Egypt interview experiences?

[Together4ever 1]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. My fiancee, Mohammed, just submitted his papers to the US Embassy in Cairo and we are awaiting his interview. We were "married" Islamically when I was in Egypt, but not "legally". We have been apart 8 months now and it's been difficult. So far we have not had any troubles in the process.

Do any of you have any experience with the interview process at Cairo? I have heard their interviewers are notoriously brutal and difficult. I am presently white knuckling through the worry and so is Mohammed. I hope someone can give us some idea what to expect.

I miss my fiancee/husband!!!

[Meriem_DZ 37]

Hi, Welcome to VJ. Good luck with the interview. We did the same as you when I was in Algeria. I actually wanted to get the civil marriage there but I was leaving in 3 weeks and they said they would have to do a background check on me and it would take 1-2 months so we decided to do the K-1 and get the civil marriage in the USA. I am going back for 1 month the 9th of March, Inshaallah. Cant stand being apart any longer.

Hope you get your visa soon.

Meriem

[Aymerlu 3]

WELCOME to VJ! I am in the same boat as you. Our interview in Cairo is on February 14th. It seems that it is taking about 2 months after the packet is sent in to get an interview date. I was constantly checking the embassy website to see if we had an interview date yet. Best of luck!!!

[True Love at Last 15]

Hello....I can help you, My Fiance had his interview in Egypt already and he is with me now. His interview was fairly easy, very simple questions.We were very fortunate csz another one I know had his interview in the same place and he was treated very poorly and didnt get his visa as of yet. I am not sure why this was the case.

I am going to say be prepared for everything. Be polite and make sure your Fiance signs everything. The Embassy forgot to have my fiance sign one paper that must be signed in the Embassy and this added some time for us. Arrive early, dress nice, answer only the questions you are asked, and be patient.

They told my fiance the visa was approved and would arrive in 2 weeks. BUT after 3 weeks they told us he must wait for the Administrative Process (Name Check ) to complete first. That took 2 months and some days. You can see my timeline below.

If you want more information you can e-mail me and my fiance would be more than happy to help ease your fiance. I am sure you are both excited and nervous.

I wish you the best of luck and InshaAllah you will be together soon.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Welcome to our little corner of the world, just_waiting ! As you can already see, you will find so much information, advice and support here... the ME/NA people are wonderful !

I'm adding you to the cheerleading thread so we can cheer you on as you take each step of your journey.

-MK

[cbd2cai 0]

Nothing more to add. Easy interview, still waiting for visa . . . at DOS for security clearance since Nov. 8 and the Embassy still has his passport just waiting to put that visa in it.

This sucks! LOL . . . . too bad I can't go bang on DOS' door when I am in DC next week . . . but I bet they outsourced that call center to somewhere remote!

Catherine

PS try being apart a year . . . never thought it would take this long . . . well, a year the first week in March. OK, sorry, I am whining again so I'll creep back into my corner.

Edited February 3, 2006 by cbarrosmostafa

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Oy the Egyptian embassy. How many ways can I complain about thee?

I went to Egypt this past June to help DH finish up the packet to send to the embassy (and to see him, as I hadn't been to egypt in a year and a half ). We double, triple, quadruple checked to make sure we had everything. We sent it in via TNT, which is expensive for the average egyptian. Well, low and behold, a week later, his mom called us up in Cairo and said that you have a package from the embassy. Of course, we get all excited, thinking it's the interview packet. His friend makes a trip down from Mahalla to Cairo to deliver it to us. Anticipation thick, we open the package, and wahhh? It's all the paperwork we just sent in, with a note saying that they can't accept it because we didn't include a copy of his birth certificate.

Now, we know we sent the birth certificate, so we shuffle through the stack of papers they sent back to us. Low and behold, what is there? The freakin birth certificate! At this point, I'm pissed. The embassy had also jipped us out of LE with the interview fee. It was suppose to be $100, but when we went to the bank, they said it was 600 LE. With the exchange rate at the time, it should have only been 520 LE. With the extra 40 le to send back the packet, it cost my husband an entire week's salery.

Yeah, so as I said, I was pissed. I went to the nearest internet office and penned off an increadibly rude email to the embassy staff, asking who was going to pay for us to send the packet back, since they sent it back to us in error. As soon as I sent it, I realized I should have waited until I calmed down, but ah well. So, they have a two day turn around time on answering emails, and what do we get back? An email stating that they never sent our packet back to us, we must be mistaken.

So, at this point, my head is going to explode. We send back the packet with a letter stating that everything IS included, and that they better check 10 times before sending it back to us again. I go home, no interview date.

