ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
On March 25, 2009 was finally the day that my boyfriend was to have his interview. The wait was torture but the preparation of all the documents were even worst. But yeah good.gif the day was here.

Well, Our happiness was short lived unfortunately the interview was cold and impersonal and lasted all of 3 minutes. The supporting documents were never even reviewed by the interviewer and he was glued to the passport just wanted to know why he wanted to go to the United States he replied for a Small Business Summit at the United States Chamber Of Commerce. Which he had all the documents with the confirmation # and receipt, and contact person to confirm everything those documents were never even looked at. He then questioned why he had not travelled to China and Togo seeing the visas that had been granted. He replied because he had this opportunity to become available so he preferred this opportunity. He then abruptly ended the conversation and gave the denial paper with the stamp denied and reasons given being 1. No travel experience 2. No Financial ties to Ghana.

If the interviewer had even taken the time he would have seen the supporting documents for his Business in Ghana, Land Ownership, Rental Property, His current construction contracts. etc...

It is imperative that he is in attendance at this Small Business Summit in Washington DC. What can we do? I called the Consulate and wrote an email explaining our situation. It is so frustrating spending all that time , and money organizing everything and it is barely even looked at.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have been advised to just wait a year and try again, someone else suggested we should get a Lawyer and go back as soon as possible. Time is not on our side. The conference is May 11-May 13.
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-26 20:34:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (attaya_girl @ Mar 30 2009, 02:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
first of all, i am so, so sorry. i know how frustrating that is. before planning on filing the k-1, my family really wanted my fiance to visit the u.s. to meet the whole family and see where i was from, etc (we met while i was in senegal). we tried twice to get the visitor visa, and each time you get turned down it gets harder.

someone below said that after getting denied for this visa, that he would have to wait six months before applying for a visa of any kind? does this include the k-1? my fiance tried to get a visitor visa two months ago, and now i'm worried that this will affect our k-1.....



Good questions does the denial of the tourist visa affect the petition for the K1?

QUOTE (cornbread @ Mar 30 2009, 07:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (christera22 @ Mar 29 2009, 09:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thats a good thing.Go to Ghana ....get married there , come back and apply for a Cr-1/Ir-1 visa or K3 visa for him ...Easy and good way to go for it. While the process is going on he will easily get a tourist visa to visit you temporarily. I think for now this is the best thing to do ...Others wd surely add something to this.



If you decide to go to Ghana to meet your SO and decide to marry, PLEASE,PLEASE, PLEASE do not attempt to file for a tourist visa. This is actually seen as visa fraud. If you are planning to file for a K3 or CR1 I'd suggest you do the petition and wait out the process. He should not attempt to visit you on a tourist visa, it could ruin his chances of ever coming to the states if he is suspected of visa fraud. Since after being married his intention will clearly be to be with is wife permanently filing for a tourist visa to visit you while waiting for the K3 process will be a big mistake.

Please make sure you become well informed about the process and the rules. VJ has been an excellent source for me and I can tell you right now as I prepare to begin the process by mailing my petition in this week that VJ has already helped me avoid many mistakes and I always know I can get some good advice. Most people here have already been there or have read of someone who has been in many of the situations presented here in these forums.

I am glad we are able to be resourceful and save ourselves additional grief and headache

I wish you only the very best



Wooh hoo yes I am soo glad VJ is here. What a help and great encouragement.


kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-31 00:06:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (Zee Bee @ Mar 30 2009, 08:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (christera22 @ Mar 30 2009, 12:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thats a good thing.Go to Ghana ....get married there , come back and apply for a Cr-1/Ir-1 visa or K3 visa for him ...Easy and good way to go for it. While the process is going on he will easily get a tourist visa to visit you temporarily. I think for now this is the best thing to do ...Others wd surely add something to this.


Not true. Not true. Not true.

In fact, he is more likely to get denied AFTER she has petitioned for him.

Please do not spread false information.

QUOTE (kps518 @ Mar 29 2009, 10:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thank you for your reply and advice. I feel bad now that I indeed did more harm than good by contacting the embassy. Anyway now I do not know if we should just wait 6 months and then try to re-apply for the tourist visa or begin the petition for the fiance visa? Now I am somewhat confused as how we should proceed. I am going to visit Ghana in May since he was denied entry. I am open to living in Ghana to ease the pain of being apart until we are able to complete the petitioning process.


