Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well we're discussing Visa denial and how it can differ between Visa denial at a US Embassy versus Visa denial at USCIS. We are talking about this purely in the context for now of the K-1, CR-1, IR-1 and the K-3 Visas. So this is US Marriage Visas and Fiancé Visas. I'm also talking about this through the context of somebody who deals primarily with the US Embassy here in Bangkok as opposed to Embassies outside of the Kingdom. Now again, this may be useful for folks throughout the world, but I'm going to kind of keep this Thailand specific. 

There are effectively two ways you could end up with a denial on an overall case. What are we talking about here? One, you could end up being denied by the Department of Homeland Security, specifically the USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, insofar as they may find that the petition is deficient, or they may find that there is a ground for denying the petition. This is pretty rare. In my entire career up until about a couple of weeks ago, I had never been denied at Department of Homeland Security specifically in I-130 cases. Now in this case, that case was an I-130 for a child - it's an intra family adoption kind of thing - that's already going to be highly complex just on his face. Meanwhile, the issue is one, basically the issues in an intra-family adoption are different from Marriage and Fiancé Visas. The vast majority cases we deal with, I have never been denied at USCIS. It is possible. It's possible to be denied for sort of lack of enough evidence, you didn't meet the prima facie case; you didn't prove that the person is eligible for the Visas. There are a variety of ways. For example, in a Fiancé Visa case it could be determined that "oh you didn't meet the meeting requirement; you didn't meet each other in person within two years of filing the petition". There are multiple ways something could be denied but that's for example one of them. 

Meanwhile, this is a different type of denial substantively than is a denial at an Embassy. For example, at USCIS, they are denying the petition. If you get to the Embassy, it means USCIS has approved the petition, sent it on to the National Visa Center, who has then sent it on to the Embassy. Now the Embassy can then turn around and deny the Visa application, again different from the petition. In the application, it is the applicant, generally speaking a non-US citizen, non-US resident who is overseas, in this case in Thailand, so again, legal remedies are sparse. 

Meanwhile you also have to deal with the heightened powers if you will of Consular Officers with regard to adjudication of Visa applications and there's also the issue of being denied based on what's called a Legal Ground of Inadmissibility. For example, they may find something in someone's criminal record, or they may not have a criminal record, but they may have done something which rises to the level of for example crimes involving moral turpitude, prostitution. These type of things you may not need a conviction to be found inadmissible for. That type of denial is substantively different than being denied at the petition phase at USCIS for a K-1, K-3, CR-1 or IR-1 Visa.