xwind

Thanks for the quick responses!

I was going to buy her a return ticket (hopefully 2 one-way tickets counts as a roundtrip even though they're not the same itinerary), but if we don't know how long CBP will grant her, then how long should we plan on her staying in the US? If I buy her a ticket a couple weeks from the 6 month mark and they only grant her a 2 month limit then we'd have wasted our money.

We would like to maximize her stay within the limits, but it's hard to do that if we won't know the limits until she arrives at CBP.

My 82 yr old mother-in-law was approved a 10 yr Tourist Visa and her flight is next week. We didn't know how long she was allowed to stay and if a return ticket is required or not, so we only got a one way ticket for her at the time.

1. I just learned that there is a 6 month / 180 day limit on B2 visa's per stay. Can someone give me a link to an official source page that says this? I can't seem to find any specifics on US or Philippine embassy sites.
2. What are the Philippines exit requirements / US entry requirements?
   • Is a return ticket required at the airport?
   • Is travel insurance required?

I understand that the requirements / rules apply to any tourist visa, but I was hoping it would be different for the elderly. My in-law's visa interview was really easy.. they literally asked only two questions: Who is she staying with in the US and where do they live. They never asked for any documents. Given her age, they apparently didn't seem to care much about ties to her home country or how long she intended to visit the US given that she's old and not in good physical shape.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

31 minutes ago, nastra30 said:

No medical exam

Great, thanks!

My 84 year old in-law from the Philippines has her B2 interview next month. Does she need to have a medical exam before that or are medical exams only for immigrant visas?

On 2/25/2022 at 5:55 PM, Jorgedig said:

Is she trying to move here?

No, we merely want her to experience the US for a few months. So just a tourist visa.

On 2/25/2022 at 6:54 PM, Boiler said:

Might want to check the cost of travel insurance 

Is travel insurance required/recommended?

On 2/25/2022 at 7:16 PM, SteveInBostonI130 said:

 

According to the links you have provided for PH:

 

1. Those under 14 may have their interview waived if one of both parents have valid B1/B2 visas and the child is physically in PH.
2. For those over 79, all the following has to apply:

• I have a previous B1/B2 visa that I wish to renew;
• My prior visa was valid for ten (10) years;
• My prior visa is still valid or has expired within the last 48 months;
• I have in my possession my passport with my previous visa from the same visa category for which I now wish to apply;
• My name, date of birth, and gender on my last visa are the same (If there is name change due to marriage or annulment, I can provide documentary proof); **
• My most recent visa was issued on or after my 14th birthday; ***
• The last time I applied for a visa it was approved;
• I have not requested an extension or change of status through USCIS. 

 

So, for those over 79, only visa renewals for B1/B2 can qualify for an interview waiver, which is basically the same for anyone whose previous visa was issued after age 14.

Interesting, I don't understand why they hint at there being a special case for those above 79, when the interview waiver process is the same for those above age 14 anyway.

That's too bad that this is the situation. It looks like the next available interview appointment isn't until July 2023. My mother in-law might not even be alive before she gets her interview lol. I guess we were hoping she'd be able to get an interview waiver and get here sooner. Thanks for all the replies though!

My mother in-law is 82 years old and trying to apply for a US tourist visa from the Philippines. She has completed and submitted her DS-160 form but unsure about the next step.

According to this page, https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-below14andover79.asp and this page https://ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visarenew.asp, it appears people under 14 or over 79 are special cases and may be eligible for an interview waiver.

I thought that her age would automatically exempt her from an interview, but I emailed the visa services just to make sure. Unfortunately they replied with the same information that's on the website, indicating that you have to already have a B2 visa you wish to renew. Note that on the page, https://ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visarenew.asp, it lists the interview waiver eligibility criteria, and then immediately after it says "***For applicants under the age of 14 and over 79 years of age should check here." But then simply links back to the first link above.

My in-law has never held a visa before, in fact she has never left the Philippines in her life and she just recently got her visa first passport.

Can anyone help clarify what is the next step? Does she need to schedule an appointment still? Thanks.

On 7/22/2021 at 5:23 PM, Teknodude said:

Can I ask a question and put a different slant on it?  

Does your old mother have a real desire to see where you live, your life in the USA?  I see you mention you want her to see the USA, at least once in her lifetime and that can be a dream come true.  

 

I ask because I see so many of these stories about elderly parents desperate to get to the USA. 

But if it was my old mother - I’d be making efforts as a healthy middle aged guy, to travel to see her, so she didn’t have the stress and worry about visa applications, long haul travel etc.  

I know everyone is different, and work commitments, not easy traveling with a baby etc, but maybe think about traveling to see her, rather than the other way round.  

 

Just an alternate point of view - but I’m sure you and your mother have reasons for her needing to come to the USA, and she wants to see your life there, rather than the other way round.  But sometimes you need to face reality and be practical….   

 

But I do hope it works out for you, and she sees her grandchild one way or the other, which I hope should be the ultimate goal, regardless of where.  

