ehklei19

I've heard of this happening before. Just renew your passport and take both old and new passports to the embassy. They should cancel the visa in the expired passport and reissue a new one in the valid passport.

Hello everyone, I could really use some help for the process of getting my wife into the US from China. I read the website and thought I could get her here with a visitor visa, then apply to change her status. But when we arrived in Detroit, they said that was illegal and canceled her visitor visa and made me buy her a ticket to return to China. Now, I am uncertain what to do next.

I am wondering how did they (Immigration officer/s) know that you were married? Also how did you secure a tourist visa for your wife (I see that she already had one, my bad.)

You do realize that NOA2 is not the end of the process. In addition to the medical she will need to complete the interview at the embassy. The Consular officer may ask about the pregnancy or not, they seem to have a lot of discretion. Your major hurdles after you receive the NOA2 from USCIS will be waiting for the package to be transferred to the National Visa Center. Then, after some time (varies,) they will forward it to the embassy. After the embassy receives it there will be an e-mail and possible snail mail package with instructions for scheduling an interview, paying the visa fee and completing the medical before the interview. Then, you get to wait for an available appointment. Could be days to weeks or maybe over a month. Once the interview is completed you might have to wait (or not, luck of the draw) for AP. Then they send the passport with the package to your fiancee.

My point is each of these steps will take an indeterminate amount of time. It took me three days of constant monitoring of the consular website to finally see an available appointment. It was two months away but I took it anyway. From NOA2 to NVC to Manila embassy was about 2 weeks.

I think you need to have a plan for handling the birth in the Philippines. When your fiancees visa is approved the 6 month timer starts. You would need to file the CRBA and prove to their satisfaction that the child is yours so a passport can be issued.

I think we had a pretty fast and mostly smooth trip through the system (see my timeline) but it still took about 7 months from NOA2 to arrival here in the states.

It might not actually be the embassy's fault. If the Sri Lankan government is not responding to requests for records or verification of data in a timely fashion that can cause AP to continue until the U.S. consulate/embassy gets the information they feel they require.

Honestly, and I don't want to offend the OP but... Given what just happened in San Bernadino California would it surprise you if the word went out to all of the consulates to give anyone of middle eastern background extra scrutiny? It sucks but sometimes people are unfairly targeted for extra inspection. With all of the talk about the K-1 visa lately I would not be surprised if all spousal visas were not being reviewed.

I tried the DR many years ago. I found the ladies were generally very transactional in their relationships. Unless you want a marriage where you must continually "buy" your wife I would recommend staying away. After much consideration I wound up in the Philippines and am very happy with my wife. Yes, she likes to shop, but does bargain hunt. She is not lazy in any way and contributes plenty around the house. Plus she can cook really well.

Once you recover from your current situation take a trip over there and see if you like it. I think you will.

Best of luck to you.

The OP made a mistake by departing without AP. The rest of your rant is probably more suited to http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/145-current-events-and-hot-social-topics/

Yes, the OP made a mistake. The thing that sticks in my craw is the the penalty to be paid for simple mistakes. What happened to mens rea? The OP most likely was unaware of the peculiar complexities of US immigration law and made a simple mistake. This mistake should cause a complete do-over? As they say on ESPN: Come on, man!

The amount of law-breaking committed by illegal immigrants and those who assist them is staggering. People are robbed, raped, killed and yet... don't dare suggest that they, THEY be held accountable. Instead pick on those who try to follow the law, secure the proper visas, etc. Yeah let's go after them, the law-abiders. And God help you if you make a simple mistake. You'll get no quarter here.

Sorry to have hi-jacked this thread. I am through now.

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The more I see about how this system works the angrier I become. The OP has done nothing morally wrong here, but because he did not follow every jot and tittle he now stands to lose his job, spend more money filing more forms and wait an unspecified period of time to be reunited with his spouse.

Meantime... Just hop across that southern border, run up to a ICE officer, turn yourself in and BOOM, you're IN baby! Obviously the illegals in most cases don't have the money to pay the outrageous fees that USCIS charges for each and every filing, so the rest of us subsidize it. And suffer longer wait times, because the freeloaders are handled right along with everybody else.

Now, the idiot that occupies the "big white house" wants to admit 10's of thousands of Syrian refugees. Again these people pay nothing, and in fact are paid to come here.

If Wal-mart worked this way the shoplifters would be rewarded with their ill-gotten gains while the paying customers would be arrested.

Bass-ackwards world we live in.

