Still no news from Rome

[allousa 1]

I thought I would change the topic so that you all wouldn't get your hopes up if you saw "News from Rome".

One of the other sites that I check that has alot more people going through the waiver process had some very depressing news today. This person is from Egypt and submitted a waiver application to Rome as well. They received an email today that Rome is say they are at least 7 months behind in processing applications. Their application is from May 2007 and they are now being told that Rome will not get to these until January 2008. ####### does that mean for those of us that filed in August. For the last 3 months they have been "evaulating" May applications. I had hopes that MAYBE we would get an answer before April. But we quite possibly might not have an answer until July or August if they are taking 3 months to evaulate one month's worth of applications.

By the time that we do have a decision and inshallah it is approved, Hicham will have to get yet another medical exam, police certificate and such because all of that stuff will have expired by the time they are ready to stamp his Visa.

Explain to me how that is right to make people have to renew all of these documents and pay for them all over again because the application couldn't be processed in a timely manner. I'm so f*%$ing angry right now...I don't even have words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :angry:

Hicham says he can't bear to see us leave again, but I don't know how much longer I can last without seeing him. He keeps hoping that somehow they will get to us soon. We feel like we are caught in the worse Catch-22.

[doodlebugg 10]

I can feel your pain through the screen. :(

Don't these people know that families lives are affected????

[sereia 0]

oh man i feel sooooooooooooo bad for you! i think you should go visit him anyway! *big hugs*

[allousa 1]

I know that there are thousands of other applications and other families that are suffering the pain that my family is. I wish that the government officials that are responsible for the lack of reform in the immigration system could spend just one day in our lives. They need to get up with me at 6:00 every morning and feel what it's like to be a "single" working mom getting a child ready for school, myself ready for work and the dogs fed. And hurrying to make my lunch so that I can save money since I have just one income. I wish they could feel the several hours of anguish and pain that I feel from missing my husband...my best friend. I wish they could feel the loneliness and heartbreak that we all feel everyday. Then come home with me and rush around the house to get dinner made, dogs fed again, bath and storytime done. Then stay up several more hours with me to fold laundry or clean bathrooms or sit at the desk and try and make ends meet with bills.

I have such a hard time understanding how one consulate can be so much worse than others. The sad thing is that I know some other consulates that are taking even longer to evaulate waivers than Rome. But there are some others that take far less time. Where is the consistency in this god-forsaken broken down system?????

Thanks for letting me vent. I'm just having a bad day...a bad week....a bad month over all of this!

[~~~water~~~ 0]

Its not fair..... I know if the could only feel what it feels like to be kept in limbo so long maybe someone could organize this system. Im really sorry for the news you found.. don't give up hope

[sara535 15]

I am so sorry.

[me_4_musa 1]

I don't know what to say to make you feel better.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Awwwww Allousa I'm so sorry for the ordeal you are facing It's hard enough for anyone to be separated from their loved ones, but when there is a small child involved, it's just heartbreaking.

I really think you ought to plan a trip to see your husband soon. I know it's so expensive and it's such a hassle to get time off work and you have to take care of a million details. But time together -- as a family with your son -- this is priceless. There is no way to buy back this time later on. Your son needs to see his dad, and your husband needs to see his son. And it will help "recharge your battery" and give you that second wind to face hopefully what will be the final part of your separation.

Thoughts and prayers with you always.

-MK

[allousa 1]

I'm really fuming now.....

Explain to me how someone that submits a waiver application to the London Embassy is approved in 14 days and yet it could take 9 months to a year for us!!!!!!!! I guess if your SO is from a MENA country...you are just S..O...L...!!!

I think you girlies are right that I just need to suck up the cost and go. It just sucks that I still have to pay two weeks of school for my son which is going to cost $500. But, I've been looking at flights today for February or March and they are as low as $594 plus tax a piece. That's doable. The only down side is that coming back there will be a 15 hour lay over at JFK. YUCK!

[allousa 1]

OMG!!!!!!!

Let me tell you what a co-worker just said to me. They overheard me talking to my cube neighbor about how long the wait time has been and how someone from the London Embassy was approved so quickly. She walks by and says "Well, it wasn't someone from London or Mexico that flew into a building! You're just going to have to accept that they have to check out every Arab coming in here." I thought I was going to jump up and slap her! It was like what was happening to my family was acceptable and okay.

