AP for Missing Documents - Algeria

[agbcha 48]

Hello all,

My husband had his interview in Algiers last week, which I attended. The biggest red flag in our case is that he had previously lived undocumented in Greece and France (where we met.) We were able to provide a PCC for France, but not for Greece, despite all our efforts to obtain one.The CO seemed to have made up her mind about my husband before the interview even started. When he chose to do his interview in French, she began interrogating him about what language we speak in, not believing that I speak French. The next question was about his undocumented travels and why he hadn't provided the Greek PCC. She kept interrupting him when he tried to answer, so finally he asked if I could come explain, since I had done the paperwork. She was a bit sarcastic, saying "you didn't help your wife with the paperwork? You don't have confidence in your file?" And when I came up, she said "you apparently seem to know more about his travels than he does."

Granted, she was far nicer to me than she was to him. I talked at length about all the attempts we had made to get the PCC. She said she would have to do some research into the laws, because it would be hard to get around a required PCC. She asked me to sit down while she continued the interview -- she was less than impressed that we got married in a matter of months, and that we moved to Algeria the day after our wedding.

At the end of the interview, she gave him the letter with the 221(g) case pending action, requesting a new Algerian PCC and a copy of his prior passport with European travel. (She had flipped through every page of his new passport, looking for stamps.) I hung around to talk to her one last time. I told her that his old passport had a Turkish visa and that was it. She said that that was a good thing, and that she was just trying to think of things that would help us out. She also said that PCC's were a very basic requirement, and that people had been able to get them from Russia, Vietnam, etc. So I asked her to consider than my husband was never a legal resident of Greece, was never in court, was never convicted, was never deported, and obviously wasn't a citizen, which makes it highly unlikely that he has a record there. She seemed to hear me out.

We submitted the missing documents yesterday. She said that the timeframe for processing them would depend on the embassy's caseload. Now, I'm wondering how long we'll be in AP... a week? Six months? Longer?

I would greatly appreciate some advice.

[momof1 205]

It took us 11 months to obtain a police clearance from the turkish govt. although he entered with a visa, he overstayed. He no longer had the passport ( it was 13 years before). In the end, we were able to get the turkish embassy in Algeria to issue a clearance. Has your husbsnd tried dealing with the greek embassy in Algeria? The turkish embassy in the US wouldnt do anything.

[agbcha 48]

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, the first thing we tried to do was go through the Greek Embassy in Algiers. Initially the accepted a written application for the police certificate with a photocopy of his passport. Then a week later they called us and said that they couldn't send our request for processing in Greece. About a month later, I asked for them to send me a written letter stating that they could not obtain a police certificate on our behalf. In the letter, the embassy offical said that we would either have to go to Greece in person or hire a Greek lawyer to get the PCC. I sent this letter to the NVC in place of the PCC.

I consulted with a Greek lawyer who said that penal records from Greece are only for Greek nationals and criminal convicts, and neither of these criteria apply to my husband. She was going to charge 1000 euros to do a power of attorney and look into it for us, even though it's highly unlikely he has a record there. So I submitted a supplementary letter that explained that hiring a lawyer or going to Greece in person was out of our means.

I've been trying to call the Greek bureau of penal records for foreigners every day -- no one has ever picked up. I emailed the Algerian embassy in Greece and I haven't received a reply.

Were you in AP while you waited for the Turkish police clearance? How long did it take for them to issue the visa after you submitted the police clearance?

Edited August 21, 2014 by agbcha