_Paul&Jesica_

Unfortunately the logs are from a calling card. So they only show phone numbers called. I only use this card for her, cousin, sister, and uncle. I identified each in the front of the log so that they could see who I had called, when, and for how long. That went in the 'front-load', along with all the other evidence I could find, which include the letter from the priest. I just didn't send in a lot of pictures, just the 10 total (3 from each trip, and 1 extra). I also included the financial commitment form with letter from my employer---my financial situation is very very strong, and I was hoping that might tip the scales.

I mentioned in that submission my next trip, which was this past November.

"Be there for the interview"---of course that goes without saying. I have no problem going back and forth as many times as they like (29 hours each way), but will do whatever they want. It is very difficult for her to meet me, she has to travel all day in buses (several) to get to Addis--but never complains.

Photos are not primary evidence, but secondary evidence. However, photos of you with your fianceé and her family make really strong secondary evidence. If you are able to go before the interview date (assuming your K-1 is approved), it would be a good thing

Another vote for Xoom. Exchange rate isn't always as high as Remitly, but for the most part, close enough and very convenient.

From what you've said and what everybody else said on this post, i think i shouldn't worry about my POE. I've read one post way back 2008 that she was denied entry although it was the only post that i can find regarding the topic and im not even sure if it was true coz the OP was only telling a story about a friend. I must admit im just overthinking things ? Thank you for the input ?

Yeah its one thing my fiance is telling me not to bring any food stuff just to be safe

Tell your fiance not to stress over Magic Sarap You can't bring it in, but you can order it online from Amazon.com

I think the issue will be that CFO won't give the stamp required to exit the country on an immigrant visa (including the non-immigrant K-1) since OP is still considered married by Philippines law. No CFO stamp, no boarding your flight, unless you want to try to pay your way through....

As you are a 10 yr permanent resident, divorce won't have any impact on you.

As already stated, you can't leave the country expecting to return with Advance Parole until the Advance Parole is approved. If you leave prior to receiving official AP, it will be assumed that residency was abandoned as the I-94 will show a departure prior to approval date and and you will need to secure another visa to return to the country.

From USCIS Blog:

Can I travel outside of the U.S. when my application for advance parole is pending?

If you travel outside the United States while your Form I-485 application is pending and you do not have a valid advance parole, your case may be denied for abandonment. There is a narrow exception for individuals maintaining certain nonimmigrant statuses.

http://blog.uscis.gov/2014/05/five-questions-about-advance-parole_9.html

During the process of his divorce his ex wife filed a domestic violence and he was found guilty and went to jail for 2 days...He still have a record for DV. i know him for a long time and he came to visit me here many times in the Philippines. We just want to know if its possible for us to apply for K1 visa or K3 if possible. He also wants to know if he is allowed to sponsor me or it will be denied because of this DV record?

Your best path is to pursue a K-1 visa. His record of domestic violence might have an impact on the petition approval, but it might not. He needs to be totally up-front about it and provide all relevant documentation when he files the I-129f petition.

If the I-129f petition is approved, you can be assured that during the interview you will be asked detailed questions regarding his criminal history. You need to make sure that you know everything related to the case.

On a personal note, you should take into consideration his history of domestic violence before you decide to move forward in this relationship. I am not judging this person, and it could have been a one-time, never-will-happen-again, kind of situation, and people do make (and hopefully learn) from their mistakes. Realistically, you are placing yourself at higher risk in this relationship. Again, I am not judging, I am just advising you to be absolutely aware of every detail around this situation. He should be completely forthcoming and you should also review the paperwork he submits to USCIS as part of the petition.

Coming to the US on a K-1 is difficult enough, without having the past hanging over your head. You say you know your fiancé for a long time, but do you really know your fiancé? I thought I knew my ex-wife, whom I was married to for more than 10 years, but at the end, it turns out that she was nothing like she portrayed. Some people are very good at leading double-lives.... Just be sure you are well informed and you always trust your instincts.

Good luck!

If you are living in the Philippines, then get married and do a Direct Consular Filing (DCF), which is much faster processing than IR-1/CR-1 -- especially since you state you can't immediately return to the US.

http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/consular-processing

You don't technically need to file for AOS within 90 days of entering the US on a K-1 visa. The requirement is you need to get married, which you already did.

The risk of waiting too long to file for AOS is accruing overstay (which will be forgiven) and the possibility of your medical expiring (1 year validity) during your AOS, which means you would have to do the medical again.

So don't sweat it too much, just file your AOS after you receive your marriage license.

Good luck!

