MMteam

When I got my daughter SSC in the US last year at the SS office, they could not fit all 5 of her Egyptian/Arabic names as well. They actually cut off a portion of one of her names in the middle and said it was, "Okay, not a problem". When I get back to the states I will try to shorten to just 3 names if possible. I believe you are okay as well; it's just that you're name is too long so they cut from the name in the middle, to keep your last name (the same exact thing happened to Sumayyah's name) You can always go to the local SS office in your city and ask them if you want to be sure. I hope this helps and congratulations with your arrival in the US.  

so we landed couple of weeks ago, really easy transaction! thank god!
after first week we went to check if I can get the Social Security card!! well seems my name was messed up or missing something on the system , so they had to do verification with DHS throw SAVE " https://www.uscis.gov/save/casecheck"
which cleared in almost three days, and done , i got my Social Security Card, to find my grand father name missing!! on it???
Example  lets say my names is : Ahmed Mohamed Belal Mahmoud Abdou
the card came like these Ahmed Mohamed Belal Abdou??? miss the name before Abdou? is that character limitation or what ? cause i checked every form we filled , we had it fully and correct? only same way on the CR-1 visa it self?
so the many  questions i have is... does it matter? can i fix it? how to fix it? and what is the best format to do my name from now on, just first : ahmed and last Abdou!! cause i'm sure its confuseing for Americans to deal with arabic long names...
help would be much appreciated 

Egyptian Muslim men or Muslim men from MENA (Middle Eastern North African) countries already get vetted  with long AP and security background checks). Some Egyptian men do not stay on AP very long, some have only taken days/weeks to receive their Visa after being approved at their interview, while other's have taken months. There isn't any way of truly knowing how long it takes, but usually from what I've seen K1-Visas take less time to process and as well as less time through AP.
 
I think that you should continue and go through the process. As of now it's only rumor, I have not read anything official that Egypt will be placed on the banned list. I'm currently going through the IR-1 process for my Egyptian husband (we're at the NVC stage), I too am worried, but their isn't much we can really do at this point except to proceed. I have family in the US that have been waiting for my return, so trust me when I say that I am very much concerned about the possibility of Egypt being placed on the banned list later.
 
I don't know why, but I still have the feeling it may not happen as Egypt and the US have worked for many years on counter-terrorism operations, work together on protecting the boarder with Israel, and every year have joint military training. President El-Sisi is a very big fan of President Trump, and from what the media here in Egypt says, their relationship is quite rock solid. So... with that being said... we still don't know, it's 50/50 at the moment.
 
Stay positive and keep going.  I wish you luck. 
 
 

No mention for Egypt.everyone should continue paper work or start as faster they can. He intends to make vettting immigration longer and harder on all countries. That might make the process longer anyways Egypt is not effected now. Good luck everyone.

Hi VJ
I am posting now from my home in San Francisco . It was a very tiring and painful experience . we arrived at SFC  airport on 26 just a day before signing the executive order . They took my sealed package and passport and kept me for 5 hours and a half . Asking me where I was born , then of my both parents , my job in Egypt although all these information were there already . than I was asked to wait till they get an a reply , a reply means an order whether to let me in or send me back . and after waiting for long they gave us our passport and said OK you can go and collect your baggage , but I noticed that the stamp in my passport is faded and the term admitted is not there , while it is very clear in my kids passports , and inside the stamp the officer wrote IR1  D/S
I don't know what D/S means . Now after what happened the next day of preventing even GC holders from entering the country I am not sure whether I will get my green card or not  or even my social security.

...And if those of us who are USCs get active politically, that could help, too! Just "hoping" he won't add more countries will not get congress to act to hold him back!

You should continue with the K-1 process as Egypt will not be effected by this EO. I just spoke to a rep at the NVC tonight and asked her if my case for my husband's IR-1 would be delayed due to my husband being from a MENA country. She said absolutely not, and that they will continue to process all other cases as normal as long as our case was not under the 7 countries mentioned in the EO. She said we're fine.
 
