hopeful...

Congratulations! Have a wonderful, blessed life together!

I have been more aggravated than normal......but today I got the call that my husband got his visa in the mail ( it arrived at the UPS depot in Oran and they called and told him it was there.. he went and picked it up.... a shiny US Cr1 Visa..

I have been very aggravated at him lately.. I have been a little grumpy and teary...and I am so glad the visa finally came because I was throwing up my hands..

Love you guys

This past december/07 I made the critical error of forgetting a tiny quantity of marijuana in my purse when I was on my way to see my fiancee (less than 0.5gr) In which the killer part wasn't even mine!!! My fault! Anyway, they found it on my way to Detroit ( I was crossing in Port. Huron) and charged me with possession. My laywer got me a 74-11 in which the terms are : As long as I fufill my 24 months probation the 74-11 enititles me to my record not even existing (so therefore it won't even show that I was charged anywhere in the world).

My fiance and I went to Cancun in the month of February, flew out of Detroit (since the judged allowed me to go on my vacation) however, when we returned they wouldn't allow me to leave the airport, and escorted me back to Windsor telling me that I am inadmissable to the U.S. due to my guilty charge of the possession. I told them about the expungememt, but they said it doesn't matter that i'm going through a diversion program, once it's in their computers then I am no longer allowed to enter the U.S. without a waiver.

I have since then started the process to recieve a criminal waiver ( no other criminal history...other than this charge in the U.S. and no criminal history in Canada) I am currently waiting for my RCMP finger print criminal history to come back to send out the application to the U.S. customs and immigration.

My questions are:

1. Can we still apply for a K-1 visa without me recieving this waiver first?? or can we apply for the K-1??

2. Do I have to disclose this charge on my application??

3. Is there anything that I need to do if he wanted to spnsor me??

He is an incredible man. I realized that I made a bad decision..and now we're kinds stuck...if anyone can help me with these answers I would really appreciate it!!!

Hello! My husband had to file a waiver because he had overstayed a past visa here in the States. First, we had to "prove" that our marriage was bona fide (for us it was the I-130 petition as we were filing for a CR1-IR1 visa). Once that petition got approved, we then gathered up all the materials for his immigrant visa interview. While gathering all those materials, we also prepared his waiver packet. We knew his visa would be denied (due to his past overstay) and he would be required to submit a waiver. On the day of his interview, he was denied a visa and told to file a waiver, which he handed to them that day. It took 15 months for the waiver to be approved... it is NOT an easy or fast process so be prepared to be patient! You cannot file a waiver until you have been denied a visa. But, you can get the waiver packet ready in advance so you can hand it in the day you get denied. Your waiver packet should include a hardship letter, written by the US citizen, explaining why it would be a hardship for the USC to either 1) remain in the US without you and 2) why it would be extremely difficult for the USC to relocate to your country. Every hardship written by the USC should be documented with evidence. The hardship to you does not matter in a waiver packet, only the hardships to the US citizen. Best wishes!

Woo hoo!!!

:dance:We have a big hole in our sandal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND...........there's no errors in the hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The eagle will land on April 11 inshallah.

Congratulations!!!

Any news??? C'mon two down today one more to go to make it three times a charm!!!! :)

Any news??? C'mon two down today one more to go to make it three times a charm!!!! :)

visa approved......very mind wracking day........he said the consul asked some wacky questions

Congratulations on your approval!!!

He is somewhat backwards,jealous and sometimes makes me crazy, but I didnt fall in love with a metrosexual open minded man....

seriously....I have never met an arabic man who was truly in love with his wife that would be cool with her hanging out with men all the time.Maybe long term friends...but come on....Im in love with a muslim...How many husbands here would be ok with their wives ogling men and hanging out with them all the time...Oh hell no...Not if its a real marriage

Well, personally, I fell in love with a human being, not a Muslim, not a Christian, not an Arabic man. As for me, I don't hang out with men all the time, but I do have male friends who I would NEVER give up, and thankfully my husband would never want me to give them up because, well, he trusts me and, he likes them, too. Yes, he's an Egyptian man who loves an American woman with male friends. It does happen. We met here in the States (not on the internet) so we had lots of time together before marriage, we've been together for about 5 years, he is very close with my family/friends, and I love that he's open minded. If the only thing he or I ever needs to "worry" about is that we gazed at another person of the opposite sex, I consider us VERY blessed.

I guess I misunderstood the reason you posted in the first place. If you're happy with the kind of guy you chose, then so be it, and I wish you all the best.

You met in the states...and had 5 years together..How in the world could my situation ever compare to yours?My husband has not been outside of his close knit community.As aggravated as I get with our differences,its not fair to compare him and contrast to either of your situations.Hes never ever seen a movie theater,an escalator,a dolphin, or any western thing other than what he has in Oran which is not much.....

