Advice needed urgently! Put on administrative review at Mumbai Consulate
Jul 29th 2002, 1:43 pm
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8
Advice needed urgently! Put on administrative review at Mumbai Consulate
HI all,
I am new to this forum.
First of all about my case.i am from mumbai and my fiance from missouri.we met on the net last year and we got engaged in India.WE got our approval from the INS on April 2 2002and attended the interview on July 25.Now here are our details,we have a six year age difference (she is older by six years) and the consulate thinks we should be hanged for this!!!! At my interview i had taken all the evidence anyone could possibly carry,emails,postal letters,greetings,phone bills,photos,emails from her family,our future holiday plans.,the wedding rings receipts,engagement ring receipts....etc.And what the visa officer saw? nothing!! not a single thing!! he just kept the postal letters and left from the counter.Earlier on the day of the interview i was asked questions like when did we meet,did she come to see me here in India? and did we have an engagement party? well all that went smoothly.Then another officer was summoned for questioning and we asked me questions like what work do i do ? how much did i earn? who stays with me,what does my brother do? where does he work? what is my educational background? he also asked whether i knew my fiance was divorced before....did i know what the punishment for a fraudelent marriage.love???..perhaps thats an alien idea for a person seeking to marry an american ,well i thought the american society was the most open thinking in the world? oh wow was i in for a shock!!.Anyhow i was handed a 221(g) with "Admininstrative Review" written on it. here is the million dollar question now.....what do we do now??? My fiance had already sent 2 pre-interview faxes to the Chief consular officer there begging not to delay the visa,she inquired with her congressman BEFORE THE INTERVIEW and put forth her fears to the congressman,who was kind enough to send a pre-interview fax to teh consulate.
Anyone out there with suggestions..ideas..who do we contact now? what is the course of action ,our lives are hanging in balance,we had planned to marry on august 23.My fiance is totally devastated. Could any of you kind hearted souls give me on what we should do now..what can we do now so that consulate expedites our case,can we send any additional proof to them or contact the senator,congressman or any other official.
I am anxiously waiting for any reply that i get on this forum.
Adios for Now and thank you guys for any help!
Ravi
I am new to this forum.
First of all about my case.i am from mumbai and my fiance from missouri.we met on the net last year and we got engaged in India.WE got our approval from the INS on April 2 2002and attended the interview on July 25.Now here are our details,we have a six year age difference (she is older by six years) and the consulate thinks we should be hanged for this!!!! At my interview i had taken all the evidence anyone could possibly carry,emails,postal letters,greetings,phone bills,photos,emails from her family,our future holiday plans.,the wedding rings receipts,engagement ring receipts....etc.And what the visa officer saw? nothing!! not a single thing!! he just kept the postal letters and left from the counter.Earlier on the day of the interview i was asked questions like when did we meet,did she come to see me here in India? and did we have an engagement party? well all that went smoothly.Then another officer was summoned for questioning and we asked me questions like what work do i do ? how much did i earn? who stays with me,what does my brother do? where does he work? what is my educational background? he also asked whether i knew my fiance was divorced before....did i know what the punishment for a fraudelent marriage.love???..perhaps thats an alien idea for a person seeking to marry an american ,well i thought the american society was the most open thinking in the world? oh wow was i in for a shock!!.Anyhow i was handed a 221(g) with "Admininstrative Review" written on it. here is the million dollar question now.....what do we do now??? My fiance had already sent 2 pre-interview faxes to the Chief consular officer there begging not to delay the visa,she inquired with her congressman BEFORE THE INTERVIEW and put forth her fears to the congressman,who was kind enough to send a pre-interview fax to teh consulate.
Anyone out there with suggestions..ideas..who do we contact now? what is the course of action ,our lives are hanging in balance,we had planned to marry on august 23.My fiance is totally devastated. Could any of you kind hearted souls give me on what we should do now..what can we do now so that consulate expedites our case,can we send any additional proof to them or contact the senator,congressman or any other official.
I am anxiously waiting for any reply that i get on this forum.
Adios for Now and thank you guys for any help!
Ravi
Jul 29th 2002, 2:14 pm
#2
Oregon/ShangHai
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 394
Re: Advice needed urgently! Put on administrative review at Mumbai Consulate
Go back to messages dated 7/26/02 and look for this subject:
K1 visa not given -Weird Reasons...Please Help. Very Sad
You will find many others received the same treatment as you. They offer suggestins on how to best proceed. Good Luck.