I don't believe my mother in law is desperate or even has a desire to come to the U.S. This is more my wife's wish actually. She wants to show her mom around and let her mom experience what life is like outside of the Philippines even just once. Prior to the pandemic we used to visit every summer. But due to our new baby, we're the ones grounded for a bit, so she was hoping maybe her mom could come help us out if there even was a slim chance. I know with the pandemic and travel restrictions, it's making everything extra crazy, so this was always just a shot in the dark, but it's nice to see that some of you think we might as well go ahead and try and get in line.

We'd like my mother in law in the Philippines to come visit us and our new baby, but we're unsure what things could help her qualify for a B2 visa, or if it's even practical to apply. So I'm hoping to get some advice on how to proceed. Some facts:

• She's from a poor family. Nothing saved in the bank, no owned land or property, no job.
• She is old, mid-80s. I doubt age matters, but if anything, she's not physically able to work, and probably only has a few years left to live. We'd like for her to see the U.S. even just once in her lifetime.
• She's never travelled outside of the Philippines. Never owned a passport until about a year ago.
• She lives with my wife's family, which is huge, many children and grandchildren and in-laws all living under the same roof. My mother in law relies on us and a few of her working children for financial support.
• Obviously if she came to the U.S., we would buy her plane ticket and cover all of her expenses while living with us.
• She is the master of their household. She manages bills, tends to grandchildren, and keeps the peace during family quarrels. So she wouldn't want to be gone for too long, but there's no way to prove that.

As you can see, she doesn't have much to prove she won't overstay. She definitely can't work, and she would rather spend her final days in the Philippines with the majority of the family. Again, no way to prove these things.

We've heard stories of the embassy going easy on really old people during the interview, and that the older they are the higher the chance they'll simply be approved. I'm not sure if that's true or how often that happens though.

What do you think? Should she still try applying?

Hi, I am a US citizen and my wife is a Filipino citizen (now US green card holder). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe both of our children (son is 11, daughter is a baby) are entitled to a dual-citizenship status right? Our son was born in the Philippines, and we registered his CRBA to get his US citizenship. He has two passports and is considered dual (I think?). Our daughter was born in the US, but I read that since her mom was not a US-citizen at the time of her birth, then we just have to register Report of Birth with the Philippines so that she can become dual also.

My questions are:

• Is there any true benefit of even having/maintaining dual citizenship? We wanted them to be both such that they could have the freedom of living in either country for as long as they want, and have no issues with immigration when travelling between the two countries.
• I keep hearing that once they reach 18, they have to choose and only have one citizenship, because I heard US doesn't recognize dual citizenship? Is that true?

Thanks!!!

Hi, does anyone know what site I could go to to check the current entry/departure status of the Philippines and US given all the country-based COVID restrictions?

My wife wants her mom (82 years old) to come visit us in the US someday but we don't know how to find out:

• is the Philippines even allowing citizens to leave the country? If so, what do they need to go through? quarantine before departure? covid test?
• is the US even accepting Philippine citizens right now? If so, is there a quarantine upon arrival?
• is the US even addressing Tourist visa's right now?

Similarly, we would like to know when we can go visit her family in the Philippines. Is the US allowing departures and is the Philippines allowing citizens and non-Filipino citizens (me) to enter?

I appreciate anyone who explains the current state of things to us, but it would be nice if there was a site like USCIS or Philippine embassy or something where we could check regularly.

Thanks!!!

I too got the "New Card Is Being Produced" notification last Friday 7/26 yay! I'm EAC181515****

I've been noting down some of the posts here. Looking for patterns, I see that many of you with a receipt number of EAC1812****** and EAC1813****** have been approved and got to the card in production stage. Many of the EAC1815****** receipts (including me) has had no progress beyond the transfer. It appears that those of us who got transferred to TSC, got transferred around the same time, so I don't think the transfer date really matters. I think they are working in order of receipt number... at least that's my observation. I wish we also tracked the receipt number in our spreadsheet, even just a partial number..

On 9/5/2018 at 4:51 AM, Hank_ said:

Dual citizen by birth.

 

The child has both U.S. and Philippine passports already .   Nothing to file, nothing to do ....  

That's great to hear, thanks Hank!

Follow on question though, will my son need to choose a citizenship when he reaches a certain age or does he have dual citizenship for life? Reason I ask is because I grew up in the Philippines when I was a child and I remember having dual citizenship for a while, but I also recall having to choose one at some age. I wasn't born in the Philippines though so I may be a different case than my child.

I am a natural born US-citizen and my wife is a natural born Philippine citizen. Our child (now 8 years old) was born in the Philippines, making him a natural born Philippine citizen and got his Philippine passport. Since I, the father, am a US citizen, we were able to get him his US citizenship and US passport by filing Consular Report of Birth Abroad.

Is our son a natural born dual-citizen then or did he automatically lose his Philippine citizenship when he got his US citizenship? We are confused as to what's his status right now. All my friends keep telling me that dual citizenship is something you have to apply for, it is not given to anyone by default.

14 minutes ago, Gizzmondo said:

Congrats !!  