So, they email my husband a few days after I leave, telling him he has an interview in one week. He's confused, because he doesn't receive a letter in the mail, nor his his number on the website. He goes to the embassy on July 7th. He's wearing a nice suit, got a hair cut, carrying a brief case, looking very nice overall.

But, at the gate they say, you have no interview. Go away. ARgggggggg Evidentitly, they forgot that they had scheduled him a rush interview via email. So, he waits an hour, and the interviewer comes in. He hasn't looked at the file, doesn't bother to open it, just asks my husband a few questions. He then sends him away, and we're in AR for a month and a half.

We received the visa on August 18th, DH got here October 3 and we were officially married October 14th.

That's my egyptian embassy story. I pray to God that I never have to deal with them every again.

Edited February 3, 2006 by rahma

[portsaid 0]

My ex-husband interviewed at Cairo in March of 2004 for a fiance visa, K-1. He said the man who interviewed him was rude; wanted to know about his family's income, if I would convert to Islam, why I hadn't been back to Egypt to visit him and some other things. The questions seemed okay to me, but I wasn't there. My ex-husband was very upset and confused afterwards. He said the officer told him he could not tell him when he would get the visa. He finally did, but seven-months later.

We also had documents returned by TNT. When he received the package, the instructions said compete and return via TNT with requested attachments. He did this, the whole package came back with no explaination. He called and was told he was to bring them to the interview.

Let me echo the advice from others; make sure he is prepared with originals, copies and translations of everything, arrive early, be polite, not pushy, answer questions directly and completely, but don't tell them what they don't ask.

If I could turn back the hands of time, I would have NEVER applied for the visa, nor would I have married. He just used me to come to America and he made my life hell after the AOS papers were in the mail. We divorced, but he is still here. Sponsoring someone for immigration is a BIG deal and it's a long term comitment. I felt like I had adopted a child instead of married a man. I sincerely hope your outcome will be better than mine.

Best wishes

[Together4ever 1]

I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for the support. I'm sitting here with tears streaming as I write this. I love Mohammed so much and I miss him something terrible. This process is beyond stressful. It's nice to have a little "family" here who understands. No one who has not gone through this could possible relate. I just remind myself often "enshaa Allah".

Thank you again.

[morocco4ever 63]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. My fiancee, Mohammed, just submitted his papers to the US Embassy in Cairo and we are awaiting his interview. We were "married" Islamically when I was in Egypt, but not "legally".

What does this mean? Married Islamically but not legally? I was married the islamic way but our marriage is legal. What is the difference? Sorry to change the subject, but I am confused.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

What does this mean? Married Islamically but not legally? I was married the islamic way but our marriage is legal. What is the difference? Sorry to change the subject, but I am confused.

In Egypt, for a foreigner to marry an Egyptian takes a ton of paperwork and lots of running around between different bueracratic agencies. It can take many weeks, and completely ruin what little time the two parties have with one another.

For my husband and I, we did not want to live in an apartment together without being married. However, getting legally married was out of the question, since it took a lot of time, and would have meant that I would have lost my health insurance/financial support from my parents for school.

So, we had a little nikkah, Islamic ceremony, with the witnesses, but without turning in the paper to the officials. We never mentioned this during the visa process, and ended up just fine.

For us, it was a religious matter plus a time issue. However, it wasn't an orfi marriage, which is a growing problem in Egypt. Orfi marriages are also "religious" marriages without the legal strings attached. This allows bfs and gfs to hook up without feeling guilty, in secret. No one knows except the couple and the witnesses. The problem is that it leaves the women with no legal recourse if she gets pregnant and the man disavows their relationship. She's left with an illigitmate child, which in Egyptian society has very negative social stigma attached.

Our religious marriage was made public to his friends and to his family. If I had ended up pregnant (I didn't, thank God), he couldn't have disowned me and the child since his family would have shamed him into taking care of us.

I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for the support. I'm sitting here with tears streaming as I write this. I love Mohammed so much and I miss him something terrible. This process is beyond stressful. It's nice to have a little "family" here who understands. No one who has not gone through this could possible relate. I just remind myself often "enshaa Allah".

Thank you again.

The visa process takes time. At first, I had a very difficult time with it, but as time wore on, I made the best of it. My dh and I had a relationship online for 4 years (plus a few real life visits) before he made it here on a visa. During that time, we talked about every possible subject under the sun, got to know each other really really well, and knew that the process we were going through was right.

Take this time to write long letters to each other, chat for hours online, and just talk. Get to know your future husband. Hopefully, that will lead to less suprises once you're already together.

