From Sibsie - STOLEN, Sealed Brown Envelope (K1)
Karen D
Sibsie has asked me to post this on her behalf as she is
currently without an Internet connection, but is need of some urgent
advice. Please read on.
Following her recent successful K1
interview, Sibsie’s flight was booked to emigrate from Spain to the
USA last Thursday, 11 March. Unfortunately, before she boarded her
flight at Valencia airport, she was robbed. She was not hurt but amongst
other things, the thief took her sealed brown envelope which must be
presented at POE. Fortunately they did not take her passport, which has
the actual K1 visa in it, or her chest x-ray.
After obtaining a Police
report in Valencia to substantiate the missing documents, she boarded
her flight to Paris and from there caught her flight to Boston. The
authorities were aware that she didn’t have the necessary documents to
be legally admitted into the United States, and so she disembarked from
the plane before the other passengers.
On her last trip to the United
States in January 2004, Sibsie had a conversation with the POE Officer
about how she would be returning on a K1 visa in a matter of weeks. He
said that she should look for him when she returns and he would give her
the temporary EAD stamp. Fortunately for her, she saw the same Officer
on duty this time.
The good news is that she was allowed to stay in the
USA and is here now with here fiancé. Officers in Boston have kept her
passport and I believe that she has currently been classed as
“inadmissible”, and technically has not entered on the K1 visa. She
now has 30 days in order to present the missing documents, if she does
not or cannot, she will be arrested and deported. Sadly, their plans to
marry towards the end of March have had to be put on hold until this
mess is sorted out.
Her fiancé has copies of their important K1
documents and has already contacted the Embassy in Madrid. They
remember Sibsie and can forward what documents they have to the USA.
Sibsie thinks that there may still be a problem though as certain
documents might need to be originals, showing official stamps.
Has
anyone else been in a situation like this or knows of someone who has?
There must be some sort of contingency plan where the sealed brown
envelope and its original contents are no longer available, surely...?
Does Sibsie have any other options? What should she do now?
Any advice
to help her out in this extraordinary situation would be greatly
appreciated.
Many thanks.
I’ve tried to make the
facts here as accurate as possible with the knowledge that I have.
Sibsie hopes to get online soon and I am sure she will correct any parts
of this post where necessary. In the meantime, I will be relaying
advice back to her.
Karen
--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
FlyergirlUK
Blimey!! Poor Sibs!! How bloody awful for her, right on the verge of the
start of a new life with Steve.
I have no advice to offer either but
would like to send her my sympathies and hope that this all gets sorted
out asap, if you would pass that onto her please Karen.
Thanks.
Tam :)
FlyergirlUK
Sibs, I'm just glad to hear that you, yourself, are ok. People were
getting worried about you gal.
Good luck with getting this mess sorted.
I just wish I could offer more than just luck!
Let us know what
happens.
Take care
Tam :)
Rete
Glad that you are okay Sibsie and were allowed in, even if only for a
visit. You have the option with all your many citizenships to go to
Canada instead of to Spain since you are a Canadian Citizen, too.
Please get an immigration attorney. I know money is tight but at
least that will enable you to get as much "good" mileage as possible. I
only know of this happening once in all of the six years I've been
around and honestly don't recall what the outcome was. Since the brown
envelope contains originals and I've heard they do not keep copies at
the US Consulate, I don't know what you can do and only an attorney can
assist.
Good luck and praying for you.
Rete
Originally
posted by sibsie
> Hi and thanks to Karen for starting this thread
for me.
>
> Immigration were great. They've kept my passport and given
me a "Deferred inspection" form. My immigation guy used to work at EWR
and said that there they'd just put me on a plane back home. Thank God
Boston is such a great place to deal with, they were so nice to me.
>
>
My Embassy in Madrid have been great so far and been liasing with my
family and fiance. I'm hoping they can do something about the documents
that were stolen. I know it has the original I-129f in there but am not
sure what else. The Consulate Officer who's been speaking to my family
said there is other Govt Sensitive stuff.