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There are two sections for listing children. If I recall correctly the first list of children are for those immigrating with the primary beneficiary. There is another section for children that are not immigrating. Since her child is already a US citizen he cannot be issued a visa and there cannot be an immigrant so make sure to list him in the non-immigrating section. All he needs is a current US passport.

I want to take a second to some what stand proud of my southern christian ways as an american. First off unfortunately where ever you go there are going to be people that are rude and insensitive and have the nerve to call them selveschristian. They aren't real christians they are just mean people so don't associate with them. Second its totally not fair when some Europans and non-americans try take a higher ground on racial harmony than there is in american. People segregate themselves alllll over the world and the US is no better or worse. Racism is a human thing not a US thing. Look at the news an many of the world problems and issues have some kind of racial undertone if you want to believe it or not.

Generally I can tell you two things not to talk about when you meet new people in American religion and politics. You dont have to just talk weather because in Texas espeically if you are not from the South, its too damn HOT even for some of us southerns (that was until I went to the middle east).

As for liberal, conserative those are just labels. (see rule above) Treat people like you want to be treated. Your husband on the road or not should do his best to help you get acclimated. I don't want to dimish your feelings but it seems like you are mostly home sick and missing your boo which is totally natural. Last advice, put yourself out there, be open to meeting new people and people different from you, but meet them where they are an be open to find common interests and not point or high light differences. Also meet people away from work and/or find places to meet up with other Brits (facebook etc). Im sure there are a few pubs in Austin you can catch a futbol match and you can meet people there even if you don't like futbol, they are not from US more likely and you can strike up a convo. Also in Austin trust me there are some tree hugging liberal/socialist not unlike you may be that lean more towards your feelings its not that hard to seek them out.

Good Luck, thanks for your post it makes me mindful to do my part to may my boo feel comfy when he gets here.

M

Absolutely agree with this. Europeans, for some strange reason, think Americans, and only Americans, are racists, homophobes, etc. I have traveled extensively and I can assure you that we (Americans) did not invent these things or even come close to having a monopoly on them. Everywhere you go some group is at odds with another group. It is just a human thing, and I don't think we will ever be fully free of it. Is there racism here? Absolutely. Do we have problems? Certainly. But not other country has attempted to do what the U.S. has: Integrate a bunch of different cultures and races, as political and social equals. Is it utopia? No. Is it Utopian? Yes. So why not cut us a little slack and give us some credit for not being in a constant state of civil war.

If your super liberal Texas is going to drive you crazy. You might consider moving to some place more attuned to your belief system, like the west coast or the north east. I lived in Texas for about 10 years and generally found the people nice to be around (but then I am kind of conservative.) However, the liberals I did encounter tended to be a bit defensive, even the ones I considered friends.

Please consider statements like this:

"People say things to me sometimes and I'm just taken aback at how prejudiced and judgmental they are - it's like 50 years behind Europe in some ways!"

And bear in mind they may be thinking the same thing about you!

But look at the bright side, no state income tax. You can carry a gun. It's hotter than Hades in summer and suffers constant droughts somewhere in the state. Great BBQ though.

I hope you find somewhere here that makes you happy.

One thing to consider before Naturalization: If you plan on returning to your country of birth and not returning to the US it will be much harder to divest yourself of US citizenship (not to mention costlier.) If you have a green card you can just hand it in at the embassy and your free of tax/reporting obligations to the US. As a citizen you will have to report that stuff as long as you have citizenship (and perhaps up to 10 years after you renounce it!) Just something to consider.

I would not waste the $160.00 on a tourist visa application. You will be denied and they will keep your money. Have him travel to Philippines to meet you. If he is out of work, see if he can borrow some money and maybe stay with you a while, so you can get to know each other. I am sure you can find a cheap pension house for him to stay in.

Maybe because he's military he's used to just "getting in" wherever. Clearly, by almost any logic a country, if it's to remain sovereign, needs to provide some mechanism by which those who are admitted may be chosen or rejected.

Come on ! Stop with the Obama phone lie for Pete's sake.

This is what happens when you watch too much Fox, you can't tell truth from fiction.

You don't bother to do your own research.

It started under the Bush administration and was funded through the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by an independent, not-for-profit corporation set up by the Federal Communications Commission. The USF is sustained by contributions from telecommunications companies, long distance companies, local telephone companies, wireless telephone companies, paging companies, and payphone providers.

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/10/the-obama-phone/

As to the core of your point, the undocumented issue and DACA, Obama is not the first President to try to keep families together that are

documented with undocumented family members. Big whopping deal ! I waited 5 years for my now spouse and we were treated unfairly with

this immigration system but I will always remain in favor of DACA. The problem is that the service centers aren't operating with common sense

and change needs to happen but I will not make undocumented kids and teenagers the scape goats.

