emilybug

Have any of you MENA girls filed for adjustment of status yet?

I want to do that asap and I'm getting stressed already.

Emily

We're waiting until we are close to our 2 year anniversary to file..

Dont stress now Emily! Enjoy your reunion and then start worrying about all of that

Thanks for your reply. I'm wondering if that might be a good idea for us to do also. That way we won't have to remove the conditions, cos I dread that too. I guess we could just apply for his EAD and wait another year. On June 2 we will be married one year. Do you think it will hurt anything to wait?

Emily

Have any of you MENA girls filed for adjustment of status yet?

I want to do that asap and I'm getting stressed already.

Emily

Well my husband bought his ticket today! He's flying Delta and will fly direct from Cairo to JFK, then JFK to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Tulsa :) :)

He will be here June 5, and I feel it won't come soon enough.........

In the meantime, I'm cleaning and getting rid of alot of unnecessary junk, trying to make room and make everything ready.

I'm so nervous...I've been so depressed without him that I've eaten terrible for the last year and put on weight since I've seen him

and I'm so worried he will hate it when he sees me. It's depressing to feel so excited to see him but so self conscious at the same time. I've tried to talk to him about it, but I just don't think he gets it...........

Emily

Does anyone have any opinions on which would be the best POE for my husband to come through??????????

Emily

My husband is going on the hunt tomorrow (Tuesday) for a plane ticket. He's going to check different airlines to find a good price. We have $2,500 to spend and that's it.

I need some help!!!! Does anybody have any preferences for POE??????????

Emily

I have GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

My husband got his visa today!!!

There was a big screw up with DHL, they lied and said they tried to deliver it to his home, but really didn't, so my husband called the head office and went personally and picked up his package. K3 visa in the back of his passport, along with 2 sealed envelopes that he is not to open, which is for the IO at the port of entry.

I feel like this is surreal, like it's a dream that I will wake up from......we're looking towards him flying in on the 28th, which is exactly one day short of being a year since I flew in to Cairo.

I'm so excited to see him and start our life together.

Jackie-------any news??

Yay emily!!!!! Congratulations!! Mabrook...that is wonderful news. Wow...that is exciting.

Just about 25 days until our interview! Tick tock.

Amanda

THANKS!!!

Don't worry about his interview, I'm sure he'll do fine. I say that just because from looking at your wedding pics and everything, it really looks like you guys have got it together, and I'm sure you will spend lots of time preparing him for his interview. My last phone bill was $1200 because of all the hours we spent on the phone going over his applications and practicing question and answer sessions together....but it paid off. My husband was very prepared at his interview, and the CO didn't even keep any of our proof. Then she called me 2 weeks later and did a phone interview with me, and I honestly think that is what expedited our case, that little personal touch that she showed us. If I can be of any help, just let me know. Different consulate, but still dealing with the U.S.

My husband got his visa today!!!!!!!!!

His interview was April 23, they did not keep his passport, and they called him last Wednesday to send it. He got it back today, VISA IN HAND!!!!

Very short AP from Cairo.

I have GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

My husband got his visa today!!!

There was a big screw up with DHL, they lied and said they tried to deliver it to his home, but really didn't, so my husband called the head office and went personally and picked up his package. K3 visa in the back of his passport, along with 2 sealed envelopes that he is not to open, which is for the IO at the port of entry.

I feel like this is surreal, like it's a dream that I will wake up from......we're looking towards him flying in on the 28th, which is exactly one day short of being a year since I flew in to Cairo.

I'm so excited to see him and start our life together.

Jackie-------any news??

Hi everyone--

I checked the DHL tracking and it appears that my husband's passport is on its way back to him and I think he will receive it tomorrow morning!!!!

I'm so excited, because that means that maybe next week he will be here with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dec 31, 2009

...stilll no visa in hand...they asked for his passport 2 weeks ago and now say still under review.

jJ

OHHH that stinks.....I had a feeling I might be feeling prematurely excited when they called my husband for his passport. I was under the assumption that meant they were ready to issue the visa....did they give you any idea of how long it will be before they give it to him?

Someone said I am one of the lucky ones, and maybe so far my husband and I HAVE been lucky....no RFE's, a personal call from the CO....BUT--I will feel lucky when my husband not only has his visa in hand, but when I pick him up at the airport. I've become really nervous all the sudden about these next few steps, and he's stressing me out with "how much time do you think the embassy will take to send back my passport?" LOL

I tell him that they must be ready to issue his visa or they would have waited longer before they called him to send it, and to please RELAX. The stress is killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jackie--------did your husband decide when he's coming? I don't see any updates from you about that...

Emily

Hi everyone,

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport!! They said they will send it back to him with his visa in 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!!

That sounds like some pretty positive news for you guys...

Thanks, we're really excited. T

his has been a long road for us, and very challenging at times. I feel I have aged 5 years in the last year (sigh). But isn't it funny how when we find the person we are supposed to be with, we will do anything it takes?

