Cairo Interview Question - Religious Marriage

[Glitch 0]

My fiance is having her interview for a K1 visa at the embassy in Cairo in about a month.

We have been living together for about a year, first in Germany and now in Cairo for 4 months. We had a religious wedding in a mosque in Frankfurt Germany before we came to Cairo. I'm wondering how we should address this at the interview. Should we acknowledge the Muslim marriage, or will this cause problems, perhaps the CO will deny the visa because we are "already married". I understand that a religious wedding does not constitute a legal marriage in Egypt, but I don't want to screw things up at this final stage.

If we don't acknowledge the religious marriage it will be difficult to answer questions about how we could be living together here in Egypt.

What are your thoughts??

[nurse1967 287]

I would not mention the Islamic marriage. Because it is not a legal marriage then it is not recognized in the eyes of the US government. I would just tell them the truth (we are not married).

[~ameriptian~ 54]

I thought I'm the only Egyptian female K1 beneficiary on VJ!!! I even posted a topic before asking if there are any Egyptian females in the same process!! It feels good that there are other people as well!

I'm not sure what's the exact answer to your question. But I guess if your 'religious' marriage isn't registered either in Germany or in Egypt there shouldn't be a problem. If it is registered, you should have had applied for a spousal visa. But someone here should answer this from a legal point of view.

Good luck! Wish her a smooth interview!

[Glitch 0]

LOL - you are not alone No, it's not registered anywhere. Purely religious and very informal. Probably we will avoid mentioning it as suggested.

[~ameriptian~ 54]

Good luck! and

[Nagishkaw 510]

Good idea.

[Mrs. Disney 0]

I also had a religious wedding prior to my interview. They didn't ask me anything about it (how would they know that anyways?), and I didn't mention it either. Of course, it they asked me about it I would say the truth but I really don't see them asking that. Good luck!