How long after submitting and I-129 fiance visa to immigration, will we find out when my fiance’s interview is?

First Homeland Security/FBI reviews your petition. This takes from 2 to 6 months.

Then they send the case to the consulate nearest to your Fiancee. Some consulates work faster than others. If he is in Philippines the process is very fast, with interviews arranged as fast as 3 to 5 weeks after Homeland Security approves. If he is in Vietnam it may be 2 to 4 months later.

Once he attends his interview the decision to grant the visa is made “on the spot”. If granted he gets his visa in a few days usually. Sometimes the consulate officer wishes to avoid confrontation, and does not tell denied applicants they are denied, instead telling them to come back later to obtain the results.

Tags: Fiancee Visas, Green Card, I 129F, I-130, I-485, Spousal Visas

Below is my Youtube video that explains what the interview at the US Embassy Manila is like for the Filipina Fiancees and Fiances for this very last step to get their K1, I-129F Fiancee visas approved. Each applicant must schedule an appointment at the consulate, and convince the consular officer that theirs is a “bone fide” genuine relationship, and that the purpose of the Fiancee Visa application is solely for sincere marriage.

Tags: consular interview, fiancee visa, K-1 Visa, Philippines, US consulate

Getting Fiancee or spousal visas for Vietnam is much harder than from most other countries.

The consular officers in Ho Chi Minh City apply a higher standard before they accept that a relationship is genuine.

Like the consulate in China,  see my blog http://www.expertfianceevisas.com/?p=26 they expect a petitioner to have made multiple trips, to have had a long engagement, and to be able to communicate well with his fiancee (English no problem).

In addition they expect each petitioner to have celebrated a large, formal engagement party and banquet called “Dinh Hong” (but not on the first trip).

Some of their “official” reasons for denial are:

Photographs submitted as evidence of the relationship indicate that Petitioner and Fiancee have spent only four or five days together.

(This is their “code” what it really means is “only one trip = no visa”. If only one trip, it doesn’t matter how many photos you give)

It does not appear that the claimed relationship is continuous and on going. For example, Petitioner has not returned to visit Fiancee for one year.

Fiancee and-or Petitioner submitted evidence of only a small, inconsequential engagement ceremony without any US guest. This contradicts local social and cultural norms in which many family members and friends, including those in the US, are invited to engagement celebrations numbering in the hundreds of guests for families of even modest means.

In contrast to Vietnamese social and cultural norms which mandate a lengthy and careful period of pre-nuptial arrangements, Petitioner and Fiancee became engaged before meeting in person.

The decision to approve or deny is generally made by the consular officer before he meets with the Fiancee, before the interview. This is why taking the extra effort to make a complete and convincing petition at the start is essential to your success. If the officer has decided to deny, he will ask her detailed questions about the “proposal, the petitioners home town or the future wedding plans”. Any answer the Fiancee gives will not be “credible”.

Beneficiary’s chronology of the claimed relationship is not credible. For example, Fiancee can not recalled when Petitioner proposed to her.

Fiancee is unaware of basic facts regarding Petitioners location and or hometown (features, characteristics, etc). For example Fiancee was unaware of where Petitioner has lived for the past two years.

Fiancee is unaware of the exact wedding plans, what church, or venue, when the marriage would take place.

If these issues apply to you, to be successful you MUST remedy them prior to submitting your Petition.  And you MUST provide the supporting documents to irrefutably prove the remedies have occurred.  Many petitioners have their multiple trips and engagement party after the fiancee visa petition has been submitted, then bring proof of the trips, etc to the Fiancee’s consulate interview. They leave dumbfounded when finding that their Fiancee who attended the interview alone, but with all the documents, was not allowed to show the proof, instead was asked a few questions and left, denied due to the weak initial petition documentation.

Submit a stronger petition with more “proof of a genuine relationship”, UP FRONT.  Contrary to official statements, decisions to accept or deny a petition are often made early, prior to the interview, while the consular officer is reviewing your petition. The officer then asks pointed questions during the interview in order to justify the decision he has ALREADY made. Be sure to provide all proof of your genuine relationship “up front” in the petition.

See my youtube on proving a Genuine Relationship at

http://fianceevisaservices.com/youtubegenuinerelationship.html

Strategy to successfully petition:  Immediately take extra care to ensure that your “paper trail” is solid, and put at least two trips to meet her into your plans,  sign her up for English lessons if her conversational English is not good,  and celebrate your “Dinh Hong” during one of your trips.

