mychelle

getting the I693A sealed envelope was easy for us although it did cost us ($215 total). we didn't shop around but i'm sure it would be cheaper elsewhere. he got sick when he got here so it just seemed convenient at that time to see my doctor (who also happens to be a civil surgeon) for his cold/cough and second tetanus shot. my doctor charged us the $150 flat fee and ask us to get a new xray since she won't accept the one from St. Lukes. bummer yes...but just glad that one is over.

good luck in your application!

have you done an INFOPASS appointment? you should be able to inquire about your EAD at least (perhaps they did not process it since you already had your AOS interview.) did they tell you if you were approved pending name check?

Let's say, for example, that your income is 3X the poverty level. Is there any point at all in providing a bank statement or letter from the bank for an account with say, $3000 in it? Or for that matter, is there any point in providing anything other than the employer letter, copies of tax returns, and W-2 forms?

if obtaining a bank letter is convenient then i say go ahead and include it (i included one but it wasn't asked).

happy new year to all!

Everything else aside, I doubt your Mom will get approved and a visa before May 2007.

good point, kitkat1.

yeah. there is something terribly wrong with my family's point of view. in fairness to them, they are unaware of the whole K1 thing which makes the situation more complicated. had they known about it, they would definitely disagree, that's why my fiance and I kept it a secret.

Your comments have been very helpful. I know I am taking a risk and I better be informed while doing that.

you may be required to submit an updated I-864 so the best thing to do is be upfront about your situation with your family. i have to say though that you should have told them before you started the petition. if you tell them now, i'm guessing they'll be more furious than if you let them know ahead of time...but hey, you gotta face the music. trust me...it would be smoother for everyone in the long run.

i can somewhat relate to your situation since i'm the petitioner. we first had to decide where we're going to live to be together and him moving to the US was the best situation for us. he was going to opt for a working visa or a tourist visa to come here (mostly to avoid any talks about me petitioning him and him getting a GC because he's going to marry me) but the expenses and complications that came with those decisions were too much. since the only reason he's leaving his life in the philippines was to move here and marry me, the fiance or spouse visa was more apt for our situation.

i had to be an adult and talked to my mom about it way before we decide to file our 129-F petition. she did not take it too well at first...but once i made her understand she warmed up to the idea (eventually). now that we're married, we didn't have to adjust to each other's family because they knew about our visa journey (hehe...VJ) from the get go.

all i can tell you is that...tell your family and brace for the consequences. it wasn't as bad as i expected...we even had my mom and my aunt as our witnesses for our civil wedding. we look forward to have a church wedding too...in a year or so.

i guess it simply means 90 days wait for EAD resets until the RFE response is received. i'm curious about your RFE since we have a similar timeline. i'm hoping that if i get an RFE they'd let me know now.

PIMPIN' -

This term is often used by some I know as a kind of joke, not implying its obvious reason. Rather than having references to an actual pimp, it's used to describe something that's cool, in style, or amazes the speaker so much they can't think of anything else to say. (You find your girlfriend amazingly gorgeous that you can't help but show her off. I don't know what kind of pimpin' you're talking about that made cuss. Ok, so ** it then.)

-the I-94 number is the hand-written number on the I-94 card stapled on the immigrant's passport.

-you don't have to do the math on the expiration date as it is stamped on the I-94 and/or the passport.

-you need the I-693a sealed envelope from a civil surgeon...this subject has been exhaustively discussed in this forum...including those who opted to use their ds-3025 form (please search it before i give you the wrong info).

we're on K1, no co-sponsors and no dependents. we used I-864 and followed the example forms here on VJ (although the current I-864 is different looking from the VJ example.)

Filipinas and Filipinos are very westernized...so any old-fashioned American wedding song favorites will probably do. Examples can include anything from At Last by Etta James to From This Moment by Shania Twain...etc...(another favorite is The Way You Look Tonight...thanks to My Best Friend's Wedding making it more popular than ever...) if she likes jazz and the likes...she'd probably want The Nearness of You...etc.

There are a few Filipino wedding songs...but basically...."filipina" brides choose English-languaged wedding songs.

