dillygoose

The interview was pretty easy.  I flew to Egypt to be with him.  Originally we had heard that I wouldn't be able to enter the embassy but that turned out to be untrue.  So thankfully I was by his side the entire time.  I think that helped us both.

The case officer just asked a few questions and we showed her some pictures.  It was maybe 15 minutes in total.

You'll definitely want to have all your documents in order though.  We saw a couple of others being sent away because they were missing things.

I might recommend emailing the embassy to tell them about the military certificate expiration.  They are really really awful about responding with any kind of real answers or information so you might need to try a few times.  But I always feel its better to have yourself covered.  That way your case isn't delayed.

Your army exemption ends 6 months after the interview?

I don't think you'll have a problem with that for the embassy interview.  I think you'll possibly have issues for when you are trying to leave the country.  But that depends on how long after the interview you are waiting for your visa approval.

Sometimes it can take months to get the final visa in your passport.  Its depends on if you get stuck in AP.

You'll definitely need army clearance to leave though.  My husband and I waited an additional 10 days after the visa was approved for the army clearance so that he could leave.  If your exemption is expired by that point I think you'll run into problems.

On 4/3/2017 at 7:52 AM, Maie B said:

Thank you for your thorough explanation/ reply.

 

Is family-based visas different from green card?

 

 

A visa is what allows you to enter the country (it sets a date by which you need to enter and exit)

A green card is granted to legal permanent residents.  You only get the green card after a long process whereby immigration officials have determined that you meet the conditions.  The green card is given after you've established residency and you need to maintain it.

They are completely different.  The green card comes AFTER the visa.

Can someone remind me what date they are up to in the interview scheduling?

I know I'm not done waiting yet.  Just trying to keep an idea of time frame.

Thanks :- )

2 hours ago, thepostagestamp said:

 

Another update....

 

So after our case was denied for failing to attend an interview and then being reopened on 3/23...then receiving an interview notice on April 1st for an appointment on March 31st...we decided to go to our local office yesterday to see if we could speak to an Officer.

 

 

I'm happy for you!  Thank goodness after all you went through your case has finally been settled!

Thanks for all your advice and updates.  Its helpful for us that are stuck in the waiting period to know what to look out for.

27 minutes ago, EandM said:

Okay... officially outside processing times

You should definitely contact your Members of Congress then.  That's what I think.

Please let us know how it goes.

Best of luck!

22 minutes ago, Nipperswife said:

I could just be paranoid.. but i feel like they trying to add more intimidation to immigrants.. I dunno

With the way things are these days, I don't think that's paranoid at all.

In fact I wouldn't be surprised if intimidation was part of the plan.

On 2/13/2017 at 11:02 AM, thepostagestamp said:

I applied for a renewal of my EAD last week. I've now waited over a year for an interview.  (They scheduled and canceled twice)

 

Hoping that the new EAD comes before the one I have expires. 

 

 

 

 

That's a really long wait!  I hope you get an interview soon.  A year and 2 cancellations....Wow.  Do you know is there some particular reason for that?  Or is it just bad luck?  

7 hours ago, dunebuggy said:

Finally got the NYC interview date! March 23 here we come  

Wow!  That's great!  Congratulations.  I hope its smooth and easy.  Keep us posted.

We are VERY concerned.  With all that's been happening.

My husband is from the Middle East - not one of the 7 countries thank goodness.

But in this environment who knows which ones might be added.

Plus since we haven't gotten the green card yet we're worried maybe we just won't be approved for it.  I guess I'm just worrying over everything.

I hope all the worry is for nothing.

Please keep us updated on what you find out.

Hi NYC filers.  We are currently waiting for our interview for the AOS case.  My husband came on the K1 visa.  We filed right away after marriage and had our biometrics appointment just a few short weeks after the filing.

I was surprised how fast that came.  The EAD and AP came right on schedule too.

Looks like my prediction for our interview (the 6-8 months timeframe) is off based on what I've read here.

That's depressing....we were really hoping to get his approved green card so that we can move on with our lives a little bit.

