Visa Denied - Cairo (Age Difference)

[Dahlia 1]

What to do next depends on whether you came here simply to object and complain or take constructive action. Your age difference is relevant in the eyes of the Consular officers who will make decisions about any visa. For us to help you, we need to understand your circumstances including not just the age difference but the actual ages, how many visits and for how long, how you initially became acquainted and anything else except your actual names, dates of birth and other private information that you think might be considered applicable to your situation.

You'll also want to ask you fiance to write as complete and accurate a description (think verbatim transcript) of his experience at the interview, specifically including the questions asked and answers given.

I was not objecting or complaining about what happened that is why I ask for help what is the next best thing to do. Age gap makes no difference in the situation we are in. I know him for four years saw him three times in that four years every year. Visit is for three and two weeks since i am still working. I already ask my fiancee to write everything he remembers questions ask and I will write the consulate in Egypt.

Sorry if my disappointment have bothered people. I know that u mean well. Hopefully I can resolve this without no more problems. Thank you for the reply constructive or not i still like some ideas what is the next thing to do for my love one.

[katiemanny 64]

I was not objecting or complaining about what happened that is why I ask for help what is the next best thing to do. Age gap makes no difference in the situation we are in. I know him for four years saw him three times in that four years every year. Visit is for three and two weeks since i am still working. I already ask my fiancee to write everything he remembers questions ask and I will write the consulate in Egypt.

Sorry if my disappointment have bothered people. I know that u mean well. Hopefully I can resolve this without no more problems. Thank you for the reply constructive or not i still like some ideas what is the next thing to do for my love one.

Age gap makes a difference specially if its highly unusual for young male to marry an older female in Egypt's culture, because this is why you started the topic, denied (age difference), for some reason you keep answering the same thing when asked what the actual age difference between you and your fiance, you need to understand that when dealing with US Embassy, you don't have the presumption of innocent, they just didn't believe that there was a legit relationship between you and your fiance, and for that simple reason your fiance's visa was denied. So to get better guidance from experienced members here, you need to give your actual age gap between you and him, (10,15,20,30). There has been similar cases but at the end the couple ended being approved, to compare your case with others they need to know age gap.

Edited May 18, 2011 by katiemanny

[TwoCats 55]

So...

You've told us that he was denied due to your age difference in your first post.

Multiple people have asked just what kind of age difference are we talking about?

Yet as a response, you continue to say 'age isn't an issue'.

Apparently it is if it is the reason you got denied.

If you don't feel comfortable giving your exact age, how about an age-difference range?

< 5 years?

5-10 years?

10-15 years?

15-20 years?

20-30 years?

30-35 years?

[Eric-Pris 1,606]

It may not be a factor for you, but age is definitely a factor when it comes to immigration. If he's 27 and you're 50, that will be scrutinized in ANY culture. You need to understand that going in. If there was an fool-proof "real love" test, that would be great and everybody who's really in love would get their visas, but there isn't. While trying to be objective as possible, the IO's are human being and have the same thoughts as the rest of us. Seeing a 27 year old man with a much older woman is not common and is not as "accepted" as a 27 woman with a much older man in general.

[Casprd 167]

The difference in our age does not matter in this situation as we both care and love for each other. My problem is when a man is older than a woman they approved their visa but when it comes to a woman why they do not approve. I do not look like my age and he do not look young either he is 27 and more mature than any man i have meet.. My question now is WHAT IS THE NEXT THING TO DO...

Unfortunately as far as the VO is concerned, the difference in age DOES matter. Because this is a high fraud country and part of the fraud is younger men finding older American women and it is not the cultural norm there, it is something you have to consider and overcome.

Best bet at this point is rather than fighting this through an appeal is to go there, get married and file a CR-1. Overwhelm them with evidence, especially evidence concerning his family and their acceptance of the marriage (pictures of you with the family etc). It is going to be a long tough road. Hang in there.

[Samoray 165]

My fiancee had an interview today at the US Embassy in Cairo visa denied due to our age difference....Did anybody have the same problems because of age difference they have to deny his visa? They told him to marry a woman in Egypt. Why do they have to question him like this. This is not the interviewer business to ask him just because of our age difference. What is the next step I could do if his visa is denied? He answered everything right, paperwork is all correct but WHY the interviewer do this to him.

Awwww, this is sad

You need to understand well why they have denied the Visa, is it just for age difference or maybe there was not enough proof that the Consular saw to convince him that you have a true relationship ( pictures - emails - phone records - etc ), also if the age Gap is 20 plus years the chances are slim to get approved for a K1 fiancee visa, i suggest you not waste your effort on this visa, cause they have denied it already and they must have solid grounds to deny it, but now your next thing is marry him and spend time with him in Egypt, then file the I-130 petition, but in whatever route you gonna take, either trying to get them to reconsider this decision or reapplying for a spousal visa after marriage, keep in mind to know why have they denied the visa and if their claim of denial is not true then be prepared to have evidence to prove that they were wrong.

Good Luck to you, i am sorry for the denial, it really made me sad.

