100% Al Ahly Fan

Good morning MENA or good afternoon for those in the later hours. It's only 11am here.

At work...busting my tail! Lots of screaming kids this morning (more then usual anyways). Oh the joys of working at a pediatric clinic, sigh.....

And Aya, totally agree with ya about the paper work, not fun!!! I have a ton if it sitting in front of my face as I write this So I s'pose I better get back to my paper-pushin'

Have a great day everyone!

Ahmed got his SSN after three weeks. The GC arrived almost 8wks after his arrival. USCIS told us that the POE (JFK) is delayed because of all the immigrants coming through. So JFK didn't even send his file to USCIS until 3-4 weeks AFTER his arrival. Hope that helps.

First you send as much as you can to me, until you only have 10,000$ left, and it should be no problem. LOL

Good, very good!

You can wire transfer your money into an account in the us.That way you dont have to travel with a large sum of money.Talk to your local bank and find out about there wire transfer options. Good Luck.....

Bridget is right. Ahmed first did it by Western union and it was crazy expensive. So then we did the bank transfer. It wasn't even as difficult as we thought it would be.

Hello MENA!

T.G.I.T!!! Yep...today is my Friday!

Final tomorrow, but then the rest of the day to enjoy!

Have a great rest of your Thursday

Afternoon MENA

Amal, Terrie and Aya...Salaam ya binat!!!!! (Waving like a crazy person)

Amal, glad to hear the job will be okay. Sometimes it takes more time then we like, but Allah (swt) always takes care of things.

Oh and many congrats to you Aya!! What kind of cake will you order?

Anywho......have a wonderful rest of the day everyone.

Alf million mabrook ya Aya & John. Rabena yes3edekom after all the struggles, you made it! I am so very happy for the both of you. May Allah (swt) bless your union wa yes3edkom dayman fil donya wil akhera

Good morning MENA, It's been a while since I started the daily thread and since I am up I figure...why not?

Unfortunately, today is gonna be one draggin' a** day! Been up since 3am and couldn't get back to sleep

I think I hear the coffee calling my name. Guess that means I better start getting ready for my day.

Have a great one MENA Peeps!

Thank you for the responses. We decided NOT to send the money, worse case they reject and we will have to send the money. Here is a sample of the cover letter I have prepared for my husband:

To whom it may concern:

I am requesting to replace the I-551 Alien Registration Card due to a USCIS error regarding the spelling of my name on the card. I received the card with the incorrect spelling of xxxxxx with the letter U. The correct spelling is with the letter A, such as xxxxxxxx. The name on the card should appear exactly as follows: xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx . Enclosed, please find the following:

1. Completed I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card

2. Original I-551 Alien Registration Card with error

3. Evidence of USCIS error:

- Copy of letter from National Visa Center acknowledging name update as of xx/xx/xxxx

- Copy of CR-1 Visa with correct spelling of name

- Copy of Egyptian passport

Please process and acknowledge receipt at your earliest convenience.

Thank you

Think this is okay?? Should I add more or less?

Sabah el khair ya MENA!

Already had TWO cups of coffee and a can of cherry pepsi. I think I am gonna have to start an IV of coffee this morning since it's not even 10am yet

At least we are half way done with the week, woohoo! Have a great HUMP day everyone

I find it interesting that every time I decide to come back to VJ, an opportunity arrises for me to do something cool to share with you all. This time, while I was editing the original Sultan's Kitchen Cookbook, I found an opportunity to create calendars. I think it would be really cool to have a calendar full of awesome pictures of MENA taken by my friends. I'd be happy with either an "all Jordan" calendar, a collage of all of our SO's contries for each month, or a different country pic for each month. I'd do polls on the pix and let you all decide which pictures would make the calendar. It would be all done via mena members!

Plz let me know what you think of this idea.

I'm still editing the original Sultan's Kitchen Cookbook. It's currently at 222 pages with over 200 recipes from the sultan's kitchen thread here in mena. I need at least 50 orders to be able to make them affordable to everybody. If I can get 50 orders, they'll be $40.00 each. If I can get orders for 100 books, they'll be $30.00 each (this is basically the cost for me to have the books printed and it covers all shipping.)

Payment is requested ahead of time as I have to order them all at once and money is super tight at my house.

PayPal and Money orders are our prefered methods of payment.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

amal

I'm in! I love the idea of a calendar and I for sure want a Sultan Kitchen Cookbook (been wanting one for a while). How many peeps end up getting the book, of course $30 is better then $40, but either way...I'd be happy with this book.

Thank you so much for your wishes i really appreciate it .

I'm glad to know that your hubby is adjusting good .I hope that everything will work out good for you guys .And i hope that he will get his Green Card and his Social Security Number soon .

Salaam all. It's been a while. Just wanted to stop by and say hello. Ahmed's been here not quite two months and things are going well. We finally got the green card yesterday, BUT with a spelling error. So it's gonna have to go back (he sooooo doesn't want to give it up, I don't blame him ). Anyhow, things are taking some adjusting too, but al7amdullilah we are together and that is all that matters.

