Where does some go from here?

[aicha 0]

oh gosh this is so difficult.

you are getting the wrong info regarding your I-130. it will be the petition USCIS wil review and use to issue you the NOIR. the NOIR will be sent where? you will have 30 days to respond to it or your I-130 will be revoked. will you still be in Morocco when the NOIR arrives?

Chi, I think you are talking about my other post on this one, so I will go there to reply on your comment about the petition status.

i could not find your reply

as to the residency in Morocco. this is what their website says>>>>

Residence permit

Americans and other foreign nationals interested in residing in Morocco for more than three months have to report their intention to stay in Morocco to the nearest police station of their place of residence within two weeks of their entrance. To apply for a resident card, non-Moroccan nationals have to provide supporting documents of their place as well as reason of residence (e.g.: job contract, employment verification, proof of investment, proof of registration for students, marriage certificate for people married to Moroccan nationals). When first issued, residency cards are valid for one year, renewable every year. Processing time takes approximately 3 to 6 months.

did you report your intention with in the first 2 weeks there?

Yes - we did exactly this - I wrote to the US CO here to get all of the information and we followed each and every step for their process here for a residence permit. So I am aware of all of this information - we researched before starting. I took in all of the supporting documents - even my husbands family signed papers to sponsor me with my husband - I went through the interview and everything - we were applying for the residence permit - the man processed as only a tourist extension. He said there was no reason for me to stay here - if I wanted to I could come back.

are you going back?

as to the corruption. they do not consider asking for money as wrong. it is a way of life. you do for me i do for you. your husband must know this. we call it corruption they call it life. (is it right? not by our standards.) but this is how this culture lives and it is expected if you want something you will pay for it. plain and simple. there is no way you will be able to change this. going higher up the chain of command usally doesnt help either because they do the same thing and they will say there must have been a misunderstanding or whatever. its a battle you cannot win. what is the saying, when in spain do as spain does or something to that effect.

just give the money to renew your stay. even if you do go to spain i am sure you will still have to pay someone else for it so why bother unless you just want to take the trip?

one question, did you apply for a tourist or residency permit? Residency Permit

i wish you the best. this is such an emotional time for you. i so understand. please dont get angry for what i have told you.

I have no reason to get angry at you Chi - people have really got the wrong idea about me through this battle - I am really an easy going person. As for the corruption issue - I will stand by my beliefs, as will my husband - we both are very aware of the system here, but we do not have to aid it - if we have to go other methods to do things right, then that is what we will do. And I stood on the belief I can never win the battle - then why I am I even here - I know what battle you are speaking of, but in my philosophy - all of life is a battle and I will fight each and every one I come faced with, but I will do it with my ethics in tact and believe that if people believe in somethng enough - it can be changed - if we all go through life thinking that these battles can not be changed - then what good are any of us in this world?. And I have went up the chain of command here and won each and every time - I believe there is good in this country - I have seen it many times. Sadly for one good - there is ten bad, but I seekl to find the one good and will go through the ten to get to that one. I hope you understand - thank you so much for all of your help and advice - you are a good person!

chi

i have no wrong idea about you at all. i understand all you are going through. i am just not sure how you will be able to accomplish what you want.

how will you do battle with USCIS for your husband living in Morocco? have you changed your address with them? USCIS are notorious for blunders in this area (among other things as well). My address still exists in the states - I have not needed to do this, as I have not given up my residence - all of my mail is screened by my adult children, so it is being taken care of - anything that would have came in would have been taken care of in plenty of time - believe me I did have everything put in place so nothing would have been missed that way or any other.

how much experience does your senator have with immigration and USCIS issues, especially returned cases? mine told me to continue processing our approved I-130 saying it would get send to Casa and we would get a visa with that petition. right in the middle of processing it was sent back to CSC for further review. senator was wrong. senator's liason said she learned something new. (gulp, at my expense) in the 2 years i have been learning it has been my experience no represenative knows this process. which i would expect to be the case since this is not their area of work. as a matter of fact each service center seems to have their own way of handling returned cases. I am checking into their experience - I feel they have done and responded very accordingly and they have got results that my lawyer was not getting to say the least - they were even getting response from the CO here, so I am comfortable so far, but can not answer you on the experience issue.

