Overin2911

History

Urdu developed as a vernacular based on Sanskrit-derived Prakrits, Persian, the language of the court and literature, and Arabic, the language of the Quran. The mingling of these languages with the local dialects led to the development of what are Urdu and Hindi today. Urdu is an interesting amalgam in that it shares almost half of its vocabulary with Persian and Arabic.

Urdu was the premiere language of poetry in South Asia for two centuries and has a large and rich collection of poetry in a variety of forms.

Interestingly, the word urdu itself means "army" or "horde" in Turkish.

Status

According to Ethnologue, Urdu is spoken by 104,000,000 people, primarily in India and Pakistan. It is the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India. It is widely spoken by the South Asian diaspora is some 20 other countries.

Urdu and Hindi are parts of a linguistic continuum. At one end is heavily Persianized Urdu written in a modified Arabic script. At the other end is heavily Sanskritized Hindi written in the Devanagari script. The basic grammar is the same. Urdu forms the segment of the chain more towards the Persian side, and Hindi forms the segment of the chain more towards the Sanskrit side. The language halfway between the two extremes is referred to as Hindustani.

The two languages are mutually intelligible, in fact, almost indistinguishable at the informal level. In more formal speech and writing, Sanskritization or Arabo-Persianization is more pronounced. The Hindi and Urdu used in the media, literature, and official proceedings are not easily understood by speakers of the other language.

Hindi/ Urdu together represent the third most spoken language in the world.

Chinese 1,075,000,000

English 514,000,000

Hindi/Urdu 496,000,000

Source: http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/index.html

This is great info, thank you for sharing.

I give it 4 hours.....

haha that's very generous of you!

Well the message was sent around 7 pm EST, so I think it's already past the 4 hours.

Anyone placing bets?

My bad... 4 hours from when I was reading it.

I give it 4 hours.....

GRACIAS

De Nada

When emailing embassy with questions regarding K3, which email address should I use?

pakivinfo@state.gov

that one.....

I use the Guides and FAQ's a lot - but its MOSTLY the Drama! Thats what keeps me coming back. One of these days I just may work up the nerve to post one of those cute smiley's eating popcorn - until then, I'm just a lurker.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Adding Laneysera

Thanks Lal_brandow!

Next time you update, his BIO was 5-13-06.

This step has been unbelievable! I was prepared for, but pleased, with our short 4 month ADMIN review while waiting for his Visa. I have seen many others from Pakistan wait much longer. His EAD was a breeze, using it was not! Took 10 flippin weeks to get a soc sec # .

It was really hard not to be a smart a** in his AOS interview - "what do you mean FBI name check, why don't you just read what is in his file from his FBI name check 3 months ago??"

Grrr!!

Some of the timelines above make me nervous! But at least we can be nervous together

Good luck to ALL!

Congrats!

Hey Jess,

It is so good to see you post again! Naseer and I are in the same boat, semi-approval pending name check. I guess we're used to that though!

Congrats and hope all goes well with the name check - keep us posted.

Laney

some good news! Shaak has been on this forum for a while, he had to file a waiver. his waiver was approved after one year! I am so happy for him! he is now on Ar/Ap too now!

I remember him! If he's reading, CONGRATS - I hope the wife and baby are doing good.

I wish I had someone local to practise Urdu with!

Me Too! I have even gone so far as to tape Urdu flash cards around the house to practice. My next visit to Pak, I want to hang with the girls and not wait for Nas to translate. I wish you lived a little closer, you know a lot more than I do!

jus lil quikie to cheer ya up !

v pakis still gotta learn to respect others privacy

and neva believe a fortune tellas prochecy

i m aka ghattiya emcee (MC)

all this waiting fo visa has put me in extacy,

this is a fukin drama, trauma

bohat ho gya MR. khurrana

now its ur visa interview

dont eeewww

bark like cat meow )

lets all sit bak n view

the posts at vj

somebody find ajay

chal hatt peechay

vj membas from pakiland plz hit me up i want to share experiences with yall and each others

Thanks for keepin it lively!

Meow - and no baby momma drama here

Dil Chata hai (great movie)

experiences in the sig....

and Welcome!

Hello. I, am a US citizen and my spouse is in Islamabad. I filed his K-3 back in May and got notice from the USCIS on 7/27 that the case is being transferred to the NVC so it can be sent to Pakistan. It looks like an interview should be scheduled in September hopefully. I understand that all visa applicants must now go through a security clearance in Washington after the interview and this can take anywhere from 45 days-several months. Does anyone have any idea how long it's taking on average for this? Any answers would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hey Skye......

welcome!

Timeline = 2 weeks to 2 years. We took 4 months (a/p), I've seen shorter and longer, good luck and keep us posted.

Laney

HAPPY 98TH

BIRTHDAY

laneysera

lmao!! thanks!