If I were you, I would file the K1 now. Unless you can overcome the reasons for the initial denial of the tourist visa (which I doubt you can) and given that they know that he has a fiancee in the US, I think it would be a waste of time and money to apply again.

Is the process easier if you marry first and then file for the Cr-1/Ir-1 or K3? Or is it a more straight forward procedure too petition for the fiance visa? He wants to marry and I was hoping he could visit first to meet my family but now I see that is not going to be possible. Sooo I need to know if it is to our advantage to marry in Ghana first and then apply for the other type of visa Cr-1/Ir-1 or K3 or just begin the petition process for the K1????

Everyone makes mistakes smile.gif


kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-30 23:58:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (kkholiday2006 @ Mar 27 2009, 10:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Did you already file the K-1?

I know my SO at the time..got denied once they knew we had already filed.



no have not filed yet.
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-29 21:32:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (aba anoma @ Mar 29 2009, 09:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
i am not sure if you are going to try petitioning, but if you do... know that it is not a prerequisite to have travel experience. my husband- a ghanaian- received a multiple entry tourist visa in 2007. he had never been out of ghana. his interview was also three minutes, as they just asked him where i was (outside the embassy) and looked through my passport. i lived in ghana for several years and had registered my residency with the embassy. i am certain that he only received the tourist visa because he was married to an american living IN ghana. had i been here already, i am sure he would have been denied. if the visa was denied on the grounds of lack of travel and financial ties, and you can prove the financial ties, it would be a good argument. that said, i have to agree that your contacting the embassy will not really help his case. fair or not, as zee said, once they catch wind of a relationship, they are very unlikely to give out a tourist visa.

best of luck!


Thank you for your reply and advice. I feel bad now that I indeed did more harm than good by contacting the embassy. Anyway now I do not know if we should just wait 6 months and then try to re-apply for the tourist visa or begin the petition for the fiance visa? Now I am somewhat confused as how we should proceed. I am going to visit Ghana in May since he was denied entry. I am open to living in Ghana to ease the pain of being apart until we are able to complete the petitioning process.
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-29 21:08:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (aba anoma @ Mar 29 2009, 09:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
i am not sure if you are going to try petitioning, but if you do... know that it is not a prerequisite to have travel experience. my husband- a ghanaian- received a multiple entry tourist visa in 2007. he had never been out of ghana. his interview was also three minutes, as they just asked him where i was (outside the embassy) and looked through my passport. i lived in ghana for several years and had registered my residency with the embassy. i am certain that he only received the tourist visa because he was married to an american living IN ghana. had i been here already, i am sure he would have been denied. if the visa was denied on the grounds of lack of travel and financial ties, and you can prove the financial ties, it would be a good argument. that said, i have to agree that your contacting the embassy will not really help his case. fair or not, as zee said, once they catch wind of a relationship, they are very unlikely to give out a tourist visa.

best of luck!


Thank you for your reply and advice. I feel bad now that I indeed did more harm than good by contacting the embassy. Anyway now I do not know if we should just wait 6 months and then try to re-apply for the tourist visa or begin the petition for the fiance visa? Now I am somewhat confused as how we should proceed. I am going to visit Ghana in May since he was denied entry. I am open to living in Ghana to ease the pain of being apart until we are able to complete the petitioning process.
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-29 20:57:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (christera22 @ Mar 27 2009, 01:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Its complex . Either i am understanding wrong or you are telling something wrong. Before suggesting let me get a few things clear. So your boyfriend applied for tourist visa for the summit with both the intention of meeting you and attending the summit. So you both thought this both the evidence of physical meet which is a must for K1 visa. Right ?

a) If so then the CO is perfectly right. They look into certain things ... like how many international trips the person has done. In his case it was nill. Plus he had visas and didnt go. So the CO thought he didnt go so that he can go to US.

cool.gif Showing bank accounts, job in Ghana, properties in his name, plocies , life insurance in his name etc etc proves ties to Ghana. Plus they specially want to see something for which he wd return to Ghana. Say for example for married people its wife, it can also be a job, some college course he is attending etc etc.

