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| Egypt |  Review on November 25, 2012: |
UmBrighton
Rating:  | Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa
My husband arrived at the embassy around 6:15am. His appointment time was for 7:30am. When he arrived, there were already several people waiting outside. After 7am, they separated them into 2 lines. Hubby soon realized he was in the wrong line LOL. But thankfully, a kind Egyptian lady in the other line knew he was there before her and let him get in front of her  They let them enter at 7:30am and he went through security and made his way to the waiting area. He got number 606 meaning he was number 6 in line. He waited about 20 minutes or so for his number to be called. He went up to the window where an Egyptian woman was working. He said she wasn't friendly, but she also wasn't mean haha. She took his medical exam, passport, passport photos, and told him I did the I-864/I-864a wrong.
***Note, I did it correctly, but they don't want a household sponsor. I used my Mom as we have the same household. The girl told my husband I should have made her a joint sponsor (I-864). LUCKILY, I gave my hubby an I-864 for my mom just in case. So he gave it to the girl and she said yes, that is right. So, please remember this note. If you want to use a household member...make them a joint sponsor and make sure their income alone will be enough to sponsor. Only use the I-864a in Cairo if the joint sponsor has a spouse they file taxes with. This will save you some heartache!
Okay, so hubby was then sent to pay DHL (75LE) and then waited around an hour to see the CO. While he was waiting the alarms went off and they made everyone stay in the waiting room. They also told everyone to take cover lol. They said on the loud speaker that the protests and clashes have come dangerously close to the embassy and it was not safe for anyone to leave. After 15 minutes, they resumed business. Hubby said the CO was friendly and smiling and he believes it's the same CO that gave me my marriage affidavit. He also said he was busy typing away on his computer. He asked the following questions:
Have you been to the US before?
Were you married before?
Was your wife married before?
When did your wife come to Egypt?
Ashley lives with you? (CO called me by name)
What is she doing?
When did you get married?
Then he asked hubby to sign the DS-230 and took his fingerprints. My husband felt good...THEN: The CO after typing on his computer came back with a different tone and said, "So, you never told me how you met your wife."
How did you meet? (he asked my husband this question 3 times because each answer wasn't good enough I guess. Peter started with a simple answer, then gave him a detailed answer, then the CO asked if he didn't understand his question he's asking) 
Hubby said "I'm sorry sir, yes I understand your question." This made my hubby so nervous when the tone changed. He thought AP or denial was coming because of the change in expression. So he took a deep breath and told the CO EVERYTHING LOL. I think the CO didn't mean anything bad by it, but was just trying to get as much detail from him as possible for his notes. After my husband said this the CO stopped talking and my hubby told him he has proof showing how we met and showing the dates, etc (facebook screenshots). Big shout-out to my husband for offering him some of the evidence I sent! The CO said okay, let me see. The CO looked at about 5 of the 45 screenshots I put in hubby's notebook. And my husband said he would look at our facebook comments/pics then look at him, then back at the paper. Then he saw a funny picture I edited of my husband where I "painted" his face blue and yellow for the Ismailia soccer team heehee. The CO looked at it, then looked at my husband and smiled. He liked my humor, I guess.
Then he put them down and smiled and said "Congratulations, I'm approving your visa and you should have it in 2 weeks." Yay! Hubby told him thank you so much for his time and that he appreciates it and the CO smiled back and said you're welcome!
Husband got back our original marriage certificate and army exemption certificate...but not his birth certificate??? So, we have to go get a new one. Not sure if this is normal or not. Overall great experience (minus the protesting outside) and hubby finished around 9:45am. Thank you Cairooooooo!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #10952