lessthanstellar

i got the sad letter today.

please help me with what i have to do now. they sent these forms, but it is all pretty confusing.. this is what was inside:

a letter stating that the letter was informal, not a formal one, because they want promptness and that no record had been made of the correspondence.

a blue form, from the foreign service of the USA. stating that i was denied a visa because of SECTION 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(ii) - controlled substance violator (those three, 3cm marijuana plants i had growing in a pot 10 years ago.)

a form I-601 - application for waiver of ground of excludability.

a bright pink memorandum report of interview of Ineligible Applicant for an Immingrant Visa who is Applying for Relief under Section 212(h) or (i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

a white Application Immigration Worksheet (looks informal, asking me for a description of myself.)

a TWO-WAY VISA ACTION REQUEST AND RESPONSE form. (optional form 221?) formerly FS-493.

Information sheet about what EXTREME HARDSHIP means. not really sure what that is all about.

a fees sheet, they want $195 for the 601 application.

the informal letter states -

Please complete the attached waiver questionnaires, have your fiance write the hardship letter, and call us for a possible waiver interview appointment date.
_____

Please tell me what all this means, what they want exactly, why they sent all this in the declined package, and what my chances may be. my fiance is looking at hiring an attorney and getting his congressman in Minnesota on it.

thank you for any help and support you may be able to give.

lessthanstellar

MrDub

Hi,
I am very sorry to hear your news. Unfortunatly I cannot offer any advice on this subject. hopefully the laywers on this site will be able to offer some good advice/knowledge on the matter when they log on.
I hope it does not result in too much of a delay/difficulty for you.
(i didnt think having marijuana for personal use was even a crime in the UK anymore, I thought you just got an official warning and it did not go on your record)

The best of Luck in getting this sorted...

Rete

It does not matter where the drug crime was committed. The penalties and laws of the US is what is the issue. The penalty and severity of the crime is judged by US criteria, not the criteria of the nation in which it was committed. This young woman was caught in Australia growing pot for personal use and/or possible sale. Three plants has, I believe, a high yield if grown to maturity.

Have your fiancee hire an AILA attorney specializing in 601 waivers. His congress person will not be of any assistance in overcoming a denial of petition based on a criminal history involving drugs regardless of how small the amount.

It is possible to overcome this denial and have the I-601 waiver approved. But it is not something I would want to see you do alone. IMHO that you require the services of a good specializing immigration attorney.

Rete

DCMark

All this for a bong is pathetic. So sorry about this. From a country whose President was a long-term coke user!

souls canuck

sorry to hear your news..

do a search on me..although I was not growing.

you will have time to research research research this.

look at all your options for hardship because this is the key to the success of your waiver approval, I think.

getting a lawyer is not a bad call in your case.. I am little concerned that you were growing is all.. I dont want to scare you but I think getting professional advice might be a good idea. We had a lawyer, but did not research well enough and ended up "getting what we paid for" which in the end, was zip. We did it all ourselves. We had him look over our initial documents, which he okay'd.. then we got an rfe.. so even the lawyer messed up.

if you want to pm me I can try and help ya out.

we paid 195 as well, standard.

once the shock wears off, and I think a few of us know what that's all about .. hunker down and gather up some documents.. you still can do it!!

jeffreyhy

lts,

Hire an immigration attorney experienced with these waivers. The attorney will be able to extract the relevant information from you and your fiance and 'package' it properly.

Tell your fiance to forget the Congress person, for now at least. The service followed the law and did what it was supposed to do. You should now do the same. All that political interference is likely to accomplish is to piss people off and cause them to 'drag their feet' in response to the attempt to get un-deserved favored treatment.

Regards, JEff

mud_hut

anyone the general cost of such an attorney?

soulsender

I hate it when I write a long response and it doesn't post!

ok Just quickly, my points were:

if you hire a lawyer make sure he/she has experience with the 601 waiver. search high and low if you must.

make sure you get the original court records and be sure somewhere the actual amount of Mary-jane is on there. if it is not put on your detective cap and find the judge, court reporter, and/or original arresting officer and see if they can help you with an affidavit. you need something official that has the amount.

make sure the evidence of hardship is strictly for the U.S. citizen and you have lots of it not just a signed statement. eg if they own property send a copy of the deed...if they visit a psychological pro get them to write something up...take care of parents or children get affidavits and doctors notes from that instance.

also get letters of recomendation from folks with high standing who know you (cops clergy etc...)

best of luck to you! I hope sincerely you make it.

Eric S.

It looks like you've been found ineligible to enter the US based on the
controlled abuse violation. Now, you
can apply for a waiver of excludability (the I-601 form) based on extreme
hardship. That's why the explanation about what extreme hardship means.
Basically, why it would be an extreme hardship for your fiance (not you) if
you were not allowed to enter.

As others have said, it's a good idea to get a lawyer involved at this
point. Good luck.

- Eric S.