I was checking out your timeline, and it looks like your case has moved pretty fast. I bet your fiancee won't be in AP very long. She's a girl, and not from the middle east or anything. It's hard to wait through all this, but I think you will hear something soon. To be honest, I'm very surprised my husband got a call this quick. We were expecting to wait months in AP, and it's only been 3 weeks. I've only called DOS once. But I also got a call last week from the CO that interviewed my husband, so I've had a good feeling for a week now.

Hope you hear something soon

Thanks very much for the well wishes.

I never thought about getting hit with this AP thing when we went for our interview in Bogota, Colombia April 29th.

I even flew from Los Angeles to be there, thinking that would eliminate any potential problems for sure... In looking at all the people in this forum- and other AP related threads here- almost all case do seem to be from the Middle East area, as you mention, where AP seems quite common for lots of folks. I guess AP is AP, but I feel kinda lonely not seeing any other people from Latin American countries going through this!!!

Joe

I'm sure your AP is just for final document review and for the U.S. side of things just getting her security clearances. I can't imagine that it will take much time for that. I think the security clearances are mandatory now no matter what country the person is from.

Emily

Hi everyone,

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport!! They said they will send it back to him with his visa in 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!!

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

Very happy and excited for the both of you

peace

~kris

Thank you so much. Looks like your journey is coming to an end too!!! It's about time!

OK everyone I have NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport and said that they will send it back to him with his visa within 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!

I'm so excited, but now I gotta figure out what airline to use.......he wants to fly direct EgyptAir to JFK, then connect to Tulsa, but I don't know how to go about this.........

Any thoughts?

Congrats Emily!

He can contact EgyptAir himself there in Egypt...it would be much easier for him to arrange the flight and connections, etc. We used British Airways...but they connect in London and then direct to Phoenix. So only one connection....its a great airline. Not sure how that would work for Tulsa. (personally I hate EgyptAir...it was a horrible experience that I will never repeat again...no matter what the cost! LOL )

I flew EgyptAir from London to Cairo and didn't have any problems, but my husband has never flown before....he wanted a direct flight into the US. I'm hoping that he can just go to the airline there and get everything arranged, from Cairo to Tulsa, and pay cash. I can't use my debit card, since I am not one of the passengers, and they will ask for the cardholder's id. What was your experience with EgyptAir?

By the way...I've been meaning to tell you....your babies are ADORABLE, absolutely darling. I can't wait to start a family with my husband.

Awww...thank you! They are so much fun and its amazing how time has flown...they are turning 1 year soon.

As for EgyptAir...The people working on the plane were pleasant but first, I was shocked at how crappy the plane was and smelly (I could smell cigarette smoke but then again I was 5 months pregnant...I could smell everything...yuck!). The seats were less roomy and pretty crappy was well as compared to BritishAirways, US planes, Royal Jordanian and a few others. After all this, they lost my luggage *ugghh* and it took them 1 week to actually find it and get it to me. So I was less than happy with the experience. But mostly, if I'm paying good money for a long flight such as that...I expect my own can of soda not a dixie cup out of a two liter ( ), clean seats and bathrooms. It was a mess in my opinion...maybe I just had a crew that had a bad day!

Well here's my problem: I'm going to have to send him the money to buy the ticket, so I need to find out how much to send, but Egypt Air only gets him to New York. I'm hoping that if he goes direct to the airline office there in Cairo, he can get set up for his whole trip, all the way to Tulsa. Surely they can...it's an airline for cryin out loud!!

How has your husband adjusted to the U.S.?

Hi everyone,

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport!! They said they will send it back to him with his visa in 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!!

That sounds like some pretty positive news for you guys...

Thanks, we're really excited. T

his has been a long road for us, and very challenging at times. I feel I have aged 5 years in the last year (sigh). But isn't it funny how when we find the person we are supposed to be with, we will do anything it takes?

I was checking out your timeline, and it looks like your case has moved pretty fast. I bet your fiancee won't be in AP very long. She's a girl, and not from the middle east or anything. It's hard to wait through all this, but I think you will hear something soon. To be honest, I'm very surprised my husband got a call this quick. We were expecting to wait months in AP, and it's only been 3 weeks. I've only called DOS once. But I also got a call last week from the CO that interviewed my husband, so I've had a good feeling for a week now.

Hope you hear something soon

OK everyone I have NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport and said that they will send it back to him with his visa within 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!

I'm so excited, but now I gotta figure out what airline to use.......he wants to fly direct EgyptAir to JFK, then connect to Tulsa, but I don't know how to go about this.........

Any thoughts?

Congrats Emily!