That's all well and good but in Filipino culture you do need to send a remittance home. It's the cultural thing to do.

Just because it is cultural, doesn't mean that it is the right thing to do.

We send back money monthly, but we placed a hard limit on how much we will send in a month, including for "emergencies". If they run out of money they have to wait for the next month. If they have an emergency and need extra money now, then they don't get money the next month. And we are very strict about it, laying on the guilt doesn't make money magically appear. We remind them that they are fortunate to be receiving remittance from us and they should be appreciative. So they are now learning to save a little bit of the money they get to put away for an emergency fund.

It is amazing how people can change their culture when it personally affects them.

I love my fiancé but the life circumstances what we have are what they are, we are looking for options

Let me explain, so the father is paying a lot of money for the child (more than he should) and if "some other guy" comes and marries his ex he would take the case to court, and take most of the more he is giving now, plus a child, might not happen but its a risk we are thinking about

We are not doing anything illegal and have 0 criminal background.

So about the question, is there anything we can do?

The source of your question is not an immigration issue, it is one of custody. You can't explain away your situation to Immigration officials, if you proceed with what you suggest, you put your Adjustment of Status, an ultimately citizenship, in jeopardy.

Custody, child support, and alimony are all determined by the court, unless a settlement is reached. Does your fianceé have a custody agreement that was approved by the court? If she does, then her ex-husband will have to demonstrate to the court how you marrying your wife has any impact. It typically only has minimal impact to any child support but it will put any alimony at risk.

Philippine yes, I would think with a kid then it wouldn't work in USA............

Assuming she is Catholic, then if she was married in a Catholic church, this would likely qualify as an invalid marriage and be annulled through the church. Unfortunately, it is never so black and white these days...

Thank you so much for your kindness and patience in answering someone unknown to you like me whose at a loss. Visa journey members are truly blessed to have people around like you. More power!

One thing to consider since you are a Philippine citizen... If you initiate the divorce, you will not be able to marry again in the Philippines as you would be considered married until you go through a potentially lengthy and expensive annulment process (though I think it is easily justified), regardless if your marriage is dissolved in the US. Once annulled, you would be free to marry again.

If he files for divorce, then you can file the divorce decree and request that it be recognized in the Philippines. You would then be free to marry.

1) You can decided what his situation means to your marriage and take appropriate action. Divorce, stay, or whatever you think is best for you and your son. If you divorce, he has obligations to support his son and possibly even you, depending on state the divorce is filed, length of marriage, etc.

2) No impact on your citizenship path except you will have to wait 5 years from receipt of your GC if you decided to divorce, instead of 3 years to apply.

My fiance has scheduled her CFO in Manila the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 1. We anticipate she will get a 1-on-1 grilling because I've been divorced more than once. Will she be entirely done by noon, or can the 1-on-1 extend into the afternoon? Can she confidently book a domestic flight out of Manila at 3:30 that afternoon?

Thanks.

Tom

Yes she can book the flight, but she is cutting it close, especially if they go over-time and/or with the traffic getting to NAIA. Is there a later flight? Or maybe she just stays an extra day in Manila.

My wife didn't get out of CFO until nearly 2pm and she had a morning session. The interview was fine, it just took her a while to receive the stamp.

This whole NVC case completion waiting is ridiculous. How come they prioritize fiance visa while they make married couples away from each other for a long time? Don't they have life partners too? They don't know how it feels, and the burden of waiting.

I am not sure they are explicitly prioritizing K-1s over IR-1/CR-1s per se, but they have been prioritizing petitions from the Philippines, in general, above other countries due to Typhoon Yolanda. But now I understand the Syrian petitions are now a priority.

K-1s are a faster petition (average about 5 months) as the K-1 has to also file after marriage for Adjustment of Status to get their permanent residence (GC). But the AOS process can take anywhere from 6 months to a year or longer and cost another $1070. IRs/CRs get their GC upon entering the US. So if you look a the total length of time to get residency, they are close to the same when it is all over but the K-1 is actually a more expensive process.

Also note that IRs/CRs can work when they enter the US while K-1s can't until they file for AOS/AP/EAD and receive their EAD card, so many K-1s find themselves stuck at home unable to work or do much. Pros and cons to both methods, they are just different sets of circumstances...

While many of us have glimpses into the very slow churning machines at USCIS and NVC, few of us have enough insight to explain why some petitions take much longer than others.

Just for any who doubt still, yes, there is divorce in the Philippines. I will not pretend to know more about Philippine laws or courts than a native or anyone else with a lot of experience in the country. I only know what has transpired with my fiancee. She is divorced and the annotated MC states she is divorced and is permitted to use her maiden name. This same annotated MC was presented to and accepted by the embassy at her interview along with her divorce decree. She divorced a Philippine spouse in the Philippines so there are no foreign courts involved.

