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Agonks

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    Experiences of Discrimination Against Immigrants

    in Moving to the US and Your New Life In America

    Posted

    There is a difference between Islam and the culture. Islam is not the culture. For example in my Country Republic of Kosovo religion is a private matter, not a public one, we never talk about it and we never ask people what religion they have. Even though over 90 % are declared as Muslim we are officially a secular country.

    According to a 2013 and 2014 report by Freedom of Thought, Kosovo ranked first in the Balkans and ninth in the world as a "Free and equal" country for tolerance towards religion and atheism.[29][30] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kosovo

    I will copy some text and past the full link http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_4_kosovo_muslims.html

    osovo’s brand of Islam may be the most liberal in the world. I saw no more women there wearing conservative Islamic clothing—one or two per day at most—than I’ve seen in Manhattan. There is no gender apartheid even in Kosovo’s villages. Alcohol flows freely in restaurants, cafés, and bars, where you’ll see as many young women in sexy outfits as you’d find in any Western European country. Aside from the minarets on the skyline, there is no visible evidence that Kosovo is a Muslim-majority country at all.

    “Here people are Muslims, but they think like Europeans,” says Xhabir Hamiti, a professor in the Islamic studies department at the University of Pristina in Kosovo’s capital. “Muslims here identify themselves as Muslim Lite,” an American police officer tells me. As Afrim Kostrati, a young bartender, puts it: “We are Muslims, but not really.” And Luan Berisha, an entrepreneur, agrees: “We were never practicing Muslims like they are in the Middle East. . . . First of all, we are Albanians. Religion comes second.”

    Religion in Kosovo is a private matter, not a public one. “We never talk about it,” Berisha says. “I just found out, one year ago, that a very good friend of mine is Catholic, and we have been friends for the last ten years.” One Muslim woman tells me how startled she was when she attended a conference in Britain about young people who change the world. “I was shocked to find that the representative of the U.S.A. was a covered lady, originally from Iraq,” she says. “And the representative from Canada was another, originally from Afghanistan.” She herself was wearing shorts.

    The reason for Kosovo’s relaxed attitude toward religion lies in its history. Albanians, including those in Kosovo, are the descendants of ancient pagan Greeks and Illyrians; more recently, they were Christian before the majority converted to Islam under Turkish Ottoman rule. Their religion may be Eastern, but Albanians have been culturally European for all of recorded history. “The Greeks hardly regard them as Christians, or the Turks as Moslems, and in fact they are a mixture of both, and sometimes neither,” Lord Byron wrote of them almost 200 years ago. “We Albanians,” writes Catholic priest Dom Lush Gjergji, “descendants of the Illyrians, are Christians from the time of the Apostles. . . . Without Christianity there would be no Albanian people, language, culture, or traditions . . . Albanians consider Christianity their patrimony, their spiritual and cultural inheritance.”

    Kosovar Muslims talk the same way. In fact, the feeling is reflected in the Albanian national flag,

    Repeatedly, I heard that Kosovars were America’s most reliable allies in the world. American flags fly just about everywhere outside the Serbian enclaves—some even in front of official buildings—and are sold at kiosks on the street, along with T-shirts that say THANK YOU USA. The Hotel Victory has erected the world’s second-largest replica of the Statue of Liberty on its roof, and I found another replica in the southeastern town of Vitina. Kosovars are fans of George W. Bush, both because he recognized Kosovo’s independence and simply because he’s the president. Graffiti in one Kosovar village proclaims THANKS USA AND BUSH. “You should have seen President Bush’s face when he came to Albania,” says a Kosovar Albanian who works with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “All over Western Europe he was met by protests, but the entire country of Albania turned out to welcome him.”



