Review the current interview process for immigrants abroad. Currently the decision to grant or deny a visa rests solely with the immigration officer conducting the interview. The denial is often times based on opinion not fact. This leaves the applicant and the beneficiary very little options on how to defend the denial if they don't have a specific reason for the denial.
Immigration
Tags: immigration
Comments (5)
What is the current interview process? Why do we have so many ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HERE IN AMERICA? How can they get driver licenses in states such as Md? Why do we not punish the companies that hire illegal immigrants? Why do the states give social aide to folks who are criminals and unlawfully here? If there are no jobs for illegal immigrants then they won't come here. There are alot of American legal citizens out of work and they should take every illegal aliens position from agriculture to hotel workers. Why can't we do this?
Are you asking for an appeal process?
What is the content for the interview?
Do we have documented standards for what is and is not acceptable?
There is a documented standard for what is and is not acceptable. Unfortunately in the case of husbands and wives who live is separate countries, it is sometimes impossible to fulfil all the requirements. For instance, joint leases, taxes and health insurance are some of the required proof that a marriage is bona fide (their words not mine). How are couples supposed to have these documents if one resides in the US and the other in another country? However my major issue is not that, its the fact that when your case is denied, they cite insufficient documents yet they never clearly say, "you did not have this particular document or your did not answer this question to our satisfaction". You just get a general denial saying your visa was denied.
I agree that there has to be a process, and there should be an interview but as I mentioned previously, the list of required documents should be different from the one used in the US. In many cases, the person interviewing will have all the documents they COULD possibly have but they are still denied because the marriage is not "bona fide". Maybe there should be two lists,one for applications where both people reside in the US and one for applicants that live in two different countries. If the denial was more specific, it would make an appeal easier. How can do you fight someone that says your marriage is not real. I am not naive, I know marriages are faked all the time for the purpose of immigration but what happens when a bona fide visa application is denied?
This would be a good target for a review. Could you suggest your own improvements?
While I support the concept of marriage, I don't think it should be codified into government standard. Their rejection of legal marriages is a good example.
nsha1973,
Your post is music to my ears. I am a US Citizen and married my wife who was undocumented. We both live in the US it was easy for us to prove that our marriage was in good faith (Bona Fide) because we placed both of our names in all bills & bank accounts. I know your case is different because one of the spouses lives in another country (which makes it practically impossible to prove the marriage was in good faith). It is true that the interviewer can deny entrance to the country if they feel the marriage was not done in "good faith." But "good faith" (Bona Fide) is too vague and it grants too much power to someone who may use it wrongly or unjustly. I understand your pain, and I hope that they fix this loop-hole. Please email me and I will gladly provide you the information to my immigration lawyer; she is really good. Best of Luck!
juancalcala@yahoo.com