Vindictive Latino CO in Moscow

Hi Guy's I posted this over on VJ and the message that follows was posted by another fellow. Let's show this guy who he's messing with!

Ok Guys I'm on board. Although I am nervous that he may get wind of this and get even worse, I agree we cannot stand by idly and pray we get the luck of the draw and get any other Consulate Officer other than the man in question.

I do not know why he has seen fit to override the USCIS approval decision on so many K1 Fiancée' visa's, but it is just not right. We are already approved!!! We have already been FBI and NVC background checked and the ladies must bring Police Reports in. We and they are not criminals. The way I understand it is his job is more or less a confirmation that we have represented ourselves accurately not to decide if we are "a good match" or "a good couple" in his/their perception. As I understood it the job they are supposed to be doing is geared more towards investigating and approving or disapproving the other visa applicants like the tourist visa folks. Not the US citizen sponsored visas like the Fiancée' or Student Visa. I mean of course he should be aware of all things and keep an eye out for the visa fraud perpetrators or the wanna be Osama's trying to get into our country, but please Mr. CO, stop denying those of us here who are legitimately in love with our Fiancée's. We are sincere, we are for real! This is not a trial run! We want to marry or betrothed and live our lives as productive American families!

I mean my whole life is planned around my girl! Everything depends on this visa. I sure hope our representatives will be able to take the time to look into this for us. After all they have sure been putting a lot of effort recently into stopping illegal immigration (Senator Kyle of AZ especially) which I'm all for. Now maybe it is time to show that they are not pro-isolationism and that they do believe in legal immigration. What better forum to do this than by giving at least a little help to those of us whom follow the law and help those that we love to immigrate legally.

PS Guys, With all the thousands of Muscovites that apply for and get denied tourist visa's do you think somehow we could get this story into the Moscow newspapers or broadcasts? I bet that would help to exert some pressure on this vindictive character and his AG. Besides I would not want to live in Moscow after this story broke! Maybe he will choose to go work somewhere else…??? Just a thought?

Who I will be contacting today:

Senator Jon Kyl
Senator John McCain
And Representative Jeff Flake all of Arizona

It's time to find out if they truly care as much as they claim!

Doug


"David wrote this"

I am still considered a newbie here. I have found this to be a very helpful and informative forum, and I appreciate everyone who has posted here. You all pave the way for every red blooded American man who has made the decision to find true love outside our borders. It is unfortunate that we have to jump through all the hoops that we do in order to get our wonderful ladies here with us!

I have read with horror the postings by Turboguy. You, my friend, are living all of our worst nightmares. I wish you all the luck in the world in resolving this situation.

I have also read with horror the other postings regarding this Mexican CO. It is definitely time that something is done about this guy. I think everyone has started talking about contacting their Congressperson, and I agree that this is a great place to start. The more members of Congress that are aware, the better. If they start asking questions of the AG in Moscow, who apparently is aware of him, then maybe something good will happen.

Let me help everyone along....

Write Your Representative
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Find your Senator
http://www.senate.gov/

There are a lot of people who read this forum for advice. I would venture a guess that the vast majority of you have never registered as members. Maybe you don't want to join the Visa Journey family, but the least you can do is contact your Representative or Senator or ALL OF THE ABOVE! Help yourself, help us, help future generations!

I will be drafting a letter of concern later this week. I will be more than happy to share it on this board when I have it done. Then, with a little snip here, and a snip there, everyone else will have a letter ready to go.

My fiancee Elena and I are waiting on the US Embassy in Moscow to complete their administrative review and security clearance so that her interview can be scheduled. I would really love to have some peaceful nights of sleep between now and her interview. I don't know if that will happen if the PITA is still a CO by then. All the evidence in the world will do us no good if he refuses to look at it!

Take care everyone, and good luck!

David

by the way, PITA is pain in the ###!

