ms_jinga_lala

Thank you! It sounds like we would need the stamp. I honestly can't think of the form number right now but it's the only form used to make corrections and I do think it was the I-90 that we sent in. It's been a while and with everything going on I can't find the copies we kept of what we sent them. We do have the NOA because I made sure that was kept close since it's all he had to prove he had a file with USCIS right now. I'm a bit scattered with papers at the moment. So, we'll try to get the stamp then.

I forgot to include that hubby has the 10 year green card. There are no conditions on his status.

My husband got here and got the dreaded FNU on his green card. I tried to encourage him that this wasn't serious enough to turn the card back in and wait for 6 months for them to maybe fix it. They haven't been too forthcoming in whether or not they will and keep trying to act like it's our fault. (Of course you all know that no one would ever list someones first name as FNU and I can't fathom how USCIS would let an immigrant with no first name enter the system or how someone took his full name and put it in as his last name and then deleted his first name...you get my point). He got the I-797 NOA saying they received it.

Now that's all he's got for all the hardship we suffered during our IR-1 process. He needs to go home for urgent family matters but I can't find anything online indicating if he can travel with just that notice and his passport. What kind of problems will he have exiting the country? Could his not being here cause problems when it comes time for the green card to come back to us? Have any of you or your family members traveled under these circumstances?

FYI:
He arrived in the US in March 2013

They've had his green card since August and have a projected timeframe of March being when they will have time to review it provided we don't shut down again.

He has his drivers license from the state as an alternate ID

I am asking this on behalf of someone else. I'm asking for a fellow expat (not a close friend, just an acquaintance) who is unable to create their own account at this time.

Background:

CR-1 filed via USCIS and case forwarded to NVC

I-864 filed and paid by USC and co-sponsor

Couple both live in India

USC had an unexpected and critical family situation

The couple did not use a lawyer for filing the papers

So since this case could be forwarded to the embassy any day now I'm curious how the USC leaving India could affect it. The critical situation was a death in their immediate family where the USC is the executor of the estate. The USC is intending to fly back ASAP and cannot guarantee the issues will be settled in time to be back for the interview. (We're estimating the interview will be scheduled with the embassy in about 6 weeks due to how long they've been at NVC already.)

The paperwork indicates the USC lives in India currently, how is it going to affect their case when/if they are not at the interview? Is there any paperwork that must be filed (including change of address). Will the USC absence at the interview adversely affect their case? Is there anything else they should know that may help them at this point in regards to the visa process (in relation to this situation)?

Matt & Rocio, yes I went to the embassy in Delhi and attempted to file the paperwork. I didn't even get past the counter. The Indian woman there took my marriage photos and refused to accept the papers because we got married here. That's a very ####### reason and I know it's not valid for not accepting the papers but there was nothing we could do. I protested and questioned her to try to catch her off guard and get to speak to a CO but it didn't happen. She finally ended my questions by telling me how none of the official embassy information mattered. She could "give me an answer for anything that the policy said" to contradict it. Then she again told me to mail my papers to the US and walked away from the window. There was nothing I could do.

I didn't know it would expedite my case. I thought that only worked for DCF which the embassy rejected. The woman looked through my papers, said everything was perfect but she wasn't accepting it because I got married here. It didn't seem to matter I lived here for a year after marriage, had the power bills and such to prove it. It's just craziness.

So I finally got all my paperwork sent off. I went over everything twice to make sure nothing was missing. I mailed my papers in to the Chicago Lockbox since the embassy refused to accept them for DCF. My papers were forwarded to the California Service Center which did not give me hope for a timely process to begin with. They've already managed to screw up my case twice.

First, they spelled my name wrong when they entered us in the computer. I'm guessing someone got in a hurry and I called to get it fixed. But they can't fix it because I have a foreign address and not a US based address. Now I know why DCF exists. Obviously the US centers aren't set up to service everyone.

The immigration officer was extremely rude when I called them and she hung up on me after saying her spiel about she put in a request and I should hear back in a week. I never got to say a word after providing her my name and case information. Usually the immigration officers are not rude, don't talk over me, etc but this one needed customer service training for sure.

Whoever logged our information in the computer also sent documents back. Today I finally got my RFE in the mail and they were requesting the exact same documents they sent back to us. I really want to include a nasty note in the letter when sending these back but I know better than to do that.

I think it is better safe than sorry so you should write out the full names. It eliminates any confusion during the investigative phase as to who exactly your husband is. Just as an example, I'm in North India and there are 3 people within a 1 block radius with the same name as my husband. His dad has the same first initial as one of the other's father as well. Should an investigator come through here verifying our affidavits we would absolutely want to be certain they got the right Rohit. (In North India they attach their father's name to everything they do so it's important that only his information be found and not someone else who could ruin things for us or confuse an already skeptical immigration official.)

