Advice for Engagement Photos (Morocco)

[k-a 0]

Hi all,

 

I've been reading a bunch of posts in the forums since returning to the US, and I'm concerned about our chances for approval, mostly due to us having a traditional engagement ceremony, including an exchanging of rings.

 

Some background:

-I'm female American (25) and he's male Moroccan (21), no prior marriages nor children, etc. for either of us.

-We met initially in mid-2019 when I visited Morocco, kept nearly daily contact, began romantically seeing each other late 2020, and got engaged during my visit to Morocco last month.

-I am not muslim (more agnostic) while he is muslim. We're both fine with this as long as our children are muslim, inshaallah. I'm okay deferring to his preference since he is more religious.

-I just visited him and his family for 3 weeks in Morocco, but both of my visits to Morocco are within the 2 year period for filing.

-He is proficient in English as that is our main language of communication, and I know some elementary Arabic / Darija.

-I also keep in frequent contact with his brothers as they consider me part of their family. I also talk to his parents, but they don't know any English, so our conversations are less frequent.

-We do have a shorter engagement period (which is I know is a bit of a yellow/red flag), but we are both people who exercise caution with those we date and don't want to 'waste' our time on a superficial relationship.

-He has never traveled to the US / outside of Morocco

 

We have plenty of evidence as far as photos, chat logs, etc. are concerned, but I am now anxious because I have seen so many threads warning against having an engagement party before filing. It was a simple ceremony, lasting less than 30 minutes. We exchanged rings, fed each other a date and milk, kissed each other on the forehead, and held hands in front of his family. After that, we took pictures and had a homemade lunch. We wore traditional Moroccan clothing for the ceremony that his mother ordered in advance of my arrival. They don't match exactly, but it's obvious that we are together.

 

There is the possibility that I could not include the photos in my file, but we exchanged the photos over whatsapp, and I don't want to lie if we get an interview and they ask if we had an engagement party. Plus, if they ask if we had an engagement party, we say yes but didn't include any photos, wouldn't that also be suspicious? I'm trying really hard to get all of our documentation together, but it feels so sad that something used to celebrate our love with his family could cause us denial.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited June 29, 2021 by kait-anas
Additional information

[Chancy 6,239]

17 minutes ago, kait-anas said:

if they ask if we had an engagement party, we say yes but didn't include any photos, wouldn't that also be suspicious?

 

What's done is done.  No point worrying about the engagement party now.  At the interview, your fiance must answer truthfully.  Engagement photos are not a requirement.

 

[RJandHamid 1,133]

I know plenty of successful K-1 couples who uses engagement photos during their visa interview in Casablanca, and none had any major issues with the engagement photos in particular. The milk and date engagement ceremony is a very common and important aspect of Moroccan culture. I know many in these forums in particular advise to avoid anything that looks "too wedding like", but in general this is okay in Morocco, as long as the photos don't depict things that look like wedding customs (tons of different dresses, many people, extravagant furniture, etc). 

[MrsAb2021 29]

We had an engagement party and did everything you described. We are currently waiting for his interview, our petition was approved with no issue and I included those  engagement photos when initially filing.