American Citizenship Through Marriage?
Saturday, November 14th, 2009Laura Lynn Gerber asked:
I’m a Berber from Siwa, Eygpt. In 2000, because of the tourism growing in Siwa, my family’s part of the city was basically overtaken by some “eco-resort.” They didn’t take down our houses per say but they took over all the land by it so we had no place for our animals or anything, not to mention that the tourists take the women’s pictures without so much as asking which is very forbidden among the traditional people here, so we had no choice but to move. There are over 20,000 people in Siwa so most of the good land is already owned by families that have been there for years (like our land was). So anyway, I went to a matchmaker (yes, we still have those in Egypt) and basically, they find you an American husband, the husband pays the matchmaker and we split it 50/50. After they found me a husband, I gave the money to family so they could buy new land somewhere or at least build up what we had. So a few months later, me and a few other women who had their husbands waiting got on a boat and came to America. I met my husband and lived in New York for 7 years with him and one day in early 2007, he just left. I don’t know where he is. So obviously, I had to leave our apartment and such. I didn’t speak English at the time so basically, I spent the next few years doing little side jobs with broken English. Anyway, now that I speak decent English and I’ve started researching it, I don’t have any papers to prove my birth and I think that I may be in the country illegally. The matchmaker is supposed to take care of the paperwork and I’ve tried contacting her but the number is no longer in use. The people who took me to the USA, they never gave me any papers to keep. They just handed me over to my husband. Because I am a Berber, my birth isn’t registered in Egypt and my matchmaker again, said she would take care of all legal issues. I can’t contact my family from America but I cannot leave back to Egypt without a passport to try and find them. I did get ahold of my cousin once but her home was torn down for more tourist things. I do not want to go back to living in Egypt because since I’ve left, more of Siwa has been turned into cafes and hotels for the tourists so it’s harder and harder to continue living as a Berber there. I don’t have any information on my husband other than his name. I didn’t even know we were living New York until he left and I had only been outside 6 times before I had to leave my home (the only time I went out was once a year when he took me to Times Square for New Year’s). He never gave me any personal information. In marriages like these, generally women don’t ask questions. We just listen and do what our husbands ask of us and let them handle everything else. I was looking a few months ago for a marriage certificate for more information/proof but looking through the records, I never found any history of my marriage to my husband at all. We were married the first day we met under Islam but legally, there’s no record. If I apply for citizenship in the USA, can I get it easily? If it matters, my father is American but I only met him a few times, the last being age 5 or 6. All I have is his name and I didn’t have enough information for professional services to find him.
James, I was born in Siwa Oasis, it’s in the middle of the Sahara Desert in Egyptian territory. We don’t tend to register our births and my parents weren’t married and my mother didn’t want to leave our tribe so he left. I last saw my father over 40 years ago. I don’t know where he is. He could be in Tokyo or Brazil for all I know.
NELSON
I’m a Berber from Siwa, Eygpt. In 2000, because of the tourism growing in Siwa, my family’s part of the city was basically overtaken by some “eco-resort.” They didn’t take down our houses per say but they took over all the land by it so we had no place for our animals or anything, not to mention that the tourists take the women’s pictures without so much as asking which is very forbidden among the traditional people here, so we had no choice but to move. There are over 20,000 people in Siwa so most of the good land is already owned by families that have been there for years (like our land was). So anyway, I went to a matchmaker (yes, we still have those in Egypt) and basically, they find you an American husband, the husband pays the matchmaker and we split it 50/50. After they found me a husband, I gave the money to family so they could buy new land somewhere or at least build up what we had. So a few months later, me and a few other women who had their husbands waiting got on a boat and came to America. I met my husband and lived in New York for 7 years with him and one day in early 2007, he just left. I don’t know where he is. So obviously, I had to leave our apartment and such. I didn’t speak English at the time so basically, I spent the next few years doing little side jobs with broken English. Anyway, now that I speak decent English and I’ve started researching it, I don’t have any papers to prove my birth and I think that I may be in the country illegally. The matchmaker is supposed to take care of the paperwork and I’ve tried contacting her but the number is no longer in use. The people who took me to the USA, they never gave me any papers to keep. They just handed me over to my husband. Because I am a Berber, my birth isn’t registered in Egypt and my matchmaker again, said she would take care of all legal issues. I can’t contact my family from America but I cannot leave back to Egypt without a passport to try and find them. I did get ahold of my cousin once but her home was torn down for more tourist things. I do not want to go back to living in Egypt because since I’ve left, more of Siwa has been turned into cafes and hotels for the tourists so it’s harder and harder to continue living as a Berber there. I don’t have any information on my husband other than his name. I didn’t even know we were living New York until he left and I had only been outside 6 times before I had to leave my home (the only time I went out was once a year when he took me to Times Square for New Year’s). He never gave me any personal information. In marriages like these, generally women don’t ask questions. We just listen and do what our husbands ask of us and let them handle everything else. I was looking a few months ago for a marriage certificate for more information/proof but looking through the records, I never found any history of my marriage to my husband at all. We were married the first day we met under Islam but legally, there’s no record. If I apply for citizenship in the USA, can I get it easily? If it matters, my father is American but I only met him a few times, the last being age 5 or 6. All I have is his name and I didn’t have enough information for professional services to find him.
James, I was born in Siwa Oasis, it’s in the middle of the Sahara Desert in Egyptian territory. We don’t tend to register our births and my parents weren’t married and my mother didn’t want to leave our tribe so he left. I last saw my father over 40 years ago. I don’t know where he is. He could be in Tokyo or Brazil for all I know.
NELSON
