jpaula

Hey Kat,

He was given a UPS slip and told he could pick it up at UPS within 8 days of giving the passport to the embassy. At the time he picks it up he has to pay UPS.

Sound legit? I hate this limbo thing and DOS doesnt have anything yet.

I guess we must just be patient.

Sounds completely legit to me as this is the way Algiers has consistently done it for years now. Congrats!

Three months start to finish in Portland, OR. I think the fingerprint letter came quickly as biometrics appointment was a month after we turned in the application.

Well Did you really watch that match?!!!! i hope you did .

Watch the match and you will find out why 3 players were taken out !!!

We really don't care and we don't don't care if they boycott our media our or music .we still Egyptians and we are still the best .

C'mon how you consider them part of Arab world if they can not even speak Arabic?!!!

It a fake .and i will not comment that more than that .

Well that's really funny .Algeria talking about Arab world and about dignity!!!!

If you watch all of their matches all of the players and all of their fans were speaking french and there was always a translator for them .How are they talking about Arab world if they can not even speak Arabic ?

Talking about dignity Well France was occupying Algeria for more than 100 years .and they killed more than one million Algerian .look at the picture over than 4 millions of Algerians people live in France !!!!!

The Algerians dream is moving to France after all what France did to them !!!!

While this is just BS, if this attitude is what the Arab world represents, who would want to be part of it? Hot Guy, you really do need to understand what dignity, in both victory and defeat, means. And for whom and to whom you speak. You also have to understand that all of this ####### your media has fed you and you repeat with such certainty is seen as ridiculous to the rest of the world.

That said, a congrats to Egypt on a game well played and good luck tomorrow.

The combative approach may have been rude, but to be honest, I do not see anything particularly strange about the questions he asked him.

I assume you and your husband communicate in English. The CO conducting the interview in English is a means of seeing how deep this communication can be.

Your going to Tunisia rather than Algeria may seem innocent enough, but there is another side to it as well. Yes, you have to get a visa to go to Algeria. It costs $100 and takes a few weeks, but it is utterly doable. You can also get married there, but it takes time to jump through the hoops and it also, inevitably, involves you husband's family--his extended family and even the neighborhood. So, if a CO is suspicious to begin with, going to Tunisia to get married can look like the quick, quiet way to do it. And the cultural in Algeria is not for a marriage to be either quick or quiet.

Nor is it the cultural norm for a man to marry a divorced woman with children.

None of this is to say that the marriage is not valid. But, I think the questions asked were the types of questions I would expect given the details of your case. They are stemming from certain red flags that should have been addressed up front in your petition. Perhaps you did so, but if you did not, I think you should be real honest with yourself about what your red flags are (and go through the posts here that discuss red flags) and build up evidence to address each of them.

There could also be much more to it all, but until you can get some kind of answer from the Consulate or USCIS it is hard to know what that is.

I think it is important to understand that Algiers is a much different Consulate than, say, Casa or Cairo. There just are not a lot of petitions going through there and they are much less used to seeing the on-line one visit/marriage relationships. There are very few American tourists, in fact almost none, and not many American women marrying Algerian men. When I was on Algeria, we could get an appointment to go to the Consulate on the day we called to request it--there are just that few Americans. They told me that most of the marriage based petitions they see are Algerian-Americans (often men I would guess) coming home to marry and sponsor someone. So, my guess is that it is not considered a high fraud country--yet--because there are not, again yet, a large number of Algerian men finding American wives on-line. But as these cases start to come through they are going to look very strange to the Consulate. I can tell you that there is definitely TONS of visa and marriage fraud in Algeria, but in the past it has been more directed toward EU visas. As Algerians in larger number both become more fluent in English rather (or in addition to) French and then realize they can find American women on-line, I can only imagine that the Consulate will become much tougher. It could be that there is more going on in April's case, but it could also be that this is just the beginning of an inevitably more suspicious Consulate.

Have you tried calling them? With a little persistence you can usually get through to them in person and maybe they would be a bit more forthcoming that way.