When we applied at the New Delhi embassy for my husband he was only asked two questions. Why did he want to go to the US and how much money did he make. Once he answered the money question they denied him. They didn't ask for our proof of real estate holdings or how much was in our bank account. I'm in a group with about 300 gori's and the ones who went through the tourist visa process said it took 2-3 tries to get it. BUT, that is in the situation of a mixed marriage. From all of their experiences and my own I gather they're looking mostly for monetary assets primarily.

The birth certification from the embassy is sufficient to prove he's a citizen. They only require one form of proof but I agree with the others, it will look a lot better and remove any potential doubts or suspicions if he gets his US passport replaced before the interview.

Then that's where I got confused. I sent all of his paperwork with mine. Thanks so much for your help.

Any thoughts on them sending back my birth certificate and divorce papers? USCIS specifically said I had to have those in my package. Should I have him send them back to USCIS?

I'm confused. I just prepared my CR-1 package last month and sent it in and included all the same documents, etc. from my co-sponsor. USCIS rejected my co-sponsor and sent him my birth certificate and divorce papers back yet they approved my petition. They rejected it because they said the check wasn't in the envelope to pay for it. That leads me to ask if the co-sponsor has to pay the fee as well? So that means our immigration process would cost double?

Also, is it going to cause me further trouble when they don't have my documents (the ones they sent back to him)? I can pay the fee if I have to but, searching here and at USCIS I don't see anywhere that says the co-sponsor has to pay a separate fee. Which makes me also wonder if I even needed to include him at this time. Does the co-sponsor need to be included in the I-130 filing or only for the affidavit of support?

Thanks so much! I knew there was some difference but wasn't sure how it worked. I'll go check out that thread now as well.

The USCIS just assigned me a case number for my CR-1 visa. If my calculations are right, by the time I get an interview around next January or later I will have been married 2 years. Does the CR-1 automatically convert to an IR-1? Or is that not important at all because the visas are pretty much the same?

I'm quite confident my chances are good because I've lived in India (by then for 2 years) and someone with almost identical circumstances (meeting, dating, her background and her husbands background match ours) just went through the same embassy and got their visa. I know that may seem over confident but after 2 years of living with this family I'm certain they can't say this is a fake relationship. No one is this desperate for money lol.

can you send an email to chief consular of that embassy and tell them about your experience? Are you in new delhi? if that don't work try senator or congress. Just from what you have posted it would seem you were well within your rights to file there but i am not fully aware of requirements there most places residency is 6 months.

Overstay your visa? seems little crazy but most places once you become spouse then resident your no longer a tourist wow i would report this one

I'm going to write the Ambassador to the embassy and my senator. I already have the form to file a congressional inquiry because I've had to file complaints against this embassy before. They are well known for being a very crappy embassy. I may even write President Obama since it's coming up on an election year. Anyone I can find to write to, I will write to. It's ridiculous for them to act this way, regardless of their training.

How long have you lived in india? Do you have a residency stamp in your passport?

I have only been here 9 months but I do have the stamp in my passport, I have the residency permit and the other paper they give you (can't think of the name right now). I had no intention of going back to the US so I sold off everything there and moved here. The embassy page doesn't specify how long you have to live here before you qualify, they only say you have to have the residency permit, which I got early on. I also converted my visa after my marriage. The lady at the embassy told me that "Everyone does that so they can overstay their visa." I don't believe her. I know many ppl who went home for the 2 months and then came back.

So we went to the embassy to file our papers last week. The Indian lady behind the counter asked for my form I-130 and my marriage photos. She asked a few questions about how many trips we made to visit each other before we married, when I arrived here in India and then said she would be right back. She came back and said that we didn't qualify for DCF because I couldn't prove residency. (She hadn't asked me a single thing about living here or for proof at this point.) I let her know I had my residence permit and power bills and other proof I had set up life here months ago. She again stated that I had only come here to get married and proceeded to tell me how to file by mail to the US. I asked her what else we needed to prove residency since I already had met every requirement in the embassy's official information and she told me that information didn't matter and she could give me an answer to counteract anything the official information said. She had a mean look on her face and was basically telling me to go to hell and get lost. We were not rude to her in any way. She never answered what we were missing but she did tell me that our paperwork was perfect. I just feel it was extremely unprofessional for her (an admin clerk) to tell me that the official information didn't matter because she didn't want to be bothered. She was upset when I showed her printouts of the embassy's requirements for DCF because she knew I was right. We left peacefully but I wonder if we can try again for DCF later or it's just not worth my time to be bothered with the US. After all, this is twice the embassy has come up with ####### and the behavior of employees there is just ridiculous.

Oh, okay. I knew about that but never saw the initials for it before now. Thanks!

Yachachiq12, what is ROC?

Wow, and now I read the link and they say an offer letter won't count but I know I've read on here that others have had CO's accept their offer letters as proving income. Ugh...guess I'm glad I had a back up plan in place.

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I am using assets to help qualify. I should have mentioned that but didn't think about it and figured most of you already knew about the income guidelines. I'm just under $2000 short for the year (and was surprised how much poverty guidelines went up from 2010 to 2011!). I'm applying for jobs already and will have no problem meeting income guidelines if I can get a job but I'm not taking chances on that and I am getting everything in order now.

