DISCLAIMER: case results are not meant as legal advice or a guarantee as to any specific outcome.
I assisted my clients, a U.S. Citizen from Haiti, and his Fiancée, a Haitian National, in their fiancé visa immigration process.
A U.S. citizen who plans on sponsoring his or her fiancé to the United States must file Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé. One of the main eligibility factors for this type of visa is proving that the sponsor and the fiancé (Beneficiary) intend to marry each other within 90 days of the fiancé abroad entering the U.S. as a K-1 nonimmigrant visa holder.
The clients came to me because they had received a “Request for Evidence” notice from the United States and Citizenship Services (USCIS) requesting that they submit evidence of the bona fide nature of their intention to marry within 90 days of the fiancé’s admission to the United States. They had submitted Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé by themselves, without the help of a qualified attorney, and they had also submitted very little evidence about their relationship and their intention to marry.
They were very worried for a few reasons:
- This had been their first time going through the complexities of the immigration process;
- They had already incurred an expense when they first submitted the Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé which resulted in a Request for Evidence; and
- They were concerned that their case would end up getting denied.
Following our consultation, they hired me in December of 2021. We spent over a month planning, and discuss the evidence we would submit to respond to the Request for Evidence. We eventually mailed the Request for Evidence packet and all the evidence in January of 2022.
My approach was the following:
- The clients had not previously submitted an individual declaration, so I assisted them in drafting their individual declarations describing their relationship, commitment to each other, and intention of marriage
- I assisted in gathering declarations from friends and family attesting to the legitimacy of the clients’ relationship and mutual commitment to each other
- I assisted in organizing evidence of communication between them, which included organizing phone call logs, text-messaging threads, video call logs, and social media communication.
- I assisted in organizing photos, flight itineraries, and financial transaction evidence, which would shed light on the legitimacy of their relationship.
- I suggested that they should include evidence of email communication between the clients and different City Halls within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as proof of marriage planning and intention of marriage
As indicated prior, we mailed the Request for Evidence in January of 2021. We received approval of the petition in January of 2022, less than a month after our response to the Request for Evidence. We were all very excited about such a prompt approval notice!
In March of 2022, the National Visa Center sent us a notification indicating that it had received the approved I-129F petition from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and that it would now forward the petition to the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Following receipt of that notice, my clients also hired me to assist and represent them throughout the consular processing of their fiancé visa, and to assist and represent them throughout their future adjustment of status immigration process.
We later received a packet from the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince, Haiti detailing the next steps, with regards to the medical examination, and the documentation required to bring on the day of the fiancé visa interview.
I then assisted them in completing the DS-160, Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application, the required fees were paid, and we were then able to schedule a fiancé visa interview with the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince. The interview was scheduled for July of 2022. Thereafter, the client then still in Haiti attended her medical exam, at which she received a sealed envelope with the results to take with her to the embassy on the day of her scheduled interview.
Following the above, we made sure to meet a few times to put together and organize the list of documents requested by the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince and make sure any required translation was processed and completed time in advance.
A few weeks before the scheduled fiancé visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince, we met two times to prepare for the interview, ensuring that the fiancé abroad felt comfortable on the day of the interview. We went over the evidence submitted and discussed the potential questions the officer would be asking on the day of the interview.
The interview was a success and my client’s fiancé visa was approved. The client will now be able to pick up her passport at the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince and soon be reunited with her U.S. Citizen soon-to-be husband in the United States.