Hardship letter warning

[mogsy]

Just had our 601 denied through London. From a mistake I made by following a hardship letter too closely. I changed things to my wording, but here is the qoute from the Embassy.
"The information and verbiage concerning the state of medical care in the united kingdom, the issue of family unity and the use of the holmes-rahe social readjustment rating scale is nearly identical to statments used in other i-601 waiver applications recently submitted to this office and appears to be a standardized format with no credit or reference to the actual author."
I do have bases to appeal but now need to prove MY credibility! So please beware. If I knew what I know now, I would have hand written my hardship, as my husband did and they believed his remorse. They clearly say they could care less about the holmes-rahe scale.

[skamiri]

Hey thanks for the advise!!!! Good luck doing ur new HSL!!!:thumbup:

[Cynthia]

Mogsy, sorry to hear about the denial especially when it's based upon that.

[cindy101]

Oh my goodness! That is so awful.. I'm so sorry to hear that, and thank you for sharing that information. Your warning should go up to the stickies!

I borrowed some formatting from the published letters, and got ideas from there for areas I hadn't thought to cover (educational opportunities for one) and made sure I covered the major categories.

I would say back to them that most people writing these go to industry experts, that there is standard data published... unemployment, health, and that scale... I'm sure we all go to the most credible sources for data beyond getting statements from professionals we see directly.

Yikes!

[kitkat1]

Just had our 601 denied through London. From a mistake I made by following a hardship letter too closely. I changed things to my wording, but here is the qoute from the Embassy.
"The information and verbiage concerning the state of medical care in the united kingdom, the issue of family unity and the use of the holmes-rahe social readjustment rating scale is nearly identical to statments used in other i-601 waiver applications recently submitted to this office and appears to be a standardized format with no credit or reference to the actual author."
I do have bases to appeal but now need to prove MY credibility! So please beware. If I knew what I know now, I would have hand written my hardship, as my husband did and they believed his remorse. They clearly say they could care less about the holmes-rahe scale.

Sorry to hear of your denial. I think this is very strange and I have the feeling something unusual is going on with London lately. I agree that the holmes-rahe scale is not all that helpful in most cases (I didn't include it) but information regarding the state of medical care in any country is only available from certain sources. Did you cite the source? BTW - I don't think a handwritten letter makes any difference, especially since typed letters are simply easier to read. I would bring this up to Laurel in her chat next Wednesday to get her comments and thoughts.

[Adriane]

How closely did you copy other letters? It's fine to get ideas and basic structure from other people's approved examples, but you should always be careful not to plagarize....

I'm sorry this happened to you- If you could post your letter and the letters you used to construct yours, other people might be able to get an idea of how much is too much....

I agree with Kitkat- I wouldn't handwrite a letter in any event. It is, afterall, a formal, legal, affidavit. Handwriting it would be inappropriate.

[mogsy]

I followed another London based hardship, which our hardships were very, very similar, but I changed the wording based on my facts. Added several and deleted several, but used the same format. They disputed most of my statements on medical care, dental care, age discretion for employment etc. They stated new findings in the US as equal. (i.e MRSA),when here I am living in England for the last 2 years? Trust me, it was not exaggerated and the care here is defiantly different from the States. I will try to post denial and hardship letter I wrote, but I’m just trying to warn people, at least London based to be especially careful. (Rececived denial 07-07-07)

[kitkat1]

I suspect *part* of the problem is that you have been living there for the past two years. Seems to me that would lessen your argument that you can't live there. Also, you might want to focus on other issues when you appeal i.e. financial, family, etc. Maybe if you search around you'll find official, statistical evidence regarding medical care there that will help you.

[mogsy]

My family base is the only thing I have now, since my health didn't seem to matter to them. But I do have that covered. Only now I have to wait on letters being sent from the state. I have 30 days from the end of the month to collect them all.... The nice thing they did add to the denial is that of my chance to prove more on family, and the remorse part from my husband, was grounds to reconsider.(in not so many words)

[ratito921]

do they know that you're living in London? Because if you're trying to prove why you can't live in London and why you can't live in the states without your husband them knowing that you've been in the country for two years will not help your case. It's hardship to the USC not your husbands remorse. I mean it could help that he wrote an apology, but you have to prove your case.

