AP/AR, fiance visa egypt

[dananawara 0]

ok... heres my story: Im a bit of a newbie to this website but not so new to immigration. I met my fiance in Jan of 2005. Decided to go for a visit in September 2005. Stayed a few weeks. It was great. Went back in March 2006. Decided we would get married. Came home; filed a I-129F with USCIS in Texas. Received a letter stating that USCIS California was going to be handling these cases and they forwarded it there ( I guess it's Vermont now) Anyway... Case was approved 8/2006 and sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) to process additional paperwork. Received a letter from them about 3 weeks later stating peperwork process was complete and case was being forwarded to embassy in Cairo. Interview in Cairo was scheduled for 1/22/07. Fiance shows up for interview, they tell him they wont see him until he shows them a receipt that shows he pain courier service to send passport to him. He goes to get this. Back to the interview. They ask him a few stupid questions that ofcourse he didnt know (ex. what date i started my current job). They didnt want to see pictures, emails, snail mail, my plane ticket stubs, phone records, etc.. NOTHING!!! So they send him home with his passport and tell him it needs additional processing and that he would hear something in a 2 months. I decide to fly back to Egypt March 2007. While Im there, my fiance calls the embassy to discuss the status of this case, they tell him the case was sent to Athens, Greece for additional processing. This doesnt seem right but we accept it, what do we know, we've never done this before. After a few days of thinking about this and wondering why the heck it was sent there, I decide to call them. Now they tell me it was sent back to the NVC in the US for additional administrative review. Well this sounds a little better so we accept this. They tell me I can follow up with the NVC in the states and give me a reference number. When I go back home in 4/2007 I call the NVC and they tell me they had it but it was sent back to USCIS in California and I should contact them. soooooooooooooooooo............ I call USCIS in California who tell me that they have no record of it and since it has been since 1/2007 since his interview that they will put a trace on it and they will contact me with the status of it in no more than 30 days.

In about 2 weeks I receive a letter that states the case was sent back with a request to review it form the State department and they have 180 days to conduct this review and will contact me if they need additional information. I call them about once a week just to hear the same thing. No reason it was sent back given.

soooo... I contact my senator. He calls the embassy and gets the same answer and also tells me that since the validity period has expired that he suggests I file a new petition. Now , I think that since I paid a fee for a service and it was out of my hands as to this validity period then they need to do soemthing because they have the authority to extend validity times. Why should I have to pay this fee again (which by the way has increased) when they didnt do their job in the time frame they had? This has nothing to do with me. And I tell my senator this. He says.. well why was it sent back? I say.. I have NO clue. He says.. well the first thing you need to do is cntact the embassy in Cairo and find out the reasons. I tell him I tried that, and he says.. "well ... I'm going to call them". I tell him good luck getting in touch with them because they have certain dates and times they answer their phones. He says , "oh.. I have a congressional liason there so I will get an answer." He says... "now I know they will tell me that they need about 10 days to research it but I will get back to you." Im finally starting to think.. thank goodness now we will figure this out.

About 9 days later, I get a letter from the Senator that states their are some inconsistencies with my fiance and his exwife from years ago. Now he has been divorced from way before we met or started this process. I have the papers, I turned them in myself. Soo what this could mean, i have no idea. He again states I should refile.

Well.. i dont want to refile. I would rather appeal, and a immigration lawyer told me that if the test is denied then a reason has to be given.

I call USCIS and tell them what the senator said , they say they have no record of this. I ask if they think I shoud refile. They say .. well you have a case still in review and if you refile, then they may revoke it because you already have a case here. Sooo.. I call my senator and tell him this. He says.. No.. Im sure you should refile, this is what they told me. I say.. they have no record of giving you this information at USCIS. He sends me the letter through email that they sent him that looks like a pre-generated letter that goes to everyone regarding a validity period and suggests refiling. I call USCIS back.. they tell me that my case should be finished with review no later than 10/2007 and I should wait. Im waiting......................................................................

any suggestion? I will say one thing Ive learned...

the diversity visa lottery starts excepting applications again in 10/2007 and this can be applied for even with an existing pending visa. last year , more than 5,000 egyptians got this visa approved. Just something to think about... i know we are.

[~~~water~~~ 0]

This is a nightmare!!!! My heart goes out to you. At this point I think you need a good lawyer to clear things up. I would be hesitant to apply for the visa again because you need to go on record about what happenend with this first visa and I think until you have an officiall denial of some sort you will not be able to go on the record to try and clear your name, which if you try to proceed I think you will have even more headaches. Im so sorry this is happening to you it is unfair!!!!!

