R and F

Hello everyone.  Where does one go to get their court/police records in The Dominican Repubilc?

Thank you so much.

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy ParisHeart. Just chiming in darling. I don't know how to help you just wanted to say Heyyyyyyyyyyy. You are such a kind,hearted, fabulous person. Just have faith in God and all will go well. I send you the best of luck and lots of hugs and kisses.

ROSIE

Hey I have been here since 2008. We are also through with everything. Glad that you came back to look for us. HA

It was very hard for my mother in law to adjust to life in the US so she came a year ago and left back to Morocco with the intention of returning this summer. There was no one here who spoke her language aside from my husband and the local mosque did not have any older women that spoke Arabic. Another son has filed for a spousal visa to the US but that is still in the process. Another son got a spousal visa recently to Canada so maybe she can go visit him once he is in Canada. Regardless my husband will go get her again this summer and hopefully things will be better this time around.

Congrats wohooo

So what has been happening since you last posted?

And I was about to put my two cents worth into this post. pffftttttttttt.

Anyway I met a Moroccan online, went by myself (like a crazy woman) to meet him, married him and lived in Morocco over a year. It was an experience that I will never forget. I stepped off the plane and I was in another world. I filed DCF from Morocco and he got approved and we both are now living in Texas. It has been a roller coaster but we have managed to survive and now his mother is here with us. So I believe we are in it for the long haul. I have been back to Morocco twice and both times I have been ill and I was ill when I was there as well. Something just does not agree with my stomach. The people of Morocco are super nice although I have never learned their language. I lived in a rural area and dealt with sleeping on the floor, Turkish toilets, washing clothes by hand etc. No AC when it was hot and no heater when it was cold. I had my husband go out and get me a fan and get me a small heater. I would go out only with my husband and stayed at home most of the time. Good thing we had a TV where I watched American movies all day long. There was not a day that would go by that I did not want to come home. But I told myself that I would stay till my husband got approved and with God's help he was approved.

I enjoy Morocco but I love my America.

I am glad you found out about your potential mate what he really was before you went to meet him. I wish you luck and hope that one day soon you do find a good man. Best wishes.

What if the silbing is married?

Thank you and how would she declare the ban?

Since we are speaking of 10 year bans I would like to post a situation and ask for advice.

I have a friend whose husband is from Peru, she filed a K-3 for him and he got his visa and was here in the US with her till he got was apprehended for a DWI and was deported back to Peru with a 10 year ban. He completed the ban in 2013. What can she do now to try to get him here again? thank you for your responses.

Rosie

Guess what guys? Momma Mezouari got approved today for her visa in Morocco. We are so thankful to God for this. Truly truly grateful to friends and family as well who were with us thorough the long haul first with Farid and now with Momma. I will post a timeline for everyones benefit once things are settled. She is coming to live here wohoooooooooooooooooooo.

I will give my complete guide soon also to you guys. And this will be for Morocco.

Farid petitioned for his mom also and we are near the end. I will let you guys know how interview goes next month. We are praying so hard for her to get approved. Interview is September 15th in Casablanca. I am losing my mind, thank you very much.

Yes I got same letter so we wait. And my letter is for my mother in law getting her permanent residency.

I like it too much.

Great, congrats.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees are on strike beginning October 18, 2013. If you have a scheduled appointment with USCIS during the strike and were planning on using the BART system to get to your interview, please notify the USCIS Call Center: 1-800-375-5283. All requests that go through the call center will be granted an appointment that can be rescheduled within 60 days.

I really don't think anyone is trying to change your mind. I've read the whole 7 pages over the last couple of days. I don't remember every post, but I didn't notice anyone degrading him either. I think most people were sincerely trying to offer their best advice. I'm going to do my best to offer mine without offending anyone.

The first few replies after your original post offer the most important advice for you at this stage. Slow down. Spend as much time together in person as you possibly can before you file.

Save everything: chat logs, emails, pictures, boarding passes, receipts...the list goes on and on. You can search these forums and find hundreds of threads discussing the evidence people send with their petitions and/or bring to the interview.

Before I answer that, I wanted to say that a denial is not supposed to be based on age difference alone, even though it seems people are denied for that reason often. So, again, take your time. Build a strong case. Don't let them find another reason.

Anyway I don't have numbers for you, but I've heard/read about plenty of approvals for MENA couples with similar age gaps. A few of those couples got through the process without a hiccup. Most of them, however, didn't have it so easy. Some of the couples faced a denial the first time around. Some of them waited two or three years or longer, and dealt with multiple denials. In the end though, they got what they were fighting for. If you search the MENA forum for denials, refusals, 221g's, age gaps, etc you'll find loads of information. I won't tell you it will be fast or easy, but I do think your chances are pretty good if age difference is the only issue.