>
> Like Karen said, this has
to have happened before. The very last thing I want to do is have to go
back to Spain. To be honest I never want to step foot in the country
again. We are due to get married 26th March and I don't know what to do
about that now either. The immigation supervisor said to just go ahead
and get married and stay but I don't want to land myself in hot water.
>
If anyone has any advice, or knows any good lawyers in the Boston area
I'd love to hear.
Darkie
I sadly dont have any good advice to give her, however i hope for her
that this will be resolved quick.
I wonder what kind of person would
steal someone's documents like that. Its just not right, it must be hard
for her while she was looking forward to finally start off her life with
her fiance to have it ruined by a simple crook.
Good luck Sibsie, i
hope you can look back at this point in a year and laugh about it.
Steve2003
She needs to get an immigration lawyer now.... Just one of those times
that a good lawyer is required.
--
-Steve
K-Visa FAQ's at : http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1faq.htm
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
sibsie
Hi and thanks to Karen for starting this thread for me.
Immigration
were great. They've kept my passport and given me a "Deferred
inspection" form. My immigation guy used to work at EWR and said that
there they'd just put me on a plane back home. Thank God Boston is such
a great place to deal with, they were so nice to me.
My Embassy in
Madrid have been great so far and been liasing with my family and
fiance. I'm hoping they can do something about the documents that were
stolen. I know it has the original I-129f in there but am not sure what
else. The Consulate Officer who's been speaking to my family said there
is other Govt Sensitive stuff.
Like Karen said, this has to have
happened before. The very last thing I want to do is have to go back to
Spain. To be honest I never want to step foot in the country again. We
are due to get married 26th March and I don't know what to do about that
now either. The immigation supervisor said to just go ahead and get
married and stay but I don't want to land myself in hot water.
If
anyone has any advice, or knows any good lawyers in the Boston area I'd
love to hear.
Marilou920
>From: Karen D member13559@british_expats.com
>Date: 3/14/2004 10:27 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <1305023.1...@britishexpats.com>
>
>
>Sibsie has asked me to post this on her behalf as she is
>currently without an Internet connection, but is need of some urgent
>advice. Please read on.
>
>Following her recent successful K1
>USA last Thursday, 11 March. Unfortunately, before she boarded her
>flight at Valencia airport, she was robbed. She was not hurt but amongst
>other things, the thief took her sealed brown envelope which must be
>presented at POE. Fortunately they did not take her passport, which has
>the actual K1 visa in it, or her chest x-ray.
>
>After obtaining a Police
>report in Valencia to substantiate the missing documents, she boarded
>her flight to Paris and from there caught her flight to Boston. The
>be legally admitted into the United States, and so she disembarked from
>the plane before the other passengers.
>
>On her last trip to the United
>States in January 2004, Sibsie had a conversation with the POE Officer
>about how she would be returning on a K1 visa in a matter of weeks. He
>said that she should look for him when she returns and he would give her
>the temporary EAD stamp. Fortunately for her, she saw the same Officer
>on duty this time.
>
>The good news is that she was allowed to stay in the
>passport and I believe that she has currently been classed as
>now has 30 days in order to present the missing documents, if she does
>not or cannot, she will be arrested and deported. Sadly, their plans to
>marry towards the end of March have had to be put on hold until this
>mess is sorted out.
>
>documents and has already contacted the Embassy in Madrid. They
>remember Sibsie and can forward what documents they have to the USA.
>Sibsie thinks that there may still be a problem though as certain
>documents might need to be originals, showing official stamps.
>
>Has
>anyone else been in a situation like this or knows of someone who has?
>There must be some sort of contingency plan where the sealed brown
>envelope and its original contents are no longer available, surely...?
>Does Sibsie have any other options? What should she do now?
>
>Any advice
>to help her out in this extraordinary situation would be greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Many thanks.
>
>facts here as accurate as possible with the knowledge that I have.
>Sibsie hopes to get online soon and I am sure she will correct any parts
>of this post where necessary. In the meantime, I will be relaying
>advice back to her.
