US Immigration from Philippines

Dina and I sent in a fat envelope on 9/2/2025 for AOS and EA. Checks cashed two days ago. We're in the game.

Good luck to us all...

This was covered in a post long ago. I wanted to see if there were any updated opinions. The checks were cashed two days ago for Dina's AOS and EA. That's where we are now. We have a travel itch. Going to the continent holds little interest. We want something more exotic. Should CNMI be safe as it is a US territory?

I need help please. My fiance is in the Philippines and the Visa center in Manila has received our paper work and the next step is to get the interview and medical. My fiance filled out and sent the DS-160 in. What do we do next? when do we pay for the DS-160 and pay for the interview? we are so confused on what to do. we read the info and directions for the DS-160 but it does not say anything about when to pay this or that.

Hi!

Trying to plan ahead. How does the interview scheduling work? What can we expect?

Does the Manila Embassy allow us to choose dates for the interview? Or if we won't be able to make it to the interview date that the Embassy arranged, may we request it to have the interview at a later date? How much later can we schedule it?

Say, we got an IL mid October/November, can we schedule an interview in January ourselves?

Thanks!

NOTES:
1. Hi just to give context of why I pursued to give an SB-1 a try again in 2025 is because I already had an SB-1 Case back when I was a minor approved in 2013.
2. Yes, I have read the thread regarding Light_Warrior SB-1 Denial and other threads warning about SB-1.

3. A bit of a long, so please bear with me, today was a very disheartening experience.
4. For this SB-1, I did it all on my own, as we are not that well off to personally hire a lawyer/immigration lawyer to process it for us. For my mom as a single parent was hard enough to raise two kids on her own in a Third world country.

My Case & Timeline:
2010-2011: Arrived in the U.S on January 2010. But my father died in 2011, my brother (12) and I (10) were sent back to our mother in the PH as they were not legally married and she had no green card (Hence staying in the PH).

2011-2013: Continued my education from grade 5-6, Expressed our desire to come back, I guess my Uncle felt sorry or felt the GC was a waste as we were then informed that we are in the process of being sent back with the help.

2013-2014: We returned back to the states in 2013 with a successful SB-1. We continued our life that we once had and education, until personal and family problems arise, and suddenly he no longer wants the responsibility and decided in the middle of the school year to send us back. He just told us on a a random afternoon to pack our things as we are going back to the PH, and there's nothing we can do as the ticket was already bought and is the very same day we were informed.

• We were just 12 and 14, we had no choice but to just follow suite as Asian household are really strict about age, so we just have to shut our mouth up and accept our situation. This was sprung upon us without no warning, no consent, no nothing. Next thing we knew were back to the PH, not being able to finish our studies and had to repeat that grade back in the PH.

2014-2025: Back in the PH again to our mother which was also shock as we are as she was also not aware that we were being sent back. No choice but to continue living life and studies.

• We had no idea of what our category actually or even how coming back to the U.S works for all these years as we were a minor and those are things we don't think too deeply, as all of these were done by our guardians/adults. So we just figured we can't comeback as there's just no one willing to pay or take care of us back in the U.S.
• I also though that green card and citizenship is the same, as all my aunts and other adults kept on saying that it was unfortunate we couldn't become a Citizen. So I thought at this point there's no going back. It was a hard pill to swallow over the years.
  

Present Time: Now I (24) only just realize that we were a green card holder after finishing college this August. As now I am not under the obligation of my mother's care (Asian culture is very family oriented) I decided to try my luck on other countries.
I asked my mom for my passport and other documents since I was planning on applying for any possible job Abroad.
That's when I saw the physical copy of my GC and SSN, and realized that we were actually a LPR (Since 2010: Expired in 2020: Category F25: 10 Year GC)
I then researched if it actually means what it said, and yeah that's when I realized I was a LPR all this time since 2010. I then searched if i can come back and the SB-1 Visa came up.
Saw on my old Passport that there was an SB-1 stamp on my passport and that was when I realized I already had gone through this same process before.

SB-1 Visa Denial
Gather all the information and documents for my case, researched regarding the topic of if I fall under the category of the SB-1, and believed so that I fit the criteria.

• Have physical copy of GC
• Have SSN
• Circumstance was out of my control (Was forcibly sent back without consent as a minor again)
  

Also found same threads in reddit in the same boat as I am and was actually approved for their SB-1. So I got my hopes up. Shouldn't have after seeing the absurd amount of people saying to not do so, but I was na ve and was just hopeful since I always wanted to return and this seem to be the most straightforward and logistically correct choice, especially I was gone for 11 years.

Today was my appointment, was at the consular for even less than 2 minutes. He just asked for my name, how I got my GC, if ever travelled to Guam. Said no. Left, made someone from the back sign my paper. Came back said, I was denied. Asked for why I was denied, said I should have at least tried to come back to Guam 7 years ago (or 6 as he might be implying when I turned 18). I was dumbfounded as he never even looked at any of my documents nor asked me why.

Question:
1. What I want to know is, is the pathway back to U.S through CBP still a viable under trumps administration and all the new law that was establish these following years.
2. What are my next step to take (File and I-90? or??), I know that now I will have an SB-1 denial show up in the system.
3. Should I just forget my chances, and move on with my life in other ventures? (I honestly don't want to since my LPR is the last thing that my father gave us for a better life)