[honeyblonde 0]

I agree with Rahma and also can tell you from my experiences that what Portsaid has said about her relationship with her ex should be a warning sign. My last husband before Abdel was also Moroccan, but the relationship we had was so much like Ports. I really did feel like I had adopted another child. Once he got back here to the states with a green card in hand he treated me more like his mother than his wife. We hadn't gotten to know each other very well before we got married, and if I had, like Port, I wouldn't have married him.

With Abdel, I took time to talk to him for 2 to 4 hours every single night before he came. The only time we didn't talk was when his brother was in the hospital and they didn't think he was going to live. I have no doubts at all this time that Abdel loves me for me, not for a green card. While it is normal to feel some of the "adopting a child" experience when a new person arrives here, with Abdel it is nothing like it was with my ex. Abdel has already jumped in and become the man of the house and made it clear that his goals and mine are one now. With my ex, it was all about what he wanted in life with no regard to what I wanted. With Abdel it's all about us.

Like Rahma said, look at this time apart as the opportunity to find out who you are marrying. See what makes them angry or impatient and see how they react to stress. This process will certainly give you an opportunity to do that!

By the way, welcome to our family to both of our newcomers this week. It really is close here, but not to the point that we don't let others join. In fact, when I came back from my honeymoon I was shocked at how many new faces had shown up in such a short time. We multiply like rabbits!

[morocco4ever 63]

What does this mean? Married Islamically but not legally? I was married the islamic way but our marriage is legal. What is the difference? Sorry to change the subject, but I am confused.

In Egypt, for a foreigner to marry an Egyptian takes a ton of paperwork and lots of running around between different bueracratic agencies. It can take many weeks, and completely ruin what little time the two parties have with one another.

For my husband and I, we did not want to live in an apartment together without being married. However, getting legally married was out of the question, since it took a lot of time, and would have meant that I would have lost my health insurance/financial support from my parents for school.

So, we had a little nikkah, Islamic ceremony, with the witnesses, but without turning in the paper to the officials. We never mentioned this during the visa process, and ended up just fine.

For us, it was a religious matter plus a time issue. However, it wasn't an orfi marriage, which is a growing problem in Egypt. Orfi marriages are also "religious" marriages without the legal strings attached. This allows bfs and gfs to hook up without feeling guilty, in secret. No one knows except the couple and the witnesses. The problem is that it leaves the women with no legal recourse if she gets pregnant and the man disavows their relationship. She's left with an illigitmate child, which in Egyptian society has very negative social stigma attached.

Our religious marriage was made public to his friends and to his family. If I had ended up pregnant (I didn't, thank God), he couldn't have disowned me and the child since his family would have shamed him into taking care of us.

Thanks for explaining it Rhama, I had no idea. We spent the entire time I was there rushing around like crazy people, so mine is legal alright!

Luckily my second visit there was completely for us to enjoy each other, no other agenda. That was much nicer!

[Lori&Sherif 0]

Help please!!! Where do I start?? Any advice would be so needed, I am really confused.

Hi All, I am just starting this process. My boyfriend, Sherif, is in Egypt and I am in Hawaii. I am going to Egypt in Jan, and we will be getting engaged!!! What do I need to set in place before I go there? Has anyone here started this with a lawyer or on your own? If with a lawyer any recomendations? When I hear people talk about' We got OUR interview" does this mean I have to go back to Egypt for this? I feel so overwhelmed by all the stories and papers!!!! The police certificate? Not sure what this means..and someone posted it is not available in Egypt..LOL, all the abreveations are like a code I dont know yet!!! Where do I start?? I welcome any advice and especially American- Egypt...I am so glad I have found this site. I really need all of your support!!

Aloha 4 now~

Lori

[Nothing1234 2]

Help please!!! Where do I start?? Any advice would be so needed, I am really confused.

Hi All, I am just starting this process. My boyfriend, Sherif, is in Egypt and I am in Hawaii. I am going to Egypt in Jan, and we will be getting engaged!!! What do I need to set in place before I go there? Has anyone here started this with a lawyer or on your own? If with a lawyer any recomendations? When I hear people talk about' We got OUR interview" does this mean I have to go back to Egypt for this? I feel so overwhelmed by all the stories and papers!!!! The police certificate? Not sure what this means..and someone posted it is not available in Egypt..LOL, all the abreveations are like a code I dont know yet!!! Where do I start?? I welcome any advice and especially American- Egypt...I am so glad I have found this site. I really need all of your support!!

Aloha 4 now~

Lori

Hi Lori,

First, welcome to VJ and the MENA forum!

You should really start with reading through the K1 (fiance visa) guides if you are going to start the process based on your engagement. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...amp;page=guides

We used the guides for our K1 process and I followed them step by step without a lawyer and we are together now. There are also FAQ's on here to read. Take your time and start reading now you have some time before your visit.

Best of luck and good luck on your journey!!