Rick/Clara

The Embassy called Veronica today, and they told her to come in and pick up her Visa!!!!! My wife and I were so happy, we were crying, this has been a terrible experience, even though the ending worked out. I want to hold my tongue as she does not have the Visa in hand yet, but all looks so much better today.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, I will keep everyone posted, and I am willing to throw in my 2 cents if someone as a similar situation

God Bless

Rick

Sorry this has happened to your family

You had to be married to her mom before her 18th birthday. That is why she was denied.

Respectfully speaking, I was approved with a K1 Visa, and stepchild laws do not apply. if they did then they would have to change the age for a K2 Visa to 18 or less, and it is clearly 21 or less, everywhere you look.

Thank You,

Rick

Thanks to all of you for your help, I have contacted my congressman and they have started a congressional inquiry, but I am worried because I have not heard anything for several weeks, and life here is so difficult on us without Veronica here. I did find through google, a website for "Office of Inspector Generals" and in this site they had a section for people having problems with consulate's in Embassy's aboad, so I wrote a letter to them and I will call them immediately Monday!

I have to fix this problem, I just don't understand the withholding of Veronica's Visa, "Is our Country full?" "Did we all not come here from immigrant parents/grandparents at some point?"

I just wish they would follow their own rules, and at least explain why she does not have the Visa.

BTW my attorneys are doing a good job they got me the information that proved our position, however, they are waiting to see if the congressional inquiry has any results, because they said the Embassy's will listen to the inquiry before they will listen to an attorney.

If anyone wants to see this information I can post it, but we even gave the Embassy a memorandom from the Director's to the consulate's that basically tells the consulate's to stop making this same mistake and applying stepchild rules to a K1, and when we showed them that, they just said they had made up new laws last month, so she can't get the Visa.

Maybe I try to get on DR. PHIL or OPERA or something....I don't know but we need many people outraged! NOt just for my case but for all of us that have been violated.

Thanks again.

Rick

This is so horrible! I have been on these boards for two and a half years because of my own (K-1) visa rejected by an incompenetent CO for a flimsy "reason" and have seen it happen again and again. The first thing to do is relax and realize that you are completely helpless. Okay, now, keep calling the Embassy and talking to whomever will talk to you. This probably won't work but you never know. Do try to demand a 221g which is a letter explaining the refusal. I would also talk to my lawyer about reapplying. You may dread the idea thinking about the long wait but you also don't want to waste time hoping for some thing that just isn't going to happen with this petition. When you do reapply you can spell out what happened in detail in the application and when/if it is approved by the USCIS, hopefully the consulate will have a really hard time denying a petition that has been approved twice by the USCIS. You also don't want your stepdaughter to turn 21 before this nightmare ends!

Most of all, take care of your new wife and daughters. I can't imagine the pain they are feeling being seperated from their daughter and sister.

Best of luck!!!

Thank you, I had not thought about reaplpying, that is a good idea, I also wrote a letter to the Inspector General, they have a hotline for these issues, maybe they can help, but I don't have a choice I cannot give up, because I hear the sadness in my home everyday, especially from Veronica living alone in Bogota, and I promised her, I will get her here, I will not stop trying. Thank you again for all of your thoughts.

Rick

I need help.

A little over one month ago, I stood in line in the Embassy in Bogota Colombia, so happily waiting to get the 4 visa's I was sure we were going to get. One for my wife Clara, and 3 her daughters, Natalia 6, Luisa 14, and Veronica 19, all of course under the magic age of 21 so they could attach as K2's to my then fiance's K1. I had the plane tickets in hand to take my new family (Wife and her 3 daughters) to the USA. BTW, I have 3 children too. We were going to be the Brady Bunch!

Why would they not give us the Visa's? I had met every qualification, filled out the paperwork perfectly, hired good attorney's to check it all over, and best of all, it was already approved here in the USA at the CSC. I had not lied, she had not lied. I had plenty of proof of the relationship and good support, everything was going perfectly. Clara was brilliant in her abilities to get all the necessary documents together on her end, God Love her, she was amazing, it was going to be the happiest day of our lives!

