Packing List for MENA Men coming to the USA

[S and S 12]

I couldn't get my husband to quit smoking if I wanted to. I knew he smoked when I married him so I accept that part of him just as he accepts parts of me that he may not like. Your husband will be under a lot of stress when he first gets here. You might let him slide at least until he gets settled and comfortable. That is not a easy habit to quit.

[Alhamdulillah 0]

I wonder if they allow self-translation of documents at other phases of the Immigration process like they did in the K1 process?

No, not in our experience and it's much more expensive to get anything tranlsated in the states. One company was going to charge us about $300 to translate a freaking drivers license!

I know it's more expensive here... but there was no requirement for a "professional translation" for anything in the I-129 process, so I'm wondering if some other process requires an "external" translation of documents.

Who wanted the driver's license translated? Who required a translation done by a someone else?

H will be getting his international license this week in Alexandria... and hopefully it will be in English..

K

Everything we got for USCIS from the beginning of the process until now required translation from "certified" tranlsators and the translators from both Egypt and Libya had to stamp everything we sent in. I'm not sure why you didn't have to do the same.

The DMV in SC didn't want to give my hubby a DL without a translation of his DL from Libya and they wouldn't accept his international DL for that purpose. They wanted him to have a learners permit for 6 months. We ended up just waiting until we moved to NC and went and got his DL with no issues.

[tammy2688 1]

I made it clear if my husband smokes and dies im gonna kill him for ruining my life (ya that exact sentence lol) hes not addicted but likes the occasional cigarette but if for casual fun he ends up gettin lung disease and ruins his life and mine well for that reason i hope to God he does NOT read this thread and get ideas. As far as he knows, you cannot bring cigarettes here. let it be that way.

As for suggestions - I do highly suggest getting the dental and whole blood check before coming here. It's killer expensive. Also any favorite thing he has in his room, to let him personalize his new room.

Tammy

Edited June 13, 2008 by tammy2688

[Alhamdulillah 0]

I just double checked on the I-129F form on the USCIS website now to make sure I wasn't going crazy or did extra work for no reason and this is what it says in the instructions:

Translations. Any document containing foreign language submitted to the Service shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-129Finstr.pdf

It said that on the Adj of Status form as well. I remember for sure we had to have his birth certificate with the certified translation when we file to adjust status and there were some other documents he had to have on his end before coming here, all had to be translated by a certified translator, otherwise, we would have translated them ourselves since he's fluent in English.

[palilover 1]

I couldn't get my husband to quit smoking if I wanted to. I knew he smoked when I married him so I accept that part of him just as he accepts parts of me that he may not like. Your husband will be under a lot of stress when he first gets here. You might let him slide at least until he gets settled and comfortable. That is not a easy habit to quit.

Indeed. I only stopped smoking once and it was for a month. But I got around coworkers who smoked (it was a smoking environment at work) and whoops. He has said he wants to quit when he gets here as have I. We both agree it is no good and besides, after all this fuss getting back together do we want to spend time coughing and hacking and eventually wind up in the hospital together? Well, 2 smokers quitting though in the same house. That can be touch as grouchiness will be imminent (from both, not just me this time:).....

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

I made that "sliding" mistake already... one of my friends told me to let him slide when I wanted to call off our formal engagement because he hadn't quit yet... I have regretted that 10000000 times so far. I told him the first day I met him I would never live with a smoker. I told him that smoking was a deal breaker. If he had told me that anything about me was a deal breaker I would have taken it seriously.

I helped him lull himself into thinking it wasn't a deal breaker by not sticking to my guns before. I quit smoking so I know it's not easy, but personally I won't live with it and he's had 18 months to quit. He has a terrible cough, his voice is getting raspy it's not socially acceptable in this country (or at least in my community) and it will hurt his chances of employment on TOP of all the OTHER reasons he needs to quit.