I agree with others that there is something quite stark about this and there must be a specific reason. But, I do think the quick meeting/marriage and then only one week together is enough for them to deny that this and this alone could be the reason. If this is the case then spending some time there and building up evidence over the course of the year or so it will take to get the NOIR could be a huge help. I know this sounds like a really long time, but you also have to consider that Algiers is a very (relatively) quick Consulate once a case gets back to them and the time will go faster than you think. And, spending some time with your husband and his family in Algeria will teach you a lot about his culture and where he comes from which is a real opportunity. Maybe a silver lining? Apologies if you are distraught and do not want to hear a positive spin, but I can't help but try.

And really, call your other Senator or better yet Representative. As this board will attest, Muslim men are granted visas every day.

Edited to add: you may want to delete his last name from posts you make here as it is a public site.

I know this can all be wildly frustrating and it feels as though someone else has control over your life. But right now, not only are there things you can do, but things you must do immediately. So, hard though it is, try to focus on what you can do to help your case. As mentioned, contact your other Senator and member of Congress. Call Algiers and try to get them to hold off on sending it back to CA for as long as possible to give you time to send additional info. Gather evidence and strengthen your case. We all react differently, but I know that I always feel better when I can direct my frustration to something productive and I think you have the opportunity to do that here. It is by no means a done deal and there is a lot you can do to help yourself.

I know when you are in the middle of it you cannot see it from this angle, so let me suggest something.

You met someone on-line from a country I assume you have never been to and knew little about. Several weeks later you were flying across the world to marry him. Certainly in the short time between you had to overcome your own suspicions. Marriage is a big decision in any culture and a particularly serious affair in MENA. What made you decide to marry him? What convinced you that he was sincere in wanting to marry you? Try to think through real details in an unemotional way. For example (I am totally making things up here), you have something specific in common that overcomes large cultural differences. You bonded over x. He has a good job and a full life there but only wants to come to the US because you cannot live in Algeria. You found that you had very similar approaches to life (such as x,y,z) and would be able to make a common life together. I should probably stop making things up and let you make the list, but I hope you get what I am trying to make you think about. Remember, the Consulate has started with a suspicion of his intent and you are trying to show the sincerity of that intent.

Furthermore, I do think family approval is very important to show. Particularly his. You have married into a culture in which families are very involved in these things and the Consulate knows that. They will think it odd, at best, if his family does not approve or is not much involved. Do you have/can you get photos and letters from his family?

This is a document-intensive process. For every point you want to make, think about what you can provide to prove it.

Lastly, luck never hurts either so Good Luck!

Thank you JPaula....I don't even know if they will give me a chance to prove anything. From what I know now it will be a VERY LONG TIME (years) before my husband and I will be together.

Some of the members with direct experience with denials will chime in here and give you good advice, but I think the trick is to fire off as much evidence as possible to Algiers before they send it back to California. Otherwise, you are correct. It is a long haul.

I know when you are in the middle of it you cannot see it from this angle, so let me suggest something.

You met someone on-line from a country I assume you have never been to and knew little about. Several weeks later you were flying across the world to marry him. Certainly in the short time between you had to overcome your own suspicions. Marriage is a big decision in any culture and a particularly serious affair in MENA. What made you decide to marry him? What convinced you that he was sincere in wanting to marry you? Try to think through real details in an unemotional way. For example (I am totally making things up here), you have something specific in common that overcomes large cultural differences. You bonded over x. He has a good job and a full life there but only wants to come to the US because you cannot live in Algeria. You found that you had very similar approaches to life (such as x,y,z) and would be able to make a common life together. I should probably stop making things up and let you make the list, but I hope you get what I am trying to make you think about. Remember, the Consulate has started with a suspicion of his intent and you are trying to show the sincerity of that intent.

Furthermore, I do think family approval is very important to show. Particularly his. You have married into a culture in which families are very involved in these things and the Consulate knows that. They will think it odd, at best, if his family does not approve or is not much involved. Do you have/can you get photos and letters from his family?

This is a document-intensive process. For every point you want to make, think about what you can provide to prove it.

Lastly, luck never hurts either so Good Luck!

