kate havoc

Congats!

are u from philippines too?

Thank you! Yes i'm from the philippines as well.

CONGRAT!!! I hope my NOA2 shows up at my door in a month as well...

Thank you! For sure it will.

Just got my noa2 approval as well. June 16 noa1.

To all those having problems logging in to check their status,I just read the news On the USCIS website that USCIS is conducting system maintenance so some customer service tools are unavailable from 11th-12th July 2015.

Here is more on that:

http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/customer-service-tools-unavailable

Hey! Thanks! I was meaning to ask here if I was the only one who cannot connect with the check my status page.

Yes. I can't remember what day I received it but it is dated June 16th.

Wow! Our notice date is on the 16th as well.

Katreine, My fiancé is in Cebu. Are you in Cebu by any chance?

wow Cebu is such a nice place! but nope, I am living in Manila. Do you have your NOA1 hardcopy? my fiance received it on the 22nd.

Hello Katreine, Are you in the Philippines or in the US right now?

Hi! I am in the Philippines right now.

We have exactly the same dates. Hehe. I am hoping for a speedy process as well, with no RFE's. Cheers!

I'd do anything to be in his shoes. To be with my fiance right now. It's just so sad that you guys went through a lot of trouble seemingly for nothing. It is a long and stressful process, the visa application and all that, he's very lucky he got approved and had the chance to be with you while here are some of us, still patiently waiting for the approval of the application. Just as any marriage, or relationship for that matter, it requires sacrifice and hard work for it to be a success. But people adapt and adjust differently.. Wish he'd change his mind and work things out with you. It's not too late, i hope he doesn't take those plane tickets home and fly back and chicken out that easily. A lot of people would kill for where he is right now.... Nasa huli ang pagsisisi.

Also, you deserve someone better. Someone willing to accept change and has the conscious knowledge of being lucky they get to be with the person they love.

Ps. We do not know the other side of this story, we are not judging your fiance for his actions, but really, you deserve someone better than him.

Hey guys! Noob question, how long do they usually issue an RFE notice after receiving the NOA1? Days? Weeks?

when you look at your VJ timeline it says you should expect your NOA2 btn 29th July and 1st August.its an estimate since every case is different.it may be sooner by a few days or abit later but that's the time you can plan around

Ohhhh thank you! so exciting!

So guys for us june filers, when is the estimated time for NOA2? Uscis site says it received it the 12th got the text on the 17th. Which date should I count from then?

You don't need the hard copy of the NOA2 for the actual visa application in Manila. Don't need the NOA2 until later after you are married and filing AOS.

DON'T! Don't forward mail to the Philippines... very bad idea. Keep your PO Box in the states, even if no one is checking it.

All you need to start the visa process is the MNL # . You get an email from USCIS with your approval notice, then wait 10 - 14 days and call, and EMAIL, NVC to get your MLN #

Thank you for you reply. My fiance will be keeping his US PO box for all his mail. Thanks for giving me a direct answer to my questions. always so helpful.

To me, not a good idea to be away when the NOA 2 comes.I would reconsider. Much to be done here in the USA, once the NOA 2 arrives.Deal with NVC, etc. Need MNL number to schedule medical and interview.

I don't have the answers to all your questions, but here are some answers.

Since you have your NOA1 number you can setup an account on the USCIS website to notify when there are changes to your status.

Alternately you can check the status on the webpage.

A USPS PO box is not ideal for travel. A small box can fill up very quickly.

There are places in the US that will receive your mail, open it, scan it, and email it to you.

That would be better choice for extended travel.

You must notify USCIS of your change of address. However I have heard they do not always get/receive/update your address properly.

My experience has been that it takes many weeks for mail to go from the US to PHL. That time delay alone makes forwarding mail unappealing.

You don't need your NOA2 for your medical nor for your interview.

You can check the status of the petition online from 'Pinas. Once the petition is approved, wait a couple/few weeks and then start calling the NVC until they give you your MNL case number.

Once you have your MNL case number, you are good to go. You can schedule an interview and complete your medical.

Your fiancé should bring his latest income tax return/tax transcript, W-2, recent paycheck stubs, I-134, and anything else that may be needed for the interview.

Have a great time!

Thank you guys! I will tell my fiance about this. He has all his docs ready to take home in case of the interview and he's going to fly here by the end of July instead. Hopefully just in time for the NOA2 to arrive at his place. If not, then we'll just check status online.

Thanks for all the enlightening ideas! You guys are the best. *internet hugs for you*

It's never a good idea to use philpost EVER! They can't be trusted to deliver, to not steal the contents or to deliver anything on time.

