T & A

Currently on a plane about to leave for Manila to spend the holidays with my wife and her family. Her interview is scheduled for January 12 after I leave, but we're hoping NVC will send our file early and we'll be able to reschedule it sooner. Maybe she can even come home with me instead of following after! Here's to hoping!!

yay! we have the same interview date. do u have ur appointment letter yet for the slec? thanks!

No we don't although I think we should receive it today, I think people were saying the interview letter comes pretty fast. My wife called St. Lukes and was told as long as she has the case number she is fine to do the medical.

Got my cc one week ago, called earlier today and found out the interview was scheduled for January 12 in the early morning. I was really hoping for a December date, but I guess this will work. My wife is doing her medical tomorrow. It will be nice to get this over with.

Just got my CC today. I'm super happy. Maybe I shouldn't post in this thread because it's probably too late to get a December interview, but maybe just maybe! It does seem like the Philippines schedules interviews relatively quickly so we'll see what happens.

Congratulation. Thanks for your letting us know your timeline. My scan date is just one day after you, I hope I can get CC tomorrow :-)

Thank you. Just like you I was checking for the third N/A many times a day. They do seem a little backlogged right now and the person I spoke to on Friday said the same thing. I really hope you get your CC tomorrow since Thursday is Thanksgiving. Best of luck!

wooooooooo!!! just thought I'd check one last time before heading to work. Got the third N/A!!!! Now I've got to call to verify it's cc! So excited!!!!

Scan date of 10/22 here. I keep eagerly checking my status hoping for that third NA. I'm afraid to call and get on supervisor review with how sporadic those seem to be. I'll give it a couple more days and see how it goes.

Scan date 10/22 still waitingggggggggg. Looking forward to CC this Monday. ????

Same scan date here, let's hope Monday is a good day all around! I still have some small hope for a December interview even though I don't think it's very likely.

October 22 here. Really hoping for one of those fast 20 day cc's! We would really like a December interview so she can come back with me in January but I know it's not a great chance. At least Philippines seems to do the interviews relatively quickly (5-6 weeks from cc)

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you guys know that today I had my medical exam done even though I don't have yet a CC. Everything went fine and I now have the results in hand, which are good for 6 months So yes, it is possible to have your medical exam donw before you get your Case Completed.

This week, or early next week we should have our answer, so fingers crossed that this time is a CC.

I've read of other people doing the medical before getting the interview letter. What did you bring in to the medical instead of the interview letter?

scan date: 10/22

Here's to hoping everything will go smoothly, cc this month and interview in December so my wife can come back with me in January like we have been hoping for.

Well I'm quite happy. I've been calling almost everyday since I submitted my DS-261 on 10/19 when I got my case number. The case has always been locked and they kept saying to call back later. Finally last night I got an operator that seemed a lot more knowledgeable than the others who said she would forward my case to a supervisor to unlock and I could call back today. (It was right before closing last night so maybe no supervisor around at that point). I just got through today and it was unlocked so I got my choice of agent reviewed and am awaiting my IV fee->DS-260. I'm so happy to get that done so I won't have to call back until they review my documents.

Hey can you please guide me whIch number did you press after calling them? I called them today but it was a recorded message saying they're working on other customers, please call later... I haven't received any welcome letter from NVC about my case number and all.. Kind of upset also tell me when did you receive noa2? I saw my status on the website that my case was sent to the department of state on October 13th..

Yes it is very difficult to get through. Sometimes I have had to call, hangup, recall over 40 times before it actually got through and then a few times I'd call and get through on the first time. It can be annoying but just try to stick with it.

Once you do get through, I picked 1 for English, then 2 to establish an agent, request a fee bill or invoice number.

I received noa2 on Sept 18 and NVC didn't receive it until Oct 5, and didn't have a case number until Oct 19.

So just to put my info out there for anyone else waiting...

NOA2 on September 18 at Nebraska

NVC received October 5

Got my case number and IIN on 10/19 (Called everyday until they had it! Haha)

Filled out DS 261 immediately on 10/19 but couldn't pay AOS fee until 10/20. Then I decided to be a little risky and sent out the AOS/IV packages last Wednesday and they arrived 10/22. Now I've been calling every day trying to get my DS-261 reviewed and they keep telling me it's locked because it's so new and to try next week so I guess I'll be trying some more. As long as I get it reviewed, get IV bill and fill out DS-260 before they review my documents I should be fine. Ah well, more fun holding on the phone I guess!

Just got my MNL case #. NOA2 was September 18, NVC received on October 5, and have been calling almost everyday since then. It was assigned just today, two weeks after NVC received.

Filled out the DS-261 and will pay the AOS fee once they stop working on my case and the error message is gone. Yay for being able to make progress again!

