Ismael&Blair

Congratulations!

HAMDOALLAH!! CONGRATS!!

We have a joint account too now. But when my husband first arrived, we went to go shopping to get the supplies & clothes he needed to feel more at home. He didn't have his social security yet so I also made sure he had "pocket money" to go shave his head weekly and get his cigarettes.

I think communication is the key to let your spouse know what you need. Good luck and best wishes!

We are in the downtown Los Angeles area.

Hi we are in Los Angeles, CA too. Welcome to California. My husband has been here 5 months now and he would be happy to share information on where he is attending school. He is currently taking an English class too. I will send you a message.

Where are you exactly in the high desert? What city? We are in the LA area.

Good luck

I think I just flip through an episode of "Housewives of Moroccan men or MENA Forum"

I would totally watch it. Where can I pitch this reality show idea? LOL

All I can say also is that I love my Moroccan husband too. And like Pitbull said "I don't give a number two" to what the messenger or the posted advice.

But shame on the messenger who posted sexually explicit activities comments about Moroccan/Muslims on an immigration help website! #######?!

After reading your post, I just want to give you a big HUG. Wishing you a speedy and positive recovery!

Good luck, my husband's POE was also at JFK and he made it with 20 minutes to spare to wait. I believe his layover was 3 hours too. But with the plane arriving a little later than scheduled and the interview at the POE was about 1 1/2 hr for him. So he still had time. Like the other person said, they will ask you when is your connecting flight departs.

So where are you going in LAX. We are in the Los Angeles area too! Again best wishes on a pleasant trip to America!

This topic has been very informative and hearing everyone's comments is makes a good late night reading. So much that I felt compelled to add my two cents.

Visa Journey is a definitely a great resource. But I have to say that ultimately, everyone's relationship is different and there seems to be a lot of stereotypes made. But that's human nature. At the same time, I try to look for the silver lining and say there is always an exception to the rules.

Before I married my Moroccan husband, I had experienced more than my share of harsh criticisms, wanted and unwanted advice about the "Moroccan Men, Internet dating, big age gap, etc.", all the stereotypical cautions, and negativity from doubtful family and so-friends. It's all normal because they care for me. But ultimately the decision was mine. Being quite cautiously guarded for the most part in the beginning of our "love affair", I got to know my husband online, then in person, and then I was sure to take the chance in love and accept my husband's marriage proposal and I made the commitment.

I just say TIME will hold the truth. I agree with many of the posters in the past who said that the VISA journey was the easy part. Now the challenging but the exciting part of the journey is being together and building our lives together.

My dear husband and I have been married for 1 1/2 years now and more importantly, my husband has been here in California with me for a little over 4 months now. Will I say it's easy and nothing to it? I would be sugar coating it. It is work on both of us and more so, a lot of communication. But I know we love each other and we are happy and we work at it each day. Am I going to worry about what will happen 7 years from now? No, because we have to live for the present.

I remembered right before my husband arrived to California. My uncle David gave me a piece of advice that I will take to heart. He said he is married to my aunt for 27 years and still he is learning and finding out things about her/ his wife & mother of 3 grown kids. He warned me that marriage is not all rosy. But they have to work at making it work. It's what marriage is about.

So I promise to check in and share our progress in our marriage every now and then. And definitely 7 years from now, see where we are at. I'm positive and I also believe in giving love a chance and my husband says he believes in destiny. And it was meant for us to be together.

Everyone here has the rights in their own opinion and that is all it is. Just opinions...so best wishes to everyone! Happy marriages Inshallah

From all the previous posts I've read while I have been a VJ member, I think the important thing is that you have a current permanent job. They count your current status. So submitting your tax transcripts, your check stub and a letter from your employer are good evidence to show that you are financially above the poverty level. If NVC feels that it is not enough, they will send you a checklist and will let you know that you will need a co-sponsor.

I remembered reading about people who went the opposite way where they had the income and then they lost their job. That would be a bummer. But in your case, you are fine. Let's see what the veteran VJ members would say.

Congrats on your new job! And best wishes to you and your husband

Forget K-3.,..it is obselete.

This is not 2013, but for one more day, and the "path" you have chosen, the I-130 will be at least 10-16 months, unless you would get extremely lucky.

There are members here that disagree with me, but why in the world did you not go the K-1 visa, and be done in about 6 months, then do the AOS, which is not bad, and not go through this long difficult process of the I-130..,....,.,

What happened to you friend is ancient history as far as USCIS, but I can read the approval rates here for I-130.,..,.,and it seems to get longer, and longer.,.,.,

WHY NOT,.,.., a K-1 visa, and marry here, in 1/2 the time?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Maybe it's not about trying to figure out which Visa is the best but more about wanting to be married...two people love each other so they get married first. At least that is how my husband and I felt. It wasn't about which route to go for immigration purposes. LOL

I still believe that irregardless of what petition one files, it's all on an individual basis. There is no rhyme or reason why currently one type of petition is getting approved faster than others. I remembered when we filed for 1-130 back in late 2012, people on VJ were saying there were more approvals for CR1 than K-1 visas. And the people who filed K-1 were all frustrated.

IMHO, it's all case by case and there is no guarantee when or why; they will get to your file eventually. Everyone here will have to put in their time regardless. Better to plan for the long run than to hope for quickness. It will just drive you insane! LOL Remember the VJ time line is only a generalization so take it with a grain of salt.

