bashar26

On 8/25/2022 at 9:22 AM, starianova said:

Hi, @bashar26,

Sorry to here that your oath was delayed. Please update us when you have oath schedule update, I'm curios how long would it take to get the date, and how far they schedule the oath as I have international travel scheduled pretty soon after interview.

 

i will keep you posted. i also have international travel booked soon! i thought for sure it would be faster than this once the interview was scheduled. USCIS never stops surprising us!

Hi everyone! looking for quick advice. 

I had my interview today. it went well and I passed, but my file was not there so they had to delay my oath ceremony. they said the file should arrive within 30 days.

I unfortunately made a mistake during the interview - they asked if I had ever been cited by an officer, and I said no. When I left the interview, I realized I had completely unintentionally forgotten about a speeding ticket I got this year in February (after I submitted the N-400 application). The ticket was reduced to a non-moving violation when I challenged it in court, and there are no points on my record. It now looks like a parking ticket on my record. However, I am worried that the officer could consider this lying. I want to contact USCIS and clarify this issue but I don't know how and I don't know if this would make any complication with my case. If my file had been there today, I would have just left as a citizen and this wouldn't have been an issue at all.

Any advice for what to do in this situation? Thanks so much

Just wanted to give everyone hope inshallah:

my husband's visa was issued!  Syrian, banned, he was given a waiver after 4 months in administrative processing. He will come to the US inshallah next week.

Keep pushing anyone around you that you can for support. This is the only way. Be respectful to embassy staff but follow up over email at least once a month. Talk to your senators and representatives. Get anyone who can to make an inquiry on your case! I have a feeling we were only successful because of sustained pressure over time, from media as well if you can! I wrote a personal essay and last week when things were being spoken about in the news again, I posted it on FB and I believe this had some part in it.

Just wanted to give everyone hope inshallah:

my husband's visa was issued! After 4 months in administrative processing. He will come to the US inshallah next week.

Keep pushing anyone around you that you can for support. This is the only way. Be respectful to embassy staff but follow up over email at least once a month. Talk to your senators and representatives. Get anyone who can to make an inquiry on your case! I have a feeling we were only successful because of sustained pressure over time, from media as well if you can! I wrote a personal essay and last week when things were being spoken about in the news again, I posted it on FB and I believe this had some part in it.

Just wanted to give everyone hope inshallah:

my husband's visa was issued! After 4 months in administrative processing. He will come to the US inshallah next week.

Keep pushing anyone around you that you can for support. This is the only way. Be respectful to embassy staff but follow up over email at least once a month. Talk to your senators and representatives. Get anyone who can to make an inquiry on your case! I have a feeling we were only successful because of sustained pressure over time, from media as well if you can! I wrote a personal essay and last week when things were being spoken about in the news again, I posted it on FB and I believe this had some part in it.

Hello everyone, 

This is Kat speaking (Bashar's wife). As I have been involved in this community over the last 2 years and especially over the last 4 months with my husband over AP, I've been thinking of ways we can bring our voices and experiences together in a strong and impactful way.

I currently work for a company for NaTakallam, which hires refugees and displaced people for language sessions and translation services. I work in their marketing department, and I've realized the power that making videos can provide in this media age for people who are not usually featured speaking for themselves. 

Was thinking I could spearhead the creation of a short video that shares all of our stories. Would you be interested in participating? I would ask you all for selfie-style videos explaining your love story and visa story and I would edit them all together and pitch it to news outlets for publication. I have a master's degree in Journalism  and Middle Eastern Studies from New York University and experience in making videos for news media (you can see a previous project of mine that was nominated for a large festival SXSW in the US here: http://whatishome.nyc/#cuba) 

Let me know if you all think this would be a good project to start... 

Wishing you all strength and good news soon,

Kat

No updates here. My case is updated often though at least once a week, sometimes many days in a row. But this has been happening since I was put on AP 4 months ago... 

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-richardson-travel-ban-20190122-story.html 

Recent Op-Ed on travel ban by former consular officer

On 10/31/2018 at 6:06 PM, salhasl said:

So basically the question is in the title. 

 

I know of people from Yemen, Syria, as well as Somalia who got a spouse visa (IR1 or CR1) after a 2018 interview. Basically their waiver process was less than 6 months. I know of 3 from Iran (from this forum), but 2 had a medical exception waiver, and the third one seems like an anomaly. I know a number of folks who are waiting since march/april/may interviews, no visa as of yet. 

 

My question is, is there anyone who has been granted a visa after having their interview in 2018? (only IR1 or CR1) without any medical exceptions. 

Along similar lines, can people post how long they have been waiting for waiver? Is there any group (telegram, whatsapp) where iranian folks post their AP wait times? 