The hubby is working, so a pretty boring day so far! We agreed to celebrate both of our birthdays in a few weeks when we can finagle a weekend off together. (his was last weekend) - I cant believe we are both in our mid 30's - we're gonna be 60 year olds with kids in highschool!

Congratulations!!

Congratulations on the quick approval!

Fantastic! One of my all time fav's

Congrats faal4anisa and Ishteaq!

You have a great weekend too Omid, I saw the post that tickets have been purchased... How exciting!

Question - since he's got the visa to the US, my fiance shouldn't have any problems with stops in Dubai or Europe, right? He wouldn't be leaving the airport so i'm figuring being in transit would waive any need for additional visas.

Naseer went through Heathrow with no problems. He did not have to change Terminals, only walked about 4 gates down.

L

Thanks for the well wishes and congrats everyone - and in the spirit of duplicate posting

CONGRATS AGAIN OMID!!!

Go ahead and go get your numbers for the DMV and SS office, they should be calling your number by the time he lands

{not that i'm cynical}

ps.... Naseer just got a job!! Woohoooo, finally gonna get him busy

ALHAMDULILAH!!!!! I don't know if I'm dreaming, but if I am I don't want to wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He called me at 4 am this morning to tell me he had his visa in his hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alhamdulilah!!! He was there most of the day but very simple - told the first Paki guy the info they had requested, waited an hour and a half and then an older american male consular asked him if he'd ever worked for the Taliban in any way, and he said "No way", and then the Paki lady translating said Congratulations - you're visa's approved... wait here and we'll get your visa for you - and another hour or so later, he left w/ visa and brown envelope in hand!!!!!!!!!

15 months since we filed and 199 days of AR/AP - but it's all done now!!!!!!!!!!! Alhamdulilah!!! We're hoping to have him here in a week or two insha'Allah - I'm still in utter shock and disbelief - at a minimum I thought they would give it to him a day later - OMG!!!!

For all of you waiting, there is light at the end of the tunnel insha'Allah!!!

Thank you all soooo much for all the support and well wishes - I would have never survived this w/o all you fellow VJers!!!!

That is such great news!!! what a great Day!!!!!! I'm so happy for you guys! I cant wait to read his POE experience.

Congratulations!

Hey Fellow K-3'ers (and K-1's) from Pakistan!

Naseer and I had our AOS interview in Denver today. 15 minutes total, and a super nice guy. Just asked how we met, if we had kids, and our address. Did not look at anything we brought.

The Hubby is approved pending the FBI name check of course. But reading other threads, its because our interview date was so fast, the FBI needs time to complete the search. No big deal - this will be a much better wait than the VISA A/R. I finally get to put all this stuff away - for the next 2 years

Good luck to those who are still pending VISA's - trust me, it will all be a blur once your SO hits US soil.

congrats on the AOS...

I have a funny feeling they will make us wait til we get IR1 at this rate.

.

ya, but he'll be free of this process for years after he gets here...

(happy thoughts happy thoughts)

thanks

Hey Fellow K-3'ers (and K-1's) from Pakistan!

Naseer and I had our AOS interview in Denver today. 15 minutes total, and a super nice guy. Just asked how we met, if we had kids, and our address. Did not look at anything we brought.

The Hubby is approved pending the FBI name check of course. But reading other threads, its because our interview date was so fast, the FBI needs time to complete the search. No big deal - this will be a much better wait than the VISA A/R. I finally get to put all this stuff away - for the next 2 years

Good luck to those who are still pending VISA's - trust me, it will all be a blur once your SO hits US soil.

HI

CONGRATS your journey is complete i m PAKISTANI too and waiting for my NOA2 i look at your timeline and found it took u 04 months to get visa from your interview date due to AR i m hopeful that my case come to islamabad next month in AUGUST and if i start counting that it takes me 04 months then i m hopeful to be there in december my fiance really misses me as i miss her she wants me that i can come as soon as possible i would like if u share your experience with me regarding ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW did american embassy investigating officer came to your house and what inquires he made i love with your response thanks

with luv

faal

Hi Faal,

(wow, you're digging deep in this thread )

Our A/R was pretty uneventful - they never came to his house or work or questioned his family. I just called the DOS weekly to find out the status of our case. I never asked which clearances the Embassy requested. After the ADMIN REV they asked him to come back to the Embassy with 300 pages of Chat sessions. He picked up the VISA 3 days later.

Good luck and keep posting your status.

I was at the embassy today too. submitted passport as instructed!

Does that mean they are finally going to issue you the VISA??????

Hey Omid!

I'm assuming your SO is at the Embassy at this moment. Insha'allah we all wake up to some good news.

You guys are in our prayers.

Laney and Naseer

Insha'Allah we'll hear some good news coming out of ISL next week.