RFQ

Thank you so much my dear all my friends I got my green card today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In this case he better travel no later than the 3/16 to the US
(He has to enter no later than ON 3/17 -> last day of the visa validility, but I wouldn't cut it that close.)

If he comes after your 2yr mark, his visa will automatically convert from a CR to IR visa. This will save you $$$ since you don't have to remove conditions in two years after he enters the US. He receives a green card valid for 10 years right away.

My husband is here in the states ....we are very happy !! It was worth all the wait. finally it's over until becoming a USC <3

You usually do. Maybe his medical is expiring by that date?

You're time line says "3/17/2013 Medical". This coincides with the expiration date of your husbands visa. If he only redid parts of the medical, the original medical date from March 2013 still counts. If this should be the case, he has until 3/17 to enter the US or will have to redo the medical or the whole process. Call the embassy if unsure.

Thank you for sharing in this time of hysterical happiness with me.

I hope and pray others soon to have this feeling as well

Congrats RFQ! Im so happy to read some good news to lift our spirits on here-Im sure it will feel real and complete once the passport is between your hands-good luck

Congrats..... wonderful day indeed I was just saying to my friend no one from Egypt that got the phone call from the embassy to update medical and police report has said nothing I was starting to worryIt should take 2 days but remember friday is a day off.congrats again

I think you're right...the whole process is frustrating. Sometimes you feel like you get ahead and other times you just feel like you are spinning your wheels. In August of 2012, I thought we'd be having our interview in time for my fiancé to join me for the summer of 2013. Unfortunately, our NOA2 didn't arrive until late April 2013. Somehow, after we turned in our paperwork for packet 3, I expected to be interviewed in February 2014. I was tracking interviews of others, and it seemed to fit my expectations. My fiancé and I were totally shocked when we saw our case number on the website in December. Really, I thought it was wrong.
If we get approved (AP is the worst part of the process IMO), it will be almost two years since we began the petition when he finally arrives. I had consulted a lawyer before we began the process, and she told me a year was average. Back then, I thought that was forever and a day. Oh, to be just a year would be lovely!
I hope you'll get your interviews at the beginning of February, and things will be speedy and quick for you. It's so tough to wait for this process.

ahmed got the call from DHL this morning saying they had a letter for him from the embassy, it was the interview letter....he is scheduled for an interview December 11th........1 year and 4 months to get to this point.....i can't believe he has interview in 7 days......i feel like i just won the lottery!! lol

*eyeroll* You're damned if you do and damned if you don't around MENA.
I am also more than happy to have some Moroccan friends take a look at anonymous correspondences to translate them.

You guys rock!!!! So fast and so much more informed than the pro's.

we've been dealing with Belgium and UK embassy now and their process is so much easier to navigate-- just saying. VJ is priceless resource.

Hello! first of all Congratulations for you ... second you cant renew the TP test without the passport ... let him go and renew it and send it ASAP to the embassy with his passport and Police clearance. waiting for another few days no problem if he will get the passport back with his visa ... congratulations again and good luck in-sha-allah

Just be happy! Alhamdulillah. So many people LANGUISH in AP for months and years, even. I know it's been a long time but alhamdulillah it seems to be over now. You can send a letter later but NOBODY cares. It's a sad truth. People have complained for years but there seems to be little to no accountability. Our last go-round was pretty good but the first time it took them ten months just to deny our I-129F at USCIS, didn't even make it to the NVC or the embassy.
Insha'Allah you get your visa soon!

Congrats, get the the details they asked for and get this over and done with ASAP!!

Congratulations .. Yes the wait is over .. You have less than a month before your husband leaves to UK . I think you guys should be fine .you should work on the documents needed ASAP. By the time he has his visa from UK mail every thing back to embassy and request the visa to be printed as soon as they can .. Visa should not take more than a week some times up to 2 weeks . Maybe you should send them a copy of your husband's ticket to UK to help expedite the process . No worries things will work out for you guys . Hard days are over . Good luck

Salaam sis, Have a great time! You def deserve it!

Just stopped by to offer thoughts and prayers to the families of the VJ Filipino community. Heart breaking news coming from that area

Have a great time!

VISA APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALHAMDULILLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My fiance received an e-mail from the Algerian Embassy that they changed his interview from Nov 5th to Nov 4th, that is tomorrow!!!! Alhamdulillah, we are so excited!!!
I will update on how everything goes tomorrow evening!!!!!!!!

*eyeroll* You're damned if you do and damned if you don't around MENA.
I am also more than happy to have some Moroccan friends take a look at anonymous correspondences to translate them.