I've taken him nicorette gum, sent him all kinds of information and he just keeps smoking. Obviously I can't force him to do anything, and I honestly thought the fact that is is forbidden in Islam was reason enough for him to quit (he's so devout in all other areas). So I leave it in his hand, he knows the choices and I just wish I had never let it slide. Allahuallam

I know how stressful it will be for him when he gets here and that was exactly why I wanted him to quit LONG BEFORE he came. I'm so sorry that he made the choice to put it off, but it's really his choice.

I couldn't get my husband to quit smoking if I wanted to. I knew he smoked when I married him so I accept that part of him just as he accepts parts of me that he may not like. Your husband will be under a lot of stress when he first gets here. You might let him slide at least until he gets settled and comfortable. That is not a easy habit to quit.

[palilover 1]

I made that "sliding" mistake already... one of my friends told me to let him slide when I wanted to call off our formal engagement because he hadn't quit yet... I have regretted that 10000000 times so far. I told him the first day I met him I would never live with a smoker. I told him that smoking was a deal breaker. If he had told me that anything about me was a deal breaker I would have taken it seriously.

I helped him lull himself into thinking it wasn't a deal breaker by not sticking to my guns before. I quit smoking so I know it's not easy, but personally I won't live with it and he's had 18 months to quit. He has a terrible cough, his voice is getting raspy it's not socially acceptable in this country (or at least in my community) and it will hurt his chances of employment on TOP of all the OTHER reasons he needs to quit.

I've taken him nicorette gum, sent him all kinds of information and he just keeps smoking. Obviously I can't force him to do anything, and I honestly thought the fact that is is forbidden in Islam was reason enough for him to quit (he's so devout in all other areas). So I leave it in his hand, he knows the choices and I just wish I had never let it slide. Allahuallam

I know how stressful it will be for him when he gets here and that was exactly why I wanted him to quit LONG BEFORE he came. I'm so sorry that he made the choice to put it off, but it's really his choice.

I couldn't get my husband to quit smoking if I wanted to. I knew he smoked when I married him so I accept that part of him just as he accepts parts of me that he may not like. Your husband will be under a lot of stress when he first gets here. You might let him slide at least until he gets settled and comfortable. That is not a easy habit to quit.

I was going tos ay let him smoke outside;) If he gets here during the winter and you live in a cold place...he will at least smoke a lot less:)) And it will be easier to quit too because he won't wanna freeze his buns off:)

But if I may ask...what kind of community are you in if smoking is banned? And what employment is he hoping to get where he is not allowed to smoke? I've never heard of such things in America at least....well not entire communities ban smoking but places such as restaurants and public buildigns do everywhere of coures. But an entire community wow

I made that "sliding" mistake already... one of my friends told me to let him slide when I wanted to call off our formal engagement because he hadn't quit yet... I have regretted that 10000000 times so far. I told him the first day I met him I would never live with a smoker. I told him that smoking was a deal breaker. If he had told me that anything about me was a deal breaker I would have taken it seriously.

I helped him lull himself into thinking it wasn't a deal breaker by not sticking to my guns before. I quit smoking so I know it's not easy, but personally I won't live with it and he's had 18 months to quit. He has a terrible cough, his voice is getting raspy it's not socially acceptable in this country (or at least in my community) and it will hurt his chances of employment on TOP of all the OTHER reasons he needs to quit.

I've taken him nicorette gum, sent him all kinds of information and he just keeps smoking. Obviously I can't force him to do anything, and I honestly thought the fact that is is forbidden in Islam was reason enough for him to quit (he's so devout in all other areas). So I leave it in his hand, he knows the choices and I just wish I had never let it slide. Allahuallam

I know how stressful it will be for him when he gets here and that was exactly why I wanted him to quit LONG BEFORE he came. I'm so sorry that he made the choice to put it off, but it's really his choice.

I couldn't get my husband to quit smoking if I wanted to. I knew he smoked when I married him so I accept that part of him just as he accepts parts of me that he may not like. Your husband will be under a lot of stress when he first gets here. You might let him slide at least until he gets settled and comfortable. That is not a easy habit to quit.

