chelsea09

Congrats!

Thank you, KASH2011!

Hope VSC starts moving soon for you! Sending everyone my prayers!

Got my card today, a week after my ROC was approved!

Thanks, KASH2011 for adding me.

About to go to work in 1.5 hours but decided to check the website---I am approved too!

On October 23, 2014, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

Goodluck to everyone! It is coming to you soon!

Hello, can anyone please add me to the July filers, too?

1. CSC

2. Sent ROC = 7/23/14

3. NOA 1 = 7/24/14

4. Biometrics = 8/20/14

Thank you very much.

Congratulations to those approved! Hope we get ours soon!

in this case the financial hardship was insane... $11K for schooling? It was about saving money, not about being poor now.. which is a big difference.

The OP wants the child born in the US because it's expensive to fly there and because he doesn't have the money now to do that - which is bad with the whole "supporting the immigrant" issue.

He also said he has a $100 co-pay. Others have stated medical in the Philippines is cheaper than in the US. Unless and extremely large amount I doubt they'll approve on those grounds.

Honestly expedite based on pregnancy tends to only work when it's a high-risk pregnancy or something like that. I wish the OP best but I also kinda don't... while I sympathise with the situation, it's not a high risk pregnancy or anything remotely emergent if they start expediting based on pregnancy then people will start getting knocked up to save time. I'd have saved thousands in rent if I moved quicker, like most of us probably would have. There are people supporting two households on their one US income due to immigration stuff.. it's a hard road for a lot of people but you can only make the choices to minimise the difficulties you might face.

I understand what you are saying here, Vanessa. I worked overseas for almost 4 years before coming here in the US last month. I saved as much as I can and my husband did his part too. We were denied when we filed our K1 (overseas consulate) in February 2011. Pre-VJ for me. Long story but it was devastating and we did not give up. We both went home to Manila to get married. Fortunately, I had a job overseas as a nurse so I had my own money at least. Despite the financial challenges (K1 denial, wedding, overseas trips to see each other, CR1) he visited me where I was based, BUT we planned for that, saving a certain amount of money each time we got our paychecks just for the trip to happen. The CR1 took longer than expected because we had to request transfer of the interview to Manila. My husband did not want it but I insisted because I was scared to be denied again. I went home to Manila for my interview and my husband was there too. This immigration journey is NOT cheap and honestly, if it were not for my job, I don't know where my husband and I will be financially right now. Maybe too much debts and I never wanted to be a burden to him (financially). Right now we are tightening our budget and I am in the process of getting a job already because I want to help us both get back on our finances. So I understand and sympathize with those couples who are maintaining 2 households during the entire visa process. We are in a difficult situation but we need a lot of patience to get through this.

OP, how far along is your fiancée in her pregnancy? Are there other factors involved that make her a candidate of C-section? If she is worried about NPA in her province, she can always stay in Manila and find a doctor with reasonable price. (Please find someone who will not take advantage of the fact that she is engaged to an American). Sad, but this is true. The cost of a baby's delivery varies in private hospitals. It is usually a 'package deal' in the Philippines, meaning to say the woman's Obstetrician will let her know early on what the expected expenses are if the baby is born (normal or CS). My sister-in-law gave birth (normal delivery) in a private hospital in Quezon City last year and my brother spent $1K for that (including baby's pre-screening etc) . My sister-in-law originally thought she would be giving birth via C-section too because of my niece's position but she was awesome because she did a lot of walking, prevented herself from eating excessively to avoid being too large and frequently visited the doctor and in the end, she went to give birth normally. You can always call private hospitals in Manila and inquire the costs of both normal & C-section delivery. I wish you luck!

Your Indin sisters here in the US, who have married tradional Indian husbands have told me to part these words of wisdom to you. HE is not going to change what you see is what you will have; here in the US or back in India. If you wish for him to be someone different, that's not going to happen.