[wxman]

One thing that has not been brought up is that the this CO may have been sent to Moscow to be harsh. Perhaps the embassy has been lax in the past and allowed too many questionable RW into country, who only came for green card. Perhaps there have been AM who were scammed by such women and then complained to  USCIS and wanted their ex wives to be deported. Perhaps USCIS has been spending way too much money tracking down these RW.  Something tells me red flags were raised over here in the states, and the way to address the problem is to go right to the source. Yes these women have had security checks by FBI, have been approved USCIS. But that is all paper work. USCIS just deals with paperwork, and if everything is filled out correctly, with no major red flags, they approve and send on. FBI checks are lame, as most RW do not fit the terrorist mode, or are in organized crime, etc. So it is hard to really find anything major against these women, other than if they were denied visas before.  So it does rest of the shoulders of the CO as the last chance to catch anything unusual before visa is granted. So don't neccessarily blame this CO for being a SOB. He in fact may have been sent there to be a SOB. I'm not condoning what he does, but he may be doing it as ordered.

Yes I thought of and posted similar thoughts on VJ so i do know where your coming from. Although it does not change a thing. If he was sent to do this then his boss is the jerk! Whatever it is time to get our due representation. Let's get our elected officials to take a look into this for us. One way or the other what is happening is just plain wrong and it needs to stop! If that does not work lets take up a collection and take out a full page ad in the the most popular paper in Moscow! Let's see how the Muscovites take to this. After all in comparison to the amount of K1's being denied the Tourist visa denials are an astronomical figure. I know I wouldn't want to walk home everyday from the Embassy knowing there was a few thousand folks in town who hated my guts! I'm not a vindictive person, nope, but I do believe in justice and messing with a man's future in such a sick way calls for a reckoning. It is simply the way of the world folks. You can't go about fucking everyones lives up and not expect some repercussions. What do they say about what goes around? After all this fool is messing with our women. Would you let some punk in a bar mess with your woman in even half as much of a disrespectful manner?

Over on VJ there is already at least 10-15 congressman getting letters and phone calls of today. I'm sure that if more and more folks call we can take this guy and have him posted in the Iraqi Embassy or maybe Greenland. So we could use your help folks if your so inclined.

Heads up my man. Time to pay the piper!

[BC]

Reportedly the guy 'passed' only 2 out of 12.  Wonder what qualification these two couples had that the others did not?

Maybe they could communicate?

[edit]

I don't know If I would complain with a pending interview.

[andrewfi]

I had previously suggested that this guy may have a somewhat different role to the other staff. From what we have been told, he does not interview women at random, he deals only with selected applicants and he does not reject all cases. This suggests that when there are issues to be dealt with, issues that, again from what we have been told, were applicable in Turboguy's case, this guy gets the call. It is not dissimilar in the Russian embassy here in Tallinn. There are the normal 'frontline' staff, they deal with the normal cases, and they do so on the spot - even though they then sit on the files for a few days. For the cases they are not sure about, they refer the file immediately to another staff member, or rather than processing the file, they put it on a pile for later attention. There are signs that they are looking for, red flags, if you will. Send up enough red flags and one does not get to swim in the sea.

Communication ability, age difference, lack of knowledge, age of applicant - all red flags. See one, allow the application, see two or more and the application gets nixed, after a personal interview from the 'enforcer' who may well have additional knowledge or training than the normal staff.

[Turboguy]

I won't say that is impossible but I have spent a lot of time at VisaJourney during my process of trying to get the visa.   If I read other tales from other embassys that indicated they do that, I would belive it to be possible.   It is not happening elsewhere so what it seems to me is we have one jerk who likes to f&&K people over. 

If that was the case it would still be wrong.   He has no right to play God and use his arbitrary judgment to see what couples he thinks he will allow to have a happy life and whos hopes and dreams he is going to smash against the rocks.

[andrewfi]

But TG, he does. There are not fixed guidelines, except in a negative sense and the guy has the task of offering visas to those people who, in his judgement, are least likely to pose a risk through overstaying, acting fraudulently and otherwise abusing the privilege the US offers to some people of having a visa.

As you probably know, in terms of visa rejections and abuse, Russia and hence the Moscow embassy are right up near the top of the list. There mey well be similar people in Nigeria, India and Bangladesh, but we do not know of those.

If you take a step back from your own case, I am sure that you would agree that a couple where the woman was more than a generation younger than the man, where she did not know where she was going to live, where she was having difficulty communicating with the interviewer and hence with her future spouse and who did not even know the names of the guy's kids would be running up a fair few red flags!

