ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Middle East and North AfricaNagishkaw - Visa in hand !!!!!!!!
congratulations!!!!!! kicking.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-03-25 18:28:00
Middle East and North AfricaMaggie had surgery today
get better soon Maggie!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-09-11 20:28:00
Middle East and North AfricaVisa in hand!!!! Yeah!!!
Congratulations!!!!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-03-18 07:37:00
Middle East and North Africacairo airport
We had no problems flying EgyptAir, but we got the round-trip ticket just in case because someone mentioned that scenario of getting turned back here somewhere in this forum a LONG time ago (I don't remember when, the summer I think...and I think THAT thread was referring to an even older thread from the summer of 2006!).
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-03-29 11:03:00
Middle East and North AfricaPets and middle eastern spouses
I think the real question is...does your cat approve of your husband?!?!? laughing.gif

Ramy didn't really want to have anything to do with the cat when he first arrived, and it appeared to be a mutual thing. Now he wants her to come pay attention to him and she just runs away from him and hides under the bed. You would think she'd be used to him after 5 months, especially since she used to love it when my guy friends would come over.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-04-14 06:34:00
Middle East and North Africafinding a job and being arab
It was hard for Ramy to get a job here, especially in his field. He's not working as a pharmacist...or even a pharmacy tech...but he is at least working in a small town pharmacy as a clerk, and the pharmacy is run by another Arab so he got lucky.

But even THAT place wouldn't hire him till he had the tangible EAD and not the stamp in his passport.

CVS and Rite Aid won't even touch him, not even as a pharmacy tech.

And I'm still looking for work, though I'm having a second interview with the post office tomorrow! I'm this close to kissing Walmart's feet, just to get SOMETHING.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-04-17 18:15:00
Middle East and North Africafastest visa in cairo embassy
lol WOW that was fast! Good for you! kicking.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-03-25 18:29:00
Middle East and North AfricaArab Bashing
This topic has become something like this



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deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-03-18 08:37:00
Middle East and North AfricaArab Bashing
eb0dfafc.gif

Charles I hear you. Stop chewing so loud. lol
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-03-18 07:31:00
Middle East and North AfricaMy love and i got married today!
Congratulations! It's about time! kicking.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-05 13:27:00
Middle East and North AfricaThis is crazy
aww Tammy, I hope this all works out soon! We didn't have an interview for AOS but those same questions were asked on one of the visa application forms before the original visa interview.

I'm surprised he hasn't received the EAD though. Took only two months for ours! Best of luck to you.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-05 13:23:00
Middle East and North AfricaMy Husband's Father was Deported Yesterday
allousa-- good.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-14 09:29:00
Middle East and North AfricaMy Husband's Father was Deported Yesterday
Wow. I don't even know what to say except take it as far as possible till you get a reason, a formal apology, and then sue the pants off them. sad.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-11 07:44:00
Middle East and North AfricaHow is your spouse adjusting
Bridget--LOL I can totally relate to the comment where he didn't want you to tell anyone he did domestic chores. Ramy's the same way!

Ramy's really laid back. I'd say his adjustment wasn't easy while he wasn't working and even then we had some ups and downs until he crashed the car. After that, things got a lot better because it just made us both take a step back and chill out and stop bickering about stupid things. He was really supportive when I got laid off and even more supportive as I went through the hiring process to get into the post office. (I drive one of those cool little mail trucks! lol).

As for the things we're working on...he doesn't trust anyone who's not related to him. A girl talking to a bunch of guys in a parking lot must be a prostitute. American food is tasteless. Dinner means like a 12 course meal and I should slave in the kitchen for 3 hours over it.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-10 15:29:00
Middle East and North AfricaMENA User_names
"The Sparrow" is a short story I wrote when I was 15, it's really kind of funny because it's about my fiance and I even though at the time I was dating someone else. It's kind of about those awkward silences when you really like someone but don't see them that much in the hallway at school, and when you do see them it's because you accidentally turn a corner and crash into them and drop all your books. It's a saddddddd story though--because I was dating someone else I decided my character must die in a train wreck, so at the end he's visiting my grave and a sparrow lands on it.

(high school drama meets soap opera!)

A year after I wrote it, we were dating and I gave him a copy. I'm surprised he didn't run away screaming. rolleyes.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-09-11 07:27:00
Middle East and North AfricaNeed prayers plz
Our prayers are with you!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-03 11:35:00
Middle East and North AfricaWho should Egypts next President be?
I have mixed feelings on Mubarak.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-27 12:09:00
Middle East and North AfricaHabibi wants to travel to visit his sister
Fantastic! Thank you all so much biggrin.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-30 11:03:00
Middle East and North AfricaHabibi wants to travel to visit his sister
This is an odd question and I'm posting it here because ME/NA is the forum I know best and who knows me best even though I don't post much anymore smile.gif

Ramy wants to visit his sister (who now lives in Canada) and he has his greencard + Egyptian passport...is this sufficient enough to visit Canada or will he need some kind of visa because he's still an Egyptian citizen? We're so confused if the greencard trumps the passport or something...and because of work it looks like I won't be able to go with him so he's going to go it alone. (I wish I could go!)