I am very sorry for your denial April. I am going to play devil's advocate here because based solely on your time line I think you have a difficult case. Algiers is a fairly lenient Consulate. I have had extensive dealings with them in person and found them all to be fair and pretty kind, to be honest. Try not to make this a personal thing. There job is to look for fraudulent intent--not necessarily on your part, but on your husband's--and they do this partially based on patterns they see. They are also aware of cultural norms in Algeria and are probably on higher alert when a relationship goes against them. I do not think they simply do not like that you met online. I have seen some really flimsy cases (that, frankly, should have been denied) there get approved so I think you need to take this denial seriously and really consider your red flags and how to address them. The burden of proof lies with you.

You did not merely meet on line, but then married two months later on your one and only (and one week) trip there. I do not know any other details of your case, so I can only go on this. There may be other red flags as well: age difference? different religions? lack of family approval? Have you been to Algeria? etc. And I do not know what proof you sent in. But, I do think that the time between "meeting" and marrying and the one single week you have spent together is enough to justify suspicion on the part of the Consulate. Try to put the personal aside and look at it from their side, understanding that they start from a stance of doubt, and think through what evidence would appease their doubt.

Yes, I sent an email to the embassy explaining the reason I could not go to see my husband again was that 2 months after our wedding i lost my job and did not find another one until first of October. I also have had 2 surgeries. That is the main reason Ihave not been to Algeria

I am not sure how to prove anything. I asked the embassy for another interview and I will go there to Algiers in February because I will have time off of work then. I will see if they respond. I will call them every day if I have to and send emails every day. Thanks!

I am not sure it matters so much why you have only spent one week with him. Rather, you need to explain--and prove with as much documentation as possible--that you have a valid, strong relationship despite having spent very little time together. (baby crying...more in a few...)

I am very sorry for your denial April. I am going to play devil's advocate here because based solely on your time line I think you have a difficult case. Algiers is a fairly lenient Consulate. I have had extensive dealings with them in person and found them all to be fair and pretty kind, to be honest. Try not to make this a personal thing. There job is to look for fraudulent intent--not necessarily on your part, but on your husband's--and they do this partially based on patterns they see. They are also aware of cultural norms in Algeria and are probably on higher alert when a relationship goes against them. I do not think they simply do not like that you met online. I have seen some really flimsy cases (that, frankly, should have been denied) there get approved so I think you need to take this denial seriously and really consider your red flags and how to address them. The burden of proof lies with you.

You did not merely meet on line, but then married two months later on your one and only (and one week) trip there. I do not know any other details of your case, so I can only go on this. There may be other red flags as well: age difference? different religions? lack of family approval? Have you been to Algeria? etc. And I do not know what proof you sent in. But, I do think that the time between "meeting" and marrying and the one single week you have spent together is enough to justify suspicion on the part of the Consulate. Try to put the personal aside and look at it from their side, understanding that they start from a stance of doubt, and think through what evidence would appease their doubt.

Hi,My wife is Brazilian.I had met her in New Jersey in 2006.She (ewi) in october of 2002.Her 9 year old son was brought here (ewi) in december of 2004 by her brother.While they were in Texas they were caught by immigration services and detained.She was called in New Jersey to come to Texas to get him.She and her son were processed and given papers then released back into the united states.She cannot remember what the paper was.She never attended any hearings about her or her sons case.Fast forward to october 2006 I met her in New Jersey and we had been engaged quite some time.She flew back to Brazil sept of 2007 and has been here since.I am now living with her here and we are getting married here on january 14th.I will then file the I130 for her.I am sure the I130 will get approved but no visa issued to her for the undocumented time.Does anybody has personal experience with a situation like this?I am sure the I601 waiver is needed based on hardship to me the sponsor.Any input or information you can provide me would be greatly appreciated!

It is pretty important to know what the paper said and hard to give any advice until that is known. But, my best guess is that she was given voluntary departure. If that is the case, she will need to show that she left by the deadline. Again, speculation on my part as you do not know what she was given. You will want to find out for sure before you proceed.