I understand that you're worried, and trust me I too keep feeling the same time to time with all that's buzzing around in the media and social media, but we have to stay positive and continue. 
 
I wish you best of luck with your journey.

Please don't merge it with the Mega-thread!
 
nothing been signed YET!!! it just a draft , and no mention to Egypt.
we kept worrying and thinking what next. 
we really need to focus , stop worry.. no mention of Egypt and that executive order not signed yet even.
whom ever planning to travel >> advice travel as soon as you can
whom ever planning to start filing do it faster.. and be ready and save ur time by filing carefully to avoid Request of evidence and Check list at NVC
that post just to make us all focus and stop looking at the news and worry about something didn't happen yet and again no mention about Egypt
good luck every one. Wish you all the best

no one knows exactly, and with the new administration . who knows whats the will change. 
maybe try to apply from UK instead of Egypt. UK have DCF!? which is kinda faster

I emailed the embassy yesterday to find out status of his visa.  I received an email this morning that his visa arrived at Aramex on January 5th!  My husband went and picked it up today.
 
The embassy told me they called my husband and he had already picked up the visa but that he didn't tell me.  Aramex told my husband when we arrived it was a system error.
 
WARNING: I read that if you do not pick up your visa within 2 weeks it is returned to Embassy and has to be reissued; so be proactive on tracking its progress.

switched now from Ready to AP ??!! hope its normal one

How long did the embassy say it was going to take?  My husbands was approved on December 28, 2016 and CEAC has been as ISSUED since December 29, 2016.  The embassy told us it would take 2 to 3 weeks.  At 2 weeks my husband has started to call Aramex to check if his Visa has arrived.  Today, I sent an email to the embassy asking for an update.  I expect they will tell me to wait until the 3 weeks are up and then contact them again.
 
Good Luck and Congratulations!!

Thank you all for the great wishes, we hope we get it soon inshallah, and we wish you all easy and fast interviews and good luck to the ones are traveling soon.

The passports take 3 weeks to reach Aramix , if they already took your passports . BTW the ceac.state.gov  doesn't regularly update the website , we already got the visa in our passports and my younger son's status still in AP  

Congratulations!! So happy for you both. 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
 
Today is two weeks, since our interview. No news on Abdo's visa. Still shows that it hasn't been processed.  We were told two to three weeks.  You were told two weeks, hopefully that means they are catching up and we should hear any day.
 
Congrats again...my heart exploded when I read you were approved.

We arrived at the US Embassy in Cairo at 6:00AM and waited out in the cold across the street from the entrance until 7:30am.
 
Our recommendations for arrival, comfort, and preparedness:
 
1. Dress warmly in layers because the weather has been quite cold in the early mornings!
2. Be prepared to walk quickly to secure a first place in the line at the entrance. You want to be the first face the consul sees that morning, inshallah.
3. Have your Aramex, two photographs, interview letter ready to be checked when you line up.
4. Leave your electronics at home except your mobile which you can leave with security.
 
We finally got into the immigration and non-immigration waiting area with our number 600. We waited for our number to be called for about 30 minutes. We handed our birth certificate, copiy of it, marriage certificate, police certificate and copy of it, passport, two photographs to the Egyptian lady in the window. She asked us some basic questions: When did you get married? How long have you been married? Do you (US citizen petitioner) have a job in the US? How long have you been in Egypt? She had the US citizen petitioner (me, the wife) write a statement saying why I am not working. I stated that I have a residency permit here in Egypt that does not allow me to work and that I am a graduate student.
 
This lady gave us back nearly everything we sent in. It was a huge packet. She said the consular officer may want to see some it, but they did not want it.
 
Finally, about an hour and a half later, we were called to the consular officer interview in Window 15 which is a private room at the end of the hallway behind a door.
 
