Richard-Y-Abigail

My wife became sick after we arrived in the USA. She was hospitalized for 7 weeks. We almost did not get married on time. Afterwards, we just did not have the money that it took to adjust her status, as well as our children's status. We finally did so, but after two years had passed. When we had our interview for the Resident Card, the interviewer said that she would just issue a 10-Year card, because we had been married for the pre-requisite 2 years.

Since no one has answered you yet, let me begin by saying that it is not necessary to post your question twice.

Your question shows that you may need to study up on the regulations regarding the Consular Report of Birth Abroad. Your child was born in Mexico, and you were not married to the mother. In order for the American Consulate to issue you a CRBA, you and your fiance will need to have a DNA blood test performed. The process is troubling because you will need to go to a blood lab designated by the United States government. There they will take your blood, and then they will send the results to the American Consulate where you are applying for the CRBA. Then, your fiance and child will be accompanied by an official of the consulate to a blood lab near the consulate, and they too will need to give a sample of DNA. These results will be matched and if you are found to be the real parent, then they will issue the CRBA. You will need to bring other information with you. You must provide proof of residence in the United States

for a period of 5 years.

When you applied for the K-1, did you apply for a K-2 visa for your child, and have you applied for a Mexican passport? Sometimes, a child not yet recognized as having dual citizenship, in your case, your baby is a Mexican citizen, sometimes can obtain a K-2 visa. Most people will tell you that it is against the law, and indeed it is written that American citizens cannot have an American visa. The trick is to follow the directions to the letter on all the forms. There are places to list your children.

My memory is bad, but I do seem to recall that I might have needed to fill out a OP-7 form through the Mexican passport office, or from the Mexican Consulate here in the US. Don't quote me on that.

Getting back to the CRBA, it is entirely possible to obtain an American Passport without having the CRBA. You will need to read the requirements for children born abroad. If you are successful in bringing your baby to the United States without getting the CRBA, then the process here becomes quite easy. Once again, look it up. I think that it is a 600 form.

I hope this helps, and congratulations on your coming marriage!

Breath in, Breath out.

WOW!

I find it better to just simply ignore the processing time. Try not to focus on waiting. A watched pot never boils. Focus on something else, and then before you know it, it will all happen so quickly. My wife was anxious the whole time, and as a result, the time waiting, for her, was excruciating, while I went about the business of everyday living, and everything happened so fast.

Cuanto tiempo estuviste en Estados Unidos?

Truly the OP's question has struck a nerve. We all know here that even honest couples have been denied. Perhaps the OP's fiancee' is looking towards the future, and will make a full change in his life. This is a good thing. The OP's journey is her own. We all know that when love finds us, that it is not always what we expected.

Good Luck to you both. We wish you the best. Keep records of all your contacts, and letters, and such. See you when you get here. Congratulations.

Hello, it's me again. I enjoyed reading everyone's responses. Capri, you truly are giving me a run for my money. Thanks. I knew that when I wrote this, that some may agree, and that others would take offence. Anyone that spends any time on VJ knows that many people were duped into believing that their marriage was the real thing. After arriving here in the United States, many Americans have been completely fooled into believing that their marriage was real. No one wants to admit that they were used just to get their GC. Some never come to grips with it, while others just keep investing financially and emotionally, hoping that their marriage can be saved. Many have offered the advice to just move on, cut their losses.

From reading these letters, we have learned that many beneficiaries have been coached as to how they can still get their GC. Many had boyfriends waiting here for them, or others have family waiting for their arrival. Beneficiaries that are committing marriage fraud do an assortment of things to break away from their sham marriage. Women will go to abused women's shelters, and create a false chain of accusations, knowing that with this "evidence" that they can and will be able to get their GC, because, hey, they did not do anything wrong. They were the ones duped into thinking that they entered into their marriage in good faith.

Having said this, and I can add more, but having said this, if an American spouse is the sponsor, he or she is not released of this contract until the beneficiary works 40 Semester hours, lives here 10 years, or becomes an American citizen, or returns to their home country and surrenders their petition. I think that is how it goes. If they accept any means tested benefits, such as food stamps, immigration has the right to collect from the sponsor.

Lastly, others here are of the opinion that no letter, nor reporting to immigration will make a difference. Very few are denied their GC. Like so many have said, sometimes permanant GC's are just issued without a meeting. Sure, we can report them, but frankly speaking I doubt that anything can be done. We live in a country where illegals, whoops, undocumented immigrants cannot even be deported.

I began thinking about this when I read a post from someone that discovered that his wife, just days before the interview, told him that after the interview to remove conditions, that she was leaving. Hence the very small group of people that can use my idea. Now do you get it? And, he had evidence that he could use at the interview.

Since I am not the one committing fraud, and clearly I am not suggesting that if you believe that your spouse is committing fraud that you should go forward and try to lift conditions, I am talking about a very small amount of people who discover during this process that their spouse is going to leave them once they get their GC. I am not talking about other situations. If I was committing the fraud, then you are right. Why would I do that? Please read my post again. I am talking about mitigation. Why stay the victim?

