The WTC and my Fiance
Sep 18th 2001, 6:12 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
I have been debating whether or not to broach this subject with the group, and it has
just been consuming my life for the past week, i have been to busy trying to deal
with it all to even try. but I have decided on a course of action, gotten the ball
rolling and now I am interested to hear some opinions and experiences. when I first
tried to examine how the WTC disaster and all its implications was going to effect my
fiance visa process I thought "well, now I probably shouldn't use that visa I just
got to go visit my fiance in Uzbekistan" gut I quickly realized that there could be
far more severe and profound ramifications. I fear for her safety since she is in
such close proximity to what many people expect to soon be a battle field. let me
just share with you the letter I had my local congressional INS liason pass on to the
TSC on friday .......
To: Texas INS Processing Center From: xxxxxxx RE: Expediting of K-1 visa process due
to extraordinary circumstances
The tragic events of the past week here in America have in one way or another
left their mark on everyone in our country. The ramifications of these events are
still being tallied, and will be for quite some time. I don 't know anyone who
died or was injured in the attacks, I don't even know some one who knows someone
who was directly effected, yet these events have touched my life in a profound
and troubling way. Here is why that is the case. [EDIT} , and ultimately falling
in love. We have decided to be married, and I have filed the necessary paperwork
for a K-1 visa. I am very familiar with the process by now, and I understand the
reasons why the review and approval process is such a lengthy one, but now there
is a problem. My fiance, xxxxxxx, lives in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is one of the
countries which directly borders on Afghanistan, which, as most Americans know by
now, is the focus of the government's and the military's suspicions about the
responsibility for the recent terrorist attacks. Uzbekistan, as well as
Tajikistan and Pakistan, which are also countries bordering Afghanistan, have all
offered to be part of military staging grounds for whatever action the U.S. and
it's allies might decide to take. To be rather blunt about it, my fiance's
homeland is about to become a war zone. All of the aforementioned countries,
including Uzbekistan are also predominately Muslim countries with a significant
Islamic radical presence. All it takes is a brief glance at The State Department
fact sheets for these countries to realize that they are not particularly safe
places to be, even in the best of times. I spoke this morning with the head of
the American Embassy in the capital city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan to get his first
hand opinion on the safety issues in the current political climate because my
fiance is not a Muslim, she is ethnically Russian, she is Christian, not to
mention she is engaged to an American, which I fear might be cause enough for the
type of indiscriminate violence often associated with the philosophies of Islamic
fundamentalists. xxxxx, from the embassy there said that the situation is
relatively stable at the moment (it's all relative folks) but he agreed that the
situation would become extremely unpredictable if a military campaign were to set
up shop on the neighborhood. Please be aware also that this is a part of the
world where countries are the size cities in America, and geographical proximity
is measured in quite a different scale, that is to say that any military action
will effect the entire region. And retaliatory terrorist activity and military
incursions are almost a certainty. Another problem of concern to me is that even
if it were safe for xxxxxx to stay in Uzbekistan until the K-1 process was
complete, if there is any military action in the region it is quite likely that
she would be unable to leave. I seriously doubt that there will be any commercial
flights taking to the skies if the skies are full of F-16 fighter jets. I have
heard the phrase "sustained military action" used many times on television in the
past few days, which obviously does not bode well for xxxxxx and myself if she
were to be stuck there, unable to leave. It seems a little insufficient to try
and express the gravity of this situation in writing. In talking to xxxxxxx on
the phone over the past few days she has said that she is scared, everyone is
scared. She has said she is familiar with terrorism, it happens often there. She
has said there are police and military taking to the streets by the hundreds and
warning of the potential of coming violence. She has also said that Islamic
fundamentalists have expressed their delight at the opportunity to have a holy
war to fight. It may seem unbelievable, but I think we as Americans have had to
come to terms with the unbelievable in the worst way recently. Unfortunately,
this is what life is like in some parts of the world. I honestly would not, under
any other circumstance, ask for you to alter your procedures, but this case is
extraordinary. Just please consider that this is my future wife, a future U.S.