Just becasue it happened to you does not diminish the red flag issues and what may have been an interview referred to this guy simply because of the age issue became much more serious when the holes in the girl's preparations became transparently clear. All sorts of questions as to motivation would be popping onto the guy's mind. Now you at least have the chance to convince him that he should change his mind. One might well argue that you were very lucky.

None of this helps you, but this guy was doing a job based upon criteria that you know very little about, apart from the obvious issues we discuss here.

[Turboguy]

That being the case Andrewfin, re-read the case of Robert & Irina which was the day after Luda's interview.  He did an even worse job of playing god with them and they have a 6 year age difference.   Visa Journey is full of stories of this guy being a total jerk.   I am not going to say that the age difference was not a factor I am saying he is hired to interview people for visa's not to be a God Judge and Jury all rolled into one.

I have sent Luda things many times.   Truthfully if I was asked her address I could not give it.   I know the name of the street starts with a Z and I could probably get about 75% of the letters in it and could get the number of the apartment although I might reverse it.   I could get some of the postal code.    The only thing Luda ever mailed to me was in a pre-addressed DHL envelope.   It does not have anything to do with her knowing me.  

I am sure it is necessary to keep america a wonderful place free of unsavory characters.    At least for now, America is safe from Luda.    People can walk the streets without fear.    

[RacerX]

Andrew,

I think you are, in some ways, confusing tourist visas with family sponsored ones.  A US citizen has the RIGHT to import (their word)  just about anyone into this country - she may be a horrible match (age/culture/morals) but that does not disqualify her according to applicable US law.  Unless the CO can prove "visa fraud," which is generally accepted to be cases where the girl (or more specifically, her family) has engaged in a visa scheme (usually with the tacit approval of her fiance), the consulate must abide by the USCIS decision for admissibility.

The CO will have to clearly document and describe the '"visa fraud," otherwise his decision will be eventually overturned.

Now, that having been said, I am told there is a tracking mechanism wherein the CO's get feedback about cases of visa overstays, so they have to cover their a$$.  On another board, one member posted stats that compared the visa rejection rate for Moscow which have doubled from 2003/2004 - but even then, they only increased to the "normal" rejection rate for the FSU of 13%.  From what I have heard, nearly all of the rejections were for: failed medicals/bad police reports/incomplete documentation.  

These days, the consulates have been told that their job function has changed from detecting visa fraud to one of security - all of which makes these recent problems unusual.

[andrewfi]

Nope, Racer, I think you are wrong. You have the right to marry anyone, you do not have the right to bring her to your country. You do have the right to petition your government for a visa. That right to petition does not infer any rights as to outcome. Your government does not subcontract its consular responsibilities to lovesick fiances!

The visa is granted or denied based upon the evidence that a relationship exists and is genuine, in the opinion of the consular officer based upon the evidence that he is presented with.

[Bruno]

He has no right to play God and use his arbitrary judgment to see what couples he thinks he will allow to have a happy life and whos hopes and dreams he is going to smash against the rocks.

Turbo, i have make some search about the interne procedure in the ambassy in case of refusal by CO... the CO cannot play God... in case of approval of Visa, he have the full power but in case of refusal, he need review the refusal with his direct superior...

Take a look at http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0941121PN.pdf at page 4 below ( 9fam 41.121 PN1.2-8 ) ... if you have the courage, read the full document... it is about the procedure in case of refusal of visa ... if the CO don't follow these very strict procedure, you will be able to use law for break the decision because of procedure error... great information and enough complex...

If you have a lot of time, you can consult all the "Foreign Affairs Manual & Foreign Affairs Handbooks" over visa at http://foia.state.gov/REGS/fams.asp?level=2&id=10&fam=0

 

 

[jb]

Andrew wrote:

But TG, he does. There are not fixed guidelines, except in a negative sense and the guy has the task of offering visas to those people who, in his judgement, are least likely to pose a risk through overstaying, acting fraudulently and otherwise abusing the privilege the US offers to some people of having a visa.

Actually, he does not have a lot of authority.  According to the Embassy's own website, qualification for visa issuance is determined by the USBCIS.  While the U.S. Dept of State actually issues the visa, the Embassy itself has no hand in determining qualifications. The visa interview is supposed to be a place where the interviewer merely checks to insure all the necessary paperwork has been done properly and the person appearing before the Consular Officer is indeed the same person listed on the application.  Except for obvious cases of vias fraud, it should be pretty much a rubber stamp operation.

