semi-urgent question re: possible questioning of marriage validity during AOS interview
Oct 10th 2003, 4:17 pm
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
semi-urgent question re: possible questioning of marriage validity during AOS interview
The adjustment of status interview for me and my husband is coming up
soon. My husband is the adjustment of status applicant. We have lots
of documentation to help verify the validity of our marriage, but a
question about a possible problem/issue.
The documentation we have:
apartment lease signed by both of us
joint checking account bank statements for the past 4-5 months
health insurance plan for both of us (on the same plan, through my
employer)
phone bill for 3-4 months in both our names
three affidavit letters confirming the validity of our marriage and,
in two of the letters, stating how my husband and I met. (One of the
three letters is from my mother.)
So, we shouldn't have any problems on that basis. However, my husband
and I knew each other for a fairly short time before getting married.
Could the validity of our marriage be questioned only on that basis? I
called the 800 number for BCIS and asked about this situation, but was
only told that it depends on the individual immigration officer. So,
what is the likelihood of having our case denied only on the basis of
how long my husband and I knew each other before marriage?
We met December of last year and got married in January of this year,
just one to one and a half months later. Part of the reason for
marrying so quickly: my husband was subject to the special
registration procedures, since he's from one of the designated
countries. (Men 18-45 or so years old from various Middle Eastern and
South Asian countries were required to register with BCIS earlier this
year, or risk immediate deportation if caught at some point after the
registration period.) Many men who showed up for registration were
detained and/or deported, even though quite a few had labor
certification papers pending with BCIS – pending for as long as a few
years, since the agency has a major backlog of such cases.
My husband was in a semi-legal status at the time, since he had labor
certification papers pending too. He might've been able to stay in the
U.S. only on that basis - but we weren't sure (the rules seemed to
change almost from day to day during the registration period). We
wanted to stay together, so we got married. I was told by the INS (the
800 number for Customer Service; I didn't identify myself, just
described the situation) that they might deport my husband anyway, but
they didn't. He got through registration: no fines, detention, or
deportation – thank God!
We've been together nearly a year now, and our marriage is working out
well.
A few questions we need to have addressed soon, before our upcoming
interview:
Could BCIS ask "Why did you get married so quickly?" If so, can we
mention that it was partly due to the upcoming registration
procedures, or could this be construed as an attempt to "evade
immigration regulations" or whatever? Or would they even bother to ask
such a question? According to an immigration lawyer we've been
speaking to about this issue, BCIS "doesn't have the right" to ask
such a question and wouldn't ask that. I'm not sure about them not
having the right to ask such a question, however.
If/when a BCIS official asks, "When did you meet?", do we hedge by
saying "about a year ago" or "late last year" or "a few months before
we married", or something along those lines – and answer "December, I
think" only if they persist in questioning when we met?
Should we get a lawyer to assist us during the process? We had a
lawyer during the registration process (the one I mentioned above),
but she charged a lot of money and did very little. Ultimately, the
only thing that mattered to the INS during the registration period was
that we had our adjustment of status paperwork already filed with that
local office of the INS.
Even if the lawyer doesn't do much, does it help anyway if a lawyer is
present during the process? We've visited the Adjustment of Status
office in our local BCIS site before, and we did not get a good
impression of some of the workers there. For example, one employee was
rather hostile (yelling at a foreign woman who didn't understand the
answer to a question she had asked that worker).
Hoping to get some responses soon. Thanks in advance for any
suggestions.
soon. My husband is the adjustment of status applicant. We have lots
of documentation to help verify the validity of our marriage, but a
question about a possible problem/issue.
The documentation we have:
apartment lease signed by both of us
joint checking account bank statements for the past 4-5 months
health insurance plan for both of us (on the same plan, through my
employer)
phone bill for 3-4 months in both our names
three affidavit letters confirming the validity of our marriage and,
in two of the letters, stating how my husband and I met. (One of the
three letters is from my mother.)
So, we shouldn't have any problems on that basis. However, my husband
and I knew each other for a fairly short time before getting married.
Could the validity of our marriage be questioned only on that basis? I
called the 800 number for BCIS and asked about this situation, but was
only told that it depends on the individual immigration officer. So,
what is the likelihood of having our case denied only on the basis of
how long my husband and I knew each other before marriage?
We met December of last year and got married in January of this year,
just one to one and a half months later. Part of the reason for
marrying so quickly: my husband was subject to the special
registration procedures, since he's from one of the designated
countries. (Men 18-45 or so years old from various Middle Eastern and
South Asian countries were required to register with BCIS earlier this
year, or risk immediate deportation if caught at some point after the
registration period.) Many men who showed up for registration were
detained and/or deported, even though quite a few had labor
certification papers pending with BCIS – pending for as long as a few
years, since the agency has a major backlog of such cases.
My husband was in a semi-legal status at the time, since he had labor
certification papers pending too. He might've been able to stay in the
U.S. only on that basis - but we weren't sure (the rules seemed to
change almost from day to day during the registration period). We
wanted to stay together, so we got married. I was told by the INS (the
800 number for Customer Service; I didn't identify myself, just
described the situation) that they might deport my husband anyway, but
they didn't. He got through registration: no fines, detention, or
deportation – thank God!
We've been together nearly a year now, and our marriage is working out
well.