Now he has no way to show that he has foreign travels but he can always show what I detailed in point B. Without those in B the CO will never allow him . Problem is Co didnt want to see those inspite he had those. When i 1st came in USA i didnt have any foreign travels but i had huge proofs of ties to india and stuff which i showed that i wd come back to india for. Plus talking convincingly is also a big point. I went in a business trip while i was attending a college course. So I had a letter from the college that they know that I am going to US and wd continue my course after coming back. The whole interview has to be very convincing and eye to eye ... he has to speak with lot of straight forwardedness to make the CO believe that he wd indeed come back. So i had to convince the CO that I wd return. BUt then I returned in two months when i had 3 months visa. Next time also when i visited for business i was asked no question and the interview was only 1.5 minutes as once when u come back within the visa time , 2nd time getting the visa is real easy, because its proved that you will come back.

You already said he had a bunch of proofs regarding his ties to Ghana, which the CO didnt want to see. He can also get an emergency letter from the summit organisation. BUt you said you called the Consulate and wrote an email explaining your situation. That was a wrong thing to do as now the consulate knows that apart from the summit his other major reason to go to USa is meeting his fiance. They wont allow it.
Problem is they showed two points
a) No travel experience - He cannot change that ...unless he goes to some other countried for a short visit and then appears to the consulate again.
cool.gif No financial ties : this can be countered with all those things he took for interview.

I wd say here the best thing to do is you visitng him. You wd get a visa to ghana very very easily and with much less effort than him coming to you. You can visit him with your family too , if you feel safe that way. He can try for another interview too, but you have already let the consulate know about your situation ..so that makes it more No. I hope some more senior people here can suggest you better.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks for your reply. I was in Ghana August 2008 for one month. My family visit Ghana LOL moms scared to fly.
He was sponsored for the Business summit by the company that has partnered with him on his constructions projects in Ghana. They also supplied the Affidavits of support, letters of recommendation, and copies of current and past construction contracts that they had with his company in Ghana. Not quite sure what other documents can be supplied to show strong financial ties besides the one already mentioned. CO never looked at them anyway.
The email I sent to the consulate was in reference to them refusing him a visa and the fact that his was being sponsored by an American company that does business in Ghana with him. Also, the fact that this is a once in a lifetime experience to meet and greet Congressman on Capital Hill and be at the US Chamber of Commerce. Not to mention it would enhance his business in Ghana.
I guess as some point I will just give up the fight and board a airplane to Ghana.
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-27 07:51:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
QUOTE (Sylvia_n_Joseph @ Mar 27 2009, 01:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
If a visa is rejected there is a always a wiat period to reapply. I am afraid he will not be getting a visa in time. There is little a lawyer can do. It is vey hard to get visas from Africa. You have to a large number of high value assets. Most of us can't gets our SO's here on temp visas.



Thank you for your response. It was very helpful. In reference to large number of high value assets what do you mean I do not understand? And what is SO's? Sorry this is a learning process for me as well. unsure.gif
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-27 07:01:00
Africa: Sub-SaharanDenied tourist visa at Ghana Embassy WHY
On March 25, 2009 was finally the day that my boyfriend was to have his interview. The wait was torture but the preparation of all the documents were even worst. But yeah good.gif the day was here.

Well, Our happiness was short lived unfortunately the interview was cold and impersonal and lasted all of 3 minutes. The supporting documents were never even reviewed by the interviewer and he was glued to the passport just wanted to know why he wanted to go to the United States he replied for a Small Business Summit at the United States Chamber Of Commerce. Which he had all the documents with the confirmation # and receipt, and contact person to confirm everything those documents were never even looked at. He then questioned why he had not travelled to China and Togo seeing the visas that had been granted. He replied because he had this opportunity to become available so he preferred this opportunity. He then abruptly ended the conversation and gave the denial paper with the stamp denied and reasons given being 1. No travel experience 2. No Financial ties to Ghana.

If the interviewer had even taken the time he would have seen the supporting documents for his Business in Ghana, Land Ownership, Rental Property, His current construction contracts. etc...

It is imperative that he is in attendance at this Small Business Summit in Washington DC. What can we do? I called the Consulate and wrote an email explaining our situation. It is so frustrating spending all that time , and money organizing everything and it is barely even looked at.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have been advised to just wait a year and try again, someone else suggested we should get a Lawyer and go back as soon as possible. Time is not on our side. The conference is May 11-May 13.