Congress isn't putting anything on the table so Obama came up with his own version. If the GOP would stop bitching and start

coming up with bills instead of fear mongering political theater played out in the media then we would all be better off.

By the way it's a lot about romancing the voters and no party really gives a hoot about the true issues because they aren't

political "talking points" that get them votes.

http://www.factcheck.org/2014/11/obamas-actions-same-as-past-presidents/

The last thing we need is a Republican in the White House.

Yeah, we know the Obamaphone thing is bs. But... Where do you draw the line. If the DACA (and maybe DAPA) people stay under this quasi-legal status they become more integrated (at least economically, if not culturally.) Then at the end of the 3 year DACA period what happens? An extension? Does this go on forever? Or does some future congress pass yes another amnesty program? You can defend DACA all you want but you offer no solution to the problem. We cannot be expected to accept all, or even a fraction, of the world's poor. At some point either we give up and allow the country to become another Mexico or Brazil or we actually enforce the law and require people to use the proper procedures for immigrating to this country.

In our case the date they were received (the forms) was marked on the NOA1. At that point you are covered so it does not matter if your I-94 is expired.

Really pretty simple -- if you are married ANYWHERE in the world, it is recognized in the US and you MUST use a Cr-1 / IR-1 visa to enter the US. The K-1 is valid ONLY If you are not married anywhere in the world. So if you get married legally in Colombia, the K-1 is no longer valid and you MUST start over with a CR-1 -- more time, more money down the drain.

K-1 is specifically to get married in the US -- not in addition to somewhere else, but solely in the US.

That's not entirely true. The marriage must be legal in one of the 50 states. So, for example, while it is legal to marry 4 wives in Saudi Arabia, those marriages would not be recognized by the US. Same thing if you married a 14 year old (and it was legal where you did it) it would not be recognized here.

It would be interesting to see how many receive fee waivers. I would bet that it's a significant amount.

1. I-129fs have been delayed at various service centers for a long time, much longer than there was such a thing called DACA. It's now TSC that has delays. It used to be CSC and VSC (which stopped handling I-129fs).

2. USCIS created a service center in Arlington, VA to handle DACA matters and only DACA matters. TSC sometimes blames DACA for its slowness, but who knows how valid that is. ]

3. While DACA will increase the workload for USCIS, it will also increase its funding to afford more facilities and personnel. That's how USCIS was able to open up a new center in Arlington.

In other words, DACA is NOT the reason for TSC being so bad. Perhaps it has made some impact, but it is far from the sole or even biggest cause. TSC has slowly morphed into the awful service center that it is today.

Edited to add: best of luck to you on Monday OP! Wish I could help you out, but I was one of the "lucky ones" back in August that was transferred to CSC.

No, it probably will not since USCIS is funded through fees. Actually, the undocumented, illegal immigrants are eating into the budget created by the fee paying legal immigrants. This is the reason that Congress could not shut down the DACA stuff; It created a self-funding agency that requires no additional money from the treasury. They have a completely independent financial structure.

Maybe you are already aware of this but... Have you considered the tax implications of documenting your U.S. citizenship at this point? The U.S. government might require you to file tax returns for previous years. Just sayin'.

I think VOL has a point here. It's a crime in the Philippines. Period. Full Stop. The question they ask is have you (the applicant) committed a crime, whether arrested, prosecuted, convicted or not. Read the DS-160 again carefully. Its questions are worded so that any crime, anywhere committed must be disclosed. Why not just say you miscarried?

When you file for I-130 you can also file another I-129f for the K-3 visa. You might get the K-3 before the IR/CR arrives.

The incredible thing is that the USCIS can issue a travel document and advance parole no matter what the state department says. The law gives them the final say over petition approval. I don't know why they let the embassies and DOS get away with this nonsense.

I'm not sure where you get your info, but it couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, if you take a look around this site you will find that by FAR Filipino women have used men to get to the US. There isn;t a week that passes on this site where I am reading about Filipino women arriving in the US and claiming VAWA when there is no abuse, getting to the US and dumping their US husband/fiance for a boyfriend they have in the US who is Filipino, very young Filipino women marrying men 30, 40 and even sometimes 50 years their senior just to get here and dump the poor sap,the list goes on and on. Am I saying that the majority of Filipino women who come here are merely in it for the green card? No. What I am saying in my years on VJ I have witnessed by far much more fraud going on in the Filipino portal.

There are more Fil-Am marriages than many other countries so it will look like more have issues. You gotta go by the fraction; what % are fraudulent, not the total count.