amysaid

Many Muslims marry non Muslims yes, but that's Muslim MEN marrying non-Muslim women... The opposite is not allowed in Islam and the embassy staff are well aware of that. They will question the hell out of it. I do know an Egyptian woman that married an American man but the man converted to Islam before they married, and even then the family seemed to still have issues. But their K1 visa was eventually approved. The good news is AP is generally a lot shorter for Egyptian women than Egyptian men.

Right, I guess I thought it would be obvious, as they are both minors, have family and school to continue in Egypt, etc? So no one has personal experience with this recently? I am well aware of the "country of origin" issues, as my husband immigrated to the US some years ago.

Hey guys- we are trying to facilitate a visit for my husband's niece and nephew (age 16 and 11), they will need to obtain visitor visas, have any of you had recent success with this type of situation? Did the process go smoothly or did they drag their feet? Thanks in advance

You could not pay me enough money to live in Egypt right now! My husband won't even go there with our daughter because he's afraid for her safety with the current atmosphere there. Four years ago I would have gone in a heartbeat, but now, no way. We all know the torment of being away from the one we love but please consider your safety.

That being said, we use Western Union. There are fees but honestly it's not that bad. Unless you are transferring thousands of dollars or something. That was the easiest, most reliable way we came up with when my husband would send me money when he lived there, and it's how we send money to his family now.

Off topic completely but Olivia, how much of a pain was it filing for waleed's naturalization? How many months in advance did you file?

Maybe we should forget about bombing Syria and bomb Japan instead for this radioactive mess we're all in for now?

It will not harm it if he shows proof during the interview. But make it appropriate. Do not just shove a binder of evidence at the CO cause they will not look at it

If The CO asks a questions like what do your parents think of your wife...then he can say they adore her let me showyou this pic and pull out a pic of you and the parents smiling

If the CO says what do yo love most about her....then h can say she has the most beautiful smile-let me show you my favorite picture of her.

And make sure he knows where everything is. The CO will not like witing 30 seconds for him fumbling through an album trying to find something

Good luck

I agree with this. My husband took two small photo binders with about 20 photos in them, with photos from my visits there, and with photos I sent him of my life here, and the CO flipped through them and asked him questions about the pictures. He took some other documentation, like phone call logs, a couple brief chats, an affidavit from my mom and one of my sisters, and affidavits from his brother and from the mutual friend who had introduced us, and who we spent time with together in Egypt. He also took a picture my daughter drew him, and talked about the relationship he'd developed with her to the CO. He had everything well organized and flagged in a file folder so that it was easy to access and did not require a lot of work to find/look at things.

Agreed... Egyptian engagement parties are the cultural norm, the CO should be aware of that. In most cases the actual marriage is so much more low-key than the engagement! I don't think any kind of proof is necessary to prove that they aren't married. As for the cousin marriages, as long as it is recognized in Egypt (which it is) and in the state that you will be residing in (which it is) then you shouldn't have any problems, other than the potential for the CO to be squeamish about it from his/her own personal opinion. It is somewhat taboo to marry your first cousin according to popular US norms so you may need to address that at the interview. I believe another VJer that went through Morocco had to deal with this during her fiancé's immigration, I can't remember what her user name is anymore, but her name is Kenza.

Maybe this has been said already, as I didn't read through all the comments, but if the Egyptian Embassy thing doesn't work out, why not get married by a Justice of the Peace at a county courthouse?

The visa interviewer didn't ask any off the wall questions during my husband's interviewer, but the AOS interviewer sure had a bunch! She was very interested in my conversion to Islam (which happened prior to even meeting my husband), had no idea how you could meet someone on the Internet and wanted us to explain Myspace, Yahoo messenger, Skype, etc. She asked a lot of questions about how his family accepted me, why he chose to marry a convert, things like that. (It's all in my timeline if you're super curious) All in all it reminded me of a conversation I would've had with a super-nosy relative or something.

I was talking to my husband about this tonight, he seemed unsure as to whether your child would be able to get Egyptian citizenship or not. He says that in Egypt they used to only give citizenship to children of male Egyptians, but that recently they passed a law that allowed citizenship to children of Egyptian women, but he's not sure if it has gone into effect with everything that's been going on there. As for the birth certificate application, you'd have to submit proof of your Egyptian citizenship (like your Egyptian passport) and an original of the baby's birth certificate, if your name on the baby's birth certificate is different than your name on the passport you might have some issues... You'll need a copy of your marriage certificate (or maybe the original?) to prove your relationship with your husband. Is your husband Muslim? If so, he will need some kind of proof of converting to Islam if he has a non-Muslim name. If he's not Muslim there might be some issue with your marriage being recognized in Egypt to begin with, since the marriage is not valid in Islam, but I'm not really 100% sure on that. My husband has had good luck getting through to the Egyptian Consulate in Los Angeles, maybe try calling them to clarify?

oh, and if you can get a hold of Aya (of John & Aya) she might have some insight, she is an Egyptian who married a USC, she may know more about it. I'll send her a message on FB.