"lessthanstellar" <member22168@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > i got the sad letter today.
    > please help me with what i have to do now.
    > they sent these forms, but it is all pretty confusing.. this is what
    > was inside:
    > a letter stating that the letter was informal, not a formal
    > one, because they want promptness and that no record had been made of
    > the correspondence.
    > a blue form, from the foreign service of the USA.
    > stating that i was denied a visa because of SECTION 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(ii)
    > - controlled substance violator (those three, 3cm marijuana plants i had
    > growing in a pot 10 years ago.)
    > a form I-601 - application for waiver
    > of ground of excludability.
    > a bright pink memorandum report of
    > interview of Ineligible Applicant for an Immingrant Visa who is Applying
    > for Relief under Section 212(h) or (i) of the Immigration and
    > Nationality Act of 1952.
    > a white Application Immigration Worksheet
    > (looks informal, asking me for a description of myself.)
    > a TWO-WAY VISA
    > ACTION REQUEST AND RESPONSE form. (optional form 221?) formerly FS-493.
    > Information sheet about what EXTREME HARDSHIP means. not really sure
    > what that is all about.
    > a fees sheet, they want $195 for the 601
    > application.
    > the informal letter states -
    > Please complete the
    > attached waiver questionnaires, have your fiance write the hardship
    > letter, and call us for a possible waiver interview appointment date.
    > _____
    > Please tell me what all this means, what they want exactly, why
    > they sent all this in the declined package, and what my chances may be.
    > my fiance is looking at hiring an attorney and getting his congressman
    > in Minnesota on it.
    > thank you for any help and support you may be able
    > to give.
    > lessthanstellar
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Clare & Steven

Hi, we're in the middle of the I-601 processing. Just wanted you to know that the current fee for the application as gone up to $250. The OLD fee was $190. If you send in the wrong amount, they'll send it all back to you and delay it further.
I was also told that the letter has to be written by you, the foreign spouse/fiance, on behalf of the US citizen who is petitioning for you. Call the consulate & confirm the info you were sent is correct (in a nice way of course ).
Best of luck,
Clare

SidAngelika

Hi Lessthanstellar,
sorry to hear about the denial.
Especially since Frankfurt is such an easy consulate to go through.
I have never been a user of drugs, but understand that all this is such a long time ago. What a pain now.
From what I have gathered the waiver route is the only way to go now.
Hope it will work for you!
Best wishes!

lessthanstellar

thank you very much for your advice.

my fiance will come and be with me in germany for now. unfortunately this means he will have to leave his 4yo twin boys. this is not good news. and i was very much looking forward to meeting them.

if we go through with it, perhaps we will get a lawyer. but now that we are going to be together in another country, perhaps we will end up marrying and applying for the K3 instead.

why did they send me an INformal response? i was wondering, if we were to apply for a K3 down the line, would it be better if we withdrew our K1 petition? would it be in our best interest? would it hinder us to see that we were denied if we apply for K3? have the formally entered me as denied at this point?

also, somebody told me that in australia, it is possible to write to the commissioner of the state and get the conviction removed after 10 years. it is 10 years next month. if it is removed, does that mean that wherever the INS got it from, they will no longer be able to see it? would this help me next time, even though they will have it on my K1 application?

where does the INS get this information from anyway?

thank you once again. your advice is very much appreciated.

lessthanstellar.

Rete

I'm glad you two will be together. However, I have to tell you that regardless of what visa you attempt to get in the future, you will always be facing this problem. Just because the charge has been expunged by the Australian government does not mean that you do not have to answer for it. The charge is now part of your file and will always remain there regardless of what the Australian government does. Nor does time erase its ramifications in scheme of things for the USCIS.

You might well want to go ahead and attempt the I-601 waiver now before you marry and your husband finds that if he wants his wife with him, he will have to reside outside of the US and away from his children for a long period of time.

The one thing that worries me is that part of the I-601 waiver is that the USC will suffer extreme hardship in living outside of the US. If your fiancee is going to be living with you in Germany, how can he show hardship? Also has he gotten a visa to live in Germany? Is one needed to live and work there?

Rete

lessthanstellar

wouldn't the INS think that living without his children is extreme hardship? how can he show extreme hardship? do you have any pointers?

he will need a visa to live and work in germany, which is easy to get, once you have a letter from an employer, which, with what he does and from my own experience, will be easy to get. we may not stay in germany though.. we may go somewhere else.

do you know any good 601 lawyers in st paul/minneapolis? do you know how much these lawyers charge, approximately, for their fee?

and are you telling me that it is possible, that never in my lifetime will be able to step foot in the usa? this is incomprehensible.

lessthanstellar.

Rete

I'll ask you to think broad range instead of tunnel vision. Right now you and he are thinking you don't want to be away from each other. That's understandable. But if he comes to live with you and is employed outside of the US then he has demonstrated that leaving the US and living outside of its borders is not a hardship for him. As a USC he can and will go back to visit with his children. So the issue of being away from his children is not a hardship as demonstrated by his actions. Nor is the issue of being unemployable outside of the US. Again his actions demonstrate otherwise. His health is apparently fine and he is not going to be living in a third world nation where the healthcare he would need if he got cancer or heart disease, etc. so quality healthcare is accessible to him. Also he can always return to the US for that type of issue.

Again your tunnel vision has shown that he is not experiencing any hardship and is free to live elsewhere in the world in order to be with you.

No I do not. You might want to find one in Germany since that is where you are living and you are the one who has to do the I-601 waiver, not him. So accessibility to the attorney is important to you.

Yes, that is what I am saying. Why is it incomprehensible? The US has laws about drugs at the present moment. Will they change? Will the change be retroactive to the period in your young life when you decided to grow a little pot for fun and/or profit?

But the USCIS is forgiving as others have shown. Your age, the type of offense, etc. will be taken into account when a final determination is made. But you have to do it right the first time. Get an attorney to work with you in doing it correctly. It might cost a lot but if you want to live in the US and your fiancee wants to be a hands on father to the children he sired not so long ago, then it is money that has got to be spent.

Rete