Help
- Thread starter Agu
- Start date
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
What is your CN? If you have a high CN, 'follow to join' is not a good idea as you will have to have a successful interview first, following which you will now request for the embassy in Germany to forward your case file to Nigeria so that the the embassy in Nigeria can now issue the visa. Remember that the DV process is a time sensitive one.
Britsimon
Super Moderator
Agu,
In cases where the marriage takes place after DV lottery selection, the CO is going to be suspicious that the marriage was only to take advantage of the lottery win. In that case they will be looking for evidence that the relationship was real prior to the selection and that usually means providing photos, letters, bills in both names from a shared home and so on.
In the case where you have married in the last few months but now live in different countries you are going to have a hard time proving that the marriage is genuine, in my opinion. You will need to provide strong evidence about the relationship existing and being genuine well before May 2013. If you cannot provide solid evidence about that, you should be very careful in how you proceed.
In cases where the marriage takes place after DV lottery selection, the CO is going to be suspicious that the marriage was only to take advantage of the lottery win. In that case they will be looking for evidence that the relationship was real prior to the selection and that usually means providing photos, letters, bills in both names from a shared home and so on.
In the case where you have married in the last few months but now live in different countries you are going to have a hard time proving that the marriage is genuine, in my opinion. You will need to provide strong evidence about the relationship existing and being genuine well before May 2013. If you cannot provide solid evidence about that, you should be very careful in how you proceed.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Agu,
Going by the information you've provided, you're not a good candidate for the Follow to Join option.
First of all though, did you enter the eDV as married and included your wife's information on your application? Which date did you put on your DS-230 forms as the date of marriage? What evidence are you able to provide to proof the existence of the marriage prior to eDV application?
The fact that you now have a marriage certificate with a post DV selection date will cause the CO to deeply scrutinize your marriage. Your best bet is to go back to Nigeria and attend the interview together with your wife! Gather all forms of evidence you can to prove the marriage is real and not a GC marriage.
Going by the information you've provided, you're not a good candidate for the Follow to Join option.
First of all though, did you enter the eDV as married and included your wife's information on your application? Which date did you put on your DS-230 forms as the date of marriage? What evidence are you able to provide to proof the existence of the marriage prior to eDV application?
The fact that you now have a marriage certificate with a post DV selection date will cause the CO to deeply scrutinize your marriage. Your best bet is to go back to Nigeria and attend the interview together with your wife! Gather all forms of evidence you can to prove the marriage is real and not a GC marriage.
Last edited by a moderator:
Britsimon
Super Moderator
Yes that threw me too. I'm sure Sm1smom has more experience than I do on this - but I think the "court marriage" will be the legal marriage date - right - and certainly good proof of the relationship pre-existing the EDV - so that is good news.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Agu,
Ok, while proving the validity of your marriage is not an issue (I'm assuming you did register for the DV as married based on your Court marriage), I'm still not quite sure your situation is ideal for the 'follow-to-join' option.
There's no clear cut instruction on the process of doing follow to join that I'm aware of when it comes to consulate to consulate. Now if you were in the US with a non immigrant visa, you won the DV lottery and successfully adjusted your status, there's a defined process for requesting for your spouse/children to be granted a visa in the applicable US consulate in their country of residence. All you'll need to do in that case would be to: File Form I-824-Application For Action on an approved petition (with the appropriate documents in support of the application) with USCIS. But that is not applicable in your case!
I don't know how much good it will do you, or how effective it will be if you simply ask the consulate in Germany to forward your file to the consulate in Nigeria following your own successful interview so that your wife can be issued with a visa in Nigeria. If there's no clearly defined process for doing this, how do you get to follow up and confirm your file was sent, or received in Nigeria. As advanced as the US is, you will be surprised by the amount of ineptitude that exists within the govenrment agencies. I don't know of what follow-up process, if any, is available that you could resort to if your file turns out to be pending or floating somewhere in the space.
The follow to join process is a bit more convoluted than most people realize unfortunately. I think it's a process intended for those already in the US. And in most cases of follow to join, the person petitioning a follow-to-join is often advised to attend the interview with the family member(s).
My suggestion to you would be to simply attend the interview with your wife in Nigeria. You complete the process at the same time, find out the result once and for all, and get it over with. You have a low CN, if you've already sent in your forms indicating the follow to join option, you will need to update KCC with your decision to be interviewed in Nigeria.
*nothing here constitutes a legal opinion, these are my personal understandings, thoughts and opinions*
Ok, while proving the validity of your marriage is not an issue (I'm assuming you did register for the DV as married based on your Court marriage), I'm still not quite sure your situation is ideal for the 'follow-to-join' option.
There's no clear cut instruction on the process of doing follow to join that I'm aware of when it comes to consulate to consulate. Now if you were in the US with a non immigrant visa, you won the DV lottery and successfully adjusted your status, there's a defined process for requesting for your spouse/children to be granted a visa in the applicable US consulate in their country of residence. All you'll need to do in that case would be to: File Form I-824-Application For Action on an approved petition (with the appropriate documents in support of the application) with USCIS. But that is not applicable in your case!
I don't know how much good it will do you, or how effective it will be if you simply ask the consulate in Germany to forward your file to the consulate in Nigeria following your own successful interview so that your wife can be issued with a visa in Nigeria. If there's no clearly defined process for doing this, how do you get to follow up and confirm your file was sent, or received in Nigeria. As advanced as the US is, you will be surprised by the amount of ineptitude that exists within the govenrment agencies. I don't know of what follow-up process, if any, is available that you could resort to if your file turns out to be pending or floating somewhere in the space.
The follow to join process is a bit more convoluted than most people realize unfortunately. I think it's a process intended for those already in the US. And in most cases of follow to join, the person petitioning a follow-to-join is often advised to attend the interview with the family member(s).
My suggestion to you would be to simply attend the interview with your wife in Nigeria. You complete the process at the same time, find out the result once and for all, and get it over with. You have a low CN, if you've already sent in your forms indicating the follow to join option, you will need to update KCC with your decision to be interviewed in Nigeria.
*nothing here constitutes a legal opinion, these are my personal understandings, thoughts and opinions*
Am glad to have person like you in the forum.
Am deciding to have a change of mind and attend the interview with my wife in Nigeria. I studied here in Germany and currently involved in a project that I can only travel to Nigeria December or January. Do you think is a good idea requesting KCC to book me for an interview for December or January once my CN is current?
Am deciding to have a change of mind and attend the interview with my wife in Nigeria. I studied here in Germany and currently involved in a project that I can only travel to Nigeria December or January. Do you think is a good idea requesting KCC to book me for an interview for December or January once my CN is current?
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
You can't request interview appointment from KCC. The best you can do is wait till you receive your scheduled appointment, then contact the embassy in Nigeria and request a change in date. Bear in mind they may not have openings for the period you want, or you may have a longer waiting time if you try to reschedule. Contact the embassy first to find out the possibility of a new date once you have you original appointment.
SusieQQQ
Well-Known Member
We tried to change the date of our interview and while some people have had success with doing so, it seems to try and time it to when you want is pretty difficult. We would have had to let our scheduled date pass without knowing when a rescheduled one would be available, a risk we didn't want to run. Agree with sms1mom to contact the embassy first to see if you can change it to a date that suits you. If they can, great. But you may have to make a solid assessment of your chances of getting the visa, and then decide whether it's more important to stay on your project or to get a green card.
Judging by previous year, same number for Nigeria was current by December