Costs that we should plan for in Visa process

[jjdenver 0]

Hi,

My fiance is from Philippines. We were in contact with a lady who has experience there with a lot of Visa processing cases and offered to help with the process for a fee. She sent me a list of fees that we should expect to pay. Which of these are realistic fees that we should plan for? Are there any fees that are not listed here that should realistically be added?

(all costs in PI Pesos)

STEP 1: Medical exam trip and fees:

10,500p Medical Exam/Vaccination fees paid to St Lukes extension hospital in Manila

10,500p same for child

900p Verification Fee - Delbros (no idea what this means)

900p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for medical exam

9,000p same for child

10,000p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila during medical exam trip incl child

10,000p 3 night hotel stay in Manila during medical exam trip

STEP 2: Embassy interview trip and fees:

15,750p Visa application fees

15,750p same for child

13,500p ENTRY FORMS: DS156, DS157, 157K,DS230A AND B

13,500p same for child

675p AIR 21 Visa mailing fees (I assume to have Visa mailed from Embassy to Cebu

[Xanax 349]

Is police certificate on there? Does it cost anything to get from your fiancee's country?

Are you including your AOS fee's in the calculation? (That you will pay after you get married)

[jjdenver 0]

For some reason I'm not able to edit the original post and I accidentally posted before I completed writing the post - so this is the actual post I meant to make:

Hi,

My fiance is from Philippines. We were in contact with a lady who has experience there with a lot of Visa processing cases and offered to help with the process for a fee. She sent me a list of fees that we should expect to pay. Which of these are realistic fees that we should plan for? Are there any fees that are not listed here that should realistically be added?

(all costs in PI Pesos)

STEP 1: Medical exam trip and fees:

10,500p Medical Exam/Vaccination fees paid to St Lukes extension hospital in Manila

10,500p same for child

900p Verification Fee - Delbros (no idea what this means)

900p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for medical exam

9,000p same for child

10,000p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila during medical exam trip incl child

10,000p 3 night hotel stay in Manila during medical exam trip

-------

60,800p for STEP 1

STEP 2: Embassy interview trip and fees:

15,750p Visa application fees

15,750p same for child

13,500p ENTRY FORMS: DS156, DS157, 157K,DS230A AND B

13,500p same for child

675p AIR 21 Visa mailing fees (I assume to have Visa mailed from Embassy to Cebu

675p same for child

3,600p IDD FEES - US EMBASSY APPOINTMENT

3,600p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for embassy visa appointment

9,000p same for child

3,500p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila during visa trip incl child

3,500p 1 night hotel stay in Manila during visa trip

-------

92,050p for Step 2

STEP 3: departure

3,500p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila mandatory guidance counseling day before departure to U.S. from Manila

3,500p 1 night hotel stay in Manila

1,350p Attend CFO Guidance Counselling (Commission on Foreign Workers Overseas) IN MANILA 1 day before departure (I assume this can be arranged to be before day of departure

1,350p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for guidance counseling mandatory session

9,000p same for child

??????? plane ticket from Manila to U.S.

??????? plane ticket from Manila to U.S. for child

-------

27,700 for Step 3 (+ U.S. plane tickets from Manila)

Total: 180,550p at conversion rate of 41p = 1USD = $4403

Does all of this sound right? Thanks for opinions/insight. Oh also if anyone knows of a decent inexpensive hotel option near the embassy and near St Luke's in Manila that would be great. Any experience/advice would be great as well.

[jjdenver 0]

Is police certificate on there? Does it cost anything to get from your fiancee's country?

Are you including your AOS fee's in the calculation? (That you will pay after you get married)

Oh good point. I am not including that. Also her child's father is deceased so I heard that she has to procure a certificate of death from some office in Manila to prove that he won't have a problem with her child leaving the country - not sure how much that will cost or exactly where she needs to go or what she needs to do to get it. She's uncomfortable with that step.

[neodragon0l 6]

Why do you need to hire someone to do Visa processing? Just a thought.

Like you said, I am not sure what "verification" means. Get a clarification from her. As for the Tickets from Cebu to Manila round trip, I am sure you can get cheaper flights. 10,000php seems to be a regular trip. I would book the tickets myself to get it cheaper and there are promos. As for the hotel, if you know someone in the area, I would stay there instead of paying 10k for hotels.

I will defer to others on the Step 2 of the embassy interview. I definitely check the guide on this forum. It's by far the most helpful guide. Costs should be in the guide as well.

