A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| Trustworthy |
| 03/28/05 at 11:57:01 |
| [slm].... I found out Thursday that the invitation I sent out to my fiancé and his father in Pakistan was rejected by the US Embassy in Islamabad. Furious but patiently, I tried to contact them by phone and email unsuccessfully. The rejection reason was that they did not have enough solid proof that they would return home. They gave them 3 reasons that they would grant them their visa and that is business, family, or married. So they told them to have me go to Pakistan, marry him there, and show that proof to the Embassy and then we could apply for an immigration visa. So now I’m in a dilemma cause I don’t know how truthful the Embassy is. If I go to marry him there, how do I know that they would surely grant him his visa? Would they ever grant him his visa if we are married? I don’t know how this thing works and I can’t get a hold of anyone to tell me anything. Our wedding n Pakistan is set to the 3rd week of April and his family is waiting for my reply to set an exact date. They’ve already spent thousands of dollars on decorating their home and on my dresses. I don’t want to come home alone, but I don’t know what to do. If you guys have experience or know people with this experience (someone from the US going to marry someone in Pakistan and successfully getting a visa to the US that way (girls from the US in particular)), let me know and I’ll go to marry him in Pakistan. Please advise…Jazakhumullah Khairun Allah (SWT) bless…. Ma-assalaamah…. |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| theOriginal |
| 03/28/05 at 12:27:03 |
| [slm] What is your status in the US? My cousin's husband is in the US on an H1, and she didn't have a problem getting her visa at all (H4, I think?) ... And this was from Islamabad, too. (About a month ago) Good luck inshaAllah.. Wasalaam. |
| 03/28/05 at 12:28:37 |
| theOriginal |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| Trustworthy |
| 03/28/05 at 13:04:19 |
| [wlm]... I have no idea what H1 or H4 is (is that business?), but I'm a US citizen and I sent them an Invitation visa with all of my life's documents, bank accounts and statements, company letter from Human resources, copy of my passport, income verification, taxes, the whole nine yards. The only thing I did not provide was my blood type. I gave them everything they asked for and it was the originals and notarized. With all of that, they still rejected the invitation that's why I'm so reluctant to go there because I don't want to come back alone. So he was not granted a visa of any sort and they told them to have me go there. What's that? I'm so confused. I could apply for a fiance visa, but that would take a year or so. Do you think I should go there? Allah (SWT) bless... |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| tq |
| 03/28/05 at 15:34:01 |
| Assalamo elikuim Sorry to read about it. It is very difficuilt specially nowadays to get visa for USA from Pakistan. I know many people who wanted their parents to visit them just for a month, but couldnt get it. First of all H1 is a work visa and H4 is for spouse. If a person have H1 then it is very easy ,infact the spouse can come right away. For permanent resident it usually takes 4/5 years sponsor their spouse. And this was before 9/11 so I dont know how long it will be now. As for US citizen usually it takes around a year (again I am talking about pre 9/11). I know somebody who was a citizen and sponsored his wife and it took him around a year but during that time he wrote to his state senator , got a letter from him and gave it to Embassy in Pakistan. Sr.Trustworthy, since you are a citizen I think it should take around a year or so for you to sponsor your husband. I dont know much about how to apply for visit visa but as I said it is very, very difficuilt. But on the other hand once you had your nikah then you can apply for your husband but it will take some time. May be you can talk to a lawyer and it might make a difference. Best of luck Wasalam tq |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| timbuktu |
| 03/29/05 at 12:11:31 |
| [slm] first, a belated congrats on your engagement. second, from what I know, visa rejections for family aren't too many, but I know mostly of men with work visas, who apply for visa for their wives. In your case, you should also approach your Senator or Congressman, and the women's rights bodies. It seems the embassy may be guilty of gender discrimination. Perhaps Pakistani muslim males are more suspects, but I do know that students are going in fair numbers to the US. Getting married here and then applying for a spouse visa seems the most logical aproach. I don't see on what grounds they would reject it, unless they have arbitary powers under some security clause. When you decide to come, let us have the location of the wedding ceremony and date, time etc. Maybe I am able to attend it, if I am around in that city :) |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| Trustworthy |