 

Prior to the travel ban, folks who were in AP were from Pakistan, Morocco, etc. I have seen on average them taking around 12 months. But I dont seem to have information post travel ban for Iran. 

 

Hey Salhasl! Would you mind sharing some more information about the people from Syria who have gotten waivers in 2018? I love all this statistical work you're doing. thank you so much.

Just wanted to check in.

Anyone have any luck getting a waiver, or heard of someone who has?

I've been in AP for 3.5 months - Syrian - Ankara embassy. Have contacted 2 senators (both got generic replies back). Have asked Columbia University to reach out on my behalf (I will be attending once I get this visa inshallah). Don't know what else I or my wife can do... 

I apoligize if this has already been discussed but this thread is quite long.

Is anyone in this group from a country affected by the travel ban? I am from Syria and had to complete the DS-5535 form at my interview 3.5 months ago. I have been in AP since. My wife is American and now living in New York while we wait for AP to finish (she moved ahead of me to establish domicile)

Any help or links to resources appreciated! I have only heard of one person from a travel ban country (yemen) getting his visa so far... 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics.html

monthly visa issuance statistics by country available at this link

On 12/27/2018 at 8:24 AM, Rayyan said:

Husband sent in all his paperwork & passport.We’re waiting for visa to be printed.

thank you for sharing your good news, it means so much to us! 

Besides your husband's clean travel record, did you make any extra efforts on his behalf? like contacting congresspeople, submitting additional documents for waiver consideration.... any details can help us. were you in contact with the embassy frequently?

thank you!

This group is sometimes useful 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/580057072441088/

someone today said they called the Norway embassy and they said average AP time is 6 months. 

3 minutes ago, Nagham said:

Thanks for sharing this. 

I am crying. I was able to relate with almost every word. 

 

I will be reading this thread soon, i just found it today. But in case you haven't mentioned them earlier could you tell us what are the names of the Facebook groups you mentioned in the essay? 

Thanks a lot ❤

 

I am Syrian, my husband met my family and my friends, they attended our very small less than 2 hours wedding in Lebanon (I live in Syria but we always had our meetings in Lebanon since it is less complicated). I didn't meet anyone from his side in real life for the same reason as your family's, they think it is not safe.

 

And also the part where you speak about future plans is very deep. Living this uncertainty of where we will be living when we live together and when will we make it? It is very hard, It is stopping me from seeking for better career it is affecting every choice.  Should I seek for higher education or will I have to drop the education before i finish because the Visa got approved?

 

I wish you the best with your future plans and may you unite again soon.

Thank you for reading it makes me so happy when someone can relate to this experience. together we can be strong. 

Here's a list of the immigration FB groups I am a part of: 

US EMBASSY ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS & Form DS-5535

Visa Filers from Turkey to the U.S.

Visa Journey

I-130 filers Immigration Visa Group.

That's it I think. Visa Filer from Turkey might be of interest to you, even though you are not applying from Turkey, because the administrators there are very intelligent and they keep up to date with immigration news. 

Hope this can help, and I'm wishing all the best for you and your husband to be living together as soon as possible.

Hello,

In the spirit of sharing the experience, I wanted to share with you a personal essay I wrote about my experience in AP. Feel free to share it if it resonates with you.

https://ne-ma.net/2018/12/05/maybe-tomorrow-maybe-next-year/

On 11/29/2018 at 5:10 AM, Amr8 said:

Hello everyone ,

just to keep everyone updated, a Yemeni lawyer commented on his fb page days ago that all administrative procedures started in june,2018

I mean, everyone who had his interview before June 2018, his case was not getting looked at by anyone (as the lawyer said)

so starting from June 2018, the procedure started and we have to wait 2-8 months (that's what he also said)

 

Good luck everyone

What is the name of this lawyer? Can we find him on facebook?

Thanks for speaking out! I think you probably are experiencing all the same stuff as us. I would just emphasize the fact that there is no timeline. My husband is Syrian and we are both really seriously considering starting our lives together in Syria rather than wait in separation for this travel ban waiver to come through (when we have no good reason to believe it will actually even come!). It seems pretty ridiculous that I can't return to the country where I was born and start my adult life just because my husband is from Syria. Also, I have spoken with 3 congresspeople and have seen no results following their inquiries into my husband's status. The limbo is truly torturing. We can't plan anything. We are both 26 years old and just in a total forced pause. 

The officer didn't say much, just gave me the form explaining I was in Administrative Processing and I had to fill out a DS-525 (or whatever that one is that takes your social media history). 

What embassy did you interview at?

