A Nine Year Journey
My dear America, it is to you I pledge my heart and soul. It is to you that I devote my heirs’ for generations to come. It is you I have longed for each second of my adolescent life. Moving to the United States was a dream come true for every fiber in my body, even when I did not realize it. America has saved my life in every understanding of the word. Growing up in a country that did not recognize me as a human was something I understood as early as ten years old. I was quick to pay attention to how my sex and faith deprived me of the rights allotted to the dominating sex and religion of the Middle East and North Africa: Male and Muslim.
The day my parents learned they would have a daughter was the day they decided to leave. It took them twelve years to achieve that goal. Granted, for a time, they stopped in hopes that things would get better, only to be bitterly disappointed by the revolution of 2012. My father then had to finesse his way out of Egypt. Unfortunately, due to general passport privileges and his faith, it was an increasingly difficult task.
Moving to America
After a lengthy visa application, he visited the United States on his own. He toured many cities and towns in different states until he found one he wanted to call home: Massachusetts. He came back to Egypt and waited until we finished the school year to take us with him on a trip to the United States. The second we landed, we filed for asylum, which I unconventionally ended up testifying for at 12 years old. We left Egypt on June 9th of 2012 and were granted permanent residency in February of 2016. We will now, hopefully, become United States citizens by the end of September of 2021.
Deciding to Study Abroad
When thinking of study abroad, I knew the legal path would be torturous and filled with obstacles. I believed that my two options were to renew my Egyptian passport—a dangerous and unpreferable outcome—or to hope that by some miracle, my citizenship interview gets scheduled, and I could travel as a United States citizen. To go through the renewal process, I scheduled an appointment at the consulate of New York- a debilitating task as getting anyone on the phone was extremely difficult. It took some time, but eventually, I learned to navigate their website. From there, I scheduled the appointment then moved on to book my bus tickets.
New York
After a long four-hour bus ride, I made it to the station where one of my good friends met up with me to ease my mother’s fears that I would die or get lost, which, with my luck, would have shocked no one. Fortunately, I made it unscathed. We walked around the city, and at the time of the appointment, headed to the consulate.
It was then I realized one fatal mistake and one addition to my misfortune that was not a fault of my own: I had forgotten a crucial part of any passport application, and that is passport photos. I know, I know; I can see your facepalm through the screen. The other issue is that apparently, I needed to give them $175 in cash. I did not have that amount of money in cash, nor did I have my passport pictures, so I thought maybe if I ran to a CVS and got the passport pictures, then withdrew money from an ATM, I would be good, correct?
Not remotely.
New York Summary
We made it to CVS and got the pictures, but after checking out soon realized, we were not going to make it back to the consulate before it closed. Not to fret, the pictures came in handy, plus I got to enjoy a day with a friend in NYC. Unfortunately, I still had no idea how I would be able to get myself across the pond. Lord knows turning into a mermaid and swimming was not an option so, taking a plane it is.
I gave the consulate a call to schedule another appointment, solely for them to inform me that there is no path to expediting. Scheduling an appointment placed an additional trip to NYC in August. After which, I would have to wait several months while the desired document was shipped to Egypt for renewal. Simply put, I did not have that kind of time. I asked the officer I was on the phone with if there was anything else I could do. During that call, I learned of the Refugee Travel Document issued by the United States that happened to be eligible for expediting.
The U.S. Citizenship
I immediately thanked them and got to work filing the form as well as mailing it to USCIS. It was about $200- not bad at all. It was a price I was very willing to pay to travel with a United States document instead of an Egyptian passport. Yet just how my luck would have it, majorly for better but a little for worse, not three days after mailing it, my citizenship interview was scheduled for August 19th of 2021.
It was the most bittersweet news: much to my dismay, that was $200 down the drain. However, it meant that by the grace of God, my hurdles were all overcome. I can immediately expedite a passport and leave in time for move-in on September 18th. I waited anxiously for my appointment and made sure I prepared for my civics test, which I crushed, making my APUSH teacher very proud. At the end of my interview, the officer informed me that I could not do a same-day oath ceremony; due to needing a name change and not having a judge present. The reason behind the name change: when my family moved to America, half of us ended up with a different last name. Egyptian people don’t have family names; alternatively, they utilize their father’s first name as their second name instead.
Egypt’s Naming System
For simplicity, my birth name is Maria Nabil Adly Muhareb. The other names belong to my dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa, so you can see where my mom and dad ended up with different names. After moving, my last name became Muhareb, and my middle name became Nabil Adly. Interestingly, I only discovered that at the interview when the officer asked my full name. I had believed it to be Maria Nabil Muhareb, just for him to tell me that’s incorrect. With all of us getting our citizenships soon, my dad wanted to unify our last names to be my great-great-grandpa Megalaa’s name. My siblings and I would then only have dad’s name for a middle name. In case I confused you, I will go from Maria Nabil Adly Muhareb to Maria Nabil Megalaa.
Learning I could not do a same-day oath ceremony was soul-crushing. It meant yet another delay in my path to getting a passport, especially since I had no frame of reference as to how long it would take to schedule. The ceremony provided another unanticipated hurdle in my path: I need to appear physically for the ceremony. This meant that traveling before it with a travel document is out of the question. Fortunately, only a weekend passed, and I got the notification on August 24th; they scheduled my interview for September 24th. I was anything but joyful finding this out as it meant I miss fresher’s week: the first week after move-in centered around a lot of welcome events. Even then, I felt okay knowing that classes don’t start until September 27th.
Passport Expedite Options
I had only three days, two of which are weekend days, to get a passport and thus began the deep dive into how to speed up the process. The national passport center offers several expedite options for people who cannot wait for the customary 18 week period.
If your travel date was in the next 12-18 weeks, you did not need to provide a reason, and it would take 12 weeks to get the passport. You could also make the expedite request either in person or by mail. The last two options require your flight to be within 72 business hours of your filing. The first option is if you have an urgent life or death situation. You must provide proof as well as have the circumstance grant you that eligibility. While I would feel like I’m dying if I did not travel to the UK before classes start, the national passport center does not recognize that as a life or death emergency- validly so. I opted to utilize the last option. It required that you have urgent travel within 72 business hours but not a life or death situation.
Three-Day Passport
You need to schedule an appointment at a passport agency to use this method. You must appear in person to meet with an officer. To plan the meeting, you must call the national passport center. The scheduler on the phone will ask for your flight confirmation in addition to the travel itinerary. You will also need to bring the documentation of the trip to the meeting at the passport center. The appointment must be within 72 business hours before the scheduled flight. However, you become eligible to schedule it two weeks before the flight. Knowing that September 24th is a Friday and I need three business days, I aim to have my flight booked for September 30th, granting me eligibility starting September 17th.
The End of an Era
I am in the process of working out my financial aid to be able to book that flight. It looks like I will join the friends I made by the end of September or the beginning of October. I thankfully have made such amazing friends already who are making sure I don’t feel left out. Besides, I only have to attend a few days of class remotely. At this point, please pray for me that no more obstacles pop up in the next few weeks. It has been such a long journey, yet I could not be more grateful that I get to have this opportunity, as well as have my United States citizenship: something I have been dreaming of since my feet hit American soil for the first time back in 2012.