Hello i was wondering if you guys can help me out in describing the package that is received from the embassy to your fiance in the philippines... I just have gathered that there is a package or something rather that can't be opened. Then there is the passport with the visa inside?? Is there a seal?? I just don't understand.. my fiance is freaking me out because she says she wants to see her passport and wants to open something but i have no clue about what she is looking at.

What happens if the package is opened??

Yes. There is an instruction in that entire pack sent from the US embassy. She needs to open the first plastic from the 2GO courier (there is a label 2GO) to read the instructions there. There is another (inner) plastic and this has her passport & the yellow packet from the embassy that should be presented to her US POE (plus the IV Summary). To retrieve her passport, she can either make a small cut on the plastic just enough size to get it or carefully open the plastic with resealable seal (the yellow packet should be intact and she should be careful to protect it from rips/damage. Seal the plastic back. If she will get the seminar/sticker, she can just photocopy the IV Summary and NOT bring the entire packet to the CFO seminar.

Congratulations!

Hi! Yes, she can have her medical exam even without an interview date yet. She will just present a copy of a NVC letter with her MNL case number.

Best of luck!

Hi. If you are a US Citizen (or other foreign nationality) you need to buy a round trip ticket to go to the Philippines. This is a law for all non-Filipino citizens entering the country. My husband went home in August, originally bought just a one-way ticket, because like you, he wanted to go back to the US with me. He was however told at the airport here in the US that he needs to have a round-trip ticket because under the Philippine law (sorry don't know the specifics of this law or regulation), a foreign national can't go to the Philippines with just that (one-way) ticket. My husband bought a return ticket then. If you are a Filipino citizen, then you can buy a one-way ticket. I was working in New Zealand prior to coming here in the States but went home for my visa interview (my interview was last month). I bought a one-way ticket from NZ to Manila.

You need to buy a round trip ticket to go there, you may just change the date of your return to the US once your fiancee gets her visa so you can travel with her back here in the US. What I can suggest is that you may need to get a return date that is more than a week after her interview to give allowance for the waiting period of her visa delivery (once she gets approved). When she is ready to fly, she can buy a one-way ticket going to the US with you. =)

Good luck!

ps.. Just to share, although my husband and I were planning to fly together to the US, well, due to very expensive airline tickets (especially in the short period of time we needed to buy), we had to just fly without each other. He flew back to the US on the original schedule of his return flight and I followed him shortly (about 4days only). I am saying this because the delivery of the visa also varies in different towns/cities in the Philippines. I was in Manila all thoughought my stay there. Other towns and cities outside of Manila can be extended up to 3-5 days from the normal delivery days. You can not really predict the exact day when she can get her visa. Hope this info also helps. =)

Hi all,

Im really comfused. I paid the $230 immigrant visa processing fee online. My wife is in Manila and she says she has to pay 10080 pesos fee at the embassy interview. Is this correct. Please see the attachment for embassy specific info. It says she has to pay at the embassy unless the online payment has been made. But for a little extra confusion it says she has to pay the surcharge. But it doesn't say anything else about the surcharge.

So my question is this:

For those with CR immigrant visa interviewing at Manila, is there another fee to be paid other than the 88 and 230 already paid online??

Thanks

sorry. heres the attachment

Hi, there. Maybe she just got confused. She will only need Php 10,000.00 (more or less Php 9,500.00) for the medical, no visa fees to be paid during the interview for the CR1. I had my interview only last month and my medical in August. As said by other members, all visa fees for IR1/CR1 have been made during the NVC stage. Good luck!

yeah i think The USEM did it since the date and time has been set...difference bet. K1 and IR1 hmmm maybe they the same lol coz she got the date of the interview already..nways tnx this helped me alot..m not good with paper works so i had to ask stuff lol.

Medical exam from St. Luke's Extension Clinic (SLEC) comes first before the interview. No appointments. It's on a first-come, first-serve basis (walk-in applicants). On the clinic's website, the applicants can opt to do the online registration to save time on filing up registration forms on the day of the medical exam. This online registration will be presented to the guard upon entering the clinic.