Quote:

(You may even get a stern talking to about why on earth YOU fraudulently filed a joint petition with your spouse claiming to be in a legitimate marriage when you werent)

It would seem that if fraud is not suspected during the Interview stage, and the beneficiary is approved for the Visa, then the responsibility of the intending immigrant is no longer that of immigration. We have no recourse if we discover that we have been used by our "significant other", because for all our evidence, the beneficiary can still obtain their GC, and lie while doing it. We are harmed economically, and we hurt emotionally. It is not a revenge thing when we discover that we have been used to want to stop the beneficiary from getting their GC. It is about what is right.

The way things work, is that we messed up, (we know it, but we do not want to admit it), and then from then on, we are responsible for them financially if we, too, are their sponsor. They get away with deception, and still get their GC. Where is our protection? We can do nothing, but move forward, protect ourselves personally, and blah blah blah.

Supposedly, the whole idea behind the 2 year GC is to see if we committed fraud, and if it is discovered, the intending immigrant is denied their permanant residency.

Well, I have an idea for those who can pull it off. Go to the interview to remove conditions, with the beneficiary. Do not say anything before the interview, and then, once you two are there, reveal everything in person. Tell the IO the truth, and let them wade through this nightmare.

Any comments? There seems to be very little recourse.

Hi, Thank you for telling us about what happened to you. I know that it is a difficult time for you. We wish you the best. The negative thing that I am thinking is that this man took all your information, and at this minute there is another couple using all your paperwork and identification. I am talking about identity theft. Maybe you can find a way to look deeper into this. For sure, if you file again, you will know for sure.

I am so glad that you took the time to ask us here on VJ about getting married, but I would like to point out something that you mentioned. Unless you are members of some other type of Church of Christ, for example "United Church of Christ", I can see no reason biblically why the church would not recognize a marrital union formed in front of a Justice Of The Peace. I attended Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and Rochester college in Rochester, Michigan, both colleges based on and supported by the churches of Christ, and I can think of no example where a marriage with a minister is commanded by God. Nor all my years as a member of the churches of Christ have I heard this either.

Feel good about the advice here, and I am glad that you can move the date of the marriage forward, but I do suggest that you question the person who has advised you that without a religious ceremony, the marriage would not be valid. Like I always say, if it isn't in the book, it isn't so. Good Luck.

Hi,

Our 8 year old had to do Biometrics, also. The photo that they took was the photo that ended up on his Permanant Resident card, as well as one finger print.

Here is the thing about social security numbers, and K-2 children: The SSA will not issue your child a SS# until he or she has their GC. After awhile, we were able to apply for an ITIN#, but we did so at tax time. We live in an area where there are many illegal immigrants, or the more politically correct term, undocumented immigrants, and many parents are using another's SS# in order to enroll their children into school. I told the school that if a new child immigrant has a SS#, and does not yet have residency, then most likely they are not here legally. I told them this, but only after they pressed us for numbers, alluding to the law, that all children, in order to attend school, must have a SS#. Our children, needless to say, did enter the school system without any more problems.

I am reluctant to add to this conversation because we found ourselves almost exactly in your position, and a few people here on VJ have told us that we broke the law. We will, without doubt, be told that we broke the law, again, despite our correspondance with Department of Homeland Security, the USCIS, and most recently, our meeting April 3rd, 2012, where our son was present during the green card interview. The IO even gave us advice on how we could obtain our youngest son's citizenship without returning to Mexico.

Our youngest son was born in Mexico. I am the US citizen and my wife is from Mexico. Since we were not married when he was born, we were/are required to establish not only that I have lived in the United States for the required time, but we were told that we would need to have blood drawn from the three of us, to prove that we share the same DNA. This would have been the completion of the CRBA.

We received the K-1 and K-2 visas before we could complete the CRBA process. We declared his birth to an American citizen, (me), I think on the DS-156, and we declared it to the IO at the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez, in Chihuahua, Mexico. Before the interview at the consulate, we obtained a Mexican passport, and the American consulate in Juarez issued him a K-2 derivative Visa. We crossed the border without fanfare.

As to the Green Card interview, his Visa was there with their paperwork, and the IO asked us why we were not applying for him to have a green card. We explained to them that since he is an American citizen, that it would be illegal for us, or for them to issue him a green card. It was a non-issue. They told us that there is another way, but their information was limited, and told us that we could investigate it for ourselves, or that they could help us if we wanted them too. I told them that we would do it ourselves. Their recommendation for us was to file a N-600, in lieu of the CRBA. In this situation, a DNA test may not be needed.

After many VJ members told us that we had broken the law to bring our son here, I sent off a letter to the USCIS, and to Homeland Security, and despite how the law/regulation is written, or what is known to many here on Visa Journey, we were informed that we did not break the law.

