ryecatcher25

I can't believe it literally only took you 2 months fromfiling to get visa. Wow. jsut consider yourself lucky if it only takes a month more because the vast majority of people have a far longer wait time than you. Of course it does really suck that this happened to you, but still it is always best to count your blessings.

Speaking of fees, how much is the airport exit fees? in other words how much of a fee will my fiancee have to pay to leave the country? also can anyone recomend a cheap hotel near the airport in manila? my fiancee has an early flight and i dont want her to have to get to the airport at midnight because of no taxis during the night.

oh as you may have guessed got visa and cfo stamp. I was glad they didn't try to persuade my fiancee not to come by telling her that i would beat her. i had heard of that happening. but of course they did ask her why not marry a filipino. Oh well doesn't matter by may 31st 4:30 pm i will be hugging my love at the airport.

Thanks to all for the help over the months. Wishing you all a speedy approval. Thanks for moderating PW, hope you are with your loved one soon. But i may check in everynow and then to post advice for newbies. Take care all.

it is very simple send in origanls of anything you submitted for the 1-129f. send your fiancee orginal plane tickets. original hotel receipt, anything that you originally received as proof of relationship.

Approved.

That is a great word. I don't want to be over hopeful here, but my fiancee saw the green and white approved sticker. So i believe we are safe to say we are approved. Although honestly i won't rest easy until she has her visa in hand with a cfo stamp on it. If she hadn't clearly seen the sticker then i guess we would still be in the dark about her status, although she did pay the delivery fee, but as we all know that is not proof of approval.

Honestly i am excited, but i can't say i am surprised because i was so detailed when it came to this process. i sent extra evidence for the inital petition and i sent a mountain of evidence for the interview. The only problem i was worried about was the fact that my fiancee had worked in a foreign country (kuwait) and couldn't get apolice certificate from there because you must be physically present to get it. but it says right on the reciprocity list of the state department she cannot get it, so it was not a problem when they asked about it. I knew it shouldn't be a problem, but the crazy manila embassy made me worry for no reason. Just in case someone in the future reads this thread i have confirmed with other people that if you cannot get a police certificate from a country because you must be present to recieve it, then you won't need it for interview.

main interview consisted of 3 questions.

1-who is you petitioner?

2-how did you meet?

3-what is his brithdate?

I have no proof of this, but i believe he was influenced by the packet of evidence i sent with initial petition including many photos, gift and ring receipts, and even i sent in my i-134 financial and paystubs early (even though i knew i would have to resubmit them)

Here are some tips i have for people:

1- write letters and mail them ( i would suggest your fiancee have at least 5 hand written letters from you for interview)

2- Send many small gifts over a period of time ( i would send a 10 dollar gift every 2 weeks) and then you have more proof of relationship with receipt

3- Uee pingo( pingo.com) for phone records. it is a good phone service and gives you a printout of you calling your fiancee

4- save western union receipts

5- have 8-10 emails ready including intial emails to each other and a couple of recent ones

6 - also i think photos of you with her family go a long way ( if you have them from an engagement party)

7- try to send cenomar in with intial petition, it is a good way to try to influence embassy that fiancee has never been married and make sure to have a recent one at interview

8- REHEARSE INTERVIEW AND HAVE FIANCE MEMORIZE YOUR BIOGRAPHY INFORMATION. Your fiance needs to know your full name, address, telephone number and date of birth. remember the embassy only knows a bout you what you sent them in the g-325 form, so make sure your fiance knows that information by heart

DO NOT BELIEVE THE PEOPLE WHO SAY SEND THE MINIMUM!! IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK!!

If anyonr ever has any questions feel free to ask me. but my best advice is do more than is required. If they want 3 paystubs, send 5. if they want 10 pictures, then have your fiancee bring an album of pictures. And don't risk anything. If you only have this years tax return and they want 3 years worth, then go ahead and get the 3 yers worth. IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK. WITH MANILA YOU NEED TO GET IT "RIGHT" THE FIRST TIME. I have read too many times of bad things happening because of "small" delays. I always thought of fianceeinwaiting during this process.i pray she is approved soon. her "small" delay is going on 18 months now.

ALright God willing my fiancee will leave before the end of this month. I guess i need to find out a flight and what (if anything) she will need to do to clear customs in this country. Oh can anyone tell me about the sealed packet that she is to bring to the states? when does she get it? and other adivce for entering country would also be appreciated. thanks all.

Look everyone welcome to the USA Birzaro world of immigration. IN the magical land of Bizaro USA, those who play by the rules and file properly and obey the rules are penalized and mistreated. But if you break the law and do things illegally you are rewarded (refering to certain group of 11 million people who just protested for their "rights" and will be given citizenship because it is the "humane" thing to do)

Just remember we are americans ( and americans to be) and our governement will use and abuse us, because thats what americans let our government do. God bless america.

ok, if 100 dollar us fee is paid at bank, how much does my fiancee need to bring to interview to pay for visa delivery (god willing). or are their any other fees she will pay at the embassy?

thanks

my fiancee had her medical and everything went fine. they said she passed. she said that they took her passport and would send it over to embassy for interview. is this normal? i dont remember reading about that b4. thanks guys

can someone explain points of entry?

how does my fiancee need to enter the country by plane?

can i use my credit card to buy the ticket or will their be problems?

i am in kansas and fiancee from philippines, any suggestions on how to fly in?

thanks

can people share their airline experiences.

how they bought, did you send cash or pay be creadit. any probablem if you paid by credit?

which points of entry used? ect.

thanks

Hi everyone! My fiance and I are gathering all documents needed for the interview. We would like to know the following:

1. How many copies of the I-134 do you need to have notarized?

2. Do you need originals of the paystubs and tax returns or will duplicate copies do?

Would appreciate your advise.