All I know is that when two people loves each other, just stick it out regardless how long it will take. You submitted your paperwork and now just be patient and hang in for the long ride. You can start gathering for the other part of the process. Many people place so much focus on getting that NOA2-the first part of this journey. They forget to also look ahead for the next part for the NVC. I think that stage is the more crucial part (ie. secure the petitioner's financial papers and your beneficiary's paper work too). There will be an end to the long journey!

Happy New Year's Eve...2013 is coming to a close for sure! 2014 will be a bright and exciting one for all INSHALLAH

Even if you are just using your beneficiary's savings account to meet the financial income requirement, you still have to show that you have a current steady job situation. How are you going to support your beneficiary? It's very easy to show you have money transferred into an account for evidence.

The concrete proof they want is to show you have an actual job. They will either want a current paycheck stub, an job offer letter from your employer to write a statement for evidence too. And like Rocket man said, NVC will ask for proof of income tax return filed or written statements why the petitioner didn't file. If you cannot fulfill this, you will need to have joint sponsors. Good luck!

I was in your wife situation and I remembered that I submitted the I130 petition in that first November 2012 Veteran Day weekend. My happy moment was him arriving LAX on September 10, 2013. So it took us 10 months from start to finish. You can check our timeline. Just be patient and it will be worth it.

Congratulations!

I think sometimes in these immigration situations people tend to forget that these are life changing family events and some people are so focused on actually being married and being together that they forget that. I'm not going to marry someone who has not met my family that's just silly. I really hope we can at least be given a chance instead of really being at the mercy and whims of someone's preconceived opinion . . .

Yes, you are right about marriage being a life changing family event and hopefully someone will give you a chance and not have a preconceived notion. But to the USCIS & NVC, when you marry someone outside of the United States of America and especially from a country that has a "high fraud" reputation, normal people like us will be at their mercy and your fiance's chances of being approved as a visitor and when there is an intent to marry & start immigration process is just about being zero.

Yes, in an ideal situation, I would have also liked to have done it the traditional and had my husband meet my family first in person too. (Thank goodness for Skype & Facetime) But the harsh reality, after doing research and knowing the track record of how the US government and immigration process for approvals on the different types of VISAs. That is why we felt the CR-1 would be our choice. We knew we wanted to be together and for us it was more between us than involving everyone else in the family. We wanted to be husband and wife most importantly because of his Muslim faith. Secondly, we want to be together and live together in the same household. So we felt the quickest and the more of sure way of being approved.

Before we started the VISA process, I thought for sure I being a US Citizen by birth, a law abiding & tax paying property owner, with definitely more than a qualifying income and a stable career, they HAD to approve me and fast too. I thought this whole immigration process was like applying for a passport. Boy was I wrong.

Well, we still had to do our time being separated and go through the almost year long (10 months) process (all three parts-USISC, NVC, & Consulate) but I am happy to say he is here with me now spent our first Christmas together with my parents too. And would I have wanted it this way?! No, but life is full of surprises. I would have loved to have had it the similar way you want it. I did get a lot of heat for not doing it the proper traditional way from my parents. But life goes on and it worked out at the end. My wedding in Morocco was perfect, beautiful and wonderful too. Good luck and I do hope the best outcome for you guys!

The main thing is that do you have evidence of resources to show that you and/or a sponsor will be able to support him along with 4 children together in the US?

Do you make enough and have a reliable income source to qualify to petition for him in the first place?

That would be a more of importance than showing that you guys are together because having 4 children together is good evidence of that.

It's neat to see that there are quite a few of us!

Meeting online in a game.

For us, it was a Facebook game called Yoville. Also same thing, we weren't "looking" when we met.

As far as I know, it's a NO....it's just a standard protocol for wanting a VISA to come to America.

Wow! I am surprised that you don't know HOW LONG and WHY for those two questions? You need to tell the truth because they will know! They check EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. And just to let you know President Obama admits that he supports online background checks so he probably already knows your answers for those 2 questions. So like the other posters said...YOU JUST HAVE TO ANSWER HONESTLY.

I can tell you that if you are not good in speaking in English, you can choose to do the interview in Arabic. They will gladly have a translator available there for you. They will actually ask you if you want to interview in the language you are most comfortable with. That option was given to my husband. So good luck & let us know how your interview went!

I agree with the others who said the odd of getting a B1 is almost slim to none of a chance. It's rare that people from Morocco who applies for a visitor visa will get approved even if they get the support from the host family. People who have gotten tourist visas to come to America must have an extraordinary connection to America.

I would guess families of "royalty" or government connection or someone who is so established like owning their own business like Venezia Ice. But sending a son over for a visit would not be a viable reason when it's an applicant coming from Morocco. Sad to say. It's just that scrutinized and biased.

Why can't you get married in Morocco and then go the CR1 route? That would be the most logical way if you really want to be married as husband and wife before being deployed.

It's NEVER the right time to get sick or have an accident! One incident or illness without insurance and you can be digging out financially for years!

But you are missing the point. I can buy insurance whenever I want to. I don't need to have the government mandate.

I look at it as the government's way to get guaranteed additional taxes from a taxed out middle class. Work on providing decent jobs and those not so able body citizens to afford to buy their own health insurance in the first place. Leave the ones who are doing fine alone.

I have friends who are doctors and they even say the whole premise is a bad idea. Just wait and see.

Thanks to this Obamacare requirement . I also had to buy healthcare insurance for my hubby (added expenses). My hubby is worth it but I wished I had an option to wait until it was the right time!

I agree with everyone...go with your gut feelings. The EXCUSE about no sex thing is a dead give away that something is definitely wrong. Sorry to read about your story!