Advice on how to survive waiting for CR-1 process now with travel ban

[Steph65 0]

Hello. I am hoping to find someone who has gone through what we are going through or are in the process right now like me. A little background. I am American citizen who married an Iranian refugee who is living in Turkey. We knew the process was going to be lengthy but now it’s in a period of no progress or process due to travel ban and even worse inclusion of spouses. She is Iranian and has refugee status living in Turkey. She has no valid passport so her traveling to me while we wait is impossible. I can stay in Turkey while we wait either. I did stay for the allotted time of 90 days without a visa and have to wait another 90 days to return to see her again. This is not easy as I am in need of working. I would love to hear from someone that is going through same or similar and how they did it ?

thank you 

[pushbrk 14,314]

We members here who went through the spouse visa process, all endured separation, and in most cases, it was the US Citizen Petitioner who had to do all the travel for visits.  If you spent three months in Turkey with your spouse already, that's more than many of us had altogether.  Yes, it's difficult, but also wonderful that you can visit again during the process.  Look forward to that.  Stay in regular contact.  You'll still need to qualify as your wife's financial sponsor, so we understand the need to work.  She will understand too.  

One thing to do to further occupy your mind, is to learn what's coming next, including becoming an A-student of the I-864 and its separate instructions.

[JD2 258]

I'm sorry you are going through this.  The ban won't be around forever.  Trump won't be President forever.  And, if the Democrats win in November, they may be able to extract concessions out of him even sooner (but who knows if they'll spend their political capital on the ban).  Try to visit each other as much as possible.  Prepare for the eventual move to the US.  For example, my spouse started working with an architect on our house before even moving here.  If you want to have kids, both of you get your fertility checked out, so if you have an issue you can start treatment now.  Speaking from experience, you don't want to spend all this time apart, then when you are finally together and ready to build a family, you discover fertility issues.  Just a few ideas.