So...any help would really be appreciated smile.gif. Thanks everyone!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-30 10:15:00
Middle East and North AfricaUpdate on My FIL's Expedited Removal
Terrible, but not surprising sad.gif.

Keep fighting! I hope you get somewhere with it!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-30 10:01:00
Middle East and North AfricaWedding Ring!
Congratulations Tam!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-11 07:23:00
Middle East and North AfricaJackie needs your help!
totally love Just Jackie and Jackie O

how about Jackietastic? lol none of these convey how sweet Jackie is though.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-09-12 20:11:00
Middle East and North Africacheck in time - who are you, hows it going and just saying hi thread
I know I'm not around much but Ramy's been here 10 months and we just got back from meeting up with my inlaws in Canada...other than that...working hard and trying to get by but money is tight. -sigh-
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-09-20 05:23:00
Middle East and North AfricaI lost my husband today
cray5ol.gif rose.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-30 10:09:00
Middle East and North AfricaLET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS
QUOTE (brnidokiegurl @ Oct 18 2007, 04:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
sorry to all those involved and especially for someone death of course but also was just sitting here thinking do we have any authors around on a daily basis think of the book that could be written by all on here again best wishes to you and please be careful in your decisions rose.gif


I've worked as a journalist but I've been writing for over 10 years. We certainly all could get together and publish a book on our experiences. I'd be willing to edit/offer constructive criticism smile.gif

(We'll start a different topic if anyone really wants to pursue the idea) smile.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-10-18 15:12:00
Middle East and North AfricaLET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS
QUOTE (amrssnowangel @ Oct 17 2007, 02:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
First of all, Sparrow...calmmmmmmm...breath....your man is Coptic...if he is real into his faith, he doesn't believe in Divorce. Most good muslim men wont treat a wife in a bad way. IF MENA marriage divorce rate is higher...its because of the parties failure to truely understand and adapt to the cultural differences. WE can not take the information from the break ups here on VJ alone. This is a SUPPORT forum....support is only for those that NEED support and those that want to give support. Its not really accurate to account for breakups here. We dont have enough MENA members to give us accurate data.


I know. If he had any idea the thought even crossed my mind a fraction of once it would break his heart. I'm just really stressed about a lot of stuff lately and the guy he wanted to be his best man (who was like his best friend when he was here 6 years ago) didn't even know who I was and was really rude to me so it just really unnerved me a bit. And half the people who are helping me with the wedding are like "ARE YOU SURE IT'S NOT FOR A GREEN CARD?!?!! YOU KNOW ALL THOSE ARABS BEAT THEIR WIVES" give me a ********* break already!

ranting33va.gif cray5ol.gif


--Bridezilla
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deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-10-17 14:09:00
Middle East and North AfricaLET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS
QUOTE (just_Jackie @ Oct 17 2007, 12:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
If the America divorce rate is 60% I would venture to say after being in many MENA forums, not just VJ, the rate is much higher, I would put 83% on a MENA marriage. Would knowing that number have affected if I had married Mohammed, no. I was head over heels in love at first sight and no one could have waved red flags in front of me. I was told repeatedly "habeebti, we are different, our marriage is different,,there has never been a divorce in my family, I will not be the first.....' Well, we all know the end of that story.

Jaklen rose.gif


blink.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-10-17 13:29:00
Middle East and North AfricaLET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS

Well it's too late to go change the past 5 years, so now what? I'll be lucky if I could afford to go again by next year because it's so much more than a plane ticket, it's a week or two out of work etc etc.

Though if it's a one way ticket, well that's different.



According to your timeline, you should have no problems with USCIS approving your petition becuse you have met the guidelines. The large gap between the time you spent together in the US and one trip to Egypt (which was followed quicky by an engagement) MIGHT be a problem for the consulate. Those Vjers going through Egypt will better be able to give you advise there.

How well documented is your relationship in those 5 years before the engagement? Lots of contact via other means like e-mail, phone records? Perhaps you can offset this potenial red flag by having this documentation spelled out in advance of the interview? Nagishkaw is absolutely right in saying immigration does not care about lack of funds as a legitimate excuse, but perhaps there are other ways to present your case as to tone down the red flags?



Good luck.