I am going to ask, again, why we have a waiver forum when questions about waivers are inevitably met with righteous indignation and, worse, misinformation. If you have a forum for waivers on inadmissibility you are going to get questions from people who are ineligible for visas for many reasons, chief among them unlawful presence. There is a legal process for overcoming this and we should be able to give the OP decent--and correct--advice on how to go about this process. If we cannot, this forum is BS and should be closed.

To the OP: There is no bar incurred for the EWI. Rather the EWI means he can not legalize from within the US. It is the unlawful presence for more than one year that incurs a 10 year bar, triggered when he leaves the country. This is a waivable bar. Furthermore, CDJ is a particularly easy Consulate to go through for two reasons. Firstly, it has a very high approval rate for waivers. Secondly, it is currently the only Consulate with a pilot program which means they will adjudicate your waiver at your visa interview. This is huge as it saves what for many Consulates is a very long wait for waiver adjudication. So, your SO should go to the interview with his I-601 in hand. Go to www.immigrate2us.net and research what it takes to put together a decent waiver packet. There is a lot of valuable information there.

Good luck.

I should have read this thread first. Welcome Ibrahim!

Oh Henia, Congrats! Does the new Algerian have a name?

Thanks Nawal. I think we were posting at the same time.

As they say, may level heads prevail.

They are just repeating what they have been told.

Most major news outlets have written this up by now and one can find many objective reports if they desire. If they do not, there is just enough truth to all the BS to let conspiracy theories fly. Egyptian fans stoned the Algerian team bus. Algerian fans attacked Orascom and EgyptAir. Egyptians rioted in front of the Algerian Embassy. Bad behavior on both sides. But, no one was killed. No one was raped. Algeria did not release prisoners and fly them in on fighter jets. And Egypt most certainly does not have the strongest military on earth. And, two fair games were played.

You know, after the Cairo game there were plenty of youtube videos by enraged Algerians claiming people had been attacked and murdered. I think they are as inflammatory and false as those from Egyptians. And, I am sure if Algeria had lost in Sudan, Algerians would be spewing the same BS. It is stoked by politicians and media as a distraction. It is to me a classic example of how conspiracy theories grow with the modern twist of the internet, which should ideally help diffuse these things through information, but can also encourage it through disinformation.

But, for anyone who is interested (and I would guess no one is anymore), google it and read the news--Reuters, BBC, NYTimes, the Atlantic, French papers, the Arabic press etc all have articles and all come to very similar conclusions. In the meantime, hope for a world with decent leaders and responsible media. And let's not ruin the only truly global sport.

nancy this man dont know what he talk about he even ashamed from what happened and what his people done all arab countries plamed algerian about what happened>>>>>>>egypt for ever (egyptian and proud)

I think you are letting your media play you for a fool. There is no doubt there was bad behavior by some on both sides, but to deny that the Algerian bus was attacked (which seems pretty irrefutable) and then accept any outlandish rumor that supports Egypt is just downright silly (c'mon, fighter jets?). It mirrors the way any conspiracy theory spreads by feeding into our worst prejudice and frustration at the expense of reason or knowledge. You can be (and should be) Egyptian and proud, but this is no excuse for blind repetition of whatever incendiary rumors are thrown your way. You want something to be proud of? I suggest a smidge if humility, independent thought and sportsmanship.

You can also be proud of a game well played. Considering the pressure and the behavior of some fans I think the players on both sides, young and with the spotlight on them, pulled out two good games and showed real grace in that.

The Arab world is not on Egypt's side. Nor Algeria's for that matter. This BS makes you both look silly.

One thing about proving hardship that is often overlooked and may be causing confusion here is that you must prove the extreme hardship of BOTH

1) the USC having to move to spouse's country AND

2) the USC remaining in the US without their spouse.

The trick is to show, and prove through documentation, the Catch-22. So, there is no real advantage/disadvantage to making your case from your spouse's country. The logic of your arguments remain the same as does your evidence. And, of course, it is one thing to say you are willing to relocate and quite another to realize what that entails. It is in the nitty gritty details of the choice that you find the hardship arguments.

