Adzy

My fiancee moved here last year. We got married within 90 days and I applied for her green card in August 2012. She got the fingerprinting done in September 2012. Since then there has been no change in the status. It still show "Acceptance". We have repeatedly call USCIS, but no updates. All they can say is that its still processing.

Can anyone please advise me on what I can do here? I have already filed an appeal with USCIS and they have replied with a letter saying that its "processing".

Time to contact a lawyer.. my understanding is that this case should have been solved within 6 months.

Thanks in advance.

Mohsin - Thank you very much for your guidance. I called them and they told me that the visa is issued and just wait for the passport now.

I appreciate everyone's help in 2 days of stress

the best way is to know if your fiancee has been approved since you are saying she was told she was approved call Department of state

here is the number +1.202.663.1225 Dial 1 and then 0 u will be directed to the Visa officer you can give him or her the case number

and she will check the status if your fiancee has been approved or under administrative Processing give it a try

Cool. Thanks will call them first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the reply guys. No 221g; the only thing that concerns me is that she was not told that you are approved and wait x number of days to get your visa.

In Pak, if there is any wait, thats mean " AP ", like they have to run certain background checks.

That's interesting, thought they didn't do AP for females. Aren't they support to inform you if they actually do AP?

My fiancee was interviewed yesterday and according to her everything went fine and she answered all questions. The interviewer was pleasant as well.

At the end of the interview, the interviewer told her that everything looks good and now you just have to wait.

Does anyone know what it really means? or how long it takes to get visa after interview? I am hoping that this doesn't mean Admin processing.

I'll appreciate any help.

You're still confusing USCIS and the Consulate. When the fiancee visa is denied, USCIS may well reaffirm the petition and send it back to Islamabad. It's the Consulates carrying out this "no fiancee visa when there's a Nikah, not USCIS. These are separate agencies that have had ongoing power struggles for decades. USCIS doesn't issue visas.

Good point. Ok no more confusions for me. Another trip to Pakistan .. phew

Some additional reading for anyone interested.

Foreign Legal Polygamous marriage?

What USCIS Field Manual Says

Matter of H.

According to what you are saying I should be able to apply for K1 just fine. If the marriage is not recognized than there i am not "too married". By the way i love the term used "too married".

The fiancee visa is less likely to succeed but with the spouse visa you risk additional time and expense. The question I would ask myself is, what would I do if the fiancee visa is denied? If the answer is go there, have a civil marriage and start over, then you have the information you need to make your own decision.

Understood. Thanks for all the info.

There are many data points. Check out the ones who have been denied K1 visas after a Nikah.

I see your point. Both the options are sort of risky i guess. The question is which one is riskier .

Just talked to a friend who applied for his wife on fiancee visa after Nikah. He actually had a whole wedding ceremony in Pakistan. It was pretty recent too, about 3 years ago.

I explained this in detail earlier in the thread. He's too married for a K1 but not married enough for a CR1. A K1 would be denied because of the Nikah. I don't agree necessarily with such a decision. I just know that's the decision they will make and have made many times over. It's a "Catch 22" situation.

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I understand that k1 could be denied because of nikah, but I don't think it would be a problem if I apply for CR1. I knew a few cases where people were married in their country, came to the US and got married again. They were able to bring their spouse here after divorce. Your comments definitely concern me, but i guess i need to get a final opinion from a lawyer.

And yes my wife in Pakistan knew about this situation all along.

Appreciate your help!

Once u got Final Divorce Decree, you could file K1 or CR1. See the plus and minus of that kind of visa here: http://www.visajourn...content/compare

One thing you should remember; if you file for K1, never mention your nikah that u just had.

If you file CR1 then you have to back to Pakistan and perform a registered marriage again. I believe present yourself there is more proper than just on the phone.

Dont get confuse. Just finish your divorce first.

Thanks alot .. thats what i was thinking of doing. My only concern is that they might find out that we had nikah when they do background check on my wife.

Just as a matter of reference to get a divorce in the US in 30 days may be considered magic. Obviously this all depends on what state and county you reside, if it is contested by your current spouse, if there are children involved, the amount of assets and division, etc. Judges in many areas will not even put the prelim on the docket until 30 days after a petition has been filed. Below are 2 State examples.

Michigan: “If there are no children involved, a divorce may be granted in 60 days. When children are involved, a divorce cannot be granted until six months have passed. It should be stressed that these are minimum statutory times. More often than not, doubling that time would be more appropriate, based on the level of contention, the court docket, and many other factors”.