    October 2014 Filers - Texas Service Center

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Well I found out on may 12 that I was approved on may 11 using the uscis case app :) but I haven't received an email. Also I had recently moved and changed my address on may 9th only two days before getting approved. Hope they send it to the right address, does anyone know how long it usually takes for the mail to arrive after recieving an approval text or email? Thanks ahead of time

    Congrats and please fill your timeline

    Use an attorney if possible

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures

    Posted

    Hello

    I am new to the forum but just wanted to give some advice to people applying for their K 1 visa,I am at the medical stage of my application but getting to this point has been a long battle due to my fiance and I doing the application ourselves to cut down on costs but that was a mistake,they make the process look kinda straight forward but it is not lots of red tape form filling and evidence to deal with and if you mess up even slightly they will deny the petition,this is what happened to us so we had to refile after waiting 6 months just to be told the petition wasn't accepted because of a missing signed document,when we refiled we decided that the risk of getting denied again wasn't worth it so we have paid for a very experienced immigration attorney who has handled everything from the start,we re filed in Jan this year and our petition got accepted within a month,big difference to the initial 6 month wait doing it ourselves and i already have my medical on Friday,the whole process up until this point has be so much easier and faster just by spending the money on an attorney so I would suggest anyone wanting to do it DIY don't,spend out the money if you are in the position to do so less stress

    May I know what was the document you didn't sign.

    Only 2 Weeks of Approvals for THREE Months??

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Cush

    I would say never ever call them again. you will never get a good/real answer from them. I haven't read that someone had a good time talking to them. I personally think these people are trained to get over with the call asap.

    There are people who get approved within 165,170,180.. days. there are people who wait 220 and last week there was one who waited 260 days. there are some September fillers who were approved in March and there are others still waiting. Don't lose your hope just stay strong and think that it will be only a bad experience in your entire life.

    December 2014 Filers - Texas Service Center

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Day 115 today. I can tell it is gonna be one of the horrible hard days already.

    That there are no approvals reported so far and yesterday was lacklustre at best doesn't really help either.

    We keep waiting...another 3-4 months I am guessing...or more. ?

    Day 120 today. I saw someone on June tread wrote this " Oooh forgot to mention. Heard a rumor through my congressman's office that TSC may be making another file transfer to CSC soon. Hope springs for some of you. " I dont know if its true or not. i hope there is something true since there was no approval yesterday. Another reason might be that their system is broken and updates are not coming. We will figure out later on today or tomorrow if there were approvals yesterday. We have seen this in the past when approvals were late.

    When Can I expect my K-1 to be Processed?

    in USCIS Service Centers

    Posted · Edited by Agonks

    Last week TSC did a great job. From late February to the beginning of the April we used to see just two or three approvals a day and sometimes none. Last week they did a really good job they kept approving like 7 or 8 petitions a day. If they keep working from now on as they did last week we can see the days from 200+ to decrease. However as we all know we can not predict TSC and we shall wait and see how things will be moving from now on.

    I used to check the igor's list everyday while they were approving August fillers. It took over a month to reach the number of approvals from 100 to 145. While last week the number of approved petitions for September was 99 now you can see its 129.

    anything yet heard about september fillers?

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    I need help please.

    sending in my letter of intent to marry, some advice I ''wet sign'' it while others say ''use original signature''

    am the beneficiary and can only get this letter across to my fiancé to submit through email. to do this, I need to type, print, sign and scan the letter and email it. that's having a SCANNED SIGNATURE.

    My fiancé will she have to write hers with ink or type and print it out?

    what do u have to advice please.... cos its an RFE we are responding to.

    I dont' know if you are allowed to do that. I think you should ask people from the September thread because they know things better than most of us.

    http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/517086-k1-september-2014-filers-tsc/page-124

    Also if you dont mind update your timeline with your RFE date.

    Wish you luck

    K1 September 2014 Filers (TSC)

    in K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports

    Posted

    Great! I got my approval notice too like an hour ago.

    Congrats on your approval. May I ask you if you Noa1 is Sept 26. Does it say that on your hardcopy of your noa1 notice. I am asking that just to make the timelines more accurate. if that bothered you I am really sorry.

    Let others correct me but as I know the noa1 date is the date when you received the text&email confirmation. not the date you received the hardcopy.

    Congrats

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