Just Turkish

[Deb_Res 0]

Hi Joye,

I'm so sorry to hear this news I hope and pray that you and Ali will be together soon... I just don't understand why they are scheduling interviews before the security checks are complete??? It makes no sense! It's making me worry now whether the same thing will happen to Resul when we finally do get an interview date Ohhhh... This is quite a journey we all chose, huh? How did Ali's actual interview go? Any pointers for us? Did they actually say that he will get the visa as soon as his FBI check was complete? Keep me posted Joye. Again I'm sorry for your disappointment. If you need someone to talk to I'm here!

~Debbie

Edited June 7, 2006 by Deb_Res

[joyeann 0]

Hey Deb,

When we got the interview the embassy had only had our packet for 22 days. So we figured we may have a problem with the security checks. It says on their website that it takes 8 weeks usually for them to get done.

Ali said that the lady that interviewed him was very nice. The interview lasted about 15 mins. Some of the questions she asked

Why did you get married so quickly

What do you like best about your wife

Who are the people with you at your wedding

Will you work when you get to the US

How did you and your spouse meet

She then said that his check was not complete and he will need to check the internet to see when his case number is there showing the checks are complete. She also requested my 2005 return, which I thought NVC had sent, but I will resend it. Then she had him sign the DS230 part 2 and swore him him.

Make sure you send a complete copy of your I-864. I had a horrible time with DHL and alot of our information I wasn't able to scan in, in time. Ali said that 7 out of 10 men had the same problem and will have to come back. But he was thankful that the interview was completed. He said he was so nervous he wasnt able to sleep for 2 days so after it was done he slept 24 hours straight.

[awaterlily 0]

joyeann....

congrats! it sounds like your interview went very well.

i pray your clearance processing goes quickly.

keep us posted.

cheers,

waterlily

[joyeann 0]

Hi Deb!! Just checking in to see if there is any news? You will prolly have your interview here shortly!

[Deb_Res 0]

Hi Deb!! Just checking in to see if there is any news? You will prolly have your interview here shortly!

Hi Joye,

Thanks for the info on the interview. I really hope they process the FBI check fast for you guys! I can't believe you have been apart from each other for almost a year and a half

No news on us. I Global Expressed the papers(Packet 3) to Resul and he received them on Thurs. So now he is working on them and getting his passport, police report, and military records. Then he has to find a translator to translate the police report and military records... Then he will Global Express everything back to me and my lawyer wants to check over everything and then we will send it to the Embassy from here. So, no interview anytime too quick here! I think we will have to file for an extension. My NOA2 expires on 7/16/06. I think my lawyer will file for it by the end on June.

I hope to God that when we finally do get to the interview part of this, Resul's FBI check will be done! Especially since the lawyer held us up for 2 months, and by the time we finally hand in Packet 3 it will be at least 3 months, and I'm sure when we get our interview date it will be in a month or two from then... So that there gives them 5-6 months to complete the check (I HOPE!!!)...

I don't think you realized that I will be going to the interview with Resul when it happens. My lawyer basically told me I have to go because we will have a better chance of getting the visa if they see me with him. So I will be going back to Turkey whenever our interview date is. And I think I will go meet his family then too. He is about 8 hours from Ankara. We might go spend a couple of days in his city? The first time we met in Istanbul and that's about a 13 hour bus ride from Resul's city. So Ankara is a bit closer. I have met his entire family on cam, but I will be nervous to finally meet in person! At least I know they are happy with me and will welcome me with open arms.

Take care Joye and I will keep you posted on things!

Good night...

~Deb

[joyeann 0]

Hi Deb!

Sounds like you guys are coming right along!! Ali wasn't able to get his vacination card either, so he had all the shots redone and they gave him some kind of international card. He only had to have 1 shot in Turkey and it was like $60.

That is awesome that you will be there with him!! Ali said that the lady he had was very nice.

Keep me posted!!

I am still wondering since they had him sign the DS230 and swear in do you think that means everything is ok?

[MPGGPM 0]

So I will be going back to Turkey whenever our interview date is.

I had a question regarding this, because I have read accounts from people who have had interviews at different Embassies, and not all of them allowed the spouse to enter the interview with them. I would also, like you........... be able to be with my wife and travel back to Turkey to be with her when her interview time comes up. (I am hoping it will coincide ..of course...with my time off from work).

Since several of you have already had your interviews (or your spouse has).....if you went to Ankara with your spouse to the embassy , what happened then? Were you allowed to stay with him\her for the whole time and interview? What is it like at the embassy?

