I+H

Thank you so much! If he gets out of AP in the next month I will feel like I've won the lotto! Yes, it's a bummer that name hits can cause AP. My fiance's middle name is Mohammad so it's scary to think how long it will take them to process our case Khan is also quite common, like you said many names are common from Pakistan.

Wow we're doin' great with names!!!! Mohammad, Khan! I have a Hussain!

Congratulations!!!!

We wish you both the best!!!!

I got my NOA1 text pretty late too. No worries.

Congratulations!!!

Calm down! Take a deep breath! Not to worry, you still have some time. I know it is overwhelming, but just breath

Try this link out

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Mexico&cty=Juarez

This is the only consulate I could find for Mexico, so I am assuming this is yours. If not go to the Embassy Info tab and find your embassy. All the information you should need will be found there. If not hopefully someone will come along here that has more experience with your country.

I wish you the best!

It is so refreshing to see posts that are truly trying to help someone with good information and not trying to cause more pain for the person posting the topic. It makes me believe in human kindness again.

This is a very stressful process because we think we have no control. Remember that we do have control over our own stress and in keeping the faith. I noticed I started losing faith and getting more stressed after the 4th month, and I completely lost it after the 5th month date. But then I realized something. I was letting my own fears control me. My husband and I have decided to stay calm and positive, and we are putting all our energy into getting him to America no matter how long it takes.

We are doing so much better now. Everyday that passes is one more day closer to him coming to America.

Hang in there. Do not even think of AP. Take it one step at a time. You can get through anything if you stay in control.

I completely agree with you, but I am sure you know just as all of us do that it is easier said than done. But people like yourself and others here make it easier for us all. Having a place where we can vent and talk to people dealing with the same things we are is really helpful. I have noticed since I have started going through this process that no one in my family or in my circle of friends (with the exception of 1) knows how this feels and the standard, "I know how it feels" or "It'll be ok" just doesn't cut it, because a lot of people really do not know how we feel. But people here do. And for that I am grateful.

My fears have started to control me. I am misreble all the time. I thought once we got the NOA2 it was smooth sailing from there, but I was wrong, it feels worse and with the interview coming up and with my new found knowledge of the dreaded AP, my happiness has turned into pure dread. I have to say though reading others posts and getting feedback from others has made this somewhat bearable.

hi I+H, try to relax. ok?

from what I understand in your thread, AP in Pakistan is no different from the usual K1 visa processing in the Phils. pls don't just rely on the number of successful females from the Philippines that are able to get approved. do review the timeline as well. for example, the average wait for an NOA1 is about 6-8mos. that just NOA1 alone. one has to wait for another month or so before NOA2 arrives. if there's no RFE, good. otherwise, that would constitute another period of waiting. and so on and so forth. so from USCIS to US Embassy in Pakistan, what was your waiting time???

also consider, the size of the embassy in Pakistan and its diplomatic relations. even if the staff is efficient, how much cooperation is it getting from Pakistani government as far as security screening is concerned? with the ongoing terrorist threat, only heaven knows what's going on out there.

by the way, I used to work for an embassy in the Philippines. I was told that my boss who used to handle Administration, also had to handle Consular section in Pakistan coz nobody wants to get posted there! do u have any idea how difficult it is to work in a non-English speaking environment?! goodness gracious... you probably need to do body language.

hey, your already waiting for your visa interview in 2mos time. that's great! some Filipina women don't even know what's going. you know what these Filipinas did to lower down their tension??? they COMMUNICATED and compared notes. to those who did their homework right, bravo! to those who didn't even check their notes, sorry.

my Filipina best friend is a teacher in the Philippines. she was denied K1 the first time due to lack of proof of relationship. we weren't aware of visajourney.com back then. both my friend and her beau are religious, hence they don't have 'sweet' posed pictures. too bad she can't tell the Consul that they had a PhP 500,000.00 mock wedding.

lastly, I wish to inform you that I am a Filipina too and the first time my fiance applied for K1 visa in 2007 - USCIS informed my fiance that our paperwork was LOST. as simple as that! my fiance filed again in 2009. same thing, our paperwork got lost. but this time, we were prepared and re-sent EVERYTHING to USCIS faster than a speeding bullet. I arrived in US soil in Sep 2010.

so if you're still nerve-racked after reading this, you probably need to see a doctor and request for some medication that would make you feel relaxed. kudos!

Thank you for the info I apreciate it. My fiances interview is actually in the united arab emirates hence the reference to philipino women. Many of the cases at the embassy are either from MENA countries or the Philippines which I am sure is do to the high expatriate population in the UAE and I was only pointing out that Philipino women are fortunate enough to be approved with no problems in the UAE while others being prominately from MENA countries are being stuck into AP. I know it could of came off as offensive but it was not intended that way. I appreciate all of your advice and I have begun to consider mediction! Lol

Waiting it out would seem far preferable, the big picture considered, to moving there. Yes, AP (in my case, 221g) is not fun. Regardless, do one small thing every few days to prepare the house -- it'll be therapeutic for you, trust me. Should lightning strike and you have short or even no AP, you don't want to be caught flat-footed.

In regard to the poster above, my general understanding is that the London embassy is easy on natives but VERY thorough when it comes to out-of-country applicants (not just Middle Easterners). More information will be available in the UK regional subforum, si man.

I think your right. I should do a little at least. We have decided to get letters from family and friends to sho our relationship is real and hopefully allow the co to see us as a couple.

