J.G.I

They have been approved. Congratulations!!!!!

I found their review very helpful. Their review can be found in the link below:

http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=8703

Congratulations again

Good to know. I should make sure that the envelop is well sealed when I go to pick it up. Thanks for posting and good luck.

Thanks everybody. I don't have an interview on Wed. I just thought that they might postpone the scheduled ones which implicitly affects those of us who are waiting for interviews or trying to figure out when possibly their interview will be. Thanks again and Happy Eid to those who are celebrating.

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone knows of where you can get cheaper flights out of Cairo back to the US...i have been looking online and they're pretty expensive right now. I guess maybe cuz it being last minute..so if anyone knows what websites to check or any agencies here in Cairo i would greatly appreciate it Thanks!!!!

I usually use expedia.com. It depends on the time of your flight. Is it very soon or around Christmas? If it's around Christmas, you don't have a high chance of getting a good deal. Does that mean you had your interview and everything worked fine?

The holiday schedule on the embassy website has the Eid Holiday end on the 7th with a footnote saying that it might change due to the sighting of the moon. Now it's officially going to end on Wed, 9th. I have noticed that there are 27 interviews scheduled on that day. Is there anyone here who has an interview on that day?

You must keep it sealed. I believe you will get it back after the embassy checks it out.

I think it'll be mailed to the address in the application. In your case, New Jersey.

J.G.I. ~ We were married in December so when our 6 months were up to file the I-130 it was May. When i called the soonest appointment they had was in the begining of Sept. I was able to still file here because i made the appointment before the Aug cutoff time. So i filed the beg of Sept and we got our package 8 days later...we returned it 18 days later..and we recieved our letter for the interview 6 days later...and actually we checked on the embassy's website and we found our case number and interview date 2 days before we got the letter lol...our interview was scheduled 22 days after we recieved the letter It seems to me things are moving along here in Cairo. I wish you luck in getting your case done quickly also! And, yeah we were thinking that me being here and living with his family for the past year and me being here at the interview were huge...especially during the revolution when alot of people left. So, i guess we will just bring pics and our vacation reciepts. Thanks for replying and Good Luck and God Bless to you and your family!!

Thanks a lot. That is really helpful. Another question if you don't mind. Did your husband get the medical examination done before sending the package or after getting the interview letter? The reason I'm asking is the 6 month limitation on the TB test. I'm wondering if I could send the package without the TB and have it with me on the interview day. Thanks again.

Yes! I did ask what was discussed and the answer he provided to the Consular was that "It was luck" the consular did not like his answer and told him to marry somebody in Egypt. Paperwork was not the problem it was approved quickly it was his interview that ends it. We have all the evidence, in our relationship it was his answer that triggered the whole thing and because he is so nervous the first answer that comes out in his mouth was "It was luck".

Dear Dahlia,

I read your other post right after your fiance had his interview. The conclusion I would take from the replies is that the reason was NOT your fiance's answer, rather it was the age difference. I don't think ignoring that will help you get anywhere other than wasting more time. To get the result you want, you will have to do what you already said you don't want to do. You will have to marry him and be away from your extended family for at least 2 years during which you live with him in one country (doesn't have to be Egypt if he can get a visa to another country). A possible scenario would be coming to Egypt and marring him and after 6 month file the I-130 by mailing it to the Chicago address and may be 6 to 10 months later, you get the interview and you go to the interview with him. If you do that, the CO can see how much you sacrificed being away from your grandson/daughter to be with the man you love. This will be a big bonafide evidence and your husband then will get the visa. I don't see any other way with all the problems that your case has, which were mentioned in the other post.

Blessings and best of wishes.

The fact that you are living here with your husband is way more important than the chat logs and phone calls. We have a similar situation except that we have been married for four yours and we have a daughter. We are not planning to take any evidence other than some pictures. The fact we have a daughter is huge. We saw a difference in how they treated us when we applied for a report of birth abroad and a passport fro her. They are looking for a bonafide evidence and you married the guy and living with his parents for a year during a revolution. I assume you are going to the interview with him and that is also a big help. For those who get married and then go back to the US, leaving the spouse behind, they definitely need the chat logs, the pictures ...etc.