He can contact EgyptAir himself there in Egypt...it would be much easier for him to arrange the flight and connections, etc. We used British Airways...but they connect in London and then direct to Phoenix. So only one connection....its a great airline. Not sure how that would work for Tulsa. (personally I hate EgyptAir...it was a horrible experience that I will never repeat again...no matter what the cost! LOL )

I flew EgyptAir from London to Cairo and didn't have any problems, but my husband has never flown before....he wanted a direct flight into the US. I'm hoping that he can just go to the airline there and get everything arranged, from Cairo to Tulsa, and pay cash. I can't use my debit card, since I am not one of the passengers, and they will ask for the cardholder's id. What was your experience with EgyptAir?

By the way...I've been meaning to tell you....your babies are ADORABLE, absolutely darling. I can't wait to start a family with my husband.

OK everyone I have NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport and said that they will send it back to him with his visa within 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!

I'm so excited, but now I gotta figure out what airline to use.......he wants to fly direct EgyptAir to JFK, then connect to Tulsa, but I don't know how to go about this.........

Any thoughts?

Hi everyone,

The consulate called my husband today and told him to send his passport!! They said they will send it back to him with his visa in 1 to 2 weeks!!!!!!

I'm here too, just dealing with the lousy weather here in OK. It's been raining for like 2 weeks straight.

My husband has been sooooo depressed the last few days, and it's awful because I can't do anything to make him feel better. We just have to wait, and that's the hardest thing right now.

I'm happy I got that call from the CO last week, but that doesn't do anything to speed up the AP.

HOT GUY,

Our case is at the consulate, but all the security checks are done from the United States side, then they sent the security clearances back to the consulate, then the consulate will contact him to send his passport.

All cases remain at the consulate after the interview during administrative processing UNLESS the consulate feels that your case is fraud, THEN they might send it back to the U.S. and request that USCIS revoke the petition, but I think that doesn't happen that often and only certain consualtes are more famous than others for doing that. I don't think Cairo does that very much.

Try to relax and try to be patient. They will contact you as soon as your name clears the final background checks.

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

Here is a pic of me after the 2 tons of makeup & fake hair

you look like Nancy Arjam!

Awww....you are so sweet!!! Maybe just in the eyes...its that Arabic eyeliner!

Really nice pictures...you are a very nice looking couple, look perfect together.

hey everyone !!

my husband just got his passport back with no visa and a letter saying :

"Please bear with us while ur case undergoes mandatory administrative processing. We will contact you as soon as this process has been completed."

im very sad this is a livign nightmare....

I know you are disappointed. I can only imagine how my husband and I would feel in the same situation.

It probably just means that it's taking longer than what they anticipated and they didn't want to hang on to his passport in the meantime. For all you know they could contact him next week and tell him to send it back!!! There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this madness.....

At least we all are in the same boat, just dealing with different consulates, but all still is the UNITED STATES. I know this is a terrible thing to say, but it makes me not feel so proud to live in a place that claims to welcome immigrants but puts them through so much misery and stress just to step on the soil here. It's not all it's cracked up to be.......no other country is this difficult to enter.

you can consider AP as pretty much "pending".. they can still deny you based off of the regular reasons (evidence of bonafide relationship and others).. they are just supposedly doing security/background/name checks on you..

Ok talking about doing security background and name checks i wonder if the do that in USA or in Egypt ( I'm Egyptian ) .

and if they do that in USA i thought that they already did that before maybe at the NVC or USCIS level .

and if they do that in Egypt . they already have a police record of me saying i am clean and i did not do anything wrong .

so can you tell me more about that security background and name checks.

Thank you so much

Some security checks they do there locally for you (Egypt), but they can verify that pretty fast, with your police certificates. The fingerprints come back the same day as your interview. Then they send your name via electronic cable to Washington DC, where it goes thru approximately 3 databases: Condor, Mantis, and IBIS, and they each take a certain amount of time. These systems will automatically put your name in all different ways and spellings. They are trying to see if your name gets a "hit". Doesn't mean you are a terrorist or criminal, but maybe another person in the world has the same name as you, or a close variation, and maybe that person DOES have a criminal record or is on a terrorist "watch list". Then an actual person has to pull files and research the names in order to see that you are not that person. THAT is what can take a long time. So for all the people that get stuck in AP for months on end, this is most likely why. Government officials are having to manually sort through files in order to clear your name. It's unfortunate, and the more common your name is, the stronger possibility you will have a longer wait. When everything is clear, and they have determined that your name is clear, then they send the info electronically back to the consulate, stating the gov has no objection to the issuance of a visa. Then it's up to the CO to be fast about requesting your passport and finalizing everything.

Hope this helps.

Congrats, Emily. I wish all COs would interview both beneficiary and petitioners, especially when the petitioner wasn't able to come to the interview. Good luck, and I hope he gets his visa soon!!!

Thank you!!! I really feel alot better about our case now. At least I know that we didn't do anything wrong at the embassy level. She told me all we are waiting on now is the security checks to come thru and that the Consulate has no control over that. It's on Washington's time.

I hope you get your situation straightened out. I can't imagine how you must feel.