I was going tos ay let him smoke outside;) If he gets here during the winter and you live in a cold place...he will at least smoke a lot less:)) And it will be easier to quit too because he won't wanna freeze his buns off:)

But if I may ask...what kind of community are you in if smoking is banned? And what employment is he hoping to get where he is not allowed to smoke? I've never heard of such things in America at least....well not entire communities ban smoking but places such as restaurants and public buildigns do everywhere of coures. But an entire community wow

oh yeah I'm not picking on you or anything so please dont take it that way. I was just curious thats all. If you dont wanna answer thats fine.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

I just double checked on the I-129F form on the USCIS website now to make sure I wasn't going crazy or did extra work for no reason and this is what it says in the instructions:

Translations. Any document containing foreign language submitted to the Service shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-129Finstr.pdf

It said that on the Adj of Status form as well. I remember for sure we had to have his birth certificate with the certified translation when we file to adjust status and there were some other documents he had to have on his end before coming here, all had to be translated by a certified translator, otherwise, we would have translated them ourselves since he's fluent in English.

As long as the person translating the document puts the statement on it that is required "I certify that I am fluent in english and arabic and competent to translate this document" that is all that is required. The part you quoted does not say it has to be a different person or a company or anything at all like that. My best friend's husband brought a lousy translation for one of his documents to the INS here and they said, "can't you just translate it?" and he did right there on the spot and just wrote the required paragraph. There isn't a "certifying body" for translators for the USCIS (like the list of doctors). If you want me to find the EXACT wording we used, I can dig up the documents. But we had no problem at all after we did it ourselves...all our problems were from the one done by the "professional" translator who decided to leave out things he thought weren't important... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Alhamdulillah 0]

I just double checked on the I-129F form on the USCIS website now to make sure I wasn't going crazy or did extra work for no reason and this is what it says in the instructions:

Translations. Any document containing foreign language submitted to the Service shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-129Finstr.pdf

It said that on the Adj of Status form as well. I remember for sure we had to have his birth certificate with the certified translation when we file to adjust status and there were some other documents he had to have on his end before coming here, all had to be translated by a certified translator, otherwise, we would have translated them ourselves since he's fluent in English.

As long as the person translating the document puts the statement on it that is required "I certify that I am fluent in english and arabic and competent to translate this document" that is all that is required. The part you quoted does not say it has to be a different person or a company or anything at all like that. My best friend's husband brought a lousy translation for one of his documents to the INS here and they said, "can't you just translate it?" and he did right there on the spot and just wrote the required paragraph. There isn't a "certifying body" for translators for the USCIS (like the list of doctors). If you want me to find the EXACT wording we used, I can dig up the documents. But we had no problem at all after we did it ourselves...all our problems were from the one done by the "professional" translator who decided to leave out things he thought weren't important... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

OMG I didn't know that!!! We wasted a lot of effort then!!!

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

[but if I may ask...what kind of community are you in if smoking is banned? And what employment is he hoping to get where he is not allowed to smoke? I've never heard of such things in America at least....well not entire communities ban smoking but places such as restaurants and public buildigns do everywhere of coures. But an entire community wow

********************************************************************************

***

Where to you live where it's still acceptable??????

I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can't think of any where that public smoking is allowed. Not in public buildings, not in restaurants, I think many bars are non-smoking here, although it's possible it's been banned in bars too, I don't go to bars so I don't know... Some employers don't allow it (raises health care costs, gives their business a low class image, and lowers productivity) and many who don't state it upfront will pass over someone who reeks of cigarette smoke.

I don't have any friends or family members who smoke, and I don't even know any practicing Muslims in my community that smoke either.

Smoking here is perceived as something done by uneducated people or rebellious youth. At 48 he won't get the rebellious youth label, so that only leaves uneducated and neither of us want that one put on him!

He says he really wants to stop, but hasn't made the move... GREAT! I get to go through withdrawl time.... Oh well, if we live through that we can live through anything!

K

[S and S 12]

I made that "sliding" mistake already... one of my friends told me to let him slide when I wanted to call off our formal engagement because he hadn't quit yet... I have regretted that 10000000 times so far. I told him the first day I met him I would never live with a smoker. I told him that smoking was a deal breaker. If he had told me that anything about me was a deal breaker I would have taken it seriously.

