sam123

So, after reading all the posts about DCF in New Delhi in this forum, I decided to go for it. I got my citizenship on July 30th, and then flew to India on August 15th, reached on August 16th, got married on August 18th, registered it on August 19th, and went to the US Consulate on August 20th.

I had all the papers with me along with the photographs of the wedding. The wedding was a small affair, as I already had a ceremony planned for November, and was getting legally married so that I can bring back my wife in November.

Well, the officer in the US Consulate, flatly refused to accept my application -- said the wedding was too small and that in Indian culture this never happens. So, now I am in a fix.

I am married, and so cannot file a Fiancee visa.. I am not sure what I can do.. I have 2 options --

1) Go in November -- have the big ceremony, then go back to the embassy and try to do DCF.

2) Apply for my wife from here in California and then do K3.

Both options have their issues --
For option 1), the problem is that the officer might ask why I married twice -- once in august with a small group of people, and then again in november, but much more lavishly. With this option if everything works out well, I can have my wife in U.S. in January/February.

For option 2), I would apply for K3, and then there will still be an interview. If the evidence that I had wasn't good enough earlier, then it might not be good enough for the K3 interview. With this option, if everything works well then I can have my wife here in Sept + 6/7 months.

I am unsure if I can apply for an I130 here in the US, and then do a DCF. I heard the consulate wouldn't let me file a petition again.

I am legally married, and have all the intentions in the world to stay with my wife.. Please advise if any of you have had similar experiences.

I am very disturbed with the sequence of events that happened.. They have been an emotional drain on both me and my wife.

Thanks..

Lpdiver

I would go for the K-3. As a matter of a fact I am currently doing so. There
will be snags so be prepared.

Shannon

Ok, I know Mumbai is horrific but surely they can't refuse to accept the application. I mean, they could deny the application but that would require a process. This sounds weird, even for India.

Shannon

theangells

Well, if I were you I would go for K3. But of course you better prepared for the worse on the interview phase. Maybe you would think to hire an attorney ? Just a suggestion... But anyhow, I think K3 is your best bet for now.

jg1012002

I would do the big wedding in November and try DCF again. If they are already giving you trouble over DCF and a small wedding, go the extra step and have the big wedding then DCF. They can deny the K3 because of the small wedding and you will end up waiting longer.

SundarV

Well. They typically do DCF for visiting US citizen only if they can approve. This is the first step of I-130 approval. If they feel they can not approve the application, they typically ask the applicant to apply in the service center in the US.

Also, based on the posts in this group, I would venture to say that the people in US consulate determine if a marriage is legitimate or not based on the Indian standard of wedding. I know this is not fair. But that seems to be the trend.

I read a story (don't know if it is true) where the US consulate officer thinks a marriage is not legitmate because it had only 4-5 people.

Sundar

SundarV

You are not married twice because going through religious ceremony does not mean that you are marrying for the second time. Based on Hindu Marriage act, you can get marriage certificate only after the religious ceremony is performed. So the way I look at your situation, you are going through a religious function for both parents. So technically you are married only once. There is another act by which you can get legally married without the religious ceremony, forgot the name of it.

I am assuming (just my opinion) that your time line for getting citizenship and married is awfully short. Maybe that led to the redflag. As you know very well in India they find the auspicious time for wedding etc, which takes few months. Once again this is not fair. Maybe they are being overly cautious.

Also, would your match be considered typical according to the Indian standard? That seems to be another criteria they are using to determine the legitimacy of the marriage.

I would call BCIS Delhi and explain the situation. Tell them that you are having a big ceremony in November, but got legally married earlier so that you can get your wife quickly to the US.

If they don't give you a good answer, go with K3 route. It seems to be moving fast.

All the best.
Sundar
Std Disclaimers Apply.

sam123

Thanks for all your suggestions.

My match should be considered really typical --

1) I am an American (26 years old) -- migrated to the US 4 yrs ago (had a green card since 1992).

2) My wife is 22 years from the same caste. None of us have ever been married before.

3) Both are well educated -- I have a masters from stanford, and she is doing her Masters in Internation Business.

4) Both families are financially well off.

5) It is an arranged marriage.

How fast is K3 route moving (I live in California, and I had last heard about 6 months)? Also, wouldn't I have the same type of interview with K3 that I had with DCF?

Also, does any one know on how much information BCIS in Delhi would have collected when I went for DCF. They didn't take the application, so I am pretty sure they don't have anything from there, but they did take my passport at the time of entry (before I met the consular), and the consular returned it to me when I met her.

Also, does anyone know whether you can register your marriage to the same person again in India? I am asking these questions to figure out whether I really need to show my earlier wedding to them, or can I just re-register my november wedding, and then go in as a typical case.

