biggish data

Route to go w Criminal Convictions ?

Hello,

I have disclosed everything to my fiance.

My criminal history is bad. I am waiting for my records to come back from different departments so I can see exactly how many convictions are on there.

I have 2-3 drug related convictions (1 being a felony (11 years ago) where it shows I served 8 years but I went to a 4 month boot camp instead) and 1 assault conviction against a woman(she was punching me and I pushed her off of me) in which an order of protection was filed. It was not *domestic* battery though.

Wondering what route I should go with my foreign fiance.

K1, K3, IR1 or CR1?

What is your opinion based on your experience? And do you know of any experienced immigration attorneys?

Thank you so much.

The route for fiance is the K-1 visa. IR/CR are only for spouses. K-3 visas, although still in the books, are slowly going the way of the Dodo bird, so I would discard that option outright.

You will not need an immigration lawyer for the process, be it K or CR, but if you want to know the extent to which your record may hinder your immigration benefits, you might consider talking to a criminal lawyer, who may be in a better position counsel you, should there be anything you can do to improve your standing.

Good luck!

JohnR!

Male

Monaco

2013-05-08 10:08:00

what is AWA?

mimolicious

Not Telling

Jordan

2013-07-08 23:16:00

it is only illegal if they came to the US with the intent to adjust status. If the OP came on a tourist visa, not knowing he was going to stay and adjust status before he entered, that is not illegal. The OP needs to come back and give more details of his case

mimolicious

Not Telling

Jordan

2013-07-08 14:32:00

Domestic Violence

if it was between your ex and her then boyfriend how is it your charge?

mimolicious

Not Telling

Jordan

2013-11-28 00:18:00

Brand new...question about release form from marriage agency

**Moved to IMBRA Special Topics

Celeste & C

Female

Argentina

2013-10-31 19:20:00

What did you do, enter on a visitor visa, marry and then file for adjustment of status?

lost_at_sea

Female

United Kingdom

2013-07-08 14:07:00

been arrested but charges dropped

No, U R the petitioner, only if U fall under the AWA U'd have a problem

Jawaree

Male

2013-12-17 00:14:00

yes! I feel like such a dummy now, I don't know what to do it has the whole IMBRA section in the profile to fill out, I don't know how I missed all that.

I don't have any problems or any convictions I have never had any problems with the law or any visa attempts. I'm just scared I'm automatically gonna get denied becuase of where we met

You just need to tell the truth no matter how bitter it is. Don't ruined your application by conceal important things. You don't know yet whether you'll get approval or not. As long as you never convicted or abused women, I think you are just as fine as others here.

Girl from Celebes

Female

Indonesia

2013-10-13 09:43:00

sounds awfully full of story telling to be a legal request for a waiver

lies, vacations, text messages, assurances.. too many words.. save that story for your relationship letter

stevie b

Male

Fiji

2013-09-17 23:49:00

I just got this email!!

Congrats!

ryna

Not Telling

Colombia

2013-10-18 07:05:00

What the heck was that. I go to my email and like 25 emails from this topic I thoughyt ya'll went viral. Goodness.

Lots of little critters and trolls around lately.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-12-17 14:12:00

I hope no one is silly enough to click on the above spam links. Waiting for a mod to delete it.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-12-17 03:26:00

REPORTED.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-12-17 03:23:00

A1422, love your Captain Kirk convo and yes, we def do need a new system around here.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-16 19:16:00

Ok, So I just created a new account with afrointroductions.com. I filled out the IMBRA information, donated $30 to them for the ability to contact my fiance. And then sent her a message. She logged back in, My Lawyer advised me that I log back into this website since it could be possible considered IMBRA and offer a Post Hoc written consent form to my fiance. You know the question 35a thing: If you answered ?Yes,? provide the Internet and/or Street Address below. In additional, attach a copy of the signed, written consent form the IMB obtained from your beneficiary authorizing the release of your beneficiary's personal contact information to you.

Well she received nothing before receiving my message or nothing afterwards. There was none of the IMBRA information I filled out even listed on my profile. I was like whats the point of even having that in the profile? So I sent them an angry tirade demanding they explain themselves! Are they or aren't they IMBRA.

We will see if I ever hear back, I highly doubt it. From that experience I'm deciding to check no for IMBRA because it doesn't make any sense to anyone! Even the lawyers I consulted today who gave me basically the same information Ebunluwa has been telling me all along, by the way thanks for the free legal consultation

LOL.....you are welcome for my "I am no attorney" personal advice and opinion.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-16 13:05:00

To set your mind at ease, you can just ask a lawyer that one question instead of having him/her do the entire

petition. Let them cruise your web site, ask your questions and voice your concerns.