[jjdenver 0]

Why do you need to hire someone to do Visa processing? Just a thought.

Like you said, I am not sure what "verification" means. Get a clarification from her. As for the Tickets from Cebu to Manila round trip, I am sure you can get cheaper flights. 10,000php seems to be a regular trip. I would book the tickets myself to get it cheaper and there are promos. As for the hotel, if you know someone in the area, I would stay there instead of paying 10k for hotels.

I will defer to others on the Step 2 of the embassy interview. I definitely check the guide on this forum. It's by far the most helpful guide. Costs should be in the guide as well.

Oh, I'm not hiring her. I took out her fees from the list. There were many fees she had listed but those are all removed. Now that you mention it maybe that "verification" line is a fee she added for herself - not sure....

I did pay a little less than $500 to hire a Visa assistance company here in the U.S. they put up a web site that my fiance and I both logged into and entered info. That info then was used to generate a PDF with all the necessary docs populated with information/check-boxes/etc as well as "fill-in pages" that had instructions about what to put there such as attach a certain size photo in a plastic baggie on this page, etc. They then reviewed the PDF several times, each time finding errors that I had to correct. Then I sent the final physical packet to them once my fiance had printed out and signed her pages and sent them to me. They reviewed the physical packet and amazingly found more errors. I thought I was very careful with the forms but they found tons of stuff I hadn't done right and hopefully I can avoid an RFE because of all the problems they had me correct. They'll provide similar assistance once we get our NOA2 with further forms that have to be submitted and interview prep - so I'm happy I spent that $500 since adding a couple of months to this process would stink - it's already so long to wait. I know some people do it themselves but reading the 77 page RFE thread made me glad I hired those guys at least - 500 bucks well spent from my POV. ;-)

Edited June 8, 2012 by jjdenver

[caelo 3]

For some reason I'm not able to edit the original post and I accidentally posted before I completed writing the post - so this is the actual post I meant to make:

Hi,

My fiance is from Philippines. We were in contact with a lady who has experience there with a lot of Visa processing cases and offered to help with the process for a fee. She sent me a list of fees that we should expect to pay. Which of these are realistic fees that we should plan for? Are there any fees that are not listed here that should realistically be added?

(all costs in PI Pesos)

STEP 1: Medical exam trip and fees:

10,500p Medical Exam/Vaccination fees paid to St Lukes extension hospital in Manila The fee is ~$224 so that should convert to less than PHP10,000. I paid around PHP9,600

10,500p same for child Fee is even less for a child compared to an adult ($185 for a child).

900p Verification Fee - Delbros (no idea what this means)

900p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for medical exam This is too much. Phil Airlines, it is ~PHP2,000 (ordinary) to PHP8,000 (premium class)... and you could even get it cheaper from local airlines like Cebu Pacific, ZestAir, etc.

9,000p same for child

10,000p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila during medical exam trip incl child

10,000p 3 night hotel stay in Manila during medical exam trip

-------

60,800p for STEP 1

STEP 2: Embassy interview trip and fees:

15,750p Visa application fees immediate relatives visa is $230 and $240 for K visas. That should only amount to less than PHP11,000.

15,750p same for child

13,500p ENTRY FORMS: DS156, DS157, 157K,DS230A AND B WHAT THE??? you could do this yourself (online) and just refer to the sample forms here at visa journey.

13,500p same for child

675p AIR 21 Visa mailing fees (I assume to have Visa mailed from Embassy to Cebu

675p same for child

3,600p IDD FEES - US EMBASSY APPOINTMENT HOLY!!! book it online and it's free!

3,600p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for embassy visa appointment

9,000p same for child

3,500p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila during visa trip incl child

3,500p 1 night hotel stay in Manila during visa trip

-------

92,050p for Step 2

STEP 3: departure

3,500p meals/transport/misc expenses in Manila mandatory guidance counseling day before departure to U.S. from Manila

3,500p 1 night hotel stay in Manila

1,350p Attend CFO Guidance Counselling (Commission on Foreign Workers Overseas) IN MANILA 1 day before departure (I assume this can be arranged to be before day of departure NO! NO! NO! CFO fees is less than PHP700.

1,350p same for child

9,000p plane ticket Cebu -> Manila -> Cebu for guidance counseling mandatory session

9,000p same for child

??????? plane ticket from Manila to U.S.