-Don
K1 visa not given -Weird Reasons...Please Help. Very Sad
You will find many others received the same treatment as you. They offer suggestins on how to best proceed. Good Luck.
-Don
Jul 29th 2002, 4:08 pm
#3
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 333
Re: Advice needed urgently! Put on administrative review at Mumbai Consulate
So sorry to hear of this coming from Mumbai again. It makes me so sad to see this happening so frequently. you will see from the thread that donahso led you too that 221 (g)'s are common torment form there.
this is the thread:
http://britishexpats.com/forums/show...8&pagenumber=1
But you will want to search for more threads about Mumbai try searching from the google site...that is in the above thread also.
However Ravi, you and your fiance do not have the "common" "drag you thru the mud till you cry" 221 (g). You have the Administrative Review compounding it. Who knows why they do this? And the miserable part is ....they DON"T have to tell you.
You can become familiar with the FAM (Foreign Affairs Manual) that is the Consulate guide.
Go to:
http://www.foia.state.gov/fam/fams.a...=2&id=10&fam=0
and *start* reading at document 40.201
The upshot is they do NOT have to give reasons for Administrative Review and WHEN they will get around to doing the review is not disclosed either.
:
You did what i would have suggested a couple do BUT still a 221 and administrative review was dropped on you. i have seen couples make it thru this, but it was a protracted wait. Keep up the correspondence with your Congressional liason, i'm glad to hear they were helpful from the beginning. There is a section in the FAM that deals with Congressional responses:
.................................................. .................................................. ...
9 FAM PART IV Appendix E – Page 1 of 3
9 FAM 701 PROMPT RESPONSES ESSENTIAL
(TL:VISA-269; 05-02-2001)
It is most important to answer promptly inquiries from Members of
Congress. Posts may respond to inquiries by telegram, e-mail, a letter or
fax. Posts are reminded that congressional inquiries must be answered
within 3 working days. Implicit in the congressional use of a telegram is a
desire for a prompt reply, preferably within 2 working days. Replies to such
inquiries should be courteous and friendly, and the content as fully
responsive to the inquirer as possible under the law and regulations. Posts
should also try to anticipate and answer further questions which may arise
based on the information post is providing
.................................................. .................................................. ...
Contact with Mr. Theodore Andrews (under Christina B. Rocca who heads the Bureau of South Asian Affairs, which deals with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with India). When we contacted him, his first comment to me was that "they have had trouble with this Embassy before, they thought they had it sorted out".
His email is [email protected]
phone number is (one or both of these)
202-647-2140 202-647-1112
Now my questions for you.
What consular officer did you have? You can see a picture of Fred Polasky at http://www.usagreencard.org/html/introduction.htm
he is head of Consular Section. Or possible Mr. Kelly? (you will find a physical description of him on one of myprevious threads).
How was your passport notated?
Did they send the news of your Administrative review to your Congressional liason?
Best wishes to both of you
this is the thread:
http://britishexpats.com/forums/show...8&pagenumber=1
But you will want to search for more threads about Mumbai try searching from the google site...that is in the above thread also.
However Ravi, you and your fiance do not have the "common" "drag you thru the mud till you cry" 221 (g). You have the Administrative Review compounding it. Who knows why they do this? And the miserable part is ....they DON"T have to tell you.
You can become familiar with the FAM (Foreign Affairs Manual) that is the Consulate guide.
Go to:
http://www.foia.state.gov/fam/fams.a...=2&id=10&fam=0
and *start* reading at document 40.201
The upshot is they do NOT have to give reasons for Administrative Review and WHEN they will get around to doing the review is not disclosed either.
:
You did what i would have suggested a couple do BUT still a 221 and administrative review was dropped on you. i have seen couples make it thru this, but it was a protracted wait. Keep up the correspondence with your Congressional liason, i'm glad to hear they were helpful from the beginning. There is a section in the FAM that deals with Congressional responses:
.................................................. .................................................. ...
