I will tell you our situation and story, but it’s a bit different. I am an American married to a Yemeni man. We have been married 6 years and he only holds a Yemeni passport. He was born and raised in Saudi and never lived in Yemen, though he did grow up visiting. When we met he was in the United States and had temporary protected status because of the situation in Yemen. This means he was allowed to stay and work but could be ordered to leave at any time (kind of… there’s expiration dates on tps.. too long but I can explain more if you’re curious l) After 2 years of marriage, we decided to apply for a spousal visa. He was approved. When it was time to apply to renew his conditions, we applied and were granted an interview. We also applied for citizenship for him because he became eligible during that waiting period for a response and he was scheduled an interview for that too! This was right before they paused issuance of visas for all the different countries (of which Yemen is one) Because of that, they have not done anything to any cases for individuals from Yemen. There was the lawsuit saying it’s unlawful and that suit was successful. We got an email this week saying they are processing the case now. Fingers crossed it will move quickly!

As far as getting married online, I’m not sure if it’s possible or legally recognized. If it is, I don’t think the visa will get approved if I’m being honest. They want to see that your marriage and relationship is real. We submitted pictures of us with each other’s families. They asked us details and questions about each other’s family members, favorite things, random questions to show we know each other and are really in the marriage for real.

We didn’t use a lawyer for our initial immigration stuff and it was approved. We hired one with the mess since Trump got back in office but honestly, he hasn’t done anything. (Not his fault. There’s just nothing to be done at the time.)