I-130 Petition First Interview @ Cairo

[E & M 0]

My husband and I had our Petition interview yesterday (10/11/2007) at the Embassy in Cairo. They only interviewed me (USC) and not my husband. Here are the questions they asked me:

How long have you been here?

How did you meet?

Where online?

Which chat room?

When was that?

When did he propose to you?

And what happened to make you decide that?

What were you doing when you met him? Working? Going to school?

Where did you go to school?

What did you study?

When did you graduate?

What did you do after that?

What does your husband do?

How do you support yourselves here in Egypt?

And where do you live?

Did you have a wedding ceremony?

Do you have pictures from the party?

Who was at the party?

What did he give you for a wedding present?

Do your parents know about your marriage?

What are you planning to do when you get to the US?

And your parents are ok with you living with them?

Does your husband speak English?

Do you speak Arabic?

Are you planning to return to the US as a couple?

After they talked to me, they called my husband back to the window and told us the next steps. He said that we will receive the "Step Two" packet in 2 - 3 weeks. I asked if our petition was approved or not and he said that it was only "accepted" and that it would have to go through "administrative processing" before it could be approved or denied.

Any thoughts?

[JeanneVictoria 55]

My husband and I also were married in Egypt and had our I 130 petition interview at the Embassy in Cairo. The consular interviewed me first (USC), then interviewed Wael, then interviewed both of us together at the end. He asked me for photos, any emails, etc. The consular was very specific and very nice to both of us. When our interview was finished he gave us our letter of approval and told us we were now ready for the next part of the process.

I don't know how the procedures are there now but this is how we had our I 130 petition interview.

[doodlebug 3]

I think that it's just semantics. By saying it's accepted and not approved he's just being careful to not lead you to believe you are approved for the visa. That's my take on it. You should get a NOA2 I believe but maybe someone else who's done DFC filing can tell you better than I. That is just the approval of the application though, not of the visa. Chances are they'll never outright tell you you are approved for the visa so you won't know till it's in your hands. I think they do this because even if you've completed everything and had the interview and all is well, what if he got a name hit or something.

[wael253 0]

"petiton interview" is NOT "visa interview" .......... "approved petiton" is NOT "approved visa"

1-we did DCF.

2-we both have been interviewed at the "petiton interview" .

3-to me all the question sounded to be for a MATCHING purpose .. match my answers with my wife answers to see if there is any difference .. which we understand very well that this matching is to make sure how well we know each other .

4- our petiton was approved at the interview and then we received the ( packet 3 ) from the consul who interviewed us .

- since in this case

1-they interviewed only the USC ,

2-and they have not been approved at the same day ,

3-and (packet3) has not been handed .

SO it's either the new guidelines for approving a petition OR they were not approved for the i-130 petition yet .

[monnik 0]

"petiton interview" is NOT "visa interview" .......... "approved petiton" is NOT "approved visa"

1-we did DCF.

2-we both have been interviewed at the "petiton interview" .

3-to me all the question sounded to be for a MATCHING purpose .. match my answers with my wife answers to see if there is any difference .. which we understand very well that this matching is to make sure how well we know each other .

4- our petiton was approved at the interview and then we received the ( packet 3 ) from the consul who interviewed us .

- since in this case

1-they interviewed only the USC ,

2-and they have not been approved at the same day ,

3-and (packet3) has not been handed .

SO it's either the new guidelines for approving a petition OR they were not approved for the i-130 petition yet .

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I lost what I was typing!!!!!!!!

so, if this rambles on... i am sorry... and i am typing too fast to worry about punctuation and capital letters right now.

anyway, what i was saying was that our 3 dcf cases have some slight differences......i wil try to highlight here

reference: our interview was Dec 3rd 2006

we were both interviewed seperately - like wael & jeanne

we were NOT put on ap

we were NOT given packet 3 by the consular

we received packet 3 in the mail, and we already had a copy from the security desk at the embassy - UNLIKE wael & jeanne

we were asked 'matching' questions - like wael & jeanne

we had to send in proof of relationship before i arrived in egypt - emails, letters, etc. - UNIQUE ***

we received a case number the day of the interview - like wael & jeanne

we were told not to send in packet 3 until our acceptance letter arrived in the mail - like E&M

i think that one of the possible reasons he didn't interview her husband was because she has been living in egypt for more than 6 months. this could be proof of their relationship, thus no need for the seperate questioning. i am not sure.......

also, i don't think they have new guidelines for approving the petitions.... i just think that each case is a little different .... and even though we sent in our proof of relationship the next day overnight mail... they still didn't reply until a month later and only then could we schedule his medical appt & get his police record.... they won't let you get it together until you get that approval... wael was lucky enough to get his the same day....

good luck E & M .... i say you have between a couple of weeks and a month ... & you will get your approval in the mail !!!

[E & M 0]

Thanks to all that replied.

Yes, we know that this was not the visa interview and that it was only the petition interview.

I noticed that those DCF filers that replied had their petition interviews in 2006 before the laws changed in January 2007 (requiring the USC to live in Egypt 6 months). Are there any DCF filers that had their petition interview in 2007, or are we the first ones after the new laws?

[E & M 0]

Thanks you.

Yes, we know that this was not the visa interview and that it was only the petition interview.

I noticed that those DCF filers that replied had their petition interviews in 2006 before the laws changed in January 2007 (requiring the USC to live in Egypt 6 months). Are there any DCF filers that had their petition interview in 2007, or are we the first ones after the new laws? m.s

My husband and I had our Petition interview yesterday (10/11/2007) at the Embassy in Cairo. They only interviewed me (USC) and not my husband. Here are the questions they asked me:

How long have you been here?

How did you meet?

Where online?

Which chat room?

When was that?

When did he propose to you?

And what happened to make you decide that?

What were you doing when you met him? Working? Going to school?

Where did you go to school?

What did you study?

When did you graduate?

What did you do after that?

What does your husband do?

How do you support yourselves here in Egypt?

And where do you live?

Did you have a wedding ceremony?

Do you have pictures from the party?

Who was at the party?

What did he give you for a wedding present?

Do your parents know about your marriage?

What are you planning to do when you get to the US?

And your parents are ok with you living with them?

Does your husband speak English?

Do you speak Arabic?

Are you planning to return to the US as a couple?

After they talked to me, they called my husband back to the window and told us the next steps. He said that we will receive the "Step Two" packet in 2 - 3 weeks. I asked if our petition was approved or not and he said that it was only "accepted" and that it would have to go through "administrative processing" before it could be approved or denied.

Any thoughts?

[E & M 0]

Thanks Jeanne.

Yes, we know that this was not the visa interview and that it was only the petition interview.

I noticed that those DCF filers that replied had their petition interviews in 2006 before the laws changed in January 2007 (requiring the USC to live in Egypt 6 months). Are there any DCF filers that had their petition interview in 2007, or are we the first ones after the new laws?