Kev0

I got postage-paid envelopes for the ROM and passport renew/name-change process. I wasn't thinking, and got them with my first name instead of my wife's; she is the applicant.

My name is on all the applications as Husband, but will this be accepted and work fine? Should I run back to UPS and change it?

Hmm. It appears there are two different websites for the LA consulate.

http://www.philippineconsulatela.org/

http://www.philippineslosangeles.org/

The first one has the wording Hank copied. The second one is identical to the SFO consulate website, and each one of those links to another identical website for each other city where there is a consulate.

Confusing!

Thanks for the replies.

Hank, where did you get this bit from? Not trying to argue, but it's different than what I've found, see below.

.....

From the consulate website today:

Procedure and Requirements:


1. Four (4) original duly accomplished Report of Marriage Contracted Abroad form signed by husband and the wife.

a. Four (4) identical colored photographs of the husband and the wife, 1.77 in x 1.37 in, plain white background, taken within six months before the date of application, (Blurred or low quality photos are not accepted).

.....

This is what I have from the website of the Philippine Embassy San Francisco, copied just now:

The marriage of a Filipino should be reported to and registered with the Philippine National Statistics Office through the Embassy/Consulate General having jurisdiction over the locality where the event took place. Please check the Consulate Finder or the Consulates Link for the states covered by the Embassy/Consulates General in the U.S.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

1. Covering letter (handwritten or typed), addressed to the Consular Section, indicating service/transaction requested and complete contact details (telephone number, postal address, email address)
2. Four (4) original duly-accomplished Report of Marriage Contracted Abroad form, typed or printed legibly in black or blue ink, signed by both husband and wife, and notarized if sent by mail
3. One (1) original or certified true copy and four (4) photocopies of the Marriage Certificate or Contract (original will be returned)
4. (etc....)

Also different is the lack of photo requirements on the site I linked.

We're filling out the Report of Marriage form, we'll be filing the ROM and passport renewal.

The ROM form asks for Last, First, Middle names of both of us, and also asks for Civil status, apparently before the marriage, as there is no 'married' option.

So, questions-

1: Since the civil status is from before marriage, is her name on this form also supposed to be her maiden name?

2: Do they then know to use the other paperwork to determine her new name? It is not specifically asked for.

3: What goes in the top box "Foreign Service Post"?

4: It seems the location is needed in the "at" box in the signature section. What exactly goes here? The full name of the embassy location? (It is the SF location)

5: I am avoiding assumptions, the lower section appears to be for office use - right?

6: Is the cover letter really required? I searched here about it, to see what it should look like, and the only comments were that it's not needed. But the website lists it first. If yes - what should it look like/contain?

7: THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

Filling out the i-864 for my wife's AOS, one of the items we can select is of course #25, "I have filed a Federal tax return for each of the three most recent years."

However, I haven't filed for 2011 yet. Somebody erroneously claimed me as a dependent and I've been sorting it out. I now can mail (can't e-file for 2011 anymore) the return in the next couple of days. I haven't had to make any adjustments on my paperwork, other than updating my current address since I now live in a different location, since the problem was not my fault.

My current income is well above the minimum level required, and is easily documented with letter from employer and pay stubs.

Should I:

A) Check box 25 after mailing the 2011 return, and include copies of the 3 returns as normal?

B) Not check box 25, include a letter of explanation, and still include the copies of the 3 returns?

C) Not check box 25, include a letter of explanation, and not include the last 3 years' returns? (Relying on demonstrable current income)

D) Other? (Please specify)

My wonderful lady will be in my arms in almost a week exactly from right now (well, as I typed this line). By now next week we'll have been together for about an hour

I'm curious about the security process in the International wing of PAL's terminal at NAIA, specifically (but not limited to) luggage procedures.

We had her wedding gown custom made in her hometown. It's apparently a very very nice gown, but I won't see it until the big day

A bit concerned about the security process her checked bags will go through, since this gown will be in one of them.

The gown has many rhinestones... I wonder how rhinestones look in an x-ray... I wonder if they'll want to inspect it. If they inspect it, we're worried they might get it dirty or damage it.