Some lawyers have free consultations, some charger for an hour or so.

If you do just make darn sure that you have a good one ...... I bet if you ask 4 different lawyers you end up with different

opinions from them as well.

The way the law was written is ridiculous, I agree with Jon9205's post.

I have yet to see a post by someone saying they were denied due to not checking the box.

I interpret it as not being an Imbra issue with your site.

Good luck whatever you decide.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-15 10:52:00

http://www.datingsin...troductions.com

According to this description of afrointroductions it does not fall under IMBRA in my opinion because it does not

exclusively service USC and foreigners and it charges like fees for other Nationals and thereby falls under the exclusions.

I maintain my opinion that you are not IMBRA. I am not a lawyer. This is my personal opinion and if I were you

I would not check mark Imbra, nor sign up again.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-14 13:50:00

If your web site falls under the exclusions then you do not have to mark Imbra.

Does the web site MOSTLY service foreigners to USC or also foreigners to foreigners and USC to USC ?

If so then you are excluded and do not have fall under IMBRA. If not then you don't.

The key is in the exclusion, that's it in a nut shell.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-14 13:38:00

.......... excludes matchmaking sites whose principal business in not providing dating services between U.S. residents and foreign clients and which charges like fees for its services regardless of the gender or national origin of the client.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-14 13:34:00

http://www.arctec.com/imbra.html

Screen shots from IMBRA statement from afrointroductions. I paid for the service & it was free for women. Its not specific to USC & I believe it might be foreign based.

My question is? Is this illegal because I didn't exchange background check before saying hello? Thats my interpretation of this #######. Doesn't matter that my record is clean and I never filed a visa before. Thats what has me freaking out and I can't find any answers online. Makes me think I need a lawyer. I hope not!

The imbra section is optional and I remember seeing it in the profile but the law states that it is mandatory. That's why I was thinking of just signing back up to do the imbra thing. Better late than never. I hope they dont deny me on grounds we didn't exchange this form before saying hello. We are two able minded consenting adults, that would be an insane law.

The definition excludes matchmaking sites whose principal business in not providing dating services between U.S. residents and foreign clients and which charges like fees for its services regardless of the gender or national origin of the client.

Does the site just 'think' it falls under Imbra or does it really fall under Imbra ? Imbra has exclusions. Do the above

exclusions not included those of your web site ? If they do then you do not need to worry about Imbra.

Here another link if you want to consult an attorney which I think is not necessary.

Here a link of a thread where Pushbrk's comments make the most sense to me.

http://www.visajourn...e-broker/page-2

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-14 13:28:00

So how do I file if we never did the imbra thing before we met on afro intro? We have known each other for over a year now? How do I do the signed written consent form after already knowing each other for a year? Sign back up for afro intro & just complete the form on their site? There no info how to submit question 35 if you're finding out imbra after you already met? I think I need a lawyer. And I don't have the money for that now. Really depressed!

I have no idea what you mean in this post I bolded. What written consent ? Complete what form ? Step back from this for a minute and

stop driving yourself crazy and ask yourself the questions below:

Please read the bolded and ask yourself these questions to see if the web site is exempt:

Does the site ONLY match aliens with USC or does it match everyone regardless where they live ?

Does the site specifically target USC for match up with aliens ?

Do they charge comparable rates and services to all clients regardless of country ?

Yahoo and e-harmony etc are not brokers, what makes you think your dating site is a broker ?

Again.....ask the questions and search out the answers. You are prematurely assuming they are a broker.

You can also email the web site and ask if they are within Imbra compliance and tell you the reasons why.

Definition of an International Marriage Broker. ?International marriage broker? is defined as an entity (whether or not U.S.-based) that charges fees for providing matchmaking services or social referrals between U.S. citizens/permanent residents and foreign nationals. The definition also exempts non-profit religious or cultural matchmaking services, and dating services that do not match U.S. citizens/residents with aliens as their principal business and that charge comparable rates and offer comparable services to all clients, regardless of gender or country of citizenship.

I do not think that the web site you met on is an imbra issue.

The links I posted offers a variety of opinions and questions to ask yourself what the web site you met on does and

does not do.

Since I do not know the web site I can not tell you one way or another, but give you the tools to search out the

above core questions.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-14 11:03:00

Definition of an International Marriage Broker. ?International marriage broker? is defined as an entity (whether or not U.S.-based) that charges fees for providing matchmaking services or social referrals between U.S. citizens/permanent residents and foreign nationals. The definition also exempts non-profit religious or cultural matchmaking services, and dating services that do not match U.S. citizens/residents with aliens as their principal business and that charge comparable rates and offer comparable services to all clients, regardless of gender or country of citizenship.

