End of the road

[Arnold]

Likewise Gerry , hope you mend soon and go get some " Duct Tape " for the rest of your Body .

It's funny you mention " Request for Evidence " , as I went to my Immigration Lawyer today .. as he is asking for Money again . Man , bringing Qing's Son (10) over will cost almost $3,000 bucks ? The price just keeps going up and my Bank Account down . Good thing his Dad is footing most of it .. " NICE " Guy .

[Pineau]

Good Grief. I dont believe this. I am responding to the request for evidence and I ran aground when I read the following.

Submit copies of civilly register birth certificates of ALL the petitioners biological children ...bla bla bla.

Provide names and addresses of all relatives living in the united states.  Also include how each is related to the petitioner.

And they want either an adfidavit expressing knowledge of my marriage from my Dad or his death certificate. One or the other. He is dead but if he were alive what possible difference would it make if he knew about my marriage or not?

It clearly states petitioner !  Christ ! I am the petitioner. It will take me at least a month to dig up my GROWN KIDS birth records. And what does my grown kids have to do with this anyway?

 I am an american. Born and raised. I have HUNDREDS and Hundreds of relatives in the united states. This is crazy.  Whoever wrote these requirements took their eye off the ball. 

Of course the office is closed and there is no one to clarify what they really meant.  I have a good mind to ignore these two requirements but they said failure to comply will result in denial.

You should read this document. This is going to delay me at least a month. I am beside myself.

[Pineau]

box 13 says I am a US born citizen.
box 14 is blank
box 14 b is blank.

I will call tomorrow. There is enough other stuff to keep me busy until i can get an answer.
thanks Robert.

[Pineau]

Well that was a total waste of time. No information that would answer my questions.  Just reading a canned response to a generalized questions about the I-130.  It was laughable except my blood is boiling. 

It went something like this.
"Thank you sir have I addressed your issue and may I assist you in answering any other matters? "
No thank you , You have been absolutely no help to me whatsoever.
.....Its time to get and attorney.

[Pineau]

I know what you are saying but to follow the exact wording that they use in the I-130,..I am the petitioner and she is the beneficiary. I think I know what they want but I would hate to be wrong and denied on a technicality.

[Pineau]

So after a week of scramble I think I have it. I tracked down every document and receipt they asked for andthen some. I scanned it all in and made paper and electronic copies.  The only thing missing is my kids birth certificate and my dads death certificate and a letter from my mom. All those should arrive at my son's house by the time I ship these two pounds of paper to him.

If you want to read the requirements from hell and my response both are attached.

I have been thinking. Is this normal? why such a long list of requirements? have they made up their minds already? Does everyone get such a thorough shakedown like me? Maybe the guy that opened my envelope was having a bad day or ws in a rush for lunch so send me his canned request for evidence. Maybe I think too much.

[Pineau]

Sorry, my file is 5 mb but we have a 512 kb limit.
Any way we could increase the limit? I think seeing the real documents from the USCIS may be helpful to some folks.

[Pineau]

Request for evidence,..  whew! 
This is what full compliance looks like. I have provided each and every document, receipt, bank,creditcard record, birth and death certificate they asked for.

This is 5 days worth of work (from China) 3.3 Gigabytes of electronic documents, 3.7 gigabytes of photos. 3 sets of ink cartridges from my HP printer/scanner.

When stacked and squished together the pile of paper is an inch and three quarter.  I hope they are satisfied.

[Pineau]

Yes my name is the same as my fathers but not identical.  mine has Jr. at the end.

I checked the name on the application and the Jr is there. Also the document they sent to me is addressed to Jr. so I dont think there is any mistake there. they know me and my father are two different people.

Something in my application had raised a red flag for them and they have raised the bar as high as possible to see if I can meet ALL the requirements and produce ALL the documents.  Based on what they are asking for i think they have the idea or suspision that I have been paid to marry my wife. They want proof of my travel, hotel, visits, communications, gifts, wedding ring, wedding anouncements, celebrations,  WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO, HOW LONG. etc and all must be accompanied by a receipt and a credit card statement proving that I was the one that paid the bill.