Edited August 30, 2007 by water is wide

[Bill y Bella 0]

I am sorry you have had such a difficult time.

My first suggestion is to ask for help from your other senator or your congressman before you refile. The first senator tried to help, but it sounds like he is just forwarding form letters to you. A suggestion to start over is not much help in my opinion.

If you do refile, try to make arrangements for a senator or congressman to be involved with your petition from the beginning. According to former adjudicator huskerkiev when a senator or congressman makes an inquiry about a petition the package is then flagged for special handling. Follow this link for more information about a "congressional".

I wish you the best of luck!

[doodlebug 3]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak bunch of freakin' lunatics running all areas of this immigration process and makes me just wanna scream since no one knows what the heck their doing INCLUDING the senator you're dealing with. How dare he suggest that you refile and pay a new and INCREASED fee?!?!?! You have paid for a service and that service is sooooo freakin' lacking it's not even funny.

There must be some other senator you can deal with who at least has compassion for someone who has already paid their hard earned money?

I pity the fool who tells me to refile if I'm ever in your shoes and I really hope this gets resolved for you soon hon!

[Together for ever 0]

It is a very crazy situation. I drive me nut .

and the crazy thing in it every one tell you a different answer??????????

who we should believe ??????????????/

why there are now a defined system and rules and instrcutions that all of people can deal with

[dananawara 0]

Just wanted to add a new note: Called USCIS in California last night. The girl in customer service said shes never heard of a case being sent back from the consulate to USCIS. I gave her this website!

[anitacastillo 0]

Dana -

So sorry to hear about this run around and that your senator's office is uninformed. (my house of rep office has been assisting me)

Have you called the visa specialist number at the State Dept? 1-202-663-1225

When you speak to someone you often get more info. (Unfortunately I hear, he is still pending security clearance.)

Have specific questions to ask before you call - they don't "volunteer" much but will answer questions. {Where is my case? Who is handling? What additional information can we provide?When should I call again?.....}

Hope it works out!

[dananawara 0]

i will most definately do that and thank you for the number. Now let me ask you a question? do they know the reasoning my case was sent back for AP/AR?

[Jasman0717 9]

Good post to share, thanks for having the courage to do so. I hope things will get straightened out. I hate dealing with ####### like this

[amal 4]

I have the number to a great immigration lawyer in Ohio if you're interested. He is a good friend of my husband and we worked with him over the phone and fax. Let me know...

amal

[dananawara 0]

I would love it ...thanks. Is he very expensive?

[sarah and hicham 3]

What do they mean inconsistencies? I wonder why they would be having probmens if there wasn't anything wrong.

Good luck!

[anitacastillo 0]

I think you should have kept the other thread with this one, since I had to go back and read this after you said (on the other thread) - you called the State Dept and have not been denied, but put on AR/AP.

You have now entered the crazy world of AP/AR. Information is vague and the process secretive. It sucks.

At the interview did he have to pay extra $ and give all 10 fingerprints? That is a clue for the security clearance route. Verus a "doubt of the relationship" route --- since you said maybe something was up with his ex-wife. (my guess is it is a name hit plus his country and nothing about the ex. But what do I know ....)

Are there others from same country with interviews around same time as your man's, who are on AP/AR - on VJ?? They may have more info.

Have you tried your (House of) representative's office - locally? Ask for their immigration liason and speak to her/him. Not sure what new info they can get from State Dept. Find out if there is any info you can provide...

Not sure what a lawyer could do for you right now, you can make inquiries as well.

Good Luck!!!

[wael253 0]

( They ask him a FEW STUPID questions that OFCOURSE he didnt know ) .. (ex. what date i started my current job)

1- FEW .. i wouldn't be surprise if someone failed to provide a right answer for one question .. but a FEW ????

2- OFCOURSE .. why OFCOURSE ?????

3- STUPID .. ( ex.what date i started my current job ) oh mam do you think that this is a STUPID question .. so i'm really afraid to tell you some of the question that i have been asked !

[limah 1]

i will most definately do that and thank you for the number. Now let me ask you a question? do they know the reasoning my case was sent back for AP/AR?

Are you on AP/AR, or was your case returned to the US for review? Those, to the best of my knowledge, are different things.............

Limah

Edited September 1, 2007 by limah