If you are using a prepaid phone card make sure it provides you with itemized call records. These are the best proof that you are making regular and frequent contact. If your current phone card does not give you an itemized call logs
see http://fianceevisaservices.com/international-prepaid-long-distance.html

My petitions generally get approved faster than average. This is due to the professional way I assemble your petition package, including extensive, but very necessary efforts needed when applying for  a Vietnam fiancee, to prove the “bona fides” of your genuine committed relationship.

Click for Fiancee Visa Preparation Help

Tags: visa denial

The most common reason Fiancee or Spousal Visa petitions are rejected is that Immigration is not convinced the couple have a genuine “bona fide” relationship.

There are many ways to prove the relationship, photos, phone bills, emails, log files, on and on.  Some couples though don’t really think about saving this “paper trail” until they are just about ready to file their I-129F or I-130 petitions.  By then it is too late. And they may end up rejected due to lack of planning.

I put together a Youtube video that teaches how to prove you have a genuine relationship. It speaks directly to couples who are applying for Fiancee or Spousal visas. And tells them what documents and proof to attach to their K visa petitions.

I think that a new couple who has just found each other, should ALSO  view this youtube lesson, so that from the start of their relationship they will know what is needed later on, and so can  save from the beginning, what they should have later.

For example:  Proof that the couple has regularly communicated with each other  is essential. What about the couple that uses Instant messenger every day, but never turned on “logging”? What proof do they have?  NONE. !

If they turned on LOGGING, they could print out a page, or pages that show each and every time they communicated, when they logged in, when they logged out.  It is not necessary to show the words of each conversation,  but is extremely valuable to show the frequency and dates of the conversations.

The same applies for telephone bills or logs.  It used to be that everyone got a regular phone bill each month, that showed the numbers called and the duration of each call.  Now there are ways to save money by buying pre-paid phone cards or joining discount calling services. Some keep track of your calls, and you could print out statements to prove your calls.  But many clients use prepaid phone cards, which don’t provide you any record at all!  The time to choose  a service that provides you a record of you calls, is  at the Start of your relationship.

If you are  starting a relationship, or still looking, take a minute to watch this youtube video on “How to prove a genuine relationship for the Fiancee or Spousal visa”.  You will be much better prepared in case you find you life partner and hope to live together in the USA.

Of course if you have already found your partner and are applying for a K-1 or K-3 visa, use the suggestions shown on the youtube video to make your petition more believable and thus help to ensure  a happy ending to your visa application.

For more information on Fiancee or Spousal Visas visit FianceeVisaServices.com

Tags: bone fide relationship, consular interview, genuine relationship

A group of Immigration attorneys who help prepare and submit Fiancee K-1 and Spousal K-3 visas are rallying together to complain and lobby against apparent procedural problems at the US visa section, Guangzhou China.  In reviewing their in-house data, and then combining this data across the different firms, they believe their statistics demonstrate that the Visa Section in Guangzhou is denying an abnormally high percentage of K-1 and K-3 petitions.

The attorneys assertion is that the visa officers in Guangzhou are over zealous in applying a higher standard than is official State Department policy. They believe this has resulted in Petitions which routinely would be approved at any other consulate, being unfairly denied in Guangzhou. Based on their own review of the denied cases, the attorneys have intuited the following list of extra-ordinary reasons they believe K petitions were denied in Guangzhou.

• No English, No Visa.
• One Visit, No Visa.
• Marriage on First Visit, no Visa.
• Very Large Age Different, No Visa.
• Three or More marriages by Petitioner, No Visa.

These are the apparent “Red Flags” when applying for the Fiancee or Spousal visa in China.  It seems that these could also negatively influence the consideration of your petition in other countries as well. To “err” on the safe side, I would suggest to any couple to strengthen the appearance of their genuine relationship, by addressing some of the issues listed above.

• Enroll the Fiancee in English School if her English is weak.
• Take a second trip.  Enjoy a second or third visit, spend face to face time  together.

In the case of the denied petitions, true love finally won out. Each denied Fiancee couple, got married, in China, then applied again, this time for an IR1or CR1 visa, and after long delays, these were granted.

For further information about Fiancee or Spousal Visas visit FianceeVisaServices.com

Tags: China Bride, fiancee visa, Guangzhou, K-1 Visa, K-3 Visa, spousal visa, uscis