Hello. I am a resident of Ohio, but I am currently on a 2 year assignment in Tanzania, Africa. I am a plant manager for a power plant here in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.
I arrived in December, and met a woman. We dated every day until March, then I asked her to marry me. She said yes, and she moved in with me at my apartment. We've been living together ever since. We are not yet married.
I am on xpatriot status- that is, I am a US citizen, but on an extended stay visa in Tanzania. I will be here until July, 2009. I get to go home two times a year, once in June, and once in December. Because we are not yet married, we applied for a visitor's visa to the US for my fiance'. It was denied!
She is poor, she works for $65 per month, and has no assets other than her cloths and a dvd player. She has almost nothing in her bank account. Her father died when she was very young, but she still has her mother and two brothers here in Tanzania. The immigration people said that she could not establish adequate ties to Tanzania to ensure that she would return. I went in there and raised holy hell with them. Clearly they are discriminating against poor people, and I am paying for the trip myself. They would not accept my letter to them telling them exactly what was going on. They told her that they didn't even belive I existed. After I went in and raised hell, they now know I exist, but they said that even so, her application will likely still be denied if she appies again.
So, what the heck should I do? I was planning to marry her when I got home in June, but maybe I should do it now in Tanzania. The embassy fool said that I need to apply for a fiance visa, but that visa is only good for 90 days, and I only go home to the US every 6 months! You have to apply for the fiance visa in the US, so if I go home in June, she can't come in December because her 90 days will be up.
Please, someone give me some advise. I desparatly want her to come with me so that she can meet my family. Ever since those bastards flew those planes into our buildings, this process apparenlty is ridiculously terrible. My friends tell me not to even bother and break up with her. I love her with all my heart- and doing that is not an option. Please help. Thank you.

