Middle East??

[pluan]

FYI, Islamabad is not the Middle East. It is part of Asia.:waiting:

[Laura]

Yeah, I realize that. The problem is that we were breaking it up roughly by the USCIS districts (https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=offices.type&OfficeLocator.office_type=OS), not by straight geography. The Islamabad consulate is under the jurisdiction of the Rome (Europe/Africa) area, not the Asia/Bangkok district. I am open to suggestions for renaming that part of the forum, but I can't say South Asia because India is under the other district.

[pluan]

So, why not just say Islamabad?
I know that it goes through Rome, but I also know it's in Asia. So would it be less confusing to just leave it as Islamabad??

[Laura]

If waivers filed in Islamabad go to Rome actually all this should be moved to the Rome (Western Europe/North Africa) area...

[pluan]

I suppose you can do what you see fit, it just seems confusing. I am not a newcomer to this site, and I wasn't sure where to look.

[patiencemkp]

Even some of the Middle East countries may end up with Rome adjucating the decision. For example, my situation is for Syria, which is in the Middle East, and originally gets sent to Athens, which is in Europe (if my geography is correct). If there are any problems, the paperwork gets sent to Rome. I would think that messages would be best posted when the petitioner started - just because anyone who is new to the site will look their first. Also, wouldn't you think the alien's country has an impact on approval?

Of course, I am totally not an expert - just a fairly new user:)

[Laura]

It says "Middle East" for a reason - it's because the Middle Eastern country waivers go to Athens, like patience said, which we grouped with the Vienna and Moscow consulates because it seemed to make sense to divide them that way. No one was ever calling Pakistan "the Middle East...."

Anyway, I realize now it's a little confusing and not ideal because Athens is sending waivers to Rome. I didn't realize that at the time that I figured how to split things up because I was going by the USCIS districts...

Please bear with us and feel free to make suggestions. The whole split was designed to make things easier, not more confusing, and we just did it a few days ago. If people think it would be better to put all the Europe/Africa/Western-half-of-Asia consulates together in one forum we can do that.

Thoughts?