I have been to the US consulate in Istanbul several times. Is the setup the same or similar? (I assume the interviews for a green card would not be the same as those for a tourist or student visa, and would not be done from behind a window?)

I am thinking we would take the train from Istanbul to Ankara......about 8 hours as mentioned above...... and then find our way to the embassy from there.

We have a ways to go until her interview (the I-130 was just sent about a month ago), but I want to plan ahead.

Thanks

[Mina76 0]

Actually is it done behind a window as if you were going to the Bank with a live teller.

I was with my husband at his interview in Ankara and so were many other couples there too, they will call you and your spouse can be with you while he or she is being interviewed.

It does sometimes help to be there for reason as in my husband's case with the officer interviewing him could not understand him and so she asked me the questions and I answered her, but I guess it really depends on who interviews you.

Good Luck to everyone still waiting for their coming up interviews

Mina

[MPGGPM 0]

Thanks for the reply.

That ``bank teller`` approach is the same thing as the consulate in Istanbul......and all too familiar. My one question however, is that looking at your timeline and experiences in regards to you and your husband is that you filed a k-1.

I have to wonder if the interview done for an I-130, where they are actually adjusting status in Turkey, as opposed to the USA...is the same. I sure hope not, because after having been with my wife and seen what her and everyone else goes through to get a visa at the consulate.....the lines......the crowd......waiting for a number to be called......and then finally having such an impersonal and sterile interview while standing from behind a window......I had hoped the process for a green card would be different. It`ll be stressful enough on her as it is, .......let alone on top of that make her go through the same routine and process as done at the consulate. I was hoping it would at least be a more relaxed setting.....where she could sit and discuss it all with someone in a private room, etc.

Maybe someone else reading this thread who had a spouse adjust status in Turkey could answer that?

In either case, thanks for your reply (it was interesting and helpful information)..........and any others I might recieve on this.

[Mina76 0]

Well I should know more about this topic too being that I was married once before to another turkish man a few years ago and we were married in Istanbul and did a spousal visa I-130, so it's basically the same way that they will interview all the couples at the Ankara Embassy.

I'am sorry to hear that this will be a stressful time for your wife when her time comes for her interview, but she should really try her best to be calm and relaxed since the officer interviewing will understand that everyone going through this process is nervous at first.

But if everything is in order and the marriage is true and valid to the interviewing officer then of course she will be fine, believe me these people can tell if a marriage is genuine or not. if anything is missing the officer will let her know and give her a form with the missing evidence checked off.

Eventhough you don't really have to be there with your wife at her interview I still strongly believe it is best to go with her, not only for moral support but it also helps for the officer to see the couples together.

Good Luck to you both and Hope Everything goes well during your interview.

[MPGGPM 0]

Well I should know more about this topic too being that I was married once before to another turkish man a few years ago and we were married in Istanbul and did a spousal visa I-130, so it's basically the same way that they will interview all the couples at the Ankara Embassy.

I'am sorry to hear that this will be a stressful time for your wife when her time comes for her interview, but she should really try her best to be calm and relaxed since the officer interviewing will understand that everyone going through this process is nervous at first.

But if everything is in order and the marriage is true and valid to the interviewing officer then of course she will be fine, believe me these people can tell if a marriage is genuine or not. if anything is missing the officer will let her know and give her a form with the missing evidence checked off.

Eventhough you don't really have to be there with your wife at her interview I still strongly believe it is best to go with her, not only for moral support but it also helps for the officer to see the couples together.

Good Luck to you both and Hope Everything goes well during your interview.

Thanks again for that info. Lets us both be a bit more mentally prepared for what will happen when it actually does happen. Believe me, we have both been to the consulate enough these past few years , that she is practically an expert now on that process. I am sure she`ll do fine. It`s probably me that`s the nervous, worrying one.

What surprises me is that they do the interviews for the green card that same way. Up until now, I always imagined it being done another way....like in a room etc...

We`ve actually been married now for nearly 2 and a half years......and she is probably way more

``Americanized`` than most Turkish spouses, having lived and studied in the USA for nearly 10 years. She lived in Chicago, then Texas, then Florida. I am sure the transition to America, when she comes for good, will be nothing compared to what it must be for most spouses from Turkey who have not really been in the USA for so long. I am in Istanbul now, with her here for the summer, and just what I see here each day makes me understand just how very different our cultures can be at times. Must have been some kind of ``culture`` shock for your husband

Thanks again for your reply.

[Deb_Res 0]

Hi Joye,

Any word yet on Ali's security check? Do you check the embassy's website weekly to see if he he was cleared? I keep checking for our case # ever since this happened to you. Going to the lawyer to compile Packet 3 and Fedex it out this week. I'll keep you posted!