According to U. S. immigration law, I-129F Petition for Alien Fiance(e) may be filed with and approved by one of the BCIS (Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services) offices in the United States.[/b] The petition may not be filed or approved by overseas U. S. Embassies and Consulates. In order to file I-129F Petition the petitioner must be a U. S. citizen. I-129F must be filed with BCIS district office having BCIS jurisdiction over the petitioner's current or intended residence in the United States.<snip>

Once found qualified for visa issuance, alien fiance(e) and her child(ren) receive nonimmigrant visas in their international passports.[/b] K1 and K2 visas are valid for one entry into the U.S. at any time within the next six months. The beneficiary also receives a visa packet to present to the immigration officials at the U.S. border. After entry to the U.S., Alien Fiance(e) has 90 days to either marry the petitioner or come back to country of residence. In case Petitioner and Beneficiary get married, the Beneficiary may then contact BCIS to adjust status to that of legal permanent resident.

While I do agree that something is going on at State, it is not clear to me why the rules have suddenly changed for Russian women who are sponsored for the K-Class visas.  And, yes, it is also true that Russians have the worst record for visa abuse, however this does not apply to family based visas, the abuse is mainly in the areas of tourist, work, and student visas.  They come in, but rarely go home once they are here.  The reason visa abuse is not common for these cases is that the men realize they  accountable for the sponsored non-immigrant.  These guys, unless they are total idiots, make sure the women are actually placed on the plane and sent home if the K-1 engagement doesn't work out and then do the paperwork to make sure they are off the hook.

I suspect this CO is operating on instruction from somebody much higher up, the fact that he's of Latin-American  origins is purely beside the point.  

[andrewfi]

jb ~ I suspect this CO is operating on instruction from somebody much higher up, the fact that he's of Latin-American origins is purely beside the point.

 

That is the basis of my point. It seems from reports from others that he is wheeled out to do the dirty jobs. His negative decisions must be cleared with his supervisor afterwards. I have suggested that he is given the 'red flag' cases and that, yes, his boss knows what the likely outcome is going to be. This is not about paperwork, although I am sure there is always a paperwork justification.

Kinda like: ' Mike, can you take the 9:20 and the 10:40 this morning please. They look a bit off to me.' OK sir. Later on: 'Mike how did they go?', 'Oh OK sir, here is the report, the first girl did not know where she was going to live, so I nixed her and the second, well, even though she is much younger than the guy, it is obvious that they knew each other well, she was bubbling with enthusiasm for him!'

'Thanks Mike. It is good to have somebody I can rely on for the hard choices!'

[RacerX]

Bruno,

Those docs are  the ones I was referring to, and they (and the field service manuals) clearly spell out the RIGHTS of US citizens - the visa petition is simply the mechanism we use to exercise those rights.  However, you should note that the USCIS and the DOS work mainly from internal memoranda and field decisions.  

I think jb would agree with me that unless you (the petitioner) attended the interview AND had access to the casefile, nearly everything we have heard about these cases is hearsay.  I could regale you with endless stories of US immigration "abuses," but in most (not all) cases it was due to some misunderstanding by the petitioner/sponsor.  When amateurs deal with professionals, confusion is often the outcome!

Andrew: where I think you are not up on current US immigration law and procedures, I find myself complety agreeing, and smiling, at the scenario you gave.

[jb]

Racer wrote:

I think jb would agree with me that unless you (the petitioner) attended the interview AND had access to the casefile, nearly everything we have heard about these cases is hearsay.

Yes, I do agree.  Everything posted here is suspect.  In as much as petitioners are expressly prohibited from attending the interview we will never know for sure exactly what transpired at Luda's interview.  We can only guess.  She probably appeared extremely uncomfortable and nervous, she probably missed the first easy question and this caused the interviewer's ears to perk up and he probably started to dig deeper and wasn't pleased with what he found.

As you said, everything we read here is hearsay.

Excellent posts everyone, but is anyone willing to take the next step and write their congressman about this fellow. I did and many others did over at VJ. Interesting as I was typing this I just got an auto response from one of them. Cool lets see if they can help now.

