vbcm

We just got denied  they didn't even request for more evidence

What's wrong with the Igor's list? Did it freeze or there are no updates so far?

6 minutes ago, Penguin_ie said:

I am assuming the first post in this thread is by the US fiance, and the recent post by the foreign beneficiary....

 

Boiler is correct, bans are up to the Consular Officer at interview.  However, minors who do something illegal  are not usually subject to a ban, even if going to school is illegal (which is certainly is not in all states).

@Penguin_ieI see. Thank for your response. Also does the fact that they got denied entry at the POE because the kid went to school affect our chance of getting k1/k2 visa?

@Penguin_ie I'm sorry to bother but up there Boiler said that any bans are determined by the consulate. So I don't know if I'm banned or not. Cause the POE officer said I could still apply for another visa. 

10 minutes ago, milimelo said:

No, why would it? 

Cause they have to do background check on the kids too, so it may take longer. I don't know I just heard that from a friend. But I doubt it

I'm just wondering if k2 visas would slow down the processing time of k1?

On 8/19/2017 at 1:16 AM, PedroDaGr8 said:

Seems reasonable enough, all are valid points.  At the end of the day, you always want to CYA as best you can. You will want to make sure that you have significant amounts of evidence to not only document that you met before THAT trip but also that she only planned to stay for a short visit. The more details you can verify with evidence the better things are. If possible, you can try and prove that the kid going to school was not pre-planned. Good luck with things, I do think that with this long of a relationship and loads of other information, you will be OK. Just make sure that you have meetings (ideally several) AFTER your divorces were finalized. They can sometimes decide to treat meetings before a finalized divorce as suspect, or ignore them all together(though that is rare). All in all, I don't see any major hurdles otherwise assuming you can document anything and everything as well as possible. That being said, even for simple cases Saigon is a very hard embassy. So go in to this prepared and expect them to try to trick her with their questions, asking about her intent on that trip repeatedly in a variety of ways. The questioning in Siagon for K1 and CR1 are notoriously complex. Good luck to the both of you and hopefully you get good news soon.

Thank you so much for your responses. We will prepare for all possible questions and more evidence. I appreciate your advice

4 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Saigon is considered a VERY hard embassy for K1, CR1 and tourist visas, from what I have heard. Not the hardest per se, I would say a few of the ones in Africa are harder, but they are certainly one of the hardest. Vietnam is considered a high fraud country and K1/CR1 cases are treated with inherent suspicion. Similarly, B visas are treated as if you plan to immigrate illegally and not come back. Unlike some countries, it is very routine to deny K1 applications in Saigon. You have to prepare a LOT of evidence to overcome the inherent suspicion of fraud and not every case can do it. It is better to know this going in, than to come unprepared. We considered ourselves lucky that my wife was living in BKK at the time for work (not an easy embassy but certainly not nearly as hard as Saigon).

 

As for this case, having a denial of entry is a huge black mark on her record. It would not surprise me if they give her a REALLY hard time. The child attending school makes it look like her goal is to bring her family to the USA, not to marry you. The denial of entry indicates to the embassy that she might have had immigrant intent while on a non-immigrant visa, not a good thing. While your intentions were quite noble and commendable, they were also in hindsight pretty foolish. School is considered a public benefit/service and the kid going to school is considered utilizing a public benefit as well as establishing a tie to the USA. I can't say whether this will be enough to deny a K1 but K-visas are very hard to get in Saigon, this might be enough to raise doubts about the bonafides and intents of the relationship. You will need to really work on your relationship and provide loads of evidence to make sure that the truth of the relationship is established. Pictures together, pictures with your family, chat logs, travel tickets, gifts sent to each other, holidays celebrated together, etc. etc. You need to anything and everything there. Even then, there is no telling if it will be enough. Truthfully, if K1 fails, it might be easier to go the CR-1 route instead. There is usually less suspicion of fraud (its still there but less) because you already have a legally binding relationship (unlike engagement). It might be enough of a difference to shift the scales from denied to approved. Either way though will be very hard, she should expect an EXTREMELY rigorous interview, with dozens of questions on your relationship and this black mark doesn't help things. It's not an impossible mountain to climb, just very difficult. 