I helped him lull himself into thinking it wasn't a deal breaker by not sticking to my guns before. I quit smoking so I know it's not easy, but personally I won't live with it and he's had 18 months to quit. He has a terrible cough, his voice is getting raspy it's not socially acceptable in this country (or at least in my community) and it will hurt his chances of employment on TOP of all the OTHER reasons he needs to quit.

I've taken him nicorette gum, sent him all kinds of information and he just keeps smoking. Obviously I can't force him to do anything, and I honestly thought the fact that is is forbidden in Islam was reason enough for him to quit (he's so devout in all other areas). So I leave it in his hand, he knows the choices and I just wish I had never let it slide. Allahuallam

I know how stressful it will be for him when he gets here and that was exactly why I wanted him to quit LONG BEFORE he came. I'm so sorry that he made the choice to put it off, but it's really his choice.

I couldn't get my husband to quit smoking if I wanted to. I knew he smoked when I married him so I accept that part of him just as he accepts parts of me that he may not like. Your husband will be under a lot of stress when he first gets here. You might let him slide at least until he gets settled and comfortable. That is not a easy habit to quit.

I understand what you are saying. If you told him from the beginning to quit then he does have no one to blame but himself. That really sounds bad about the cough too. I've never seen a place where smoking means you can't live there or get a job and I lived in one of the worst places (California) for that for awhile. I was in a very upscale area, but people still smoked outside.

Anyway, I am hoping my husband will quit as well. It is just with this war and all the effects of that, smoking was the last way he was going to die. He saw too much death and suffered a lot there. I want him to get comfortable here before I push something like that on him. He is a doctor so he knows the dangers. In fact, the situation is so bad in Iraq that they just smoked in the hallways of the hospital and in the rooms. Everyone knew the odds of dying from smoking were slim compared to the other ways of being killed there. Once he is away from all that then hopefully he can accept giving the habit up.

Obviously our situations are different though. I hope for your sake that your husband quits. You certainly gave him enough warnings.

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Well it's not like you can't live here... it's not illegal to smoke in your home, and smoker's get jobs, but this is the land of birkenstocks, wheat grass juice and organic EVERYTHING...

I can certainly relate to thinking "what's a cigarette" when there's cars exploding around the neighborhood! What I'll never get is how doctor's (under the age of say, 60) ever started smoking in the first place. My SO took one of my girlfriend's who was visiting her fiance in Egypt to the dentist to get her teeth cleaned when she was visiting Egypt and the dentist was smoking while he cleaned her teeth! UGH! I refused to go to this guy and can't believe my girlfriend didn't give him an EAR FULL...

I'm hoping that being away from smoking will help. You can't get away from smoking almost anywhere in Egypt outside of the homes of non-smokers, unless there's a smoker there. It really got on my last nerve how people just light up and don't even think for one second that it might not be welcomed in the home they are visiting. Obnoxious smoking is the worst! I had relatives that would drop their ashes on my floor if I didn't get the ash tray out quick enough.... And I'll never forget when my son was an infant one of his grandma's friends coming to visit and blowing smoke into his FACE!!!!! I was about 10 seconds away from blowing a gasket! (and I was an "outside only" smoker then).

May Allah protect, strengthen, and guide your husband and bring him safely to you to live a long and happy life insha'allah.

K

P.S. As for smoking in the hospital, doesn't surprise me at all... no crisis in Egypt and I saw visitors to the ICU standing in the waiting area hanging their heads out the window smoking....

I understand what you are saying. If you told him from the beginning to quit then he does have no one to blame but himself. That really sounds bad about the cough too. I've never seen a place where smoking means you can't live there or get a job and I lived in one of the worst places (California) for that for awhile. I was in a very upscale area, but people still smoked outside.

