Need to learn english and arabic

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Thanks again for the listings, without being to personal wondering if some that have had some of these problems would say a little something about them, which areas etc. and the outcomes.

[Henia 11]

There's a great group on yahoo Learning Moroccan Arabic

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learn-moroccan-arabic/

There you can download for free the Peace Corps manual (I think it's great). The group owner has put in a lot of effort and there are MP3 files. There's also a separate group for people using the book MBP referenced above, with MP3 files.

I am a big fan of the Moroccan Arabic phrasebook (Lonely Planet). If you're used to learning languages it has a lot of the linguistic rules and you can actually get pretty far with it. You'd have to have someone help you with pronunciation though.

Another option is Rosetta Stone. It's a computer program. It's not Moroccan arabic but they will understand you since TV has so many shows in Egyptian and standard arabic. It will help you a LOT with pronunciation and basic vocabulary (not the best for spontaneous conversation, though).

Esalaam they need to make a group for learning DZ dardje too!

[deemabrouk 0]

So you are saying that the consulates just randomly decided what they were going to consider red-flags and that it has nothing to do with an increased chance of fraud?

consulates have a list of 'potential' red flags. per attorney Ellis he listed these and by far are not the only ones:

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;

2. A marriage ceremony arranged only a short time after petitioner arrives in the beneficiary’s country and they meet for the first time;

3. No common language;

4. Petitioner resides with family members of the beneficiary in the US;

5. Petitioner is employed by or has a business relationship with a relative of beneficiary;

6. Petitioner submits phone records that show he uses a residential phone number that is listed in the name of another person.

7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.

8. There is little or no documentary evidence of the relationship prior to the actual engagement.

9. Long gaps of time between the petitioner & beneficiary being together in person.

10. Failure to disclose previous marriages;

11. Failure to disclose previous petitions filed on behalf of other beneficiaries.

well I "flagged" 3/4 of these.. looks like I'm up shits Creek !

[thkcmp 0]

Answer the questions given, dont try to out guess someone elses situation and if someone cant say something politely then dont say anything, and im (as is most) far past being any kind of kid. Sorry Green this time i have to agree to disagree a few on here are not just interested in the good of their fellow traveler it becomes more intresting to validate how "they" just dont understand someone elses business. How many that have filed dont have some issues to overcome?? Again Connie, glad your here and i hope you got some good suggestions about the tools to learn for both you and him.

Thank you. And yes I did get some really good suggestions on tools to use to learn arabic and english.

[peezey 0]

Answer the questions given, dont try to out guess someone elses situation and if someone cant say something politely then dont say anything, and im (as is most) far past being any kind of kid. Sorry Green this time i have to agree to disagree a few on here are not just interested in the good of their fellow traveler it becomes more intresting to validate how "they" just dont understand someone elses business. How many that have filed dont have some issues to overcome?? Again Connie, glad your here and i hope you got some good suggestions about the tools to learn for both you and him.

Sorrry to say you aren't the diviner of people's intentions, there has been nothing impolite said here and if you read through the thread, the majority are reminding everyone how hard this process is, not determining why it is people make the choices they do. If we were trying to do that, we'd get nowhere, because it's clear a lot of us to don't get a lot of things.

[chiquita 0]

well I "flagged" 3/4 of these.. looks like I'm up shits Creek !

sorry to hear that. we had none yet our case was returned to USCIS for 'further review dud to the validity of the relationship' with a request to revoke the petition.

from your timeline it appears you have not yey had the interview. there is still time to prepare. i personally know nothing about the consulate you are going through though. maybe someone can offer you some helpful advice on how they have handled these 'red flag' issues.

chi

[brnidokiegurl 0]

No one is the "diviner of people intentions" the OP choose to thank me....in the end alot was learned. I ordered a book and im sure others got suggestions (the end)

I do or would think it interesting if those that could/ would tell some of the problems they faced and how they handled them and the outcome, without being to personal into their business, as one has already said they see themselves in 3/4 of the issues, now what??

[chiquita 0]

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;

7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.

Ah-ha! So this would be ours We married 6 months after we met, and umm I divorced (finally, it dragged on for about 8 months) 3 weeks before getting remarried.

Thanks for the list Chiquita. We actually would have waited to get married until the summer but we realized he wasn't coming any time soon and were told marriage would help solidify our case.

We talked about it and decided that since we were getting amrried anyway.. we'd just do it in November and have our party later rather than wait for eternity to pass and possibly still not be together.

welcome. i just posted them here, attorney Ellis wrote them.

you can overcome the flags by addressing them early on when you file your petition with USCIS. it is said that once that is done the CO cannot make an issue of it at the time of the interview or deny for that reason since USCIS approved the petition. said to say this concept is not TRUE. so be sure to address the flags at the time of the interview too.

a good way is to get letters from those who know you as a couple. to tell the truth, for any couple going through the immigration process it is good have letters from family and friends. i thought i read somewhere that letters are now required for the I-130 petition. if the applicant can get some from his family and friends he can translate them and/or have it certified in his country as accurate. be sure the person writing the letter include name, full address and phone number if the immigration has any questions.

this is one of the best proofs that i know of at this time for couples to prove that they indeed have a valid relationship, along with all the other proofs. if there are anykind of red flags or there is some sort of doubt in the mind of the CO, letters verifying a couples relationship can be a good indicator that it is indeed valid since the person took the time to do this for you and included their address and phone number so as to be contacted.

chi

[chiquita 0]

No one is the "diviner of people intentions" the OP choose to thank me....in the end alot was learned. I ordered a book and im sure others got suggestions (the end)

I do or would think it interesting if those that could/ would tell some of the problems they faced and how they handled them and the outcome, without being to personal into their business, as one has already said they see themselves in 3/4 of the issues, now what??

a good start (if you have not done so) is to read the PINNED topic>>

Returning Petitions to the United States via 221g

that is at the beginning of the the ME/NA forum. Kiyah has done an excellent job on this subject.

then maybe explain what you may think are red flags for you. how have you addressed them in your petition. do you have an attorny?

oh and maybe we can go over to the topic jen just created! see ya there!

chi

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Yep everyone move... and yea i have read and also actually talked with Kiyah

[Nasturtium 500]

1. A very brief courtship followed by a plunge into matrimony;

7. US divorce followed very quickly by an engagement to foreign beneficiary is often a red flag for consular officers.

Ah-ha! So this would be ours We married 6 months after we met, and umm I divorced (finally, it dragged on for about 8 months) 3 weeks before getting remarried.

