Question about religion on Islamabad Embassy

[Erik And Anum 1]

Salam everyone!

I am currently in the process of petitioning my Pakistani fiance to America. Prior to getting engaged I have made the biggest and most effective decision that I have ever made in my life! I officially converted to Islam. This of course did not have to do anything with my fiance as Islam has always been a religion that made much more sense to me. I studied it and did my research prior to converting and boy don`t I wish I converted sooner. On March I went to Pakistan to propose as well as to convert. Now the issue here is that I`ve been told that in MENA countries the consulates can be picky as far as issuing visas for interracial couples especially if they have to do with religions. My main concern is that since my name is not a muslim name yet they may hesitate to believe that I`m muslim. She of course is planning to tell them but is there any evidence that she can provide as far as showing that I`m muslim just in case they give her any problems? Would a letter from the Imam that converted me work? Has anyone ever had a similar experience and if so has the consulates given you a hard time as far as granting visas to people whom they believe that are different in religions?

[EAbbas 213]

Salam everyone!

I am currently in the process of petitioning my Pakistani fiance to America. Prior to getting engaged I have made the biggest and most effective decision that I have ever made in my life! I officially converted to Islam. This of course did not have to do anything with my fiance as Islam has always been a religion that made much more sense to me. I studied it and did my research prior to converting and boy don`t I wish I converted sooner. On March I went to Pakistan to propose as well as to convert. Now the issue here is that I`ve been told that in MENA countries the consulates can be picky as far as issuing visas for interracial couples especially if they have to do with religions. My main concern is that since my name is not a muslim name yet they may hesitate to believe that I`m muslim. She of course is planning to tell them but is there any evidence that she can provide as far as showing that I`m muslim just in case they give her any problems? Would a letter from the Imam that converted me work? Has anyone ever had a similar experience and if so has the consulates given you a hard time as far as granting visas to people whom they believe that are different in religions?

Same here with me. I actually worked in a church setting and because the youth were getting ready to study about islam and judiasm i thought it best to read evthing about both in depth...so my research had begun before my husband and i became friends. When we did I asked him more questions and talked to him more and decided to convert. But his family had already accepted me as a christian wife to him before then...he proposed with their blessing long before i converted.

Fast forward...i flew to him to be married and while i was there i told them i wanted to convert...they reminded me that they loved me jjust as i am but i explained why i wanted to convert. So the same day we did our nikah at the Masjid...i also converted. I actually received a certification of this with my new muslim name.

We included this withour ds230 and i gave him a letter explaining simply why i chose to convert and that i knew i was accepted as a christian wife to him before my decision.

Im not sure if your situation would be the same as mine or different since as a muslim man he can marry women from the book ..ie christian and jews.... and the muslim woman is required to marry only a muslim man.

[Naveed Hassan 10]

My wife was converted few years ago, and she didn't changed her name that time, all she did after getting married, she changed her last name, so now she has muslim name too. i would suggest you to file with your orginal name as you are doing K1 visa, at the time of interview CO only asked me when & where she is converted.

[Erik And Anum 1]

Same here with me. I actually worked in a church setting and because the youth were getting ready to study about islam and judiasm i thought it best to read evthing about both in depth...so my research had begun before my husband and i became friends. When we did I asked him more questions and talked to him more and decided to convert. But his family had already accepted me as a christian wife to him before then...he proposed with their blessing long before i converted.

Fast forward...i flew to him to be married and while i was there i told them i wanted to convert...they reminded me that they loved me jjust as i am but i explained why i wanted to convert. So the same day we did our nikah at the Masjid...i also converted. I actually received a certification of this with my new muslim name.

We included this withour ds230 and i gave him a letter explaining simply why i chose to convert and that i knew i was accepted as a christian wife to him before my decision.

Im not sure if your situation would be the same as mine or different since as a muslim man he can marry women from the book ..ie christian and jews.... and the muslim woman is required to marry only a muslim man.

Thank you what a interesting story maybe if I would`ve gone over there to marry her and have a nikah ceremony things would`ve been easier makes me wonder why I haven`t thought of it in the first place I understand that it may raise some eyebrows as far as them mistaking her for wanting to marry a "catholic or a christian" which is one of the main reasons why I`m planning on flying over there in hopes of showing some evidence

Edited June 5, 2011 by Erik And Anum

[EAbbas 213]

Thank you what a interesting story maybe if I would`ve gone over there to marry her and have a nikah ceremony things would`ve been easier makes me wonder why I haven`t thought of it in the first place I understand that it may raise some eyebrows as far as them mistaking her for wanting to marry a "catholic or a christian" which is one of the main reasons why I`m planning on flying over there in hopes of showing some evidence

Just simply prepare a statement on your conversion...that way they have their answer on paper even if she tells them why you converted. I'm sure yours was similar too...it made sense to convert in a place that you hear the Azan every day with the history of islam surrounding you.

[Erik And Anum 1]

My wife was converted few years ago, and she didn't changed her name that time, all she did after getting married, she changed her last name, so now she has muslim name too. i would suggest you to file with your orginal name as you are doing K1 visa, at the time of interview CO only asked me when & where she is converted.

Thanks but do you think I`ll have the same luck even though she`s muslim and i`m the American petitioner? They may look at it more carefully since they`ll think that she`s marrying a non-muslim knowing well that its prohibited for a muslim women to marry a non muslim

[Erik And Anum 1]

Just simply prepare a statement on your conversion...that way they have their answer on paper even if she tells them why you converted. I'm sure yours was similar too...it made sense to convert in a place that you hear the Azan every day with the history of islam surrounding you.

Omg you are right on point! My friends have told me to convert here but its just not the same feeling as converting in a Islamic country where the azan can be heard everyday,everywhere, 5 times a day. The feeling that you get over there once you`ve converted is extraordinarily let alone the vast amount of happy muslims whom I didn`t even know of congratulating me for my conversion while I was staying at the hotel.

Yea your right I`ll just write down a letter stating my conversion by explaining to them that this was from my own free will and not part of the marriage process. I`m well aware that I wont be able to face the interviewer so i`ll go ahead and give it to my fiance and she can show it to him/her if they ever ask about it.