Visa Problems

Hi, Jon,
James died several years ago; I'll try to respond to your question. 
it's hard to advise you in detail without knowing what happened in your wife's interview, but she definitely should check out this video, and similar ones, on Paulo Sérgio's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqAjFFSc1ng
Keep in mind that the interview has one purpose, and one purpose only:  to disprove the assumption that the applicant intends to overstay his/her visa, and remain in the US illegally.  If her application form is rigorously honest, if she approaches her next  interview in the way the videos suggest, and if her answers tally with her application, there's good reason to hope that her next application will be approved.
Good luck!

Abrigado. My wife's interview was not an interview at all as expected. She went through several security doors to the interview desk where she never sat down, nor had a chance to provide any documents. She was coldly told "Denied". This was at the US Embassy in Brasilia. The decision was made without an interview, which is strange. No reason was given or emailed to her. We have no clue as to what, where or why. My wife swears that the person was Brazilian and not American. My wife also recalls that there were only a few Americans. They were all Military and not personnel. I was under the impression that we would at least know the reason to avoid it at a second interview ( if taken at all ). I have a very uneasy feeling about this. Any clues? Thank You.

Interesting.
It's not unusual for the interviewer to be Brazilian:  when my then boyfriend/now husband had his at the Consulate General in Rio, his interviewer was a Brazilian employee of the Consulate, from Rio Grande do Sul.   The interviews also tend to be brief, and the interviewee may well be standing.  My husband's interview was just like the one the Paulo Sérgio describes.  The two-step process was the same, too:  first day, hand in papers and get fingerprinted, second day, interview and approval or denial.  You didn't mention the first part, but I'm assuming it happened.
My thoughts if she tries again (and I think she should -- you want to be able to visit the US, right?):
-- watch the Paulo Sérgio videos, and contrast what he says with her experience.
-- fill out the application with her, so you're both satisfied that it's correct and not open to misinterpretation.
-- she should consider stating clearly in her interview that she's applying for a tourist visa, not a spouse/fiancée visa, because she has no intention of living in the US; you and she are committed to living in Brazil, and only visiting the US to see family and friends, and for tourism occasionally.  Normally, I recommend answering only the questions asked, and not volunteering information.  In this case, though, the process for a spouse/fiancée immigrant visa is more complex and expensive than the tourist visa process, and it's possible that the consular official thought that you were trying to back-door it.

Thanks once more. Yes, I was with my Wife when she went to the photo and fingerprinting that was in the Shopping Mall on the 3rd floor in Brasilia. I was not permitted inside. She filled out the 180 question form online. Brasilia is a 5 hour Bus ride from Uruacu, each way. Not very convenient and costs money for bus-fare, food and one nights stay each time. All of this is very recent and on Monday this week. I was on a plane back to the States during her interview. I was with her when she filled out the online form. She entered the reason as a Vacation. All was in order. At the So-Called Interview, she was asked for her Passport and within a minute it was handed back to her and the Counsel spoke the word "Denied" and handed her back the Passport. She tried to show documents, but was refused. As I mentioned before, she was denied without Due Process or had a pre-deciesion made before she entered. We find it hard to understand. The ironic part is that her Passport is not in her married name and Marriage Certificate was a document that she had with her to show Counsel. She did state in the form, that she was in Portugal 12 and 11 years ago visiting family. She was nicely dressed and wore no jewelry. She also mentioned that the majority of the people applying looked to be poor and not neatly dressed. The most frustrating part was while she was waiting for an Uber, she saw several young, poor looking people with their friends that were granted Visas!! One wore old tennis shoes with no laces. Something is not correct. She is applying again and we are looking for answers to this dilemma without knowing why the refusal. Our only conclusion is that it is all about money.

It must be very frustrating!   
I doubt very much that it's about money.  Please, don't even think about pursuing that line:  just the suggestion could get her banned indefinitely. 
The mismatch in names between the passport and the application may have been enough to cause the rejection:  there's no easy way of knowing what "guidance" the current Administration has provided to the consulates on granting visas, but we can be pretty sure it wasn't "go easy"!   As I said the last time, the agent may also have thought you were trying to backdoor the spousal immigration process.
I see from another post that you're going to employ a visa assistance company.  I hope it works out for you.  Make sure they know about the names mismatch:  I see a trip to the Federal Police for a new passport in your wife's future.
Good luck!

Honesty can be very frustrating and costly when another person slides through the system on a lie, but we will continue to proceed in an honest manner. My wife does not like confrontations and is a very calm and strong person. I hope I can learn from her. Thanks

The US is one of the countries that do not have to give a reason as to denial. Have been asked by many Brazilian's why and I asked a friend in the State Dept and that was all he could say.
The names are big issues as abthree said.
Soon No tourist visa for US required June 17th for a Brazilian passport holder. Maybe this may help/

As Abthree stated she needs to get her passport and everything else that may be different corrected.  The Brazilian worker she dealt with does not have the authority to reject her so it came from the authority in the consulate. I don't know if there is an age difference but if there is it could be a factor. All she can is try again.

Jim

I've argued the point of having a reason for denial as to not repeat the same mistake in applying a second or third time. By my Wife coming to the States for an official Honeymoon, it would create much revenue for local businesses. Shopping, Hotel, food, etc. Times that by 100 more people and you have a ton of money not spent. I called the Hotel in Key West and put us on stand-by until we find out. The Hotel was not happy about possibly losing money on the Honeymoon Suite. I told them to contact our Embassy. LOL.

Jland, thanks for your input. In age difference, did you mean between my wife and I ?