Also of note, she is transferring here, originating in Cagayan de Oro. PAL told me she'd be collecting her bags and re-checking, but if anyone knows otherwise, do tell.

Thanks all!

I've heard the Hawaii POE is faster/smoother than others. Plus, the tickets at this time for a one-way on Hawaiian Airlines is one of the least expensive options.

The potential drawback is the amount of time available for the POE process, and the delay if the connecting flight is missed.

There's 1 hour and 55 minutes between the flights, and the flight from Hawaii to here (Sacramento) only flies once per day.

So, if she didn't make the flight, she'd be stuck there for 24 hours.

So, it's a Crab thing. That's basically what I figured.

But, how should I have my sweetie proceed next week? She's got a ticket to Cebu.

Should she go to smefcow and risk terrible abusive behavior that could delay us while we cater to their whimsical requirements? It seems smefcow has up to 3 daily sessions for around 15 people each. Or, should she go to the CFO and have a greater risk of not getting in that day due to the limit of 12 people?

Sigh.

Also, regarding the numbers... The limit does appear to be only for fiancee/spouse visas, so maybe the number of these per day is still in line with actual numbers of people using them.

Apparently the CFO process now only allows 12 people per day in each location, for each destination country.

I was looking at this last week, and it said 70 slots in Cebu. Now it says 12 slots in Cebu, backdated to a July 16th effective date.

If she goes to the Cebu CFO office, will she have to line up the night before in order to have hope of getting a slot?

http://www.cfo.gov.ph/

http://www.cfo.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1704

http://www.cfo.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1348:fiancee-spouses-and-other-partners-of-foreign-nationals&catid=140

There are about 300 Filipinos emigrating to the US per business day, year-round. With 2 or 3 locations serving 12 people per day, how can they possibly serve the volume of people who need to go through the process?

Am I mistaken about how this works? Are the "slots" for more than one person?

For others who may find this post while searching about the topic:

The people who I spoke to at the embassy responded so matter-of-fact-ly, I got the impression that this happens A LOT, and is not a terrible thing that should be worried about.

We have to get the packet back to 2GO. I was told it needs to include the passport. It also needs a letter of explanation.

They will ship it back to the embassy, supposedly without any charge. The embassy will only take about 1 day to turn it around and send it back again by 2GO. So, shipping time x2, plus one business day, is the total time involved.

We're trying to get it back to 2GO this afternoon (PHL time).

Will do. Would have already done so, but it was already the 4th over there. So I'll be calling in a few hours.

Also: Thanks.

How will the re-packaging happen? Does she need to fly back to Manila again? Hopefully there's a reasonable way to ship it back & forth without risking further problems.

Well, the good news is she got the visa.

The bad news is there's a tear coming from that pre-cut corner area. It's not the normal thing, it's a tear on the front from the lower end of that corner-cut, reaching to the "T" on "TO BE OPENED...". I guess it's about 1 to 1.5 inches long.

This tear was present when it was delivered. When it arrived, it was not in overall good shape, it is very wrinkled, etc. When she removed her passport from the plastic, she noticed the tear in the envelope. The tear is probably not big enough to remove any documents from the envelope.

So, what's this mean? I'm sure it's not the first time this has happened. Should we notify the embassy? She is afraid the embassy will blame her, since it was already in her possession when the tear was noticed.

I called the embassy, they gave me a number to call 2go. I called 2go, waited through their ridiculous automated system, got a person who was able to look up by case number. They said it's actually out for delivery today, and gave me the tracking number.

*whew*

Here was the text:

Your passport will be delivered today.2GO authorization letter and valid IDs are required if not around. Thank you

It still hasn't arrived. I'm going to call the embassy right now.

She's not able to reply to the text. I don't think the text specified a delivery day, does it normally? The text arrived on Saturday, but don't know if it said "today" or similar.

I'm just now off work for today, trying to find out if the situation has yet changed.

Hello,

My sweetie got the text from 2Go yesterday mid-day, which was Saturday there. She waited at home and it was not delivered. She's in Valencia City, Bukidnon. Her friend from interview day, who is also on Mindanao (Dipolog), got her text Friday and picked up the visa from a 2Go office the same day.

