All_Smiles

This is my first post here. I really appreciate how everyone helps each other through this process that can be quite painful! My situation is particular and could use some advice from you:

I'm an American born citizen - and American resident; My fiancee is a Chinese citizen. We both planning on going to Cairo to study for 1 year beginning in June. We will both be on student visas. Upon arrival we will marry.

What is the best way to be back in the United States within 1 year?

Is DCF an option? ( I read somewhere that there is a 6 month residency requirement) If so do you think we could establish residency and then do DCF?

Or is K3 clearly the only option?

I'd appreciate any comments / help!

~D

Khadija

Personally, as one going through Cairo, I would not recommend it if you can choose another Consulate. Also, there are requirements of the Egyptian government for getting married in Egypt. You'd have to check that out, too. I know what they are for a USC and an Egyptian national but I don't know what it would be for two parties neither of whom are Egyptian.

On a lighter note, you'll love Egypt!

Patty Khadijah

Hebapotamus42

For DCF, the beneficiary must be a resident of Egypt for at least 6 months. I don't know how residency is established. But I'm with Patty on this. If you can utilize a consulate other than Cairo, that would be better. Where are you two currently living?

All_Smiles

thanks for the reply guys...

some details: im currently living in Cali; she's in China.
im a chinese muslim USC; she's a chinese muslim Chinese citizen - categorized as muslim by the chinese gov't. ive studied in egypt before for half a year; i am proficient in arabic; she's fluent. ive been through some of the red tape in Cairo before and read about their marriage procedures so I know how much of a drag doing some of these things can be - 3rd world style - things expedited only by rishwa. i do have native egyptian friends there that can help me get egyptian things done, like marriage certificate, translation of documents, etc.

main issue at hand is that we want to be studying for this one year in cairo. the only other option i see is to marry in china (since im going to go there in two months) and have her do k3 in guanzhou in china but i dont like that option since it requires her to come to cairo and eventually return to guanzhou when her interview comes up..

patty, i know that you've had some trouble with the consulate in Cairo and i hope the best for you. but it just seems like a matter of lesser of two evils... and i dont think china consulate is any better. do you guys agree with the assessment?

on an unrelated note, does the fact that we're muslim and gonna be studying at al-azhar and that I've travelled through arab countries - lebanon, syria, jordan - (she hasn't travelled anywhere before) complicate and lengthen the security check process?

Khadija

Boy, first let me say I'm a little jealous you're able to spend so much time in Egypt...and that you're proficient in Arabic!!

I guess from what you describe it would be a "horse a piece" as far as Consulates. Between your travels throughout the Middle East and her country of origin, I gather you're in for many levels of scrutiny either way before you're eventually approved. At least if you go the Egyptian route, you'll be rewarded with the green card at the end of the day and don't have to deal with AOS once you two move to the States. In general, the Cairo Consulate isn't bad - but beware of the Consular Officer assigned to my husband's interview/case - she carries a grudge for just about everyone wanting to immigrate.

I still think you need to be absolutely sure two foreign nationals can be married in Egypt. You'd hate to find out this was not possible after your trip to China. Assuming you can get married there and you'll be there long enough to satisfy the residency requirements in order to do DCF, it can't be any worse than going through Guanzhou and having the added expense of a trip back to China in the middle of your studies.

If you don't think you'd meet the residency requirements, another option would be for you to get married in Cairo but file a K3 - assuming you have someone back home who can mail in the I-130 and I-129F applications that is. You would have to have all the forms with you, complete them and then FedEx them back to CA where, presumably, a friend could mail for you. You would also need this friend to check your mail (I'm assuming you'll have a US address while you're in Egypt) so you could eventually get the hard copy notices from the CSC and NBC.

Al Azhar - that's my husband's alma mater!! His degree is in Islamic History/Culture. You're lucky. I know how proud my husband is to have graduated from this university!

Patty Khadijah

jeffreyhy

Heb,

Beneficiary or Petitioner?

If you intended to say petitioner's residency, which is what we usually think about when talking about DCF, you nevertheless raise an interesting point - would the consulate in Cairo entertain acting on a petition for a beneficiary who is not an Egyptian national (i.e. who is a complete unknown to them) or would they send it on to the CIS in the USA for processing....

Regards, JEff

Khadija

Good point, JEff. The beneficiary in this case will be a Chinese national living in Egypt for at least six months. I suspect DCF was designed for those USCs living in a foreign country and marrying a national of that particular country. Certainly something to be investigated before they embark on this journey.

