18 Oct USCIS Approves I-130 Petition for Alien Relative For Spouse After US Embassy Had Denied K-1 Fiancee Visa
A client contacted us who had self-filed Form I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancée. This form allows the fiancé(e) of a United States citizen to obtain a non-immigrant K-1 visa. An approved I-129F petition is valid for 120 days. USCIS had approved the I-129F but at the interview at the U.S. Embassy, the consular officer denied the K-1 visa on the erroneous basis that the relationship had been entered into solely for immigration purposes. The denial was sent back to USCIS for revocation but once the I-129F petition expires USCIS takes no action on it. Our client came to us and explained these circumstances. We advised our client to travel to his fiancee’s home country, marry her, and then return to the US and File Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative on her behalf to sponsor her for an immigrant visa. Our client followed our advice and USCIS approved the I-130 Petition. We thereafter submitted all the necessary paperwork to the National Visa Center which forwarded the file to the US Embassy for an immigrant visa. The same US Embassy that had denied our client’s spouse a K-1 visa now approved an immigrant visa on her behalf.