[san diego 407]

I agree with previous posts. I am not a specialist, by no means. However, I did have a lawyer that is very experienced in K1. I am 35 (male) and my fiancee is 31 (female). Our lawyer did state that this is GOOD that we have small age difference. She also stated that usually large age difference is probably number 1 red flag in the K1 visa. It does not matter as much male or female (although in cultures where males are usually older then females they look a little more flexible at age difference when males are much older). This is why in order to get better guidance you need to tell your age difference. Depending on the age difference the advice can be:

1) Go there, marry, apply for visa

2) Go there, marry, stay there while visa is processed.

Another red flag that I see in your case is that you see each other once a year. This IS rare. Knowing each other for 3 years and meeting only three times IS a red flag.

[nurse1967 287]

Age difference DOES matter in MENA culture. Men in Egypt don't marry women of their own nationality who are old enough to be their mother so it immediately raises a red flag for immigration. You probably will be ultimately successful in getting an approval but you may have to marry and jump through a million other hoops as well before the approval. They are not going to make it easy for you. My husband is 5 years younger than me and even that is considered a large age gap in MENA. Also, as someone else said before, they are looking at other factors like socioeconomic status, educational background, whether or not you have been married before and have kids, whether or not HE or YOU have been involved in another visa petition before. Just because you have visited many times in the past, if you have a dozen other red flags this won't matter to them. Good luck!

[san diego 407]

In addition, I agree with the previous post: demonstrate approval of his parents, show pictures with them during your wedding in Egypt. I also agree: do not bother with K1, go there immediately.

[san diego 407]

In addition, I do not want to be negative but you need to evaluate your relationship. My experience with COs (though very limited) is that they are extremely good at spotting unusual patterns. They are very good psychologists. They do not just look at actual case but also at body language of interviewee, etc. In high fraud countries they are even more rigorous. I agree with previous posts you also need to carefully evaluate step-by-step word-by-word every second of the interview and spot what went wrong and address during I130 application.

[monalisa2010 1]

try to be logical away from angery or nervous cause the american people who work in the embassy understand very well the country they work with plus egyptians people who work inside okay , so im agree with u that age is not important but when its over 15 years or more they strat to think depend on egyptian clture ,i just hate the consular telling him to go and marry egyptian lady cause its not his business ,F1 visa used to deniy here ,the best way to end it up to come to egypt and marry him and fill DFC do it and good luck

[pushbrk 12,886]

So...

You've told us that he was denied due to your age difference in your first post.

Multiple people have asked just what kind of age difference are we talking about?

Yet as a response, you continue to say 'age isn't an issue'.

Apparently it is if it is the reason you got denied.

If you don't feel comfortable giving your exact age, how about an age-difference range?

< 5 years?

5-10 years?

10-15 years?

15-20 years?

20-30 years?

30-35 years?

Actually, I think it's critical to know the actual age difference. The answer to what to do next will be different depending on the age of the beneficiary. For instance a 20 year difference is viewed differently for an older male than a younger one. 60 and 40 is not the same as 40 and 20, even though the gap is the same.

To the OP,

We get that you don't think the age difference has an impact on your relationship. We also get that the Consular officers in Cairo DO consider the age difference in their evaluation of whether THEY believe the relationship is genuine. It is THEM you must convince, not yourself or us. To be blunt, THEY don't care a bit how you feel about him. It's all about what THEY think about HIS motivations.

[TwoCats 55]

Actually, I think it's critical to know the actual age difference. The answer to what to do next will be different depending on the age of the beneficiary. For instance a 20 year difference is viewed differently for an older male than a younger one. 60 and 40 is not the same as 40 and 20, even though the gap is the same.

Right.

But they'd said the beneficiary is 27. So we at least have a starting point.

[pushbrk 12,886]

Right.

But they'd said the beneficiary is 27. So we at least have a starting point.

Missed that. So, I take it the petitioner is most likely past child bearing age and it's the first marriage for the petitioner who has no children. If so, then there's a baseline but from that point, the bigger the difference, the higher the hurdle. Almost always the best course of action will end up being to both marry AND equally if not more important, arrange to spend significant time living together as man and wife abroad. Not an easy solution for most folks but easy and marriage to a much younger Egyptian male just don't go together. Forget easy.

[baron555 934]

In addition, I do not want to be negative but you need to evaluate your relationship. My experience with COs (though very limited) is that they are extremely good at spotting unusual patterns. They are very good psychologists. They do not just look at actual case but also at body language of interviewee, etc. In high fraud countries they are even more rigorous. I agree with previous posts you also need to carefully evaluate step-by-step word-by-word every second of the interview and spot what went wrong and address during I130 application.

This post gets to the heart of the issue. It doesn't matter how much you two love each other or not.

Doesn't mean a thing. You both need to demonstrate to the COs satisfaction that you have a legitimate relationship which has been questioned by them due to the age difference combined with any evidence of the relationship that you provided.

Obviously you can either change the age difference, change the evdience provided or change your marriage status and go another visa route. Very simple path forward.