90 Day Fiance Rachel says Jon’s visa denied as expected, waiver already filed

August 23, 2021 Before the 90 Days, Jon Walters, Rachel Bear

Before the 90 Days Rachel and Jon Walters visa update - application denied, waiver filed

90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days couple Rachel and Jon Walters have continued their efforts to get Jon a spousal visa so he can come to the United States. Helping their efforts is the fact that the couple is married and share a child together. Not helping their efforts is the fact that Jon has a criminal history that includes multiple violent altercations and convictions. So, what’s the latest update on Jon’s visa status?

“May 5th of this year Jon had his interview at the U.S. embassy in London,” Rachel said during a YouTube live session on Saturday. (Video included below.) “Jon’s initial application was, in fact, turned down,” she adds.

The fact that Jon’s visa was denied may sound like devastating news, but it was exactly what the couple was expecting. “We knew this was going to happen, so this wasn’t a big deal,” Rachel assures viewers. She explains that because of Jon’s criminal record, they were certain that the initial visa application would be denied. Once that happened, they would be able to file a waiver, which is their best shot at actually getting Jon a visa.

Despite knowing what the outcome of the initial visa request would be, it was still frustrating for Jon to go in for his interview and not have the opportunity to say anything much at all in his defense.

From Jon:

This is really what I want to make clear to everyone: they didn’t look at me, my life, my family — they didn’t look at our situation and then make a decision based on that. They didn’t deny my visa on us. When I went for the interview, the guy explained that — he basically said, “Hello, how you doing?” And then said, “Oh, because of your criminal record I…can’t process this visa application.” He said, “It’s not for me to make a decision.”

And I said to them, “But what about, like, what about my life changing? What about the fact I’m married? What about our family?” And I had all this information, and I had all this paperwork.

And he said, “I can’t look at any of that…He said, “It’s down to interpretation, and we interpret that because of your conviction in the past, we won’t issue visas.” He said, “It’s not for us to do.” He said, “But there is somebody who does deal with that in this in the State Department, and you can apply for a waiver, and they can decide whether they accept your application and look at your waiver — whether they deny it, or whether they issue a visa.” He said, “But it’s up to them.”

So although it was a hard denial, it was…painful because I had all this stuff I wanted to say to plead my case, and to have a chance to ask for forgiveness. And I didn’t get a chance to do any of that. I was looking through a window and he just said, “I can’t — I can’t do anything.” So it was a hard denial. It was a hard no. But he did give me all the information for the waiver. And me and Rachel knowing that we would probably need a waiver, we have already paid our lawyer to create this waiver for us. So we paid for that in advance expecting it to happen. So although it’s a no, we were actually really well prepared.

“Jon’s interview was all on him, and the waiver was all on me, as far as getting information together and building our story,” Rachel says. She adds that they put a packet together that was hundreds of pages long which included “our pictures and our story and how long we’ve been waiting and all of that stuff.”

Rachel says that it took her roughly a month to put the packet together, and she filed it last week — which cost the couple $930. Jon and Rachel were told by their attorney that it would probably be three to four weeks before they heard back about the waiver application, and that would just be confirmation that the waiver was received. After that, it will take six to nine months to find out if the waiver was approved or not.

As part of the video, Rachel opens a letter that she received from immigration just one week after sending in the waiver application. The fact that it had only been a week had her worried that the letter might be bad news, but it was just an earlier-than-expected notice that the waiver application was officially received.

Now, the couple just has to sit and wait some more. Rachel assures her social media followers that they will find out the verdict as soon as they do. “We are going to have a final answer and it will come through in an envelope. And obviously you guys can be there, and it’s either going to be amazing news, or it’s going to be devastating.”

If you’re curious about the purpose of having the waiver process, Rachel explains that courts do not expunge criminal records in the United Kingdom like they do in the United States. So, the waiver is essentially like asking the U.S. to expunge Jon’s criminal record based on what he has done since.

“I’m kind of hoping that when they’ve read our application they find out what my conviction was actually about,” Jon says. “You know, they find out about my family, they find out how long we’ve been together, they look at how long ago it was, and they look at all of that and say, ‘We’re going to give this guy a chance.’ That’s kind of what we’re hoping for.”

Even if the waiver is denied, Rachel reveals they have one more option. “There is one other step we could do, according to our lawyer’s office, which is to fight the final answer,” she says. The fight would mean “more money of course, more time,” Rachel admits, adding that “the probability of that going through is probably not that wonderful.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Rachel continues, “but this waiver paperwork that they’ve received, this is what we’re hoping on. This is what we’ve been waiting on forever. Again, because we knew we were gonna have to do this in the first place and it’s finally here. Like, Jon’s interview was awesome, the excitement was great, but we also knew that because of what it looked like on paper we were still going to need the waiver.”

After the visa update reveal, Rachel and Jon answered some viewers questions, including how long it has been since they’ve been together and whether or not they plan to have another wedding in the United States if Jon’s visa gets approved.

When were Rachel and Jon last together?

“COVID kind of got in the way of everything, so we haven’t seen each other since January, 2020, which has been hard. Really hard,” Jon says.

“And it used to be two times a year — every six months,” Rachel points out. “But we have gone beyond that. Thank you COVID.”

Will Rachel and Jon have a US wedding?

“Yes we will,” Rachel says of whether or not she and Jon will have another wedding ceremony in America. “We’ll have another wedding, and my family will be there.”

As we were the first to report, Jon and Rachel got married in Jon’s home county of Cornwall in England on May 31, 2018.

Rachel and Jon are also asked yet again why they don’t just move to Canada or Mexico. Rachel reminds everyone that she has a daughter whose father will not allow Rachel to move out of the country.

We continue to wish Jon and Rachel well in their efforts to to put the “united” in United States by getting Jon a visa. We will certainly be tuned in for the video when they receive the letter with the decision on their waiver!

Here’s the full YouTube live session with Rachel and Jon sharing the update on his visa application:

Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com


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