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-13 16:02:00

http://www.visajourn...age-broker-act/

Just because you paid a dating web site does not mean that the site does not comply with the marriage broker law.

Look a little deeper.

Here are links about the discussion

http://www.visajourn...rriage-brokers/

Ebunoluwa

Not Telling

Cyprus

2013-10-13 15:56:00

Dealing with Act of Adam Walsh

I don't think anyone can help you here with your situation. Usually here people can help with ordinary situations that do not require lawyers. This is the whole point of this site. Unfortunately, this is not an ordinary situation. The best way to handle this situation is to hire immigration attorney that will handle your case. There is no other way and I think this is the best advice anyone can give you here.

san diego

Male

Russia

2013-08-01 11:00:00

Adam Walsh Act that limits the filings for sexual predators

This is statement is soo wrong

Allow me to educate you with some questions

The 2 children at 7 years old caught touching each other: di you consider them sexual predators?

The new 19 year old who's GF was 16; is that person a sexual predator?

Is the drunk college student arrested for public urinating at 2am a sexual predator?

The person arrested for selling drugs a sexual predator?

The person arrested for assaulting no sexually his ex-wife is he a sexual predator?

I can go on but I know you get the drift of how wrong your remark was.

Now the AWA which was created to protect is harming Millions of people or putting them in danger because the real predators hide among the 750K on the registries if they are even registered

Immigration wise the USCIS can only apply what they were given which was no to clearly differintiate the dangerous from the safe petitioners which has caused the hardship of these families...mark my words these type of laws come back and bite the tax payers in the Azz just so the lazy few and the fear mongers can have a false sense of security.

Thousands of legitimate families suffer from this bogus law.

evli1966

Male

Philippines

2013-07-09 02:10:00

Route to go w Criminal Convictions ?

Your lawyer would be absolutely wrong and has no idea what he is talking about. Being married doesn't change anything regarding the burden of proof ( which is completely arbitrary)

agreed 100%

Get new lawyer fast!

evli1966

Male

Philippines

2013-07-13 00:23:00

red flags??

If less than 2 years between I-129(f) approval on your last one and filing date on your new one, you need a waiver. Check the approval date on the last one. You may have more time here than you think since your last one got the visa, came here, divorced and left. DId that eat up the 2 years? If you are close to the 2 year mark, maybe better to sit and let the time run out.

Al422

Male

Philippines

2013-09-20 17:24:00

By the way, it flew. I just got my NOA2. Yes my waiver request was probably unnecessarily long, but better too long than too short.

Al422

Male

Philippines

2013-12-05 16:48:00

Well it is attached to the I-129(f) petition, so maybe I don't need a relationship letter any more.

Al422

Male

Philippines

2013-09-20 17:18:00

So you think i am in good shape for the waiver? It did not strike me as a hard one to get. I passed the 2 year mark on the last one, so that is off the table, and I have no history of actually bringing a bride here.

Friend Al, the opinions of others might differ.

Only one opinion matters, and that is the opinion of the adjudicator.

Al422

Male

Philippines

2013-09-17 20:31:00

First of all for anyone who remembers me from 2 years ago, I am back.,

This time I will need a waiver because this is my 3rd K-1. No visa was ever issued on the first two, and the failures were 100% the fault of my prior fiances and 0% my fault.

The last one was approved 2 years and 4 months ago, so I am clear of that, and i have no conduct problems (criminal record, drugs, domestic violence, sex offender, etc).

My only mistake was believing the two prior fiances when they told me they believed, as I do, in the sanctity of a promise to marry. They were both liars.

Here is my request for a waiver. I did not send it yet. Please feel free to criticize it as I want the best possible product when I send this out.

I redacted the names for privacy since this is a public forum. Of course I will put them back in when I send out the real thing.

************************************************************************************************************

Dear Sirs:

In support of my application for a fiancé visa for (NAME), I respectfully request a waiver from the numeric limitations of IMBRA. I have no history of domestic violence, drug violations, or any other conduct regulated by IMBRA. My sole problem is that I already filed 2 petitions for a fiancé visa in the past, and my sole mistake was believing that these two prior fiances took a promise to marry as seriously as I take such a promise. Now that I have finally found a fiancé who does take such a promise seriously, I ask that neither she nor I be penalized for the poor decisions of my two prior fiances to abandon me after they promised to marry me and broke that promise.

