Peter32

My wife had her interview today and it went well.  The interviewer was a very nice lady and had only a few questions about N-400.  She was happy with all my wife's answers and she also aced the test questions and language test without any errors.  The interview started 5 minutes early and took about 30 minutes.  My wife got a letter stating that the she has been recommended for approval and I just checked her account online and the status is already ''Approved''.  At the end of the interview my wife was told that she will receive a letter about the oath in about 15 days.  The online account shows now estimated time to completion 3 months.  We submitted her application on March 11, so it too slightly less than 8 months from application to approval, and now hopefully no more than two more to the oath.

6 hours ago, Prince2togo said:

Nicollet Mall 

I noticed that Minneapolis Central Library is in the next block from Marquette Square. Do they have a play room or some other space to hang around with two small kids for a couple of hours?

My wife's N400 interview is next week in Minneapolis.  I will be driving her there and we need to take our 5 and 1 year old kids along as we have no place to leave them for the long duration of the trip.  Is there any place nearby where I could wait with the kids fairly comfortably? We live in western part of the state and we don't know the cities that well.  I hear that the duration of the visit could be anything from 1 to 4 hours (depending on the delays that day), so I am especially worried about having to sit in some office waiting room with a 1 year old for hours.  Any tips?

10 hours ago, k_man said:

Depends on your type of application.. if you are doing it based on 3 years and ROC together, then yes.. my case was GC based on 5 years, so i went alone and that was fine.

 

They will most likely mention this explicitly in your appointment letter.

How about taking kids along?  Has anybody tried to take kids along to the interview?  I was going to just wait outside with the kids while my wife is in the interview, but if we both need to be there based on the 3 year rule...

Our kids will be 6 and 2 around that time and we are new to the area so don't really have any good option for babysitter for a long day, as it will be at least a 8 hour trip with the driving times.

How difficult is it to reschedule a N-400 Biometrics appointment in Minneapolis these days?

We are ready to submit my wife's N-400 online now, but we live out in the rural MN and my wife does not want to drive to Minneapolis with our two small kids by herself.  Most days I can take a day off to go with her but I have some days in my work schedule that I definitely can not take off without getting in serious trouble.  Just trying to understand the risks associated with rescheduling. 

How about walk-ins these days? I think they say no walk-ins, but is that really a consistently enforced policy?  If she shows up there say a day or week too early, would they not allow her do it?

Thanks.

So we did not need to do biometrics,  but is USCIS foregoing interviews for the I-751 now too?  I don't see anyone getting invitations for an interview.

Today, after 9 months of waiting, we finally received a letter stating that there will be no need for biometrics appointment as they are using my wife's old fingerprints.  Just like most others, the uscis web site case status update says now that the case is with the field office, so we went to check the current processing times of I751 and instead of CSC now chose "Field Offices".  The processing time is 21.5 to 46.5 months!!!!!   Does this mean that some unlucky ones of us will have to wait for nearly 4 years to get the permanent green card?

1 hour ago, CJKylie said:

Should you require evidence of your conditional status beyond that date so that you may continue to work and/or travel abroad, then you may attend an appointment at your local USCIS Field Office. At that appointment, a USCIS Officer may stamp your unexpired foreign passport with an I-551 stamp with a 12-month expiration date. To create an appointment with your local field office, please refer to our website: https://my.uscis.gov/appointment.”

This wording would indicate that going to get the I-551 extension stamp is not actually mandatory. Only needed if someone requires evidence for work and/or travel abroad.  Does someone know if this definitely is the case? Our baby is due in October, due date just couple of weeks before the expiration date in the beginning of November.  It seems just too difficult or even dangerous to make the 6 hour round trip to our closest USCIS office around that time, if they even have any open appointments when we need it anyway.  Is it actually perfectly fine if we go get the stamp 1-2 months after the expiration?  My wife will not be working or traveling abroad around that time for sure.

On 2/4/2018 at 6:46 PM, Daisy.Chain said:

I got that answer too, right next to "and you will DEFINITELY get it (the biometrics notice) in the next two weeks." It's not true. They waive it for many people, even those tiers 1 and 2 promise up and down that they've never heard of such a thing.

Well, we actually did get a letter in less than 30 days just like they promised.  However, it was not an invitation for anything.  It just says that things are taking longer than stated in your initial letter.  Entirely useless, but it was a letter.

On 2/1/2018 at 9:14 AM, Jusa said:

Just got back from my infopass appointment and was told that CSC is currently processing applications from September 2016 and I shouldn't expect to hear anything about a biometric appointment for a while.

 

I quote "biometrics are only valid for 15 months so we don't want to send you for them because they might expire before we've even had a chance to look at your case."

 

So the wait continues...

It's really frustrating that two USCIS workers that are in position supposed to be helping and advising the clients can give completely opposite information.  