P

Hebapotamus42

Smiles,

I would think that going thru the consulate in Cairo wouldn't be worse than going thru it the consulate in China. I think though that Chinese citizens get an extra security heck done, but I'm not sure. You should email the consulate and ask them about DCF with reference to how the residency requirement can be met. I don't know how two foreign nationals would get married in Egypt, though. I would guess that you would have to do it at the ministry of justice, but you would have to ask the consulate about that too since you might have to get a license from the consulate before you can get married. You might also want to ask the Chinese consulate if your fiancee would have to get any sort of license or permission to marry in Egypt. Don't waste any time getting married. You want to get everything finished in the year you are going to spend there. http://www.usembassy.egnet.net/consular.htm

Hebapotamus42

JEff,

I'm sure it's the beneficiary who is subject to the residency requirement. I've gone over it several times with the consulate because I had been considering filing DCF. I don't even have to physically be there when submitting the petition.

All_Smiles

Thanks for everyone's input. I'll definitely confirm that foreign nationals can get married there before I move forward with anything. I'll have to gather up these questions (i.e. can two foreign nationals do a DCF) and contact the American Consulate in Cairo.

from us embassy cairo website:
. "4. A no-objection statement from the parties' Embassies. NOTE: This is a formality required by the Egyptian government. It does not guarantee that the U.S. Embassy will issue an immigrant visa to an alien spouse. "

so i'd have to see how difficult getting that no-objection from the chinese embassy is over there.



Do you think it'd be wise to start the K3 process upon arrival as well try for the residency requirement and then assess 6 months down the line which one is going to be faster; withdraw the other and run with the faster option?
Is that going to be really pricey?

Among my other worries is that 14 months is not enough to get us both back to the states. I'm currently doing graduate studies and am allowed to take 1 year off (+ summer). So if i can't say with a straight face / 90% confidence that I can be back with my wife within 14 months of arrival, I may have to look into different options. My school might understand and allow me to take further time off, if the K3 process taking longer than 1 year is a freak occurrence, but if it's quite common I might get a hard time from them.
What are some averages for K3 process for an American Citizen and foreign national?

One more concern to add: see what you guys think. The chinese government classifies chinese muslims as 'huay,' an ethnic minority. I have heard from family friends that the security check for these chinese muslims is particularly a drag. i dont recall if they said whether the petitioner was a citizen or if he was just a green card holder but the horror story is that they get through the whole process and past the interview but then are stuck for years on end as the US gov't conducts a security check... can anyone confirm or clarify?

Khadija

Smiles -

Check out my timeline to see how long the K3 takes with Cairo. All total, we're going on 9 months now from the time I filed to our current state of "administrative processing" We might have been able to shave a month off that if my husband and I hadn't procrastinated at a few places here and there. Ignore the long time between the filing of my I-130 and I-129F. I didn't know much about the K3 then and was simply waiting for the I-130 to be approved. You can file the K3 petition (I-129F) as soon as you get a NOA receipt from the California Service Center (CSC) for your I-130. Heba's timeline will clue you in to how quickly that can happen.

Patty Khadijah

jeffreyhy

Heb,

Thanks for the additional information.

Regards, JEff

Hebapotamus42

No problem JEff.

Smiles,

I've virtually abandoned the K3 since my I-130 has been approved. But if my husband had returned packet 3 to the consulate at the time he got it, he would very likely have had his interview by now, so I would think it would definitely take under a year. I don't think it matters how the Chinese government classifies Chinese muslims. It's the US gov't that does the security checks, not the Chinese gov't. If something is causing prolonged security checks for Chinese applicants, it won't matter where in the world you're applying because the security check is done in the same place regardless. If you file DCF before the consulate receives an approved I-129f (for K3) from the States, you won't be able to continue K3 processing.

meauxna

Patty, I don't know about that. I imagine that DCF is a service for USCs living abroad, period.
Our case was one of USC + UKC where the UKC was resident in Greece. Technically we were supposed to prove the UKCs residency, but were only asked verbally about it.
Being Cairo though, I agree with the last bit. I do think there is potential for success, if they can get the 'getting married' part accomplished.

Mrraveltay

Khadija wrote:

    > Good point, JEff. The beneficiary in this case will be a Chinese
    > national living in Egypt for at least six months. I suspect DCF was
    > designed for those USCs living in a foreign country and marrying a
    > national of that particular country. Certainly something to be
    > investigated before they embark on this journey.
    >

The decision varies by consulate. However, they generally care about
whether the person is legally a resident of that country, not whether or
not they are a native of that country.