Most of your questions can be answered at my website. The link is in my signature below at the twisting arrow.

Thanks for the heads up!

hi good people of VJ! so my fiance just got the NOA1 text and email earlier this morning (US time). Now we are waiting for the RFE letter, which hopefully there's none, and the NOA1 hard copy in the mail and the subsequent NOA2 as well. I have a bunch of questions here..

1. Fiance is planning on staying in the Philippines from July to October. Hence, he would NOT be able to receive the hardcopy of the NOA2 in the mail. What is the best thing to do regarding this situation? He is planning on opening a PO box in his local post office so all his letters get routed there instead of his home mailbox. BTW, no one could check his mail for him.

2. Has anybody tried changing their mailing address in the USCIS site? How was it?

3. Is it a good idea to change his mailing address in the US in favor of his home address here in the Philippines?

4. Are there any contents in NOA2 hardcopy that is not in their email or SMS notification?

5. Is it required to bring the original NOA2 hardcopy to the USEM interview? Won't the email print out suffice?

Thanks guys!

-k

I just received our NOA1 .. To CSC.. hooray!

Lol yesss! I'm pretty sure we will be fine when we will be at this point! By the Way I can't wait!!!!! Did u guys thought about how long your process gonna take? I was thinking about be in New York for December. What about you???

hopefully december as well! NYE in NYC! wooot!

Fiance sent it today! Hooray! May the odds ever be on our favor LOL.

From the time an NBI clearance (green form) has been obtained how long is the validity of the NBI clearance for K1 interview purposes?

NBI clearances are valid for one year upon issuance, but they say that USEM requires it to be at least 6 months within your interview timeframe.

I used plain paper and not photo paper, No problem.

I put two photos oin each piece of paper and used Office 2012 to do that.

Plain paper is fine. You don't need to send a lot. Twelve photos will be fine.

I printed our pictures on regular papers.

Yey! I guess we'll be doing that then! Thanks for your help guys! Fiance will be sending out the application this Friday. I'm excited and scared at the same time. *cringe*

How many photos did you guys send with the i129f? fiance wants to front load the application with basically all 4 years worth of photos / logs/ imsgs and still feel like those are not enough. ...Yet we wouldn't wanna bust the USCIS' brains out with a folder full of cheesy photos and what nots. Just how many is too many?

Could you please specifically tell me the amount or number of pages for each (pics, logs, sms) . Can't seem to find any relevant info about this anywhere. *sigh*

This would help sooooooo much. In advance, thank you for your help. Thanks VJ!

we made a collage for each trip together (quite a few) and printed them on plain letter size paper. I figured they would fit better in a file too. It was perfectly fine.

Ohh that's our plan as well being it that we have quite a few photos and we thought printing them each one individually would not be that efficient at all. And a collage type thing would be perfect to consolidate those photos in one place. Thanks for your response it's a relief to hear it from someone who did the same thing.

Thanks guys for your responses!

I didn't even use a color copier....I put 12 photos onto four power point slides...printed two slides per page on the black and white photocopier.

No problems.

plain paper is fine.

hey guys! so right now my fiance is currently printing out our photos , chat logs etc to be submitted with the i-129f.

I just wanna know if it's alright to color print our digital photos ( vacation, holiday photos) on COPY PAPER instead of the oh so expensive photo paper (frugality at it's finest). Chat logs will be on copy paper as well.

Reason being, yes it is hell of a lot cheaper than photo paper and you could actually put 4 photos in a single page. We are planning on doing that then indicating specific dates, places, people at the side of each photo. (2x2 or 4x4 grid type thing). Still am gonna paperclip and indicate specifics though.

Is this an actual valid thing to do? or do we really have to print each photo in photo paper individually?

Wish to hear your thoughts about it. Thank you as always!

-K

The best evidence is pictures. Pictures of the two of you together in loving poses ie. holding hands, arms around each other and the two of you sightseeing together. Don't forget FAMILY photos show they can see that he has met the family at social gatherings.

Keep the money aspect out of it. Chat logs will do nicely. They don't want years and years of pictures and logs. Just 12 pictures and a few pages of chat logs spread over the years. They are more incline to ask you questions and when you look them in the eye and say it with confidence that alone will go a long way.

The interview is less than 5 min. Usually, based on your submitted paperwork before hand, they have a good idea of what they are going to do before they even meet you at the window. Don't be disappointed if they don't even ask for pictures.

Thank you so much for this! suffice to say we won't be including the money xfers in our application. We just have to sift through our photos then we're good to go. Projected day of filing would be 05 June 2015. and thank you for your guide, it's been very helpful. *cheers*