On May 16, I accompanied my fiancée to the United States Consulate in Casablanca, Morocco, for her visa interview. We had waited eight months for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve our application and the National Visa Center to issue an appointment. I booked her a return flight, hopeful that we would be flying back together to continue our lives in New York.

It has now been five months since that visa interview, and over a year since the initial application. The year and a half of separation is because of one form: the DS-5535. The Trump administration and the State Department quietly enacted this requirement in May of 2017 as part of their plans for “extreme vetting,” and possibly a way of circumventing the disputed travel ban, which has since been upheld by the Supreme Court. While most Americans are aware of the family separations at the border in Texas, I don’t believe many people know about the DS-5535 form and how it’s tearing families apart.

The DS-5535 requires visa applicants to provide the past 15 years of their travel history, past and current social media handles, email accounts, addresses and employment history. At the interview, the adjudicating officer explained to my fiancée that even though he found our relationship to be “bona fide,” she would nevertheless have to fill out the DS-5535 for a “Security Advisory Opinion” — meaning that they want to investigate her further.

My fiancée is from a Muslim country. Her full name is Arabic. Fifteen years ago, she was 9 years old and traveled with her family on vacations. She attended a university in France for five years and graduated with a master’s degree in applied mathematics and computer science. On her social media accounts, you will find a young woman’s love for American culture, New York City, fashion, food, traveling and Drake. Queue the alarm bells.