I could get bank records for my US accounts online, however my husband is not yet on those because we haven't been to the states to add him. So it's not a joint asset and I feel like it may look odd to have my money spread out over all these banks and him not be included. (Maybe I'm over thinking that but I worry that way.) We have a joint account here and can show that we have been actively mingling our money for the entire marriage. I can't do that with my US accounts. So I do need to move the money. That has turned out to be a complicated process because of the financial regulations of both of the banks. (As in I can only move so much on a given day/week and it takes forever to clear, etc.)

Thanks for the link Anh Map. It's very helpful. Actually, it's immensely helpful. It clears up a lot of things I thought I already knew.

I do have domicile in the US and I'm hoping that applying for the jobs (praying for an offer letter) will show I'm serious enough about restarting a life in the US. I know it says "find employment" but given the current job market that isn't something that happens fast. As far as proving ties, I have that more than well covered also considering I kept my US job while coming here to stay. I've just been working through the internet.

When it comes to DCF I know there are some rules that are not the same as with filing in the US. (For a CR-1 visa.) I'm not able to find any clear information on the New Delhi embassy website that says the income has to meet 125% of the poverty guidelines and I'm confused. I need to know before I file because I have to transfer money from my US accounts to my Indian accounts. Otherwise I can't get the needed bank statements proving I have the money since I'm not able to visit my US banks. I didn't make enough to meet 125% of the guidelines but I am over the 100% guideline. This is the only paragraph I've been able to find in relation to filing the I-130 via DCF:

"If the sponsor has not filed a tax return, he must provide a sworn statement explaining why he did not file a return. If the sponsor is not working or has earned income less than the U.S. poverty guidelines, a credible joint sponsor (normally a close relative) is required. "

(Link to the page)

Does that mean 100% is all we need to meet? I'm only 2 weeks from filing the I-130 so that only gives me a couple of months to get the money transferred and it could take me several weeks to move the money. I don't want to cut it too close.

I understand that the poverty guidelines themself say that because I'm not military I need the 125% but I want to be very clear on what is expected from me.

Thanks in advance!

I know it will come up. Hubby is concerned that the CO put in some kinds of damaging notes that may hurt us. I can't say one way or the other because I know the CO had to be taken out of the room and then was brought back but the second CO sat in the booth with him to ensure his behavior didn't continue. However, that gave him the opportunity to put in whatever notes he wanted. The only consolation I have is the apology letter that we obtained by getting our senator involved. I'm sure that stuff will be in there too and now hubby worries it will all hurt us when we didn't do anything wrong. By their own admission (in the letter and from the second CO removing him from the room and then watching him for the remainder of the interview) they were in the wrong. I guess we just have to pray that it doesn't piss of the next CO. Hopefully the first jackass has been fired by now.

Oh, and the official reason for denial (as listed in our letters) was because of expiry. I still have both letters, one from the CO and one from USCIS stating this.

Now that I'm thinking on these things I want to ask. Is it considered immigration fraud if we supply affidavits about our relationship instead of the marriage license?

We have the license but I know it is wrong. So I'm wondering if we can choose the option (even though it's not supposed to be a first choice option) to supply affidavits in place of the document. I can assure the affidavits are accurate and I can even type them up to say all the same things as the original marriage certificate minus the errors and have them notarized by a local lawyer. That would solve the bribe problem the fight with the jackass at the courthouse and the fear of submitting the original license knowing it's inaccurate. (Yes, I do have some fear of the immigration officials too even though I'm the citizen lol. I do tend to go overboard on accuracy because I don't want to get screwed on a technicality.)

Hubby and I filed for a visa (K-1 since we weren't married at the time) in 2009. The visa was denied and we did not attempt again and didn't plan on it at the time. We didn't request our files back, though hubby did get his things back that he had submitted in India. Now we are going to file as a married couple (we are filing DCF in Delhi) and he's concerned about them looking into our old immigration case.

Now, FYI, we were denied after the CO flipped out on my husband and had to be removed from the room by another CO. We did not have the money for a legal battle though a lawyer was consulted and Senators were involved. On paper the embassy maintained they had not denied us and only sent the visa back for re-validation. USCIS subsequently closed the case in 2010 because it had been open too long. I still have all of the official letters to prove all of this should they be needed.

But after his experience hubby is a little scared of the interview. He's also talked to others (here in his city) that had horrific experiences at the Delhi embassy as well. He thinks they are going to pull up the case, see that a lawyer and Senators were involved and then they are going to give him a hard time again. It was a traumatic experience for him. So my question is:

How much information does USCIS keep on old cases? I know they have a record of the case and it has all our identifying information on there but does anyone know what kind of details they would have kept? How long do they keep it? Has anyone else had a past visa denial come up when they filed a second attempt?

Current visa being considered - CR-1

We have not filed yet

We do meet all the requirements for DCF and have most of our paperwork ready