ChuckM

The interview will be English to prove she can communicate correct?

Thanks,

Harold

Yes, that is the reason.

You can look at my timeline to figure out the time it took, I think is was about 6 months, then we would have had our interview after about 8 months, but we were not able to make that interview and had to reschedule for a time 5 months later. This delayed our case but it was our doing. I do not think it matters where your interview takes place, but someone with more knowledge that me on that matter may offer a better answer.

Harold, I was in the exact same case, the embassy's that handle the cases from Iran are well aware of the situations that necessitate the need to meet initially in a third county. My only suggestion for you right now is that the language and religious differences were the major areas of questions that the interviewer asked. I was a prior revert to Islam and my wife was fluent in English. Everything else was easy. My wife's sister was with her during our initial meeting and I think that also help because it did show some family connections as well. In total we had two visits in turkey and in Dubai before our interview in Ankara.

Congratulations, if you have any question, please feel free to reach out.

Chuck

Seems like the "Early Bio" approach doesn't really help...

I guess one moron decided to do it once and all the dummies that followed him are living in a dream that they will get approved earlier. What a joke.

We never had such thought or expectations, yet the early Bio was necessary in our case because of a little thing know as life. To say that those who decide to take care of something when it is more convenient are dummies is rather narrow minded.

One thing to consider is food. If you are coming from a culture that is much different the the American culture, talk with you partner about what is available. When my wife came from the middle east, I was shocked that she brought almost 3/4 of her luggage was spices, herbs, nuts and other food stuffs that she knew from talking with friends that she could not get in the US. Now when we travel back to her country, we do the same things, about 1/2 of our luggage coming home is filled with herbs and spices. These do not weigh much, but if you plan on cooking like you would at home, you can get meat, vegetables and starch here, but the herbs and spices from your home will be different.

Just a story: I flew to my home country for the holidays. On my way back to the US on December 29, 2015 (POE: LAX) I have to present my expired green card, passport and extension letter. The immigration officer sent me to secondary and waited for at least 2 hours in the secondary room. They did not ask me questions but instead just handed me my passport and other documents and let me go. I guess they just have to verify my extension letter. Oh well, that was scary. Just letting y'all know.

I am not sure, my wife is a flight attendant, she has been flying international flights on her expired green card since November 18th and has not had any issues with immigration entering he country. I think she has had about 8 or 9 boarder crossings since then without issues.

They have not done Biometrics in the Bloomington office in a very long time. Back in 2004 was the first time I brought a friend to their biomettic appointment and it was in St. Paul. Only the Biometrics are done there, everything else is in Bloomington.

We did back in September without a problem. While checking in there was a little line and the guy asked a group of us what time our appointments were and if we were early, someone behind us had was there just on time, the guy infront of us was a little early, I said we were three weeks early, he just laughed and told use to wait. He go a supervisor to come and look at our paperwork and sign off on the early appt. We were out the door in 30 minutes.

This change in the VWP will go into effect in April 2016. The bio-metric portion of the law should not effect anyone unless their passport does not contain the bio-metric characteristics noted in the law. I did not pay much attention to that portion of the law as it does not pertain to me.

The other portion of the law is the most troubling. Dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Somalia, who also hold a passport from a VWP country will not be allowed to enter the USA on the VWP and must apply for a visa. Additionally, individuals who have traveled to these same countries will also need to obtain a visa to enter the USA.

It is expected that the VWP countries will reciprocate this law with respect to Americans traveling as well, so an American who is a dual citizen of one of these countries or someone who has visited these countries since 2011 will need to obtain a visa.

I have traveled to Iran twice, so after April 2016, I expect that I will need to obtain a visa to be able to travel to Europe.

As far as I am concerned the US Government has made me a second class citizen as well as many others who have legally came to the US and are now being penalized for their past travel or the country the came from.

The worst part of this legislation is that there are countries whose citizens have actually committed terrorist attacks on the US and those countries are not on the list. I do not see this law as anything other that window dressing and more security theater.

I had a wedding (civil marriage), wedding celebration (party to celebrate marriage) one month after the wedding, Religious wedding 7 months later to satisfy requirements in my wife's country and finally a wedding banquet on the 1st anniversary of our civil marriage in my wife's country.

You can do pretty much anything you like as long as you satisfy the marriage in 90 days requirement. The civil marriage is our official anniversary but we celebrate the religious wedding as well.

Btw, Parisa is also a Seyed, or the female version of it. She did not want to do anything with her name after our marriage though.

She also has Sadat as part of her name...... so Parisa Sadat Seyed.................. of course no middle name. When ever she fills something out, depending on how official it is, her last name either begins with Seyed, or her family name.

Almost every Iranian I know has a nickname that they go by. I did not know Parisa's name until I started to fill out paperwork for her. Same for her sisters, I only knew there nicknames until I helped them fill out DV applications.

I really think it is best to wait until after the ROC. If I correctly recall, there is a way to change your name at naturalization. On the N-400 form there is a section about legally changing your name, but I am not sure how that is actually handled.

Btw, Parisa is also a Seyed, or the female version of it. She did not want to do anything with her name after our marriage though.

Yes they do take the Green Card if they issue the stamp. My wife set up an Infopass appoint to get the stamp, she changed her mind when she realized they would take the Green Card. Felt that the letter and the Expired Green card would be fine. She works as a flight attendant and leaves the country frequently.