As a point of interest, our son became deathly ill from either raw poultry, or from some feral kittens where we used to live in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, we obtained permission for he and I to travel to the United States, after having tried to get him medical attention in Mexico. This was long before we applied for the K-1, and K-2 Visas. We simply passed through the immigration POE for the USA, went through the secondary inspection. Only there did they hold us for a short time to verify his Mexican birth certificate and to consult with the officers at the POE that we passed through. Once again we told the truth, and we were allowed to pass.

I am not suggesting that you do what we did. It is certain that lady luck was on our side, and a whole lot of honesty. In fact when we all passed through the POE in El Paso, Texas, all this pre-occupation with our son having a Mexican passport and an American Visa was for nothing. We crossed the border without any problem whatsoever. In fact, I did not have my passport at the time, and I, too, passed without any problem. We have the emails from Homeland Security, and USCIS. We never meant to deceive anyone.

We wish you the best, and hope that you find the answers here on VJ. VJ members are very knowledgeable and we would never give out advice incorrectly, or purposely mislead you. Certainly, our situation is unique, and knowing what we know now, we certainly would have waited for the CRBA to go through before crossing the border into the USA.

While I have been reading these posts, it occurs to me that you should feel proud. You have just participated in an opportunity to represent your family, and the country that you came from. In these trying times, we Americans sometimes have to go through the discomfort of analysis, if you will, to contribute to the entire good of our country. As an example, little children, people in wheel chairs, and well respected people are being searched by TSA agents, and in order to just open a bank account, we have to jump through a number of requirements. I remember when a child could open a savings account at a bank, and everyone was happy to help. Not any more. We must protect our country! Many people who have received their citizenship in this country have gone on to betray us by killing other Americans, or allowing others to use their identification in order to come into our country illegally.

Feel proud, my new American friend. Patriotism will flourish when we act as one.

Hello. I am back. I worked a long shift today. In answer to all those wondering about how we seem to jump right past the 2 year conditional green card phase, is that we have been married for 2 and a half years. I questioned the IO about this, since some have clearly mentioned that we needed to file an I-130, if we had been married for more than two years, and that way we would not have to do a ROC, but would receive a ten year automaticately. The IO said that we would not have to go through that. Next comes citizenship.

I will work on our time line for all to see.

We just returned from the USCIS office in Phoenix, Arizona. My wife and children are approved for their 10 year green card. It took us 89 days. I am on my way to work. Saludos to all.

I know that this is a stressful time. You have received your answer but it is not what you are hoping to hear. I do understand. My wife and I sent in her AOS packet January 9th, 2012. About three weeks later, we got the receipt for the I-485, and also recived shortly after that, a letter with the date and time to have her biometrics taken. Almost four weeks passed, and we never saw any letter/recipt showing that USCIS had received her I-765. Three days ago, my wife received her EAD card, without notice of any kind. Once again, we never heard anything. Her EAD simply arrived in the mail. I firmly believe that your case is going well. Just like Kevjil said, each form is processed by the appointed department. As a post script, we never heard anything from immigration about our change of address, but we are getting their correspondance to our correct address.

Please, have patience. If 90 days pass, or more, after your biometrics, then by all means look for a solution. The wheels of immigration move slowly, but they do move. We wish you the best.

It looks like your case is moving at a good pace. I have read on here that others, having received their appointment for biometrics, have gone in and were successful at getting their biometrics done before the appointed date. It is too premature to try to out think this process for the I-765. Just because they did not mention it in your I-485 letter, does not mean that it is not being processed. Perhaps they are still investigationg the beneficiary's background, or are waiting for the picture and fingerprints to arrive to affix them on your EAD card.

Our interview was carried out with respect. One question that he asked us was the last time that we argued. My reason for entering with my fiance was sound. Our youngest was still in diapers, and the other two were so young. No one felt that we were pushy, or invasive. At the time that that we did our K-1, we had not spoke with anyone that was filing for any type of Visa, and did not know about VJ. Our heads were clear, our conscience clean, and we had no preconceptions. We entered happy to finally have our chance to speak with the very person who would decide our fate. Not one time did we have any doubts that we would fail. For us, our interview at the Juarez consulate was merely a formality. It never occurred to us that we would not be successful. We prepared well. We dressed well. Our answers were not rehearsed. For us, it was a pleasurable event.

I "pushed, pleaded and begged" to go into the interview with her. She had to bring all three children, and the guards at the consulate saw how difficult it would be to be interviewed and care for the children. I presented myself at the window with her, and offered to help, or even be interviewed. The IO was genial, and had a good attitude with us. I stayed at the window until he asked me to have a seat. We all had a good time, even the kids were treated great. This is a stokes interview?

Not only did I attend the K-1 interview with my fiance, they interviewed us together, then had me sit down, interviewed her, then had her sit down, and had me go to the window. The IO then proceeded to ask me the exact same questions that he asked my fiance. We both made mistakes on our answers, but we were approved anyways. Imagine that.

The photos must be 6 months old or less. Why take the risk for just $15?

Que tipo afadavit? Hay muchas diferentes.