out the smart phones with Google translate when we need to have a more complex discussion.

Fortunately, we had visited each other on 6 different occasions in Costa Rica. Our relationship has been ongoing for the past 2-1/2 years. We have tons of photos together in many different locations, including some photos with other people. On two of these trips, additional friends joined us for part of the vacation, in part to share the expense of the rental car and rental house. I obtained a letter already from one of these friends, I can get letters from 2 others. I also have a letter from the owner of a small hotel where we stayed together on 3 or 4 of the visits.

The petition I filed last September was already front loaded with much of this evidence. They also asked to see evidence at the interview, so we handed them a large stack of photos and cards we have sent to each other over the years, including the envelopes with postmarks.

After reading the post about the Stokes interview, I will gather additional evidence for the next interview. My fiancee explained the situation to the interviewer about her previous marriage, and that she never mentioned it to me. It wasn't a successful marriage, they didn't even live together, and she had been unable to obtain a divorce certificate previously because the marriage was never registered and therefore invalid. My fiancee told me that the interviewer decided to give her a second chance, and told her to correct the document with the misspelled name, obtain a divorce certificate, and something called a literal birth certificate.

Thanks again for the heads up!

Regards,

Steve

11 hours ago, Larindra said:

As far as I know, the embassy in Managua is still processing the cases which are already ongoing.The fact that @ColoradoSteve received another interview date is a good sign. I don't really think that the interview went bad. She just has to correct the documents. Did they keep your fiance's passport? 

 

I will be traveling to Managua this coming Friday. I hope that everything will go well.

No, they didn't keep my fiancées passport. The person doing the interview collected a few documents and pieces of evidence from us at the start. Then we waited for an hour, there were many people receiving services at the embassy that day.

Next they interviewed only my fiancée for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then they called me up to the window to join her, and asked for the I-134 and my tax transcripts for the past 2 years. They only asked me one question - how we managed to communicate since I speak little Spanish and my fiancée speaks only some English. We don't have another interview date yet. The interviewer told my fiancée everything she needs to do for the next interview. I was told that their is nothing I can do but wait for my fiancée to get the required documents. Then she needs to take the documents to some depot or collection site, where they will be delivered to the embassy.

My fiancée was told that I would get interviewed at the next appointment. I am guessing that they didn't bother questioning me at the first interview, since there were problems with my fiancées documentation. I imagine I will get grilled at the next appointment. I don't know what needs to be done to schedule a second appointment. Will I need to set up another profile online and pay the fee again?

Regards,

Steve

7 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

An unfair comment has been removed, along with a reply.

-------

Would be interested to hear how bad the lawlessness or chaos in Managua really turned out to be: better or worse than reported/expected?

I avoided traveling as much as possible, but I saw a number of things when I did need to go places. Managua appeared to be largely normal, however there were signs that things had been much different in previous weeks. Many of the roads there are constructed from concrete paving blocks, rather than asphalt or poured concrete like our roads in the US. There were many areas where people had pried up the blocks and built barricades to block off the roads. During my visit, there were many heavily armed police guarding workers who were repairing the roads. The barricades had been recently torn down. Had I been there a week or two earlier, travel to the airport and embassy might have been impossible.

I saw one large barricade still in place, blocking the access to the mayors office in my fiancees home town. It was about 6 foot high, with gun ports near the top. I had to wait nearby in the taxi when my fiancee had to walk past the barricade to visit the mayors office. Periodically a few men with hoods covering their heads, and carrying rifles, would come out from behind the barricade for a few seconds. No idea if they were police, para-military, military, or just armed thugs. They wore plain clothes and masks.

Everyone seemed tense and afraid. The taxi driver warned me several times not to take photos of anything. We went to a restaurant one evening with some friends. The restaurant closed early so everyone could get home before dark. This is typical, there seems to be an unofficial curfew in place. Everyone is terrified to go out after dark. While I was there, violence was still happening in Granada and Masaya, but Managua appeared mostly "business as usual". There were busses and taxis running, and the roads were packed with heavy traffic.

I feel sorry for the people there. The country is impoverished. I saw huge piles of garbage everywhere, and children digging through the garbage. I managed to capture one photo of this.

I never felt threatened or unsafe when I was there, but I definitely felt uneasy, as did the locals. In summary, Managua seemed relatively normal, but the situation can change quickly and without warning. My fiancee was unable to make it to a court appointment last Thursday, because large demonstration marches and strikes largely paralyzed the city for two days. I was able to stay safe, in part because I had help from my fiancee and her neighbors, and an excellent and reliable taxi driver. Be careful if you must travel there. Only go out for essential business. Is definitely not the time for a site seeing tour of the country.

Regards,

ColoradoSteve

Steve

Everyone,

Sorry I haven't responded in several weeks. I was very busy with work after returning. I survived the trip to Nicaragua without incident. Unfortunately the interview didn't go well. My fiancee had been married previously 13 years earlier. I was not aware of this fact. There were no records of this, and she was able to obtain a certificate declaring her as being single, from the central registry.

However, she had obtained a previous passport (which expired several years ago) with the married name in 2006. Of course, the embassy found this and it raised questions at the interview. There was also a document which had a very minor misspelling of her name (a missing letter) that the interviewer also complained about. So we were told that she needed to correct the one document, and obtain additional documents. Then she could send those to the embassy, and we would need to schedule a second interview.

She has spent the past 2 weeks working with several judges and lawyers, and visiting many government offices and courts. So far, she has repaired the document with the misspelled name and obtained all but one of the newly requested documents. It was an interesting problem. The lawyer who did the paperwork for the marriage was a fraud. He wasn't registered or empowered to conduct marriages, so the records were never registered with the central registry in Managua. Therefore the marriage was not valid. It was only registered with the mayors office in her home town. Then her ex husband bribed the lawyer and the local mayors office to destroy all records of the marriage.

They were able to find the original record for the divorce. She has been able to obtain official documents explaining the situation and has obtained a divorce certificate, even though the marriage was never valid. The interviewer also requested to see old IDs with her current "single" name, to help prove she is who she says she is. She found an old passport, a drivers license, and a cedula that should meet this requirement.

Now my only concern is being able to obtain a second interview, as it took 6 weeks to get the first appointment. They continue to reduce staff at the embassy there, and I don't know if they are even processing cases there now. The information on the embassy website doesn't clearly state if cases that are currently pending will still be processed there.

Regards,

Steve