Sunday, January 13, 2008

Here is the short detail…In April 2007, my husband and I came to Qatar for a 4-day recruitment interview for a job, leaving the kids with my sisters in the US. On our way back, at Houston Airport, we were denied entry and our visas were revoked. Why, how, no one knows and it is still a mystry to us. We were in status, our papers were complete but as my sis-in-law says they did not like the color combination of the clothes we were wearing so they decided we should not be allowed to re-enter. Anyway, the homeland security people decided to deport us back home without our kids. Only 15 minutes before the departure of the flight back home they decided to give me a months time to get the kids and then leave for home. My husband went back and I went to CS. Disposed off all the stuff in a week and took the kids and came back to Pakistan in less then 2 weeks.

My husband got the job and we moved to Qatar in July 2007. We had to come here by August anyway, but the homeland security people pushed us to come here early. It seems so easy to write it all now but at that time it was worse then a nightmare. And we found out later that we are not the only ones who had to face this, there are thousands of people being detained and deported without any reason. Because of all this my husband's Phd got delayed. He was to defend in the Summer of '07 and thanks to the homeland security it will now be later this year inshallah.

I am extremely grateful to my family and friends in the US and ofcourse to my husband's freinds at the university, who were there with me during that horrible time.

7 comments:

Living Away said...

oh my god!!! the first thing that i thought was "i can't believe that", but then i thought...well i really believe on this!
it's so crazy how the usa is treating people all over the world and claiming to be fair and democratic~! yeah, right!

oh dear, you must have suffered a lot! what a hard time they gave you guys!!!

i'm happy that you and your family are settle far away from "lady liberty" country.
i'm sure your husband will defend his phd soon and you guys will have a great and blessed future!!


welcome back!! i miss you!!

leandra

dhoop kinara said...

so unfair and yet nothing extraordinary...heard the same thing before...and chances are will probably hear it again too..look at it this way you had a back door...a job option to take up...hope things turn out better across borders in the days to come.

Anonymous said...

OMG !

Speechless !!

Can I post this to my blog or you want to keep it private ?

que sera sera said...

Thanks for your comments everyone. Z ki D yes you can. I would'nt have posted it if I wanted to keep it private ;)

lost bedouin said...

Que Sera Sera,

I found your blog after you had written your last post, I voraciously read through the blog and eagerly anticipated updates.... but none came!! Now I know why!!!! Im so sorry you went through that...

I loved your blog and am back to being a regular!!! Please let me know if you would lik ethe password to my blog!!

que sera sera said...

lost bedouin: Thanks for visitng. I'd love to read ur blog. u can email me ur password at queserasera.me@gmail.com
I will hopefully be updating my blog soon....been a little busy lately.

Aneela Z said...

m and h: Ive been freaking out ever since i read this...hope all is well with you and yours now. could you ask H to email me at my work addy as I dont have yours (or is he still accessing his UT one?)
sending you all my prayers, aneela