We found an unofficial listing for a 2go office in Valencia City, but haven't been able to call it. It says the number is incorrectly dialed. We're not sure if she's dialing properly for a cell phone to local land line call. I remember this being a problem when I was there, calling land lines was very problematic. I looked up how to dial and it still doesn't work

Anyways, should we be concerned? Will they deliver today, a Sunday? Or what should we expect now?

Hoping for some clarification on this.

I've previously petitioned her under K-1, she was granted the visa. It went unused, was surrendered to the embassy, "cancelled without prejudice" stamped on it.

K-1 seems to be both immigrant and non-immigrant.

Question 36 becomes fuzzy at this point. Strictly, if it's a non-immigrant visa, then the answer is no even for us. But as it is often counted as an immigrant visa... not sure...

I'm wondering if it will be better and/or more cost effective for my sweetie to print a bunch of documents in Manila instead of at home in Valencia City, Bukidnon. P10 per page is rather ridiculous when we're looking at 100+ pages on low quality ink jet printers using low quality refill-ink. Some of the documents are scanned from not-very-good-originals and need to be printed on a laser printer or very high quality ink jet in order to be readable.

Is there anywhere she might be able to get cost effective laser printing done in Manila? P10/page isn't so bad if it's high quality.

In case it matters: She will be staying near the intersection of Senator Gil Puyat Avenue and Taft Avenue, which is a little less than 1km east of Boom na Boom (which is next to Star City).

Thanks.

I wasn't sure if "where" needed to be more specific than the country. No, I don't know when it was issued, exactly. I know the date it arrived at her house, but not the date it was "issued". I'm sure she can find that in the paperwork somewhere.

Addendum would be an understatement at this point. Lots of explanation in the form of letters will be included with paperwork.

Also wasn't sure if an unused/surrendered visa counted as canceled, or if that means something else which I'm simply unaware of by not working with this stuff all the time.

30 - obvious answer is YES. When, where - was it issued there in the Phils or somewhere else, what date was it issued, you don't know when it was issued to you.

35 - NO as it was not canceled or revoked.

36 - K-1 is a non-immigrant visa, correct.

You may want to attach an addendum to explain about the previous visa.

Perhaps I should have posted this in a more general section.

This is regarding our process of having the unused visa replaced. The original k-1 visa went unused, and was surrendered to the Embassy for the purpose of starting the process of having it replaced.

Form DS-156 has a few questions that we may need to answer differently than for a regular K-1 process.

Question 30 is "Have you ever been issued a US Visa?" then When and Where. I assume the answer is now Yes, rather than the original No? But, what about for the "When" and "Where"? When - exact date of issue I guess? Where - Not sure what to put for this.

Question 35 is "Has your US visa ever been canceled or revoked?" I don't know if surrendering an unused visa to the embassy qualifies for a yes on this.

Also, I assume question 36 remains the same, "Has anyone ever filed an immigrant visa petition on your behalf?" K-1 counts as non-immigrant for this question, right? Thus, the answer is still no?

Thanks!

After posting this, she sent me a document which answers this question in the 2nd paragraph.

"The application fee for a K1 or K2 nonimmigrant visa is US$240, payable only in Philippine pesos at the prevailing exchange rate. "

Here are some terms I searched for, trying to find the answer here: bpi pesos usd interview payment dollars ... So maybe somebody else searching that way can find this answer now

When I send my sweetie money, I use Western Union and send in USD because she gets a little more in Pesos on that end.

Apparently she can get USD when collecting it, instead of Pesos.

Is it better to pay BPI for the interview fee with USD? Will they even accept it?

We previously had our K-1 Visa approved, but due to circumstances beyond my sweetheart's (the beneficiary) control we weren't able to use it. We're in the process of having it "replaced". This is requiring a new medical, interview, etc, but not reapplication through USCIS, so it isn't taking nearly as long. This is not a reissue, as it's been explained to me, but is a replacement of an unused visa.

What I am wanting to find out is how long this replacement visa's validity period will be. I am referring to the window of time in which she will be able to enter to the US, not the 90 days to get married after she gets here. The original one was only a bit more than 3 months. I thought they generally were good for 6 months, but the duration just seemed odd for ours, because it was about 3.5 months. Just trying to plan ahead here.

Thanks!

Kevin