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| Egypt |  Review on November 21, 2016: |
AnnAli
Rating:  | Review Topic: General Review
I am the petitioner and attended the interview with my fiancé on November 20, 2016. We had an 8:30a appointment and arrived at 7:45a. At that point there was a line for 8a, 8:30a and 9a appointments. We found our line and began the wait. We were probably 6th or so in line. At around 8:45, our line began to move. All but ONE person in front of us were sent away due to passport pictures not being as requested. Make sure you read the requirements for this!
Upon entrance, we were asked for two passport photos, appointment confirmation, fiancé's passport, and CGI payment receipt. After the unnerving, disorganized wait outside, all was smooth once inside.
Allow me to tell you that my fiancé and I signed an Orfi contract in November 2015. Since this was not a legal marriage and never registered, we went the K-1 route vs. CR-1 route. The Orfi contract was done for the sole purpose of being halal together and NOT for marriage. This information was disclosed at the time of the I-129 submission and never kept a secret. We even submitted a copy of the actual contract to USCIS. An RFE was issued, asking us to prove that we were not legally married, and we submitted a civil status document, which showed my fiancé as single, as well as other proof. Days later, we were approved and sent the NOA2. We were told by a countless number of people - both gently and very harshly - that we were going to be denied at the interview and that we should just stop and start the process over with a CR-1. Despite this devastating information, we pushed forward and decided to take our chances. Glad we did...
Once inside, we took our number and waited. We were called after about 30 minutes to present documents. We were asked for the original birth certificate, original military release document, and a copy of the military release document and the CGI receipt. His passport was taken and stapled to his file. We were asked for the medical results. He was asked if he had traveled outside of Egypt before and he told the woman that he had lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for 11 months. Fingerprints were taken. Some paperwork was returned to us that we had previously submitted. We sat back down and continued to wait.
A short time later, we were called to Window 15. A very pleasant white male greeted us. He returned original documents. Questions asked:
1. How did you meet?
2. When did you decide to get married?
3. How did the engagement play out?
4. He asked about my son, how they got along and was aware that my son had accompanied me a couple of times to Cairo and had spent a great deal of time with my fiancé and his family.
5. He asked how many times I had been to Egypt
6. He asked about my divorce and began digging through the file for the divorce paperwork. I had brought my original divorce decree and promptly pulled it from my file and gave it to him. He very briefly reviewed it, returned it, and asked no further questions.
7. He asked about the Orfi contract and whether or not it was a registered marriage. We said "of course not" and explained that we only did the contract so that we could spend private/alone time together and be halal. My fiancé pulled his updated civil status original document from our file and presented it to him (We had two - one with an older date for the RFE and another obtained just 3 days prior to our interview...just to be safe).
He began typing on his computer for quite some time and asked us to be patient while he made a few notes. I was super nervous and thought that we were for sure going to be denied or, at the very least, placed into administrative processing. Then, he pulled a piece of paper from a pad, circled a few items on the document, and presented it to us (approval letter), notifying us that the visa is APPROVED. We thanked him! I tried to hold back tears!
We told him that we needed my fiancé's passport back, as we are traveling to the Maldives in a few days. He began to tell us about his trip to the Maldives and then gave us instructions about how to return the passport so that they could begin processing the visa. He also gave us information about what to expect and when in regards to the visa itself.
At no point did he look at our pictures or the plethora of other evidence we brought.
Bottom line: Read ALL instructions and follow them. Bring more than you think you will need (copies, documentation, evidence). If you feel you have red flags, do your best to "lower them" with documentation and evidence. NEVER allow other people's opinions or self-proclaimed immigration expertise to doubt your own case or bring you down.
After 18 months of living separately, we are ecstatic about this new chapter in our lives and can't wait to move forward with wedding plans and our future.
Best of luck to you all.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #20915