Did you already get the extension stamp in your passport too?  If yes, I would be curious to hear what exactly does that stamp say.

3 hours ago, usmsbow said:

 

Many of us CSC August filers did not receive a biometrics appointment letter. Some have reached out to USCIS, which generally said they're running behind, and you might not need to have your biometrics done again. 

 

No, you're not totally screwed, and there is a good chance you (along with many others) will not approved before that 1-year extension expires, so you'll have to get a stamp in your passport. Time will tell! Unfortunately that's the situation right now..

 

 

Today, we called the 1800 number on the NOA letter.  Surprisingly without any waiting time an official answered and looked into the case.  She said we definitely should have received an invitation to biometrics appointment within 30 days from the receipt of our initial paperwork.  She said she was not aware of anyone getting the biometrics requirement waived.  She requested a new appointment for us and told us to call back if we have not received the invitation within 30 days.

What is this stamp we will need if we go over the 1-year expiration date?  Is it something we can get from our local USCIS office?  What is it called and is there a form we need to fill out in advance?  Can someone share a link or something about this extension stamp?  Thanks.

We sent in the package at end of August and received the confirmation about a week later.  But we never received any invitation for the biometrics appointment.  It has been 5 months now and I just noticed here that most people get the biometrics invitation about one month after the confirmation letter.  Has this happened to anyone else?  What number should we call?  The letter came from the California center and had a 1-800 number on it.  Is that the best number to call?  Are we now already totally screwed because of this 3-4 month delay?  My 1-year extension expires in November.  What happens if I don't get the decision and a new card before that?

Any other March filers waiting on St Paul office? Our status is still unchanged after "receiving the fingerprint fee". The interview waiver letter came months ago already.

Thanks this is very helpful as we are getting ready to send the similar package in right now. Just one question: Does the marriage certificate need to be a Certified Copy? According to the I-485 Instructions it seems that just a regular xerox copy would be fine.

Pete & Jan

Our son actually has a Philippine passport but we got it for him prior to submitting the US CRBA. Then I read somewhere that if a Philipino takes another citizenship he immediately loses Philippines citizenship and his Philippines passport becomes invalid. Then he needs to apply for a dual citizenship and get a new passport. We are bringing my son to the USA month from now, so we have no time for the dual citizenship application.

Of course they don't know that my son is a USC until I show both passports together at the airport.

We finally received our son's CRBA and US Passport, and with it came a piece of paper stating that we need to get him a Emigration Clearance Certificate or he will not be allowed to board a plane. Is this available from any BI field office, or do we need to go to the main BI in Intramuros to get it? Only the Intramuros address is mentioned in the US Embassy paper. Also, do we need to make two trips, the first one for paying and second one for picking it up?

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like the range is from 1 to almost 5 weeks. I did read somewhere that the passport is actually faster than CRBA, so the Consulate actually ends up holding the passport for a while until the CRBA shows up. Guess they don't want to pay for two separate shipments.

So, those who received them, did 2GO just show up at your doorstep with an envelope or did they contact you by phone or email to make sure that you were available for delivery?

I received it 1 week after the approval

Really? That sounds almost impossible considering that all the passports are printed in the USA, and getting one locally in the USA is at least two weeks. Did you have some kind of rush order?

Our baby boy just got his CRBA and passport application approved in Manila Embassy. How long will it take now until we receive his US passport and CRBA? Anyone with recent experience?

The one plus for having a SSN is to open a bank account or be a signatory on your account. Otherwise, you can get it after your married at which time you will need your marriage document as proof for SS. Like Hank said, the SSN is the only one you will have and it's guaranteed to last all your life and take your money when ever you have too much.

In my case another plus is being able to add my fiancee to my company provided health insurance. They accept a live-in partner as long as she has a SS#. Our wedding is scheduled 2 months after her arrival, so it will give her coverage two months earlier.

Can we submit these documents and have a meeting with Consular Officer in Cebu instead of Manila? Flying to Manila from Mindanao could get really expensive. And knowing Cebu caters to walk-in applicants, no appointment needed.

You can submit the CRBA in the Cebu Consular Office, but the officer in Cebu will only look it through and forward it to Manila. Based on our experience in Cebu, I would recommend going to Manila if you are in any kind of hurry, and here is why:

We submitted our son's CRBA in Cebu early September, and three weeks later I got an email from Manila Embassy asking for me to resend some papers that I had already submitted in Cebu. I immediately FedExed them in and for seven weeks there was nothing. Then I finally sent an email to Manila Embassy asking for a status update, and they responded with a recommendation that we do a DNA test. Basically it is my understanding that had we scheduled the initial appointment in Manila, we would have been talking directly with the decision maker, and if he felt we need a DNA test he would have told it to us immediately. Now using the Cebu route we experienced about 10 week delay before we even knew we need to do the DNA test.

