amys

I hope someone can help. We are stuck in administrative review in mumbai india for almost 3 months now. Right now we just have vague responses from the consulate mentioning they need to investigate. They are not telling us whats the problem. We asked questions what they need from us and still get the same response. We also had a lawyer do the paperwork. Nothing is wrong in our case.

My first question can they hold our application for k1 for no reason. Why are they not telling us why they are holding it. In my opinion theres no reason to hold it. Do they have to tell us why they are holding it after 3 months of waiting.

My second question is how long do they have to open and finish the review. Is their a time limit? I think it might be a year, but somewhere someone mentioned 6 months. Do they have to do something within 3 months?

What gets me is that some people get approval the same day while we are under review for no reason. We have to wait and wait and wait.........for no fault of our own.

thanks in advance
amy

amys

also forgot

Thirdy, can they deny us based on thinking we should not be together cause we are different race. Can they just deny cause they feel like it. I thought they can only deny based on criminal record, medical issues, and other major issues.

Sorry for all of this worrying cause i miss my fiance so much and we did nothing wrong. We have no idea why this is happening to us and others are getting their visas on the same day with no problems. I just don't understand we went by the books and we are delayed. Its mind boggling and frustrating.

amy

Folinskyinla

Hi:

No, they can't deny expressly for interracial marriages. That said, they can deny simply because they are not satisfied.

However, one thing I would NOT worry about is prejudice against interracial marriages -- as a group, Consular Officers statistically tend to have more interracial relationships and marriages.

This is a matter of observation on my part.

amys

This is scaring me, they can deny cause they feel like it. Do they ever realize how they are hurting the couple that are in love. How can they make a life changing decision based on their own opinion. Has anybody been denied cause the consular just decided on a whim that a couple should not be together. This bothers me so much. I know I shouldn't be worried but hate to have this happen.

amy

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I don't think the Consular Officers are out to "hurt people." Furthermore, YOU have made "a life changing decision based upon [your] opinion" have you not??

Seriously, the system has long been set up that the consular officer considering the visa application has been given much in the way of "gatekeeper" power. Fortunately, most do not abuse that power.

In evaluating the system, it pays to remember that the immigration law is generally one of "Aliens, stay out" with certain exceptions being made, and it is presumed that the alien is NOT qualified for the exception.

And once your past the consular gatekeeper, you have the port of entry gatekeeper. Unfortunatley, I can't be as confident in the POE gatekeeper abilities.

amys

[QUOTE][SIZE=1]Originally posted by Folinskyinla:


Hi:

I don't think the Consular Officers are out to "hurt people." Furthermore, YOU have made "a life changing decision based upon [your] opinion" have you not??

I don't get your saying that i made a life changing decision....Its not opinion, i just want facts how they can deny and if this has been done before.

What I was trying to get at is that the consular is making a big decision based on their opinion that a couple should not be together. This is very detrimental if they deny, cause a couple will never be together and they could have the best marriage ever. Its scary when they can decide your destiny. I am just wondering why we are under review when we did nothing wrong and why they need to do this. It just makes me wonder what they are thinking about cause if nothing was wrong in their "mind" we would have gotten the visa. My mind is going crazy thinking this and that.

thanks
amy

Folinskyinla

[QUOTE][SIZE=1]Originally posted by amys:
Hi:

Love and affection is both a fact and an opinion. A strong one. BTW, I've been married for a long time.

Also, in my experience, the Consular officers do not evaluate whether a couple "should" or should not be together -- they consider that beyond their purview. WHAT they are concerned about is whether or not the relationship is genuine and not a sham. That is a different matter than whether you should be together. A law school classmate became a consular officer and he told me he has seen many marriage cases where he wondered how in the hell that couple got together, found the relationship strange, but if it was genuine and not a sham just to get a green card -- he would grant the case. Lets put it this way, Tom told me that he saw many cases where he felt the US citizen was being taken for ride, but genuinely loved "the bastard" [Tom's word, not mine] and he would grant the visa.

Good luck.

amys

[QUOTE][SIZE=1]Originally posted by Folinskyinla:


Hi:

Love and affection is both a fact and an opinion. A strong one. BTW, I've been married for a long time.

Thanks for responding Folinskyinla. I feel little better after your response. We are definately not sham and love each other. I just hope they see that.

I just hope our review gets over soon. Hey do you know if they have to tell me after a certain amount time why we are under review. Also whats the time limit for them, at one place I saw that they have 6 months but I think its more like 1 year. Its hard for me to know when they are going to review, its a waiting game.

amy

donahso

Amy...do a search on here for "mumbai" and you will find yourself in good company. You story is familiar to folks who have been here for awhile. For some reason, that consulate lets the toadies run the place.

Don't give up! You will get the visa after you cow-tow and grovel enough to suit them. They are just a bunch of sadistic bastards (opinion based on reports from other victims). Hang tuff and play their game. I'm sure some of the other successful victims will chime in if they see 'Mumbai" in the subject line.

-Don H

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Please forgive me, but LOL.

Jan Pedersen in Washington DC is the AILA national maven on consular practice. When she lectures at our various CLE seminars, she emphasizes the need for the atorney to "grovel." I've teased Jan that what she means is that while you are being assertive, you have to be exceedingly polite.

I usually take the line of "You are correct, BUT ..."