>
>Karen
>
>
>--
>Posted via http://britishexpats.com
>
experiences is far different from what you had. Sibsie should not had boarded
the plane. Subsie should had went to the US consulate and report the incident.
US consulate will replaced some of the documents. It will be harder to
communicate between here in USA and the US consulate overseas. I have a friend
she lost her brown envelope before her flight, she was able to ask the US
consulate to replaced some of it if they can. She was successful in obtaining
it before she boarded the plane to USA.
>
>
>
>
cutenurse300
Awwwww what a terrible news for Sibsie.She flew into Boston the same day
as me..well i hope it will all work out soon,and at least you re
together!!!!!
Eric S.
How horrible! I hope you can get it all worked out.
I'm in Boston and I had a consult with an attorney before I started the
whole K-1 process. We decided to go it alone, but not because we didn't
like her. I'll send you a PM with the details.
Another option is for you if money is tight is to go to the International
Institute of Boston, a non-profit organization that assists immigrants and
refugees. They have a walk-in legal clinic on Thursdays and Saturdays. I
think you pay a nominal fee for a short consultation and then they can refer
you to an attorney that can assist in your particular situation. See here
for more info: http://www.iiboston.org/legal_clinic.htm
Good luck!
- Eric S.
"sibsie" <member17406@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:1305171.1...@britishexpats.com...
Karen D
Originally posted by cutenurse300
terrible news for Sibsie.She flew into Boston the same day as me..well i
hope it will all work out soon,and at least you re together!!!!!
Not that it really matters but have edited original post.
Karen D
Originally posted by Marilou920
sorry to hear this. I'm not a lawyer but reading on different
experiences is far different from what you had. Sibsie should not had
boarded the plane. Subsie should had went to the US consulate and report
the incident.
>
> US consulate will replaced some of the documents. It
will be harder to communicate between here in USA and the US consulate
overseas. I have a friend she lost her brown envelope before her flight,
she was able to ask the US consulate to replaced some of it if they can.
She was successful in obtaining
it before she boarded the plane to USA.
Hi Marilou
I can't speak for why Sibsie chose to board
the plane as opposed to staying and sorting things out, but I must say
that if I was in that situation, I would have done the same thing. She
had her two cats with her which I guess was a big influence with her
decision.
The US embassy in Madrid have already been contacted and so
are aware of her situation. They seem to be very helpful and
cooperative and therefore we hope that copies of any missing documents
that they have in their possession will be sent to her in the USA in the
next few days.
I shall assume that she will be looking to have a
consultation with a good AILA lawyer to find out what her options are
now.
Fingers and toes are crossed for her.
sibsie
Originally posted by Karen D
> I
can't speak for why Sibsie chose to board the plane as opposed to
staying and sorting things out, but I must say that if I was in that
situation, I would have done the same thing. She had her two cats with
her which I guess was a big influence with her decision.
>
spoke to the Consulate Officer who interviewed me when I was in Paris
and before I boarded to Boston. He said to go ahead and get to Boston
as it was the most sympathetic POE out there. He really had no idea
what would happen when I landed. The Supervisor at Boston did say it
had happened before, especially on flights out of Paris and Spain where
robberies are very commonplace.
I'll work on getting a good lawyer and
see what happens. The Con Off is being fantastic and bending over
backwards to help.
Leslie66
Hi Sibs,
Sorry to hear about the sh*t luck. Were you ever in any
danger? I was thinking about you with the bombings and trying to
remember your timeline. Glad you're in one piece.
Les
Originally posted by sibsie
sibsie
Originally posted by Leslie66
>
> Sorry to
hear about the sh*t luck. Were you ever in any danger? I was thinking
about you with the bombings and trying to remember your timeline. Glad
you're in one piece.
>
the crowd. Bearing in mind I was actually checking in, had two 2'x'2
cat boxes, two massive suitcases and three carry ons it was really hard
to keep track of what the hell was going on.