A few questions we need to have addressed soon, before our upcoming
interview:
Could BCIS ask "Why did you get married so quickly?" If so, can we
mention that it was partly due to the upcoming registration
procedures, or could this be construed as an attempt to "evade
immigration regulations" or whatever? Or would they even bother to ask
such a question? According to an immigration lawyer we've been
speaking to about this issue, BCIS "doesn't have the right" to ask
such a question and wouldn't ask that. I'm not sure about them not
having the right to ask such a question, however.
If/when a BCIS official asks, "When did you meet?", do we hedge by
saying "about a year ago" or "late last year" or "a few months before
we married", or something along those lines – and answer "December, I
think" only if they persist in questioning when we met?
Should we get a lawyer to assist us during the process? We had a
lawyer during the registration process (the one I mentioned above),
but she charged a lot of money and did very little. Ultimately, the
only thing that mattered to the INS during the registration period was
that we had our adjustment of status paperwork already filed with that
local office of the INS.
Even if the lawyer doesn't do much, does it help anyway if a lawyer is
present during the process? We've visited the Adjustment of Status
office in our local BCIS site before, and we did not get a good
impression of some of the workers there. For example, one employee was
rather hostile (yelling at a foreign woman who didn't understand the
answer to a question she had asked that worker).
Hoping to get some responses soon. Thanks in advance for any
suggestions.
Oct 10th 2003, 4:36 pm
#2
Account Closed
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 16,266
Re: semi-urgent question re: possible questioning of marriage validity during AOS int
Originally posted by Intl04
Even if the lawyer doesn't do much, does it help anyway if a lawyer is
present during the process? We've visited the Adjustment of Status
office in our local BCIS site before, and we did not get a good
impression of some of the workers there. For example, one employee was
rather hostile (yelling at a foreign woman who didn't understand the
answer to a question she had asked that worker).
Hoping to get some responses soon. Thanks in advance for any
suggestions.
Even if the lawyer doesn't do much, does it help anyway if a lawyer is
present during the process? We've visited the Adjustment of Status
office in our local BCIS site before, and we did not get a good
impression of some of the workers there. For example, one employee was
rather hostile (yelling at a foreign woman who didn't understand the
answer to a question she had asked that worker).
Hoping to get some responses soon. Thanks in advance for any
suggestions.
I often joke that the "perfect" interview is one where I say "good morning" at the beginning and "thank you" at the end and nothing in between. Its only happened once.
The special registration was a weird time where the rules changed almost daily -- we were often in the dark too -- but quite often a lawyers job is to be on standby ready to spring into action. If the Yankees are up by 7 runs in the 9th inning, they do not begrudge Mariano Rivera's salary -- they might just have well been ahead by only 1 run.
Oct 11th 2003, 3:17 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: semi-urgent question re: possible questioning of marriage validity during AOS interview
Thanks so much for the very helpful advice! We've decided to ask the
same lawyer as before to represent us during the interview (we
would've asked you for legal assistance, but you're not even in the
same region of the U.S.). We're meeting with her soon; she will
accompany us to the interview only if she feels it's necessary, after
discussion with us and review of all our documentation.
On a related note: how much discretionary authority does the
immigration officer have in this case? When I called the Customer
Service number earlier this year and asked to speak with an
immigration officer (again, I didn't identify myself but only
described the situation), that officer - nicer than most - said that
there are no regulations pertaining to how long you had to have known
someone before marrying them. I don't think she directly said that
BCIS could not formally object on the basis of how long you've known
someone before marriage, but that was basically the message from her.
Also, does having a lawyer with us look like an admission of possible
wrongdoing? (Just curious. Even if it does, it seems much better to
have a lawyer present, as you indicated.)
> Hi:
>
>
>
> I often joke that the "perfect" interview is one where I say "good
> morning" at the beginning and "thank you" at the end and nothing in
> between. Its only happened once.
>
>
>
> The special registration was a weird time where the rules changed almost
> daily -- we were often in the dark too -- but quite often a lawyers job
> is to be on standby ready to spring into action. If the Yankees are up
> by 7 runs in the 9th inning, they do not begrudge Mariano Rivera's
> salary -- they might just have well been ahead by only 1 run.
same lawyer as before to represent us during the interview (we
would've asked you for legal assistance, but you're not even in the
same region of the U.S.). We're meeting with her soon; she will
accompany us to the interview only if she feels it's necessary, after
discussion with us and review of all our documentation.
On a related note: how much discretionary authority does the
immigration officer have in this case? When I called the Customer
Service number earlier this year and asked to speak with an
immigration officer (again, I didn't identify myself but only
described the situation), that officer - nicer than most - said that
there are no regulations pertaining to how long you had to have known
someone before marrying them. I don't think she directly said that
BCIS could not formally object on the basis of how long you've known
someone before marriage, but that was basically the message from her.
Also, does having a lawyer with us look like an admission of possible
wrongdoing? (Just curious. Even if it does, it seems much better to
have a lawyer present, as you indicated.)
> Hi:
>
>
>
> I often joke that the "perfect" interview is one where I say "good
> morning" at the beginning and "thank you" at the end and nothing in
> between. Its only happened once.
>
>
>
> The special registration was a weird time where the rules changed almost
> daily -- we were often in the dark too -- but quite often a lawyers job
> is to be on standby ready to spring into action. If the Yankees are up
> by 7 runs in the 9th inning, they do not begrudge Mariano Rivera's
> salary -- they might just have well been ahead by only 1 run.
