olliewat

Is it possible that this is a case of "Everyone's telling me I'm wrong, but I'm going to do it my way anyway"? I know we tend to see that a lot on these boards - people ask and ask and ask hoping they'll get the answer they want to see, and even when they don't they kind of stomp around like my 18-month-old figuring they'll do what they intended from the start.

Based on the fact that they fired their original attorney after the first denial, the denial of a waiver and two appeals, and a motion (??) denial, and then consulted with ANOTHER attorney, I'm thinking they went under the "try and try again hoping you'll get a different result."

Either way, I'm not surprised it didn't come up at the K-1 interview, unless she was specifically asked "Are you already married?" (Which, if she answered that "no" then YES - I agree with the fraud judgement.) But their lawyer HAD TO know about it.

Just Jenney

Unless he was a total waste of space who just took payments and didn't actually DO anything, I don't see how he couldn't have known. They kept him on for two years, so obviously they didn't feel like they were throwing money away by hiring him. He must have been doing SOMETHING -- otherwise, why not ditch him after the very first AOS denial?

To me, the turning point was how the I-485 form was filled out, in particular the section where she had to indicate the basis for her adjustment of status. I mean, if the form was filled out correctly, mentioning that she had entered on a K1 visa and married within 90 days, and a copy of their marriage certificate was submitted (as required) as supporting evidence, wouldn't the attorney notice that the marriage and visa dates were in the wrong order? Wouldn't THEY have noticed this, and brought it to his attention? It just makes no sense to me at all.

This couple seems to have a history of putting blind faith in people, assuming once they've been told this or that then that's the end of it. I don't get the impression that they bothered to do a lot of self-preparation or research until it was too late. Now it's the "blame game" -- it's the consulate's fault, it's the attorneys' fault, it's USCIS's fault. I feel very bad that they're in this predicament, but they seem completely unwilling to take any responsibility for what's happened.

~ Jenney

john_t_05

Judging from the warmth of our homes with united families per properly processed immigration paperwork, is quite easy. These people were entirely confused about the process and they obviously were not regulars on the immigration forum.

Although she got married prematurely in the US, she did go back in an attempt to follow the legal process they started. They could have had a "reception" in Hawaii, and filed the legal marriage paperwork after she got back with K-1; it further proves their sheer naivete (and stupidity). Ironically, had she stayed and filed AOS improperly from VWP, she probably wouldn't be in so much trouble.

What matters, for my personal judgement, is that they did not have a fraudelent intent, their marriage is real, and they made an effort to keep the legal process going. What matters for USCIS is that they broke immigration law. There should be punishment and lessons should be taught, but keeping a family apart for years does not seem to be fair.

Elvira

I agree entirely!

(And look at all those lovely blue boxes you have all of a sudden!!! )

ian-mstm

No argument with this!


Yup... I agree with this!


No, it's not fair... but it's the law - the same immigration law that we agree was broken. Punishment should hurt... or else it's not punishment... it's something like - oh, IDK... amnesty!

Ian

olliewat

Nobody is keeping them apart except for themselves. If he wants to be with his family while this is all being sorted out, he can move overseas. Yes, it would probably be a huge inconvenience, but it IS possible.

Many people have said this on these boards over the years, and I'll add my voice: If anything was going wrong with our application when we filed, I was 100% ready to file to move to Canada to be with Dave. Because what was important to me was us being together - where ever that was.