The unfortunate letter

[JODO 2]

Olivia sorry to hear this. Are you sure he is going to Boot Camp or lock down? Or was the paper he recieved just a request to come and he has possibility of being sent home again. My SO says that if your marriage is legal then he should not have to serve. When they called his brother they asked if anyone in family an american citizen or married to American Citizen and if they have proof they sent them home. HERE IS HIS SIDE OF OUR CONVERSATION:

Remember when my brother Amr got called to military

they asked about if anyone married to american or his brother married to american or his sister married to american or anyone in his family has american citzen

then ask who have a proof for that

then they tell him we dont need u

and give him a paper says the militry dont need him

Babe they take all dr if they need them and only who's allowed to enter militry

and married to american he is not allow to have military

he has to go in the time

and take his marriage paper with him

but who married to american they dont take him to Military

and I heard it was 4000 egyptian pound not USD. (around 900 USD a little less)

Anyway, I am not sure how accurate it is but maybe it gives hope they will turn him away. Hugs and I will keep you both in my prayers. I really hate there is a chance he may have to go serve. But you have a wonderful outlook in case he does. We are here for you always.

Cheryl

This is closer to what my husband is saying as well. Perhaps the law has changed though since three years ago ?

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Only 900 USD? That is more reasonable and I could afford that although I'd have to get a job to pay the rent instead of living off my lil fasfa money left over. Hmmm...

Yeah it's the formal "you'll be in lock down for the first 45 days and then serve as a soldier for the next year to 16 months" letter. The last half of last year he reported to the military office and went through a series of intense interviews. They shaved his head and he had to get complete copies of my passport and his sister who is in the US and her Husband and their two little girls and give it to them, and give him our marriage certificate. They are really taking my Egyptian Husband no matter what we thought or what other Egyptians thought. We thought the same thing.

He went to see a military lawyer about it who mentioned there are some new laws and he would have to review them and rescheduled the appointment.

A few reason they came up with why this happening:

• They believe our marriage is a fraud because I don't live with him.
• They are extorting the American spouse for $.
• They are screwing with him to make his life hell because they can and will take him for the 45 days and then release him.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I confirmed with Waleed that it is $4000 USD and not the $900 USD and this is because they already have his name and information in the system so this isn't the deal like paying the fine to just not serve before he became part of their system. We really didn't believe that they would take him because he was married to a USC so he took the risk and reported to them and laid out all the facts and all the cards on the table. The lawyer said if he hadn't done that from the beginning and just waited till he was 30 to respond to the military request then he could have avoided this entire mess because they don't collect all the Doctors names of all the medical schools in Egypt and track them down. So he could have avoided the initial request and the series of interviews and the head shaving and all this mess by not showing up until after he was 30 and just paying them a fine. Unbelievable. The system is so corrupt and backwards there. We're still trying to figure out what else we can do.

[DaniDimo 0]

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

[Nasturtium 500]

Olivia-- I sent you a PM because I may be able to straighten out your student stuff and some tax things for you with another option.

ETA-- for those in a similar situation, consider filing jointly and applying for an ITIN for your husband. There is a foreign income exclusion you can use as long as you do not make over 80 or 86k (I forget which, I wasn't even close to even worry about it). This is better done going to a tax person and paying for the stuff to be done-- but it's worth it. You'll need to get ahold of your husband's IDs or a certified copy of them, but it's totally worth the trouble. You'll also have to get a statement of his yearly earnings for the tax year you are filing for. Basically this allows you to count him as filing joint, but exclude all of his income from you, which sets you back at the normal filing joint and those advantages. Also be sure on the FAFSA you don't count his income or him as being a legal member of your household. he is not a USC and does not reside in your household and his income is NOT yours!-- he is not part of you! Hope this can help somepoeple. i did it with Ammar and I fared the same as BA (before Ammar).

Edited January 6, 2008 by julianna

[E & M 0]

On New Year's Day we got some unfortunate news we were hoping we wouldn't get. Just when I thought that the visa battle was half won the Egyptian Military sent a formal request for my Husband to come serve. He is to report Jan. 17th and be in "boot camp" or lock down as they call it for a total 45 days. We won't have any contact till the 1st of March. Then he would serve for a year to 16 months according to the instructions. He is going to see what he can do legally about it but it sounds like he is going to have to serve. This means our wait is only half or just under half done and I don't know what this does to our visa process or what we can do about it. I just wanted to get on with our life together and here we hit another snag and an even longer wait and facing far less communication the second year of waiting then the first year.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Does anyone have any advice on the visa process for this kind of situation?

Olivia

I think if you were married in egypt, he shouldn't have to serve in the army.

because an egyption married to an amircan, It's not allow to serve in army

m

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

That's what we thought too and what everyone thought. We were married in Egypt the same day as Bridget on VJ at the same place as Bridget on VJ and the military is taking him regardless. So it's totally legal. For some reason it doesn't matter to them that he is married to an American and he is theirs on Jan. 17th of this year.

((Sigh)) We dunno.

