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[marriedtomrg 140]

you guys have been soo helpful to us, im beginning to feel a real kindship with this site and the members. weve cleared one more hurdle, thanks in part to your answers. jane called me at 4am this morning to tell me she'd passed her medical exam and is now ready for her interview. i swear i could see the big smile oh her face see her dimples kasi of it and see her beatiful brown eyes sparkle as she laughed and joked happily and not nervous for the first time since she arrived in manila. she appoligized almost immediately after the announcement for calling so early, but i said thats fine honey, im soo happy its like christmas when i was a little kid. no matter how early i was awakend by mom for my presents, i was delighetd as i am na. jane can never keep track of the 13 hour time difference, well 14 na due to daylight savings ending, and seems worried about it but i just laugh and take her 2am or whatever time calls as if it were 2pm.

i saw some people discussing k-1 visas mentioning ds-230 forms and saw them listed on one place on the immigrant visa section of the embassys website that i was referred to for k-1 visa information, but it isn't mentioned in the downloaded package of forms for the k-1 visa and i know the k-1 is technically a nonimmigrant visa, so is there any need for a ds-230 immigrant visa application in this k-1 nonimmigrant visa application process? i just want to make sure we havn't overlooked any forms before calling tonight to schedule janes k-1 visa interview.

Again...for Philippine applicant's they only need to follow the instructions from the US Embassy Manila:

English Instructions

Tagalog Instructions

DS-230 is not needed..

we are also, like one of the others who posted here, possibly now short on passport pix, as when we startd the process, they stated we needed 3, 2 for embassy and 1 for medical, i made sure jane had 4, one extra, then st lukes, alloted only 1 in the official instructions, wanted more, and I'm hearing people say both places want more than is officially stated, so tonite before i call i need to make sure jane still has atleast two. its unfortunate they dont just tell how many they really want when giving initial instructions. I dont begrudge them any number they want, it just creates problems for them to not be honest about the actual number they want. If they said 10 or 20 ahead of time it'd be no problem, even if they only used 5. But saying less than they actually need can become a big problem, especially if you wind up in a time crunch like were in na. i made 6 good coppies of one she sent me for the petition, and mailed them back to her as soon as i discovered they want more than they officially ask for, but those 6 havnt arrived yet along with updated papers.

Can you tell me where we can get passport style photos cheaply in manila, or get good coppies made of them cheaply, near the embassy if she needs to get new ones taken or coppies made, just to be sure we have enough before the interview? We're in kind of a time crunch wanting to get her interview before we run out of money keeping her in manila waiting for it, as during the process i got laid off from my 20 year job, a casualty of the economy. there's no problem supporting her, as i'm starting social security a little early, and have navy retirement, putting me well over the poverty guideline, but the timming couldn't have been worse for us, just kasi of the logistics of making it all work in a two week period, or running out and needing to go 600 miles home before it's done, further delaying the process and then returning for the interview, when papers are even older.

If memory serves me right there are people who offer to get pictures taken near the Embassy. No idea how much that is, though. For the application process it's hard to say how many she will need, exactly, but she does need a lot of them and they all must be current (taken within the last 6 months). My daughter and I had a bunch taken, though it was through a Fuji film studio at the Mall of Asia.

I'm almost forced to try to get the interview as soon as possible and just hope the number of pix and old forms are good enough, kasi the few days to recieve the new ones, could change everything, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, at the last moment, if jane has to leave manila before the papers and pix arrive. and honestly none of the old papers have passed thier expiration date. i just wanted to update them to be certain no consulate officer would have reason to say he wanted new ones. so the pix are the most likely to make a problem, if there are too few left. i know jane could possibly breeze right through pass everything and be done in a day or two if i just schedule the interview and am able to get it in a couple of days, but this process is too important to just hope for the best and take chances. so i must make sure as much as i possibly can, that simple unimportant nit picky things dont thwart us, just by causing the lack of a check in a box. such as having only 2 visa pix and today they want 3, where yesterday 2 might have been fine.