Thanks for the list Chiquita. We actually would have waited to get married until the summer but we realized he wasn't coming any time soon and were told marriage would help solidify our case.

We talked about it and decided that since we were getting amrried anyway.. we'd just do it in November and have our party later rather than wait for eternity to pass and possibly still not be together.

welcome. i just posted them here, attorney Ellis wrote them.

you can overcome the flags by addressing them early on when you file your petition with USCIS. it is said that once that is done the CO cannot make an issue of it at the time of the interview or deny for that reason since USCIS approved the petition. said to say this concept is not TRUE. so be sure to address the flags at the time of the interview too.

a good way is to get letters from those who know you as a couple. to tell the truth, for any couple going through the immigration process it is good have letters from family and friends. i thought i read somewhere that letters are now required for the I-130 petition. if the applicant can get some from his family and friends he can translate them and/or have it certified in his country as accurate. be sure the person writing the letter include name, full address and phone number if the immigration has any questions.

this is one of the best proofs that i know of at this time for couples to prove that they indeed have a valid relationship, along with all the other proofs. if there are anykind of red flags or there is some sort of doubt in the mind of the CO, letters verifying a couples relationship can be a good indicator that it is indeed valid since the person took the time to do this for you and included their address and phone number so as to be contacted.

chi

We;re up against the interview now.. so maybe I can get some together before the interview? Will be hard... but... I did mention it before in my file with the initial applications but maybe I can scrounge some letters!

[chiquita 0]

We;re up against the interview now.. so maybe I can get some together before the interview? Will be hard... but... I did mention it before in my file with the initial applications but maybe I can scrounge some letters!

i wish you the best!!!!

when is your interview?

chi

[chiquita 0]

We;re up against the interview now.. so maybe I can get some together before the interview? Will be hard... but... I did mention it before in my file with the initial applications but maybe I can scrounge some letters!

i see you are going through Jordan.

what is it like going through that consulate? is it tough? it would be good to hear from those who went through there to fill you in on the situation there.

chi

we went through Morocco which is considered as high fraud country.

[thkcmp 0]

Hi everyone,

I just found and joined VJ a couple of weeks ago. I am in the process of gathering all the information and filling out the forms to petition for a k-1 visa for my fiance, Tarek, in Morocco. We have a problem I'm hoping someone here might be able to help us with.

I went to Morocco to meet Tarek in person in February. He knows a little english and i know a little arabic. Between the combination and some charades we did much better than I thought but there were still times that we needed someone to translate for us.

I have purchased several audios and software that teaches arabic but haven't been able to find the moroccan dialect so a lot of what i'm learning from this software turns out to be incorrect. Does anyone know of something out there that teaches the correct dialect?

Also, I've searched for something to help Tarek to learn more english but he doesn't read very much english alphabet so he would need something that is also in arabic writing. Can anyone help me there?

I know we have some time but I'm very concerned about the interview. Tarek feels he will be more comfortable doing the interview in arabic but I know we would have to prove that we are able to communicate with each other. Right now I don't feel confident that we can do that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated especially if you've been in the same situation.

Thanks everyone. This website has already been a great help!!

Connie

I'd like to thank everyone for their input and replies to my post. Do I know about the "red flags"? Yes. Do I know that this is a really serious problem? Yes. Do I think that Tarek will be denied a visa because of it? Yes Do I already know all the things that everyone has said in reply? Yes

That is why I am asking for information on software, tapes, audios, books, etc. for an American to learn Moroccan Arabic and for a Moroccan to learn English. As I said, I haven't filed yet so we have time to correct this situation.

As for the charades....I should have put that in different words. I do know one other language besides English and some Arabic......sign language. It is alot like playing charages when talking to the deaf and a lot of the signs are obvisous and it works beautifully though I know that Tarek knowing some sign language is not going to help the problem at hand.

I have been checking into the sites of those who replied about learning Arabic and English. I have been given some good sources. Thanks to all of you who answered the question being asked.

Connie

Hi to all that have replied. I've read every single one. Some of you have said maybe I've been scared away. Quite the contrary....I've been enjoying every reply that has been made. I've been in groups about other topics before so I know how some people can be. And I have to say that I've never been this entertained ever. For you men who have replied or have just been reading....I'm sure you're probably saying the same thing I've been saying...."just look at all the hens coming out of the wood work....cackle cackle cluck cluck"

To those of you who were intelligent enough to understsand my post and have actually replied to my requests of learning sources, I say truly and sincerely, between laughs and giggles, thank you. I've checked out all the learning aids mentioned. I think some of them will be very helpful.

Thanks again to all of you and please keep the replies coming. Laughter is the best medicine and right now I've never been more healthy.

Connie

P.S. Can't wait to share this with Tarek.

[doodlebug 3]

And I have to say that I've never been this entertained ever.

Oh just wait a day or two.....roflmaoooo!!!!

Now that you've officially passed the initiation here on MENA, welcome again!!! :energetic: