Elchelle

New to the website, and also marrying an Egyptian man.
I have some insight into that divorce topic. While divorce may be common, in Upper Egypt it is often very very frowned upon. A lot of times, in small villages with tribal and clan affiliation, it is a cousin to cousin marriage. These marriages are, for all intents and purposes, what we would call arranged. Families can and do ostracize family members who do not go with the arranged marriage, marry someone the family does not approve of, or divorce. I've seen it firsthand. I had a friend tell me that he and his wife were miserable together, but because her father was his uncle, he could not divorce her. Also, divorces are incredibly incredibly expensive for the men. The wives are dependents, and men must sign a marriage contract, and if they break that marriage contract, they can owe enormous sums of money. That said, divorces are possible in Egypt. My fiancé was in an arranged marriage when he and I started our relationship. It took him a while to save the money for the divorce, but he did divorce.
New to the website, and also marrying an Egyptian man.
I have some insight into that divorce topic. While divorce may be common, in Upper Egypt it is often very very frowned upon. A lot of times, in small villages with tribal and clan affiliation, it is a cousin to cousin marriage. These marriages are, for all intents and purposes, what we would call arranged. Families can and do ostracize family members who do not go with the arranged marriage, marry someone the family does not approve of, or divorce. I've seen it firsthand. I had a friend tell me that he and his wife were miserable together, but because her father was his uncle, he could not divorce her. Also, divorces are incredibly incredibly expensive for the men. The wives are dependents, and men must sign a marriage contract, and if they break that marriage contract, they can owe enormous sums of money. That said, divorces are possible in Egypt. My fiancé was in an arranged marriage when he and I started our relationship. It took him a while to save the money for the divorce, but he did divorce.

. Thanks.
I know AP means administrative processing, but what does that mean? What do they do?
This is not meant toward anyone, it is my frustration, but people all over the world leave their spouses for other people everyday. After 20 years of marriage, my uncle left my aunt for another woman, whom he married. It happens. This "it automatically means he only wants a Visa" stuff is crazy.

To mimolicious and Ihavequestions, and BeccaBecca, and others, thank you for your responses. I know my relationship. I know what happens sometimes with fraud. Whether Muslim men can marry three wives or four wives in Egypt is really not relevant here. I thank you all for pointing that out to me, and I appreciate your knowledge, but I'm seeking advice on how to overcome the red flags. I am aware of the red flags, which was the point of the post in the first place. No one has actually given me any advice solid about what to do about it and how he can prepare for the interview.

Thank you!!
And thank yout to everyone who has replied, thus far!

No, Greece is not considered to be a "high fraud" country and, despite that, they insisted on the fact that our divorces had not yet been finalized when we got engaged. All in a very polite and kind environment, but still the questions kept coming.
My experience in immigration so far tells me that we have to be honest and build up our "case" as completely as possible. So, gather all the evidence you can. The COs don't check them when they have no reason to, but if something does not seem right to them, they will ask for more evidence, so it is best for him to have everything available.
As for your tickets to Egypt, please, note, that they might not consider them evidence, since you also went there to work.

I hope everything goes well for both of you. Holding my fingers and wishing you lots of luck!

Would this fall under the "too married" for a K1 visa, but "not married enough" for a spousal visa? I have limited experience with red flags, etc, but I have seen some people who've had this problem where the embassy considered them "too married" and denied the visa because it was the wrong type. I imagine someone with that experience will chime in.
On the other hand, if he was legally divorced and free to marry (no time constraints post-divorce), then I wouldn't think that his being married before would be a problem. Lots of us have been married before. Good luck! I'm anxious to know how it goes, as would people filing with Egyptian fiance's, I'm sure.
Tina

You mentioned sending an additional packet of items to the embassy, I hope this would be with your fiancee and not directly to the embassy. The information would help him during the interview as they are attempting to prove a legitimate relationship. I think as long as things are thoroughly laid out and described as you described here (in more detail), you should be fine. I don't think a previous marriage will have too much of an effect on them believing that this is fraud, especially given the circumstances of it being a traditional arranged marriage.
I wish both you and your fiancé good luck!

Oh, God! I have been reading all the posts and it seems so complicated!

I can tell you that me, being Greek, had a long discussion at the Embassy about the fact that neither me or my finace had yet been divorced when we decided to take our relationship a step further and got engaged. We were both separated (him for more than a year and me for about 7 months) when this happened, but the CO had a lot of questions to ask me. She even wanted to know how I felt about getting involved in a serious relationship so soon after my separation.
My advise would be to be truthful, detail oriented and see if you could be there to attend the interview.
Good luck and stay strong!

LizzieBee, I am so sorry! Waiting and waiting is a maddening process as it is, but add the circumstances you are facing, and it is worse!
I'm waiting and waiting too. I'm worried that because my fiancé was married when we started our relationship, that is will hurt us. He was in a "traditional "marriage, basically an Upper Egypt conservative, arranged marriage. He is divorced now, and was divorced before we submitted packet one, but I hope this does not hurt us.
He was denied a visitors visa in March of last year, and he said the experience at the embassy was "atrocious". I know he is going to be nervous wreck going in this time.