Citizen. How would you react if it were some one you loved? Please feel free to
contact me for any additional information, or questions of any kind, and please
try to act promptly, who knows when the bombs could start falling.
My Sincerest Thanks, xxxxxx
This letter doesn't even begin to address the complexity of the situation, the list
of things my fiance tells me about the situation there gets worse everyday, but it
has gotten their attention at the INS. I spoke with the woman from my congressmans
office today and since friday my case, which has been sitting untouched for two
months, has been pushed forward, not approved, but progress has been made. I now at
least have a case number. I was told that the INS was trying to "determine the
criteria for evaluating such cases" which also means that I am not alone in this
situation. the best news is that after several tense days of scrambling to collect
documents, money, plane tickets, and packing and saying goodbye to her family for
possibly a very long time, my fiance is ready to leave the country for the relative
safety of Moscow. well, I just needed to get this out to you all to see what you
think, I know there are a lot of people on this newsgroup who have a lot of
experience with crazy immigration issues. I would also be interested in hearing from
anyone else who might be in a similar situation tight now, please reply off-group if
you prefer thanks, this group has been invaluable to me as I have negotiated the
labyrinth of this process, YALL ARE GREAT!!!
[email protected]
just been consuming my life for the past week, i have been to busy trying to deal
with it all to even try. but I have decided on a course of action, gotten the ball
rolling and now I am interested to hear some opinions and experiences. when I first
tried to examine how the WTC disaster and all its implications was going to effect my
fiance visa process I thought "well, now I probably shouldn't use that visa I just
got to go visit my fiance in Uzbekistan" gut I quickly realized that there could be
far more severe and profound ramifications. I fear for her safety since she is in
such close proximity to what many people expect to soon be a battle field. let me
just share with you the letter I had my local congressional INS liason pass on to the
TSC on friday .......
To: Texas INS Processing Center From: xxxxxxx RE: Expediting of K-1 visa process due
to extraordinary circumstances
The tragic events of the past week here in America have in one way or another
left their mark on everyone in our country. The ramifications of these events are
still being tallied, and will be for quite some time. I don 't know anyone who
died or was injured in the attacks, I don't even know some one who knows someone
who was directly effected, yet these events have touched my life in a profound
and troubling way. Here is why that is the case. [EDIT} , and ultimately falling
in love. We have decided to be married, and I have filed the necessary paperwork
for a K-1 visa. I am very familiar with the process by now, and I understand the
reasons why the review and approval process is such a lengthy one, but now there
is a problem. My fiance, xxxxxxx, lives in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is one of the
countries which directly borders on Afghanistan, which, as most Americans know by
now, is the focus of the government's and the military's suspicions about the
responsibility for the recent terrorist attacks. Uzbekistan, as well as
Tajikistan and Pakistan, which are also countries bordering Afghanistan, have all
offered to be part of military staging grounds for whatever action the U.S. and
it's allies might decide to take. To be rather blunt about it, my fiance's
homeland is about to become a war zone. All of the aforementioned countries,
including Uzbekistan are also predominately Muslim countries with a significant
Islamic radical presence. All it takes is a brief glance at The State Department
fact sheets for these countries to realize that they are not particularly safe
places to be, even in the best of times. I spoke this morning with the head of
the American Embassy in the capital city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan to get his first
hand opinion on the safety issues in the current political climate because my
fiance is not a Muslim, she is ethnically Russian, she is Christian, not to
mention she is engaged to an American, which I fear might be cause enough for the
type of indiscriminate violence often associated with the philosophies of Islamic
fundamentalists. xxxxx, from the embassy there said that the situation is
relatively stable at the moment (it's all relative folks) but he agreed that the
