Tyes1725

^{Please update my timeline. I just found out today that my ROC approved July 9. Best of luck for all of you who are still waiting.}

Please add me. I am a March Filer too....Thanks

Hello guys! Am also a March 2013 filer, I just received a reminder letter to file for removal of condition last Friday. Just want to ask if I can still use the I-751 form that has a print that says Expires 01/31/2013. Start of my filing will be this March 16, 2013. God bless us all!

Hi there I am also a March filer and did not received the letter of reminder to remove condition. Anyway, we sent our application March 18th and received the receipt notice 5 days later. It says on the letter, " your conditional resident status is extended for a period of one year. During the one-year extension you are authorized employment and travel." I also received my ASC Appointment letter on March 27 scheduled April 18 at USCIS Phoenix. Am just wondering how long it would take for them to approve our case.

I hope everything goes well with all co March filers... Please share your experiences..

I received my greencard today in the mail. This is a sweet moment, completely and totally awesome! Nothing quite like getting a GC to make Friday the 13th so special.

Good luck to all who are still wating for their GC.

What you had was called a Stokes Interview. Congratulations on passing.

Thank you so much.

Thumbs up! Congrats.

Thanks a lot.

Hello to all Vj members. I just want to share about our experienced during our interview today at 1:30 PM Salt Lake City CIS. We were there half an hour before our appointmnet. The office was not very busy. We were called about 1:40. The IO was a good and smart lookin' woman. We swear and asked my husband's birth certificate, my driver's licence and my passport. She took my I-94. After that, she asked my husband to stay outside while she asked questions to me. I was a little nervous but I tried to hide it and pretend to be ok. She started to asked qustions like:

1. How many children my husband has,how old are they, Have I meet them in person already.

2. How many times my husband got married.

3. Who attended our wedding.

4. Who married us, where did we geet married.

5. What is my husband's favorite color, my favorite color.

6. Did your husband met your parents and other siblings?

7. Where did we met?

8. Who cooks most of the time, what day is the garbage collection, who took out the garbage out most of the time.

9. What do we do on sundays, how often do we go out for a date. When was the last time we travel.

10.Do we own the house where we are living now? How many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, what is the size of our bed,do we have tub in the master bedroom or shower, who wakes up first in the morning.

11. Do you go shopping together? Where did you go yesterday?

12. How often do I date man while I was in still the Philippines?

13. Do we have plan to have children?

14. What is his Favorite food? My favorite food?

15 Why did I marry him? Are yoou just using him to come here?

These were some of the question she asked me. Maybe more but I don't remember all of it. After that she called my husband and I Went outside to wait. After he finished with him, she called me again and asked if we have assets with both our names. Yes we have like Life insurance, Lease agreemnet and Health insurance. After that she explained why she asked those kinds of questions to us, almost very apologetic. My husband is 30 years older than me but he is very young(according to the IO), and she was absolutely right!Lol. And that she make sure I am not using him to get here. She said that she has been 40 years in her job as IO and she saw young women taking advantage of the older man. As much as possible she wants to avoid those kinds of things. We understand her concern and we don't feel bad about the interrogation, it's a part of her job. She was satisfied with our answers and she approved our application and asked me to wait for my greencard in the mail. She handshake us and wished us all the best and remind us to remove the conditions on my conditional green card after two years. What a relief! We are so thankful.

To those who has the same situation as mine ( 30 or less younger than your spouse), expect that they will question it, but don't be afraid. If the relationship is genuine there is nothing to worry about.

Good Luck to everyone and thank you so much for answering my queries for the last few months.

God Bless Us All

For a country where the majority of people live below poverty, it is sure expensive to call there! No matter what phone card site I'm on, the Philippines has one of the highest rates!

Has anyone found any good quality service, reasonably priced options that they use?

Unfortunately we can only talk online when she goes to the city. But that is a few hours by bus from where she lives - so very inconvenient to both of us due to the time difference and me still working.

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Have you ever tried Rebtel? The price is pretty reasonable plus the connection is clear. It's 15.9cents/minute to any mobile phones in the Philippines and 10.9cents/minute to any landline in and outside manila.

thanks kabayan.we were expecting that they're gonna ask a lot of question.the guy who interviewed us just asked our bills,evidence that we're living together,insurance,etc.hehe!!!

Wow! Our interview will be on monday and we are hoping for the best. When did u file your AOS? Seems like your timeline is incomplete. Anyway congrats again..

i just want to inform that my wife just passed her I- 485 interview a while ago. we went to castle barbeque at western ave to celebrate.hehe!!! the interview was 10- 15 mins long only.

Congratulations guys!!Enjoy the celebration after the "hair-raising moment" just before/during the interview.... woot,woot!

As I promise yesterday I'm posting details of our interview. Our interview was approved today. It was so easy, the IO officer L. Booker was so sweet and nice to us. Asked us 3 simple question, how we met and when, what do we do in our spare time and how old my wife's son is, that's it, also asked for original birth certificate (both) and our marriage certificate, then she went through the questions on my i485 form, then she said our case was approved, didn't even ask for pictures. She asked for additional prove of marriage. that's all. As simple as that. We are so happy, we can finally start a normal life. I wanna thank all of you guys for all your advices, and for all the info. BTW our case was approved in 3 months and 3 days since we filed our paper work. Good luck to all of you in your upcoming interviews. WE ARE SO HAPPY!

So happy for both of you...Congratulations! We are having our interview this coming Monday too and I am anxious. I hope to get over it and just enjoy the waiting..... Wish us Luck.

Thanks everyone for clarifying...

As for my experienced I did not have the original copy of my husbands divorce decree. He just scan the original copy, sent it in my email and I printed it. That's what I showed the interviewing officer during my interview and it was fine.

Hi everyone, well me and my wife will be leaving the Philippines for Utah on June 4! But I have a question about what can be brought through our POE (our POE is salt lake city international airport)

As you all know, tiangge is a common thing here. And they more often than not sell counterfeit clothing. My concern is that a lot of the jeans my wife has were bought from the tiangge (greenhills tiangge to be exact). I was wondering if we were going to have any problems with those jeans if they decided to check our luggage? I believe her jeans say they are either 'guess' or 'levi'. Is there anyway they can tell if it's counterfeit or not? I'd hate to get this close and then all of a sudden have something happen at the POE.

Thanks for your help!

jason & kim

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I came to the US using my K1 visa September last year (Salt Lake City POE). I did bring with me some Pasalubong like counterfit clothes and slippers and a few pairs of Jeans for myself not more than 5 pairs each and I did not get any trouble. Just make sure don't bring to much.

Hi Vjers! Just started my account just today. Our interview will be this coming May 9, 2011. I was just wondering what are the common questions would they ask and also my husband and I don't have a BANK account or statement together, will this matter with their decision making? I just think we didn't need one because we have issues on who is spending the money, who made the transactions... complicated. That's why we didn't open one. But they didn't ask for that nor they sent me RFE. Should we open account as monday comes so that we can present the bank statement during interview or just do nothing? huhuh help me. Thanks alot for taking time to read this! xx

I have the same situation here. We will have our interview on May 2 and we don't have bank account in our names but I am included in his car and health insurance. Plus my name is also included when he filed his 2010 tax return. Is that enough? Or do we need to open a new account?

Good luck to us.

After my fiancee's visa arrives, I plan to buy her plane tickets through the Delta website. Hopefully for May 1st if everything happens according to plan. I am nervous about using my credit card to purchase the tickets because the credit card needs validated. I have read stories about fiancee's from Philippines not being able to use the tickets because of not having the credit card and picture id for it, especially with Delta Airlines. I believe I have also read about being able to validate it another way here in the US. Does anyone know how to do this? Do I need to go to the airport in Portland to do this at the Delta ticket counter? If I can't find a full proof way to do this, I may purchase them with cash at the airport or send the cash to my fiancee. Using a credit card would just be easier. Thanks.

-James

My husband bought my ticket thru Delta using his credit card September last year. I enter the US using K1 visa. Delta advised him to go and show his credit card at the Delta counter at Salt Lake City Airport. He explained the situation to them and make sure they enter it in their system so I won't get any trouble on my departure. And yes everything went smoothly..

Hi,

Im just about to book flight for fiancee and was wondering if there was any issues with flying out of Manila (Narita)?

I have one way ticket reserved but not paid for yet. On the phone the representative said something about the visa being good for one year. I know that cant be right because they only issue the visa with 6 month time allowance.

When i go to the airport to purchase ticket should i talk to the immigration there?

I want to basically make sure she wont have any snags when she flys out.

When I came to the US September last year using my K1 visa, my husband bought my ticket online through Delta Airlines (Manila- Narita then Narita Salt Lake City). As for Delta airlines policy, international travellers should present their credit card that they used to purchased the ticket prior to check in. Since my husband bought my ticket in the US,Delta Airlines asked him to go to any Delta Counter in the Airport in Salt Lake City to showed them his credit card and explain them the situation that I did not have his credit card with me and he make sure they enter that in their system so I won't have any trouble checking -in (Manila). And yes there was no trouble. Just check your airline policy. Hope it helps.

Hello everyone,

We are scheduled for our interview May 2. I just want to ask if do we need to bring the birth certificates of my husbands children with his prior marriage? They are ages 25 and 30. I read from the checklist of what we asked to bring (Birth Certificate for all children and costudy papers for your children and for your spouses children not living with you.) Thanks in advance.

My husband's oldest kid is coming over to spend the weekend with us for the first time. She sees her mom regularly and decided to visit her dad for the first time since he got married. DH is very excited about it and so am I. But I'm getting stressed about the whole thing. I want to make it an unforgettable experience for everyone specially for my husband. How should I go about it? VJ step moms, I need help!

Hi cjthel,

I also have 4 step children. The funny is that the 2 is older than me plus they are all professionals,so do I. I met all of them on our wedding together with my brother and sister in laws.

I understand how you feel but just be yourself. Don't pretend to be who you are not. To be a host is quite challenging.Just do your best and that should be enough. Good luck and have a great time visiting with them.

Good advice from the above posters. In case you aren't aware, the minimum wage is $8/hr in California (I could be wrong..lol). Roughly that translates to 360 pesos/hr. If you plan to work to send money to family in the Philippines, the monthly earnings for a part time position would be helpful. If you plan to supplement your fiance/husbands income, it would help a tiny bit.

Often times, if you plan to work in any restaurant/customer service type position, I think its important to have good communication skills and be able to speak/understand the English language. My fiancee sometimes gets a "nose bleed" whenever I speak to her in English since I talk fast (supposedly).

To me personally, it would be better to go for some schooling/training in the States so that you can get a position that will pay more than the minimum wage in the future. From what I've read, sometimes the college degree/education isn't transferrable to a position here in the States (with the exception of some health field degrees).

This is an interesting topic. I came here September last year. I received my AP late February. I am now workin' Part time at Oxford Tutoring (Math Tutor). The payment is 15/hr 12hrs a week. Not to bad for a starter.

I've been told to expect the AOS process to take 2 months. Just wondering how accurate that time frame is... if some people who have been through this could tell me how long it took for the green card to arrive (from the wedding day), it'd be a big help.

We file our AOS December 2010. Received my AP and EAD February 2011 and our interview will be on May 2. So it took almost 5 months. Plus we don't know yet when to get the card after the interview. Good luck to us.

can't you renew it when you are there?

You can surely renew it while you are there since you only have 6 month left prior to expiration.

hi huys please help me to find a place that i can stay for 1month here in manila,must cheaper..lol maybe least than 10k a month...thanks

Try to search at VRBO Philippines. There are a couple of condos offering reasonable prices monthly or weekly. Have a great Vacation.

Hey everyone,

My now husband, came to the US on a K1 visa. After he had been in the US for about 2 weeks we went to apply for his Social Security Number. We were told his name was not in the system yet and to wait 4-6 weeks, and we would receive his social number in the mail. So we waited, and in the mean time got married, and had a honey moon, and started preparing for AOS. Then we got a letter in the mail from the social security office, saying He had been refused a social security number because, the issuance date was too close to the expiration of his I-94. So he can't have a social security number! How can this be? We went in two weeks after he arrived, just as its suggested to do. Anyway, is there a way now to get his SS# ? Will he be able to get one after his EAD is approved ? If not will he be able to work without his SS# ? Would we really have to wait until his AOS is approved to get his SS# ?

Thanks or any information

-Danni

I got my SSC March 15. I applied March 1 just after I received my AP and EAD. It toke 2 weeks for them to issue my SSC. They told me that they need to verify the documents that I submitted to the USCIS first. I know it's frustrating but you will have your's too, soon. I also came here using K1. One more experience, when I applied for my Learners Permit (to drive) after I received my SSC, the DMV still need to verify again my status at the USCIS. Now I am still waiting. The process is very annoying but I can't do anything about it. Needs a lot of Patience.

Jovialyen...Good luck to us both! We will have great reports IJN! AMEN

Immgrant123

I finally received the letter from USCIS regarding our interview and yes it's in our local office. Hope to hear from you after May 2. Best of Luck for us.God Bless.

Good Day!

i would like to ask regarding my interview appointment. i scheduled my appointment online at http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph and i downloaded and printed only one page that says immigration address confirmation sheet manila that indicates my passport no; interview date of April 13, 2011 @ 6:35am, UID no. heres my questions

1.do u think i successfully scheduled my interview appointment on the said date thru that sheet?

2. Is that the only thing i needed to present during my interview to the embassy other than the revised packet 3??

4. is the letter i got from the Embassy of the United States of America,Manila Philippines considered as my appointment letter to be presented for medical check up at st. lukes?ive read an article beofore and it says that you need to print the first two pages of the appointment letter.i only receive one page letter.is that a new procedure?

5.im confused with this DS-160 ONLINE NONIMMIGRANT VISA ELECTRONIC APPLICATION.Does it apply to my case?do i need that? i will have my medical check up next week and interview soon..i only follow the instruction from this link http://photos.state.gov/libraries/manila/19452/public/Revised%20K1%20Instruction%20Packet%20_3__rtf2_001.pdf coz i was applying for the K1 visa?is revised packet 3 the only thing i need to bring for my interview at the embassy? am i right?

hoping to hear from you soon..thanks in advance

Did you pay your fee at BDO already? I think they need the DS160 confirmation with barcode.

I just want to add. The DS-160 confirmation( with your photo attached and confirmation number (Barcode) is needed. I am not sure(during the interview or medical). I am positive about it as I went through on my files again.