Things you wish you would have brought from home

[MarJhi 913]

Is there anything you wish you would have brought from your  home country, something that you really needed later on? Specifically I am asking about documents or paperwork that would have come in handy when applying for a job or going to school, but feel free to suggest personal items you wish you would have brought along as well.

[Adventine 3,187]

 I recommend bringing multiple copies of:

• birth certificate. If your fiancee eventually plans on petitioning family members, it's a good idea for her to check their BCs for any errors now, and get them fixed before she leaves.
• diplomas / transcript of records
• certificates of employment from all previous employers

 

As I know your fiancee is from the Philippines, I also recommend the following PH-specific things:

• If her passport is only a year or two from expiring, I highly recommend that she renew it in the PH. It's much less expensive to do it there, and she won't have to travel to one of the consulates or wait for a consular outreach in her state.
• She can create a LinkedIn account and start learning about US-specific resume formats, interview styles, phone and email norms. All of these things are completely different from PH corporate culture.
• if she will continue to financially support family: keep at least 1 Philippine bank account open and make sure she has online access (includes making sure the bank's SMS 2 factor authentication works when she's physically in the US). Even better if she can leave some funds in that account. That way, it's easy for her to transfer money and saves on transfer fees. Make sure the bank account address is updated to a trusted family member's address. Useful for when the bank mails her a new ATM card.
• if she's sure that she won't ever live again the Philippines: she can look into cashing out her PAG-IBIG contributions. That would free up some extra cash that she could convert to USD and use towards establishing her new life in the States. Alternatively, if she is supporting family, she could just leave the money in her PH bank account. 

[Crazy Cat 39,215]

We needed my wife's divorce certificate to prove termination of a prior marriage.  When it came time to file her N-400, we realized we didn't have it.  She obtained it first of this year....when she was in Taiwan.

[mam521 1,723]

Driving abstract and history of insurance.  Luckily I was able to get both and saved me some money being able to prove that history.  

 

If you need to get an ITIN or SSN, certified copies of passports from the issuer of said passport.  Again, was lucky because my ex was able to take the kids' passports to the passport office in Canada and get the copies so I didn't have to send off the ONLY proper travel documents they had to the SSA.  

[MarJhi 913]

On 8/7/2022 at 5:27 PM, Adventine said:

 I recommend bringing multiple copies of:

• birth certificate. If your fiancee eventually plans on petitioning family members, it's a good idea for her to check their BCs for any errors now, and get them fixed before she leaves.
• diplomas / transcript of records
• certificates of employment from all previous employers

 

As I know your fiancee is from the Philippines, I also recommend the following PH-specific things:

• If her passport is only a year or two from expiring, I highly recommend that she renew it in the PH. It's much less expensive to do it there, and she won't have to travel to one of the consulates or wait for a consular outreach in her state.
• She can create a LinkedIn account and start learning about US-specific resume formats, interview styles, phone and email norms. All of these things are completely different from PH corporate culture.
• if she will continue to financially support family: keep at least 1 Philippine bank account open and make sure she has online access (includes making sure the bank's SMS 2 factor authentication works when she's physically in the US). Even better if she can leave some funds in that account. That way, it's easy for her to transfer money and saves on transfer fees. Make sure the bank account address is updated to a trusted family member's address. Useful for when the bank mails her a new ATM card.
• if she's sure that she won't ever live again the Philippines: she can look into cashing out her PAG-IBIG contributions. That would free up some extra cash that she could convert to USD and use towards establishing her new life in the States. Alternatively, if she is supporting family, she could just leave the money in her PH bank account. 

Thanks for the detailed response. Most of what you have suggested we have already talked about and we don't have the NOA 2 yet so we have tons of time. I just had her renew her passport last month and surprisingly she got it back in 10 days, which was nice. We will be keeping her current bank account but also want to get one for her mother as any money we send will go through her. Mostly I am looking for any suggestions because there always things you didnt consider that would have been easier before the beneficiary left their home country. Even something like glasses, my fiance wears glasses, so because it is so much cheaper there I want her to get an extra pair or 2 before she leaves. Little stuff like that is also something I am thinking about.  Will definitely ask her to work on her school records, as for work history that will be easy because she has only had one job and she's been there forever.

 

 

 

Thanks again

Edited August 10, 2022 by MarJhi

[confusedshoes 193]

You're absolutely right about the glasses. Husband and I love Owndays and there's no Owndays in the US (at least near where we live). We got new glasses right before we left to come live here. If she's anything like me, I usually find frames from random places and I bring them to Ideal Vision and they put in lenses for less than P1000. Its been 3 years since I was last in the Philippines though so prices may have changed but I've been doing this for over 10 years. So she can try to do that too. Another is we went to the dentist before leaving, got all the cleaning and fillings done. And derma treatments that she might need/want. As for documents, I'm seconding diplomas/school transcripts and multiple copies of PSA Birth Certificate and a couple of PSA CENOMARs just in case.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by confusedshoes