K1 applicants set their own interviews (available slots are on the USEM website) while CR1/IR1 applicants or spouses of US Citizens will need to wait for the NVC to assign them their interview dates/appointments. No need to call the embassy since the appointment letter is pretty straightforward (gives you day, time, list of documents submitted in the NVC and what documents needed to bring to the interview). Applicants just need to be there on their appointment date along with their documents. Further documents can be asked by the Consuls during interviews (please feel free to browse through visa journey).

Best of luck! =)

yes i would also say call everyday they recieved mine on the 27 and i call everyday with no luck today they told me my NVC number yahhhhhhhh but they said itll take another week B4 they send out the bill but im really happy so urs is on the way as well !

wow, that was pretty fast!!!! :thumbs:

We got our petition approved 2/24/11. I called NVC and spoke with an operator and she said that they haven't received our petition yet and to follow up in 15 business days. Is this typical?

Hi, there. Ours took 20 days. Our NOA2 was approved 2/7/2012. Our case number was given (Date from the Letter of NVC) 2/27/2012.

Hope you get your case number soon.

Good luck!

Hi All,

We complete six months since our NOA1 in a couple of days, and my husband is looking at getting in touch with his local congressman, Ed Royce. Could you give me some input as to what needs to be mentioned in the letter to the gentleman?

hi! don't know if this helps...but, we got our noa2 last feb 7 with a noa1 july 20. so it was 6months, 2 weeks, 4 days for us to get the approval.

on feb 6th, our lawyer called the USCIS and was informed that we still had to wait for 30days, i was so crushed, then on february 8th, our lawyer checked the USCIS website and got excited to see that we have been approved on the 7th and decision was mailed too. we just got the hardcopy of the noa2 last february 14th. it was weird that our lawyer was told we had to wait for 30days more, then next day we got the approval. i know a VJ member with the same timeline as ours that she also called USCIS a few days before she got approved and was told she had to wait for 90days!!!

anyway, hope you get yours soon.

Yes it's a problem. She is married NOT single. She must file "married filing separately" or "married filing joint". Separately would be better if she isn't in the US. She can file for head of household but she STILL needs to file as "married"

This is incorrect. You need to amend your tax returns to file "married filing separately". Aside from it being the proper legal route you should get a bigger return.

Which is incorrect advise for them to give her. They would write "NRA" (for Non-resident Alien) in the SSN section when filing married filing separately.

we have a lawyer and he advised my husband to also file as 'single' since we got married in may 2011 but my husband didn't want that because he is married!!! so my husband called IRS and spoke to a person there, husband explained our circumstances (IR1) so he was advised to file 'married filing separately'. we spent the whole week preparing for documents so he can get an ITIN for me. hopefully we will get it soon (weeks). it is frustrating because it may delay our passing the documents to NVC but hopefully everything will be ok after this.

Congrats!!! Maybe CSC is on a roll now...

i know. just found out from another VJ member who also had the same date with ours (NOA1 july 20) that they have been approved too! so CSC needs to catch up with VCS..

thanks everyone for your well wishes! =)

i know. just found out from another VJ member who also had the same date with ours (NOA1 july 20) that they have been approved too! so CSC needs to catch up with VCS..

thanks everyone for your well wishes! =)

sorry should be VSC..

hi, everyone! just want to share the news especially to all july filers in CSC..got our NOA2 approval!! thank God! i checked the USCIS website and yes, our document has been mailed on feb 7th! i'm sooo happy and a bit panicky (in a good way)...i'm off work in the next 3 days so, i have a lot of paperwork to do (yes, what a good way to be busy!)...

our NOA1 was july 20. it has been a long 6 months, 2weeks, 4 days so to speak! i'm praying that those other july filers will have theirs soon and everyone else to go faster too...

have a great day VJ members!

I call USCIS every Monday night and Friday Night to get the application date they are working on with CSC.

