dillygoose

I have not been able to find the answer to this question no matter how I word the search so I'm hoping someone here can help.

My fiancé came to the US on a K1 visa. We have since married and applied for our Advanced Parole (along with AOS and EAD). My question is not about getting back into the US but about getting into the foreign country where we want to honeymoon.

As a US citizen with a US passport I can go plenty of places visa free or get a visa on arrival. He is Egyptian, and as I understand it would be allowed to re-enter the US with his AP document. I don't understand what or how he's considered for entry into other countries.

I would assume when he enters another country he's considered an Egyptian? Unfortunately that grants him entry almost no where...

SO does that mean he would need to apply for a TOURIST visa to go to another country just as he would as an Egyptian citizen?

That seems incredibly difficult and complicated. But maybe that's the only way to go anywhere internationally on our honeymoon.

Anyone have any insight? Please let me know.

You're going to be waiting and doing the whole thing from the beginning just like you did the first time.

For Egypt that's a long time. That's why they tell you not to leave the country with just a k1 visa.

It's one time use only.

You should have filed for emergency Advanced Parole. But it's too late for that now.

I second the above post. It's helpful to have the US citizen on visa journey. In this case your girlfriend. The process can be easily confused and an added language barrier can make it impossible.

Plus why risk a possible miscommunication? There's so much at stake.

We went today to the SSA office in NYC where we live. My fiancé arrived exactly two weeks ago.

Our application for his social number was smooth and fast and easy! We brought our filled out form his passport and I-94.

I brought other things too but nothing else was asked for or needed. No questions and no hassle.

We get the card and number in two weeks. He can't work with it - obviously as he's still on a K1 visa. But we can do all the bank and license things we need once we get the number.

I hope you receive good news soon!

Best wishes

I also attended the interview with my fiancé.

I went planning to stand outside. But the guards and the embassy staff said I could go in. So I did.

It was a much better interview and experience for both of us knowing that we were together side by side.

Everyone should go if they are able. I think it made a big difference for us.

Just make sure that during the interview the beneficiary answers the questions. (the interview is for them - not the US Citizen)

Best of luck!

Its truly awful how long they keep families and loved ones apart.

The good news is once you're approved you can forget all the terrible waiting!

Best wishes

We got our visa yes.

They issued a couple weeks ago. The exact date is in my timeline here on VJ.

We were in AP for almost 5 months. Our case updated about 4 times then issued. There weren't any case updates for almost the entire 5 months though - they all came at the end. We picked up my fiancés passport from the embassy the day after issue.

Hopefully you'll hear good news soon!

Hey all, I've read the thread and I admit I'm now very confused.

Is it advisable to go get my fiance's SSN as soon as he arrives (he's coming on a K1 visa)?

Even when someone said it takes 90 days to get the number....

I understand it expires when his visa expires. I also understand about the AOS application and the rest.

The new thing for me is getting the SSN when my fiancé gets here - even before we marry.

Thanks for clarifying!

Sending my support to my friends waiting!

Be strong. You will be issued and with your loved ones and family.

Closer and closer the wait is long but you will get to the end know that.

Ebunolowa explained it very well.

The only thing I want to clarify is, for the interview the petitioner CAN go along and be with the beneficiary for the entire interview (and the entire wait inside the embassy).

We did it for our interview. And when we were back to pick up our visa we told others to do it as well.

There's no need to wait outside the embassy. Just make sure the US citizen brings their passport. The embassy will ask for it.

Don't give up. Don't lose hope.

AP is terrible. The waiting is awful.

For Egypt I can tell you they take months and months and it's normal. That's how it is there.

Other countries have long waits too.

Stay strong and know day by day you are getting closer to the end.

Your case sounds similar to ours and we were just approved for our K1.

As others have said actual face to face time is important. Big time!

Also when it comes time for the interview try to have the petitioner be there. We did that for ours and I found it to be a big help.

Other than that if you've included pictures, conversation proof, and travel receipts you should be ok. (When I sent mine I sent 'selections from different dates of time' to cover the range that we knew each other but certainly not every single message back and forth)

As to the politics question, well I don't think any of us can rightly say what would happen. I think it would be difficult to make sweeping changes like those that are being proposed in a short time period (i.e. its not like a light switch on/off). But I will say I hope it doesn't come to that.

You probably already know this, but expect extra security checks. Whoever is president.

Kamal It will expire in 3 weeks. We booked the flight today. We are flying in 10 days.

I still can't believe it.