Overall the CRBA application is only good for 90 days from the interview, so if you can not convince the officer during that time they will deny your child's citizenship. Of course, if there is no sufficient proof and no willing USC to do the DNA test, the denying decision may come much faster and you can just move on with the plan B.

Best of luck!

I suggest to many to email NVC requesting the MNL # as you can get a reply quicker from NVC quicker.

That's what I was hoping too. We got our NOA2 on October 1. I emailed NVC on October 7th asking for our MNL#. I got their email reply on November 20th. So it took them over six weeks to reply, while the paper letter arrived a month earlier.

They werent gonna allow me to have my medical without the NVC letter but I explained to them that I had it over the phone and that I checked the status on CEAC and it says ready which means it's already in the embassy. I just brought my interview appointment confirmation. They accepted it and just made me sign something in the form that says they're not accountable for mistakes in the MNL case number. Seems like it's just a matter of showing them you know what you're doing lol

May well be. Only my fiancee is a shy girl from province who is not one to challenge the authority too easily.

It seems the procedure is "variable" as so many things in the Philippines. My fiancee had her medical just a month ago and the day 1 she was told that she MUST bring the NVC email print with MNL# or she will not be allowed to proceed with the day 2. Luckily her day 1 was exactly the day when I received the NVC email so I was able to forward it to her and she had it with her on the day 2. She did offer her interview confirmation letter but the lady who was processing her documents did not accept it. So it seems that it depends on who is working at the USA desk. I guess people who don't have the NVC email yet can print out those instructions from the web site and point out the word OR. My NVC email arrived about week and half after the date they forwarded our case to Manila.

I just realized I made a small mistake in my note above. NVC did not send any email to us. It was a real paper letter they sent, and that is the one that took about 10 days from the day they forwarded our case to Manila. When my fiancee texted me from SLEC that she will need a copy for her second day, I just scanned the letter and emailed it to her.

And this is what the embassy states (embassy trumps hospital):

What should I bring to my medical examination?

• Appointment letter sent by the National Visa Center or an e-mail confirmation from the Visa Information and Appointment Service.
• Appropriate medical examination fee.
• Passport (valid for at least 6 months)
• Three color pictures (2 inches x 2 inches) with a white background(two are for the visa and one is for the medical report).

It seems the procedure is "variable" as so many things in the Philippines. My fiancee had her medical just a month ago and the day 1 she was told that she MUST bring the NVC email print with MNL# or she will not be allowed to proceed with the day 2. Luckily her day 1 was exactly the day when I received the NVC email so I was able to forward it to her and she had it with her on the day 2. She did offer her interview confirmation letter but the lady who was processing her documents did not accept it. So it seems that it depends on who is working at the USA desk. I guess people who don't have the NVC email yet can print out those instructions from the web site and point out the word OR. My NVC email arrived about week and half after the date they forwarded our case to Manila.

You are an exit immigrant you will have to pay the P1620.

Travel Tax

Travel Tax/Exit Fee for all those immigrating: 1620 Php (currently) can be paid at the airport if not included with the purchase of your airline ticket. Counter is staffed 24/7 at NAIA (front of terminal between the luggage scanners). At TERMINAL 3 Travel Tax counter is near Counter/Gate 1.

Philippine Travel Tax Application or Exemption

Presidential Decree No. 1183, as amended, provides that a travel tax shall be levied on (a) all citizens of the Philippines; (b) permanent resident aliens; and © non-immigrant aliens who have stayed in the Philippines for more than one (1) year, who are leaving the country.

Travel Tax - Info on exemption and fees.

You may be assessed or asked to pay in cash the Philippine Travel Tax based on the following :

• Mabuhay (Business) & Fiesta (Economy)

  Full Tax - PHP 1,620.00

  Children - PHP 810.00

  (2-11 years)

If you are exempted from paying the Philippine Travel Tax or entitled to a reduced travel tax, please secure applicable certificates such as follows, from Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), Department of Tourism (DOT) before you book online:

• Tax Exemption Certificate (TEC) if you are exempted from paying the Philippine Travel Tax
• Reduced Travel Tax Certificate (RTTC) if you are qualified for a reduced Philippine Travel Tax and
• Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) if you are an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW)

It is also required to present your valid passport together with any of the aforementioned valid original Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) Certificates when claiming your ticket(s) purchased online.

Terminal/Airport Fee : 550 Php (currently)

I have sort of related question so I thought I would ask here. Our son will have two passports, Philippines and USA, when flying from Manila to the USA via Japan with my K1 fiancee. Our estimated travel month is February, and at that point our son will be 9 months old. My fiancee's case is obvious, but what is our son's tax treatment as far as Philippine Travel Tax is concerned?