Question about procedures in Cairo...is this normal?

[jundp 191]

Hi all,

This is a question for a friend of mine who is going doing her K1 through Cairo now. I can't personally offer her any advice or help, because my situation is Frankfurt and is vastly different.

Her fiance had his interview on Sept. 19th, all went well, and was told he'd be getting his visa in about 2 weeks. That didn't happen. After many months of waiting, my friend contacted her congresswoman's office and they intervened. Between the congresswoman's liason and her own lawyer's emails (as well as her own) they were given notice from Cairo that her fiance needed to come in and sign his visa app (this was apparently neglected at his interview). He did so in January and yet Cairo STILL has his passport and he has no visa. He passed through name checks successfully and they have never been issued an RFE. In fact, according to Cairo the only problem was him needing to sign the paperwork. So, the embassy has had his passport for nearly 6 months, no visa, no requests...nothing. Have you guys heard of this happening before? At this point they are absolutely stuck. With no passport he can't even take a job offer outside of Egypt, they certainly can't move anywhere else to get married and start their family and of course the worst part is needing answers.

Any advice, information, etc that anyone on the MENA forum can provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Jen

[amrssnowangel 0]

Hi all,

This is a question for a friend of mine who is going doing her K1 through Cairo now. I can't personally offer her any advice or help, because my situation is Frankfurt and is vastly different.

Her fiance had his interview on Sept. 19th, all went well, and was told he'd be getting his visa in about 2 weeks. That didn't happen. After many months of waiting, my friend contacted her congresswoman's office and they intervened. Between the congresswoman's liason and her own lawyer's emails (as well as her own) they were given notice from Cairo that her fiance needed to come in and sign his visa app (this was apparently neglected at his interview). He did so in January and yet Cairo STILL has his passport and he has no visa. He passed through name checks successfully and they have never been issued an RFE. In fact, according to Cairo the only problem was him needing to sign the paperwork. So, the embassy has had his passport for nearly 6 months, no visa, no requests...nothing. Have you guys heard of this happening before? At this point they are absolutely stuck. With no passport he can't even take a job offer outside of Egypt, they certainly can't move anywhere else to get married and start their family and of course the worst part is needing answers.

Any advice, information, etc that anyone on the MENA forum can provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Jen

Hi Jen...

My guess is they are next up for a home visit. Its about that time in the process where IF they are going to do one they will..but also, some of the name checks can go out of date...and Cairo has the option to order even more. And while they may be done in DOS...Cairo can order other reports as well. This is very common for Cairo. Especially if someone has short time together, few visits and/or age gap or other issues that send up red flags. Cairo just isn't finished with them yet. Tell them to hang in there...he can email the embassy to ask about his passport for work reasons...with Cairo...who knows..there is no rhyme or reason to what they do....I just notice that most that wait 5 months or so get a home visit next. Do they have an age gap? Did htey have short time together before filing? Hang in there...from what i've looked at with the numbers...70% get their visas in 7 months or less...so hopefully theirs will be completed soon. Id have them email again to Cairo and ask for an update...I'd be interested to find out the response...if it says he is in final review, or administrative processing...

Good luck to them...

Faith

[doodlebugg 10]

Hi all,

This is a question for a friend of mine who is going doing her K1 through Cairo now. I can't personally offer her any advice or help, because my situation is Frankfurt and is vastly different.

Her fiance had his interview on Sept. 19th, all went well, and was told he'd be getting his visa in about 2 weeks. That didn't happen. After many months of waiting, my friend contacted her congresswoman's office and they intervened. Between the congresswoman's liason and her own lawyer's emails (as well as her own) they were given notice from Cairo that her fiance needed to come in and sign his visa app (this was apparently neglected at his interview). He did so in January and yet Cairo STILL has his passport and he has no visa. He passed through name checks successfully and they have never been issued an RFE. In fact, according to Cairo the only problem was him needing to sign the paperwork. So, the embassy has had his passport for nearly 6 months, no visa, no requests...nothing. Have you guys heard of this happening before? At this point they are absolutely stuck. With no passport he can't even take a job offer outside of Egypt, they certainly can't move anywhere else to get married and start their family and of course the worst part is needing answers.

Any advice, information, etc that anyone on the MENA forum can provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Jen

I've never heard of bringing someone in to sign the application. That is odd but with Cairo there's no rhyme or reason for what they do. What is perfectly normal though is waiting this long for the visa after the interview. If their interview was Sep 19th it hasn't even been 6 months yet so tell her to hang tight and email cairo putting their case number in the subject line asking for an update on the case. Normally they will answer her back telling her that her case is still pending administrative processing. This is normal. With Cairo if her fiance did not get the visa within a month or so then she's looking at 6 months to a year or more of administrative processing before it is issued. It sucks but that's life trying to get an Egyptian to the US.

[jundp 191]

Thank you both for your words. I will link her to this thread so she can read for herself. All of us know the frustration of going through with the K1, but since my experience is very different from someone going through Cairo, I didn't really have much to offer other than "this sucks." (Which isn't helpful!)

Thanks again.

Jen

[doodlebugg 10]

Thank you both for your words. I will link her to this thread so she can read for herself. All of us know the frustration of going through with the K1, but since my experience is very different from someone going through Cairo, I didn't really have much to offer other than "this sucks." (Which isn't helpful!)

Thanks again.

Jen

Well that about sums it up! lol

[jundp 191]

Thank you both for your words. I will link her to this thread so she can read for herself. All of us know the frustration of going through with the K1, but since my experience is very different from someone going through Cairo, I didn't really have much to offer other than "this sucks." (Which isn't helpful!)

Thanks again.

Jen

Well that about sums it up! lol

True story, but doesn't seem to console her at all when we're about to have our interview in Frankfurt and she's STILL waiting for her fiance's passport back.