By the way my emails to the embassy were important to get the visa to us before the medical expires. They were going to make us wait a week to get the visa delivered.

Everyone please be careful about your dates. The embassy was not paying attention and that would have been very bad for us.

My best to everyone!

We picked up the visa and passport from the embassy today.

They called to tell us to come and get it so we can leave before the medical expires.

I hope everyone is issued soon and with the ones they love.

You are next! I hope and I pray.

I contacted them last Thursday and got same replay from them.

I really don't know why it takes too long.

I have no idea why the wait is so long!

If you wrote them recently then I'd just wait some more. Try not to stress yourself out too much.

They will be finishing your case soon God willing!

what about his medical ? i think it's almost expire?

Almost but not expired yet.

I emailed the embassy - they didn't contact us - we just saw on ceac that it said issued.

I'll let you know what they say when they write us back.

I'm almost complete 6 months under AP...

what should I do ?

If you haven't emailed the embassy lately then do that.

If you haven't contacted your congressperson then do that.

You can also call NVC and speak to someone.

None of this will make them go faster but it will at least remind them that you're still waiting.

It won't bring an end to AP, you'll keep getting the same email reply most likely, but it's basically the only options available to you.

Other than just waiting.

Kristyn,

I'm really happy for you sis but tell me how many updates you got until he got issued.

Mai,

Thank you sis and I wish for your husband issued soon.

Phope,

where are you? your case is like mine did you get any update?

We had 3 updates then the case creation date changed to match the update date. That's when we knew we were almost done. The next day we were issued.

All our updates came close together. A day apart basically.

Thank you so much, everyone!

Question. Do we go to http://www.ustraveldocs.com/eg/eg-niv-passporttrack.asp to track where his visa is? Is this site kept up-to-date? Is it only for tracking non-immigrant visas?

You will probably get an answer to this question if you post it to the general Egypt forum...

I don't know the answer.

I'd be interested to know if that does work though.

You can start the paperwork but as others have said, he won't be able to leave until he has finished.

If you want to do the fiance visa you can do the first steps in the application without the military sign off.

They won't ask for that until you get to the embassy/interview step of the process.

However the first steps (applying to USCIS) only take a few months for the K1 visa so it doesn't make sense to start that till you are closer to the end of his military service.

We are issued!

I want to say THANK YOU to all of you who kept my hopes up and gave me patience throughout this long wait.

Thank You Ahmed, Mai, Sata, Kamal!

I pray you are united with your family and loved ones soon!

Soon it will be your turn. Soon soon.

Thank you dillygoose for your explanations. I will go ahead and put it in mind that the time period of the entire immigration process may be a lot longer than we were hoping for. I was really hoping to be back stateside within the first months of the coming year. Good luck to you and hopefully you will be in the US soon.

Thanks for the good wishes!

There's always a chance your case won't be put into AP at all.

The good news is, provided you are just in the security check AP, you'll be sure to be approved (unless your husband has committed a crime of some sort). I'm assuming that's not the situation - as that's how it is for most everyone.

They'll just take some extra time to double check the history and make sure there's nothing out of the ordinary.

Since you live together you'll at least have each other to wait with. Being apart and waiting months and months is pretty awful! But we all mostly get through it with a visa at the end.

We got another update today. And our case creation date changed too.

Now the update today matches the case creation date (also today). It was November 23rd before.

From what I've read this seems to be a good sign!

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

AND I wish everyone will be issued soon. We need more families and loved ones to be together in this group.

Ahmed, Sata and Mai, come on guys!

The embassy can choose to put people in AP for a variety of reasons. Some of these you can do something about - i.e. presenting all the proof necessary to show you have a real relationship. Given your long marriage I don't see that as being an issue.

The other reason for AP, particularly in MENA countries, is the extra security background checks. These you can't really do anything about. As others have said, the will frequently - as in almost all the time for Egypt - be for Muslim males who go through AP for extra background checks.

Those unfortunately take a long time for Cairo. That's just how it is. You can't predict if they will put your case into AP and once you're in it, you certainly can't make it go any faster.

There's nothing in particular to worry about though. Just plan to give yourself extra time post interview when you could be waiting for months to get your visa. Your interview is likely to be short and go very smoothly - most do. Again that has nothing to do with the background checks. Those are for fingerprint, facial recognition and name searches in a large terrorist/criminal database that are partially done by the FBI and Homeland Security in Washington DC.

The one thing to know is AP for Cairo is listed as 5 months on the embassy website (which seems to be pretty accurate) and plenty of people wait longer, in the 7-8 month range.