As for the comment that it would not be a good idea to rock the boat with a pending interview, I did agree until last week. Actually I commented on this at VJ, but after reading about how this fellow refused to look at someone's evidence of a continuing relationship and then turns around and bases is visa denial on "lack of evidence" was the last straw for me. Besides if he denies me now he better have a damn good reason (because there really isn't one) as I have documented my concern over his shady dealing with 2 US Senators and my Congressman! Bring it on dikhed! My fuse is slow to light but now that it's lit it's on now! I will not run and hide whilst this man abuses his power. And like I said before if it is a directive from his boss we will get him too! This time chit will roll uphill! God have mercy on their souls, lol!

Lighten up guys I'm just doing everything in my power to bring my woman to my arms. If another man wish to step in the way well so be it. I hope he is ready to dance. Anyone care to tango? LOL!

BTW guys quit harping on the Latino crap! We are not prejudice. It is simply the only description we have of the fellow. Once we get his name we will glady refer to him by such! For all we know he could be Philipno or Indian. All we know is he has a dark(er) complexion and this is from ladies whom have probably met very few other ethnic groups in their secluded Russian home-towns.

[Turboguy]

Personally Andrewfin, I think you have an overactive imagination.    I know very little about what the results of the other interviews were that day.   I know what happened with mine and I know what happened with one friend, Steve and Iveta.  Steve is from Reno.  He is a great guy and nothing I say is intended to be negative about him.

Iveta is the excact same age as Luda.   Steve is a good bit older.  Not quite as much spread but enough that if this were a red flag, he could have one too.  24 years to be exact.   Steve had met Iveta one time and had photos from that meeting.   I had met Luda many times and counting my last submission have photos of us together taken in January, March, April, May, July and August.   Luda had no records of phone calls from me at the interview.  Bad thing.   Iveta had no records of phone calls from Steve with her at the interview.  Not a problem.    Luda had no regular posted mail from me at the interview.  Bad thing.  Iveta had no regualr posted mail from Steve at the inteview, Not a problem.   I had records of 2650 e-mails and messages.  (about 170 of those have now been furnished to the embassy)  Ivata had a dozen with her.  I had copies of all tickets and boarding passes with Luda.  Iveta did not have those with her.    Luda was told she must do the interview in Russian Iveta was given the option.   Iveta got her visa, Luda got her blue slip.  Luda had the Jerk, Iveta had one of the ladies who were both very nice and friendly. 

I still say he was hired as a CO not as God.

 

 

[Michelangelo]

For us guys yet to find our girls for sure, these posts definately send me southwest and out of Russia to Ukraine to seek my girl.  Why mess with Russia when Ukraine is so much easier in the K-1 process or DCF option offered there?

[jb]

doudis2

Thankfully I don't have to worry anymore about visas, my wife has now been here several years. She holds a permanent green card and will soon go through the citizenship process.

I did have occasion to visit with my Congress Representive  and Senators during the long wait for her visa and the results were not spectacular.  They basically gave me the usual lip service and dropped it.  The problem is that since the U.S. Dept of State answers not to Congress, but to the Secretary of State and to the President, individual congressmen and women don't have near the influence they'd like you to think they do.  I'm afraid complaining to a congressman about a State Department employee would be like me telling a fireman I don't like the way a policeman is doing his job.  He will listen politely, but there's not much he can do about it.  

If you have to go that route I hope you have a better man from your district than I do.

[Bruno]

[user=336]doudis2[/user] wrote:

I will not run and hide whilst this man abuses his power. And like I said before if it is a directive from his boss we will get him too!

For this, you will need to be strong... from the last info i have read, the CO cannot refuse a K1... same other people working at ambassy, cannot refuse it... it is the National Visa Center in Portsmuth who make the final decision...