9 FAM PART IV Appendix E – Page 1 of 3
9 FAM 701 PROMPT RESPONSES ESSENTIAL
(TL:VISA-269; 05-02-2001)
It is most important to answer promptly inquiries from Members of
Congress. Posts may respond to inquiries by telegram, e-mail, a letter or
fax. Posts are reminded that congressional inquiries must be answered
within 3 working days. Implicit in the congressional use of a telegram is a
desire for a prompt reply, preferably within 2 working days. Replies to such
inquiries should be courteous and friendly, and the content as fully
responsive to the inquirer as possible under the law and regulations. Posts
should also try to anticipate and answer further questions which may arise
based on the information post is providing
.................................................. .................................................. ...
Contact with Mr. Theodore Andrews (under Christina B. Rocca who heads the Bureau of South Asian Affairs, which deals with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with India). When we contacted him, his first comment to me was that "they have had trouble with this Embassy before, they thought they had it sorted out".
His email is [email protected]
phone number is (one or both of these)
202-647-2140 202-647-1112
Now my questions for you.
What consular officer did you have? You can see a picture of Fred Polasky at http://www.usagreencard.org/html/introduction.htm
he is head of Consular Section. Or possible Mr. Kelly? (you will find a physical description of him on one of myprevious threads).
How was your passport notated?
Did they send the news of your Administrative review to your Congressional liason?
Best wishes to both of you
Jul 30th 2002, 10:10 am
#4
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8
Re: Advice needed urgently! Put on administrative review at Mumbai Consulate
Hi tara,
Here are the answers to your questions
What consular officer did you have?
Hmm...first there was an American Lady in her early 40s perhaps,slightly red hair,well looked very stern,but was polite.
The second officer who interviewed me after sometime was shortish,bald head(not totally but almost) asked me questions like perhaps he thought i was involved in marriage fraud,put in a hindi word"baba"... like he said "aree baba this is what i am asking"
And i am really curious who is MR.Kelly?
How was your passport notated?
My passport was notated as "IV 221(g)"
Did they send the news of your Administrative review to your Congressional liason?
I dont have any idea if they notated the congressional liaison since we havent contacted them after the interview.Please read my second posting here i asked you few other questions hope yopu dont mind answering them
Here are the answers to your questions
What consular officer did you have?
Hmm...first there was an American Lady in her early 40s perhaps,slightly red hair,well looked very stern,but was polite.
The second officer who interviewed me after sometime was shortish,bald head(not totally but almost) asked me questions like perhaps he thought i was involved in marriage fraud,put in a hindi word"baba"... like he said "aree baba this is what i am asking"
And i am really curious who is MR.Kelly?
How was your passport notated?
My passport was notated as "IV 221(g)"
Did they send the news of your Administrative review to your Congressional liason?
I dont have any idea if they notated the congressional liaison since we havent contacted them after the interview.Please read my second posting here i asked you few other questions hope yopu dont mind answering them
Aug 1st 2002, 6:27 am
#5
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2001
Location: Pa
Posts: 17
Re: Advice needed urgently! Put on administrative review at Mumbai Consulate
Oh here we go again, another one, seems this is a never ending battle with India. I say our govt needs to look into this place harder and straighten some people up.
Tara between you and me we didn't turn enough heads yet lol..
Now back to some advice here. If I were you, I would contact my Sentor and let them know what is going on. I would make copies of these events in India from the ng etc and mail that along with your letter.
Ask your Senator to help you and to check into this matter, they will contact the consulate.
I was informed by my Senator that they must give a reason to them as why you are being held up for review.
Also I would make some plans to go there when you get the next interview date. It seems and by my experience IT HELPS>>>
My husband and I were put through this, and I might add it was not easy so yes my friend I feel your pain as this brings back so many memories of how we too were treated...
Just remember you'll be together soon......
Tara between you and me we didn't turn enough heads yet lol..
Now back to some advice here. If I were you, I would contact my Sentor and let them know what is going on. I would make copies of these events in India from the ng etc and mail that along with your letter.
Ask your Senator to help you and to check into this matter, they will contact the consulate.
I was informed by my Senator that they must give a reason to them as why you are being held up for review.
Also I would make some plans to go there when you get the next interview date. It seems and by my experience IT HELPS>>>
My husband and I were put through this, and I might add it was not easy so yes my friend I feel your pain as this brings back so many memories of how we too were treated...
Just remember you'll be together soon......
