Rose711

If you are meeting again in person, can you do another wedding  and get a certificate of your marriage? 
 
I’m not an expert. My best advice is to say you found out the proxy marriage isn’t valid in the US so you did another ceremony. I’m not sure why you didn’t do that the first time.
 
i don’t know if your marriage certificate in Pakistan will hurt your case if it’s not a legal marriage in the US. You are better off not relying on that proxy marriage and your Pakistan certificate as evidence of your marriage. 

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

Highly uncommon for a 19-year old Tunisian man to marry a woman who is not just older by many years, but also a divorcee with children. 
And I'm guessing her kids are not much younger than you...or perhaps even older than you. 
 
Step-parenting might be awkward, to say the least, going forward.  Are the children attending the wedding?  Have you spoken to them frequently online/FaceTime?  Those are factors as well the CO will consider.
 
 
 

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

This would be he best way to go, especially as you will be providing the finances.

Best idea I can think of is for her to move to Tunisia to live with you there for a few years before petitioning you to come to the US.

You will have more than an uphill battle. Everything about your relationship looks like fraud.  Marrying on the first visit makes it worse.

Looks like the Brazilian high school look-a-like hit the jackpot.  "Mr mid-life crisis" dropped the pre-nup idea.  Lets see how the ex reacts to that.    

Stop listening to the Misinformation Line. The people answering that line aren’t even federal employees. They don’t work for USCIS. It’s outsourced.
Re-file ASAP and this time include the I-864 and its supporting documents.

I don’t know where you learned that biochemists and microbiologists have little lab experience in the US. I can’t speak for every university but it is typical for every biology, chemistry and physics class - outside of purely theoretical high level classes- to have a lab every week.
The lab course is usually registered separately as an additional  1 credit class to the main course. Maybe that is where the confusion arises? Many grads do required senior projects that involve independent lab work as well.
 
i have no idea how your degree will
translate. As for credentials, you would mostly be looking at getting an advanced degree, though that isn’t something you should pursue until
you know the job market.
 

Thats a fair point. The difference between the two was that I was thinking more that things like the sponsorship pertain to the eligibility of someone receiving a visa and therefore could be overcome at the embassy stage. Where as the residency requirement pertains to the eligibility of the petitioner and therefore lack of eligibility to petition would result in a denial/return. Just my line of thinking but very well could be wrong

Disagree, imo it’s not really different to something like keeping a case on AP if current financial sponsorship is insufficient but allowing the applicants to find a joint sponsor to fix it. And that happens often.

That doesn't work at all. A Congress person, or anybody else for that matter, can not have any influence over a CO's decision. 
 
When the mother accepted her green card, she agreed to the physical requirements of being in the US, it doesn't matter what her situation with her son was. If she didn't want to leave her son behind and live in another country, then she should've have become a permanent resident of the US. People need to understand that they can't have it both ways.

The consular officer saying they are going to keep the case open until the mother spends enough time sounds reallllllly suspicious. 
 
Sometimes the CO needs extra documents or such to make a decision and the beneficiary is given a chance to provide them. But it’s a decision that based on the facts as they have them, not what things may change in the future. If you aren’t qualified the visa is denied or returned to uscis. Something doesn’t pass the smell test. 

Yes. But you need to clarify that you received an RFE and had to provide a document from the government proving that the marriage wasn't official. This is a very important point that should be stated. Without that document, you can't say for certain that you would have gotten approved.
 
So it is true that a religious ceremony does not equate to an automatic denial, but please do not disregard the added effort you had to go through. And take note that not every country has that document from their government like the one you provided.

Carrying $16000 cash in any currency is highly suspicious in almost any context (deeply eccentric, at best), let alone in a car quietly sneaking across the US border in the middle of the night (!), containing multiple adults who have been denied US visas (!!), and who are subsequently denied reentry to Canada (!!!).
 
[None of which was thought to be terribly relevant by the first WP "journalist". Propaganda, indeed!]
 
Their being detained is the system working completely and perfectly as designed. You can quibble about the conditions in the detention centers, but there is much more than reasonable probable cause here to suspect attempted illegal immigration, and detaining them pending deportation to the UK was absolutely the correct thing to do.

Consulates are not open 24/7 - and it's not an emergency. They have to be notified, but they can't "save" them, simply provide assistance in finding a lawyer and communicating with their family, if needed. 

Apparently it was late at night. No one’s life was at risk so there was no one to take the call, it was probably a “leave a message” scenario.
 
My next question is about the money. Do we know what currency it was? I’ve seen reports of $16,000 but was that in US dollars? If they had American money with them then it’s very suspicious. Why would they need that if they truly had no intention of setting foot in the USA? 

Have there been any studies done to show the burden of healthcare from legal immigrants on the US taxpayer? I haven’t seen the numbers anywhere.