DK12

Hi everyone,

I needed some advice... still trying to figure out what to do. I will try to explain my situation as short as I can.

I am Korean. Studied in US, went to undergrad and grad school (i did finish my military service in Korea in between).

After grad school, I applied for OPT and worked/lived for a year.

After OPT, I decided to apply for EB-1 ( I am a musician who does many different things; arranging, teaching, composing and music stuff).

I have waited more than one and half year and got RFE. And after RFE, my application for EB-1 was denied. While I was waiting, I was able to work and travel with I-797C approved.

After I found out EB-1 was denied, I discussed with my lawyer and we applied for O-1. Requiring documents were very similar, so we were able to prepare quickly.

I was worried about my status at the point. But I was told that once O-1 visa is approved, they will backdate and issue the visa with the consideration of the time I was waiting for petition to be approved in US.

I had an employer who wanted to hire me as soon as possible, they helped me with paying premium processing fee. But they gave me RFE at first. So my lawyers spent 3 months to get more documents and sent it back just in time before the deadline.

And I finally got O-1 visa petition approved in Feb 2018. And I was advised to come back to Kore and do the interview and get visa and come back.

I have many friends who have O-1visa, and they all told me it usually takes 2-3 days. So I planned for two-week trip and came to Korea.

During the interview, interviewer got heat up after he saw that I had applied to EB-1 visa before and start questioning everything.

I was not sure what I did wrong. I did my best to answer, but I got too nervous. He asked me for my whole application file (100 pages, and I had it with me) so I gave him. 

And I received 221(G) and was told to wait for their call/email.

I've talked to my lawyers afterwards and I was told the history of me applying EB-1 and got refusal should not be a problem since O-1visa is dual intent allowed non-immigrant visa.

So we figured we wait for administrative processing to be completed.

It was my fault that I did not know a thing I got approved from USCIS is just a petition and issuing is up to US state department.

After a week, they asked for some documents and I sent those.

I waited for two months and received a call which was an another interview. At the end of interview, I was asked to send more documents.

And I figured that they are now focused on my application, not just my visa history.

And now, it has been 100 days since the first interview and I received the letter saying they have reason to believe that I am ineligible for the visa and they sent back to USCIS for review and possible revocation.

So I have looked up some articles/lawyer's blogs and found ,after consul sent the application back to USCIS,  it could take several months to complete the review.

So while all this waiting.. because I wasn't aware of possibility of this to happen... I still have my car leased, apartment leased, insurances and everything/ my life left in US. I have been still paying all the stuff... I had no idea this would take this long.

I spent all my saving and had to borrow money to pay rent and stuff in US. I couldnt really find part time job here because I didnt know when I will be able to go back.

So you can probably believe when I say that I am very exhausted and done with this whole visa things. I have waited almost two and half year...

I am thinking about withdrawing my application. I didn't lie a thing nor did anything wrong in past while I was living in USA. I rather just move on with my life.

So my questions are,

1. Am I allowed to visit back to US at this time? if not, after I withdraw my application, can I go back right away? so I can pack my stuff and sell my car so I can move back to Korea.

2. Is it a bad idea to withdraw my visa application now? will it look bad as if I lied on application? because I really did not lie anything.

i have asked the first question to Embassy few times, but they gave me answer is not really related to my answer.

They just said I should just look at the refusal notice (which I can't do because my visa is technically not refused yet).

Maybe I didn't make sense on emails.

I am still talking to my lawyers... but I feel like I cant trust them anymore.

If you guys have any advice, i would very much appreciate it.