situation would become extremely unpredictable if a military campaign were to set
up shop on the neighborhood. Please be aware also that this is a part of the
world where countries are the size cities in America, and geographical proximity
is measured in quite a different scale, that is to say that any military action
will effect the entire region. And retaliatory terrorist activity and military
incursions are almost a certainty. Another problem of concern to me is that even
if it were safe for xxxxxx to stay in Uzbekistan until the K-1 process was
complete, if there is any military action in the region it is quite likely that
she would be unable to leave. I seriously doubt that there will be any commercial
flights taking to the skies if the skies are full of F-16 fighter jets. I have
heard the phrase "sustained military action" used many times on television in the
past few days, which obviously does not bode well for xxxxxx and myself if she
were to be stuck there, unable to leave. It seems a little insufficient to try
and express the gravity of this situation in writing. In talking to xxxxxxx on
the phone over the past few days she has said that she is scared, everyone is
scared. She has said she is familiar with terrorism, it happens often there. She
has said there are police and military taking to the streets by the hundreds and
warning of the potential of coming violence. She has also said that Islamic
fundamentalists have expressed their delight at the opportunity to have a holy
war to fight. It may seem unbelievable, but I think we as Americans have had to
come to terms with the unbelievable in the worst way recently. Unfortunately,
this is what life is like in some parts of the world. I honestly would not, under
any other circumstance, ask for you to alter your procedures, but this case is
extraordinary. Just please consider that this is my future wife, a future U.S.
Citizen. How would you react if it were some one you loved? Please feel free to
contact me for any additional information, or questions of any kind, and please
try to act promptly, who knows when the bombs could start falling.
My Sincerest Thanks, xxxxxx
This letter doesn't even begin to address the complexity of the situation, the list
of things my fiance tells me about the situation there gets worse everyday, but it
has gotten their attention at the INS. I spoke with the woman from my congressmans
office today and since friday my case, which has been sitting untouched for two
months, has been pushed forward, not approved, but progress has been made. I now at
least have a case number. I was told that the INS was trying to "determine the
criteria for evaluating such cases" which also means that I am not alone in this
situation. the best news is that after several tense days of scrambling to collect
documents, money, plane tickets, and packing and saying goodbye to her family for
possibly a very long time, my fiance is ready to leave the country for the relative
safety of Moscow. well, I just needed to get this out to you all to see what you
think, I know there are a lot of people on this newsgroup who have a lot of
experience with crazy immigration issues. I would also be interested in hearing from
anyone else who might be in a similar situation tight now, please reply off-group if
you prefer thanks, this group has been invaluable to me as I have negotiated the
labyrinth of this process, YALL ARE GREAT!!!
[email protected]
Sep 18th 2001, 9:58 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Not in a similar situation, but I wish you all the best and hope you can get through
this rather quickly to bring her here to be with you.
this rather quickly to bring her here to be with you.
Sep 18th 2001, 2:30 pm
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Michael, i sincerely hope the situation is resolved for you soon.
my best wishes
Doug
>
>
now
>
>
>
>
my best wishes
Doug
>
>
now
>
>
>
>
Sep 18th 2001, 3:02 pm
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
I sincerely hope you and your fiance are united together soon! Our best to you both.
--
Aug 24/01 I-129F Petition Couriered Aug 27/01 I-129F Petition Received at VSC Aug
30/01 Notice of Action Dated Sep 12/01 Notice of Approval Dated Jim (USC) & Michelle
(Alberta, Canada)
--
Aug 24/01 I-129F Petition Couriered Aug 27/01 I-129F Petition Received at VSC Aug
30/01 Notice of Action Dated Sep 12/01 Notice of Approval Dated Jim (USC) & Michelle
(Alberta, Canada)
Sep 18th 2001, 10:27 pm
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
My wife and me wish you 2 all the best and hope you can get through this rather
quickly to bring her here to be with you.
Love should prevail!
quickly to bring her here to be with you.
Love should prevail!