Sandinistal, this is such an excellent point! I have thought about this, too. The solution I came up with was to befriend as many other Algerians as I could, on pen pal sites, on YouTube, wherever I could find them...then try to have as many friendly conversations with them as possible. Then compare. And ask them questions - talk about similar subjects, and see if there's a certain way of thinking or reacting that seems normal or not.
I also sought out many Algerian women, and asked them about Algerian men. I was able to learn a lot this way! And I was also able to differentiate between loving him for his 'Algerian charm' or loving him for his individuality. In the end, it was a little of both.
And I've come to find out that...I really, really, really love Algerians in general. They're soo enjoyable to talk with. But none of the Algerian friends I made gave me the same kind of feelings that MY Algerian gives me. I do notice a difference - something special. A type of insight that my guy has that is not common, and runs a little deeper than most. The way he can read me. The way he listens. The way he makes me feel better when I'm down. The way he makes me laugh. The funny faces he makes. All of those things and a million more are what make my heart go boom boom boom every time he comes online.

No, I see no point whatsoever in discussing what 20 years from now would be like. Neither one of us know who we will be or what we will feel or want or like or love 20 years from now. Our 20 year older selves have not yet been created - so it would be a discussion about purely fictional characters.
As for children, we have discussed this more than once. He is Muslim, and so believes that if Allah wants him to have a child, he will give it. If he does not, then it will not come. He said even if he married someone his own age, if it was not 'written' for him to have one, it will not come. Maybe not because of the woman's age, but for some other reason. But, of course, he wants to try, and told me that there is a neighbor of his who had her first child at 50 years old. And here, I know several women who have had perfectly healthy babies in their mid to late 40s - first child. And if it doesn't happen, he said, he cannot be angry about it, or feel sad, because the decision comes from Allah, so he can only say 'thank you' - and that's fine by me.
About leaving his worldly possessions - I have not given that any thought at all and I don't care. He doesn't have anything right now, anyway. And even when he does, later on in life, I really don't care who he leaves it to, because I have my own house and money, so I'm not too worried about it.
I asked him about the multiple wife thing, and he thought that was pretty funny. He said he's never seen it or heard about it anywhere in his city. He has NO interest in that whatsoever. And if he did, it would be 'goodbye Charlie' and adios amigos.
None of this was scary or heart-breaking to me to discuss at all. And none of these things makes me worry, either. If we can't come to an agreement on the basics, we'd have to part ways, and that would be ok - we would both survive and move on. But to fret over what might happen in 20 years - no. That's outrageous. I might not even live that long. And as I've said - 20 years AGO, I could not have predicted who I am today. So how can I know anything about how I will be 20 years from now? Those years are made up of days, so every day, I will do my best to keep the relationship strong, and make efforts so that we grow together, not apart. There is no bridge between today and 20 years into the future, we can only get there day by day, and that's what we need to give our attention to. Make each and every day count.
I'm not expecting any guarantees about my life with him...and I wouldn't from anyone, no matter who they were or where they are from. If it doesn't work out, it will not be because of age. It will be because of some other challenge - and that's ok. That's life. And I'm not afraid of that.
If someone is afraid to lose, they shouldn't be in the game. I've asked myself over and over, 'Can I handle it if he breaks my heart?'
Yes. I can handle it.
How can I be so sure? Because I've survived the pain of everyone in my family who's ever loved me dying a slow and painful death from cancer, including my mother when she was only 42 years old, and my grandmother dying only nine months after her - then someone else, and someone else...three of them dying while I held their hand, and two of them dying here in my house. ALL of them needing me to take care of them, change their diapers and spoon feed them as their bodies wasted away and their color changed and their minds slowly slipped away to some dark painful place that makes us almost unrecognizable to our former healthy selves.
I've had heartbreak after heartbreak - including being cheated on in my 20s only weeks before I was supposed to get married, after NINE years of what I thought was a love that would last forever.
I've survived a divorce, in my 30s, because my newlywed husband threw me away when I suffered a devastating adverse reaction to an antibiotic that made me, for a time, have trouble speaking, reading, thinking, walking...and feel pains in my body that can only be described like as if my flesh were sliding loose on the bone.
Certainly, not everyone has such a list of tragedies as this. But we all have things that we survived, we all have things that, if they don't kill us, only make us stronger.
So...afraid of love? Afraid of things not working out? No. I can't feel it. Not in a blind and stupid way, either. Just in the sense that; I am a big girl, and I can take it.
I always say to my friends at home, 'This is either going to be the best decision of my life, or the worst. Either way, I am prepared.'
How to prepare for the worst? Like I said in an earlier post, double check every single word that comes out of their mouth, and do your homework. So far, he's passing with flying colors. Secondly, Beauty to Ashes is right - everyone should have a pre-nup. And that goes for EVERYONE - no matter if you're marrying another American or not. We ALL should have that in place. Thirdly, ask yourself, honestly, if you will be ok in the worst case scenario. If yes, proceed. If not, stop and about face.
Never gamble with what you're not prepared to lose.