More Long Delays

[Eve & Jim 4]

Eve went for her interview today after waiting 2 months for her sputum test to come back negative. She had everything she needed we though. She was told that she has to get a Japanise Police Clearance even though her travel to Japan was more than 10 years ago and the DS-157 only asks for travel to other countries within the last 10 years. Then she was told that the certified origional for her daughters father's Cenomar was not good enough and she has to have one sent to the embassy directly from the NSO.

So the Japanese Police Clearance will take another 2 or 3 months and even though she shouldn't even need her daughter's (Mae) father's Cenomar because she has her own Cenomar that shows she was never married and Mae's father isn't shown as being married to Eve on her birth certificate, and she is over 16 years old.

This is all very disappoint, a frustrating among other things. First we has hoped we would be together for Eve's Birthday in October, then we all had really very high hopes that we would all be together for Christmas. I had planned to go be with them in the Philippines if Eve was delayed again but my son would never ordered his passport because he is a busy college student and he was sure that there wouldn't be any more delays and it would just be a waste of time.

--Jim

[Tahoma 2,298]

From the U.S. Embassy website:

NBI clearance and police clearance. Applicants aged 16 or older must have a valid Record Clearance for Travel Abroad Purposes from the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and a Police Certificate from every other country where they have lived for one year or more since reaching the age of 16 (six months or more for K visa applicants).

My link.

Hang in there, Jim. You just have one more hoop to jump through.

By the way, your son can get an expedited passport in a week or two.

[TeapotGirl 66]

Maybe she has to double check the information. This is the first time I've heard that the previous partner of the applicant was asked for a CENOMAR.

I got no idea how the Police Clearance from Japan works, but you must write "all the countries you've resided" from the age of 16 but some countries won't issue you one if you are no longer there.

Edited December 5, 2011 by TeapotGirl

[Eve & Jim 4]

Maybe she has to double check the information. This is the first time I've heard that the previous partner of the applicant was asked for a CENOMAR.

I got no idea how the Police Clearance from Japan works, but you must write "all the countries you've resided" from the age of 16 but some countries won't issue you one if you are no longer there.

We saw that they might ask for a CENOMAR for a previous partners from someone else who posted her, and while we didn't think she should need it, she got one anyway, but the official document from the NSO wasn't good enough which I think is really strange, especially since Mae is 16 and was there for the interview.

The Japanese police clearance wouldn't be such a big deal if it didn't take so long to get it. What are the Japanese doing, still using monks and scribes to do their record keeping? Japan is supposed to be a modern country and they take 2 months to do a background check? That is something that is done in a few minutes here in the U.S.

Tonight I looked at the cost of plane ticket for me and my son to go there for Christmas and just the tickets would be $5,000+ and with the bad economy that is a pretty expensive thing to do. When you add up the costs of plane tickets for Eve and Mae all the other stuff, and then the cost of a wedding when they get here, Then follow that with the AOS fees. This all starts to turn into a rather large financial strain at a time when making extra money is extreemly difficult. I knew about the financial parts of this when we started, but I didn't know about the 3 year wage freeze that we got told about last month or the raise in property taxes even though realestate values have fallen.

--Jim

[Wally G! 58]

Hi Jim

Here is a person that had the same delay see her story and what she did to obtain the Japan Police Clearance.

http://lucytodl.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-i-filed-my-japanese-police.html

Embassy of Japan in the Philippines

2627 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, 1300

Tel no. 63-2-551-5710

www.ph.emb-japan.go.jp

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivpolice.html#japan

In regards to your son's passport it can be expedited and one visit to the post office. Just make sure all is completed and correct or it will lead to delays..!!!

http://travel.state.gov/passport/hurry/hurry_831.html

Good Luck and God Bless

[Wally G! 58]

Jim

I suggest not to even try to book tickets this late in the holiday month (December). Airlines rake in the dough during this time. From thanksgiving thru New Years is the Highest travel time of the year and most expensive. Alternatively If traveling to Philippines is a must. Travel there by yourself as you will save half on the expense from including your son.

Also the expense will tally up once she arrives there in Ohio. You will need to get her all new warm clothing. I have family in Columbus Ohio and I know how cold it gets there. Your in Cincinnati near the lakes where you get cold frigid air and snow falls. Remember she will be coming from a average of 85 degree weather to winter here in the states of 10 - 35 degrees.