The Guardia Civil said
they had 5 similar the day before. I'm hoping beyond hope that they
would be happy with their haul and had dumped my case and papers
somewhere around the airport. I'd have thought with the probs in Madrid
they would have had more security there but there were only 2 officers
on duty. To be honest it happens so often that they don't really go
into overdrive when someone is a victim of robbery.
Leslie66
Steaming the crowd?? I have no idea what that means. Details please!!
Originally posted by sibsie
sibsie
Originally posted by Leslie66
Steaming the crowd?? I
have no idea what that means. Details please!! Apparently
there were 3 men and a woman. What they did was kept bumping into
people, knocking things over and pushing into the line of passengers.
I've seen the same sort of thing in Rome. In Spain it's common for
someone to distract you by asking questions about directions etc.,
whilst someone else carries out the robbery.
Leslie66
Originally posted by sibsie
and a woman. What they did was kept bumping into people, knocking
things over and pushing into the line of passengers. I've seen the same
sort of thing in Rome. In Spain it's common for someone to distract you
by asking questions about directions etc., whilst someone else carries
out the robbery.
Poor Sibs. :(
If they had pulled that crap
in a U.S. airport (post 9-11 anyway) they would have been stuffed and
cuffed in 5 minutes time.
Folinskyinla
Originally posted by sibsie
Hi:
See a lawyer
immediately. I think this can be resolved. A part of me thinks that
getting married and filing a combined I-130/485 before the deferred
inspection date might be the way to go.
--
Certified Specialist
Immigration & Nat. Law
Cal. Bar Board of Legal Specialization
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
Rete
Originally posted by Folinskyinla
>
> See a lawyer
immediately. I think this can be resolved. A part of me thinks that
getting married and filing a combined I-130/485 before the deferred
inspection date might be the way to go.
Glad you said what I
was thinking but didn't have the courage to say ;-)
Welcome back!
Rete
Michi
Sibise,
I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. The good thing is
that you are safe and home with Steve. Please let me know if there is
anything that I can do to help you out. Remember, my husband has his
interview in Madrid in 1 week. E-mail me or pm me if you can think of
any way that we can help you out, ok?
Take care,
Lily,
sibsie
I had a long chat with the con off today. He's told me exactly what was
in the sealed envelope which is all the papers I provided myself and
have copies of. He's been in touch with my District Office. They say
they can "land" me there. I can provide copies and originals of all the
docs needed with the exception of the I129f. The Con Off and the office
said the main thing is that I have my visa and am in the country. I'll
go in on Wednesday to see them and am still trying to get a lawyer to
call me back!
But yes Mr F, I've a feeling sticking to my orginal
marriage date of 26th March may well be the best thing to do.
anyone4tea
Hi Sibsie,
I haven't been able to contribute to this thread at all, but
sorry to hear your plight. However, it's good to hear that you're with
your fiance now, rather than stuck in Spain.
Good luck, hope you get it
sorted out soon.
Kath
jcapulet
Originally posted by sibsie
Sibsie,
I'm
glad things are working out on the right track after all that happened!
I was really worried when I heard you were robbed at the airport, I'm
glad you are ok-and in the US with your honey. :)
Juliet
Steffi
Oh no! That's not good at all. What horribles news on my return. :( I'm
so incredibly sorry to hear that you got robbed and I hope you can work
everything out without having to get deported.
I know where you're
coming from with the robbery experience. Years ago I was at the Alicante
airport with my family to pick up a group of about 20 teachers from the
US that were there for some exchange type thing. There was one guy that
lingered around us, but we thought he was with the teachers, and the
teachers thought he was with us. The leading lady was trying to figure
out the van situation, and who could drive a stick shift and so on she
left her purse in one van and then continued on to the next. Since it
was such a large group it was a bit messy, so no one really noticed when
the guy went into the van and stole her purse and then dissapeared. Only
after we realized it was stolen did we put together the pieces of what
had happened. It was quite a mess as you can imagine.