Another red flag that went up was that when she said that she couldn't accept my case because the wedding was too small, I showed her my engagment album from April, which had about 300 people, and was done very lavishly in a Delhi 5 star. She looked at it and said, that nobody gets engaged so lavishly and then has such a small wedding.

She also objected us getting married in Delhi because my wife is from Indore, and I from california.

If you call BCIS in Delhi, do they generally reply back satisfactorily? During the conversation with the consular, she did mention that she thought that we are going to get married again, and we should apply after that.

Thanks and I know that my post is not well organized, has thoughts that came up randomly while I was writing the post, and I appreciate your replies.

Bc

I know couple people who came via DCF from New Dehli. They said they
really looked at the wedding "album" (no loose pictures) for the
official "fire ritural" wedding.

Good Luck.

sam123 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > So, after reading all the posts about DCF in New Delhi in this forum, I
    > decided to go for it. I got my citizenship on July 30th, and then flew
    > to India on August 15th, reached on August 16th, got married on August
    > 18th, registered it on August 19th, and went to the US Consulate on
    > August 20th.
    >
    >
    >
    > I had all the papers with me along with the photographs of the wedding.
    > The wedding was a small affair, as I already had a ceremony planned for
    > November, and was getting legally married so that I can bring back my
    > wife in November.
    >
    >
    >
    > Well, the officer in the US Consulate, flatly refused to accept my
    > application -- said the wedding was too small and that in Indian culture
    > this never happens. So, now I am in a fix.
    >
    >
    >
    > I am married, and so cannot file a Fiancee visa.. I am not sure what I
    > can do.. I have 2 options --
    >
    >
    >
    > 1) Go in November -- have the big ceremony, then go back to the embassy
    > and try to do DCF.
    >
    >
    >
    > 2) Apply for my wife from here in California and then do K3.
    >
    >
    >
    > Both options have their issues --
    >
    > For option 1), the problem is that the officer might ask why I married
    > twice -- once in august with a small group of people, and then again in
    > november, but much more lavishly. With this option if everything works
    > out well, I can have my wife in U.S. in January/February.
    >
    >
    >
    > For option 2), I would apply for K3, and then there will still be an
    > interview. If the evidence that I had wasn't good enough earlier, then
    > it might not be good enough for the K3 interview. With this option, if
    > everything works well then I can have my wife here in Sept + 6/7 months.
    >
    >
    >
    > I am unsure if I can apply for an I130 here in the US, and then do a
    > DCF. I heard the consulate wouldn't let me file a petition again.
    >
    >
    >
    > I am legally married, and have all the intentions in the world to stay
    > with my wife.. Please advise if any of you have had similar experiences.
    >
    >
    >
    > I am very disturbed with the sequence of events that happened.. They
    > have been an emotional drain on both me and my wife.
    >
    >
    >
    > Thanks..

Mrtravel

Lpdiver wrote:
    > I would go for the K-3. As a matter of a fact I am currently doing so. There
    > will be snags so be prepared.

If they don't believe the wedding is legit for a IR visa, why would they
believe that it is for a k-3?

Mrtravel

mrtravel wrote:

    >
    >
    > Lpdiver wrote:
    >
    >> I would go for the K-3. As a matter of a fact I am currently doing so.
    >> There
    >> will be snags so be prepared.
    >
    >
    > If they don't believe the wedding is legit for a IR visa, why would they
    > believe that it is for a k-3?
    >

Sorry, that would be a CR-1 visa, not IR.... CR if married less than 2
years.

pjt

Sounds like you were the victim of that lady's bad mood. We had a male officer at New Delhi and yes, he was rude, but he did accept our case after few minutes of arguments. And no, it's not necessary that a person having big engagement ceremony has to have a big wedding as well.

(1) Have you talked to the congressman's office or senator's office? (My congressman's immigration representative was very helpful.) Ask them to help you. I can assure you that even they will agree that your small wedding should not be a reason for rejection.

(2) I would not suggest registering in court again. That's a big NO. It can completely destroy your case.

(3) If you are going to have a big wedding, then go to New Delhi for DCF after that. Tell them that they had refused to accept your file last time because of the small wedding.

Whatever you do, be firm and have confidence. If filing from India doesn't work, then file K-3 from US. Don't do anything that can complicate your case.

MrDub

Surely one can appeal such a decision before taking more drastic action ??

Hypertweeky

How could they do that to you?? That sucks BIG TIME!!, can you appeal??, They cant denie you DCF because your wedding was small!!, I married my hubby here in Spain and It was a small one since we are planning to have the big one next year,the BCIS hasnt said anything so far (And I hope they dont!!!).
The K3 process doesnt take 6-7 months, It actually takes around 4 months (In most cases).
Whatever you do keep us posted ok??, you have all my support!!
Good Luck!!!

lpdiver