Have her check her documents several times to make sure she has not left anything blank, that everything is spelled correctly, that everything is legible, signatures are in place, and the answers are complete. It's your best defense. Same thing with the supporting documents. I brought a briefcase inside the Embassy with every conceivable paper they might need.

thanks again for your help, Daag

[DAAG 1]

thanks guys, sorry i was slow answering. ive been going nuts trying to get everything done right nd getting the interview scheduled. atleasyt i can forget about the ds-230. jzne finally recieved the extra pix i sent and the new ds134, and supporting documents but the embassy call center seemd to bog down on scheduling interviews and thats all we have left to do, that and the filipino overseas siminar. and it seems the schedul8ing of the interview is going to be a fullfleged nightmare now. with the unknown changes to the scheduling prosess comming 1 december, and no appointment slots available at present. i do now know after the fact that a filipina fiancee can go to st lukes and get a mdeical exam without having an intertview scheduled by bringing her passport and NOA2 and letter from embassy stating she is eligible for schedulibng of an interview. but getting the interview scheduled is still out there in the ether.

[DAAG 1]

I'm so happy. would you believe we had a major breakthrough day before yesterday, i managed to get an interview scheduled for Jane for friday 3 Dec, 2010. now I'm just trying to send enough money to keep her going in manila till next friday, plus keep the $350 to pay for the application fee. i could pay the fee now or support Jane in manila till next friday. i get paid wednesday (thursday there) and as i understand it, she must pay the fee 24 hours before her 7am appointment friday. which means recieving it from me and paying it in minutes, at a bank in manila. anyone know what the closest BDO is to the Embassy area or the branch of Bank of the Philippines that accepts payments?

Does anyone know, also, if its common for the call center to leave the filipina fiancee's middle name, which is also her mothers maiden name, out in addressing the confirmation email to her? the lady who set up the interview for me, was very curteous nice and helpful, but when she asked me janes name, she has a double first name and her middle name is also her mothers maiden name, and the lady said ok her name is, and stated the 2 first names left out the middle name altogether, right, and Pobe is just her mothers maiden name, right?

I said no. and paitently explained her entire name, emphasizin that, although Pobe was indeed her mothers maiden name, it is also Jane's official middle name on her birth certificate and on her passport and all other papers. So i figured all was well, but when the email arrived, it too, left out janes middle name. i've sent emails to the embassy asking if that will cause her to be turned away at the embassy gate? they send only the canned response back to me but wont answer my question. i know it may seem nitpicky, but how can i be certain the guard at the embassy gate will not compare the email name with her id's and passport and seeing the difference turn her away, creating another delay very difficult to adjust to? and then her time slot would be wasted and we'd be caught up in the after 1 Dec debacle.

In any case im so pleased i was finally able to get an interview. i also learned what happens after 1 Dec, when i called the embassy number, someone listed on here earlier, saying we could schedule there, and was told we cannot schedule there, but the lady i talked to at the embassy, told me that, on 1 Dec the embassy is changing to a new call center, and thats why the call center doesnt know whats happening. and why the pins acquired from the current call center will expire then. also there will be one fee as i understand it for the application, call to call center, and delivering the passport and visa to the applicant. whether that fee will still be the $350 established in june, where before june the fee was $131, or if it will go up logrythmically again.

I got the unstated, possibly implied impression from the Embassy conversation that perhapse they felt a new call center could do better by us.

If we just get through this interview ill be happy. then we have just the Filipinio Overses class, which i understand only is given in Manila and in Cebu. so it looks like another $500 plus mandetory trip, after the the embassy delivers janes passport and visa to her on an island off Mindinao.

I read that registering with the Philipino Overseas people isnt required after 1 Dec, 2010, but no indication if that just means you dont need to register, but must still attend, and get the sticker and diploma. and since its required to be allowed to depart the country, why can't they do it near the embassy after the interview, and save time and money? but at that time she wont have her passport or visa. currently her passport is being held by st lukes, till her interview, then it will be held by the Embassy for a week or two. so no classes requireing those papers will be possible, till after Jane is back in Dapa 600 miles south of Manila, and 300 miles south of Cebu. Then she has to be uprooted and sent on another harrowing trip, just for the little class, that for some reason couldnt be taught on Mindiano.