Olivia

On New Year's Day we got some unfortunate news we were hoping we wouldn't get. Just when I thought that the visa battle was half won the Egyptian Military sent a formal request for my Husband to come serve. He is to report Jan. 17th and be in "boot camp" or lock down as they call it for a total 45 days. We won't have any contact till the 1st of March. Then he would serve for a year to 16 months according to the instructions. He is going to see what he can do legally about it but it sounds like he is going to have to serve. This means our wait is only half or just under half done and I don't know what this does to our visa process or what we can do about it. I just wanted to get on with our life together and here we hit another snag and an even longer wait and facing far less communication the second year of waiting then the first year.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Does anyone have any advice on the visa process for this kind of situation?

Olivia

I think if you were married in egypt, he shouldn't have to serve in the army.

because an egyption married to an amircan, It's not allow to serve in army

m

[I love Ashraf 0]

I am not sure how this will effect your visa process but Ashraf just had to serve and he did year and a month.I am not sure how the Ministry handles it since you are married.But I was still going to go and many him before the law changed and they would not allow him marry a foreign person.He was not even able to go to the Embassy and get paperwork or info.

[sarah and hicham 3]

That's what we thought too and what everyone thought. We were married in Egypt the same day as Bridget on VJ at the same place as Bridget on VJ and the military is taking him regardless. So it's totally legal. For some reason it doesn't matter to them that he is married to an American and he is theirs on Jan. 17th of this year.

((Sigh)) We dunno.

Olivia

On New Year's Day we got some unfortunate news we were hoping we wouldn't get. Just when I thought that the visa battle was half won the Egyptian Military sent a formal request for my Husband to come serve. He is to report Jan. 17th and be in "boot camp" or lock down as they call it for a total 45 days. We won't have any contact till the 1st of March. Then he would serve for a year to 16 months according to the instructions. He is going to see what he can do legally about it but it sounds like he is going to have to serve. This means our wait is only half or just under half done and I don't know what this does to our visa process or what we can do about it. I just wanted to get on with our life together and here we hit another snag and an even longer wait and facing far less communication the second year of waiting then the first year.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Does anyone have any advice on the visa process for this kind of situation?

Olivia

I think if you were married in egypt, he shouldn't have to serve in the army.

because an egyption married to an amircan, It's not allow to serve in army

m

Just a question Olivia... what does it mean that you were married on the same day as Bridget? Isn't her husband older than 30? I'm confused.

[doodlebugg 10]

That's what we thought too and what everyone thought. We were married in Egypt the same day as Bridget on VJ at the same place as Bridget on VJ and the military is taking him regardless. So it's totally legal. For some reason it doesn't matter to them that he is married to an American and he is theirs on Jan. 17th of this year.

((Sigh)) We dunno.

Olivia

On New Year's Day we got some unfortunate news we were hoping we wouldn't get. Just when I thought that the visa battle was half won the Egyptian Military sent a formal request for my Husband to come serve. He is to report Jan. 17th and be in "boot camp" or lock down as they call it for a total 45 days. We won't have any contact till the 1st of March. Then he would serve for a year to 16 months according to the instructions. He is going to see what he can do legally about it but it sounds like he is going to have to serve. This means our wait is only half or just under half done and I don't know what this does to our visa process or what we can do about it. I just wanted to get on with our life together and here we hit another snag and an even longer wait and facing far less communication the second year of waiting then the first year.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Does anyone have any advice on the visa process for this kind of situation?

Olivia

I think if you were married in egypt, he shouldn't have to serve in the army.

because an egyption married to an amircan, It's not allow to serve in army

m

Just a question Olivia... what does it mean that you were married on the same day as Bridget? Isn't her husband older than 30? I'm confused.

I was wondering the same thing. Olivia my husband is the only son in the family and is 35 so that is why he hasn't been picked for the military so it's not a relative comparison if that's what you were getting at.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

It doesn't have to do so much with our husbands as it does with the place were we both were legally married. I got the impression the validity of the marriage of an Egyptian to an American was in question. That's all.

That's what we thought too and what everyone thought. We were married in Egypt the same day as Bridget on VJ at the same place as Bridget on VJ and the military is taking him regardless. So it's totally legal. For some reason it doesn't matter to them that he is married to an American and he is theirs on Jan. 17th of this year.

((Sigh)) We dunno.

Olivia

On New Year's Day we got some unfortunate news we were hoping we wouldn't get. Just when I thought that the visa battle was half won the Egyptian Military sent a formal request for my Husband to come serve. He is to report Jan. 17th and be in "boot camp" or lock down as they call it for a total 45 days. We won't have any contact till the 1st of March. Then he would serve for a year to 16 months according to the instructions. He is going to see what he can do legally about it but it sounds like he is going to have to serve. This means our wait is only half or just under half done and I don't know what this does to our visa process or what we can do about it. I just wanted to get on with our life together and here we hit another snag and an even longer wait and facing far less communication the second year of waiting then the first year.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Does anyone have any advice on the visa process for this kind of situation?

Olivia

I think if you were married in egypt, he shouldn't have to serve in the army.

because an egyption married to an amircan, It's not allow to serve in army

m

Just a question Olivia... what does it mean that you were married on the same day as Bridget? Isn't her husband older than 30? I'm confused.

I was wondering the same thing. Olivia my husband is the only son in the family and is 35 so that is why he hasn't been picked for the military so it's not a relative comparison if that's what you were getting at.

[~~~water~~~ 0]

im sorry olivia , I know it;s such hard news!!!