Do they take your expired green card if you go to get a stamp in your passport? I think I read that somewhere. If so, does it cause any problems if you file for naturalization before the ROC is approved? You have to turn in your green card at naturalization correct?

We met only once before filing, the spent more time together while waiting. We brought evidence of that visit to the interview.

We decided to do an early bio because we knew we would no be available on our originally scheduled date. By wife begin a 3 week training for her new job on 9/17 so there was no way she would be able to make the appointment. It was real simple for us, we walked into the Application Support Center, there was a little bit of a line for people who had already been checked in but were waiting to be seen, the man at the check in counter asked the guy infront of us the time of his appointment, and he said he was a few minutes early, he then looked at me, and I said were were about a week early. He laughed and called over the office supervisor to OK our early appointment. We were done about 30 minutes later.

I see some of you guys did an Early Bio Appt. If you dont mind me asking what is your reason for early Bio I want to do the same once I get my letter but I have no idea what to say other than I want to get it over with. Thanks in advance for your responses.

CHUCKM................08/22/15......08/24/15......09/25/15......--/--/-- (Early bio:09/14/15)

I am not sure how to add this so here it is. to the California Service Center

VJName..............Date of I-751...NOA1 Date....Biometrics.....Approved
CHUCKM................08/22/15......08/24/15......--/--/15......--/--/--

Greetings,

Today my wife was given a conditional job offer by a airline as a flight attendant, a job she previously held in her home country. The conditional offer was because her green card expires on 11/18/15. We recently sent our removal of conditions paperwork and received the NOA which states "Your conditional resident status is extended for a period of one year. During the one-year extension you are authorized employment and travel."

The airline is balking at the offer because her green card expires. They don't know about the validity of the I-797. Is there anything we can do to make this work? It is clear to me what the wording of the I-797 states she can work and travel which this document. I think the airline was ok with the working portion, but not the travel portion since her job would take her in and out of the country.

We have made an Info Pass appointment already, for Sept 14, to see if we can get her an I-551 Stamp for her passport. Is this a good route to take?

Any other suggestions are also welcome. This is my wife's dream job, she left it to come to the US to get married to me and has been working toward renewing this carrier ever since she received her work authorization.

Chuck & Parisa

Maryab,

From what I have read above, I believe your concern is how to prove you have met within two years, Do you have your exit stamp on your Iranian passport or the receipt for your exit fees? both of these will prove you were in Iran to be able to have met your fiance. They of course will need to be translated. I am not sure where to translate Farsi to English in the US, I have done this though at my local university where an Iranian professor translated and had information notarized. If you are more comfortable communicating in Farsi, please PM me and my I can have my wife help. She came the the US a little more than 2 years ago on a K-1 visa.

My wife is Iranian and came on a K-1. She only brought with her about 2K, the rest of her money she is keeping in Iran because of the sanctions and because the rate of return of her investments is better than what we can get here. The added benefit is that when we travel to Iran, we have money there already. We just returned today from a 3 week visit. The trip was paid for with the money we already had in Iran.

Great news, congrats.

I left the box blank on my wife's I-129. She has two first names, and two last names, no middle name.

I used an additional sheet for many sections of the G-325 form. Every one of my then fiancees previous address and all of here work history were on the additional sheet. I had everything noted where it belonged on the G-325 and also had her sign the additional page. We had no issues from this and USCIS had the complete information.

My wife has adjusted wonderfully. My biggest fear was that she would miss Iran so much because she was only leaving to marry me. She really loved her life in Iran and specially her job as a flight attendant. With Viber and Skype she is able to talk and see her friends and family almost every day and there is enough of an Iranian ex-pat community in Minneapolis that it seems like we are sometimes in Iran.

The delay in our case was our own doing. When the notice came for our interview date, we had exactly 6 days to go to Ankara, get the medical and go to the interview. At the time my wife was in Tajikistan training for her work and I had promised her family that I would be in Ankara with her. I contacted the Embassy and they changed our June interview date to December. We did not have any RFE from the interview, there was one small issue in that her shenasname was not translated for the pages that were blank, and they did not accept it, but told her to come back the next day with the complete translation. We were able to take care of this easily. I was not allowed to go to the interview with her and they asked her to do the interview in English to prove that we could communicate. We then delayed her entry into the US so she could complete her contract with her airline job and so she did not have to come live in Minneapolis in the middle of the winter.

You may have some delay, every male spouse/fiance I have seen has gone into AP for some time for additional security checks. Don't be discouraged by this.

My wife has been working and volunteering since she received her work permit. She has interviewed with Airlines and I think that she will get hired as flight attendant before too long.

Good luck in your journey. It was a long process for us, but it was worth every minute. In May, I will make my second trip to Iran to visit my wife's family. If you have any question, please ask here in the forums or you can also message me.

Chuck

We went through this three years ago and my Iranian fiance is now my wife and has been here for 2 years. We did not even try to meet in Iran. We met online and our first face to face meeting was in Turkey. We also met again in Dubai and again in Turkey for the Visa interview. The politics really did not seem to factor in our case. We faced no difficulties in the process.

Meeting in Turkey was a little expensive since we both had to travel, but in the long run it was worth it. My wife had her sister travel with her for the first visit which was nice because it allowed me to meet some of her family too. Good luck.