Socks, leggings, sweaters, gloves. Also get her measurements (Bust, waist, hips, shoe size) so you can convert to american sizes. This will save you from trial and error and wasting money. Shoes, just like women here. She will need to try them on as shoes for women have many different cuts and may need to adjust to a bigger size depend on type of shoe.

Also foods will be another adjustment for her.. Take it from me and other VJ'ers on this make sure to have some Filipino ingredients available to ease the transition. Website I have been ordering from is http://www.philamfood.com/.

Price are 6 to 7 times what a Filipino pays in Philippines but we are not in the Philippines LOL!. Prices are comparable to what you would pay for USA food.

Let me know if you have any questions

Good Luck and God bless

[Eve & Jim 4]

Jim

I suggest not to even try to book tickets this late in the holiday month (December). Airlines rake in the dough during this time. From thanksgiving thru New Years is the Highest travel time of the year and most expensive. Alternatively If traveling to Philippines is a must. Travel there by yourself as you will save half on the expense from including your son.

Also the expense will tally up once she arrives there in Ohio. You will need to get her all new warm clothing. I have family in Columbus Ohio and I know how cold it gets there. Your in Cincinnati near the lakes where you get cold frigid air and snow falls. Remember she will be coming from a average of 85 degree weather to winter here in the states of 10 - 35 degrees.

Socks, leggings, sweaters, gloves. Also get her measurements (Bust, waist, hips, shoe size) so you can convert to american sizes. This will save you from trial and error and wasting money. Shoes, just like women here. She will need to try them on as shoes for women have many different cuts and may need to adjust to a bigger size depend on type of shoe.

Also foods will be another adjustment for her.. Take it from me and other VJ'ers on this make sure to have some Filipino ingredients available to ease the transition. Website I have been ordering from is http://www.philamfood.com/.

Price are 6 to 7 times what a Filipino pays in Philippines but we are not in the Philippines LOL!. Prices are comparable to what you would pay for USA food.

Let me know if you have any questions

Good Luck and God bless

The thing is that my son Michael has never had the chance to meet Eve or Mae in person, and he is 22 yo, and could really use a experience outside the U.S. to see how other people really live. So my backup plan that if Mae and Eve couldn't be here for Christmas, we would go there. But then tonight, looking at the ticket prices, that was a huge shock.

A few years ago it woudn't have been that big of a deal, because my business was doing much better and I was working for a company that allowed me much more flexibility. But that has changed drastically in the last few years.

I'm really not too worried about the food thing because right now my son and I eat out about every meal and while we both know that is very unhealthy, there are just to many times when there isn't any other choice. Plus it seems like I end up throwing away more food than we eat. I have a few places for Eve to shop for her foods, like Jungle Jim's and The Asian Market.

It does get very cold here in Cincinnati, and I've been trying to make sure things are ready with things like nice big fluffy down comfortors for the beds and all that kind of thing. The clothes thing is a different story because Eve is rather tall 5'6" and very thin, and Mae is even thinner. Plus they are pretty picky about their clothes, so I'm pretty much resigned myself to taking them shopping as soon as they get here for warm clothes and food. My sister has been trying to help me some with that, and the whole sizing difference is just a huge problem.

I've had a rather long history of bad Christmas's in the recent past. My mother passed away on Christmas day a few years ago, and then a couple years later I had to rehab their old house where I grew up and put it up for sale during the Christmas season. That resulted in a law suit from my eldest sister even though I was under court orders for everything. That also kind of messed up Christmas. Then last year my 2nd wife (BIG MISTAKE) left me for the second time right before Christmas. I don't have a big family, mostly just me and my son, so leaving him here alone for the holidays isn't such a fair thing, and staying here with just the two of us isn't exactly a great idea either.

After all the delays with getting medical clearances and such, I really had my hope up that we could begin being a family at Christmas, and I really think we all did.

Of course next comes the whole issue of if we should wait until Mae graduates school in March now that we have been forced to wait this long. I know it might not mean much here, but being able to go through that process with her classmates of many years is a bit of an issue that I worry about.