9 FAM 41.81 N6.5 Marriage Bona Fides

If a consular officer finds that the fiance(e) or marital relationship is not bona fide but is a sham entered into solely for immigration benefits, post should return the K-1 or K-3 petition with a recommendation for revocation to the national visa center ( NVC ) under cover of a memorandum detailling the specific, objective facts giving rise to the posts conclusion.

http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0941081N.pdf

Over interview, very interesting :

9 FAM 42.62 Notes

Consular officers shall make every effort to conduct visa interviews fairly and sympathetically. Any semblance of cross-examination, assumption of bad faith or entrapment must be avoided.

http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09FAM/0942062N.PDF

On these page, they speak about the "consular anti-fraud handbook", specialy the chapter 5... since i have not find it on the site... i have make some search... i have find one place where he is for sell at 15$ ( 128 page )... i think that the book can be interesting for people who have a girlfriend who ready interview... know how work the "ennemy" allow the victory...

http://edenpress.com/showbook.asp?index=601@8@A

The Consular Anti-Fraud Handbook

This actual State Department report details the inside workings and procedures of consular officials and how they detect visa and passport fraud. A very useful guide for those seeking to enter and remain in the U.S.:

• Interviewing techniques for uncovering lies.
  [/*]
  
• What documents are necessary to establish identity and citizenship.
[/b][/*]

• Types of altered and counterfeit documents frequently submitted.
[/b][/*]

• Physical security used to protect blank passports, visa stamps, etc.
[/b][/*]

• Case histories of actual frauds.
[/b][/*]

• Actual transcripts of a consular interview with a couple attempting marriage fraud to establish citizenship.
  [/*]
  
• And, an illegal alien's discussion with a broker of fraudulent documents to obtain a U.S. passport.
[/b]
If i find more over these hanbook, i publish it here later... knowing how work CO can allow us to better protect ourself...[/*]

Jb,

Yep I know. Nothing may come from my letters to my reps, but I have to try. BTW they are Kyl and McCain of AZ both of which are trying to push through an immigration reform bill right now. This bill is targeted at the illegals and I was hoping one of them would like to help us and show that they are not against immigration but rather ILLEGAL immigration. Who knows. Then there is my congressman Flake. I do not know much about him. But you would hope McCain would have some pull. Heck this guy may be president soon???

[Bruno]

Other place for buy the "consular anti-fraud handbook"

* http://www.gun-room.com/

type "consular anti-fraud" in the field below "search our store"... push "go"... 14.95$

* http://www.freebooter.com/underground-library-new-id-index.asp 15$

Very interesting find during my search on www.cis.org :

Instead, officers were trained to rely on clues about the applicant's intent that can be gleaned from a brief conversation. For example, officers look at language skills, personal appearance, general demeanor or nervousness, and uncertainly in answering questions, among other things, to help them decide if the applicant is credible.

Sorry, with control from more of 600 links, it is all i have find...

Well the ball is rolling in my neck of the woods. I just got this letter and at the top you can see my reply.





QUOTE

Thank you very much. There are many of us dedicated to this investigation. As we gather more information I will pass it along to you. The only other thing I have heard is that he is the only male CO in the Moscow office. I can not say this definitively, but if this is the case it should make things go a little easier. Plus if you need some names of ladies he has already denied the K1 Fiancée visa too I'm sure that can be arranged.

Thank You and Have a Great Day!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hedman, Kelly [mailto:Kelly.Hedman@mail.house.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 1:33 PM
To:

Subject: Congressional Request


Thank you for your email regarding concerns you have for a Consular Officer in Moscow.  I have made a request with the limited details we have to the Department of State Congressional Team, they will determine if we have enough information for an investigation on this officer or if it is not enough to make a charge. I will notify you as soon as I hear anything.  Unfortunately, this limited of information will more than likely not be enough for them to open an inquiry for us, but if there is one pending, there may be a chance.  Thank you again for contacting the office.

Regards,

Kelly D. Hedman

Director of Constituent Services

Office of Congressman Jeff Flake

480/833-0092

[Bruno]

I hope that it will not be your head who will be rolling...

If some investigation start but lead to nothing, he can maybe able to know your name... and when your lady will have her interview in Moscow, i fear a special treatment for her... Friend, you game with fire and beware of the return of flame...

Don't forget that until now, Doug have not receive a refusal... only ask more evidence over his relation with his lady... If the two people who have problem now receive the visa, you will be in a bad situation... take care

[RacerX]

Bruno is quite correct on this: so far NONE of the applicants has been refused a visa, and most likely have not had their cases sent back to the NVC - until or if this happens you have little or nothing.  Launching an investigation is a big deal in Washington and a much better way to have handled this would be for Mr. Flake's office to call the consulate and express his concern.  In any event, they are going to want names before they kick any a$$.