I met (FIANCE 1) in 2003 through a Russian marriage full service agency, the kind that books your hotel, picks you up at the airport, brings the lady to meet you, and everything else. It should be noted that this was pre IMBRA, and it should also be noted that this agency, when IMBRA was enacted, refused to service any American clients because they did not want to become IMBRA compliant.

Everything with (FIANCE1) went very well, in fact better than expected. We corresponded (through the agency) and spoke on the phone (through the agency) for almost one year until we met in Novosibirsk, Russia (through the agency). Well, to call the meeting love at first sight was an understatement. We spent a magical week together, ending in a marriage proposal by me and an immediate acceptance by her.

After returning home to New York, I quickly filed a petition with your office for a K-1 fiance visa. In that pre-IMBRA era, processing was rather quick, such that the I-129(f) got approved in a month. We followed all the instructions and set (FIANCE 1) up for an appointment for an interview at the US Consulate in Moscow.

But while (FIANCE 1) was in Moscow, some sort of switch went off in her head.? She had gone to Moscow 3 weeks ahead of her appointment to do some contract work. I saw nothing wrong with that since her work did consist of contract work in Moscow and other cities in the past. But what was wrong is that she suddenly stopped contacting me as soon as she got there. She did not answer her phone, she did not respond to emails, and she did not even stay in touch with the agency.

Concerned that something happened to her, I sent a series of emails, each one more desperate than the one before. Finally on Day 19, she send me an angry email demanding to know HOW DARE I ?bother? her with emails and phone messages when she is busy working and HOW DARE I contact the agency in an effort to find what happened to her. Her interview was in two days, and she decided, unilaterally, over my express objection, to postpone the interview until the next available date. Although she denied it, it was eminently clear to me that her intent was to punish me for DARING to express concern for her failure to contact me for 19 days.

When she returned to Novosibirsk, things went from bad to worse. (FIANCE 1) now began making outrageous demands, such as the demand that I had better start sending her money, and if I send enough of it she will ?think about? attending her adjourned interview date. I replied by telling her that I had no intention of paying her to attend her interview and that if the visa was so unimportant to her that she was not willing to attend the interview for free, she should stay in Russia.

Fast forward to two months later, her adjourned interview date: She advised me by email that she could not attend that interview because she was going somewhere on business to a remote location that does not have internet or telephone. That advisement turned out to be a complete lie. The ?remote location? she was going to was called Moscow. I discovered it because she was involved in a traffic accident while she was there and ended up in a hospital.

At that point, I had had enough of her insults, failure to contact me, failure to cooperate with the visa process, and now express lies. So being left with no alternative, I was forced to contact the consulate and withdraw my already approved I-129(f) petition. She already had all my financial documents and affidavit of support and was in a position to get the visa without my knowledge and come to New York and put the visa to fraudulent use. So I had to make sure the process was stopped in its tracks.

Fast forward to 2008: I met (FIANCE 2) on the well-known Russian marriage website Elena?s Models. This was not a full service agency but one that gave the man the lady?s email address and left him to his own devices to contact her and arrange a meeting. That was fine with me since I was already a seasoned international traveler. (FIANCE 2) explained that she was an experienced employee of a local marriage agency and understood the process well. I told her all about the sad story of (FIANCE 1), so she asked me to let her use her experience working for an agency and seeing what can go wrong to prevent the same thing from happening to us. Anxious to avoid a repeat of my earlier experience and knowing that this would be Petition #2, now under IMBRA, I agreed.

We met in Ekaterinburg, Russia in 2009 through our own arrangements and had a magical week similar to the one I had in 2004. Although I asked for her hand in marriage, she reminded me that I was about to make the same mistake I made in 2004. She said that she could not give me an answer yet but wanted to wait until she was sure so there was no possibility that 2004 would be repeated. Looking at the long term picture, I decided to defer to her wisdom.

We met again in New York later that year. Despite the odds against a single Russian woman getting a travel visa to the United States, she was confident she would get one. And she did. We spent 8 days over the Thanksgiving holiday, giving her the grand tour of New York City, including Broadway, Times Square and other sights. But much to my dismay, she turned down marriage proposal #2, telling me she was not sure yet. She assured me once more that once she is sure, she will accept and there would be no possibility she would change her mind.

So I attempted a third time to win her hand in marriage, inviting her back to New York for the summer of 2010. This time I was successful. She told me that she was now sure, that I could confidently file for an I-129(f) and that there was no possibility she would ever change her mind. I filed it in September, 2010.