my point is that you cannot always go by what senators/congressman tell you since they dont know much either. in your case, i find it reasonable that your approved I-130 is in storage. it is awaiting the K3 return and expiration then they USCIS will pull it for review, send you the NOIR and go from there. This is where you were not understanding the issues with my CR1 - the CR1 petition was approved on January 31, 2007 - they sent it to storage from there. They would not have even been aware of my K3 denial or interview at that time - my K3 interview was on March 21, 2007 - so you see what you are saying is not making sense to me - it could not have been waiting the K3 return on January 31 when the K3 had not even arrived in Casa for a scheduled interview yet. My K3 and CR1 petitions were being processed at about the same time - my CR1 was right behind the K3. But they finished and sent my CR1 eroneously to Storage.

staying with your husband is a wonderful thing. how i wish i could have stayed with mine. but i would have lost my job, our home and the abilty to fight the denial. there would have been no place for us to come home to when we did overturn the denial. We have a life to go back to in the states and a place to stay.

i understand your desire for right and wrong. but to do battle with a culture that has existed for centuries by yourself is certainly applauable and admiral. if aiding the sysyem (corruption) there would have helped us i would certainly have done it! as i stated, this is life there. we payed many hands just to get married in Morocco. it was that or no marriage.

We were in the same position, but we still chose not to pay and we hired a local lawyer - we got married - a few more steps, but we did it without compromising our beliefs. I am not trying to do battle with them - I jsut will not waiver on my beliefs and neither will my husband. There is good here and we just sometimes have to go the extra steps to get there.

however would not your energies be better directed at the USCIS since this will be the next step in the process? My energies are being spent where they are needed one step at a time - I am a very organized person, so I am not over stepping myself or my abilities, but thank you Chi for caring so much!

your battle at the moment is not with the corruption issue there but with the DOS and USCIS since these are the American govermental agencies who have the power to issue a visa for your husband. how will doing battle with the Moroccan way of of life change anything for you? this is what i dont understand. is your plan perhaps to remain in Morocco with your husband or is your plan to one day come to the states with him? if the latter is true why waste your time and most of all your energy on what Morocco does? certainly that issue can wait until you have cleared up the visa problem. I am not in a battle with these people, this is just one issue with my residence permit, (some of the things they are doing makes me upset) and right now with the way the CO is, we have no idea how long we could be here. Our choice is to be in the states because of my children and my parents due to their health issues. I am heading back to the states to deal with a few things there and to try and set up some kind of assistance for my step-father. I will deal with a few other things and get some binders set up to deal with rebuttal or with my CR1, whichever it is that comes first. But when I come back here it will be until we have VISA in hand and can return together, so my residence permit here was important and on my return we will go directly to Rabat to the Ministry of Interiot - he is the one who makes the decison and approves the residence permits. The man here in Kenitra just decided to only put in for a extension of stay even though we requested a residence permit.

i am just an outsider reading and these are my thoughts. being that i also have been through this in approval processing. very same process i know how easy it is to get sidetracked. my suggestion is to keep focused on what you have the power to do and leave the rest behind. keep your focus on establishing a valid marriage. My focus is fine - i may go off once in awhile about the way things are being handled, but I am okay Chi - I know this process is long and can be very agonizing, but I am in no dream, fantasy world here - I know the way it is and I will do what it takes, but we will stand by our ethics.

living in Morocco is not necessarily proof that you have a valid marriage. keep that in mind. one of the best proofs is letters from those who will verify they know you as a couple. you will want to gather as many of these as you can for the NOIR. all of those letters will come from our family and friends here - out of our ten month marriage - eight of those months have been spent here with our family and friends. My children and my mom have wrote their letter already. I do not have much else for back in the states - most of my time has been here and all of those who know us as a couple are here.

my best wishes and prayers for a quick resolution to your case. Thank you so much Chi, I always enjoy talking with you, Aicha

chi