MrsAmera

Really? My son has been in and out of Morocco 3 times and not one word about a Moroccan passport/citizenship..

Well...it could. I say this because we did our Islamic marriage part about 2 months after our legal marriage, and Khalil was born 7 months after our "islamic" marriage. I distinctly remember the consular at the Moroccan consulate giving us a hard time about this and I say "oh i know but he was a premie". Since both names are on the birth certificate it probably will get worked out. I'll tell you it's a pain in the A** in general. We gave up after 3 years of trying and losing a few hundred dollars in the wasteland of the process. Youssef's exact words "no one will care if he's Moroccan he's an American citizen"...yowch.

Great chat - I just wanted to add that although people think consular officers are untrained etc their training is very extensive. I don't know if anyone else has taken the foreign service exam but I have. I have an MBA and BA in International Relations. I didn't pass the foreign service exam and I do know my stuff! After that there is an intensive specific training people must take based on where in the foreign service they are going to go. It's not a cake walk at all.

Yes you will run into problems. He'll need to the family book first - and will end up having to have a proxy in Morocco have his signature on a form (forgot the name) to get the book. Then you'll have to do the birth part. You will also end up having to send things over to Morocco for the birth because Adam is older than 1. He'll need a proxy to go before a judge in Morocco to certify the birth. AND you can't go to Morocco, visit, and do all of this - they will say "you live in America you have to do it through them". PIA.

She does not have to change her name re: immigration. It will not make a difference with your case.

Samoray - because there is massive amounts of fraud that come out of Casablanca. --- Tany, did they give a reason for the denial?

Must depend on the country - We send $350 bi-monthly to Morocco via Moneygram and it costs us $9.

Iberia also charges Morocco like it's Europe, but Moroccans need a visa to transit through Spain so I guess it only applies when they're making money off of it...

I think location is going to be what you make of it. Honestly. My husband moved to the US - to WI in January. He had never seen snow and had never ever felt weather that was so cold. It was a shock and he was super depressed. About 18 months later we moved to Washington DC. There was a much bigger Moroccan community and we were away from all of our family so really on our own to make friends, deal with the kids, and build our life. (I should add we're both fairly young). This was good and bad for us. Ultimately we moved back to WI for a plethora of reasons. My husband struggled making WI home and making DC home - but ultimately he's at a point now where wherever we live is home.

I think location is going to be what you make of it. Honestly. My husband moved to the US - to WI in January. He had never seen snow and had never ever felt weather that was so cold. It was a shock and he was super depressed. About 18 months later we moved to Washington DC. There was a much bigger Moroccan community and we were away from all of our family so really on our own to make friends, deal with the kids, and build our life. (I should add we're both fairly young). This was good and bad for us. Ultimately we moved back to WI for a plethora of reasons. My husband struggled making WI home and making DC home - but ultimately he's at a point now where wherever we live is home.

agreed --- some people don't like the answers that they get. Easier to delete and pretend it never happened I guess.

Honey - I just wanted to let you know we went through this a lot too. As far as meds my husband was very very opposed to this but after going in for a checkup with the doctor SHE recommended it (she was also an immigrant so I think it helped that she could level with him). IF he won't take meds how about vitamins?? Living in the northern climates as we do ppl from warmer climates have severe Vitamin D deficiency esp with the long dark winters. See if he'll take 1000mg of Vit D a day as a vitamin - it might help him. Has he gone home to visit? Visiting home reminded my husband of what he left behind here. I think the difference might be though that he always knew it didn't matter to me where we lived (in US or Morocco) so the decision was ultimately his. I hope squeaky's husband can help translate with the family.

Objectively looking at this what are your flags?

- age difference

- length of physical time spent together

- length of time talking before filing

On the plus side; neither of you have been married before and there are no kids in the mix. Usually that's some points for you.

A CR1 is not a guarantee of a visa. I would request the consular notes from the Dept of State in a FOIA to find out what was said about your case. You may be able to get more details from that. If the reason you are being denied is something other than what they are telling you this is information you want to know. Again the consulars often know more about a case than you do.

I think this story and many others coming out of Casa are important for ppl to take note of. There are many more denials than I've seen in recent years. I think that as petitioners people need to understand the real hurdles they are facing when applying for a visa. Take the time to do research and spend physical time with your SO - for the visa and for yourselves. A week or two together is not going to be enough to show sincerity. Put it in the context of the US. If you were dating someone from WA state and you lived in FL and had only spent a week physically together would you say you knew that person? Many would argue you must spend more time together.

No criticism to anyone in this regard - just some thoughts.

Why do you say it's easier for a woman? I keep hearing that but was unable to get much information/perspective about it.

Men from Middle Eastern/North African countries are subjected to much higher levels of scrutiny (ie potential terrorism) whereas women are not. This is a post from awhile ago but as far as I know the procedures are still in place. http://www.murthy.com/news/UDarab.html

Ucf Chari - you most likely will face very few hurdles. It is MUCH easier for women to get a visa from Casablanca than a man. Also you are both from the same culture - those cases tend to be much more likely to be approved.

There have been many threads on this subject. Sadly when advice/theories are given many people do not like what they hear and all heck breaks lose.

Oh ####### I ended up back in that woman's madness and disgustingness....I have to go shower now because she grosses me out.

Wanted to add this; if his flight on royal air maroc is direct from madrid to morocco he DOES NOT need a visa. However if it connects elsewhere in Europe he DOES need a visa. My husband traveling on his GC had a connection in Madrid to Barcelona and then Marrakech - he was NOT allowed onto the Madrid - Barcelona flight without a visa (even though our 2 USC kids were with him). HEADACHE!!!

I forgot the question.....oh being a man...

So I think what Betsy said is quite like my husband - he's not at all handy (I can do more things around the house and with the car than he can), he loves his beautifying products and nice clothes (though he's incredibly "frugal" so he'll only get them if it's a steal) Doesn't cook. He's adapting though. I would say there are lots of hills and valleys. When he was in Morocco and I came to visit well he was just the sweetest thing...then he came here and he "had me" so there was no need to work to impress me anymore. So a lot of that romantic stuff sort of went out the window. It pops up again here and there but nothing like it used to be. I guess you throw in 2 kids, work, school, bills, life etc and it's not so romantic anymore. I am and was very independent and he was the very protected and catered to baby of the family. I don't want to say lazy, but we married young and when we did marry he had never had to do much for himself in his own country so he didn't even know where to begin here. There are certainly qualities I admire about him but in all honesty I'm sure there are more "manly" men that I could have met in the US. So no I didn't like him for his manliness lol

Although I have been in the "fraud" posts my story is a happy one. We have been together for 6 years married for 5. We met in Marrakech when I was on vacation with my dad and sister. After a year of visits and processing our visa was granted. The first 2 years were probably the hardest of my life, with a lot of adjustments on both of our parts. Some were cultural, some were oldest child/youngest child dynamics (me being an oldest child, him being the baby of 9!) Things are looking up now as I am making a go of my career and he's finally at a point where he has made the US home and isn't always holding on to moving back to Morocco (and holding back in life here). Certainly he gave up seeing his family all the time to move here, but we have both come to realize that we have BOTH given up a lot for each other and worked towards making a life together instead of focusing on what we've lost in the process. Those months of waiting were hard but life together is a lot harder in many ways. I love him dearly and am happy that we pulled through the really rough times but God forbid something ever happened to him I would never go through this process again!

I've been trying to think of common characteristics between them - and perhaps 8-10 years ago when they came there might have been some but now I think that those initial characteristics are no longer there. Know what I mean? Biggest thing - they wanted out of Morocco? Not a single one talks about the first wife or any of the circumstances around it. I really hate to say that they are all after the green card because I really think that somewhere part of it does come down to plain old relationship fail. It's really hard to be married. It's even harder to be married to someone whose complete value system and concept of marriage is different from your own. I think that many women get tired of the disagreements as do many men. Unless you (and your partner) are willing to really work very very very hard at this it will fail.

Getting the visa is truly easy in comparison to making a life together. Whether or not the benificiary has ulterior motives there will be millions of struggles (save for a very select few number of cases). I know if the CO would have denied my husband and I - I would have had serious thoughts about our relationship and the reasons for the denial and not just chalked it up to a mean CO.

I have a circle of about 10 couples - 8 are moroccan/moroccan 2 are moroccan/american. All 8 of the moroccan/moroccan couples - the man originally married an American woman, divorced and married a Moroccan later. 2 were legitimate marriages that didn't work out (one was over 10yrs together)- the others were fruad. These are good people, def wouldn't expect them to have doen that - just goes to show you never know.

Please remember being granted a visa is not a right - it's a privalage. You nor your spouse are entitled to a visa just because you "love each other". You are free to marry/love who you choose - you are not free to import anyone you choose. You paid out a lot of funds, so has everyone. Also, sometimes actually a lot of times, the consular knows things even you do not know. They don't deny just because they feel like it. There are reasons that for them to deny, again perhaps things that you do not know about. I suggest to ease your mind you submit a FOIA with the State Dept and request the consular notes for your case. Perhaps they will offer you a glimpse into the reasons for the denial.

Is there anti-Swedish sentiment too? blond hair and blue eyes could be over 50% of Europe and north america... there's anti american sentiment anywhere - i think basing travel plans on eye and hair color is a little silly. I doubt highly you would be assaulted for your hair and eye color. Would I go to Egypt right now - yea I would give it a shot - but make sure you have a good plan in case things do go awry and be sure to register with the american embassy.

I do always find it interesting that the people who love and adore the king so much are usually not living in Morocco. Those that are in Morocco have no choice but to express their undying devotion to the world's 8th richest monarch (at a net worth of #2.5 billion) or face imprisonment for speaking out or criticizing him. I can't imagine why most Moroccans who average $3000 USD a year salary and an incredibly high unemployment rate would be unhappy.....

If you are already married I would def give a call. I can remember hearing that when they were evacuating USC they were also evacuating their spouses even if they did not have a GC. From what I heard this was for couples who were together at the time evacuations began. Def. call and find out.