Well...glad everyone else had a much better experience....my husband and I were scheduled to leave sharm el sheikh airport at 930am and when we arrived there at 8am we found out that all of the flights were cancelled because of strikes at cairo airport. SO we were faced with a very difficult situation, usually the car ride to cairo is around 6 hours, we called a private limo company and they said they could make it before our interview time. This limo is very expensive, around 2000LE one way. But this interview was very important to us because we want to be together so much so we decided to take the car. When we passed the suez canal we were running late and the driver was under pressure to make it. He began driving too fast and passed a corner where he caught some sand and the car flipped 5 times and landed in the opposite direction. In this moment when we realized we were going off the road, my husband tried to reach for me to protect me and we looked at each other and he said my God and he started screaming. My whole body went numb because I knew that the car spinning 5 times and it was not going to end up good. When the car was flipping it landed hard in the side where i was sitting and i busted my arm and shoulder and my arm is swollen (when i woke up this morning my arm was better but my neck was extremely sore and my back too and so my husband and i are going to the hospital). I immediately looked to see if my husband was ok and was trying to kick the door (that was facing the sky) open and he couldnt because it was smashed in so he climbed out of the window that was broken then helped me get up...Alhamdullah there was a bus that was behind us and stopped to help us get out my husband took my hands and alhamdullah everyone was safe and not hurt too bad. My husband was weeping and i was in complete shock, my whole body was numb but I knew my back was hurt because I felt that part. My husband and I were both holding each other crying and he kept saying alhamdulah that we are alive. I have never seen him cry except on our wedding (which was happy tears). We had purchased nice clothes to present well at the interview and they were ripped up and had blood on them. He told me, Megan I need to take you to the hospital, the interview does not matter any more because you are the only important part of my life. I told him this interview is our only chance to be together and I need you in my life and he kept insisting but I said we already risked our life so we have to go to the interview. So i called the embassy and the nice lady was sincere and told us that when we arrived we could have our interview.
We arrived 1.5 hours later around 330 in bloody ripped up clothes our bodies aching, and they knew the reason why. My husband went in first, I thought he would be at least 20 minutes later, when he came out 5 minutes later he gave me the thumbs up and I was so excited because I thought the officer was going to accept us.
When I went in he asked me only simple questions like, how did you meet and when and when was your marriage and how old are you and your husband and how old when you met. What is your religion and when did you convert. SO I answered these questions respectfully and honestly and it seemed to be going well, although he rarely kept eye contact, I had no doubt in my mind the interview was accepted since he didnt ask any "red flag" questions or any questions about our relationship. THEN he told me "after I looked at your papers I have too many concerns and that is why your file is rejected" so I told him I dont understand why, I have answered your questions so is there anymore you can ask me about our relationship or circumstance?? He said no I have asked enough (I thought oh yeah 10 questions about when and where we met is fair to judge our relationship). SO i started talking and talking about his first concern which was me converting to Islam. I told him I have never had a religion in my life where all my questions have been answered, I was always confused when I was in the catholic school I atteded and I was searching for answers because I wanted to be strong in my faith. I told him the utter truth, i didnt want to lie and say Im not a muslim. I said i began learning about islam more through the summer and before I met Ahmed and I understood mroe about it. When I met him he told me that he knows I attended a catholic school and he would accept me for who I am and never force me or ask me to change. But I wanted to learn more about Islam and I was really curious about many things. SO he sent me a few videos and articles and I began to read and read behind what he sent me and I was beginning to accept Islam because I found so much beauty behind it and I was in awe about it...I had already accepted Islam many months before we got married but I told Ahmed I didnt want to convert officially in canada but in Egypt in the Al-Azhar mosque because it is one of the biggest and important in the world. And I told the interviewer this and that it would be more beneficial to me spiritually. (Maybe it is my fault I didnt convert earlier before my marriage but I only wanted to tell the truth). THEN he said a red flag is how soon we got married after our meeting in person... I told him the truth again that Ahmed and I were talking everyday for many hours on skype and it was like we were really in person. I said we began to discuss our marriage after 6 months of talking as I was sure he was the one. I told him I have had experience talking to people online and I know the things to look out for when they are lying to me. I did my research about Ahmed too but the things we shared with each other were very deep, even I met his family many times online. SO i said that we decided together to marry because it is important to both of us if we are married and commmited, I said both of us through our life wanted to be commited to one person ONLY and I said I found this person and I am so sure. And I said its not possible for us to be in a relationship with each other when we are not married, (there are things we would do together that would be haram if not married and we both valued our faith) im sure he understood that. THEN he said also about your age ( I was 18 when we married) and I explained to him that the way I grew up,,my parents were always working and I was left to take care of my sister and I and i had a lot of responsibilities from a young age, I said I was different always from the other girls in my class, I didnt want to drink or hang out with boys like them. I said to him yes I agree it is different to marry from a young age and I said thats why, because I