Of course now we were up against IMBRA, the Help Haiti Act, and other delays. So it took 7 months for the I-129(f) approval instead of one month. But during the home stretch of that long 7 month delay, a switch went off in her head too. She decided, on her own, to take a vacation. Although I was outraged that my fiancé would even remotely consider taking a vacation without me, I held my tongue in our long term interests.

But that was not good enough for her. She accused me of ?bombarding her? with SMS messages (a total of 10, 6 of which gave her flight information on her way to her two airplane flights), despite her failure to contact me even once. When she returned to Ekaterinburg, she told me she needed ?time? to ?collect her thoughts?. It turned out to be 58 days of stony silence. Finally 2 days after the I-129(f) was approved, she told me that she changed her mind and did not want to marry me.

As for her promise that she made to me, many times, that she would never, ever change her mind, she denied ever making such a promise and accused me of lying and making it up. The only liar here was her.

Since (FIANCE 2) did not have my financial documents and therefore could not possibly get the visa, I took no further action. I presume the petition was denied for her failure to attend her interview.

Now that I finally have a fiancé who really does love me and really does respect me and really does believe, as I do, in the sanctity of a promise to marry, I respectfully request a waiver from the numerical limitations of IMBRA.

Al422

Male

Philippines

2013-08-03 12:10:00

We used Filipino Cupid. I researched the question before submitting my petition, including contacting the site operators. They said that they definitely qualify for the IMBRA exception in that they don't concentrate on US clients and charge comparable rates to clients of other nations. Nevertheless I checked yes since it would be easier to explain that we met online and fall within the exception in the written petition instead of letting my fiance deal with that for the first time at the interview. I put everything on the table, showing them the voluntary IMBRA form I filled out as well as copies of the email exchanges between me and the site operators.

The last chapter has not been written yet since her interview is months away, but I think I got it right.

Al422

Male

Philippines

2013-10-16 17:47:00

Route to go w Criminal Convictions ?

I have a lawyer who told me criminal record does not matter if u go there and marry ... That's is from a immigration lawyer mouth

Your lawyer would be absolutely wrong and has no idea what he is talking about. Being married doesn't change anything regarding the burden of proof ( which is completely arbitrary)

A and T

Male

Philippines

2013-07-12 07:47:00

Dealing with Act of Adam Walsh

"We got denied because that was not sufficient"

They say this to everyone no matter what you submit. Its just the default answer . They have no standard of what is sufficient? They don't have any list or guidelines to follow to explain what is good enough. Thats why everyone is stuck fighting this. It will probably take a lawsuit to fix

A and T

Male

Philippines

2013-08-03 06:37:00

Husband (i-130 peitioner) received biometrics appointment for himself (is it normal?)

Petitioner only does if they have an AWA hit i think

A and T

Male

Philippines

2013-08-23 23:01:00

Husband (i-130 peitioner) received biometrics appointment for himself (is it normal?)

QUOTE (CanTex @ Dec 18 2009, 01:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

AWA Petitioners are scheduled (paid by US Government) for biometrics. Just their way of updating their
records with FBI and other organizations that need the fingerprint information for their records. It is their
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) now.

When I submitted my I-130 a few months later I had to do Biometrics, so far its my understanding that it is standard procedure. I see a few others have as well. I went to New Orleans and did mine, quite a long drive for me, but they treated me very well, I brought my I797C paper and my passport/ID

Once you are done, they stamp your paper (make sure to keep this with you!)

You need the offical paper, passport and ID , I got mine stamped, they told me the process contiunes from there.

A and T

Male

Philippines

2009-12-19 00:18:00

AWA and 3 DUI's

Oh my mistake i thought his spouse was from the philippines.

A and T

Male

Philippines

2013-09-23 18:05:00

AWA and 3 DUI's

I hate to be a downer, but with the adam walsh issue plus 3 dui i think its going to be an extremely hard case. You might be better off just moving to the philippines lol

A and T

Male

Philippines

2013-09-22 06:22:00

AWA and 3 DUI's

"A bit of background:

I was convicted of Lewd and Lascivious assault on a minor under the age of 16 in 1996 (Adjudication withheld). I went through a program called KIDS that involved counseling and periodical lie detectors tests. I graduated that program and was released from the probation that I was on because those terms were met. I am now on a life time registration though because I was on probation during the time the laws went through that required SOR's to register."

You are going to have a very difficult time with this, I highly suggest hiring a lawyer very skilled with the Adam Walsh Act

A and T

Male

Philippines

2013-09-20 00:18:00