In the case of the OP, maybe there has been "no mention of any actual hardship" because he does not yet understand what a waiver is or what hardship means in this context. Given this, the best advice to him is to go learn all he can about the waiver process and let him (and perhaps a good lawyer) decide if he has reasonable grounds for a waiver.

I have only come across one example of a situation that a waiver looked a really long shot.

This is certainly nothing close.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest a waiver would not be practical.

Agreed completely. And, in response to the notion that living in a spouse's country makes a waiver impossible...I moved to my husband's country and wrote the hardship letter from the perspective of someone who knows first hand what a permanent move there would mean. We were approved. Every case is different and proving hardship is possible, but difficult. Please research at www.immigrate2us.net where people have direct experience with waivers.

You will also find that almost any immigration attorney will tell your fiance not to leave the country until they are CERTAIN she cannot adjust in-country. This is because the bar is not triggered until she leaves.

Contact Laurel Scott or the other lawyer mentioned as they work almost exclusively with these types of cases.

Good luck.

My husband is also from Algeria and has been told to check "white." I know it seems odd, but the US Gov't places people from the Middle East and N Africa in this category. I am sure there is a better source than this, but...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_Census

See the part under Census 2000.

There is some debate over this, but it is oft theorized that the word "Berber" is derived from the Roman word barbarian (which in turn, I think, came from the Greeks to denote anyone who was not Greek). So, your husband may be on to something.

Don't tell the Algerians, but I think rai is overrated. The best Berber music? Tinariwen. Love them.

The ban is included in the INA from 1996. It has always been there, but consulates basically ignored it until last year and now only some are observing it. Technically, all should be enforcing it, but they are not. She is NOT ELIGIBLE to submit the waiver. It is not the consulate's fault, it is actually the law. Anyone who tells you they will submit the waiver before that five years is up is lying and stealing your money. I am sorry to be harsh, but it is reality.

But, in the cases where the Consulate does accept the waiver and sends it along to DHS, has DHS been enforcing the bar? I know of several cases (all more than a year old and most through Rome) where people who have missed hearings and had deportation orders placed in absentia, were eventually deported and subsequently had waivers approved. Perhaps they were able to prove that they did not receive proper notice of the hearing?

Not harsh at all. If it is the law and it is being consistently enforced people should be aware of it.

I think the point is that, while we would like to think that these laws are applied equally by 1) each Consulate and 2) each regional DHS office, neither is the case. Many Consulates and corresponding regional DHS offices have, in the recent past, not imposed this bar for this particular offense. No idea why not, if policy has recently changed, if some DHS offices are more on the ball than others etc. But I do think that if the Consulate decides to impose the 5 year bar in these cases (and only a few Consulates seem to), there is not much you can do about it. Unfortunately, you cannot send a waiver directly to DHS even though they are the ones who adjudicate it.

It makes it hard to give advice to those who may face this. The best one can say is that you should be prepared with a waiver and also be prepared to have the Consulate refuse to take it.

The question was why Rio would not let him file a waiver. Pretty valid question, actually, as many people file waivers for illegal presence every day. I think the answer, as pointed out in this thread, is that some Consulates, Rio among them, will not let you file a waiver if you have skipped an immigration hearing. Good information to know and to share if anyone else is in a similar situation and will be going through one of the Consulates with this policy.

To the OP...Have you contacted a Congressman? It may be that you are stuck with the policy of the Consulate you go through, but it seems logical to me that if this is being applied capriciously or at some Consulates and not others, you may be able to get a Congress person to help force the Consulate to take the waiver. The waiver goes to DHS after all, not to State.

The US Consulate General is an agency of the US State Dept. They do not make their own local rules where the law clearly spells out the conequenques if you do not show up at a removal proceeding, that youm are toast. It is spelled out in the court order, and by the law.

He probably thought by marring a US Citizen that all problems would go away....bad assumption.

She coula use an attorney that is certified in Immigration Law, who could explain all of this to her.

Do the ban a try again.

Unfortunaley, all the Consulates do not follow the same set of rules. Some enforce seldom invoked sections of the law while others do not. It is not consistent across the board.

Very true. Kind of odd that so few enforce this one (and that it then gets by DHS so frequently).