??????? plane ticket from Manila to U.S. for child

-------

27,700 for Step 3 (+ U.S. plane tickets from Manila)

Total: 180,550p at conversion rate of 41p = 1USD = $4403

Does all of this sound right? Thanks for opinions/insight. Oh also if anyone knows of a decent inexpensive hotel option near the embassy and near St Luke's in Manila that would be great. Any experience/advice would be great as well.

Oh WOW! That's a lot of !@$#@!$. That's simply way too much. Please refer to my comments/reactions to the amounts you posted. And then there's a helpful thread here about hotels to stay in Manila that's near the embassy/St. Luke's medical center... so you don't have to allot so much for transportation/misc. fees. I computed around $105,000 for the three steps (w/o the airfare to the US) and btw, the present conversion rate is usually $43, so that should not be more than $2500. Actually, it can even be less.

This is just not right.

[CristiFur 15]

I'd say your estimation is about right.

I know some of you are saying you get cheaper airfare or hotel but you have to remember, most of us are looking at online deals. Maybe for her she does not have a credit card where she can use online booking and have to do walk in which are more expensive. She also has a child to bring along with so add the cost of a childs unexpected expenses.

The only thing I don't get is the "3,500p ENTRY FORMS: DS156, DS157, 157K,DS230A AND B" fee, it's free..

Were waiting for my Fiance and her daughters Visa for delivery and so far I've sent her $1500 through out the Medical to interview and she lives in QC so no need for airfare or hotels or else m sure that's would add another 300 - 600 or more. I've sent another $500 last week for CFO and shopping for personal items to bring with them here.

Also when you are travelling with a child and far from your place, you can never have too much money with you..

[jjdenver 0]

Thanks for the replies. That's very helpful.

With regard to airline tickets can I book for her using my credit card? What's the cheapest way for her to get those tickets if she doesn't have a card? Maybe a travel agency in Cebu if I'm not allowed to purchase the tix for her online?

I just saw online that it seems she can attend the CFO session in Cebu or Manila. I'm not sure why that lady listed Manila then. Is it still possible to just attend in Cebu? Does anyone know? I've been reading the Manila Embassy thread (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/181-manila-embassy-interview/page__st__15) and I'm 3 pages in but it just seems to be mostly a list of how long it has taken people rather than tips. I also ready a bunch of the guides and FAQs but haven't found this discussed yet.

Oh and what the heck is "Delbros"? - that lady listed it in the fees and I also saw it in a user's .sig on this forum, at the bottom of this page (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/300-general-k1-guides-and-info/)

Edited June 9, 2012 by jjdenver

[brian&shella 0]

Thanks for the replies. That's very helpful.

With regard to airline tickets can I book for her using my credit card? What's the cheapest way for her to get those tickets if she doesn't have a card? Maybe a travel agency in Cebu if I'm not allowed to purchase the tix for her online? - YES you can book the ticket for her. just send her the copy of your credit card and ID.

I just saw online that it seems she can attend the CFO session in Cebu or Manila. I'm not sure why that lady listed Manila then. Is it still possible to just attend in Cebu? Does anyone know? I've been reading the Manila Embassy thread (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/181-manila-embassy-interview/page__st__15) and I'm 3 pages in but it just seems to be mostly a list of how long it has taken people rather than tips. I also ready a bunch of the guides and FAQs but haven't found this discussed yet. - YES she can attend the seminar in Cebu.

Oh and what the heck is "Delbros"? - that lady listed it in the fees and I also saw it in a user's .sig on this forum, at the bottom of this page (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/300-general-k1-guides-and-info/) - NO Idea, i didnt pay any 'Delbros' when i had my vj.

[Hank_ 9,174]

@ jjdenver

I see you are doing an E-1 visa, I didn't have a clue what that was being you are talking about your fiance(e). Why are you using a Treaty visa? Those have rather unique requirements.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1273.html

[Tahoma 2,298]

Hey jjdenver...I'm confused too. Which type of visa is your fiancée applying for? Is it a K-1?

[jjdenver 0]

Oh I'm sorry must have been mis-type. It's K-1.

[jjdenver 0]

Oh I'm sorry must have been mis-type. It's K-1. I just tried to change it to K-1 in my profile but apparently that field is not edit-able. So on this forum I'll be E-1. I could create a new account as K-1 maybe that's what I'll do.

[Tahoma 2,298]

To change the immigration status:

> Go to your profile and click on "Settings."

> Click on "Profile."

> Click the "Immigration" drop-down box and choose the immigration status.

> Click on "Save Changes."

You're done!