For anyone that's had an interview scheduled, how long  was it between when you received the interview letter and when the interview was scheduled for?  (Like did they tell you a month before you were supposed to interview?  Or was it just a week in advance?)

There are people from Egypt who have waited 7 months or more in AP. Its not strange or uncommon.

We waited 5 months before we were approved.

You can email the embassy and your congressperson. We did both of those things.

It won't help. But it won't hurt either. And at the very least it feels like you're doing something.

From CAIRO its an email.

Sent to the beneficiary.

Do not wait for something in the mail, it won't come.

Once you've received your 2nd NOA and a letter saying the NVC has sent your case to the Cairo consulate, you should get the email soon after that. In like 2-3 days.

You need to sign up on ustraveldocs.com

Create a profile, pay the interview fee, and schedule your interview

The interview is scheduled online. You do it yourself once you've paid the fee to the CIB bank.

An agency is a waste of money. They will only slow you down. The process is straight forward.

You should have gotten an email from the embassy with the FULL instructions. Its often called Packet 3 (referenced here on visa journey as well). They no longer mail this information - its an email.

The Aramex paper is a document you print from the internet. You don't need to pay ANY amount of money to get it. (unless of course you go to an internet cafe and print from there, but that's a small fee and would be the cost for using the internet cafe)

The paper itself is FREE.

You can't print it till you have your interview scheduled.

The k1 is faster even with the prolonged AP typical of applicants going through the Egyptian embassy.

As the previous poster said k3 is pretty much non existent. Your other route is the CR-1 (that's the marry in Egypt choice).

If you're relationship is real - and you can document it - you won't be denied on the k1. Face time is very important!!

Hi everyone!!! Just want to take this time to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to everyone on this forum. I appreciate all the assistance from u all. Thank u for ur encouraging words when I was down ?. AP is a nightmare! Very serious nightmare! I am very overjoyed that this nightmare is over! Hubby's visa was ISSUED today! My prayers goes out to those who re awaiting this nightmare. Good news is coming ur way comes October. Stay positive! Ticket is bought for Nov. 6...

WHOOOO! Congrats Mai!

I'm so happy for you and your husband.

Enjoy all the days of your life together.

They interviewed us together however my fiancé (the beneficiary) answered all the questions unassisted from me. That's how it should go. I just stood beside and let him and the CO conduct the interview.

There was one question the CO specifically directed at me but that was it.

The total interview was maybe 5-10 minutes. Only a few questions were asked. Nothing surprising - you can read/search the common questions.

I attended the interview with my fiancé at the embassy in Cairo. I definitely think it helped.

There's no way to know for sure whether it had any impact on our case.

But it certainly made the stress for my fiancé and I a bit less. Just being next to each other for support is invaluable.

The timeline for Advanced Parole is roughly 80 days start to finish. We already got our NOA1 a week ago.

Not looking to go anywhere till winter break anyway as my husband is taking classes.

Interesting, We didn't get an english translation of the police certificate and had no problems...

We DID get 2 police certificates. We made sure to get a new one before the interview. Because they expire and because we just didn't want to take a chance.

Thanks everyone.

We have a plan.

There's plenty of places to go still.

We had something very specific in mind that isn't an option now. But that's just fine.

As with everything on this visa journey, we've learned to have a backup and a backup and another backup plan, because the first 2 choices are probably not going to happen!

All is well, we're going to have a good honeymoon!

No I've gotten Russian, Australian, Chinese and Myanmar visas myself and countless other tourist visas. I understand the process. I'm not confused about it.

But as an Egyptian citizen it's a lot more difficult. At least if you're living in Egypt. He couldn't go anywhere because he didn't have 'strong enough ties'

Americans aren't put through the same rigors.

That was going to be my next question spysee!

I know if he was applying as a tourist on his own it would be very difficult. But married to a USC I would think would help.

We would like to go somewhere in the Caribbean.

Thanks for the info everyone. I appreciate it.

That list will be useful too for the future.

Right now we don't even have his green card yet (waiting for that, it's in process) so turns out we are pretty stuck.

I guess I'll be rethinking the honeymoon.

Thanks again for clearing that up!