For the processional...the Canon D and the other common processional song are usually a common processional music for "filipinas".

Maybe it will help if you ask her what wedding music to use for your wedding.

he's totally PIMPIN' her! B)

wants the whole wide world to know how GORD-DEOUS she is. it's not a crime for sure...

We did not include a single e-mail or letter in our original petition. Just evidence of having met, four photographs, and three months of phone bills. No problems getting the I-129F approved.

We probably won't have any e-mails at the consular stage, either, as we haven't e-mailed anything more than 'hey babe going out tonight call the cell instead of the land line' in about two years. Phone records & a memory book for us.

i can relate. our emails were mostly one-liners. however, i included about 5 emails anyway...just to show the date ranges on when we communicated. just simple emails...mostly talking about plans...places to go and see together when i visit or when he gets to the States etc.

there is no clear "criteria" on which AOS applications will be approved without interview but it looks like those who are in the CA local offices will have to go through interviews. our case was touched today...that could either mean they are going to send us an RFE or an interview date.

I have some general questions regarding the forms for packet 4 for anyone, especially those who've already had their interview:

1. Filling out the forms with hand writing vs. typing them - Is this a choice for all the forms? For example, DS-156 says it can filled out online and filed electronically - has anyone done it this way? For consistency, I thought it'd be best for Jinky to fill them out by hand.

If possible, try to fill them out electronically. It's easier and more convenient to finalize and print. Ours were either electronically-filled or typewritten for the sake of neatness and uniformity.

2. Affidavit of Support (I-134) - the sample form provided here on VJ shows blanks for, 'amount in savings', 'total property', 'stocks', etc... and only lists annual salary. If my salary is well over the limit requirement, should I leave the other parts blank or should I have them all filled out? Is a bank statement then necessary if I leave out any list of savings?

3. Income tax returns - I have my w-2 for 2005 tax year. If it the entire tax return isn't required, I'd rather just give them my w-2 unless somebody here can tell me if the Manila Embassy looks at anything additional that I would include.

I don't electronically file my taxes so I have a paper-copy of my tax return. I made a copy of that and attached the corresponding copy of the W2. It's advisable to include the tax return AND W2.

4. Regarding Jinky's 5 year old son - has anyone here also had a child go through the medical? Because he is so young I worry about the day long process and how Jinky can tend to his needs when she is also going through examination?

5. On the embassy website, it recommends that you not make any travel plans before the interview, yet I have read where many people buy their plane tickets in advance for the cheaper airfare. Has anyone ever been asked during the interview whether they purchased airfare ahead of time and will that reflect negatively?

I don't think it's routinely asked although it's asked in one of the forms. It is not a mistake to make travel plans but since we don't know the outcome of the Visa interview, it's best not to make concrete plans until they have their VISA. If you must purchase tickets, buy the ones that will allow you to change the dates without a huge fee.

Congrats on the upcoming interviews! I tell yah...time flies. Tomorrow my husband will have his biometrics appointment!!!

i feel fortunate that my firm also included the amount taxed into our xmas bonus...although the bonus amount itself was not that great. =/ (do i sound ungrateful? hehe...)

they do take about half of the bonus amount...a few months ago we got a bonus for having a great fiscal year and i was so glad to see the amount they said we were getting...only to see that half of it went to taxes. i am SOOOO filing my taxes in January...and i have a dependent now.

Our interview is Feb 13 and we're still waiting for the packet (in Cagayan de Oro). We could have a problem because we plan to do the medical the week of Jan 8 and we need the interview letter.

you can have an early medical even without the appointment letter. bring a copy of you I129-F NOA2 (showing your petition has been approved)...call ahead the local numbers @ USE and St. Lukes and to let them know you're picking up a copy of the packet since you haven't received it yet. anyway, you still have about 3 weeks to wait for the packet.

congrats to those with upcoming interviews! good luck all y'all!