We were hoping that when he went to the conference he would also be able to meet my family. He has no intentions of staying in the USA at this time. but we felt that this visit would be strong evidence when we began the filing for the Fiance Visa process. We are both heartbroken. For each other and the fact that this Conference would greatly help his business back in Ghana.
kps518FemaleGhana2009-03-26 21:08:00
Africa: Sub-Saharanreceived packet 3 and 4 in Accra today
Congratulations to you and yours! Today Fred picked up his packet today as well our interview date is January 12, 2012. what they hell! I look at other peoples time-line and they started the process around the same time or even after us and the time-line looks nothing like Ghana. I do not understand the delay. If anyone has any suggestions on what we can do to change the date too a sooner date I will welcome your suggestions. this has got to be a mistake or should I just be grateful to get an interview date? Also, it says the NOA2 expires September 2011 should that mean anything too me?

I am happy and sad at the same time.
kps518FemaleGhana2011-06-15 20:52:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)Tax Returns & Tax Transcripts
I am in the process of completing paperwork for adjustment of status. I want to know can I just send copies of my w-2's? with the documents?

Thank you for any replies.
kps518FemaleGhana2012-06-18 20:55:00
US Embassy and Consulate DiscussionThe countdown is on.....

It gave us plenty of time to prepare- but also OVERTHINK everything, so try to relax. It has been an issue especially for me- haha. My fiance is just ready and i think tired of me asking questions! But we are almost there!


Do you have some sample questions you can share? Thank You.
kps518FemaleGhana2010-11-02 19:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsWow, Wow,Wow
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
kps518FemaleGhana2011-04-12 23:22:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsWhat's is the deal....
Thank you for the responses they were very helpful because our approved petition left the NVC on May 13 2011 and I have not heard anything from the Ghana embassy. How do you even find out if or when they received it from NVC?
BTW what email address are you guys using? When you actually receive a response? I just want to know if it is the same one I currently have thanks for all replies. :thumbs: :whistle:
kps518FemaleGhana2011-05-28 14:09:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers
Just wanted to say Hi! to everybody and let you guys know that we picked up packet 3 & 4 today. :thumbs: But our interview is not untill January 12, 2012. Why is the wait sooooo long anybody else experiencing the same thing? Is there anything I can do to make the date sooner? That will put us at 13 months from start to visa time. :crying: Wsup wit Ghana?
Thanks for any replys.
kps518FemaleGhana2011-06-15 11:04:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers
NOA-2 APPROVED 5/4/11!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :dance: :thumbs:
WELL, I HOPE THINGS KEEP MOVING RIGHT ALONG!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE OTHER DECEMBER FILERS WITH THERE NOA-2 APPROVALS.
kps518FemaleGhana2011-05-08 11:58:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers
Last touched 12/31/10. Hey is it June yet? :innocent: You guys really make the wait a lil better. I hope to see my honey in April. :dancing:
kps518FemaleGhana2011-02-02 22:01:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers

BOOYAH!!

Updated Feb 1. 2011

Posted Image


kps518FemaleGhana2011-02-02 21:58:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers

yeehaw ;)

Updated Jan 31. 2011

Posted Image




Thanks great chart! Oh we are at the VSC location. Wow you are a busy BEE!

Edited by kps518, 31 January 2011 - 10:57 PM.

kps518FemaleGhana2011-01-31 22:53:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers
:no: :D Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! I love this thread I love this thread I really really do!!
Welcome to all the December filiers!!!!
kps518FemaleGhana2011-01-31 22:41:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers
Awwww Thanks for the song. Hey you guys really made my day today. One less tear shed waiting and being without my sweetheart this is a difficult job. But with everybody here WE will make it through December Fam!!! :crying:
kps518FemaleGhana2011-01-23 22:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsDecember Filers
Thank you soooo much for the invite. Wow now I have the December filers family. I feel so much better now. You guys are incredible! I received my hardcopy for the NOA1 a couple of days after Christmas. I look forward to going this journey with you guys.
kps518FemaleGhana2011-01-23 18:15:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & ProceduresWHAT FORMS
Just recently received my NOA2. Ok will the approved petition automatically be sent to NVC or do I need to fill out a I-824 for it to be forwarded to NVC? Just a little confused with the steps immediately after the NOA2 approval. Any advice appreciated. Thanks VJ Fam.
kps518FemaleGhana2011-05-10 08:40:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Proceduresstill on interview delay
Thanks for the feedback that information shared from facebook was very helpful. Nigeria has just as much fraud if not more and there timelines are much shorter not the long wait like Ghana. I wonder what the real hold-up is in Ghana.
kps518FemaleGhana2011-06-15 11:11:00