A'salaamu Alaikum,

:dance: :dance: :dance: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :dance: :dance: :dance:

I just finished chatting with H and he said he had to wait for 4 hours to meet with the CO, but that his time with her lasted about 5 minutes. They took all his paperwork when he arrived at 7:30am made him pay the 55LE for the DHL envelope, did his fingerprints and then he sat for 4 hours waiting. He is not sure but he thinks perhaps EVERYONE IN EGYPT was at the Embassy... hahahahahahahahaha

His CO was a nice young woman (he said there was another one who was down right scary looking!).... she asked him if he wanted to do the interview in English or Arabic, and he said Arabic... (he was so nervous)... she then said, "your paperwork says you speak great English, (I had mentioned in our "how we met letter" that we had no communication problems because he was a graduate of Victoria College) so we will do the interview in English". He said "OK" and they did it all in English, which he shocked himself by having NO PROBLEMS with it... Alhamdulillah....

She asked how we met, she asked him about the various names I go by (Legal, nickname, and Muslim name)...he explained to her who calls me which... She asked him for my parents names, he gave the Mr. and Mrs. answer (not first names), and showed them an email they had sent him welcoming him to the family. She asked if he had met my son (arab american 20 years old), he told he had not, but that my son knew about him and approved. (I forgot to send him the letter my son wrote to me telling me this.) She then asked him about my visits to Egypt. She asked him if we stayed together when I was in Egypt. (she knows I'm Muslim) He told her that we did stay together and that because we could not do this without marriage, we are already married Orfy. She said, OK.

They kept everything he had taken (photos of us, emails, my boarding passes from my last trip etc.) except they gave him back his birth certificate and military record.

She then had him swear that he will marry me when he arrives in USA (hey what about me!!!) and then told him that he will receive his passport and visa in about 3 weeks. Told him congratulations and sent him on his way.

The man he sat with was not so lucky. He is engaged to his brother's wife's sister. (his brother is married to an American and now he's planning to marry her sister)... He was told to take his passport with him after the interview and they would contact him in 6 weeks to see if they needed it again... (didn't sound very promising).

Now comes the next phase of waiting.... and of course looking at airline tickets, selling his belongings, and spending time with family before he leaves....

Thanks to everyone who gave me support and advice during these last few days... I can't believe it all went so fast after waiting SO long to get to this point...

Wa'salaam,

Karamella

P.S. If anyone is curious I did NOT send ANY of my own personal documents for H to carry with him today (Birth certificate, divorce papers, passport, etc.)... as people told me I should. I had emailed the embassy long ago and they told me this was NOT needed and sure enough no one asked for it today...

Awesome! Congrats! Guess this means you can purchase that one way ticket! Or at least when we see the visa in hand thread!

] congratulations Karamella
I'm so happy for you
Inshaallah he will get his visa soon .
my best wishes for you

Congratulations!!

congratulation and inshaAllah he will get it even be4 3 weeks

I'm so anxious about getting him a one way ticket (to save his money) and also to find a seat! Many of the Egypt air flights in July are FULL in economy section...I'm so thrilled about the Delta option. But if he flies on from JFK to the West Coast he'll only have a 2 hour layover... Which if the flight leaves late from Cairo could be a REAL time crunch... (no tailwinds coming West). Also don't know if he's on Delta all the way if the luggage has to be inspected in JFK (pretty sure of this) which also means more time...

He's begging me to come meet him at JFK but I think that would just be more $ and time than we should spend for a flight change, and now with his new confidence in his English skills maybe he won't be daunted by dealing with JFK on his own.

He spent around 12 years studying at Victoria College in English, but that was nearly 30 years ago so I'm really PROUD Of him for stepping up and doing the whole interview in English today.. (maybe I WILL be able to get him to speak English here!!!!)

Thanks for everyone's good wishes!

K

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations !!!!!!

congratulations! I do hope they keep to the 3 week wait! We've seen people wait for months who were told that *but* recently they've been getting better so inchallah all will go well!

try to check Expedia and you might find better deal . its so cheap now
good luck

Sounds like it went great -- can't wait to see your post that the visa is in hand !



-MK

There is always rain on the parade.... I've read enough to know that it ain't over until it's over, but one day of celebrating seems reasonable before the doom and gloom begins...

Somehow the fact that we are both in our late 40's, both Muslim, I'm previously married for MANY years to an Egyptian, (20 year old arab/american son) and we didn't meet on the internet helps me be positive that our situation perhaps more "average" in the eyes of the Consulate, but it's ANYBODY's guess.

Allahu'Alim, but for today I'm going to celebrate no matter WHAT. We've done what we can and the rest is in the Hand of Allah Sub'han'a Wa'Talla, His Will not ours. Insha'allah is all I can say and all i ever say. Alhamdulillah we are honest and did our best. May Allah help them keep their word. Ameen

Congratulations! Alhamdulilah!

I'm sorry...didn't mean to rain on the parade. I think I still have nervous ticks from my own horrendous process. Inshallah you will be fine and from what you have said I bet it will even be less than 3 weeks!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! INSHA ALLAH WE LL SEE "VISA IN HAND" THREAD FROM U SO SOOON

I am so happy for you both this is wonderful news!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! to you both!!


AJ1

Oh yeah that 2 hr layouver isn't enough time at JFK. He has to get out of the international airport and get his luggage and get checked back into an intercontinental flight and go through security all over. It might be better to just meet him at JFK stay one night and then fly back to the West Coast the next day. Summer prices are a pain! Otherwise he could fly british air through with a POE in Seattle and hop on down to Portland.

Congratulations!!! I would say give it 3-4 hours delay and that should be plenty enough. My husband's flight from Cairo to JFK landed at 235 (which is early) and he went through immigration, customs and such and rewent through security and checked luggage in and found his gate around 5pm. I hope everything works out well for you and CELEBRATE today!!!!!! The interview is a big step in this process! Hopefully for you in a few weeks you can join the "NO MORE CAIRO CLUB!"

The new Delta flight arrives much later in the day than the Egypt Air flight... So I'm thinking now the Jet Blue flight would be better, since it leaves about 4 hours later. I'm just worried about him being given a hard time if he buys a one-way ticket in the US...

I'm still assuming that he will be allowed to buy a one way ticket from Cairo... since from all my reading it seems the ones they want to insist on forcing to buy 2 way tickets are men who haven't done their military service... (he's been done for ahhhhhhhhh like 25 years!!!!) But after 9/11 I know one way tickets are a big old RED FLAG...

Also don't know how he could buy a JetBlue ticket from Egypt.... more things to figure out... but the Cairo Embassy isn't one of them... (for the next 3 weeks at least...)

I hope I don't have to go over there and open a can of "WA" on them if they don't send that Visa in the 3 weeks... But at least then we could fly back together... (lemonade....)

Thanks again for the info and good wishes..

Congratulations!!!!