biggish data

beneficiary's employment history: how important?

How important is it that the fiance visa beneficiary be working currently? My fiance in Cairo is self-employed but hasn't worked steadily for several years. However, he did not list any period of unemployment on his G325. Will this be investigated during the background check? Can we be denied a visa for this? I am paranoid because of reading so many negative things about the Cairo consulate.

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2010-12-29 10:07:00

best way to send packages to Egypt

Hi VJers:
Can anyone recommend which delivery service is the most reliable to send the fiance visa document package (or any package) to my fiance in Egypt? I have found that the USPS is not reliable. Any suggestions?

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-01-10 17:12:00

Wanted: Egypt Buddy/Mentor

Hi all,

I am new to these forums and I would love nothing more than to interact with some people going through the same things I've been going through. My fiancee and I have been together for nearly 2 years. He is in Cairo, I am in the US. He is currently serving his time in the military. I have been to Cairo twice, with my next visit planned for Feb. 10th. I don't have to tell you all how heartsick I am at the current situation. I will be going as soon as things calm down there.

I usually stay in a flat in Mohandeseen, but my last trip there the flat was kind of dirty and had a seemingly endless list of issues! Any suggestions on where to stay during a trip to Cairo from any of you would be most appreciated.

Also any general tips on this particular type of long distance relationship would be welcomed.

Thank you all..

Hi, my fiance is also in Cairo, and I visited him in October. I'm very concerned with what's going on there. It's especially frustrating that there is no Internet, and limited cell phone service. I also heard that even the trains were stopped! I hope and pray that it will end peacefully with the change that Egypt needs and deserves. I'm starting to feel that things will turn out positively, but it may take some time. If you want to chat, just send me an email. --- Virginia

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-02-01 11:55:00

notice of K-1 petition approval

Hi all--
Today I got the email saying that our K-1 petition has been approved! I'm so excited!! It's been almost 6 months. I called the NVC on Thursday to ask about the petition and was told that I should hear something within 30 days. So, it didn't take long after calling them to check on it. Now, on to the next hurdle!

Hanging in there! :thumbs:

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-05-31 13:25:00

Lazy and incompetent? Yes and Yes
lol, atleast the embassy called you. Don't believe Dhl. You would think they would be more professional and careful since their service is being used by the embassy. I hope you get your packet soon if not send hassan to the embassy but without you there they probably wont let him in but he may speak with the guy at the window and tell him what has happened and see if he can get him the packet. Yes and btw when they finally did send our packet(after we went to the embassy to pick ours up by 1 week) they had the audacity to try to charge us for the packet. My husband paid but i told him he should have refused the packet and tell them we already have the packet because you sent our first one back to the embassy without even contacting us. keep me posted on your story. We are soooo terrified about his visa having to go through these idiots.

Well, we got the packet....but Hassan had to go yesterday to DHL and pick it up. And they charged him $7.00! Oh well, at least he got it and we can move forward. Yay! :thumbs:

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-07-13 12:07:00

Lazzzzzzzzy. They first contacted my husband to tell him that they received notice that the packet was arriving and my husband made specific arrangements with them at that time, then, when it arrived they sent it back.

Lazy and incompetent? My DHL/embassy nightmare continues; today I got an email from the Embassy that the packet would be delivered today. Later Hassan called the embassy and he was told that DHL tried to deliver it, but he wasn't at home--this is not true--he was there all day and no one called. Then Hassan called DHL and they claimed that the Embassy did not send them anything!! #######?? So who do we believe? It seems no one knows what the heck they are doing there! :bonk:

Hassan will call them tomorrow; apparently you can only call to ask about fiance/marriage visas between the hours of 7 and 9 am. If he doesn't get a straight answer I will call them too. This process is enough to turn anyone's hair white!!

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-07-10 13:34:00

Hi, i had a similar thing happen with our packet as well. our apt was may 10 and we just got ours not long ago after going in the office directly. the problem we had was with dhl, apparantly the guy got lazy and instead of calling my husband sent the papers back to embassy. the embassy was not helpful at all in returning our emails or even answering calls. We did finally reach someone who said he would resend the packet but we received it like 3-4 weeks later and by that time we went and picked it up at the embassy. Good luck and if you live close you might want to try to get the packet from them directly but i am not sure if they are supposed to do that
or not

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your experience.....I will try to contact the embassy and Hassan can go to the embassy directly since he's in Cairo. It's worth a try anyway, to see if he can get it there. It sounds like you can't rely much on DHL. :help:

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-07-09 09:05:00

Hey...sorry to hear its taking so long. Ours took 24 days and when he finally got it, his interview was in 3 weeks. So we were happy that it was so soon. I know it sucks to wait and have no idea whats going on. We wrote the embassy a few times to ask what was up and asked them to update the interview schedule on the website but they never did. We just had to be patient. I'm sure yours will be there soon!! Hope you get it sunday or something!