Audrey

1) only one is mandatory, but go ahead and print out a copy and get it notorized as well (it won't cost you any extra, and you will have a backup just in case something happens to the first one. However from everything i have read financial information should be dated within 3 months of interview, but i would probably try to be under 2 months if i were you. both for i-134 and for paystubs.

2) duplicates are fine and they do not have to be notorized. rememember 2003,2004, and 2005 tax returns required, along with the W-2's from those years.

Also might consider getting a 2nd letter of intent to marry notorized while you are already at notary ( totally optional)

PS - i would go ahead and try to get a 2nd letter from employer for job verification, just as backup. I had a scare myself with using fedex to send to cavite in philippines. although sending through USPS went ok to her address, for some reason FEDEX couldn't find it and she had to go pick it up, but it was half of day of panic when it said delivered but my fiancee said she didn't have it.

ok guys a couple of questions....

how does the payment for the visa work? my fiancee pays at a bank and they stamp the ds-156 or 157? or do they give her a seperate stamp?

also has anyone ever been turn down for not using the barcode printed out version of the ds-156/157? It is fine to just fill out the forms the embassy sent right?

thanks guys.

also i have to add that i think this is one of the most reliable threads for information because it is more focused than other threads and people usually only speak from experience. Plus we have a great moderator (PW) :-)

just wait until 11 million illegals start to apply. hahaha a 3 month wait will be like a miracle compared to whats coming. i feel sorry for people who will just be entering the system. Too bad they can't be like hispanics and just puch their way to the front of the line.

Jesus Christ!! fine there is absolutely no corrolation between age difference in marriages and rate of divorce. Everyone should have a 25 year age gap minimum. And marrying someone from another culture couldn't possibly increase that chance, not to mention the difference in income levels.

Of course there are relationships where a 30 year age gap works out fine. But they are the exception, not the rule. I don't think it is bigoted to say that as the age gap increases, so does the chances for divorce or deceit. Anyone who thinks differently is just deluding themselves.

yeah i apoligize, but still it is something that should be considered in the future.

A wife who installed spyware on her husband's computer to secretly record evidence of an extramarital affair violated state law.

http://news.com.com/Court+Wife+broke+law+w..._3-5577979.html

Don't worry, there are plenty of fish in the sea

just make sure the next fish is within a decade of your age and you probbly won't have this problem next time.

two words : border run, 11 millions illegals can't be wrong

you were with her just 4 weeks ago? oh i wish you had gone to interview. i would go if i could afford, but if i had time and money i definately would go to interview. of course you have the option of doing a border run. hey it worked for 11 million hispanics

wow, this sucks. i have read other people posting about embassies sending petitions back to the united states (like morroco) but i hadn't heard of it being used in manila. This doesn't bode well for manila visa applicants if they are going to use returning packets back to united states as weapons to delay visas. Cause once it gets sent back it is a several month delay from what i have read on other posts.

From what i have read before suppossedly packets are sent back to united states to see if the foreign person was even eligible for the visa in the first place. So if a mental check comes back "bad" or whatever, then the embassy in effect could say " well it is up to homeland security to decide if a person who is mentally unstable is eligible to come to united states in the first place". Unfortunately once it gets sent back, you are going to lose a lot of time.

I feel really sorry for you. I know that your fiancee is just fine in the head, thats what makes it even worse. It would be one thing if she had a real condition (like hepititis or something) and had to do extra paperwork to come here, but this is truly riddiculous. I really think that their must be some real sadists involved in the visa process who get pleasure out of knowing they are causing others to suffer. Problem is there are no checks and balances in the visa system. An embassy offical's word is the law in a foreign country. Of course sending it back to the united states is not a denial. But it suck you will lose time.

Honestly I would call immediately, becuase i am not sure even if you were there physically now anythihng could be done once a decision has been rendered. The only thing i can think of is to beg them to give a 3rd interview and you will bring other doctors reports.

Best of luck. your story scares the hell out of me because i didn't want to think manila was underhanded, insanely #######, but not underhanded. Guess i was wrong.

5300 us dollars?!? and you cover all costs of wedding too i suppose. (uncontrollable laughing) sorry but i think her family will be laughing all the way to the bank. I'd say "sure 5300 dollars is ok. Know your family simply has to provide for airfaire back to united states for her, all visa fees, phone calls, ect."

it propably means that your visa will be denied. either that or you have way too much time on your hands.

:-)

seriously i have read different embassies say 3 months is the limit for those documents.

congrats, too bad you wasted all those calls to your congressman's office :-)

Well I had a look at the new timeline statistics for the consulates:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...e-k1-historical

It's completely obscene that Montreal, being the main embassy for most of eastern Canada, is the slowest consulate out of every consulate listed in the western world. Vancouver, on the other hand, is the fastest consulate out of every consulate listed in the western world.

What's more obscene is that Vancouver is showing processing times of 10 days while Montreal is at 70 days. Obviously Montreal needs some help.

I should have filed mine to go to Vancouver. I could have walked the 2,700 miles from Toronto to Vancouver, done the interview, and walked back to Toronto, and it still would have been done earlier than filing through Montreal.

The moral that comes most to my mind when reading this is "I cried because I had no shoes, till I met a man who had no feet"

you realize some embassies have a year long wait. One example is domincian republic. It is one year even once embassy recieves petition. I believe the wait time at that embassy could more correctly be called "obscene" rather than monterals. current wait time of 70 days.

just food for thought.

just be glad you are applying before the republicans let all the hispanics apply for citizenship. i'll bet processing times will go up 3 or 4 months once that happens.

I have gathered all the evidence my fiancee will need for her interview. Now what is safest way to get it there the fastest. Fedex, DHL, or what. thanks guys. she lives 30km south of manila