I filed an I-129F Petition for Fiance(e) Visa early last year. Everything was going smoothly while it was the USCIS. The petition was approved and forwarded to the US Consulate of New Delhi. That's when the trouble started.

They took a very long time sending the Packet 3 notice to my fiancée, so she had to pick it up herself to get started on the forms and documentation. At her interview she was given 221g status without any regard for the proof of relationship already submitted. They asked for additional "proof" of engagement that was impossible to give, i.e. "List of 20 Guests that attended Engagement ceremony, Receipts of Banquet Hall", etc. It was only an informal engagement party. We only had a dozen people attend, and we made the food ourself. We submitted what we could along with a letter explaining our informal engagement.

We wait, and waited... I kept contacting the consulate, and they kept telling me it was under administrative review. Then at the end of the year they sent her a notice that the time expired (4 months) and the petition would be sent back to the USCIS with request for revocation, because the consular officer was not satisfied that we had a relationship.

FYI - I've already consulted 1 lawyer (who wasn't that familiar with how to deal with 221g issues, other than just starting over) and my senators/congressman.

I've read the USCIS, DOS, VSC, and New Delhi Consulate sites up and down. Its hard to dig through this stuff, but it seems like there are some loosely defined opportunities to do something about this upfront.

What I need to know is - is there any way to get the VSC to push the Petition back to the Consulate? I know that the Consulate is required to keep a copy of the Petition before they send it back. Is it possible to get the Consulate to extend another 4 months even though they've sent back to the Petition?

Normally the consulate rarely denied under 221g, there must be some documents that look suspicious. You can submit additional evidence in a 1 year frame without new filing. Without seeing the initial documents, I can't tell... and this is not going to be easy.

Retain an immigration attorney who specializes in this area...

I have read and post on other immigration sites, and 221g status seems to be typical in New Delhi. Its supposed to be rare as specified in the FAM guidelines for consulates, but for 2008 that doesn't seem to be the case.

I'm going through the same process and I see yours was done over a year ago can you tell me what happened and what you did I'm so lost I don't know what to do my fiancé is in jerusalem and they are doing the same thing and if it goes back to uscis they say it takes 3 months before they get it another month to review and then another 4 months for jerusalem council to look at it or send it right back again please if you have any advice on what you did and how long it took you it will be doing me a huge favor

I am going though same. My fiancé had an appointment today at New Delhi. Counslate officer mentioned that petition is expired and case will be forward to USCIS for further information. I have no idea what to do? Anyone help