About the other post, do you think the long wait is unique to london? They are just super cautious over there. I feel terrible for that couple. :'(

My fiance and I are currently going through this ourselves and I wish we had known about AP beforehand so we could have been prepared. I didn't join this site till a few months ago and have learned a lot since. Like you my fiance is of Pakistani heritage but born and raised somewhere else(London). He too has never spent much time in Pakistan and last time he visited family there was years ago. We are now on our 7th month of AP. I have been preparing myself for a longer wait and if he gets his visa before the year is over I'll be thrilled because I have seen people online that were in it for years.

There is absolutely no way to determine how long your fiance would be in AP. That is the worst part of it all. You can't do anything to make sense of it and can only wait. I hope you get lucky, but chances are with current events what they are we are going to wait even longer.

Hang in there and know that you are not alone...

Thank you for sharing your story with me. I am so sorry you are having to go through this. Have you considered moving to London to be with your fiance?

I wish you the best and hope your AP ends soon.

i think so,AP is nothing back more background checks.

im not qualified to comment on AP tho,since iranians dont have their own embassy and our process is a bit different.nearly everyone here goes through ap,its like a fixed thing

That is terrible! Which embassy will you be going through? I assume that you have been aware of this AP stuff since you started the whole K-1 process.

I just found out about it and that is why I am totally freakin' out! Once we got the NOA2 it was time to plan how we were going to start our lives, set a wedding date and finalize plans. I even was planning how I was going to reorganize the house just to make room, but I don't want to do any of that now. I have become so negative about this whole process. I'm not even excited for the interview any more, I just want to talk about our backup plan when AP takes too long. I'm more interested in making plans to live there than here.

Sorry, just needed to vent urrghhhh

5 months minus 1 week and the email arrived.

Sorry but I got to do my happy dance now

Congratulations!!! We wish you both the best!!! :dance:

Just seems to be a weird comparison as both countries cannot be compared. And yes, I have been to Dubai, I visited my cousin who is a flight attendant for Emirates. Dubai is beautiful.

Well anyway, goodluck on your interview!

No they cannot be compared. Those from MENA countries definatly have a disadvantage at the consulate. Dubai is beautiful. Lucky for your cousin too! I heard emirates is a great company to work for.

Thank you for the well wishes and congratulations on your recent wedding!

It is an observation and appears to be a fact. It seems that the majority of recent approvals have been philipino females. Those coming from MENA countries are being held up in AP. Have you ever been to the Emirates?

to give yyou an idea of how uncommon it is,according to an iranian who went through ankara embassy,out of all the people they went through in one day only 2 got their visa without AP and both of them were women.

it can take anywhere from 2 months to less than a year,i wouldnt say years,but your fiance is from another country living in another country other than his birth place,so its really hard to guess.

my guess is it wont be a blackhole because your embassy is very well organized one

No no no, my fiances birthplace is the emirates. He has lived there his whole life and been to pakistan for no more than 2 months at a time. Does that make a difference?

And no one has an idea how long? Best guess, anything?

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/307547-applying-for-k1-visa-for-fiance-in-pakistan/

These are the posts that give me hope. There are great points. And as you can see I began very optimistic! Lol! Also again if you look at interview results for some of these countries, not every single one is put on ap. Im accepting that ap will just become a part of this but now I wonde how ling????

THANK YOU GOD AND THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR GIVING COMFORT AND FEELING I'M NOT ALONE IN MY WAIT......

I HAD SAME REACTION - I COULDN'T BELEIVE IT I EVEN CHECKED PAPER COPY THAT NUMBER IS SAME ....

I DIDN'T GET EMAIL YET BUT CASE IS UPDATED ON WEBSITE....

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE IN WAIT.....

CONGRATULATIONS!!! We wish you the best of luck!!!!

Congratulations!!!!

We wish you both the best of luck!!!!

AP is usually months rather than years.

I have never heard of a case like this not involving AP. Who said otherwise?

It takes as long as it takes, there is no way of knowing how long his case will take.

There was another thread in this forum about someone bringing their fiance from Pakistan and that was where I got the info that it was not necessarily true we would be up for AP.

And what exactly do you mean by a case like this?

I have seen people from some of these countries that were not put on AP myself. Have a look at Pakistan's consulate and some of the others. Many do get put on AP, but not every single one.

I am trying to remain somewhat optimistic here. Can you blame me?

It's extremely common, and should be expected, that a male Middle Easterner (Muslim, one presumes) would be placed on AP.

In general, it can be folly of the highest order to "presume" issuance of a visa. Anything can happen. In this situation, I would suggest that you plan nothing in advance except to go home afterwards and wait it out. If you're pleasantly surprised by a positive result at the interview, the making of whirlwind travel arrangements will be a joy for you.

And if we are put on AP, what is your advice? It appears accourding to your signature that you had some issues with your own consulate. How long should we wait before we decide it is best for us to move there?

Some say yes and some say no. You guys all say yes, geeezz. Anyone know how long it lasts on average? Just don't want to get stuck in the "blackhole" of AP.

You can also try and track it through DHL!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/127513-dhl-tracking-from-nvc-to-us-consulate/

Good luck!

I don't think you need to mention any of that in your petition. But if they ask at the interview, you should tell the truth.

Best of luck to you both!

Sorry you have to go through this. Just know that it shouldn't be much longer and it will be all worth it in the end.

We wish you both the best!

Well then have faith in him and your love for each other. You are imagining the worst, I know it, I have run across it way too many times, But the worst happening is usually pretty rare, Why you're so convinced you'll be in AP is beyond me. But you have no choice, what will be will be, and you will get thru whatever happens.

I'm just worried that's all. Thanks for your help. We have worked so hard and I just do not want to see it all go down the drain. And I know no matter what he and I will make it, even if we have to move there. Shouldn't have posted a new thread, I'll probably get some downer answers now that you made me feel better.