 

Can I ask what you said to them on the telephone call  ?

No Vermont according to the spreadsheet

 

Yes, sorry I forgot to mention VSC. There wasn't anything special with my call, I just asked what's going on with my file and they told me stuff I already know. They asked me when did the service center received the package, and told me that it could take up to 30 days for me to get the receipt. They didn't know anything else beyond that. I think that my phone call didn't have anything to do with it, today is 26 days after they received my package...so I guess it was just bound to happen...but who knows. Mind you this is just for the check.. I still have to wait for the NOA.

30 minutes ago, BlueBuy said:

 

So if we didn't hear back and check did not cashed by the time of GC expire then what's option we have - Take info-pass appointment?

 

I'd say it depends on how badly you need it. If you don't have any upcoming travel plans, then even if your GC expires first it's still ok, they'll get to your paperwork eventually, as long as you filed within the 90 day window. If you have travel plans but still far, I'd wait for the 30 days first before calling or making an appointment. If your travel plans are near, then schedule an appointment right away.

I just called the USCIS customer service. They couldn't tell me why things are taking so long, but they told me that it can take up to 30 days from the day USCIS receives the form. Since it hasn't been 30 days since they received mine (April 12), they told me to just keep waiting. If by chance we still don't receive anything by the time our GC expires, I was told to schedule an infopass appointment and they will take action depending on the urgency and how long since we filed the form.

Hi guys, just replying to this thread as I appear to be in the same boat and sort of glad that I'm not alone here. We sent our I-751 to VSC on April 10 by UPS and tracking shows that it was received on April 13. I just checked my bank account and my personal check still hasn't been cashed. It is a bit disheartening as we have a friend that filed I-751 to VSC in March, and she says the check was cashed 3 days after receipt...  We don't have any travel plans, but I am getting nervous because my wife's GC expires on May 23.

My wife came here on a K-1 visa. We got married Sept 2015. Her I-94 expired in Nov 2015. She has a SSN with her married name. We started our AOS paperwork in Jan 2016. She just received her EAD card, but our I-485 is still in process. I am trying to get her established in the US by working on her credit, getting IDs, and adding her to my monthly statements. A month ago, I added her as an authorized user to my credit card and confirmed with them that her credit is affected and will slowly build with our payments.

One hurdle I'm currently facing is adding her onto my apartment lease. My landlord told me that they can't add my wife on the lease if she has no history in the US or if the background check fails, they would have to significantly increase my rent if I wanted her on my lease as she'd be a risk.

1) My question is, at what point will my wife "exist" in the system such that they can do a background check? Now that she has an EAD, is she "in" the system yet or do we have to wait until her I-485 is done? (although I think I need her name on my lease for the AOS interview...)

2) Similarly, since I just recently added her to my credit card, at what point will she "have" credit? I'm not asking when she'll have good credit, but rather when will she have a non-zero score? Is it immediately after I signed her up, after a couple monthly payments, or after 6 months or so on?

My wife (K1 holder) and I got married last September 2015, her Philippine passport will expire this coming August 2016. We filed her AOS about 2 months ago, but have yet to register our marriage at the Philippine Embassy. How do we go about her passport renewal?

From this page, http://www.philippineembassy-usa.org/philippines-dc/consular-services-dc/faq-dc/#changename, it looks like we need the NSO certificate of our Report of Marriage in the US before we can renew her passport?

Also, the page says "3. Proof that applicant has not applied for foreign citizenship, e.g. resident alien card (green card)." I'm confused by this, does that mean she can't get a new passport if we're applying for AOS? That doesn't make sense.

Would it be easier to just renew her passport under her maiden name for now, just so she has a valid passport until we can get our marriage registered in the Philippines?

We're about to file for AOS (from K1). Looking at the Vaccination document from my wife's medical interview, I noticed only a few checkboxes were ticked. She claims that she was given all the required vaccinations at the interview, but on her document the only ones checked are Tdap, MMR, and Varicella History... I'm having trouble finding out exactly which vaccinations are required by the US? Are we safe to go ahead with the AOS forms or do we need to see a civil surgeon first?

I've heard that I need to include my wife's medical paperwork as part of the I-485 package... The CBP took her sealed envelope at POE leaving us with just her sealed DVD and her vaccination record. Do I need to include the DVD and vaccination record then? Thanks.

A lot of responses wow, thank you so much for the encouragement!

I didn't know that the CBP officer can't re-adjudicate a visa (unless in extreme situations that is). This is very comforting to know. That would just be so ridiculous if you went through the entire visa process only to get denied at the airport because the CBP guy was having a bad day...

I also hadn't realized that they could find translators there, which would make sense as probably deal with cases like these all the time. I will be waiting for them outside of customs so in the worst case they could page me too. I guess I was worrying too much.

What is this "secondary" that sometimes people go through but not everyone does? Is this like if the officer has doubts about you then they send you to a second person to look at your papers?

Just a curious question, where is she flying from for DC to be her POE?

From Manila via Korean Air. It stops at Seoul Korea then straight to DC.