You are right, our situations are very different. However, my point is that who you are with is your choice. You don't have to be with a man who is "irrationally jealous" as you wrote in your original post. I dont know why anyone (not just you) would want to be with a man who tells you with whom you can associate, whether or not to wear make up, how to dress, etc. It wouldn't work for me, and I cannot understand how a secure, free willed woman would want to hand over her decisions to any man. But, if it is what you want, then so be it. I don't know your SO, only you do, and you wrote a post seeming concerned about his double standards. It seemed to be a cause of concern for you, but, if it's really not bothering you, then no worries...

He is somewhat backwards,jealous and sometimes makes me crazy, but I didnt fall in love with a metrosexual open minded man....

seriously....I have never met an arabic man who was truly in love with his wife that would be cool with her hanging out with men all the time.Maybe long term friends...but come on....Im in love with a muslim...How many husbands here would be ok with their wives ogling men and hanging out with them all the time...Oh hell no...Not if its a real marriage

Well, personally, I fell in love with a human being, not a Muslim, not a Christian, not an Arabic man. As for me, I don't hang out with men all the time, but I do have male friends who I would NEVER give up, and thankfully my husband would never want me to give them up because, well, he trusts me and, he likes them, too. Yes, he's an Egyptian man who loves an American woman with male friends. It does happen. We met here in the States (not on the internet) so we had lots of time together before marriage, we've been together for about 5 years, he is very close with my family/friends, and I love that he's open minded. If the only thing he or I ever needs to "worry" about is that we gazed at another person of the opposite sex, I consider us VERY blessed.

I guess I misunderstood the reason you posted in the first place. If you're happy with the kind of guy you chose, then so be it, and I wish you all the best.

hi

they approved my waivers after 10 monthes and then it took one month to be received from greece at that time by pouch mail, then they asked me to repeat the applicaiton and the medica report again along with the police clearance

then they made a mistake by asking for finger print which i already done then sent my documents to washington dc for 18 monthes to be name checked and the after that name check is cleared they realized that they forogt peition in greece so they postopned my visa for 5 weeks till they receive the petition from greece then they made a mistake putting my old pasport number instead of the new one on the body of hte visa then i returned back and all of sudden they said that they need more administrative procesing. of course they made mistakes with the packet which is sent with the visa which includes all the needed documents.

any how after i was happy to receive my visa and made arrangements i will wait again.

God be with me. I mean with us

Yikes... sorry for your misfortune. Fortunately, after my husband re-did his medical and police report and resubmitted them to Cairo, it only took about another month to get the visa.

Best wishes to you.

has anyone had this problem... habibi tried to go to the airport and tried to check on flights, but they told him he has to get a roundtrip ticket.. has anyone else had this problem dealing with cairo... i mean come on.. he's not going back... this is crazy... so now what do we do...

No... my husband flew on a one way ticket in January. And that was cheaper than round trip ($700 versus $1,100). He booked through a local travel agency in Alex. He had to show his visa at the agency, but my husband had noooo problems whatsoever purchasing it.

When I flew from Cairo to Boston (which I did often when I lived there in Egypt), round trip was always around $1,100 on Lufthansa. Last August, when I flew home one way because I was moving back to the states, it was around $750. I purchased all my tickets from travel agents in Egypt.

Good luck!

I talked to habibi this morning and he said the dhl guy brought his passport with the visa in it... we are sooooooooooooo happy... yayyyyyyyyyyy... any suggestions on flights and how to call from the airport since he will not be using at&t or anything like that.. omg this is sooooo wonderful... i gotta get the house straight before he comes... omg.. ya'll pray for me.. thanks visa journey... ... i'm speechless... lol

First and foremost, congratulations!!!

When I lived in Cairo and wanted to travel home to the states, I found it was cheapest to go through a travel agency there and buy my tickets (round trip around $1000). I always flew Lufthansa (through United), and, when I flew on a one way ticket, it was around $700 - $800. My husband flew home in January on Lufthansa and he got it through a local travel agency, and it was about $700 (one way ticket). Also, check out the website www.flyfromegypt.com I had some friends in Cairo who used that site and they got some good deals.

Best wishes for a blessed life together!

I know you mean well...But most of us have to stay here to maintain the burden of DOMICILE and financial ability (affidavit of support) for the visa process to begin with.

You can't live abroad and file a petition for CR-1 or IR-1 visa.

Not sure if I read this correctly, but I did live abroad with my husband and filed for the CR-1/IR-1 visa. I'm not suggesting everyone do that, however, but it is possible.