^trying searching for an LBC courier service branch near you. you can send documents up to 5 lbs (i think) for a flat-fee. 3-5 days delivery and it's delivered door-to-door...www.teamlbc.com (that's what i used)

if you have greeting cards or snail mail letters sent from her to you...send that too. the initial interview would ask to see them if you have them.

i have about the same timeline as you for AOS & EAD (our NOA is Dec 6th). my husband's biometrics appt is this Friday and we received that notice last Saturday. short notice indeed.

please see our timeline below. just a note, some RFE's can be issued after the biometrics appt.

i read an example Biometrics letter posted on VJ and it even says on the letter to not show up earlier than 15 minutes of your appointment time. i mean, if they are such a stickler on that i can definitely understand why they won't give you your Biometrics without a letter of appointment.

with an NOA1 of Dec. 1st... a Dec 15 appointment is not that bad at all.

I felt the same way when I read: "Filpina's are great wifes and they are very dedicated to their husbands"

What a generalization.

i know what you mean. something about it rubs me the wrong way too. it could be better if he had said: my wife is a filipina. she's great and she is very dedicated to me, her husband. now that's more like it!

^she was probably sleeping in the bus @ 7 am. if a person misses their original flight...airlines will usually put people in the next available...perhaps the next day. she'll be here by xmas at least. tc!

^if you make changes to the I-864 then bring your new supporting docs to the interview. i think that's how it's suppose to work. as of now, you guys only made a change of address unless your husband's dad filed his 2006 tax return by the time you have your interview, then make the changes accordingly.

thanks guys for the quick replys....called them all on the list...alll want a medical done....so we have one schedualed for dec 20...145.00 each

It seems to be a little scam with these civil surgeons. Although you have already done the physical, they refuse to only transfer the vaccination record, and insist on a complete exam. I was lucky enough to find a civil surgeon very close to my home who transferred the vaccinations for only $25.00.

i wish you have mentioned this a few months back. we went to my doctor (just recently became my doctor because our old family doc retired...darn she was the best ever...anyways) who also happens to be a Civil Surgeon listed on USCIS however she charges a flat fee of $150 (cash only) for the I-693. i tried to explain to her that we only need one more vaccination and to transfer the information for the other vaccines...and that we only need I-693A...and that he doesn't need another medical check since he just had one a couple of months back...we're on K1...blah, blah, blah.... anyways, not only that she did not budge but she also said that she is not the kind who does shortcuts and she said...since she's indian-american and was an immigrant and that i am too that i should know we can not do shortcuts on the immigration process or else it will not turn our right...pretty much making me feel like i'm trying to do something illegal. oh yeah, she won't accept the xray results from St. Luke medical (from Manila)...so we had to get another xray done ($65) because she won't complete the I-693 form without it. the imaging center won't read his xray film either because they only read xrays from their facility. anyways....$215 dollars later...and a lot of calling back and forth...and driving back and forth...we were finally handed our sealed envelope.

i hope there was a better system to assess the medical for the immigration when you're in the states.

i just wanted to get that off my chest. (i've switched med insurance also...and will have another doctor. )

after getting our marriage license at the county-clerks/registrars office, we got married there a week later. after the civil ceremony, they gave us the CUSTOMER COPY of our marriage license (which was actually an original, since the signatures were all original.) since it seemed like an original document...i just went ahead and copied the front and back (there is a back portion with watermark ink text) and use the copy to send with our AOS. at the time when we paid for CERTIFIED copies, they did not say anything about same day service (i was told to wait for the copies in a month). i should have asked whether they provide same day service but with all the excitement and we couldn't wait to go to brunch...i forgot to. anyways, if they send an RFE for it, i just hope they send it sooner.

the I-485 says this:

Based on admission as the K-1 fiancé(e) of a U. S.citizen and subsequent marriage to that citizen.

Attach a copy of the fiancé(e) petition approval notice, a copy of your marriage certificate and your Form 1-94.

well the next question is: anyone here got an RFE for their marriage certificate sent with the AOS package? if so, what was the reason for the RFE regarding the marriage cert?

edit to add: thanks for the clarification yodrak. in any case if they ask for the CERTIFIED ones...we just got it...so it's all good. right now, we're just chillin' and waitin' for the USCIS to let us know what's up. there is no use in worrying about it...it's out of our hands now. but i'm still keeping our fingers crossed.