Again I am
incredibly sorry to hear about this and I wish you the best of luck to
figure everything out smoothly. *fingers crossed*
Rete
Originally posted by lpdiver
> I cannot really offer a
resolution scenario. I did however have a near call with a similar
sceario. One Friday I consulted with an attorney and had all my papers
locked in a briefcase in my trunk. Saturday I realized about two P.M.
and retrieved them. Two hours later all was lost as my car was
carjacked. Whew! I had taken all paper in my apartment two hours
earlier. Monday I put duplicate originals in my safety deposit box. I
hope others can learn from these events.
>
> Tony
Wow I've
never met anyone who had been carjacked before. I sincerely hope that
you were not injured when they commandeered your car from you. I know
when it was the "popular" way to steal cars here in New York a few years
ago some people lost their lives.
Lucky you had the insight to remove
those important papers from the trunk before you went out.
Rete
lpdiver
I cannot really offer a resolution scenario. I did however have a near
call with a similar sceario. One Friday I consulted with an attorney and
had all my papers locked in a briefcase in my trunk. Saturday I realized
about two P.M. and retrieved them. Two hours later all was lost as my
car was carjacked. Whew! I had taken all paper in my apartment two hours
earlier. Monday I put duplicate originals in my safety deposit box. I
hope others can learn from these events.
Tony
Originally
posted by Karen D
> Sibsie has asked me to post this on
her behalf as she is currently without an Internet connection, but is
need of some urgent advice. Please read on.
>
> Following her
recent successful K1 interview, Sibsie’s flight was booked to emigrate
from Spain to the USA last Friday, 12 March. Unfortunately, before she
boarded her flight at Valencia airport, she was robbed. She was not hurt
but amongst other things, the thief took her sealed brown envelope which
must be presented at POE. Fortunately they did not take her passport,
which has the actual K1 visa in it, or her chest x-ray.
>
> After
obtaining a Police report in Valencia to substantiate the missing
documents, she boarded her flight to Paris and from there caught her
flight to Boston. The authorities were aware that she didn’t have the
necessary documents to be legally admitted into the United States, and
so she disembarked from the plane before the other passengers.
>
> On
her last trip to the United States in January 2004, Sibsie had a
conversation with the POE Officer about how she would be returning on a
K1 visa in a matter of weeks. He said that she should look for him when
she returns and he would give her the temporary EAD stamp. Fortunately
for her, she saw the same Officer on duty this time.
>
> The good news
is that she was allowed to stay in the USA and is here now with her
fiancé. Officers in Boston have kept her passport and I believe that
she has currently been classed as “inadmissible”, and technically
has not entered on the K1 visa. She now has 30 days in order to present
the missing documents, if she does not or cannot, she will be arrested
and deported. Sadly, their plans to marry towards the end of March have
had to be put on hold until this mess is sorted out.
>
> Her fiancé
has copies of their important K1 documents and has already contacted the
Embassy in Madrid. They remember Sibsie and can forward what documents
they have to the USA. Sibsie thinks that there may still be a problem
though as certain documents might need to be originals, showing official
stamps.
>
> Has anyone else been in a situation like this or knows of
someone who has? There must be some sort of contingency plan where the
sealed brown envelope and its original contents are no longer available,
surely...? Does Sibsie have any other options? What should she do now?
>
> Any advice to help her out in this extraordinary situation would
be greatly appreciated.
>
> Many thanks.
>
> I’ve
tried to make the facts here as accurate as possible with the knowledge
that I have. Sibsie hopes to get online soon and I am sure she will
correct any parts of this post where necessary. In the meantime, I will
be relaying advice back to her.
>
Karen
lpdiver
The car was actually jack from my 14 y.o. daughter who was sitting in
it listening to the radio while I made a two minute trip into the store
in broad daylight in a very good neighborhood. So luck prevail all
around that day. And I got my car back four days later in good
condition.
Tony
Originally posted by Rete
Rete
Originally posted by lpdiver
from my 14 y.o. daughter who was sitting in it listening to the radio
while I made a two minute trip into the store in broad daylight in a
very good neighborhood. So luck prevail all around that day. And I got
my car back four days later in good condition.
>
>
> Tony
That is even better. Glad your daughter was not injured and that you
recovered the automobile.