Thanks--

I have printouts of emails from 2001-2002 but we both changed email accounts in college and neither one of us have records of emails from august 2002-september 2006, and until 2006 my cell phone was in my father's name so as a result I never got the bills and he didn't keep them. (We had some kind of problem with the house phone that's in my mother's name so besides a phone bill from September 2001 I have nothing). We did focus more on studies than each other through college as well, we really had no idea it might hurt us so much until we started looking into this process. After September 11 mail turned into such a problem for a while (he wouldn't get my letters & I wouldn't get his) that we stopped writing until last year as well, besides email is cheaper...and so was voice chatting, when we used it before we had cell phones. I think we're totally screwed. His cell phone has always been prepaid. We have a lot of documentation from September 2006 on though.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-04-12 09:12:00
Middle East and North AfricaLET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS
Well it's too late to go change the past 5 years, so now what? I'll be lucky if I could afford to go again by next year because it's so much more than a plane ticket, it's a week or two out of work etc etc.

Though if it's a one way ticket, well that's different.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-04-12 08:40:00
Middle East and North AfricaLET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RED FLAGS
We have a big old #9...we'll probably get an RFE on it. I told them I was financially unable to go to Egypt because of college/low-paying-job/debt and I can prove that, but do you think they would accept it? We dated for like a year before he left the states but then didn't see each other for 5 1/2 years at all, and now I can prove that I had jobs that paid next to nothing with a rather large student loan debt, not to mention I actually had to leave college because I couldn't afford it. We're both very worried about the huge gap.

Oh well, if they deny us I'll just go to Egypt, it doesn't matter where we live as long as we are together.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-04-12 07:13:00
Middle East and North AfricaLocation of Egyptian Peeps
Still in CT and buried in snow :P Hubby says we're moving to Florida. LOL
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2011-01-28 11:00:00
Middle East and North AfricaNo Internet In Egypt
WONDERFUL to have internet back, we've been talking to my inlaws for over an hour. They have so much to say. Local police station burned, machine gun fire on their street and they set a trap for the people shooting and caught 4 people to turn over to the army. My husband's aunt's street caught and turned 60 people over to the army who were trying to loot. It's overwhelming hearing all this news from them.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2011-02-02 08:32:00
Middle East and North AfricaNo Internet In Egypt
We got through to my inlaws a few moments ago, but they aren't saying much about what's going on and I've been glued to aljazeera all day!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2011-01-28 14:07:00
Middle East and North AfricaNo Internet In Egypt
We couldn't get through to my inlaws even via landline, but will try again soon.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2011-01-28 10:55:00
Middle East and North AfricaToday we lost a MENA jewel
I feel awful that I haven't been around VJ in months and I didn't know Dawn very well. Our prayers go out to Hatem and Ryan and your family. rose.gif

The drunk and the landlord deserve to rot! God will not ignore their actions.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2008-07-03 11:20:00
Middle East and North AfricaThe Forum Interview Cheerleading Thread Vol. 2
most of you know because of the daily thread but we got our interview date this morning, Sept. 12! kicking.gif

Now if only I could get ahold of Ramy to let HIM know!! crying.gif
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-09-05 14:24:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAbout to start K-1 process
Thank you so much for the replies & advice! I will wait till I return, just being on the board and seeing all the other people who are waiting is soooo comforting :). He's going to start getting all his records in order and he did not over stay his visa in 2001 (fantastic!) We're so excited!!
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-01-14 11:26:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & ProceduresAbout to start K-1 process
Ok...so my fiance and I met when he was in the US and attending my high school from 1999-2001. We began dating in Jan. 2001, and he returned to Egypt in August 2001 and I haven't seen him since. We called our relationship off while we were in college, and now we're back together...

I will be going to Egypt to visit him again this March 22, but do I have to wait until after I return to file the i129F and so I can prove we've met?

I know because he was in the US for an extended period of time this complicates things a bit, and he was not an exchange student. I should know what visa he had when he was here but at the moment I don't because I never really needed to know until now.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-01-13 20:35:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduresjob hunting
cool, thanks! I don't intend on quitting without anything lined up and I will have co-sponsors if I need them anyway, so this is good. I guess I was just more worried about when my fiance goes for his interview and they ask him what I do for a living, what if I do something else by then and all the consulate has is something outdated? Guess I'm worrying for nothing :)
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-04-11 17:32:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Proceduresjob hunting
I just filed my I-129F at VSC on Monday!! yay for us!

However, I will likely be changing jobs soon (I've been going to interviews for over a month now) and I'm just wondering if this is going to mess anything up...or how much it WILL mess it up? I will be getting paid more whereever I go, but my phone number will change, my job title, etc etc.

I'm at a job where if my boss quits, I'd better quit or I'll get fired because I can't fill his shoes, and he's planning to quit in the near future....like...by the end of the month.
deadbirdFemaleEgypt2007-04-11 06:55:00