Anyway, I am hoping my husband will quit as well. It is just with this war and all the effects of that, smoking was the last way he was going to die. He saw too much death and suffered a lot there. I want him to get comfortable here before I push something like that on him. He is a doctor so he knows the dangers. In fact, the situation is so bad in Iraq that they just smoked in the hallways of the hospital and in the rooms. Everyone knew the odds of dying from smoking were slim compared to the other ways of being killed there. Once he is away from all that then hopefully he can accept giving the habit up.

Obviously our situations are different though. I hope for your sake that your husband quits. You certainly gave him enough warnings.

[S and S 12]

Well it's not like you can't live here... it's not illegal to smoke in your home, and smoker's get jobs, but this is the land of birkenstocks, wheat grass juice and organic EVERYTHING...

I can certainly relate to thinking "what's a cigarette" when there's cars exploding around the neighborhood! What I'll never get is how doctor's (under the age of say, 60) ever started smoking in the first place. My SO took one of my girlfriend's who was visiting her fiance in Egypt to the dentist to get her teeth cleaned when she was visiting Egypt and the dentist was smoking while he cleaned her teeth! UGH! I refused to go to this guy and can't believe my girlfriend didn't give him an EAR FULL...

I'm hoping that being away from smoking will help. You can't get away from smoking almost anywhere in Egypt outside of the homes of non-smokers, unless there's a smoker there. It really got on my last nerve how people just light up and don't even think for one second that it might not be welcomed in the home they are visiting. Obnoxious smoking is the worst! I had relatives that would drop their ashes on my floor if I didn't get the ash tray out quick enough.... And I'll never forget when my son was an infant one of his grandma's friends coming to visit and blowing smoke into his FACE!!!!! I was about 10 seconds away from blowing a gasket! (and I was an "outside only" smoker then).

May Allah protect, strengthen, and guide your husband and bring him safely to you to live a long and happy life insha'allah.

K

P.S. As for smoking in the hospital, doesn't surprise me at all... no crisis in Egypt and I saw visitors to the ICU standing in the waiting area hanging their heads out the window smoking....

I understand what you are saying. If you told him from the beginning to quit then he does have no one to blame but himself. That really sounds bad about the cough too. I've never seen a place where smoking means you can't live there or get a job and I lived in one of the worst places (California) for that for awhile. I was in a very upscale area, but people still smoked outside.

Anyway, I am hoping my husband will quit as well. It is just with this war and all the effects of that, smoking was the last way he was going to die. He saw too much death and suffered a lot there. I want him to get comfortable here before I push something like that on him. He is a doctor so he knows the dangers. In fact, the situation is so bad in Iraq that they just smoked in the hallways of the hospital and in the rooms. Everyone knew the odds of dying from smoking were slim compared to the other ways of being killed there. Once he is away from all that then hopefully he can accept giving the habit up.

Obviously our situations are different though. I hope for your sake that your husband quits. You certainly gave him enough warnings.

I have to agree, they go too far with where they smoke in the middle east. I have seen government employees over there smoking right under the no smoking signs in their buildings! The ICU is especially too much though. Surely commone sense would tell them not to do that, but I guess not. As for doctor's, my husband said the medical college in Iraq had the most smokers of all the schools. Ther curriculum was so stressful and all the late nights studying that apparently they used smoking to reduce stress and stay awake. While this may make some sense as to why my husband started, on the other hand it doesn't. My husband is the only one out of his immediate family that smokes. His mother and father don't smoke and neither do his brothers or sisters. He does have some uncles that do, but thats it. My father in law is forever telling my husband not to smoke in the apartment so my husband hides it and never smokes in front of him. I already told my husband he will not smoke in my home after he gets here and must go outside.

[palilover 1]

Smoking in ICU and smoking dentist? that's just plain wrong. That is disrespectful to the patients whether they smoke or not!

This is a nonsmoking apartment where I'm at now. Inshalalh it will make it easy for us both to quit!

[Nasturtium 500]

Ammar brought his clothes, etc... and also:

official transcripts

official diplomas

letters of recommendation

International driver's license

I can't think of anything else he brought beyond spices that was special. No one in his family, including him, smokes so no problem there!