If I've read some of the replies correctly the NSO will issue a CEMAR annotated to indicate the divorce?

By the way, thank you all for your time and effort on your replies. This is my first time to post a topic and there are many more responses coming much faster than I expected.

Was it an Islamic marriage or was either of the parties under the age of 18 or married by an unlicensed official? Divorce can be granted for those of Islamic faith and the other situations become a voided marriage.

There isn't any other way, officially except to go down the annulment path.

It seems that the OP have done it if they have the authenticated MC based on the divorce. Yeah the process is not that simple, especially dealing with several government agencies.

I myself tried to help my friend 3 years ago, thus I made a lot of readings on this. He was divorced by his USC spouse but we cannot have it recognized here since the x wife is not willing to give him a copy of the divorce decree, he have a copy of the decision. Thus he filled for an annulment and a copy of the divorce decision was submitted.

Now that the bill was approved in the Congress, we will see when it will be signed into a law, then revise the Family Code and release the implementing rules and regulations. Before that, people will have to endure the long process.

Your friend can request a copy of the divorce decree from the county court clerk where the divorce was finalized. It is actually a public document and anyone can request it (within certain conditions).

Look up the county clerk's office or the county court's website to find out how to do this. Some counties even let you do this entirely by postal mail, though it takes longer.

Good luck!

I've met a Philippine woman online who is living and working in China. We have been chatting for about six weeks. I would like to meet her over Skype but she does not have access to it. She wants to come to the US to visit me next month. She needs a tourist/visitor visa, the B-2. She says that to visit the US she must have a medical exam. She wants me to pay for her flight, visa and medical examine to the tune of about $1300. I would wire the money to the travel agent or to her. I don't want to send $1300 never to hear from her again. The site that I met here on says to never send money to anyone that you have not already met in person. I do not feel that I know her well enough to send the money. She is willing to stay at my home for 2 weeks during her visit. This is surprising. I would think that she would be concerned about her safety. But maybe she is willing to say this if in fact she's just after money and has no intention of traveling here. I should mention that she is gorgeous. She has sent me several photos, but for all I know it could be a guy (or girl) doing a scam. As they say "if it seems to good to be true".

She would go to the travel agents office to do all the documents, visa photo etc. but I figured out that the agent's office is about 500 miles from where she lives!

I have been honest with her about my concerns and all of the above details. She replied that I don't trust her, but has not answered to any of the details.

Do you know is a medical exam required on a B2 visa?

Any thoughts on this are appreciated, particularly if you have been in a similar situation where you were expected to send money for travel expenses or visa, etc.

Thanks

Better option is for you to meet her in China. Even if this wasn't a scam, the chances of her getting a tourist visa for the US aren't that great.

I've met a Philippine woman online who is living and working in China. We have been chatting for about six weeks. I would like to meet her over Skype but she does not have access to it. She wants to come to the US to visit me next month. She needs a tourist/visitor visa, the B-2. She says that to visit the US she must have a medical exam. She wants me to pay for her flight, visa and medical examine to the tune of about $1300. I would wire the money to the travel agent or to her. I don't want to send $1300 never to hear from her again. The site that I met here on says to never send money to anyone that you have not already met in person. I do not feel that I know her well enough to send the money. She is willing to stay at my home for 2 weeks during her visit. This is surprising. I would think that she would be concerned about her safety. But maybe she is willing to say this if in fact she's just after money and has no intention of traveling here. I should mention that she is gorgeous. She has sent me several photos, but for all I know it could be a guy (or girl) doing a scam. As they say "if it seems to good to be true".

She would go to the travel agents office to do all the documents, visa photo etc. but I figured out that the agent's office is about 500 miles from where she lives!

I have been honest with her about my concerns and all of the above details. She replied that I don't trust her, but has not answered to any of the details.

Do you know is a medical exam required on a B2 visa?

Any thoughts on this are appreciated, particularly if you have been in a similar situation where you were expected to send money for travel expenses or visa, etc.

Thanks

Better option is for you to meet her in China. Even if this wasn't a scam, the chances of her getting a tourist visa for the US aren't that great.

I am actually a bit concerned about that. My fiancé has never met my family, I would say because I haven't had the chance to introduce him yet. I have not seen my family in almost 7 years since I was studying college and then when I graduated I immediately got a job and never had the chance to go back home. BUT I talk to them over the phone regularly, I talk about us and explained to them the circumstances. I told them about me and fiancé's plans and they are very supportive of it, plus we kind of felt that we needed those two trips to be alone and spend quality time with each other. Are we in trouble? Those two trips is basically just us, no family and no friends and no workmates too.