HG, I am sorry to hear you were going through some health concerns. Don't let those people get the best of you. I know how hard this has been for you, but it sounds as though you may be getting the visa fairly soon, inshaAllah.

I hope everyone hears something soon from Cairo as well as all others. It's so hard to be seperated from your loved one. Take care all.

A big congrats to you and yours!!

Good Morning everyone. It's been a while! Just stopping by to say hello to everyone.

Sandra glad to see the NVC is DONE! InshaAllah you'll get an interview date asap

Charles the "kite runner" is a very good book. Try "a thousand splendid suns" it's even better.

Jeanne, many congrats to Wael!

R and F, Amal, WofM and everyone else have a blessed day. Take care!!!!

Hello everyone...sorry if I am posting in the wrong area. My hubby arrived on March 3 on a CR-1, so no AOS is needed, but I wasn't sure were to post about green card concerns.

Anyhoo, our concern is that we aren't sure if we need to pay the I-90 fee or not?

Here's what happened. When I filed the I-130, it was me that made the mistake of spelling my husband's last name with a U instead of A (I have no idea where I decided it was a U instead of an A, argh!!! I could just smack myself! Yes, this mistake could cost us L). We were approved from USCIS with the incorrect spelling. It wasn't until we got to the NVC that I realized the mistake and so I called the NVC and asked if they could fix the name. They told me yes, that wasn't a problem and all I had to do was mail them copies of my husband's birth paper w/translation and passport, which I did. Once updated, they mailed me a document showing that they corrected the name. We later received the CR-1 Visa with the correct spelling of my husband's name. We didn't have a problem until now. We finally got the green card (almost 8wks of waiting) yesterday and to my surprise the green card has the spelling from the original I-130 application. THE WRONG SPELLING! My husband and I thought that the USCIS would go off the information received from the port of entry. Obviously they didn't.

We called the USCIS and the operator told us that she wasn’t sure if this would be considered MY mistake or a USCIS mistake. She said fill out the I-90 and send the appropriate evidence and if they need the I-90 fee paid they would reject the I-90, and we can resend it with the payment included. I have no idea if this is correct or not. Sounds complicated and I hate the idea of my husband’s green card being mailed back and forth. The USCIS operator also told us we do NOT need an infopass, just to send the appropriate info for the I-90 form.

My plan was to send a copy of the letter I received from the NVC showing the updated the name, as well as a copies of my husband’s CR-1 visa and passport (again showing the correct spelling of the name). Obviously in addition to that we plan on sending the original green card and a cover sheet explaining what happened.

So the dilemma is this....do we pay the I-90 fee or not? What about biometrics (I am not sure exactly what this is even) which is an additional fee? Should we schedule an infopass appt?

Any help or advice in this matter is appreciated. Thanks!

Salaam and hello to everyone.

I was trying to search the forum with no luck to my question.

I moved right before my husband's interview back in November 2009. When I called the DOS they said that I had to give my change of address to the people at the embassy. Well, I did that but obviously they didn't update my address since my husbands visa has the former address on it (not a big deal since it is my family home).

Anyhow, can my husband change the address at the port of entry? Would we need to contact the USCIS? Is it better to just let the greencard and social security card just go to the old address?

Thanks much!!

My husband's visa was issued February 3rd. Visa in hand February 6th.

Flower's husband, also from Egypt, had an interview Aug 23, 2009 and visa was issued Feb.2, 2010 with visa in hand Feb. 8

Also with Nancy's husband getting the visa the 2nd of Feb. it appears that Cairo is on a role.

God-willing everyone will get the visas soon, so that you may be with your loved one. Best of luck.

Salaam everyone. Just want to say thank you everyone that has helped me along this rough journey. Al7amdullilah Ahmed got his visa in hand last Saturday. I can't tell you how suprised I was that Ahmed got the visa.

Just two weeks ago the embassy told Ahmed that we were in AP and last Monday the DOS informed me that we were still in AP. So last Tuesday before I went to bed, I prayed....asking for strength and guidance to make it through the next few months (they told Ahmed it would take 7+ before he would get the visa). I woke up at 4:45am on Wednesday morning to Ahmed's phone call telling me that the embassy called for his passport.

I would like to say mabrouk to all that have received the visa from Cairo and inshaAllah those waiting will so get theirs very soon.

(((Aya))) MashaAllah, I am so happy for you!! I hope everything from here on out will go smoothly for you, inshaAllah. Let us know when ya get the visa in hand and when you will be traveling.

As for the embassy pending link, well it's never worked for me. Has it worked for anyone else? I always get the same thing:

We were not able to identify Case # --CROXXXXXXXXXX, Please make sure you have entered your Case Number correctly.