My wife ad I are married in the US and BR. The big headache and cost is changing name in Brazil, so we understand you issues. We gave up for now in changing her name.
Maybe just going to the US when the Visa is not an issue can be done.
We also travel together prior to any marriage, to Las Vegas Well why not take advantage to the Nevada laws and we got married in Vegas. That said we need to get my birth certificate in order (apostil an translate and go back to the cortiero) to file.

Tex, maybe you could explain to me about the name change for your wife in Brazil. Thanks

Tex,
Interesting  - we're in the same situation.  Got married in the US, had no trouble registering the marriage in Brazil.  My husband wants to change his name to mine, but we held off until my permanent residency came through, to avoid confusing that process.
He submitted the petition last year, and the judge denied it out of hand:  said that he should have done it when we got married.  It's now working its way through the appeals process.  Our lawyer checks on it every six to eight weeks,  just to let us know that it's still there. Meanwhile, life in Paradise goes on.

abthree answered it better than I. Have same issue with the exception of taking the advice of her lawyer and not perusing the court system. I still do not understand the judicial branch here.

Our lawyer's young, idealistic, and not very experienced:  you may have gotten better advice.  The meter's not running, though, so it's not a big worry. 

I'm curious. I've heard that Officials now look at Facebook to find potential Fraud Marriages. Anyone hear of this??????

I believe they look at all sites. This one also. They shut WhatsApp down for awhile. Take care on posts.

I haven't heard that, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Federal Police were doing it as part of their due diligence for permanent residence petitions, particularly since they've stopped making home visits for those.

My Florida Attorney informs me that things are different than 5 years ago. You are more likely to be granted a Visa or residency to America if you are represented by a recognized Attorney with a proven track record. I'm told that Facebook provides an interesting history of a person. Everyone is considered fraudulent until they can prove otherwise. Sad but true.

yes, sometimes the interviewer may discriminate thinking you were helping her get to the USA the easy way. Just a thought.

The decision was made before the interview. We found that my wife's passport and questionnaire did not have her married name. Tomorrow my wife is getting a new Passport, new Drivers license and will do the new questionnaire in her married name at the Agency on Wednesday. Hopefully this will suffice. Our future plans are already made. We own houses in both countries. Brazil is by far cheaper to live and all of her family is there. I have no family in America. We will live in Brazil and visit Florida. The Florida house is an investment. For now, we want our Honeymoon in Florida and return to Brazil in late August.

"Everyone is considered fraudulent until they can prove otherwise."
That is literally true:  it's a provision of US law on visas, defined as a "rebuttable presumption".  Consuls are encouraged to consider evidence to the contrary, but that's supposed to be their assumption going in.
I'm betting that the new passport does the trick.  Best of luck!

I believe that the new name on the documents will be the key. I understand why the denial, but not letting us know why, was perplexing. Government policy is very understandable, but confusing to those that are new to it. A simple" Documents in current status " would have been in order. A 160 dollar lesson plus travel money.

My Former Wife's interview went flawless. All documents Married name, she handed the papers to the guy behind the window, she remained standing, he did not like the piece of candy in the document folder (lol) I guess candy is a Security risk.
She had all fingerprints and any other crap the Embassy deemed necessary.
She said the guy behind the window said nothing, maybe the silent type (smh) she was told to check on line and I think in 2 days she recieved her visa..I am in agreement of the documents names not matching or is there something maybe in your wife's background check, overstay maybe Portugal for once this system or any visa system flags any kind of mistake it's like a root canal with no anesthesia. ..and I agree it is not about money,clothing, the higher up who gave the instruction denied ,maybe did not like the way the names lined up.  I think maybe jealous of the "Honeymoon" money is tight here in Brazil and the Retraction of the economy is ugly... Good luck, if you plan to apply for a W7 for tax purposes have them verify the document...

No Red Flags in her background. Trip to Portugal. Spain and Italy was 12 years ago and no overstays. Brazil ties are strong. Owns a house, has a 9 year old daughter in school and is in her 6th year of IFG Government college. Graduates in December. Has previously worked for the Government College as a Professor in the past. No slurs against any government. My wife is just a typical Brazilian woman that cherishes Family and her home.

Texanbrazil wrote:

The US is one of the countries that do not have to give a reason as to denial. Have been asked by many Brazilian's why and I asked a friend in the State Dept and that was all he could say.
The names are big issues as abthree said.
Soon No tourist visa for US required June 17th for a Brazilian passport holder. Maybe this may help/

I think what Big Tex is saying about after June 17th will solve the problem of the Visa requirement...it seems the US is reciprocating for North Americans no longer being required to obtain a Visa for Brazil.
I am thinking due to the global recession / slow down very few people have money to travel and want to migrate for lack of work in most countries...I  only go home to the USA to shop..Brasil is my adopted home country.

The problem was not entering Brazil, but entering America on a Tourist Visa. My Wife filed the form before our marriage and documents were not all in her married name.

jonerle wrote:

The problem was not entering Brazil, but entering America on a Tourist Visa. My Wife filed the form before our marriage and documents were not all in her married name.

I understand that it was the USA entry problem. It has to be the documents, they must all match...She is Brazilian why would the wife have a problem entering Brazil 

And how is your background ?

BR citizens still require an US Visa to enter, Hopefully that will change also. BR will waive visa for US, CA, Japan and others June 17 th.

" The problem was not entering Brazil, but entering America on a Tourist Visa. My Wife filed the form before our marriage and documents were not all in her married name.

I understand that it was the USA entry problem. It has to be the documents, they must all match...She is Brazilian why would the wife have a problem entering Brazil

And how is your background ?"

My Wife has no problem entering Brazil. She has not left yet. My background is clear and not an issue. The issue was with my Wife's documents.