We were at the final window, and we were so excited, they had already treated us like we were dirt, believing Clara was a liar with almost everything she said, but what the heck, that part was over now, and I had read enough on this site so I was expecting that, and who cares, we get the Visa's and we are out of there....Right?

Then,

The lady, (BTW, I never saw a man in any of the windows, all women.) started talking to Clara in Spanish, within seconds I saw her face turn so sad. The lady had said “I am sorry, I have good news and bad news, the good news is we are going to give you three Visa's, unfortunately the bad news is, we cannot give you Veronica's Visa, as she is too old, she is over the age of 18.” I told the lady, she was wrong, the age for a K2 Visa is under 21, she said “Yes but your case is different, you needed to have been married to your fiance and have already established a stepchild relationship prior to Veronica turning 18 years old” I said “What?” She said “Yes you would have to prove that you were married and have established a stepchild relationship prior to Veronica's 18th birthday”

I started to get angry but remained calm, I said “We are not applying for a K4 Visa? You mean to tell me that there are other cases where the people filed for a K1 Fiance Visa, but they were already married?” I knew she did not know what she was talking about, because obviously, your not going to file for a K1 if you are already married. I argued with her for about 15 minutes, she would not give in still sticking to her ridiculous and actually impossible position that we had to have already been married before filing for the K1 Visa.

Clara and I were destroyed, we were both sobbing so hard with everybody looking at us wondering what had happened. I now see why these consulate's work behind thick securtity glass, because I wanted to strangle this lady who had destroyed our life, and did it with such ease. Then, we had to go and tell Veronica she was not going with us to the US, all of us were crying. We had already made plans for Veronica to work at the University near our home as a Teaching assistant in the Spanish department, and finish her education in the meantime.

Later, when we went back to pick up the Visa's I argued further with the same lady, and showed her the actual laws given to us by our attorney's back home, (<sy@myimmigrationlawyer.net>) who have been great BTW, these laws proved our position but the lady did not care.

We immediately purchased some furniture for Veronica so she could set up a temporary apartment in Bogota, as I don't know how long this is going to take to get her here. I spoke with Senator Feingold's office and they have started a congressional inquiry on this matter, about 3 weeks ago, Veronica went back to the embassy for another interview, as the embassy had left the case still open as it is today, and we were sure they were going to give her the Visa then, but they denied her again. This time she handed them the paper work, we had received from our attorney's after they had investigated this further, and part of that paper work was an memorandum from the director's to the consulate's which stated that they are NOT to apply the stepdaughter rules to the K1 visa process, and that all children under the age of 21 that are unmarried, and living with the K1 are eligible for the Visa. This still did not change the consulate's decision, but they were boxed into a corner because they could no longer argue there position given the information in front of them, so when Veronica asked why they were denying her the Visa? They said, “Ah, ah , um, ah, there are new laws that went into effect last month, and so we cannot give you the Visa” She said show me the laws, and they did not.

I spoke with many attorney's here and none of them are aware of new laws!

Today, when Clara called the embassy, for our weekly call between 2 and 4 pm on Wednesday's, the lady told Clara an amazing thing, she said “Listen, your case is still open here, but remember, they can do what they want, if they decide not to give Veronica the Visa then she does not get the Visa, they don't have to have a reason, they can do what they want, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

This is where the case sits now, they have so far, denied the Visa to my stepdaughter because they felt like it and for no other reason. BTW law also says they are required to give us a letter stating the reason (s) for denial. We have received nothing.

I need help!!! What can we do?

Rick

Seems like a few feb. filers have been approved as per the I-130 thread....

Are there any more of you out here?

please give us an update...i'm sure it will give people something to look forward to if they have filed around the same time.

thanks

My fiance and I were approved on May 16th, 2007!!! Wow...were we happy! Filed it on Feb 21st, 2007. 86 days! Csc[/center Now we are hoping she can be here in 1 to 2 months. The most beautiful woman in the world and her 3 kids....I have 3 kids too....is coming to the USA to be with me forever! This is an amazing feeling.

My Fiance, is always telling me..."My love, we must enjoy these days apart, because someday we will look back on them with memories of the anticipation of being together forever" She is right, it is kinda like waiting for Christmas when you are 6 years old. I never thought I could have those feelings again....It is wonderful!

Good Luck to all!!

Rick