Starting this forum to try and collect more information on Administrative Processing at the US Embassy in Ankara. I have been in AP for 2 months now. I am Syrian, and my wife is a US citizen. We are applying for my spouse visa. We started in March 2017. My wife is now in the US. We don't know if she should move back to Turkey to be with me. We want to know if anyone has been issued a visa waiver from Ankara under the travel ban.

I noticed today that the Ankara Embassy website status check page is updated automatically (https://tr.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/iv-status-check/)... meaning that my case updates are pretty meaningless. But ceac.state.gov seems to be more accurate. Does anyone know if case updates mean anything at all?

Thanks all.

Kat and Bashar

On 8/8/2018 at 5:52 PM, khouloud1 said:

I don't know why people are so pessimistic about the visa thing for Syrians. My mother in law just got her visit visa 2 weeks ago with no questions asks and my nephew just got his renewal student visa one month ago. my brother in law just took a flight with his family all Syrian passport holders on a visit visa to the US.

and I am waiting on my immigrant visa stamp after the administrative processing time that "should take around few weeks" based on my conversation with the counselor in Abu Dhabi the US embassy.

All these are done in this period of  July and August of 2018.

 

so, come on and stop being pessimistic... guys!!

 

 

Hi Khouloud, 

I was wondering if there's any updates on your visa??

Hi guys,

just wanted to update you all.. I got my interview date and its on the 24th of September, and I got a letter that supports my case from the US General Consul in Istanbul. My wife is moving back to the states to establish domicile (we're trying to avoid anything that might cause us any unnecessary delays). I also recently got accepted to Columbia University in New York. Now I'm wondering if there's anything extra we should prepare for the interview, any tips or advice will be much appreciated.

Specifically I'm wondering exactly what original documents we need to bring (apart from my civil documents) and what extra information will be helpful for qualifying for the waiver.

Thank you all,

bashar and kat

On 6/4/2018 at 4:08 AM, Loner amorous said:

Hi everyone, 

I'm from Yemen, one of the countries that trumps ban includes . Me and my wife attended my visa interview At the us embassy in Amman Jordan in February 11, 2018 and they gave us a waiver for the presidential proclamation ban. We submitted all the documents required from us and our case has been under the administrative processing since then. My wife sent a message to the embassy 10 days ago and we received the following email from the embassy  . I know several people from my country who had their interview her in Amman Jordan and they were given a waiver like me . Their interviews were one month before ours .Their cases took three months and half to be completed in the administrative processing and their visas were issued . I just wonder what's going on with our case during this step  and when to expect having  my case issued . If anyone knows any information regarding to this, I will highly appreciate your help . Is it okay to contact the senator or the department of state ? 

Thanks a million . 

 

Dear Applicant, 

Thank you for your email. 
This case is pending administrative processing per Section 201(c)(3) of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-173). This law requires the Department of State to coordinate with other federal law enforcement agencies to determine the admissibility of an alien to the United States.  

We periodically request a status update from these agencies and as of yet, we have not received a final approval for the mentioned beneficiary. 

Please be assured that we are vigilantly working to bring closure to this case and to reunite this/your family. 

If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Regards, 
Immigrant Visa Team, US Embassy Amman, Jordan

Hello,

thanks for some good news, it seems like things are going positively with your case. I’m from Syria and my interview for a spouse visa in Turkey is coming up soon (we just finished NVC processing). 

Could you tell me what you presented to the consular officer at the interview to be considered for the waiver? Or what you have had to present since then? Wondering how to prove undue hardship and other things needed for the waiver. My wife is a US citizen and I have been accepted to university in the US. 

Thanks again,

Bashar

285 days 

march 13th NOA1

December 22nd approved 

Nebraska service center :))

hope all your NOA2’s come very soon!!!!

Merry Christmas y’all!!

Hey everyone, we've been following this topic for a while now. Thanks for all the hope and help and encouragement. 

About us:

I am Syrian, my wife is American. We both live in Istanbul. 

We filed March 13th, our office is Nebraska. NOA is March 17. 

We are still waiting, happy to hear from cases from January are being approved.

We have two questions.... maybe someone here can help us out?

1) We live in Turkey, and the news just came out that there will no longer be non-immigrant visas granted to Americans here. This is in response to America first cancelling issuance of all new visas to Turkish citizens. Do you think these circumstances could qualify us to request expedited processing? It's imminently possible if things continue to escalate that my wife and I will be separated... 

2) As I am Syrian, also of course we are concerned that I won't be eligible to get any visa, period, even if I am a spouse. Our attorney told us this shouldn't matter until the interview period, in which case the US consulate can grant us a waiver. Does anyone know about this, the waiver process? Is it true that if there is an all-out travel ban on Syria I can still get a waiver and be granted a spouse visa? 

Thank you all, we are so in admiration of your collective patience and strength. With regards to all, 

Bashar and Kat