Thanks, Kristi. I am about to pull my hair out, but Hassan is much more patient; he says the embassy will just do what they want to do.....then he tells me "don't worry".

I hope you get your approval soon as well! We just have to keep the faith.

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-07-08 12:39:00

Hi all,
Our fiance petition was received by the embassy in Cairo on June 12. Last week I emailed the embassy and they responded that they do have our file and they asked for Hassan's address and phone numbers to contact him. It seems to be taking a long time for them to deliver Packet 3 to him. Any advice? Are they doing background checks? Or should we just be patient and wait?

Getting nervous

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-07-08 08:52:00

Visa in hand

Congratulations!! Enjoy your life together! :thumbs:

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-08-18 11:27:00

Checking in after a long absence

Hello everyone, I used to participate on this forum regularly back a few years ago. My husband and I got married in May of 2007, but he didn't arrive here until December of 2008. It was a long journey filled with the angst I'm sure many of you are going through now. He was Iraqi and and a refugee. He couldn't go back to his country and wasn't very welcome in Syria or Jordan, where he stayed for a couple years before finally coming to the United States. We never did get his spouse visa in those eighteen months. The whole process dragged and was completely frustrating. We got lucky that the US approved him for a refugee visa, so he came here on that. It saved us some money in the long run though I spent a lot already trying the other route.

Anyway, I know many people hear horror stories about MENA marriages. Part of me worried about it myself, but I believed I was the exception to the rule. We were open and honest with each other and around the same age. Thankfully, my marriage was among the small percentage that make it. He hasn't needed me since the day he arrived in the country, due to the US government sponsored his coming here rather than me. Yet it will be three years in December since he arrived and our relationship is stronger than ever. We still don't have any children, but we hope some day it will happen (God willing). Due to the economy going bad right before he got here, it took eight months for him to get his first job. The first two he found paid less than four hundred a month since they were part time. The third job, at a gas station, gave him full time work but barely above minimum wage. It wasn't until seven months ago that he got a job through Walmart's distribution center that he finally got something making about $15 an hour. We live in a cheaper state so this is okay. It is labor intensive and not what his degree is in, but we are thankful that it at least pays the bills. I have been able to go back to school and finish my degree as well, which has been great.

I have to say, the first year was the worst. Those that may have told you this are not lying or exaggerating. It is awful and takes tremendous patience. Not everyone can survive it because it requires both spouses to really try. The MENA spouse will need help with every tiny thing. You will go to the grocery store and they will want to know why there are one hundred kinds of salad dressing, ketchup, cheese, vinegar, etc. You have to explain about credit cards, banking, pumping gas, fast food drive-thrus, and the list goes on. My husband didn't even understand why we had to pay the electric every month since they only paid it quarterly or something. It all sounds amusing now, but I swear the endless questions and acts of helplessness were enough to drive me insane. We definitely fought and occasionally thought our marriage wouldn't last. Yet, we still remembered that we loved each other. How could we go through all those eighteen months of pain and troubles to get him here just to give up? So we rode it out. I compromised on some things, he compromised on others. We learned what subjects were safe to talk about and which ones were best left alone. He learned to fend for himself and get around without me helping him. I forced him to become independent and he hated it, but he learned and is quite happy now to be self-sufficient. Don't get me wrong, the man still will not cook or clean, lol. Yet he will work, occasionally take the trash out, buy groceries, and other small things. He has mastered the credit card quite well (which can be a bad thing but he hates debt so not too bad). The check book is still a mystery to him no matter how many times I explain and even show how he can copy the previous entries through the carbon copies. I think he just doesn't want to write the rent check out himself. He will walk it down to the office though!

The other day I was on the phone with a service company about something and I had to ask my husband a couple questions for the lady on the line. We got to joking and laughing and she asked if we were newly weds! I told her no, we had been married for over four years. She was shocked. We often laugh now like we did when we first met. Keeping a sense of humor and lightheartedness has helped tremendously. Remembering to say "I love you" and maintaining affection help as well. What amazes me most is how hard my husband still tries to make me happy, even when I'm being the less than pleasant one. He still cares a lot and it always touches me.