They also requested my bank records for two month prior to meeting my wife. I guess they are looking for large, unexplained  deposits .

I wish I could upload files here larger than 512k so I could post the request for evidence and my response.

[Neil]

Find a website that you can post the files to, and post a link here.  I can't think of a website off the top of my head, but there are some out there.

[shaun]

Scott's number 1 can be quite possible.  I know when Peggy has her interview they spent a lot of time talking about whether my ex and I still lived together.  There were 4 or 5 questions if memory serves me.

[maxx]

Gerry I'm going to go with Scott on this.I think # 2 is the reason.They were after all the information.I know a American who lives in Houston.He brought 2 French girls to America in the late 80s and early 90s.Now he wants to bring his Chinese wife to America.His immigration attorney told him.That he was going to have to come up with the same proof you had to come up with.Plus Waite at;east a year after they where married to file for a visa.His lawyer was upfront with him.And told the man.That Evan with all the proof of the relationship.There was still a good chance of a denial.At the interview.

So good luck with this.And I hope you hired a good immigration attorney.

[Pineau]

sameldrum1, shaun, maxx. Thanks. 
I think I will go with number 2 also. The RFE did not ask any questions at all about my ex. Most of it was directed toward proving my identity and family ties in America and prove that it was I that paid for all tickets and lodging on my trips to China. and, and and, and lots of other stuff to prove when the relationship started and there were ongong trips and communications from the begining and now.

Just for the record the ex and I each own half of the old homestead and we are in the process of selling it. She still lives there but I have moved out and live in China since my marriage to Fiona. After what happened to Shaun I did not want to have any doubt that she and I are divorced and living seperatly. When I go back on business I stay with my son and I am at the old house only when the ex is somewhere else.

As far as posting the RFE, I would only do so after sanitizing it of personal information. It's nearly void of that already. And I decide that posting my response would be telling the world who I was, where I live and whre I do my banking. So I changed my mind on posting my response. But I thought an acutal  RFE would show newbies and example of what they look like and the information they could request. I will go with the opinions posted here.

[Pineau]

Yes, it seems I am not alone and no I dont feel better.  I am really livid about this. My origional application and packet would have convinced 9 out of 10 people that ours was a bonafide marriage. I wish I knew what triggers this sort of RFE so we all can avoid it in the future. It is hard to believe that  got picked from a random lottery. I was shocked and totally taken by surprise by this. Back 12 years ago when I applied for my ex's VISA I sent the  application in mid Jan and she was standing in my living room on April. Less than 4 months in the USCIS paper mill. That was unusual back then, so I guess now I am paying for it. 

There is this  ominous threat on the first page "failure to submit ALL evidence at one time may result in denial of your application. Thats rather scary because at times the request is not specific as to what exactly they want. They say things like " provide and explaination why...." well gosh I hope my explaination is complete and satified the requirement but how do I know for sure. And provide a list of name address and phone numbers of the petitioners relatives living in america including inlaws. Thats a tall order and I hope it just means immediate family and their spouses because I hava a list of cousins, kids, and grand kids as long as your arm.

The 3 pound package is in the mail. I guess I will wait and see. I was able to put it all together without help this time but if I am denied I will be at the end of the proverbial rope. I will find a pitbull and dress him up like an immigration attorney. Then point him toward the USCIS.

[Pineau]

I took a look at the RFE the other guy was complaining about and it is nearly identical to the one I got. So it is a canned letter that they send out to "select" applicants.  Wow how did I get so lucky?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/55210375x.jpg/

Feb 22, 2011. Sent petition to USCIS
Feb 28, 2011. They cashed the check
March 2 2011. Received receit confirmation letter from USCIS.
April 3, 2011. Your Case Status: Initial Review
May 10 2011. Your Case Status: Initial Review
June 13 2011. Your Case Status: Initial Review
June 30 I received a 5 page document "request for evidence" . They want everythink they could think of to prove a bonafied marriage. 
July 26 2011 Mailed respons to RFE to USCIS