farhan

this is from my memory - i was too excited to even pay attention to what Fiance was saying..

1. She arrived around 7ish for interview, interview was suppose to start at 8am. There were around 2000+ people there (she thinks there were 350-400 interviews scheduled - Only 10 visas for issued that day and those visas were K1, K3.. and no visit etc.)
2. She was interviewed by 3 ladies (2 Pakistanies and 1 American) - American spoke good Urdu so she didn't have hard time during the interview
3. Lady #1: Asked a lot of question and took notes.. most of her questions for related to "how do you know him, where will you live, what does he do, how do you know the family.. etc."
4. Lady #2: Asked the same questions and took notes
5. Lady #3 (American): Asked same questions, but also asked for phone bills.. and towards the end she said "You should marry him within 3 months after getting this visa.. " smiled and asked her to wait an hour for the visa.

Now i am confused, they asked for Visa fee again (i already paid here - it was around $105) - weird... Fiance showed them the recipt too but they said its for this interview.. anyhoo, I already told her if they ask for money, just give it to them...

They Stamp the passport and gave here brown envolope.

Thats all..

Leslie

Are you sure you paid here? I thought they HAD to pay at the embassy. I guess what I'm saying is who would you pay here? The visa wasn't granted yet.

Leslie

CharlieS

Good news, very happy for you.
As for paying again, that would so be my attitude. You want a thousand dollars, and i get my visa? Sure, cash or charge?

saadq17

Congratulations Farhaan! All the best to you and your wife.

--saadq17

Mrtravel

farhan wrote:

    >
    > Now i am confused, they asked for Visa fee again (i already paid here -
    > it was around $105) - weird... Fiance showed them the recipt too but
    > they said its for this interview.. anyhoo, I already told her if they
    > ask for money, just give it to them...

Are you confusing the visa application fee, $100 (but varies due to
currency conversions), with the fees for the I-129F?

The I-129F fee goes to the immigration people (CIS), the application fee
gets paid to the Department of State.

farhan

Well when i submitted 129F paper work, i remember sending them a check of 100+ - I guess they also charge for interview too.

Steffi

Yeah, we had to pay $110 for the I-129F Fiance Petition, and then 67.00 GBP (~$100.00??) for the "visa processing fee"...and another 125.00 GBP for the medical...I guess Pakistan doesn't require medicals?

Folinskyinla

Hi:

IMHO, "congratulations" are NOT in order for this particular case. He got away with something in getting the I-129F approved and he knows it. As far as I am concerned, that poisons the rest of his case.

I am no friend of the DHS and the Department of State, but I do have strong feelings about compliance with the law.

Steffi

Did I miss something??

Leslie

What law did he break?

Pallyn

This was from one of his original posts -
I personally not have seen my fiance in person (beside webcam etc.), as this is arrange marriage and Plan is/was that when i visit Pakistan in Oct, i will meet her, have religious gathering and then come to US and marry. Her parents are OK with that and are willing to do that.

So, how should i reply to this RFE? My culture and religion (Muslim) prohibits us from meeting. So i am not sure how to word it and what kind of evidence should i attached to the reply.


From where I sit, he was talking out of both sides of his mouth at this earlier point. Customs prevent them from meeting before marrying, but he was going to meet her and have a 'religous gathering' before bringing her to the US for marriage. Either the customs don't really prohibit meeting before marriage, or the 'religious gathering' was a marriage. Now, I know that some folks do religious ceremonies that are not recognized as legal marriages, but this one was enough to lift the ban on meeting before marriage?
If he never went to meet her and have the religious gathering, then he is abiding by both the customs as he laid them out and the requirements for a K-1 visa.

Noorah101

There IS the clause that allows for very specific reasons to have the requirement of meeting within 2 years waived. Although a lot of people on the NG didn't agree that it was applicable in his case, evidently he could prove to the consulate to their satisfaction that he should be waived from that requirement. It was the consulate's decision to grant the visa. They could just have well said no. He took a chance, and he won. I don't see anything wrong with that, personally.

Rene

Leslie

Thanks Pallyn,

That was really interesting. In general, the "Muslim religion" does not prohibit meeting before the wedding. He would have to get a lot more specific with the faction he is a member of, and perhaps he did in his RFE. I find it strange that their religion allows them to see and talk to each other on web cam, but not meet in person, that is a bit of a stretch. There is a lot here that I do not know so I will reserve judgement, but now I do understand a little bit more of what Folinskyinla was talking about.

Leslie

farhan

you are pissed because you were proved wrong, i hope you have better people skills because you have crappy attitude, because nobody will ever hire you with such attitude - you claimed that our case will never get approved, and how i am holding "loaded" hand grande, wasting everybody's time etc. Its sucks to be wrong eh?

We didn't lie about anything, we pleaed our case and proved it on the basis of culture etc. What law do you think i break? I am not married, I am engaged, Interviewer knew we never met ... so i am missing the point?

anyhoo- you are stupid and should reconsider you career path ..

farhan

<I am explaining this not to prove myself but help anybody who have similar issue in the future>

After talking to Islamic Center in US - there was no clause preventing us to meet, Islam actually encourages it (i didn't know that then).. so i didn't choose that route. I used culture restrictions argument, because it was true. I am from very strick cultural family and was not allowed to see my fiance in person but was given pictures and permission to call her. I also used couple of cases that were approved in similar circumtances and used US Library of Congress articles documenting that "man and woman are not allowed to meet before engagement/marriage" - Our engagement was in Dec... and I applied for 129F in jan.. and provided phone bills, letters, emails, cards, gifts recipt to prove that i want to marry my girl and also provided a letter from her family approving for her to come here and marry me after the approval.