So, I just wanted you all to know that there is hope. Not all MENA relationships fail. Some do work. I think occasionally one of the older crew pops in to let you know, but thought I would add to the list. For everyone waiting, keep your faith and hope alive. I wish you a short journey to reuniting with your spouses and much happiness.

Thanks for sharing your story....it's nice to read about a successful marriage and what you do to make it all work!

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-08-19 09:38:00

K-1 visa approved--Cairo consulate

Hi everyone,
Hassan had his interview today; it went well, the woman who interviewed him said congratulations on your visa. :dance:

The only problem was that he has to get a police record from Italy for the years that he lived there. But she told him he could take his police record for Egypt to the Italian embassy and have them stamp it with their embassy stamp showing that his Italian police record is ok. :thumbs:

I was so excited and happy, I totally forgot to ask him if she said anything about AP.!! I will write up an embassy review after I talk to him and get more details.

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2011-10-13 12:25:00

O...M...G

The consulate just called my husband. They asked if he was Mr. xxxxx xxxxx, well this is the consulate in Casa....we are setting up your interview, where do you live? He said he lived in xxxx. He said, your interview is next monday at 3 pm with the consular. Hubby asked if he needed to bring anything. They said just your passport. They also told him, don't wait with the other people waiting for interviews, just go to the secretary, and give her your passport. I can't believe our interview is in a week

Great news!! Good luck--hope all goes well!

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2012-03-28 15:16:00

Still waiting...No Check Cashed For the NOA1.

Assalaamu'Alaykum/Salutations:

I hope this finds you all well. Well, today is 04/06/2012 and still our check has not been cashed by the USCIS Chicago Lockbox. The waiting is killing me. I try not to think about it, but according to the other timelines, their checks are cashed within 5-7 days. It's been 9 days. We are doing a AOS from F-1Visa.

However, I am not sure if it's because of the holiday. Some offices here are closed for the Good Friday/Passover. Alas, I am not sure about the federal offices being closed on Good Friday.

The waiting is killing me. UGH!!!!!

~Saudiwife

PS: Is it possible that someone from a office may call me? I received a call from a ghost number yesterday but they left no message.

Hi Saudiwife,
Our AOS packet was delivered on April 1 and the check was cashed just yesterday, April 11, so that is 10 days. Don't panic yet!

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2012-04-11 15:09:00

waiting time for Green Card

I now see your case was transferred to CSC. Others here on VJ have been waiting over 6 months for their Green Card due to being transferred. I read CSC is wayyy behind. Most all K-1 / AOS are going to CSC for processing. Take alook at the Immigration Timelines it really shows how things are moving for folks on VJ. TTYS

Thanks, Kim....yes, the letter about being transferred said something about the reason was for quicker processing!! I'm only concerned about it because the DMV may insist on Hassan having his GC to apply for his driver's license. I'm not sure they will accept the EAD card, although I've read that some states do.
BTW, I'm glad to see things are moving along now for Hany's AOS.

Yay!!

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2012-06-12 12:47:00

waiting time for Green Card

Does anyone know, how long is the usual waiting period to get the Green Card, after getting the
EAD/AP card?

ginnyb

Female

Egypt

2012-06-12 09:48:00

December 2007 I-130 filers

Sent my I-130 to Vermont November 8th and received NOA1 today with date of January 22, 2008

tomandsilke

Male

2008-01-28 19:54:00

Help me please

Notarized letter saying I can travel with her???

Jimelu

Not Telling

Peru

2013-10-06 22:03:00

Help me please

Yes I have, I'm just scare they can take my baby girl away from me or they can't do something bad to us

Jimelu

Not Telling

Peru

2013-10-06 09:28:00

Help me please

Hello (; I have a question my husband started my I-130 in August and we have a baby of 10 months and I want I go and visit him with my baby, my little girl has her USA passport, she was born in Peru but she is a citizen for my husband citizen born over seas... Well the thing is I wanna know if I will have any problem at immigration I'm traveling with a permission of my boss she is giving me 25 days but I will travel just 20 days, my daughter never went to USA but I did it 3 times for 3 days with visa j1 I always stayed there the time they allowed me and never had any problem, but now I want to know if I will have any problem to go there with my tourist visa and my baby

Jimelu

Not Telling

Peru

2013-10-06 08:18:00

Planning to spend Holidays with my husband in the US, What should I do?

Yes I also have a daughter who is a citizen I took her with me to the interview she is 11 months so I took her USA passport with me and her paper that says born abroad. (:

Jimelu

Not Telling

Peru

2013-10-21 11:40:00