I wouldn't say you are in trouble and I don't really think you have much to worry about. But having more, rather than less, always helps. One idea is that maybe your fiancé can arrive a little bit early and you both can travel to visit your parents and introduce him. But it isn't required. It is just a bonus if you have that to show the CO if they even ask. So relax and don't get too stressed over this.

While others might not agree, I really do think it is of great benefit if your fiancé attends the interview with you. It was a very positive experience for me and I always recommend it.

I don't think you provided your age, but if you are under 21 you will need need your parents consent anyway (at least for the CFO sticker).

Good luck!

Hi guys, so I have a question here. We filed our application of K1 visa this past August 16 and got our NOA2 already. We are just getting ready for the interview and that we have two red flags. We have a significant age gap of 29 years and that we have just been talking for 7 months now. We have seen each other twice. Both of us has never been married and no criminal records either. So my main concern is about the age difference, would they question that and the length of time that we have been dating? We just want to start our life together-together. Thank you all

P.S. Would it make our chances of getting approved higher if he comes to the interview with me?

So these are my opinions based on my own experiences.

As long as your relationship is sincere and you have demonstrated it to the CO, you will be fine. I have a 20 year difference with my wife and the CO wasn't concerned at all.

Did you fiancé meet your parents and family? Do you have any group/family pictures together that includes your fiancé? The more involved with your family, the more positive the situation.

As for attending the interview, I attended it with my then fiancé and the CO even commented to both of us that it was really good that I was there with her to support her through the process. So, I would recommend, if possible, that your fiancé attend the interview with you at USEM.

Hello everyone, i really feel miserable rignt now and very stressed. Im 29 weeks pregnant now and i am at risk of premature labor, i got my fiance visa (expiration date is 10 february 2016) but doctor told me that i shouldn't travel for such a long trip from Serbia to New York where in case of emergency plane wont be anyhow abe to land. I also have som bactaerias that are very deengerous in pegnancy and i have to recive antibiotic 2 hours before labor and every hour during labor and baby also must recive them when its born and if dont there is a big chance that baby can die or be demaged and i can get blood poisoning and die. When i think baout that im even more scared when i think about what if something happen during flight, what will be with baby . I talked with m fiance about that and he knows that im at risk of premature labor and doctor told me not to travel but he says i should come next week and nothing wont happen during flight cuz its safe. I called embassy and told them for my case and they told me that the best thing would be if my fiance come here when baby is born and aply for crba (that takes 15 days) so baby can come with me and then he can take us to USA. I see that like the best thing but .. my fiance got very mad and he tod me that i must come next week and he wll book me ticket, i have only one chnace to come or to keep life on my own and take care alone about baby beecause he dosn't wnat to come back. So now he want me to come next week or dont come at all. I feel broken and i stress more and more every day. I don;t know what too do, i dont want to be single mother but im so afarid to fly now. ..

You need to listen to the advice of your doctor, not your fiancé! The way you described the situation, the lives of you and your child are at risk! That your fiancé is willing to take a chance on this would be a huge red-flag to me. Think about who he really is if he is pressuring you to take this change. This is someone that you are planning on marrying, he should be supporting you and not getting angry with you!

Your well-being and the well-being of the child you carry inside you comes above anything else at this moment.

Will do (: Now when you say emails and text messages, are they focusing more on the actual messages or just the dates? Because there's some pretty personal stuff in there and I'm wondering if I can cross some of it out and just show them dates messages were sent and so on.

I would actually leave the personal stuff in, as you want USCIS to see all aspects of your relationship, especially the good and personal stuff.

I made the same mistake and thought they meant fly to the states.....they just meant to catch a flight to cebu..........

Oh! That is different

I guess I should have read the entire thread before replying...

Hi,

Is it safe to book a flight out of Manila at 7:30pm on the day of USEM interview? Our appointment is 6:15am on a Monday. I guess the interview would need to end by 4:30pm to make this flight (90 minutes transit to airport, no bags to check, 90 minutes to make it through airport and get on plane)?

Thanks

No. Two things would happen:

1) You are approved. You won't have your passport back with the VISA. It takes up to 7-10 days to receive your passport after the interview.

2) You are denied at the interview. You will receive your passport back that same day but you won't have a visa.

It is best to never book your flight until you have your passport in hand. Sometimes, it can take much longer than 10 days to get your passport back.