Like the others have said, if by "happy endings" you mean the visa was issued, then there are plenty.

If you mean still together after citizenship and financial independence, there are some, but not too many. I think some of those ladies already shared their stories with you.

Personally, I don't know any. I've stayed in touch online or in person with some of the couples that went through the immigration process around the same time as I did. They are American women married to Algerians or Moroccans. I could probably remember more, but right now I can think of 12 couples. Of the twelve, five are still married and seven are divorced. In 5 of those couples the woman was ten or more years older. All five of the younger man/ older woman couples are now divorced. All of them say the age difference was not the reason for the divorce. Anyway, those are just the people I know, I'm not implying in any way that those numbers mean a damn thing.

Honestly, I do hope that this man is everything you think he is. I do believe that it's possible for a couple with your age difference to have a successful marriage.

Yes, most Algerian guys are great. They love their country. They don't want to leave their home. But here's the thing...there are tons of Algerian guys online looking for women to marry as a way out of Algeria. They look for Europeans, Americans, Canadians...wherever they think they will be happier, and find more opportunities. They tend to look for older, divorced women who they think will be more financially stable. More desperate for a man. Easier to fool. Most likely to come to Algeria and believe their silly love stories. These guys exist. And they do think like that. And they will tell you anything you want to hear. How on earth can you logically dismiss the possibility that this guy might be one of them? It makes no sense to me at all. You've got all of these little red flags waving at you. Please, don't ignore them. Investigate them first and then hopefully you can dismiss them. Just stop pretending they are not there. He could very well turn out to be everything you think he is, but what if he isn't? People keep telling you "eyes wide open", "blinders off"...and I agree with them. This is not the time to "follow your heart", you've got to let your brain do some of the work here. Be happy, be in love, but don't be a fool.

Whatever Maubola says. Smarty pants.

Shazam and I thought living with Farid was a Lifetime Movie.

and to think you didn't get into specifics.

We just returned from our trip to Morocco (3rd one for me) and of course I got sick again. My stomach just not seem to agree with anything I eat or drink. I remember meeting him online, meeting him for the first time at the airport, marrying him, living in Morocco over a year then finally us flying back together to Texas after he got his visa. Nothing can ever replace all those memories because I hold them inside my head and in my heart forever. Living together has had its ups and downs but we are fighting hard to stay together no matter what. God has always been at our side and I am thankful for this.

If you don't get to reschedule for whatever reason please have him attend the interview come hell or high water This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. His interview is next Tuesday, too exiciting.

I remember this so well and finally not having to deal with immigration any longer.

I found this online just now:

U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Education

Civil Rights Division

Office for Civil Rights Office of the General Counsel

May 6, 2011

Dear Colleague:

Under Federal law, State and local educational agencies (hereinafter districts) are required to provide all children with equal access to public education at the elementary and secondary level. Recently, we have become aware of student enrollment practices that may chill or discourage the participation, or lead to the exclusion, of students based on their or their parents or guardians actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status. These practices contravene Federal law. Both the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education (Departments) write to remind you of the Federal obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to all children residing within your district and to offer our assistance in ensuring that you comply with the law. The Departments enforce numerous statutes that prohibit discrimination, including Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title IV prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, among other factors, by public elementary and secondary schools. 42U.S.C. § 2000c-6. Title VI prohibits discrimination by recipients of Federal financial assistance on the basis of race, color, or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. Title VI regulations ,more over, prohibit districts from unjustifiably utilizing criteria or methods of administration that have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination because of their race, color, or national origin, or have the effect of defeating or substantially impairing accomplishment of the objectives of a program for individuals of a particular race, color, or national origin.

See

28C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(2) and 34 C.F.R. § 100.3(b)(2).Additionally, the United States Supreme Court held in the case of

Plyler v. Doe

, 457 U.S.202 (1982), that a State may not deny access to a basic public education to any child residing in the State, whether present in the United States legally or otherwise. Denying innocent children access to a public education, the Court explained, imposes a lifetime hardship on a discrete class of children not accountable for their disabling status. . . . By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation.

Plyler

, 457 U.S. at 223. As

Plyler

makes clear, the undocumented or non-citizen status of a student (or his or her parent or guardian) is irrelevant to that students entitlement to an elementary and secondary public education. To comply with these Federal civil rights laws, as well as the mandates of the Supreme Court, you must ensure that you do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and that students are not barred from enrolling in public schools at the elementary and secondary level on the basis of their own citizenship or immigration status or that of their parents

Page 2-

Dear Colleague Letter or guardians.

