Disturbing Trends in K-1 / K-3 Visa Application Adjudications at Consular Posts

AILA recently published a letter written by an immigration practitioner in Austin, Texas, addressed to Jeff Gorsky, the Chief of the US Department of State, Legal Advisory Opinion Section, Visa Office.

The letter brings to Mr. Gorsky's attention a disturbing trend where Consular Officers are making hasty decisions on K-1 and K-3 visa applications. It reports that Consular Officers (COs) are making inappropriate decisions, then quickly closing the case (known as administrative closure) and recommending that USCIS revoke the underlying K petition.

This adminstrative closure is being done so quickly that in some cases, the applicant, U.S. Citizen petitioner and the attorney of record, are effectively being denied any meaningful opportunity to submit additional evidence or address concerns about the relationship.

Below please find the conclusion of the letter:

It takes about eight to twelve months to get most K-1 (or K-3) interviews scheduled. If a U.S. citizen petitioner is willing to fly halfway across the world to be interviewed, why wouldn’t a CO be willing to interview the other party about the relationship? Many times our clients have offered COs documents to prove their relationship, but the COs have refused to accept them, saying they are not needed. These important documents are therefore omitted from their case records. Supervisors do not see any of this documentation that our U.S. consular officials have
rejected.

The USCIS often takes six to twelve months to notify us of a returned petition, and then usually offers only thirty days to respond. Usually the USCIS ends up returning our petitions to our U.S. consulates, thus creating one to two-year delays for the families involved.

This apparent new trend of administratively closing a case without giving the applicant as well as the U.S. citizen petitioner any meaningful opportunity to further substantiate the relationship is upsetting. As a U.S. citizen, I share the Department of State’s concern about fraud and national security, but it’s important to have due process and the opportunity to be heard. Each of these examples is for a bona fide fiancée or spousal relationship, and our consular officers made a hasty, incorrect decision. Would you please review your policies for K-1 and K-3 interviews? I believe you and all of our Consular Officers want to make correct decisions on these important applications and not simply race to return these petitions to the USCIS.

I hope you will investigate this disturbing pattern of rushing to administratively close K-1 and K-3 applications without accepting documentation submitted and without allowing U.S. citizen petitioners to be interviewed or at least submit additional documentation. These hasty denials of K-1 and K-3 visas are needlessly dividing families.

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