patti1315

My husband and I were married in Cairo, Egypt June 9, 2003. We filed the I-130 and the I-129F soon after at that embassy. It took the embassy 11 months to inform us that the I-129F could not be considered there. Now our papers have been sent to Athens, Greece with the intent to deny our visa. The reason they give are so flimsy. First is that I am 10 years older than him.....then they say he gave an incorrect phone number of his sister....she had moved....they even say the witnesses on our marriage license was his nephew......all they need to do is read the certificate to see who the witnesses are. Anyway, we now have 90 (actually about 75 now) days to prove to the embassy that we married for love. Please someone tell me how to prove love? How does one go about proving how thier hearts feel? We have so many things to substanciate our marriage....pictures...emails...phone bills....letters from both familes giving blessings.....gifts...plane tickets for when I visited him 3 times. Does anyone have anything else to offer that would help us? I pray everyday for all...thank you for you help

sdmansour

Before addressing all of your evidence questions, please tell me again where you filed the I-130 and where you filed the I-129F? It may be a jurisdictional issue rather than an evidence issue.

Debbie (whose husband is also Egyptian and has received his visa through Cairo)

Hebapotamus42

This is strange. I was also married in Cairo on 6/9/03. Yes, the I-129f is pointless if you already have an immigrant visa petition at the consulate. Were you interviewed for the I-130? If yes, what did they tell you at the time? Don't be upset about them taking 11 months to tell you something, that's just the way they are. I don't see how having a nephew as a witness to your marriage is a bad thing. I'd see it as a good thing becaue it means your husband's family knows of the marriage and approves of it. Anyway you have to give us more detail abut what happened in the interval between filing the petition and getting informed that it's being sent to Athens

patti1315

We did have our petition interview on Dec. 14 2003.....the letter I recieved said 'visa' petition. Anyway, all they asked was if I had been married before..I said yes, and produced the divorce in Arabic and English. They asked if I had children, I said yes. Then the woman said ok, we will let Mohamed know in a month or two about his final interview. We kept emailing the embassy and I even emailed my congressman to see if this could be completed. Mohamed said an invetigator did come to speak with him.....and called him once on his mobile phone. I would email the congressman and the embassy every week to find status. All we would get back as a reply was.....the petition is undergoing administrative process. Then I got an email informing us of our final interview. Two hours later, I got another email from the embassy saying it was a mistake. Wrong man. Unreal. Finally I got an email telling us our petition was being sent to Athens. So I emailed Athens. They had no record of the petition ever getting to them. Two weeks after that I recieved the letter from Athens saying it was thier intent to deny the visa. In the letter they stated many things that can be proven as wrong. For instance, his nephew is only 14, he could not be the witness at the wedding. All they have to do is read the marriage license to see whom signed it. They said we stated his family was at our wedding reception, but they did not find that to be true. We took a cruise on a ship in Cairo...we have many pictures of his family with both of us. They stated they asked the security man at our home in Alexandria if he knew of us....they said the man told him no, that Mohamed had never lived at that address. Unbelievable. We questioned the guard and he said he told them yes, Mohamed and a woman with light hair and skin had been there to live. We have the guard's written statement. Another point they tell me is because I am 14 years older that it is 'shameful' for an Egyptian. If his family or mine does not have a problem with this, why would anyone? That is it, those are the only reasons they give for intention of denial. As it sits, we have many many pictures, emails from 2001, phone bills, letters from both families giving blessings, plane tickets, my passport showing I've been there 3 times, letters and cards via snail mail.......I have tried to put Mohamed on my mortgage but until he has a social security number they will not allow this. I just don't know how to prove love. I asked the congressman how he could prove he loves his wife and his reply was.....fortunatly I don't have to. I am more than willing to go to Egypt again for the final interview. I can't just go now and wait as I do have obligations here in NY...home, vehicle, job, etc. Any advice is so gratefully accepted. My personal email is [email protected]. Anyone please feel free to use it at any time. If my experience helps even one person, then going through this will have been worth it. God bless all...

patti1315

I am so sad for you. You've had your interview and still have not heard. How very frustrating. I just want to be with my husband. I will produce any piece of paper, will answer any question they ask to do this. We honestly married for love. We talked online for almost 2 years before we decided to meet. The first time I went to Egypt we did not marry, we just go to know each other and knew it was 'it'. So we share an anniversary huh? When was the last time you were together? Being apart is so difficult. Thank goodness for the internet and webcams!!!

meauxna

Patti:
Did you file form I-130 at the Consulate in Cairo?
Did you file the I-130 to an address in the United States? If yes, which one?

Did you ever successfully file a petition I-120 anywhere?

sdmansour: it looks at first blush like a DCF (what about her residency?), which would explain it going to Athens. I wonder how they would do with a peition approved through Vermont?

sdmansour

I agree with you meauxna, it looks like a DCF but why the 129F? and why the 129F through Cairo? My understanding all along has been that the 129F follows the filing of the 130 stateside for either the K1 or K3 visa. Maybe it's worth a shot and this time with the aid of an attorney who can "package it" so that there's not the aroma of fraud.

