I have a number of Austrian friends who are living with their Egypt. husbands in Austria, mostly in Vienna and at the beginning of my marriage my husband and I did also contemplate on living there.

Today I'm very glad and happy we did not move there, for a lot of different reasons.

Now speaking about my friends: their husbands were already living in Austria, when they met and they got married there. Today, after they spent 12-15 years there, they all want only one thing: to go back to Egypt (or to their other native countries) with their families. Why?

e.g. The husband of one of my best friends speaks German fluently, he is a certified Accountant in German and Arabic, got computer certificates in German - and still, the only jobs he gets are the low-level worker jobs, because he is a foreigner. Given the current high unemployement rate in Austria, (the German as well for sure) it is very very difficult to find a decent job for someone who already speaks German, not to mention someone who still has to learn it.

Since the kids started to grow up, the last chance to move is when school starts naturally, and I have a number of friends who are living in Egypt with their children, while their husbands are actually working and living in Austria, to support their families here and in the hope to save money enough to buy a flat and to find a good job in Egypt, this going on for years - now isn't that weird?

Egyptians are a proud people, they don't know resentments against foreigners in Egypt and they are shocked and humiliated by the treatment they experience from a lot of the Europeans. There are always exceptions and great, open-minded people there, but the majority still feels threatened by those foreigner, their strange culture (whereas they associate culture with any negative things they hear about Islam, treatment of women, etc.)

At the beginning the men will accept anything because they know that every beginning is hard and difficult, they will compromise on their religious commitment, starting with they pray, because you just can't go off to pray during work.

Too many end up depressed and frustrated, estranged from themselves and their religion, and after a few years of struggle, mostly when they have children growing up, many do a 'reality check' and remember that they have to raise their kids as Muslims, and they realize this will be very hard, if not impossible there. I talk only about the people I know, and things maybe different in other parts of Europe or in the countryside.

Now they would like to come back to raise their children in Egypt, but now they are used to a standard of life that is also very difficult to keep in Egypt with a regular income, it is now the problem to find that good-paid job, an affordable flat and a good school.

If you want my advice, before you get married, come to stay in Egypt for a while, get to know the country and the people and the culture, try to imagine if you could one day live in any of those places, because the chances are very high that you'll end up thinking about moving back here in a few years.

But again, this is only my humble personal opinion. Whatever you'll do, I wish you all the best for the future.

in Germany it's slightly different. When you are legally married, you are married and he is your husband and can get a work permit. But he has to find a company which gives him something like a certificate, that says, that he is the best qualified person for the job and no German can do this job better than him. For my boyfriend for example this will work, if he finds a job in an Arabian /Egyptian Specialty Restaurant, as he is a cook. So this might work.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny:
Jutta: Maybe once you actually get to know this man you will be able to decide yourself if he is the sort of person who would adapt to life in a Western country. I can only speak for England but yes it is possible for a VISA to be granted but it takes a long time and will only be granted where it can be shown there is a full legal marriage and you can prove a solid basis to your relationship. Here a full settlement VISA entitles you to a work permit. Realistically you need to be at least 2 years into a full legal marriage. Just one other point you may find your man gets a little upset at being refered to as your boyfriend.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jutta:
Hi Penny,

in Germany it's slightly different. When you are legally married, you are married and he is your husband and can get a work permit. But he has to find a company which gives him something like a certificate, that says, that he is the best qualified person for the job and no German can do this job better than him. For my boyfriend for example this will work, if he finds a job in an Arabian /Egyptian Specialty Restaurant, as he is a cook. So this might work.

---

I was just wondering are you speaking from experience- I would love to know more, I am currently with an Egyptian boyfriend, and obviously we would want to be together either her in England or I would move to Egypt, we still need to discuss it in some detail. Thinking perhaps live in England first and set ourselves up and then move to Egypt, with a suitable amount of savings.

I was just wondering when you got married did you have to live apart for 2 years before a visa was given? for residency how did the whole thing work out and what kind of proof did you have to provide to prove your stable and solid relationship. Ours at the moment is all phone call, sms and my visits to Egypt and his visit to UK?

If you could share any information I would be very grateful

Thanks

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Penny:
I can only speak for England but yes it is possible for a VISA to be granted but it takes a long time and will only be granted where it can be shown there is a full legal marriage and you can prove a solid basis to your relationship.

So in total within 6 weeks of applying for the visa he was in paid employment in the UK.

This certainly was not easy and one thing I want to stress is that Immigration officers are human like the rest of us and can be narrow minded like the rest of us. I can bet that if a 55 year old British Women walks into the British Embassy in Cairo with a 25 year old Egyptian Citizen
and applies for a visa they will be declined.This is not my opinion but what I have witnessed.
I do not want to disrespect anybody or provide information to young women that believe that they are in a respectable relationship yet are not. Therefore Discover Egypt if you want to discuss this in more detail, please feel free to email me.

Thanks for this I was beginning to wonder what kind of future we might face if penny's example was typical of immigrations. I would like to email you - what's you address.
With me and my guy he is 30 and I'm 28 - neither of us have been married before. I have been over there twice and am going again soon, and he hopes to come over here for a month in summer on visitors visa. We haven't discussed marriage yet but are both serious about each other and so was I interested in the experiences other UK girls had had, with marrying Egyptians and problems they had faced.