am different and I said I believe I am much more mature than any girl in my age. He kept saying "I appreciate your opinion...but" and this made me very angry because its NOT my OPINION its my life and the truth and its the love between me and my husband, I didnt want to argue this with him because my life was in his hands. THEN he was getting frustrated a little because I was trying to explain to him everything about our case and the truth. He said your husband is LYING to you, he added you online not through a mistake (because my husband added me by mistake to skype in mistake for another person) I got soooo angry because who is he to tell me the man I am commited to for 2 years is lying to me. He also said that many egyptian men meet girls online to come to Canada. I said Yes i am aware of that and I am aware of the type of men these are and this is not my husband who is the only one I trust and respect and SO i went on and on about our relationship how we are so commited to each other and its hard for us to be appart (which is why I visit every 4 months, when I am in University FT AND WORKING FT!!!!!!!) I said my husband and I are extremely close and we make a perfect team and I said I know its hard for anyone to understand how an online relationship can work until you have experienced it, I told him we talked literally everyday for hours and hours and hours and we rely on each other. He said again I appreciate your opinion but... I said if he refuses this it will not only be hard for my husband and I living appart but it would destroy my life and future if we have to live in egypt together because Im only completed my second year university and I would have to quit at this point because it is emotionally and physically impossible for my husband and I to continue living appart and continue spending thousands of dollars to see each other every 4 months. HE said did you even consider living far from Canada when you married him, I said of course I did, he is my husband and we can live anywhere in the world together, I said Im never leaving him and he is never leaving me, but I said at this point it only makes sense to live in Canada for us because of my university, because my husband needs to meet my family (which can not afford to go to Egypt now because they are ranchers and had a very hard time financially) and also we want to have children and Canada is the best place to do that. I said my husband and I can not have children and live in different countries, and its much better to support them in Canada. BUT he kept saying I appreciate your opinion BUT (!!!!!) so i told him i have told u everything and Its going to be very hard for us...and he said I know you dont like it but your husbands interview was a whole lie and he is lying to you and you have different religions and you are a young age....(!!!!!!!!! I WAS VERY MAD AT THIS!!!! I EXPLAINED EVERYTHING TRUTHFULLY TO HIM AND WE CHOSE NOT TO LIE TO MAKE OUR CASE BETTER BECAUSE WE ARE TWO TRUTHFULL PEOPLE!!!!! I AM A MUSLIM AND I ALWAYS WILL BE) He then told me he has 600 cases in backlog and will send an email with reasons why he will reject and he said its not my final decision but probably and he said it will take a month to send this email (I told him Im here for another month which is why its taking this long). I said to him I will take it to court and he says he will send all information on that (which is weird because he shouldnt be so willing maybe hes scared) and I said what if we reapply and he said not possible because if i get your case I will reject again.. Then he said u have not proven to me enough evidence that your marriage is real (I dont know what else to tell him since he doesnt believe any of it) I then said I have here many documents with conversations between my husband and mother and me and my mother proving our strength and my moms support, tele bills over the last month (which are like 120$a month on skype plus my sms bill on my phone (around 40$) and telus bills from my home phone (another 50$) so you can imagine how much we talk) and also pictures of us and my plane tickets for every time I go to Egypt which is like 4 times in the last year. We gathered a lot of good evidence of how much we talk and missed each other. But he said no I do not need to see more, there is already enough evidence in your package that you applied with (which didnt make sense to me because if we already had enough evidence what is the reason he is not believing us or accepting anything we said)
ANYWAYS I left the room without a word after he thanked me and I saw my husband and he looked to me for the news and I shook my head and I saw his face fall which broke my heart
and I sat down and explained everything to him. He got very angry especially the officer told me that we were lying. SO i told my husband I will ask to speak with the embassador, so I went to the counter and I told the guy I just finished my interview, and it was rejected I dont believe any of it was fair and I wish as my right as a Canadian to speak with the embassador or anyone higher. He was shocked and didnt know what to say, he was very nice and tried to let us go away by saynig you can send an email with a complaint but we stood firm and insisted. SO he said unfortunately the embassador or anyone higher cannot talk 15 min before closing or without a meeting. SO my husband and I are sending an email to arrange for a meeting with this guy hopefully he will listen to us together...If no one responds to us we will go again to the embassy early and demand it. IM not leaving Egypt until this happens (an appeal is another avenue but if that is rejected we basically lost all chances).
After the interview I spent an hour and a half on the phone with my mom and his mom who are both distraught and we were both in tears and my mother was horrified by this officer and demands for us to speak with someone immediately....and yes we did tell the officer about being in the accident and what we did together in the accident and what happened. He dismissed it but the lady next to him was shocked. I thought that enough evidence about how much we want to be together could have been found by us almost dying to get to the interview and how we kept going...any human being Im sure would have sympathy for that, but I guess to him its normal??? Anyways my husband and I havent eaten really for 2 days and we only feel pain and adrenaline so we are not giving up... @ Freeislam000 we would like to meet with you, also to anyone else who wants to meet us with any suggestions we will let everyone know when we will be in cairo again (which will be hopefully soon)