| 03/29/05 at 20:10:36 |
| [slm]... that was our plan bro. jazakhumullaahu khairun for your blessings. i don't know, i geuss i went about this the worng way and tried to go around the system. we had it planned that, ok i planned that (since mom is old tradition and would not let me go to pakistan unless i was married to a pakistani), it would be quicker to get him here via invitation visa with multiple entires, get married, and file a fiance visa since that takes shorter time then a spousal visa (so I heard and witnessed for spousal visas - no one has done a fiance visa); get married here with my family first and then go to pakistan with him and father in law to get married over there in pakistan with his 200 relative family and double wedding with his brother. then we would return on the multiple entry visa and he would stay here until they told him it was time for his interview in pakistan. see how easy that was? DANG! we're we naive. both of us had prepared for the wedding in both of our homes and invited people with a set date of after his interview at the Embassy which was 3/24. so my wedding was set to 3/30 since he and his dad would come shortly after their visa. funny how the instructions told us not to buy the tickets in advance. i mean, you wouldn't beleive how much money we've spent on the wedding. mine was going to be a small one but his family went all out because it was a double wedding planned. both sons were going to get married. so now we're trying to get verification of the process and time it would take to get a spousal visa since he was rejected. still waiting.... anyways, i also needed to get a visa to go to pakistan and in that application, they requested the airline and departure info which means i needed to buy the ticket in advance. so i did not buy one. aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh..............to be continued later Allah (SWT) bless.... Ma-assalaamah..... |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| Trustworthy |
| 04/01/05 at 20:17:17 |
| [slm].... OK. So here’s our situation now. I prayed istikhara to help me decide if I should go to Pakistan to marry him. We are going to apply for a fiancé visa since that only takes six months. I spoke to a few CIS, INS reps everywhere and that’s what they advised. They said his eligibility won’t be affected by his invitation visa rejection. They said for sure, he’d get a fiancé visa even coming from Pakistan. SO that’s what we’re going to do. Insha- Allah things will work out. Please make du’a for me. And Bro Timbuktu, if you really want to come, IM me and I’ll let you know when and where. I really need du’as so that I could go to Pakistan and marry him. Pray for us and jazakh for all of your blessings. If this fiancé visa doesn’t go through even with a lawyer doing all the paper work for us, then I’ll surely work with your advice cause that would be discrimination. Allah (SWT) bless….. Ma-assalaamah…. |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| thezman |
| 04/01/05 at 22:52:02 |
| Bismillah Salam Alaikum, Mabrouk on your Engagement and upcoming marriage Insha Allah. I'm sorry for the heartache that you're experincing. Orginally, I'm from Egypt and I've had plenty of family and friends go back, get married and start the paper work for their wives. So far Alhamdulillah, no one has been rejected. Women Entering the Country. But now, it's harder for a Muslim Male to Travel in or out of the country, and the paper work takes a while to process, and they do extensive back ground checks. I had one cousin receive a wedding invitation to come to the U.S. he had to be here within 2 weeks to catch the wedding, he ended up coming 3 months later. So my advice is: 1. Make Salat Al-Istikhara first, and Seek Allah's {swt} Guidance. 2. Most Muslims who come from abroad, have several family members in the Military and Security Organizations. Have someone discreetly see if your fiance is not on any "Lists" and maybe they can also Inquire with the American Embassy before hand to see if he's on any of their "Watch Lists" for whatever stupid reason. Because if you go and he's rejected due to being a 'Security Risk' you'll have bigger problems (interrogations here when you return, or in Pakistan), and God Forbid they may not even let you return here, because you may have an ax to grind. I know you didn't want this load on your shoulders, but, these are the new realities we face. Because some people who weren't part of any organization and never made threats or knew they were on watch lists. Once they left the country for a vacation back home, they were refused entry. May Allah {swt} She His Light on your path and make it easy for the both of you. and good luck. P.S. call the pakistani Embassy also and see what the procedure is, explain to them what happened. Fi Amanillah Ziad. So the |