The older kid being denied is not surprising, or at all worrisome, since you have filed for her on a K process. In fact, it is entirely expected that she would be denied. Much like a tourist visa, student visas are non-immigrant visas. Part of the process of obtaining a non-immigrant visa is showing that you do not have immigrant intent. This means demonstrating you have sufficient ties to your home country that you will go back. While the requirements of a student visa are more lenient than a tourist visa because it is understood you will be in the USA for a WHILE; they are still there. A processing K application, contiguous with any non-immigrant visa is almost always an instant denial. 

 

 

Thank you for your responde. Regarding this matter, I have already talked to 2 lawyers and one person at the immigration office and they all said the same thing that we should be fine because we have been together before that event in the past happened. They said had she known me after she got denied entry, they would suspect it's not a bonefide relationship. But she stayed with me when she and the little kid were in America and I helped the kid go to school. Plus the kid going to school and their staying were not the purposes of the trip. She just wanted to visit her daughter but I asked her to stay longer with me. We could not get married at that time, cause we both did not finalize our divorce process. But we've been together for 4 years and we have very strong evidence about our relationship and intent to get married.

On 1/7/2017 at 0:06 AM, Suss&Camm said:

I was previously denied a student visa due to earlier ESTA overstay and a bar when I was 19...  The years went by and when I met my now husband and we decided to file for K1 this worried me as well. Other than being completely honest on the DS-160 it wasn't a problem. At the interview I was asked why I had never visited my then fiancé in the US (he visited me) I said cause I didn't want to go through the tourist visa application process since I was ineligible for ESTA and was previously denied a student visa. He then asked me how come I was ineligible for ESTA (although it was right there in his papers lol) So I said I overstayed years ago.... he asked me how long, what was I doing and how did I support myself during my overstay. I was just honest about all those answers and he said as long as my statements checked out with their systems my visa was approved.

I know you guys don't have a past overstay, only the visa denial.. and as Penguin explained you are now trying to immigrate so it will not be a problem, unless you are dishonest during the process.

11 hours ago, Boiler said:

Any bans are determined by the Consulate and will be notified at the interview.

She and the kid are not banned. They said since she chose to go back on her own, she could still apply for another tourist visa.

2 hours ago, Penguin_ie said:

No, the only thing it MIGHT affect is questions about it at interview.

The relationship being real and you two intending to marry within 90 days is the main thing, though there are other things (criminal background, drug use) that can make one inelligible for a visa.

I myself don't have any criminal background. The only issue is my fiance and her kid got denied at entry because the kid went to school. But they're not barred. They cancelled their visas and they said they could still apply for another tourist visa. If we can prove that our relationship is genuine and we do intend to get married within 90 days at the interview, then we should be fine right?

@Penguin_ie fortunately, she did not work or do anything else illegal. Do you think it would affect our NOA2 approval? As I know, for k1 visa, we just need to prove that our relationship is real in order to be eligible for the visa right?

@Penguin_ie no she did not overstay or have any other illegal activities. Are you sure about this? I'm just overly worried

I have a question. So in October 2015, my fiance travelled to the U.S with her 8 year-old-kid on tourist visas to visit her daughter. Then when she came to visit me, I suggested her to stay a little bit longer  that the kid went to school. And he did for 3 months. Then they came back before their 6-month entry ended. When they came back to the U.S after 2 weeks to attend her daughter's graduation, they were stopped at the port of entry. They said that the little kid went to school and that's illegal. So she was asked if she still wanted to stay but then she chose to go back. They said she could still apply for a visa. We've been together for 4 years and we just filed our petition mid-June and received our NOA1 on June 23rd. We're still waiting for our NOA2. The agent that we've hired for our petition said that our evidence and proofs of a true relationship are very strong. I wonder if the event in the past would affect her chance of getting k1 visa for her and k2 visas for her kids cause we've been together for long time and our relationship is genuine.