California: "While California has a six-month waiting period for divorces, your case will not necessarily be resolved within six months. The California divorce timeline for simple cases can often be finished in less than six months and complicated cases could take several years to complete. The point of the six-month waiting period is that it’s the earliest point at which the court can restore your status as a single person. You cannot remarry or file taxes separately until the court has granted your request to have your status restored as a single person. Nothing automatically happens in six months".

Divorce is uncontested and there are children involve.

1. The Pakistani Marriage is invalid for immigration purposes.

You can not use the date of marriage for immigration purposes.

You can not legally marry your wife under us law (that you are subject to) until your current marriage is dissolved.

The USCIS will not recognize your marriage in Pakistan because even if you argue that it is legal at the time that it was conducted in Pakistan, it directly contradicts US public policy and it will not be recognized.

2. The Pakistani marriage is a void marriage to the USCIS.

3. The US doesnt recognize unconsummated proxy marriages. There was a law specially created for the japanese widow of a fallen soldier but this law is specific and wont apply to you.

You can marry her by proxy and file for a K1 visa. This is acceptable.

4. As the subsequent marriage is void then you will have to remarry her again. How that is done in Pakistan with the legal documents that you already have is up to the Pakistani process.

That leads me to believe that i can easily file for K1 after my divorce as i had planned. If the marriage is not recognized, then there shouldn't be any problem.

I appreciate all the replies regarding my post. Things are still a little confusing because of some contradicting statements.

I guess my best bet is to have civil marriage or nikah again and file for spousal visa after that. Do I have to be present in Pakistan for that or will US recognize over phone marriage?

Thanks

They actually got nikah registered as well.

Religous only

Yes, that's the go back to Pakistan and have a civil marriage part of my recommendation. Not sure you got the impact of what I meant though. You did something that would be illegal in the USA, in that you got married to two women at the same time. It's a crime called Bigamy. Whether and when you had a Nikah is still likely to be asked in the interview, with unpredictable consequences.

Does US recognize nikah as marriage? Thought a person had to be legally married here.

Yes, that's the go back to Pakistan and have a civil marriage part of my recommendation. Not sure you got the impact of what I meant though. You did something that would be illegal in the USA, in that you got married to two women at the same time. It's a crime called Bigamy. Whether and when you had a Nikah is still likely to be asked in the interview, with unpredictable consequences.

Thanks .. yes have to figure something out for that. Attorney can't help in any way, can they?

Fast and loose with the truth will doom you with US Immigration. First, having an actual full fledged qualified Nikah, means you are married. Having one while still married to somebody else opens a whole other can of worms. If you file a petition now, I would expect the Consulate to consider you a liar and your relationship a lie as well, this whether you were to now petition for fiancee OR spouse. You MIGHT manage to succeed with a spouse visa if you get divorced, then go back to Pakistan for a civil marriage.

A fiancee visa is out of the question entirely at this time. You aren't free to marry.

I am actually planning to file petition after divorce, which will be finalized in roughly a month. I think i kinda screwed myself by having nikah before that, but i could use court marriage document (which will be later date) instead of nikah document, correct?

Yes, it will be a problem but the whole suggestion was wrong. You can't file for the same person as spouse and fiancee at the same time. The poster was referring to the obsolete K3 process where the I-130 and I-129F are both filed for a spouse. Read my post for your viable options.

never mind

While K1 visa is faster it's not guranteed, they may deny it too. I have seen many cases where they denied K1 visa, you have to show them convinceable, strong evidences that she is your fiancee and you will mary within 3 months. And to answer your question No, they don't have way to find out that you are already married to her, they don't go after Nikah registrar and verify that who's already married or not. They will only see how many times you married in the U.S.A and how many spouses you have already sponsored (that you just not marrying to evade the immiration law) and if you have already divorced your first or not, they don't allow polygamy , so you must divorce your first wife before you can marry again.

Depending on your case the worst case scenario can be they will send their agents to your and your fiance's house to verify your relationships (if they suspect something).

What you can do is file for your spouse visa (IR-1/CR-1) and at the same time file K1 (you can do it, it's allowed) so sometime K1 is processed faster than CR-1. if she came on K-1 , Further CR-1 processing will be done here in the U.S.A. hope that helps, best of luck .

Thanks. But the weeding date will be a problem, correct? nikah document has a date of Dec 2010. Divorce will be finalized in March 2011.

lieing is never advisable.... if you are married u need to represent it correctly.

Issue is that they might say that you were married in US when you got married in Pakistan.

are u US Citizen or Green card holder?

US Citizen