| Re: Need Advice Quickly.... |
|---|
| Trustworthy |
| 04/02/05 at 21:46:49 |
| [slm]..... Jazakh for all of your advice. They aren't surely going to waste. But DANG! It's so difficult. We only have one week to make this work else I wouldn't be able to make it to my own wedding on the 24th of April. >:( I feel like I'm in a Bollywood film. There's so much drama like you wouldn't believe. Of all the calls of made here and abroad, I could be on the "Watch List" for all I know. You see, my problem is that I still have a problem with controlling my temper when someone has really hit my nerve. Now mind you, it takes a whole lot to get on my nerves. It's basically on authority figures that just like to play power trips. You think it's possible....? No way. I mean how big is that "Watch List." Everytime I leave the country, I get the third degree before I can return home. Interrigated til my whole life is out on the table. I swear they're just buying time to do some kind of checking. Even going to our neighbor, Canada. When I returned home, the officer told me and my entire family to go into the office because they had to check something. Not my car, but something. The papers that I brought for my baby was insufficient for her to return back this us. Now this was so stupid. And I hate stupidity. Everyone was valid except for my baby like I kidnapped her from some Canadian family. So I got upset and asked if they would like to take a blood test. Cause surely that would be sufficient. Before entering Canada, I asked the officers there if all of the papers were sufficient for all us to return home. He looked it over and yes. So I patiently listened to the officer and was polite, called him sir and all. Then he let me explain myself and so I told him that I the Canadian looked over our papers and said that they were all good. Well, appearantly these American officers have a problem with the Canadian officers and he started lecturing me in a harsh tone and loudly about how Canadians is this and is that and I shouldn't have listened to them, blah, blah, blah. So I thought that was a stupid reason, slandering a neighboring country for no appearant reason. I got upset but apologized and said that it won't happen again. Then he got even louder and repeated the smae thing and I said softly, OK and apologized again. And he just kept on going about the Canadians. SO that just hit my last nerve cause this is clearly no longer about my baby. So in my hrash tone, I started to argue with him and went on this big debate about how arrogant Americans are and no wonder wherever we go, people dont like us, becuase of peopple like him give others a bad name. People like branded us throughout the entire world that Americans are better than anyone and we have the power to ruke the world. He got louder and I got louder and Mom is pinching me on my side telling me to quit it. But I continued on with I wouldn't have entered Canada had I known that you had a problem with the Canadians. Then Mom really pinched me hard this time cause I got real loud. Now you are talking about a full office with officers all over the place and other people waiting for their car to get done with inspection. He got louder to and so I yelled at him..."OK. I GET IT! DON'T TRUST THE CANADIANS. NOW TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO GET MY BABY BACK HOME WITH ME!!!" (you dumb freak) Once I said that his voice seemed to calm down and he went on with the lecture of how we shouldn't trust the Canadians again. My face is beet red by this time so I'm freaking out with silent anger and so I interrupted..."DUDE! GET OVER IT. ARE YOU GOING TO LET US BACK IN OR WHAT?" He looks at me and says, "Yes you're good to go, but just remeber what I told you." "Right. Check to see if you're here before I go to Canada because you have a problem with Canadians." "WHAT?" "Don't trust the Canadians." as I walked out the door. I mean what was that all about? Then I went over seas and had even more problems entering America and this wasn't at the American airport. This was the airport abroad. And this man that I was standing in line with asked me a question so he got interrigated to and then they asked me if I knew the guy. I told them "I swear he has nothing to do with me. He was just a passenger asking me if I had some gum." And when they finally let me in, the guy stupidly comes over and asks..."What was that all about?" I said, "Dude? Please." Anyways....I'm just venting. So what do you think? Am I paranoid or how can I check to see if I'm on the watch list? Allah (SWT) bless.... Ma-assalaamah..... |
| 04/02/05 at 22:02:11 |
| Trustworthy |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |