Damien & Rhea

My wife was also concerned when her visa arrived with an extra two digits so she called the Embassy and they told her that it was normal and not to worry about it.

We had our interview on May 2 and had our Visa Packet in hand on May 6.

I bought my wife's ticket via Delta's Website with my credit card. When we arrived at the gate to check in this morning, they asked to see the credit card to confirm the numbers.

Thanks again everyone.

Rhea has her Visa Packet in hand and we will be flying to Japan this weekend.

We'll be heading to Oregon sometime in the next few months as our POE and permanent residence.

Wow that must be crazy... as we can get CENOMAR at NSO main office for a week before it will be release... much more here on our local NSO branch... its 15 days..dont think one month is not enough?...

if you go to ecensus website (www.ecensus.com.ph) you can apply there and pay it online or Banco De Oro. you will get your certs within three days or max 5 days only po.

Rhea's visa has been approved at our appointment on May 2nd.

We stayed a few nights at Bayview Hotel across the street from the U.S. Embassy.

On May 2 it took us about 10 minutes to walk to the Embassy so we got into line for Immigrant Visas around 6am. There were about 30 or so other folks in line ahead of us and they were slowly letting people in.

At the first checkpoint they looked at our appointment letter and passport.

Next we went to the window outside and we got our number and then went directly to Window 39. After dropping off some paperwork we sat down and waited for our number to come up on the screens.

After awhile our number came up and we went to Window 56 where a lady looked through our paperwork and asked Rhea a few questions. The only evidence she asked us for was a wedding album, which, of course, we had amongst a plethora of other proof of a relationship. Then she told us I could go up to pay and bring a receipt back to her.

My wife sat and befriended an older lady that was going to live with her daughter in the U.S. while I went upstairs to Window 15 and paid my $404. I brought the receipt back to the lady at Window 56 and she told me to have a seat and wait again for our number.

After awhile our number came up and we went to Window 40 for finger printing.

My wife told me that the interview windows wouldn't open until 8am so we relaxed for awhile. My wife went out to the waiting area and had a hot dog and some water.

Around 8:30am our number came up to go to Window 59 where a friendly looking American gentleman was waiting. I wondered why Rhea was so relaxed while the gentleman was talking with us and asking questions, and why she was surprised and delighted when he told us that everything looked good and that our visa was approved. I later found out that she didn't know that was the final interview and that she thought we would have the final interview at a different window.

We were told to go to Window 72 to get the paperwork for addressing her passport for mailing. After we filled out the form we dropped it off at Window 69 and were out of the Embassy and headed for church by 9am.

It was a long 4 months and we are glad it is over. We are fortunate enough that the longest we were apart (or have been apart since our relationship began) was from April 4th when I returned to Japan to April 28th when I came back to PH. Thankfully she can fly back to Japan as soon as she has her visa in hand and her plane ticket paid for by the company I work for since they asked us to leave Japan after the earthquake until it was safe to return.

We would like to give a big heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributes to VJ, the information was really helpful for us and we wish everyone the best in their Visa Journey!

Thanks a lot for this. I sent money over the weekend so my wife could go to St. Luke's today and tomorrow.

Today my wife scheduled her interview for May 6th.

I am trying to read back through all the previous threads to see if it's better for me to go to the interview with her or not.

My name is Damien and my wife's name is Rhea.

We were living in Japan when the earthquake happened (Rhea was on a tourist visa) and I live about 100km from the Nuclear Power Plant so we decided to head to the Philippines until things settled down a little.

Right before we were going to return to Japan, we received a letter from the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (no packet 3, even though it said it was supposed to be included) so Rhea has stayed in the Philippines to complete her U.S. Visa.

Good timing.

I am back in Japan, hopefully she will get her processing done quickly so she can join me back in Japan.