The visa is on its way!

[~Jess~ 0]

congrats! keep us posted!!!

[polarbear 0]

congrats! keep us posted!!!

Wow!!! Congrats

Let's go Cairo and issue more visas!!!

[doodlebug 3]

congrats!

[deadbird 2]

Thank you all so much!!! I really couldn't have done it without VJ and you all kept me sane

As for the wedding...we were so caught off guard that I'm going for my dress fitting tonight...it probably won't be ready for the legal ceremony but we're having a big party later and a party in Egypt after he gets advance parole or whatever enables him to leave and come back w/out problems . The wedding looks like it will be mid-October (!!!!) as long as he's here.

But then my grandmother is in the hospital and things aren't looking so great, so there's a chance she might not make it. Ramy said it was ok if we get married at her bedside but unless he gets here this week I don't know if it's going to happen. Do you guys think the hospital would let us do that?

[Aymsgirl 0]

Thank you all so much!!! I really couldn't have done it without VJ and you all kept me sane

As for the wedding...we were so caught off guard that I'm going for my dress fitting tonight...it probably won't be ready for the legal ceremony but we're having a big party later and a party in Egypt after he gets advance parole or whatever enables him to leave and come back w/out problems . The wedding looks like it will be mid-October (!!!!) as long as he's here.

But then my grandmother is in the hospital and things aren't looking so great, so there's a chance she might not make it. Ramy said it was ok if we get married at her bedside but unless he gets here this week I don't know if it's going to happen. Do you guys think the hospital would let us do that?

I work for a christian hospital and I believe with a license they would do it here. Check with the chaplain's office at the hospital. I am sure that they would try and do whatever they can so she can enjoy this moment with the two of you.

Again, congratulations I am so so happy for you!!!!!!!!

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Yay!!! what great and exciting news... and you r getting married soon

[deadbird 2]

I work for a christian hospital and I believe with a license they would do it here. Check with the chaplain's office at the hospital. I am sure that they would try and do whatever they can so she can enjoy this moment with the two of you.

Again, congratulations I am so so happy for you!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the info! I really didn't know where to start with the hospital, but I will be heading up there today to visit so I'll ask while I'm there (or at least get a phone number to try to make arrangements). I'm pretty sure they'll let me do it, I just hope she's ok enough to enjoy it

Edited September 24, 2007 by the sparrow

[deadbird 2]

Yay!!! what great and exciting news... and you r getting married soon

thanks Tam! Any news from you yet? You've gotta be getting close!

[~~~water~~~ 0]

Thats amazing Im so happy for you

[ya falaha! 0]

Congrats!

[sarah and hicham 3]

congrats! That was soooo fast!

[amrssnowangel 0]

For those of us upcomers to the Cairo Interview...please...do tell...what do YOU think made your interview this successful? Lack of red flags?? Im soo happy for you...CONGRATULATIONS......but do tell us your secret for such a speedy visa...

[terrie/kamal 0]

AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! CONGRADULATIONS!!!

[deadbird 2]

We did have a red flag-- we hadn't seen each other in person from August 2001-March 2007, and we didn't even have any contact from August 2002-Sept. 2006 besides one email he sent in Sept. 2003 that I didn't reply to because I thought it was a mistake. We decided not to draw attention to that gap in time, nor did we mention we'd broken up in April 2002. And we also decided to say that we wanted to focus more on college than our LDR during that time period...which works because we didn't get back together till he graduated last year. We said I didn't visit because I couldn't afford to....which works because I dropped out of college because I couldn't afford it. It's not the whole truth but there is truth to it.

They asked him if he dated other people during the 5-6 years we were apart but never asked why we didn't see each other or anything. And I wasn't too happy with his answer because he said no, especially after we went over how we were going to address that a million times.

He'd overstayed his tourist visa by 200 days, but it didn't matter because he was a minor. He studied on the B2, but I guess it didn't matter because he had a guardianship. He left less than a month before September 11.

Other than that what probably helped us the most was the fact we saw each other every day in school for two school years (Fall 1999- Spring 2001) and there's a lot of documentation of that--we volunteered in the cafeteria together, he was my date for the Junior Prom, I interviewed him several times for the school newspaper (lol). I sent copies of our high school transcripts with our original petition to prove we had some of the same classes together, and I sent photocopies of our diplomas even though we graduated a year apart. He is only 3 months older than me. (He'll be 24 in November and I'll be 24 in February) And I pointed out we "aged" in our photos which is obvious because I'd gained like 60 pounds and he lost some hair. lol

ok, so this process made me lose 30lbs and my hair too. lol

Things that I think helped:

I'd say more than anything else that it was the amount of time we spent together when he was here.

-He and his whole family visited the US before--he already had an A# and previous immigration history, maybe that would have cleared up any name hits? Not only that but we sent pictures of me with his parents both in the US and in Egypt.

-I really kissed butt in all the emails I sent the embassy. I sent thank you emails when they replied (they sent back a Thank you once and I was floored lol). I sent his CO a thank you email which is what they replied to when they told me his visa was issued. (That email also asked about my the misspelling of my last name but they didn't address that as usual lol)

-He kissed butt at the embassy, I mean he was joking around with his CO and invited her to our wedding, but that's because he has a crazy way with women (lol) and his interview had gone very well.

-I don't want to bring up religion but he's Christian. I know Doodle said either in the Egypt AP thread or somewhere else that there is a Christian couple who have been waiting months for theirs so I would hope it wouldn't come down to religion as to whether or not you have a fast AP.

I'm surprised they didn't demand to see correspondence from 2002-2006 because we just don't have any. We didn't call each other, we didn't email. I didn't even apply for my passport until December of this year so it's obvious we couldn't have seen each other. Our breakup wasn't messy either, he just kind of let me go do my own thing and screw up my life and he prayed I would come back eventually.

(Sorry if this is a novel....)

[maggieNomar 0]

And now to the next ecstatic part...getting to see him exit the concourse!!! I think I almost cried when my fiance arrived. I was a little unnerved that my dad got to see him first (he has security clearance so he was able to go out to the gate and make sure he didn't get lost, for which I should be grateful I suppose )