Here is a accurate timeline Below:

I called on January 16th - they are working on June 16th

I called on January 20th - they are working on June 16th

I called on January 23th - they are working on June 16th

I called on January 27th - they are working on July 12th

I called on February 3rd - they are working on July 22nd

it's coming guys, just keep praying!!

i'm so heartbroken. i just checked the USCIS website and we are still in the 'initial review' process.

my husband is going to call our lawyer tomorrow and hopefully will get some answers. we're getting very frustrated now! why the long process?

i have a fellow friend who filed july 6th and she got her NOA2 on december 17th!

we are going on 7months on feb 20. we filed july 20. i have someone in VJ too, who filed on the same day as we did and i haven't heard anything from her, so we are probably on the same boat. i am just getting sad everyday.

Hey VJ'ers,

I just thought I would let you know that we received our NOA2 today Our case has been sent to the NVC and then on to Dublin

We filed our I-130 on the 7th of July through the California Service Centre so thats 5 and a bit months since our NOA1.(6 and a bit Total)

I hope you all who are waiting start getting some good news soon.

Cheers

Ashley&Brian

wow, congratulations!!! very happy for you guys!

i'm also a july filer (july 20) so there is again a flicker of hope for us july filers...it's really taking ages for CSC to process our papers...

i-130 : For me, it's 5 months Now & Still no NOA2 - Called USCIS, said to wait 90 more days! I-130 NOA2 = 8 Months waiting period?

My case is at CSC, yesterday was my 5 months wait.

I called yesterday and that is what they told me: Wait 90 more days

Is this seriously what it has come to now? 8 months for NOA2?

The has to be the pinnacle of USCIS's flawed system

Do they not have SHAME! ?

OMG!!!! 90 days? what is going on with the uscis?!! i have a friend who filed on july 6 and she got her noa2 last dec 17!!!

for me, it's been 6months and 6days now...so sad... =(

Same here.. 137 Days.. no touches and no words.. rapidly closing in on 150 days

Do you have a service request in?

Most have been running 5 months + 10 - 20 days. Do you have a service request in?

exacty 170days today and still waiting too..

I haven't seen my husband since he went back on the 2nd of Aug, three weeks after our wedding. I wonder how much longer I'll have to wait before I get to meet him. Unfortunately, neither of our finances allow us to travel as often as we'd like to! God help us!!!

i am with you here. although i am from the philippines, i am working overseas because we need to save a lot. this trip is very expensive since i am currently in the pacific and right now it is summer here, peak season to be precise. what we did the past couple of months after the wedding was really cut down our expenses, did not eat out, work, work, work, work. his trip here is our gift to each other & is considered our honeymoon

you are right, God help us! hope we get all our NOA2 approvals soon!

3 more days and its gonna be 7 months, my NOA1 is June 8. Does anyone know what is the longest time for an approval?

OMG! june 8?!!!!

what is wrong with USCIS?! am i correct to assume that US government offices immediately resume working the next day after new year (unlike canada/UK/australia/nz where their holidays extended until tuesday this week!)..?

Tomorrow is 6months after got NOA1 im july5 idont know what to do or say idont know what uscis doing its 6months and frankly im not thinking can get any answer soon cus uscis killed our dreams already

i am a july filer too, july 20. i have a friend who filed a day after you and she got her NOA2 mid december. i was expecting mine before end of 2011, but that didn't happen. my husband called our immigration lawyer who told him today that the delay is expected because of the holidays. i am so frustrated right now, but thankfully, i will be seeing my husband in a few days (after being apart for 8months--which is like a few days after our wedding!)..if it were not for this trip he is making, i might be at my wits end!

*crossing fingers* hope you get your NOA2 soon..

hi everyone! just joined VJ today. am also a july filer here (NOA1 on 20th july).

i just tried on the timeline here and mine says 'nov 16th to jan 10, 2012'.

hope we get our approvals soon! wouldn't that be a great christmas gift for everyone?!

cheers!