I have tried it typing as the actual case number and also just the numbers. Nothing ever worked. So for those that it has worked for....what does it say exactly? Perhaps, ILNGT is right. It's only if your being checked in Washington?? IDK? Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

For us, it's supposedly going to be quite sometime before Ahmed gets visa in hand. I called the DOS last week and the lady I spoke to was rude and trying to rush me off the phone. Now I understand there are horrible things going on in the world, especially with the crisis in Haiti, but no need to be rude! Anyhow she was totally useless and wouldn't tell me when the AP started or if it was in Washington or the embassy level. She said it's going to take some time and that I should call back in about three months. Three Months!!!! I'm just going to call every other week and see how things go. Gonna write the embassy as well this week and see if they come up with the same three months BS.

Nancy had suggested I contact a senator although from what I have read, it sounds like all they can do is an inquiry for you. In other words, not much. Is this true? Has anyone here waiting contacted their senator and was it worth it?

Cairo, thanks for the update. You beat me to it, but I was thinking the same reason that the DOS told you, that they were unreachable due to all the Americans calling in request to seach for family/friends in the Haiti crisis. I am not sure why the embassy is not returning emails. As for us, I decided to only call the DOS every couple weeks. It's only been two months of the seven that they told us we have to wait....so I am trying to be as patient as I can but it's hard because I miss my husband terribly. InshaAllah, we will all hear something soon.

That is interesting. Ahmad didnt receive any kind of paper after his interview so I dont know if thats a good or bad thing. Why dont they just email and say AP instead of final review because that really makes me feel that they are about to issue the visa. When I was i Egypt I called and a really nice lady answered and I asked her how long final review lasts. She said it depends from case to case and she also told me that we had just been put on final review since December 13th which is very strange to me since I have been receiving final review emails since November. That just makes me wonder if they just email that consular officer review email to anyone that sends them a message.

The only paper they gave Ahmed was one saying that they will request his passport later. The one that said Yes or No was attached to the case and stayed with the officer on the other side of the glass. I agree with ya Nancy....they should just say AP instead of the "pending review/final review" BS!

Hey my fellow Cairo waiting club. My husband and I have been waiting two months now and looking forward to the day they request his passport to receive the visa. Currently, we are still "pending the officer's review." Which means AP for who knows how long.

Anyhow, I was just curious about somthing that Ahmed told me about. During his interview he mentioned that the consulate officer had our case and on top of it it had a sheet of paper with the words, YES and NO and nothing else. He said after the interview was done that the officer circled yes and informed him that it would take 7+ months to get the visa. I was assuming the yes means he will get the visa (I could be wrong, it may not mean that at all). I just thought if they signed yes, why would it take so long? Honestly, I don't know.

Like everyone else I am tired of all this and miss my husband. I just want to start our lives together as I know all of us hope for. Anyhow, I pray that we all hear good news soon, inshaAllah.

Salaam everyone. Just wanted to drop by and say hello to everyone.

Hope all is well.

Been almost 8 weeks since the interview. Still just waiting with no news. Anywho....take care all!

Congrats Twisted. Best of luck on the interview.

I am still waiting to hear something from Cairo about my hubby's visa. They said 7 months, well almost 1 month has passed.....6 to go.

Mohamed, I just read that they will do an interview at your fiance's home. Eh dah? leh? Please keep us informed to what and why they are doing this. InshaAllah it will be as it should.

Whatznext sorry to read about your situation, inshaAllah you will hear something soon. Waiting in limbo sucks! If you get a change please add our name to the AP tracker. It's gonna be a while.

Hello everyone. I am new here and hoping to get some advice. I, the beneficiary, recently moved to a different city. My spouse's case is pending AP. I called the DOS and they said I must contact the embassy to change they address they have for me here in the U.S. Is this correct?

I want to make sure that when my spouse gets here that the greencard and social security get to the correct place. Thank you.

I am in the same predicament. The DOS told me to contact the embassy to give them my address. I emailed them and gave them my new address, although they didn't email me back saying they updated the info. So not sure. Anyhow, best of luck!

Hello all and I hope everyone is well.

I just read that there was a thread about what the "final review" means and when you may expect the visa after receiving this email from the embassy. So this thread is along that lines, although I am wondering if anyone REALLY knows the difference between "pending" vs "final" review of the officer? I assumed pending means it's waiting to be reviewed (meaning it hasn't even been looked at and again I assumed it meant AP) and final means it's almost finished being looked at by the officer to possibly issue the visa. Yes....no???

I haven't emailed the embassy until this week because I had a question about something else, and the response I got was the generic,"The case is pending the officer's review. We will process the case to conclusion once that is completed" BLAH BLAH BLAH. Same khara, they tell everyone else. Although I am wondering, wouldn't they straight out say AP or should I assume that's what "pending" means? The DOS says we are in AP, although our case hasn't been updated since the interview. The women at DOS says that the embassy usually has more information then them. I don't know if that is true or not.

I am trying not to think about it too much, but I had to get others thoughts on this and then I hope I can leave it alone......at least for now I got a good 6 months to go according to what they told my hubby.

Any responses would be appreicated. Thanks in advance!