~Deb

[joyeann 0]

Hi Deb!! Nope nothing yet. They did say it would take 4-6 weeks and today is day 19. I check every day. My home page is set to the security checks!! Any news on when your interview is?

Hi Joye,

Any word yet on Ali's security check? Do you check the embassy's website weekly to see if he he was cleared? I keep checking for our case # ever since this happened to you. Going to the lawyer to compile Packet 3 and Fedex it out this week. I'll keep you posted!

~Deb

[Michele&Omer 0]

Hi

I am new here!

My husband is from Southeast Turkey, not far from Urfa, and I am from Georgia.

Has anyone tried travelling to a non-american destination while waiting for the K3 or the CR-1 to process?

I went to Turkey for almost a month in Jan/Feb and got married while there. My husband lives with his parents and brothers and sisters. His (our) family is wonderful!! Even though I do not speak much turkish besides the very basics we got along really well and by the time I left everyone was in tears, sad to see me go. Because of my limited time there my husband and I did not have a very big celebration or honeymoon. The family wants to have a wedding party for us when i go back in September.

In the meantime, I am trying to get us on a honeymoon, so we can have some alone time. I have a timeshare in Aruba and thought that would be an ideal place to go, well of course Turkish people need a visa to go . I called the netherlands embassy and explained that I was an american wife and was taking my turkish husband to Aruba. They said if he has american visa no problem, I said we are working on that and it could be months before one is issued. Well the person I talked to told me to gather up my employment pay stubs for 3 months, (he is not currently working as he usually works during the tourist time in marmaris but decided this year not to go as foolish me thought he might be coming to the USA in June or July),have the resort reservation, proof of health insurance thru my employer, his round trip plane ticket, I think that was all. I got all that and gave it to my husband, well when he called to make his visa appointment they said forget the wifes info bring his fathers employment stuff and get travellers insurance.

He goes for his appoint with both mine and his fathers info his passport and plane tickets and the resort reservation which is in both our names. The appointment is to take about one hour with a decsion before he leaves - NOT! They tell him to come back in a week, lucky for him he has family in Istanbul he can stay with during this time because it is a 20 hour bus ride to home. He goes back a week later and they say they can not make a decsion on the visa they have to send it to Aruba for the decision and he should have his passport with or without visa in 10 days. That was June 19th, still no word. I had

to make my plane reservations July 3rd or the price went up $200 or cancel the reservation for the resort and lose nothing on my timeshare by the 3rd. So I have my plane tickets hoping his visa comes thru!! If not I maybe honeymooning by myself. My plane ticket is not cancelable but I can change it for $100 if my plane change which I could use for part of my ticket back to turkey this fall. Can anyone relate to this??

Right now I am so sick of VISAS, I want to sell my house and belongings and just move to Turkey!!!

Sorry for the long post.

Nice to have a Turkey forum....I had to laugh when I read about all the bread someones husband eats,

when I lived with his family bread was the staple of every meal, and i also am not a big bread eater, and

they had a fit if i did not eat enough bread, they had 4 or 5 different variety of bread while i was there. Some

was like a loaf of bread, some was like a pizza crust, and some were like tortillas.

Good luck on your visa journeys!!

Edited July 4, 2006 by Michele&Omer

[joyeann 0]

Hi Michele&Omer,

Ugh this sucks! I am sorry to hear that it is taking so long. I found this info at an aruba website, where they say it can take up to 4 weeks. Hopefully your husband will have his visa in hand shortly!! Maybe you can call the foreign affairs nuber in Aruba?

All Visa applicants should submit the following supporting documents:

· A completed and signed application form

· 2 photographs

· A valid passport

· Proof of economic solvency: the last three monthly bank statements

(must be original), bank letter alone will not suffice.

· Employment letter showing salary, position, total time on job, guarantee of employment upon return

· If self employed, excerpt of the company’s registration from the Chamber of Commerce

· If you are visiting family or friends, a letter of invitation

· Flight and Hotel reservations

Applications for a visa can be done through the representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Embassy or Consulate) or directly through the Department of Foreign Affairs in Aruba. In both cases, applications for tourist-visas will be handled with priority in order to facilitate the tourist as much as possible.

In other cases, the entire procedure might take up to four weeks and the visa will be handed over to the interested party by the Dutch Embassy and/or Consular Officials in the country where the application has been done or by fax if the application has been done directly through the Department of Foreign Affairs of Aruba.

J.E. Irausquinplein 2-A, Oranjestad

Tel: (297) 583-4705, Fax: (297) 583-8108