With the INS, I used to take the line of responding to what they said rather than what they meant. But I found a while back that that is no longer effective. Sigh.

Andrew Defaria

Folinskyinla wrote:

    > Furthermore, YOU have made "a life changing decision based upon [your]
    > opinion" have you not??
    > Seriously, the system has long been set up that the consular officer
    > considering the visa application has been given much in the way of
    > "gatekeeper" power. Fortunately, most do not abuse that power.

Lacking the traditional smiley, come on! She made a decision to change
her life based on her opinion. That's a world of difference to somebody
making a decision to change somebody else's life (in this context) based
on their 3rd party opinion.

Andrew Defaria

Folinskyinla wrote:

    > Also, in my experience, the Consular officers do not evaluate whether
    > a couple "should" or should not be together -- they consider that
    > beyond their purview. WHAT they are concerned about is whether or not
    > the relationship is genuine and not a sham. That is a different matter
    > than whether you should be together.

Please give me an example of a couple that "should" be together but is
also a "sham". You see to most rationally thinking people the two just
doesn't mix. If the marriage is a sham then, by definition it's not a
marriage where the couple "should" be together.

    > A law school classmate became a consular officer and he told me he has
    > seen many marriage cases where he wondered how in the hell that couple
    > got together, found the relationship strange, but if it was genuine
    > and not a sham just to get a green card -- he would grant the case.
    > Lets put it this way, Tom told me that he saw many cases where he felt
    > the US citizen was being taken for ride, but genuinely loved "the
    > bastard" [Tom's word, not mine] and he would grant the visa.

Yes, whether or not the consular officer feels the marriage will fall
apart in a short time or if say the lady is taking the man simply for
his money should not (idealistically) be of concern to the consular as
far as the administration of immigration law is concerned. In reality
though I believe that many consular officers are not like your friend
and will attempt to hold up a marriage that they just don't think
"should" be together. Of course this is a very grey area and hard to prove.

For the life of me, however, I can't see how not fully disclosing the
issues involved in the consular's decision to go for administrative
review helps anybody at all! I would think that most people would want
to know if the consular feels that the beneficary is attempting entry to
the US merely for an immigration benefit and would be more than willing
to offer additional evidence that this is not so (or be unable to offer
additional evidence that this is not so). IOW how does keeping the
issues from the beneficary and petition serve anybody?!?

Andrew Defaria

amys wrote:

    > I just hope our review gets over soon. Hey do you know if they have to
    > tell me after a certain amount time why we are under review. Also
    > whats the time limit for them, at one place I saw that they have 6
    > months but I think its more like 1 year. Its hard for me to know when
    > they are going to review, its a waiting game.

I think they can take as long as they want. After 1 year, however, the
embassy will consider the petition abandoned. In my case my petition was
sent back to the service center in the US for administrative review.
They just sat on it for a year. I emailed the embassy in an attempt to
get an official explaination in writting for the reason for the refusal
to issue the visa. I got it. It was not at all helpful simply stating
that the petition was returned to the service center for administrative
review. But there was a little fine print there saying that after 1 year
the embassy will consider the petition abandoned. I emailed the embassy
again telling them that it was not my fault that this petition was being
held up and that I was employing everything within my means to get a
status of my petition in administrative review but the INS had not
budged one bit. The embassy granted me another attempt at a visa with no
promises. We went back out there and they interviewed my fiancée, asked
a few questions and let her pass.

My advice is to be persistent and a pain in the ass to anybody involved
in this decision constantly asking for a status, what's the hold up,
etc. Let them know that you are indeed interested and impatience. After
all, IMHO you have a right to know what's going on and what's delaying
the process (after all this is your government!). Offer assistence in
anything they ask for (they won't). There is nothing wrong with doing
this IMHO. If you show no interest they will assume that it was a sham
and just let it abandon by itself.

Good luck.

amys

If you show no interest they will assume that it was a sham
and just let it abandon by itself.

Good luck.

Thanks Andrew, thanks for your advice. At first I didn't inquire much, but now I am getting pissed. I have inquired via the congressmans office twice. I also emailed them twice. All four times I received the same letter stating they just have to investigate, same exact letter. I asked specifically what is the hold up and they don't tell me nothing. (I hope this was enough asking to prove that we love each other).

I will be asking under the freedom of information act why we are under review. This will be hard for them cause theres no reason to hold us.

Now I will be emailing and calling once a week now to see what the hell is going on over there. At first I didn't think it was good to bug them but now this is getting out of hand, 3 months of this BS.

I might call a lawyer to help me with this process, maybe they can have a pull. Maybe if the consulate sees that I payed more for a lawyer they might think Gee this girl is in love.

Andrew I had read your pass experiences and you went through the ringer. Please email me at [email protected] for any advice and how you went about finally getting her visa. I just need to know what more I can do now. This is ridiculous.

amy

Andy Platt

"amys" wrote:

    > I will be asking under the freedom of information act why we are under
    > review. This will be hard for them cause theres no reason to hold us.

Not really. The purpose of the review is to determine if there is anything
bad; sending it for administrative review can be done on a whim
unfortunately. All the FOIA request will show is what they have to review
which may be nothing but that won't stop the process until they review it! I
don't want to put you off making the request though - at the very least it
will allow you to know if there is something they have wrong or if there is
something they do know that you don't.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.