Serious Red Flags even Denials: Can you still win your case?
There are plenty of difficult cases out there. That have numerous RED flags, such as significant age differences, criminal histories, short relationships, adultery, too brief face-to-face meetings, previous denials, coming from a country known for visa fraud, and so on. Even with all of this going on, CAN you still win your case?. With VisaCoach’s help I believe the answer is yes.
It comes down to the consular officer’s intuition. Whether he believes or disbelieves the couple is “bona fide”. If he suspects a sham, that the petition has been submitted for fraudulent purposes, only to gain admission to the USA (the golden ticket) not for a genuine opportunity for couple to make a life together, he will DENY.
There is no appeal
Because his decision is based on intuition, he doesn’t need solid proof of fraud. His suspicion ALONE, is enough, and there is no appeal.
In my experience a hand crafted petition clearly demonstrating a couple’s sincerity, that includes 5 to 8 solid examples of the couples “bona fides” prepares the way for a successful interview, and visa approval.
WHAT IF, the consular officer STILL suspects fraud? What if after examining an awesome front loaded petition, he STILLl suspects that the 22 year old Moroccan male courting the 63 year old American woman, has a fraudulent agenda, regardless of how many emails they have exchanged?
That petition will be denied. At least for the first time submitted. But what happens when the petition is re-submitted the next time?
When a visa is denied a couple has a very rough time. There are Tears + Disappointment. If the CO was right in his assessment, if there really was fraud, very soon the couple splits up. The “gigolo” or “gold digger” disappear seeking other likely targets.
But a genuine couple, sad and troubled STILL have each other. And if they still want a future together they have only one, practical option: Try again. And if rejected then again, and again. If they really want to share lives together in the USA that may be the only way to achieve their goal.
The original petition if was denied should not be considered everthing you could have done. Instead it should be considered merely as a component of a longer more drawn out campaign or war. Each application, each battle brings the couple closer to success.
It’s true you lost the first battle, but if you regroup and try again, what counts is not how many battles were lost, it only matters that the war is finally won.
Each interview the couple appears more sincere
Each time the couple returns to the consular officer’s desk they bring more evidence of their correspondences, more evidences of time spent together, and an enhanced appearance of a bona fide couple.
Fraudulent couples rarely apply twice and never apply a third time. Persistence and perseverance become the STRONGEST evidence of the couple’s “bona fides” and should eventually be the tipping point that convinces the officer to approve and issue the visa.
Face to Face time, is KEY
In the toughest of cases, persistence alone may not be enough. The real proof of a couple that says they want to be together, is for them to actually show it by spending as much time as they can manage face to face. The American fiance who lives overseas with his/her foreign fiance for months or years, is much, much more convincing than one that visits merely a week a year.
A loving couple in less than ideal circumstances.
If the foreign fiance is willing to spend the next 50 years living in the USA, it seems a small trade off to spend a year in his/her country first. Not only does this make a powerful demonstration to the consular officer, but ALSO to the couple themselves. If they can be a compatible loving couple living in less than ideal circumstances, it shows they are meant for each other. Couples that experience and overcome obstacles together build the strongest relationships.
In summary: No case where the couple is sincere, is unwinnable, Sometimes taking the long view is necessary. It might take more than a solitary petition but a series of petitions. And if the case is really dire consider moving overseas temporarily in order to live together as a couple while the campaign to finally live “happily ever after” in the USA is being fought.
By Fred Wahl
the VisaCoach