Our consular office was pleasant and around our age (thirties). He swore in my husband and asked us:
 
- How did you meet?
- When did you decide to get married?
- DId your family attend the wedding? (asked to US citizen)
- How long were you in the United States? (asked to my husband, a former Fulbright scholar, who studied in the USA for 17 months)
- How long have you been in Egypt? (asked to me about my length of stay here in Egypt with my husband)
- When were you last in the United States (asked to me to check my domicile)
- Do you have a home in the US? (asked to me to check my domicile)
We then produced evidence of my US domicile consisting of voter registration and voting record, financial statements, investment accounts, graduate studies enrollment verfication certificate and transcripts from my American college, our pet's passport showing my US address, letter from my parents inviting us to stay with them at their home upon arrival)
 
He typed quite a while on the computer and then congratulated us, said our visa was approved and would take up to two weeks to process. He kept my husband's passport and handed us a paper with the green card fee $165 to be paid online upon receipt of the passport from Aramex.
 
Our advice to others is to arrive well-rested, organized, each file easily accessible, dress smartly, and don't worry yourself into a frenzy. And be sure to keep your answers short and to the point with pleasant tone of voice. Remember to breathe and smile. Best of luck to everyone. Take care : )

Congratulations , I really love window 15 , people there are more friendly than other windows . The GC fees not $165 anymore we paid $220 , or may be we were overcharged.

ENSHA'LLAH it will be normal, soon it will be issued ENSHA'LLAH. 

after three days AP changed to issued just now

yes its normal usually when you didn't get 221g. after one or two days it will be changed to issued

Alf alf mabrook

Congratulations guys.
I hope a happy life to you.
 

Congratulations, and thank you for the review - very helpful

We arrived at the US Embassy in Cairo at 6:00AM and waited out in the cold across the street from the entrance until 7:30am.
 
Our recommendations for arrival, comfort, and preparedness:
 
1. Dress warmly in layers because the weather has been quite cold in the early mornings!
2. Be prepared to walk quickly to secure a first place in the line at the entrance. You want to be the first face the consul sees that morning, inshallah.
3. Have your Aramex, two photographs, interview letter ready to be checked when you line up.
4. Leave your electronics at home except your mobile which you can leave with security.
 
We finally got into the immigration and non-immigration waiting area with our number 600. We waited for our number to be called for about 30 minutes. We handed our birth certificate, copiy of it, marriage certificate, police certificate and copy of it, passport, two photographs to the Egyptian lady in the window. She asked us some basic questions: When did you get married? How long have you been married? Do you (US citizen petitioner) have a job in the US? How long have you been in Egypt? She had the US citizen petitioner (me, the wife) write a statement saying why I am not working. I stated that I have a residency permit here in Egypt that does not allow me to work and that I am a graduate student.
 
This lady gave us back nearly everything we sent in. It was a huge packet. She said the consular officer may want to see some it, but they did not want it.
 
Finally, about an hour and a half later, we were called to the consular officer interview in Window 15 which is a private room at the end of the hallway behind a door.
 
Our consular office was pleasant and around our age (thirties). He swore in my husband and asked us:
 
- How did you meet?
- When did you decide to get married?
- DId your family attend the wedding? (asked to US citizen)
- How long were you in the United States? (asked to my husband, a former Fulbright scholar, who studied in the USA for 17 months)
- How long have you been in Egypt? (asked to me about my length of stay here in Egypt with my husband)
- When were you last in the United States (asked to me to check my domicile)
- Do you have a home in the US? (asked to me to check my domicile)
We then produced evidence of my US domicile consisting of voter registration and voting record, financial statements, investment accounts, graduate studies enrollment verfication certificate and transcripts from my American college, our pet's passport showing my US address, letter from my parents inviting us to stay with them at their home upon arrival)
 
He typed quite a while on the computer and then congratulated us, said our visa was approved and would take up to two weeks to process. He kept my husband's passport and handed us a paper with the green card fee $165 to be paid online upon receipt of the passport from Aramex.
 
Our advice to others is to arrive well-rested, organized, each file easily accessible, dress smartly, and don't worry yourself into a frenzy. And be sure to keep your answers short and to the point with pleasant tone of voice. Remember to breathe and smile. Best of luck to everyone. Take care : )