It's like as long as your not an Arab...come on in!

I still see it so much on the news...this open racism against Muslim/Arab people. It's like it's acceptable even in the mainstream media. It just makes me sick to my stomach and very, very sad.

[jpaula 20]

OMG!!!!!!!

Let me tell you what a co-worker just said to me. They overheard me talking to my cube neighbor about how long the wait time has been and how someone from the London Embassy was approved so quickly. She walks by and says "Well, it wasn't someone from London or Mexico that flew into a building! You're just going to have to accept that they have to check out every Arab coming in here." I thought I was going to jump up and slap her! It was like what was happening to my family was acceptable and okay.

It's like as long as your not an Arab...come on in!

I still see it so much on the news...this open racism against Muslim/Arab people. It's like it's acceptable even in the mainstream media. It just makes me sick to my stomach and very, very sad.

allousa,

I agree with you that anti-Muslim sentiment has become all too acceptable in the mainstream. And, I am very sorry that Rome is taking so long. But, I do think it is important to recognize that all cases going through Rome are delayed, not only those from MENA countries. London is a fast office. Montreal was, but isn't anymore, and Manila...forget it. The waiver process is hellish, but I do not think the delays are due to the MENA factor, but rather to general bureaucratic inefficiency. Rome now has alot of the cases that were originally sent to Athens because Athens did not have an adjudicator. I have been watching cases go through various offices for several years now and I can tell you that this happens frequently and effects people from all over the world, not only MENA. For what it is worth, before the pilot program started in Mexico, that office routinely took about a year to adjudicate a waiver. I think the real issues here is not anti-Muslim bias, but a lack of focus on family unity as a guiding principle of our immigration policy.

Now, AP and security checks, those are another matter...

You have every right to be frustrated with this process. I know the feeling well. And I sincerely hope that you are approved soon. Families just should not have to go through this.

[sarah and hicham 3]

I'm sorry to hear this.

[allousa 1]

I guess that I'm just so jaded...seeing as how badly we were treated at the local immigration office when Hicham was here and we were filing for our I-130. They actually separated us and questioned us both AND they even asked me about his religious beliefs and stuff. It was more like an interrogation rather than an interview.

AND, the fact that we were in AP for a year and two months, even though neither of us have EVER had a criminal record!!! I don't even have words for that.

Jpaula, I hear what you're saying, and I know that there are so many people going through the same and some that have even gone through longer struggles.....I've just met very few people who have been dealing with immigration as long as we have for a SPOUSAL case.

I appreciate you all trying to keep me in perspective.

[jpaula 20]

Oh, you should yell and scream and fume all you want. The waiver porcess flat out sucks.

I just think most people are not aware of this corner of the immigration experience and I don't want anyone to get the impression that, like AP, it is something that effects mainly MENA. When we started it, when I explained it to people I know they (a generally liberal bunch who might be too quick to lean towards conspiratorial explanations for things) would automatically be outraged at how Muslims are being treated etc. I had to explain over and over that people from every country have to file a waiver it found inadmissible. And, that approval rates were no lower for MENA countries than for any other. It is a horrible process for everyone.

But, I will be happy to scream with you. A year after getting the green card, and I am still mad about it all. The silver lining is that, despite the delays, I think Rome is a pretty good office to go through and I cross my fingers that you will hear good news.

[morocco4ever 63]

OMG!!!!!!!

Let me tell you what a co-worker just said to me. They overheard me talking to my cube neighbor about how long the wait time has been and how someone from the London Embassy was approved so quickly. She walks by and says "Well, it wasn't someone from London or Mexico that flew into a building! You're just going to have to accept that they have to check out every Arab coming in here." I thought I was going to jump up and slap her! It was like what was happening to my family was acceptable and okay.

It's like as long as your not an Arab...come on in!

I still see it so much on the news...this open racism against Muslim/Arab people. It's like it's acceptable even in the mainstream media. It just makes me sick to my stomach and very, very sad.

Your response should have been "What about the Oklahoma City bombings? Perhaps the goverment should investigate all white males named Timothy as well". I can't believe the ignorance of people who blame an entire culture for a few individuals behaviour. We live amongst morons.