As for the original topic of "double standards" which seems to have gotten lost somewhere, I cannot understand why so many women are so willing to just hand over their power (as human beings) to another human being (i.e. their spouses or fiances). It seems as if too many women (and not just on a MENA forum, but in general) equate control with "being romantic." It's as if the thought process is, " He loves me SOOO much that he can't even stand the thought of my eyes on another man. Isn't that sweet?" IMO that is sheer lunacy. When a man (or woman for that matter) is jealous, especially "irrationally jealous" as stated in the original post, it makes me wonder for what reason would anyone want/desire to sign up for a lifetime of attempted control? I have a lot of male friends, some since my childhood, others since high school, college, or career. These friends add a lot of joy to my life and we share some important common interests (especially sports) that I don't share with most of my female friends. If my husband had ever dreamed of telling me to lose them, he would have had to find a different woman. And, let's be realistic. ALL men notice other women and ALL women notice other men. It doesn't mean they are going to cheat or behave inappropriately or that they are considering what it would be like to have that person instead of who they already have. It simply means they have eyes, they are alive, and they can appreciate beauty. I believe that if a relationship is secure (and both individuals are secure), jealousy is hardly a factor.

May you enjoy a blessed life together!!

Congratulations and may you have a blessed life together!!!

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Congrats to you both!!!

just wondering. i think we have a wide variety of people here and i'm a curious girl! If you don't feel comfortable answering here for all to read just answer the poll!

Husband was raised in a Muslim family. He rejected it early on (though never felt free/safe to say so while he was a teenager). As an adult, he now attends Catholic services with me on Sundays but has not formally "joined" the church. It's completely up to him if he wants to go through the catechisms and get baptised, etc.

We don't drink a lot, but we certainly DO enjoy a good glass of wine (or two!!) on weekends or when we gather with family/friends...

My waiver has been approved through Rome. My husband is from Jordan, and I was wondering if any of you on this forum have had approvals, and how long did it take for your SO to receive his/her visa. I appreciate any info. Thanks. Did you SO have to go through a security clearance, if so, why and how long did it take to clear?

First of all, congratulations!!! My husband needed to get a waiver approved (I-601) because he had overstayed his past visa here in the states. It was also approved in Rome, after it first sat in Athens without being touched for 8 months. So, keep in mind that all his paperwork (DS230, medical, police records) had expired by the time the I601 got approved (it took 15 months to get the waiver approved). After the waiver got approved, Rome sent notification of approval to Cairo. Once Cairo got notified, my husband was then told to resubmit paperwork which we did as soon as we could. It took about 2 months from the date we found out his waiver was approved until he got the visa. He did not go through additional security checks as they are done as part of the waiver process in Rome. However, I have heard that sometimes embassies do decide to do additional checks even after USCIS approves a waiver. Hopefully, that won't happen to you, and you'll get your visa within a few weeks to a couple months.

I stayed right on top of Cairo (with lots of emails) once I knew Rome had notified them of the approval, so I 'd suggest doing the same with your embassy.

Best of luck!!!

I guess we're culturally different then friend!

Respect is held extremely high back home. My spouse wasn't serious about smacking him btw.

Again, I disagree. I am tired of hearing "culture" as an excuse for irrational, immature, and even violent behavior. My husband's culture is different from mine, and if he ever dreamed of smacking me, a male friend, or a female friend, he's be GONE. It's not a cultural thing, it's an individual choice. As far as you calling it "respect", I have to disagree. It's control. Your quote was that he "literally wanted to smack" you. And that kind of stuff never gets better, only worse.

The fact that you've questioned it here shows that even you are wondering about the rationale behind it. Otherwise you'd have accepted it and no need to pose a question on it.

If you think so little of yourself to submit to any man who is demonstrating such out of control thoughts/behaviors (and, frankly, in my opinion to submit to ANY man is irrational, you are an equal IMO), that is your choice, I suppose. But, remember, there are men from every culture who truly respect women and behave like mature, clear thinking human beings, and they don't use "culture" or "religion" to excuse the ridiculous and absurd.

Best of luck to you figuring it all out.

My husband's friends always try to shake my hands and I think i see a wince on his face when that happens. But he hides it hes like do it i dont care its nothing. I don't look them in the eye cuz I'm so damn shy but it helps alot cuz If you don't look at em when saying hi they don't physically greet you then. It's acceptable in our culture to greet our own male cousins unless we've never seen them before. I don't do it tho shyness i guess. Just don't like going formally infront of people alot

My spouse actually cries about that situation when it gets so nasty and to the point he thinks about that and only that and how I could've done that. Khalid liked me before and during when my spouse and I were dating I think that contributes alot to how he got hurt so bad but I always left the room when Khalid came and i went to go flirt with my spouse (down-low bf at time) I don't know how the heck I'm going to protect my spouse from "open" women and men here. He doesn't want to make ANY male friends unless they just came from an Algerian village (ha-ha) and girls he said listen when I come there if any of your friends or girls try to say hi to me or touch me I'm going to smack her (good for me but u go to jail if u do that here ) When it's only me and him theres no jealousy but when people are around he's nuts. I think if it lasts only this first year of marriage it's normal if not I gotta do something. Going to a religious figure would be excellent thank you for suggesting that I admire that suggestion so much it truly will fix everything!