Patti, one thing you need to remember in Cairo is not the "innocent until proven guilty" but "denial until you can completely satisfy them that this is on the up and up". One thing that you didn't mention earlier is whether or not your husband has been married before...sometimes this presents a red flag for them too, especially if there are small children involved. The age difference makes no difference - they may try to make it an issue but I know of another woman who is 25 years her husband's senior and he got his visa and he is here now.

My advice to you at this point is to sit down with a professional who can help you make sense of all this and perhaps can either salvage the existing petition or start again with all of your evidence "ducks in a row".

Debbie

jg1012002

My fiancee and I were also denied due to the age issue. I was so naive when we started our process -- I never thought age was an issue (I am 10 years older than him). After consulting with an attorney (after they denied his fiancee visa with no reason given at all), we changed our embassy, married in another country, was drilled for 3 hours in the new embassy, but he was given the visa -- so it all worked out. I suggest you talk with an attorney and let the attorney handle Greece. The attorneys can normally straighten out the errors and the visa will be eventually be issued. Just takes time and patience on both parts.

Good luck!
JG

meauxna

Hi Debbie,
I think that our OP was confused (as many of us are) about the K3. I know when I started, I thought the K3 would be ther result because people call it the 'spouse visa'. Patti may have taken the I-130 and I-129 both to the Consulate, where of course they only accepted the I-130.

Becasue of the 'clearly aprovable' language that gets bounced around, it may be that she never should've attempted to have the CO accept that I-130; she may be better off with one filed in the US.

Or, we can just sit around speculating til the cows come home, or til Patti shows up again

PS: you understood the K3 perfectly, an I-129 would be filed in the US, following a US-filed I-130

NKA418

Hi Patti,

My husband is also from Egypt. All of us from the "Cairo club" know how frustrating it can be to deal with them. I agree with a pp that you should probably contact an attorney at this juncture to help straighten things out. My husband and I were separated for more than a year so trust me I know how agonizing this can be.

Hopefully the two of you can straighten this all out and be together soon enough.

Na'imah

USA & Pakistan

I just want to put in some positive wishes for you. I also agree with the advice to have an attorney take a look at the paperwork to help straiten things out. Good luck!

Marnee

patti1315

We were actually told by a consulate in Cairo that we could file both the I-130 and the I-129F at the same time. How wrong they were.....and we did not find out for a full year that we could not do that. I'm trying to put together some kind of timeline.....because we did file in Cairo, my husband has most all the paperwork, we thought he would need it for his final interview, but now I am waiting for all of it to come to me by mail, so I can send all the evidence I can come up with to Athens for consideration. No, Mohamed has never been married before, and no, there are no children. We thought because we were given a case number that the petition was approved. Nope!!!!! Mohamed has a brother that lives here in the states on a work visa. He is a doctor in New York City....he has found a lawyer there and we are working with him. I'm not sure if we can re-file. Do we just stop this petition and start all over, with me submitting all forms here in the states? Will all that take yet another year? I love him so much. I know it's true or neither one of us would have waited a year. We have not touched since Dec. 21 2003. It is so wonderful to have a forum of those that understand. My family does not....they think something must be wrong. Mohamed owns a company in Egypt called PCLand....he never has even had a speeding ticket. He has 8 years of college....and is well known in his community. Again, thank you for any and all support, thoughts and ideas.

patti1315

Yes this was a DCF......the instructions for the I-129 said it had to be filed in the country where we were married.....Cairo.I have contacted my congressman on many many occasions...and have found we can not file the I-129F now. Because of the intent to deny letter, we have 90 days to prove our marriage is valid. Well about 70 now. I am in the process of gathering any and all proof that we have been talking since 2001.....I am praying the lawyer Mohamed's brother has talked to in New York City will be able to help. Again, thank you so much for your consideration and help.

sdmansour

Patti,

This case sounds so familiar...by chance does your husband live in Alex?

SOLIMAN56

Hello
i am egyptian husband married usc .and we almost have teh same problem
regarding sending our case to athens from the usa embassy in cairo .to
see a lawyer is good but before you have to collect proofs .the athens
office have those kind of letters ready printed and what i see that you
case transfered there as the officer in egypt felt doubts about te
marriage.

i like to know you case number if u like

best regards

======================================

USA & Pakistan wrote:
    > > Hi Patti,
    > >
    > > My husband is also from Egypt. All of us from the "Cairo club"
know
    > > how frustrating it can be to deal with them. I agree with a pp
that
    > > you should probably contact an attorney at this juncture to help
    > > straighten things out. My husband and I were separated for more
than
    > > a year so trust me I know how agonizing this can be.
    > >
    > > Hopefully the two of you can straighten this all out and be
together
    > > soon enough.
    > >
    > > Na'imah
    > I just want to put in some positive wishes for you. I also agree
with
    > the advice to have an attorney take a look at the paperwork to help
    > straiten things out. Good luck!
    >
    > :)Marnee
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com