shamsuannahr
Star Member
- Jan 20, 2012
- 4
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Cairo
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 06-03-2012
- File Transfer...
- 30-05-2012
- Med's Request
- 23-06-2013
- Med's Done....
- 10-07-2013
- Interview........
- 12-05-2013
Hi guys, I'm so sorry I haven't had time to update you on our case (especially to freeislam000, MadeInCanada and mamado). We were just really stressed by this whole process, and not online a lot. But thankfully, my husband's visa was approved at the end of the interview. I am really so relieved and overjoyed that we made it to the end of this process successfully. However, I feel terrible that so many of you were rejected, it's complete BS and I will share our experience with the white Canadian interviewer below:
Background: My husband is Egyptian, and I have been living with him in Cairo for the past year. We got married a year and a half ago, after being friends/dating for 3 months. We met in Cairo. He is Muslim, I am not. I am seven years older (but we're both in our 20's).
My husband's experience: The first question was the same one the interviewer asked everyone, "Do you know why you're here?" in a very aggressive tone. All the questions focused on religion and culture; nothing about our relationship (what we do together, how we live together), just, "How can your family accept you being married to a non-Muslim?" My husband answered, "I guess we're not like most Egyptian families," and the interviewer responded, "you mean a lot of MUSLIM families! Did you know that 98% of Egyptians marry someone from their own religion and cultural background???" My husband had brought extra pictures from the past year, and the interviewer flipped through them without looking at them, and without waiting for my husband to explain where they were taken and what the pictures were of. He was just starting at a computer screen. After 15 minutes, they sent my husband out of the room.
My experience: They asked me to enter. The interviewer asked the same question: "Do you know why you're here?" aggressively. I said, "To update you on the status of our relationship?" I asked. "No!" the interviewer said. "Okay... why?" I asked. "There are a number of red flags in your case. Do you know what they are?" "The age difference?" I said. "Yes, AND the cultural difference, AND the religious difference, AND the fact that you got married so quickly... Do you want me to keep going?!" So I started talking as fast as I could about how I was the one who pursued my husband; that I had been taken advantage of by a Middle Eastern man before so I knew what that felt like, and that my marriage to my husband was different and real; that my husband was not very religious (compared to many Egyptians) and comes from a very open-minded, liberal family; that we had already agreed that we would raise our children to be Muslim; that we were in a relationship because we had a good connection, loved to laugh together, spend time together, cook together, watch movies together, etc. Then the interviewer held up his hands and said, "Enough! Enough! I've heard enough. You can tell your husband I'm going to approve his visa. But you saved it. If it had just been him, I don't think I would have approved it." I said thank you (because I had to), and he added, "You're an adult, you can make your own mistakes." I said, "Well hopefully it's not a mistake," and left. I would have told him to F himself if we weren't depending on him for the visa. We are planning to make a formal complaint after we get the visa, because the interviewer was totally unprofessional and is obviously racist and Islamophobic. He has a one-dimensional stereotype about Egyptian and Muslim men and he can't believe that any relationship between an Egyptian and a foreigner could be genuine.
My advice to others would be: ladies, if you can be in Egypt to attend the interview with your husband, DO IT!!! As the interviewer said, it was my testimony that saved the interview. It seems like the interviewers simply don't trust anything that comes out of an Egyptian man's mouth, so you have to be there to back up your husband. It's total BS, but you have to play their game to get the visa.
They told us that they would request my husband's passport within two weeks, then send the passport back (I don't remember how long that step takes), and then his visa will be valid for two to three months. So we are guessing we'll leave in July or August.
Again, I am so sorry to those who were rejected; I hope you do appeal, and we should all make formal complaints against the old white interviewer. Good luck everyone - ربنا يوفقك
Background: My husband is Egyptian, and I have been living with him in Cairo for the past year. We got married a year and a half ago, after being friends/dating for 3 months. We met in Cairo. He is Muslim, I am not. I am seven years older (but we're both in our 20's).
My husband's experience: The first question was the same one the interviewer asked everyone, "Do you know why you're here?" in a very aggressive tone. All the questions focused on religion and culture; nothing about our relationship (what we do together, how we live together), just, "How can your family accept you being married to a non-Muslim?" My husband answered, "I guess we're not like most Egyptian families," and the interviewer responded, "you mean a lot of MUSLIM families! Did you know that 98% of Egyptians marry someone from their own religion and cultural background???" My husband had brought extra pictures from the past year, and the interviewer flipped through them without looking at them, and without waiting for my husband to explain where they were taken and what the pictures were of. He was just starting at a computer screen. After 15 minutes, they sent my husband out of the room.
My experience: They asked me to enter. The interviewer asked the same question: "Do you know why you're here?" aggressively. I said, "To update you on the status of our relationship?" I asked. "No!" the interviewer said. "Okay... why?" I asked. "There are a number of red flags in your case. Do you know what they are?" "The age difference?" I said. "Yes, AND the cultural difference, AND the religious difference, AND the fact that you got married so quickly... Do you want me to keep going?!" So I started talking as fast as I could about how I was the one who pursued my husband; that I had been taken advantage of by a Middle Eastern man before so I knew what that felt like, and that my marriage to my husband was different and real; that my husband was not very religious (compared to many Egyptians) and comes from a very open-minded, liberal family; that we had already agreed that we would raise our children to be Muslim; that we were in a relationship because we had a good connection, loved to laugh together, spend time together, cook together, watch movies together, etc. Then the interviewer held up his hands and said, "Enough! Enough! I've heard enough. You can tell your husband I'm going to approve his visa. But you saved it. If it had just been him, I don't think I would have approved it." I said thank you (because I had to), and he added, "You're an adult, you can make your own mistakes." I said, "Well hopefully it's not a mistake," and left. I would have told him to F himself if we weren't depending on him for the visa. We are planning to make a formal complaint after we get the visa, because the interviewer was totally unprofessional and is obviously racist and Islamophobic. He has a one-dimensional stereotype about Egyptian and Muslim men and he can't believe that any relationship between an Egyptian and a foreigner could be genuine.
My advice to others would be: ladies, if you can be in Egypt to attend the interview with your husband, DO IT!!! As the interviewer said, it was my testimony that saved the interview. It seems like the interviewers simply don't trust anything that comes out of an Egyptian man's mouth, so you have to be there to back up your husband. It's total BS, but you have to play their game to get the visa.
They told us that they would request my husband's passport within two weeks, then send the passport back (I don't remember how long that step takes), and then his visa will be valid for two to three months. So we are guessing we'll leave in July or August.
Again, I am so sorry to those who were rejected; I hope you do appeal, and we should all make formal complaints against the old white interviewer. Good luck everyone - ربنا يوفقك