I was talking to my husband about this tonight, he seemed unsure as to whether your child would be able to get Egyptian citizenship or not. He says that in Egypt they used to only give citizenship to children of male Egyptians, but that recently they passed a law that allowed citizenship to children of Egyptian women, but he's not sure if it has gone into effect with everything that's been going on there. As for the birth certificate application, you'd have to submit proof of your Egyptian citizenship (like your Egyptian passport) and an original of the baby's birth certificate, if your name on the baby's birth certificate is different than your name on the passport you might have some issues... You'll need a copy of your marriage certificate (or maybe the original?) to prove your relationship with your husband. Is your husband Muslim? If so, he will need some kind of proof of converting to Islam if he has a non-Muslim name. If he's not Muslim there might be some issue with your marriage being recognized in Egypt to begin with, since the marriage is not valid in Islam, but I'm not really 100% sure on that. My husband has had good luck getting through to the Egyptian Consulate in Los Angeles, maybe try calling them to clarify?

Hello,

I married my USC husband in 2010 and have been meaning to register my marriage with the Egyptian government through the Egyptian consulate in the US. I called the Egyptian embassy in DC a few times and they haven't been much help at all. I'm hoping I can get the answers I need here to my questions below.

1. What paperwork do I need to send the Egyptian Embassy to get my marriage (which took place in the US) registered with the Egyptian government?

2. Do I need to send anything to DOS?

3. I changed my last name to my husband's last name. Do I need to change my last name on my Egyptian passport and ID? If I don't, is that going to create much hassle in the future?

4. We welcomed our firstborn baby daughter in October of this year. I need to start paperwork on her Egyptian citizenship. What paperwork do I need. Can this be done through the embassy in the US or does it have to be done in Egypt?

Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

It's super hard... if I had a dollar for every tear I shed in a cab, airport waiting room, shuttle bus, etc. when I was leaving Egypt I'd be a rich woman. But honestly, even with all of those tears, it was nothing compared to the heart-wrenching goodbye that my husband had with his family (sisters, nieces, brothers) when he was finally leaving with me. Because they all knew that he wouldn't be seeing them again for at least a few years (it's been three years now, and not sure yet when we will be able to go back to visit definitively. They were crying, then I was crying, then my daughter was crying because I was crying, and I felt like such a heel for taking him away from his family which obviously loved him so much. I think sometimes we forget that as much as it pains us to live away from our husbands/wives during the immigration process, it is also painful for them to move away from their families.

I also did the primping before arrival thing... I had a 2-3 hour layover in Amsterdam, which has WONDERFUL facilities, by the way... anyway, I changed into some regular clothes (I usually travel in comfy pajama type clothes on long flights) and cleaned up, brushed my teeth, all that. What is funny is that I remember that part way more than I remember actually seeing my husband for the first time! I think I was so tired and excited that it just didn't register. According to Ahmed, though, he met me inside the gate, because since he worked at the airport, he was able to talk some people into letting him inside. In later flights I had to face that huge mass of people and it is totally overwhelming! I remember his smile when he first saw me, and how he hurried over to help me with my bags. I think I hugged him, and we held hands while we waited for our taxi, and all the way home to our apartment in Giza. I still remember so clearly the butterflies in my stomach, and that I was shaking, which I'd never experienced before in my life. I just kept looking at him and we were all sappy and grinning at each other like a couple of idiots. I had one moment of "what did I get myself into?!" when we drove through a kind of sketchy area of town, and the area that are apartment was in was completely unlike anything that I had seen here in the US, so that was something to take in. And then there were the five flights of stairs, and ALL of his family waiting in the apartment once I hauled my fat #### up there, haha. We had a wedding ceremony with a... dang, I forget the name of it right now, but someone who officiates marriages. We had one of those that night, with all of his family present, we ate some food, and then we both passed out for about 12 hours. I was exhausted from traveling, he was exhausted from preparing the apartment for me. We ended up getting formally married about two weeks later, when we finally managed to drag ourselves out of the apartment and down to the Ministry of Justice.

Hey starting the new thread for June. Hope all is well with you. I am in Morocco now and enjoying my time with the family. I am somewhat sick but then I knew I would get sick in Morocco as nothing agrees with me. I got sick when I was here the 1st time, but I am back anyway. :thumbs:

Farid is very happy with his family and having a grand ole time with friends as well. All is good folks. :dance:

Sorry guys I titled the post incorrectly. I must be drunk.

Glad to see MENA is perking up a bit! Things are good here, Ahmed and I are both working, the kids are growing up faster than I ever could've believed. We've been trying to nail down a time period for going back to Egypt to visit my husband's family, but having a hard time figuring it out. He wants to go during next Ramadan, but I just can't handle the heat there in the middle of summer. So we are thinking of going next Eid al-Adha, which should be cooler, and hopefully the political climate will have cooled down by then, also. His sisters are probably going to kill him when we get there, for keeping their niece away from them for so long (she will be three by the time they see her!)

I appreciate this post! Sandinista, does that shampoo you mentioned that you used on your daughter seem fairly gentle? I have been trying a variety of things on my daughter but most of it makes her break out when I do a little swab on her skin to check for allergies. so most of the time she ends up looking like the picture attached to this post. Which is alright, but can get super frizzy and kinda Einstein-ish, since she won't let me put any clips, ponytails, etc. on her head.

My husband complains about the tomato sauce here being different than the kind he ate in Egypt... Which I don't get cause they tasted the same to me! We have yet to try to make koshary (the clean up... Lazy.) but we make macaroni béchamel now and then, Egyptian salad frequently, and fish and onion rice pretty frequently. Oh, and beef goulash. I always add spices to things because if I didn't, he wouldn't season food at all.

Feels great! Will feel more great once he receives his PR card. USCIS still has it as Interview status online.

I am really not sure. I thought it was strange that she was so focused on the beginning of our relationship, when we have already been married two years, have a kid together, etc. The person in the next cubicle interviewed two or three people in the time it took for her to to us. I have heard that since we were adjusting to a ten year PR status instead of two year that it might be more involved because it's like AOS and ROC at the same time. Not sure how much truth there is to that though.

My husband and I went for his AOS interview today (from K3 visa) and his 10 year GC was approved! The interview was not focused on what I expected at all, more questions about our early relationship than our current or recent relationship. (more details in my timeline)

ok so this has been bothering me since yesterday..i am a surgical nurse..and i worked with this doctor yesterday and he asked where my name was from and of course i say i my husband is Jordanian..and all of he said does he carry bombs..he totally caught me off guard and i am standing with my surgical patient unconcious with anthesia and my scrub tech.. i just look at him like what the f*uck.. and eariler i said to him. i was a patient of yours i had a miscarriage totally didn't remember. The whole time just being professional ..and after that incident i was in the break room eating and he comes in there asking if my husband plays soccer and if he would like to come play on sundays..i was like this conversation is stupid..and then he goes well your native american do you know of this book..and me i was like yeah i know ..blah blah..and my husband works sundays.. it was so surreal.. later i ccome home didn't say anything to my husband about the incident at work..and i get a phone call and it's the doctor apolozing for what he said cuz i was still new and he shouldn't have been teasing me.. I was like yeah when you said that i thought maybe it was a slip of the tongue..and it's not like i heard something similar..thanks for calliing me and apologiziing.. and today some of the staff asked me what happen...now i feel all weird and ######... ok just want to vent..Not tell whole story but just ###### weird..makes me mad sorry for the typos..

That is kind of funny... I am a nurse too and had a surgeon say something pretty out of line to me about being Muslim during a surgery once. It was awkward, because it's not like you can walk away or something.

I don't think i was overly anxious about the interview... i just hate being late, we had an hour long drive ahead of us, etc...

Anyway, the interview was not what I expected at all. We were in there about 40 minutes together, and the woman asked us a LOT of questions about how we met, our courtship, when and why we married, and spent about 15 minutes talking about why and how I converted to Islam, and why my husband was ok with marrying a new convert (I had converted about 3 months before we met.) Some questions about our families (to Ahmed: "Why was your family ok with you marrying an American? Wouldn't they rather you have married a born Muslim Egyptian woman?") Asking about how we deal with cultural differences, having been raised in different societies... She was really confused about the whole meeting online thing and asked us to explain Myspace, Yahoo chat and Skype. She asked questions about the dowry that was listed in our Egyptian marriage contract ("1001LE? Couldn't you just give her a cow or something?")She asked him what my older daughter's birthday was, her full name, and our daughter together's birth date. The last five minutes I gave her our joint proof, she flipped through some photos, and she said okay, congratulations, you will receive your green card in 7-10 days.

SOOOOOO glad to be done until citizenship! And we are in no hurry for that, so it may be more than 3 years before we file. I need a break from USCIS.

OMGGGG. Half an hour until we need to leave and he has not gotten ready yet, and decides this is the appropriate time to call his family and chat? Is he trying to make me more anxious?!

AOS interview tomorrow... Hard to sleep!

My husband's AOS interview is next month and we are trying to get everything ready in advance. We have an eight month old baby who is very anxious in the care of anyone but us, and she screams the whole time we're gone if we leave her with someone. Do you think it would be inappropriate to bring her along to the interview?

Thanks!

We got notice this morning for my husband's AOS interview, April 14th. Not a terrible way to be woken up at 5:30am!