I've seen lots of questions similar to mine, but not quite the same. From what I've read, the name that is on the DS-260 is the name that will be on the green card when it arrives. I should be getting my NVC case # soon and am trying to decide what to do on the DS-260 when I get it. So here is the situation:

My wife currently has her passport and ID in her maiden name. She can get her passport in the married name before the interview, but not before I submit the DS-260 and IV package. If I put the married name on the DS-260, but submit a copy of the biographic page of her current passport will that kick back an RFE for the passport in the married name? I feel like this situation should come up so often that it would make sense to be more lenient on it, but government agencies are never known for their leniency...

My options are:

1) Submit IV passport copy, DS-260 and passport at interview/PoE all in maiden name and change name when she gets here (which I feel would be a pain given how hard it is to get a new social security card)

2) Submit IV passport copy in maiden name, but DS-260 and passport at interview/PoE in married name.

What do you guys think?

Well I was very excited this morning to see a text from USCIS saying my status on my I-130 had changed so I very quickly check my case status and it is approved. YAY!!!!!! Now to finish getting everything ready for NVC and learn every last shortcut I can take from these forums.

Well turns out I was worrying over nothing. I just got approved today! no RFE. So I guess the NSO copy is not required for USCIS. We should have the NSO copy next week in time for NVC.

So I married my wife in the Philippines in June, and wanted to get her here asap so as soon as we got the first copy of our marriage contract that was official I sent off the I-130 package back in July. It's stamped and signed and looks plenty official to me, but I've heard USCIS wants the NSO copy that is apparently even fancier. I figured back in July that if it was a problem, we'd get an RFE when they processed it and I could fix it then because I should have the NSO copy and that would be faster than waiting to submit the I-130 until I had the NSO copy.

Well I'm hearing from the lawyer we used that the NSO copy will be available next week. My case hasn't been processed yet (I am a little disappointed in that since it seems Philippines IR-1/CR-1 are autoexpedited and several others who submitted in July were approved in August, but c'est la vie) I am wondering if it is possible to somehow send the NSO copy when I receive it to USCIS or if I have to wait for an RFE?

Any help would be appreciated.

haha yeah I remember when we were in the lawyer's office getting all the paperwork done. Tiny little office and I'm a very big guy so they had me sit down to not be in everyone's way haha. Then they made fun of me for putting USA in the citizenship box instead of American. It was fun and it was nice to get it all processed by the lawyer, skip the seminar and have everything go quickly. Just cost a bit of money. I wish I could pay a bit more money and have the spousal visa process go faster. =)

How did you find lawyer? My fiance's sister was married by lawyer, hoping we can use same lawyer in her hometown. They live in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

The marriage certificate was NSO issued? I've read the USCIS requires the NSO issued marriage certificate.

Many thanks!

We went to the local registrar at Quezon City where I had planned to get the form, fill it out and take the seminar in the afternoon. When we got there though and asked the guard where to go he suggested we talk to one of the lawyers that had an office in the building there on the second or third floor. So we went to where he directed us, my now-wife explained the situation to the lawyer and we got cracking on the paperwork. We kept in touch with the lawyer through texting and met her the next week to get the marriage contract. When we decided to do a civil ceremony in Quezon City then and do a religious ceremony in Mindanao later (because the paperwork would take forever to process from the province versus quezon city) the lawyer even arranged for us to get someone to officiate and then file the signed license afterwards. We got the certificate of marriage a few weeks later. I don't believe it is the NSO copy, I believe that one has a red ribbon on it? This one is stamped and signed by several people in the registrar's office, one of whom is designated an NSO authentication officer. I used that when submitting my I-130. Now they haven't approved mine yet so maybe we will get a RFE, but I was told it would be months for the proper NSO copy with the red ribbon and figured worst case I would get an RFE and have it in hand by then. (Of course now I'm seeing data that Philippines I-130s are going super fast and maybe I won't have it in time). I mean it is a very official looking marriage certificate. I'm not sure why USCIS wouldn't accept it, but we'll see.

When we spoke to the lawyer we did discuss the family planning seminar, and we didn't really want to sit through that and the lawyer told us there was a way around going to it and getting the license rush processed so we just went with that. I was surprised because I was expecting to go through the seminar and wait a lot longer for the license, but it was very quick with the lawyer getting rush processing approved.

After we did the civil ceremony and gave the signed license back to the lawyer, I think we got the marriage certificate in 2-3 weeks. I honestly don't remember exactly how long.

There are ways around it. We hired a lawyer when I was there, got to skip the pre-marriage seminar and got the marriage license fast tracked. It took just a few days. Whether you want to do that or not it's up to you. I think the lawyer charged us 3500 php.

Just mailed off my package today. I'm excited to start this process!