Moreover, districts may not request information with the purpose or result of denying access to public schools on the basis of race, color, or national origin. To assist you in meeting these obligations, we provide below some examples of permissible enrollment practices, as well as examples of the types of information that may not be used as a basis for denying a student entrance to school. In order to ensure that its educational services are enjoyed only by residents of the district, a district may require students or their parents to provide proof of residency within the district.

See

,

e.g.

,

Martinez v. Bynum

, 461 U.S. 321, 328 (1983).

1

For example, a district may require copies of phone and water bills or lease agreements to establish residency. While a district may restrict attendance to district residents, inquiring into students citizenship or immigration status, or that of their parents or guardians would not be relevant to establish in residency within the district. A school district may require a birth certificate to ensure that a student falls within district-mandated minimum and maximum age requirements; however, a district may not bar a student from enrolling in its schools based on a foreign birth certificate. Moreover, we recognize that districts have Federal obligations, and in some instances State obligations, to report certain data such as the race and ethnicity of their student population. While the Department of Education requires districts to collect and report such information, districts cannot use the acquired data to discriminate against students; nor should a parents or guardians refusal to respond to a request for this data lead to a denial of his or her childs enrollment. Similarly, we are aware that many districts request a students social security number at enrollment for use as a student identification number. A district may not deny enrollment to a student if he or she (or his or her parent or guardian) chooses not to provide a social security number.

See

5 U.S.C. §552a (note).

2

If a district chooses to request a social security number, It shall inform the individual that the disclosure is voluntary, provide the statutory or other basisupon which it is seeking the number, and explain what uses will be made of it.

Id.

In all instances of information collection and review, it is essential that any request be uniformly applied to all students and not applied in a selective manner to specific groups of students. As the Supreme Court noted in the landmark case of

Brown v. Board of Education

, 347U.S. 483 (1954), it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he[or she] is denied the opportunity of an education.

Id.

at 493. Both Departments are committed to vigorously enforcing the Federal civil rights laws outlined above and to providing any technical assistance that may be helpful to you so that all students are afforded equal educational opportunities. As immediate steps, you first may wish to review the documents your district requires for school enrollment to ensure that the requested documents do not have a chilling effect on a students enrollment in school. Second, in the process of assessing your compliance with the law, you might review State and district level enrollment data. Precipitous drops in the

1

Homeless children and youth often do not have the documents ordinarily required for school enrollment such as proof of residency or birth certificates. A school selected for a homeless child must immediately enroll the homeless child, even if the child or the childs parent or guardian is unable to produce the records normally required for enrollment.

See

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)©(i).

2

Federal law provides for certain limited exceptions to this requirement.

See

Pub. L. 93-579 § 7(a)(2)(B).

Page 3-

Dear Colleague

Letter enrollment of any group of students in a district or school may signal that there are barriers to their attendance that you should further investigate. Please contact us if you have any questions or if we can provide you with assistance in ensuring that your programs comply with Federal law. You may contact the Department of Justice , Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section, at (877) 292-3804 oreducation@usdoj.gov,or the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at (800) 421-3481 or ocr@ed.gov.You may also visit http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contact us.cfm for the OCR enforcement office that serves your area. For general information about equal access to public education, please visit our websites at http://www.justice.gov/crt/edo and http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html. We look forward to working with you. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for taking the necessary steps to ensure that no child is denied a public education.

Sincerely,

Russlynn Ali Charles P. Rose Thomas E. Perez Assistant Secretary General Counsel Assistant Attorney General Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Education U. S. Department of Justice

Congrats and thanks for the post, really helps others.

what happened to the visa journey chat room?

Hi. You can do a timeline search on this site and get a basic idea of what the wait has been like for others. It looks like the average time from NOA2 to interview in Algeria is 98 days.

My husband scheduled his interview date himself, but that was years ago, I'm not sure how it's done now. As far as the questions they ask...it all depends on your case. They ask case specific questions, along with the basics : How/where did you meet? How long have you known eachother? etc...You could try reading the reviews other members have posted, there might be some more info there. Good luck!

You are such a smarty pants Mahboula, that is why I love you.

I just wanted to send a shout out to all of Los Fresnos Texas where 2 of our hometown boys have been drafted into the NFL. They are Mario Benavides and Eloy Atkinson. These young men will be doing what many young men dream of. I know them personally as I attended their high school football games and we had several winning seasons with them. They were both coached by Scott Ford who led them to the great young men they are today. God bless them both and may they truly achieve success.