I don't about the support funds. Hope some one else could help.

You mentioned that you filed I-130 in Sept at the embassy. I thought they stopped processing that on Aug 15th. They stopped filing I-130 abroad except for few countries.

When did you send packet 3 back to the embassy? We would like to get our interview by Jan or Feb so we are trying to figure out how long it takes the embassy now after the revolution to schedule interviews.

Thanks and good luck

I am talking about this announcement that was made last May after your wife had filed the petition at the Embassy in Cairo (I know what DCF is called by the way ). That announcement specifically states that effective August 15, 2011, if there is no USCIS field office in the country, the I-130 petition will have to be sent to the Chicago lockbox. That announcement supersedes anything your friend might have been told about "suspended until further notice" (a term that implies it would be available again in the not too distant future, it would have been more proper to say DCF is not an available option). Furthermore, the website page that had that information was removed because of the announcement I linked to and Egypt is not on this list of USCIS International Offices.

Ryan, thanks a lot for making it clear. I mentioned the DCF to be sure we are talking about the same thing. I'm not an expert in that whole process. The good thing about DCF is that it saves 6 months so I'm glad we made it before they changed it. I hope that change won't make the process longer for newer applicants.

Incorrect, DCF hasn't been suspended in Egypt until further notice, it's not an option in Egypt at all. This is because there is no USCIS field in Egypt.

I don't know what you are talking about. My wife filed I-130 at the Embassy in Cairo last April. This is called DCF. They are not processing any more of those till further notice. A friend of ours called them up and they told her that plus the website page that has the information about it has been removed.

Another question, do I take the medical exam and send the results with packet 3 or send packet 3 without medical and take it right before the interview? I see some people take it right before the interview but packet 3 should be sent out with the unopened medical report. It makes more sense to take it before the interview because of the 6 month limit on TB portion of the exam but I'm afraid they send it back to me for missing the medical report. What do u think?

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Egypt&cty=Cairo

Good Luck

Thanks. I read that before. I find it weird to pay only 790 at the CIB and then pay the rest at the embassy. It makes more sense to pay all of it at either the CIB or the embassy so I thought to check.

Thanks again.

I'm currently preparing my documents for packet 3 to send them to the embassy in Egypt. My visa category is IR1.

Does any one know how much to pay at the CIB before sending the packet?

Thanks a lot

Just a side note, DCF has been suspended in Egypt until further notice. You'll have to come here, get married, go back to the US and file from there.

I'm Egyptian and my wife is American. We have been married for almost 4 years. We are living in Egypt and we had to deal with the embassy a lot. Since before our wedding(during which we had to battle them vigorously) till the birth of our baby girl, we've been to the embassy several times and we saw different couples trying to get married. In addition to that, we have been known to embassy staff during the revolution when the embassy closed down and we had to get a passport for our newborn baby girl. During that time, a CO at the embassy said that the most common profile they have for marriage cases is a younger man meeting an older woman online. So let me assure you that age does matter. From what I read about your situation, it perfectly fits their profile. You met online, you don't know each other very well(3 short visits don't count) and the age difference.

As an Egyptian, I totally understand why the CO said what he said to your fiance. It's almost unheard of to have a man of any age who hasn't been married before to marry a woman who won't give him children and assume that his parents are OK with it. However, I take your word that your fiance is a good man. Having that said, let me tell you what is the stereo type of a situation like that in the context of my culture. A younger man going after an older woman would end up having another wife at a later stage in life and have the children he wants and the laws allow that here in Egypt. He would get his parents blessings by telling them that(Not all parents would go along with that but few would). The cultural pressure in that regard is so huge, you cannot and you should not discard it. I believe the CO had that in mind except the part of having another wife since the laws don't allow it in the US.