[meesh]

I'm so sorry! It sounds like you used the letters on this site as a guide to write about your own hardships, as we all do. If the hardships are unique to the author, why is a standard format a problem? That is very disappointing, but it is a good reminder and lesson to all of us in the process. Proving extreme and unusual hardship can be challenging, as there is much ambiguity in what constitutes hardship. There are not a lot of resources to guide us through the process of writing this letter, other than those available through this site. Well, good luck. You sound like a very strong person!

[loslagos]

So sorry bout the denial . Wish you best of luck in your trials

[kenaly]

I agree that the holmes-rahe scale is not all that helpful in most cases (I didn't include it)

I totally agree..I think the holmes-rahe scale is completely worthless and overused.

I am sorry to hear of your denial...I have not seen very many denials from London, so that is a shock! BTW..I lived in Canada for almost 7 years, and that did no affect our waiver case at all, so I doubt that had much to do with the denial.

[MistyB]

I suspect *part* of the problem is that you have been living there for the past two years. Seems to me that would lessen your argument that you can't live there. Also, you might want to focus on other issues when you appeal i.e. financial, family, etc. Maybe if you search around you'll find official, statistical evidence regarding medical care there that will help you.


I still think a waiver case can be won even if you are already living in the foreign country. You need to word the waiver in that state of mind. Meaning, you need to talk about your current situation and problems and how they will worsen if your spouse doesnt get the visa and you must remain there with them. I compared and contrasted our situation despite the fact Sweden is a great country to live and work in. I used all of our problems to create a what if scenario. I do believe Kitkat is correct about when you appeal to focus on other issues.

The bottom line to all members who are writing an HSL--dont follow them word for word and structure it in a way that relates to your own personal battles. I personally think the Holmes-Rahe scale is a good tool but it needs to relate to your medical conditions and how that will affect you. I related mine to my depression and the ongoing stress we were definitely dealing with because unfortunately all of that tied in to my unemployment and health issues.

[Pinkpig]

I agree that the holmes-rahe scale is not all that helpful in most cases (I didn't include it)

I totally agree..I think the holmes-rahe scale is completely worthless and overused.

I am sorry to hear of your denial...I have not seen very many denials from London, so that is a shock! BTW..I lived in Canada for almost 7 years, and that did no affect our waiver case at all, so I doubt that had much to do with the denial.


Mogsy,

I am so sorry to hear about his. You might want to read Laurel's memo on waivers to help you with your new HSL.

Just adding FYI: :)

Read here what Laurel Scott has to say about Holmes-Rahe:

http://www.visacentral.net/I601Memo.pdf


Many clients who do their own research are advised by others on the internet to include a psychological self-scoring test, called Holmes-Rahe. In my opinion, this is not worth including. It is also probably not worth including the argument that the couple wants to have children in the future (but are not currently pregnant) and either the wife is getting older or the foreign country has a high infant mortality rate.

[sillygiggle]

Hi- I don't know if it made a difference or not, but we did include that we were trying to have a baby. I included a letter from my ob/gyn and copies of tests to show that I was under going testing for fertility and that I was getting older and faced a possible complicated pregnancy due to age. It is always such an individual decision-this was tied into the fact that I have insurance coverage and would lose that coverage if we were forced to move to England. That plus the time to resume starting a family would be lost. just a thought, maybe it made a difference because we had already started-also the stress and how it affects pregnancy etc...I used everything I could think of that I was dealing with. :)

[MistyB]

I think the baby argument is good if you are of a certain age. Like 30+. If you are in your early twenties, the baby argument probably isnt such a great thing unless your spouse is living in a 3rd world country and then you can tie it in with that. In that case Holmes Rahe wouldnt really relate. If you have a mental condition, it is a good thing.