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Change of Marital Status... Very Confusing!!!

raevsky said:
Yes, you probably did. But the way the entries are checked for is based on the list of family members, and each difference against the real list raises a suspicion that there were multiple entries. You will not be able to prove you have no multiple entries.
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There are no changes in the list of family members. When we applied in October, my girlfriend stated that I was her husband (which I am officially since the start of April) and I stated her as my wife.
In the DS-230 form we are stating each other as spouses again.

raevsky said:
In addition to facial recognition software, KCC employees search for other fraud indicators as they collect additional documents from individuals selected in the lottery and prepare to send their cases to posts for adjudication. For example, they note, through “fraud flags,” if applicants (1) added a spouse or children to their case after being selected in the lottery, (2) if there were substantial changes to biographic details, or (3) if the applicant appeared in a different entry with different family members.
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1) We haven’t add anybody, just as I explained before
2) We stated the same biographic details
3) We don’t appear in different entries with different family members

Everything that we stated when submitting the application for the lottery, we are stating again in DSP-122 and DS-230 forms.
But the problem is that we don’t have the marriage certificate for the moment when we applied for the lottery. We applied in October 2010 and got married in April 2011.

…But even that is much before the lottery results, so I hope it can prove that our marriage has nothing to do with lottery results and that we were not trying to perform any fraudulent act, but that there was omission in submitting the application.
As I said before…we were engaged and between “single” and “married” we tried to pick status which was closer to our situation. Obviously we have picked wrong.

I appreciate very much your help, as well as the help of any other member of the forum who gets involved and posts his/her opinion, pro or contra – doesn’t matter.
We are just trying to find the way not to lose this opportunity that would mean so much to us.
 
Girlfriend is not a family member, wife is.
Marriage before submission and after submission - that is a significant change in biographical details.
Do not underestimate my suggestion.
 
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I am aware of that. You are right.
I'm just trying to find a way to explain to someone in Kentucky that we were not performing fraud, but that we just made a mistake.
...If that can be of any help...can it?
Are mistakes allowed to the entrants?

Under the suggestion you mean "country with low percentage of fraud"?
 
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Can you, please, explain to me how it is the same?
I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I really don't understand.

We stated each other as mutual spouses, which we are now and our marriage happened before the lottery results.
I understand that there was room for suspicion on multiple entries, but aforementioned facts disable potential fraud, don't they?

I'm not trying to argue with you, but to find the best solution which could save our chance.
Thank you very much.
 
@ Mr. Marzik

a) DO NOT waste your time/effort trying to 'explain' stuff to KCC. You do not have to prove anything to KCC nor ask for any advise from them at this moment, it is just meaningless. Just send the documents as you would normally to them for your 'KCC file'.

b) But prepare tooth and nail for your day with the CO !

b1. Your consummated marriage (baby will be THE blessing !) well before DV results will no doubt be for your advantage.

b2. Marriage certificates (also BCs) for US imm. purposes are what they call 'secondary documents' i.e. There is no hard and fast rule that it has to be a super hard legal doc. Many countries have different customs of engagements, co-habitation b4 marriage etc. You just need to simply find out from your country US embassy 'what document you need to prepare to prove 'engagement+co-habitation as of date of eDV app'. If this is a general local custom in your country the CO will already know it, you just need a document to back it up. Sometimes just a legal affidavit would suffice. If you can get it from a civic society elder/religious person it would be fine. BUT YOU NEED TO FIND OUT THE SPECIFICS from the local embassy.

However, remember that no matter what you do you ARE AT RISK and at the discretion of the CO since you do not have a 'legally proper' doc.
Prepare the best you can, expect the worst. Simple, is it not?

Best!
 
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What Country is the OP from. If it Nigeria or some other country in that region it might be more of an issue than if it was a Country in Europe...I'm not discriminating but it has been proven that more marriage scams are coming from certain Countries.

Basically you can be denied for lying since you had to submit/enter the status what you had at the time of entry. You lied. Now you will have to explain why you lied and they will see the date of the marriage...

You might be lucky or not, but in the end you and your girlfriend on purpose entered the way you did. You didn't enter the same status by accident but it was well thought out...now you have to live with the consequences whatever they will be.
 
@NuvF
Thanks...Your mail inspired me to start considering my options.

@bentlebee, raevsky
I am from Europe, but my region (Balkans) is far from Norway or Sweden.
 
I would recommend Slovenia.
Slovenia is a visa waiver country with relatively high standard of living and has a low fraud rate in DV lottery.

In order to qualify for an interview there you have to comply:

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/87872.pdf

9 FAM 42.61 N3.1 Application of Nonresident Alien Physically Present in District
(CT:VISA-715; 03-09-2005)
Department regulations provide that a post must accept an application from an alien physically present in the consular district even though not a resident thereof provided the alien expects to remain in the consular district throughout the several months that it normally takes to process an application and is legally able to do so.
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What are your options?
That could include country of your permanent residence, country of your citizenship and third countries according to my previous post
 
Mr.Marzik said:
@NuvF
Thanks...Your mail inspired me to start considering my options.

@bentlebee, raevsky
I am from Europe, but my region (Balkans) is far from Norway or Sweden.
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I would advise you to seek legal advice. You may pay $100-300, but it's better to have legal opinion that is customized to your particular situation then to seek advice on forum where often individual situations are not clear.
 
Yes, after everything said here I'm going to seek legal advice before the decision whether we are going to proceed with our application.
I'm really not sure at the moment if it is worth trying.
Thanks.
 
We have obtained legal opinion and it seems that common law marriage and/or cohabitation are considered to be equal to “official marriage” regarding rights and obligations of spouses.
We are looking for second opinion and if that one is also encouraging for us, we will send forms to KCC.
We would really hate to lose this chance, but we would also hate to lose 2500$...

Is there any chance that KCC will stop our application without scheduling interview for us in our native country?
 
Mr.Marzik said:
We have obtained legal opinion and it seems that common law marriage and/or cohabitation are considered to be equal to “official marriage” regarding rights and obligations of spouses.
We are looking for second opinion and if that one is also encouraging for us, we will send forms to KCC.
We would really hate to lose this chance, but we would also hate to lose 2500$...

Is there any chance that KCC will stop our application without scheduling interview for us in our native country?
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IMO, just a 'lawyer opinion' would not work. By the time you go for the intvw go with a good legal brief prepared with reference to specific laws of your land as well as case law. Also, iMO, I think it wont hurt you go visit the embassy and ask how they would need documents to prove common law marriage in your ctry. They may have had exp with more cases like yours, already.

I think KCC can do no harm at this point. They normally just collect whatever documents you need to provide and when CN become current just pass that to CO, for official evaluation and decision. It will happen only after you pay fees and intvw., afterwards you will probably get extended review/admin. processing.

Best!
 
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Slovenia would be an option as a post ,office to process the applications, for citizens of Kosovo as they dont have they post in US embassy of Pristina ,for now interviews for residents of Kosovo are taking place in us embassy of Skopje ,Macedonia.
 
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