To Whom It May Concern:

I am a mortal who is unfamiliar of the structural procedures how to go about my present situation when it comes to my visa. I hope someone can help me deal with the situation more clearly, accurately and concretely. I have exerted all my best effort to find some credible individuals may be able to help me with my case locally, but it only created more confusion on my part. I am completely at a loss. I was trapped into a infinite web of partial speculative information with no definite path.

I am a Filipino Professor of Philosophy here in Manila, Philippines. My wife is currently a nurse in the US. We got married in the Philippines year 2005 and by then my wife went to the US for employment. After giving birth, she is now assumes two stable jobs. We decided to bring the baby home as we wait for my paper. She then petitioned me and it was approved.

I received a letter from the US Embassy, October 03,2006, asking me to prepare some pertinent documents for my interview and to fill up certain forms like (DS-230 Part 1, DS-2001). It also includes forms to be filled by my wife the I-134, as Affidavit of Support. It took us some time to complete all the documents, which I only submitted to the US embassy here in Manila last February.

Only then I learned of the recent retrogression issue; that they are only processing applications way back year 2002 when I filed mine only year 2007.

The following are my questions:

1. How long “exactly” will it take for me to follow my wife?
2. What will be the necessary things that I must do to shorten the long wait?
3. I have also other activities as a scholar in my own field. With this pending condition I was given the advice by some colleague that it will not be healthy if I apply for another visa. I happen to travel in the US before as a visiting Scholar (with the J-1visa) year 2004). Can I apply for another US visa perhaps as tourist or student visa for that matter?
4. Do you know any professional who can give me detailed and concrete explanations of the actual nature of our case so that I may be completely enlightened about the whole procedure and know what to expect?
5. Are there particular sites in the internet that will help me with this matter?

Thank you very much for your kind gesture and your help will deeply be appreciated.

It sounds like your wife is an LPR and not a US citizen. If this is the case then yeah, you will have to wait for a while for your visa. Unfortunately Filipinos have long waits ahead of them for family immigration.

If your wife can get US citizenship in the interim (it takes years to qualify, by which time you may already have your visa) then that will speed things up.

You could try to get a position at a US company/university but all the H1-Bs are pretty much taken for this year so you'd have to wait a year for one of those. There may be other visas you qualify for.

I don't want to say that there's nothing you can do; your English is excellent and you're obviously very highly educated and a respected professional in your country. I would look into trying to get a work visa in the USA, since you will wait a very long time indeed for a family-based visa in your circumstances.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your immediate reply.

My wife filed for the I-130. There is a recent update on this issue which made me think that the retrogression is over already when it comes to our case. Please refer to this blog. . . . http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=61043
Others are telling me that there might be an opening by June of this year.
If they consider applications only by 2002 does it imply then that I still have 5 years to wait?

I’m not an authority to interpret the content of the update but perhaps you may help me with it.
When I went to the US embassy in Manila, the person assigned in the counter blamed me for not filling the forms immdiately. It took some time for my wife to arrange the affidavit of support with our lawyer. I was informed that I should have filled the forms even in the absence of the supporting documents. I am the rigorous type of person and I don’t work in a whimsically manner. I cannot indulge in an unpolished task. Did I make a mistake then?
What retrogression issue exactly applies to mine? I want to know the whole case so that I can work with it objectively.
I am planning to apply for a new visa, and the University who sponsored my stay in California last 2004 might give me another chance to enter the US territory. I wonder if it will be favorable for me and my wife or not.
Please guide me further.

The link you provided refers to a post about Direct Consular Filing (DCF). DCF is available only for U.S. citizen petitioners.

You could apply for a job at a US University, such positions are not subject to the H1 cap.

J1 is also possible.

I will assume your wife is a PR, timelines for PR's to sponsor spouses are similar to waiting for them to get Citizenship and then sponsor, best bet would be to file now and if she gets Citizenship upgrade when she has that.

Apart from a PR having to wait for a visa number, the process is no different to a USC and is fully detailed on this site.