K1 vs Spouse visa Egypt if you are trying to decide

[noraliz73 243]

I don’t know why I didn’t expressly post this bit of advice before.  I hope it can save someone time, money and heartache.  I’m a US Citizen female who is petitioning for a K1 for my Egyptian fiancé.  We have known one another since I was an exchange student in his high school in 11th grade.  We loved each other our entire lives but a set of circumstances happened and we were apart for 28 years.  Needless to say, I just wanted to marry him.  He asked when I was 16, so I asked when we were 42.  I originally planned to move to Egypt, but then we decided on the spousal visa because I did not want to leave my family or my career.  At the time, spousal visas took longer, but we didn’t care, I just wanted to finally be married.  I got all of my required paperwork together and went to Egypt to reunite and get married.  There is only one place to officially get married in Egypt and that is the Ministry of Justice.  I had my American divorce papers verified at the PA state department level, the US Dept of State level with an original signature by Rex Tillerson, whose signature was verified and stamped by the Egyptian Embassy in Washington D. C.  I had everything stamped and translated and went to my appointment with my fiancé with me to write the Arabic part to write the affidavit that I am free to marry in the US Embassy in Cairo.  When we went to the Ministry of Justice in Cairo, the sheikh refused to marry us because my divorce decree said “henceforth released from the bonds of matrimony” and not “Final Divorce Decree.”  I had even waited more than 90 days after my divorce was final to book my trip.  Now that time has passed, I see that the reason was that in Egypt, divorces are most often revocable where the man can just tell the woman he wants her back and she has to go.  The sheikh was trying to protect my fiancé from legal problems.  I don’t know how he doesn’t know that the system here doesn’t work like that.  I had to return to the USA and either file for an amended divorce decree with the word final on it and wait a year to earn enough vacation time in my job to go back to Egypt, or file for the K1 visa.  I don’t regret the extra time and headache because it has made our relationship stronger and I think we have grown as individuals.  I still fear we will get turned down for the visa, so I will be bringing the amended paperwork with me.  If you are a divorced female marrying an Egyptian man, make sure your divorce decree explicitly has the word final.  And, if you sent the Egyptian Embassy a money order and requested them to translate your document and they return your money order, be suspicious.  I have a feeling they knew it would be refused and at least wanted to save me the fifty dollars.

[emad zk 0]

You should have that actually  in ur divorce paper .

[noraliz73 243]

I guess Pennsylvania doesn't write it that way.  It says that now.

[noraliz73 243]

It was not an Islamic marriage.  

[Manda16 10]

On 12/11/2017 at 7:18 PM, noraliz73 said:

I don’t know why I didn’t expressly post this bit of advice before.  I hope it can save someone time, money and heartache.  I’m a US Citizen female who is petitioning for a K1 for my Egyptian fiancé.  We have known one another since I was an exchange student in his high school in 11th grade.  We loved each other our entire lives but a set of circumstances happened and we were apart for 28 years.  Needless to say, I just wanted to marry him.  He asked when I was 16, so I asked when we were 42.  I originally planned to move to Egypt, but then we decided on the spousal visa because I did not want to leave my family or my career.  At the time, spousal visas took longer, but we didn’t care, I just wanted to finally be married.  I got all of my required paperwork together and went to Egypt to reunite and get married.  There is only one place to officially get married in Egypt and that is the Ministry of Justice.  I had my American divorce papers verified at the PA state department level, the US Dept of State level with an original signature by Rex Tillerson, whose signature was verified and stamped by the Egyptian Embassy in Washington D. C.  I had everything stamped and translated and went to my appointment with my fiancé with me to write the Arabic part to write the affidavit that I am free to marry in the US Embassy in Cairo.  When we went to the Ministry of Justice in Cairo, the sheikh refused to marry us because my divorce decree said “henceforth released from the bonds of matrimony” and not “Final Divorce Decree.”  I had even waited more than 90 days after my divorce was final to book my trip.  Now that time has passed, I see that the reason was that in Egypt, divorces are most often revocable where the man can just tell the woman he wants her back and she has to go.  The sheikh was trying to protect my fiancé from legal problems.  I don’t know how he doesn’t know that the system here doesn’t work like that.  I had to return to the USA and either file for an amended divorce decree with the word final on it and wait a year to earn enough vacation time in my job to go back to Egypt, or file for the K1 visa.  I don’t regret the extra time and headache because it has made our relationship stronger and I think we have grown as individuals.  I still fear we will get turned down for the visa, so I will be bringing the amended paperwork with me.  If you are a divorced female marrying an Egyptian man, make sure your divorce decree explicitly has the word final.  And, if you sent the Egyptian Embassy a money order and requested them to translate your document and they return your money order, be suspicious.  I have a feeling they knew it would be refused and at least wanted to save me the fifty dollars.

I know this doesn't help your case at all, but I just wanted to tell you that you have a lovely story! I know how difficult it can be to wait - my husband and I just filed our I-130 last month. Good luck to you!