Good Lord. Saying hi or shaking hands is something to smack someone over??? This isn't cultural, it's nuts.

Hey everyone!!!!!!

My love is back home with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The trip over to visit his family was nice but difficult for both of us. Not sure who all know, but a close family member of mine passed away a few days before I was to leave. The funeral was the day before we were to fly out.

It was also difficult for my husband to leave his parents as he has been the primary son that takes care of them...taking them to doctor's appointments and making sure they take their meds. My mother totally enjoyed Maroc and is still raving about it to everyone. It was most difficult though the morning we left for the airport. My mother-in-law started crying when I hugged her and when my husband went to hug her she just fell apart and started screaming. He took her in the house and he later told me that she just fell to the floor. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

He had absolutely no problems coming into the States. On the contrary, almost all of the officers were nice. It took us 2 hours to process through New York because they took so long getting his fingerprints.

Unfortunately, we came home to a disaster. I had one of my close friends house sit for me during the two weeks we were gone. She has house sat for me before so I wasn't concerned. When I called her on the way home from the airport to let her know we were back, she freaked out and said she had forgotten we were coming home on that day. She had left a dog in the house while she was at work and a dog in the yard. She tends to take in alot of stray animals and she said her husband was giving her a hard time about having so many animals that she needed to "relocate" a couple. One of the dogs had chewed part of a chair, peed on a hallway runner and the guest bathroom was really messed up from her keeping one in there while she was at work. Also, one of the cars that I left in the driveway, I had asked her to start up every other day so the battery wouldn't go dead. She did that, but also took the car for a ride with the dog in it. Papers that I had in the passenger seat were strewn throughout the car and much like the house, their was dog hair and I mean long dog hair ALL OVER the black seats. The biggest problem with all of this is that my husband is allergic to dog hair. I had also asked her to put up a welcome home sign for my hubby. Needless to say, this was not the homecoming I had hoped for.

It really made the weekend difficult trying to clean up after all of this. She did offer to clean up and have the car detailed, but I know she does not have the money for that. I also didn't want to hear all of the excuses. I just need her to lay low for a while.

Aside from all of that, it has been a new experience for our son to have his "baba" there. He is warming up to him more and more everyday. It feels my heart with so much happiness to watch my husband read to him at bedtime. We are still getting used to each other, but we are getting through it and enjoying each other everyday!

Welcome home, God bless, and ENJOY!!!

I know many here have waited a long time for their visas....let me say first..my prayers are with you. I know the wait must be hard and difficult.

Its our pleasure to announce that we recieved our Visa In Hand today.

Faith

Congratulations! May the good Lord bless you with a happy life together!!!

Our visa has been stamped into his passport and we are just waiting for it to mail out. Alhamdolellah.

DOS confirmed emails i received from Cairo this morning. His name checks are completed, the visa HAS been issued and just waiting to be mailed out. So God willing it will be in his hands early next week. And he will be here we hope first week of April or so. He has be wonderful..he's been saying March would be our month for months now. How did he know???

He is in shock...

I would urge anyone waiting on their visa...getting the DHL emails...to email cairo with a simple question and call DOS. They have given us good information and we are so happy that its almost over for us. 4.5 years together...this is our dream become our reality. Alhamdolellah.

Congratulations and may you have a happy life together!

IT was his visa. IT was his visa. It was his visa !!!!! He got it today in the mail. Cairo was fast, only 1 week since interview. YEAAAAAAAA

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

I just called DHL and they said that it left Cairo and going to Alexandria, and that is has departed. OMG please let it be a visa.

If the visa departed today, it should arrive in Alex tomorrow. My husband's visa went from Cairo to Alex, too, and it took one day to get there.

Sounds like GREAT news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you made me cry!! but of the good kind. Thank you soooo much Bridget . I'm a sack of nerves right about now, but keeping the faith strong through prayer.

Thank you sister, you have no idea how much this means to me wallahi.

Hugs,

Ayesha

God bless!!! Hope you receive the good news soon!

But his number is not on their website and they have not confirmed it's ready by email. Now my husband wants me to call the Embassy (which means I am awake at 2am using a calling card).

I am on pins and needles

Hope you have great news soon!!!