--Jim

[Eve & Jim 4]

Hi,

Eve went to the NSO and ordered the CERNOMAR for her daughters father and also went to the bank to pay for it on the 6th. They have a special form for documents that have to be sent directly to the Embassy. I'm wondering how we will know that they recieved it?

She also went to get her finger print card and then went to the Japanese Embassy and ordered the Police Clearance. They told her to call in about 4 or 5 weeks. She offered to pay for they postage to expedite the process, but they said that there wasn't any way for her to do that.

We were all pretty disappointed that we won't all be together for the Christmas season because Cincinnati has a lot of things to do that are Christmas related, but after Jan. 1st all that ends and it's mostly just the rough cold winter that we are left with. I'm a bit worried that going from the weather in the Philippines to the rough winter weather in the middle of Jan. will be a huge shock. Eve and Mae don't have any winter clothes, and don't really know what they will even need. My sister is trying to help me with some of that, but trying to figure out U.S. clothing sizes vs. the sizes in the Philippines is a challenge in itself. Then there is the whole thing about picking out clothes for someone else and hoping that they like them. I am thinking that I should just plan to take them from the airport directly to some place to shop for clothes, but it's a 23 hour plane trip, and if they aren't able to sleep on the plane then they may be way too tired to go shopping for clothes.

When we first started this process I thought that they would be here in the early to mid fall and the weather would gradually change and it wouldn't be such a shock. I am wondering if anybody else has made this kind of transition in the middle of the winter and what it was like to adjust and how they dealt with the transition?

Another thing came to mind too, and that is that I read that since Mae will be on a K2 visa that she can't get a SSN? If that is the case then she can't get a learners permit to learn to drive and I think most of the schools want a SSN and also I know I would need that in order to put her on my medical insurance.

The whole medical insurance thing also leaves me with some questions. I have read that there are companies that offer "Traveler's medical coverage" and I'm wondering if anyone has gone that route and what kind of experience they had with it?

When Eve and Mae get here, I want to give them a few weeks to make sure this is going to be good for them. Eve is very commited to making it work and so is Mae, but I want to at least give them the opportunity to look around first. I would certainly be ok with just getting married as soon as they arrive, but I am trying to be as considerate and understand as I possibly can in order to make sure things are the best they can be. Eve has never been married and while her friends and family can't be here, she would like to have a small but nice wedding. I found a place in Key West were we could go to have whatever kind of wedding she would like to have, but certainly there needs to be a little planning to make that happen. My thoughts were to fly to Key West and get married 4 to 8 weeks after they arrive, just so that things aren't too rushed. Key West was choosen because it's a place that neither one of us has ever been before so we would start out with fresh memories instead of someplace I had been in the past. Key West is kind of tropical so I'm thinking it would also be kind of a half way point between the weather here in Cincinnati, and the weather in the Philippines. I had also investigated getting married on one of those "Cruise to Nowhere" things, but I don't think that is possible due to the K1 visa limitations. What kind of experience have any of you had with this kind of thing? Good idea? Bad idea?

I really appreciate everyone's help. I'm not a very patient person when it comes to waiting for things, I think it has to do with being in the high tech software and computer systems industry. I also think that since I'm in the software industry, I have less patience than most when it comes to manual processes that can an should have been automated many years ago. This has all been a very big learning process for me.

--Jim

[Tahoma 2,298]

> To help answer your question about a SS number for Mae, check out this VJ thread.

> You are absolutely right about the their need for winter clothes. Without winter clothing, they will be freezing even after only a minute or two outdoors. You don't need to take them directly from the airport to the mall, just make sure they have something warm to wear on the way home from the airport, and then from home to the mall. You can get them inexpensive jackets, hats, and gloves to wear until they can shop for better heavy-duty winter wear in their sizes and styles. Make sure they understand the layering system of dressing for the cold, and then buy accordingly. Also, they also will probably be cold indoors if you keep your place at less than 80F, so you don't want to forget sweaters, sweatshirts, warm pj's and slippers.

> Make sure you take Eve down to the local Social Security Administration office to apply for a Social Security number about a week after she arrives. Having a SS number will help you guys with the packet for adjusting her status...you can add her to your bank account and bills and whatnot.