dafnyduck

I know.. but my husband always tell me to call USCIS. I kept on saying that they will just tell me to wait until 30 days have passed. haha. Did they ask you for your marriage certificate? or just the passport?

Better wait after 30 days if you still haven't received your letter. They didn't ask for our marriage certificate but I still brought it with me just in case.

I'll remember that!

it has been more than 2 weeks..17 days to be exact. My husband checked our mail every day.. it's getting frustrating, all the waiting, hehe

I'm sorry to hear that. But you're still within the normal timeframe so you can still relax for now.

Are your receipt nos. all working already?

Nope. Had my biometrics already and receipt #s still aren't working. Some say it could take 2 months for the #s to work. It differs.

I am glad you already had your biometrics! I am still waiting for mine. You had your biometrics in Tampa? I heard there's always a lot of people there. I think you are good for now. They will send your biometrics to FBI for checking. And if all is good, you just have to wait for a new update from USCIS. You are now looking at updates on your EAD/AP card and interview schedule (which can take a month or more).

keep us posted dafnyduck!

Now your waiting game begins! You should have more patience though.

Yep, lots of people! I advise that you come in an hour or 30 mins ahead of your appointment. How many weeks has it been since you got your NOA1s?

I had my biometrics yesterday. Came in at exactly 10 AM but took us about 2 hours waiting for my turn. There were so many people! But I'm glad I'm finished with that stage and now we wait again. Hopefully no RFEs, can't wait to start working! Just a question, after they take your photo, fingerprints, and signature, we don't have to do anything else right? All the papers they gave us during registration are ours to keep? I'm concerned I might have missed a step or something LOL! *paranoid*

Yay! Got my biometrics appointment letter today! Exactly 6 days since I received my NOA1s in the mail. I'm scheduled for first week of September.

Mine is also not working yet and i dont have my bio letter yet

Me too. Still waiting for the bio letter and receipt #'s not working as of now.

It's unpredictable, there's no indication of a timeframe

Usually after a week of receiving the receipt notices by mail. Can take a bit longer though and it's no problem, mine took 3 weeks or so.

Rfes can be received even on the day of the interview, after it when the officer is reviewing the papers... Until the green card is in hand there's a chance of rfe.

Thank you so much!

Good to hear you're having a progress in your caswe. I am now waiting for my NOA to come in the mail too. ? The biometrics letter is also prertty random in terms of when tl received it. As what I've notice in different experiences here, some got their bio letter as early as 3 days after they received their paper NOAs. Other took 6 days and others have it 2 upto 3 weeks ar their NOA arrived. I hope you get yours early!☺☺☺

And yel, let's all hope no one gets any RFE!???

I do hope I get it early as well as my work permit. I've been stuck at home for far too long. I'm not used to being unemployed. I see you're from Tampa also!

Yay! I got my hardcopy receipt notices (NOA1) in the mail today! How long does it take before you get the biometrics appointment notice or RFE (if any)? Crossing my fingers that I won't get RFE. So anxious now.

Hi kabayan! Don't worry about it too much. Ours took about 90 days for the NOA2 to arrive so you and your fiance are still well within the normal timeline. Just be patient and it will come! Also remember all cases are different so don't compare your timeline with the others. Trust the system and if the NOA2 still hasn't arrived in 5 months, then that's the time to take action. Good luck on your journey!

Hi, everyone! We're one of the August filers too. Sent our packet on August 4, but they received it on August 8 (Monday). Just got the USCIS Acceptance Confirmation email at around 12:30am today, so that's about 7 days. Whew! The email had a receipt number so does that mean we're going forward? Do rejection notices get receipt numbers? The waiting game is so nerve-wracking!

Ours took 3 months for NOA2 to arrive. You're fine. Relax!

Cool!! You are one of the few that it has been paid already. A few years back they started that process then the OFWs threw a fit as they are not to be charged ... and well you get the idea... more confusion in the Phils.

Anyway, yours is already paid, you can check-in with the airline without issue. Done. Handled.

Ohhh what a relief! Yeah, I heard about that too but I wasn't able to follow the whole story. Anyway, thanks again! I can now scratch it off my pre-departure worries. LOL!

As noted the terminal fee is included with the airfare now.

The travel tax you have to pay BEFORE you check-in with the airline. If you haven't paid the travel tax before check-in the airline will not allow you to process through.

Travel Tax counter is at the front of the terminal, in the middle of the airline counter area.

Can't check-in with the airline if the travel tax has NOT been paid.

Thanks, Hank for the response A little confused though. In my ticket receipt, under the DETAILED CHARGES, it mentions "Philippines - Travel Tax (PH) - $35.10 so I thought the Travel Tax was already included in the ticket? Do I still have to go to the counter and pay again? Thanks!

Hi everyone! I'm finally leaving tomorrow and I'm a little nervous! I just wanna ask those who've traveled recently about NAIA Terminal 3 (Manila Airport)'s Travel Tax and Terminal Fee payment procedures. I have read in the news that they have begun including them in airline ticket prices since Feb 2015. Checked mine and it does have PH Travel Tax and Passenger Service Charge (LI) which I assume is the terminal fee.

Question is am I all set or do I still have to go to Travel Tax/Terminal Fee counters? Or should I just go straight to my airline and check in? Flying Delta btw. Thank you so much for your help!

basically I'll just put up the email I sent to the CSC to get information. Could anybody help out here. Been waiting with no information at all and it seems everyone else is being approved already. So aggravating

To whomever it may concern,

My fiancée and I filed for my K1 visa and got our NOA1 on February 2nd , the date that the visa was accepted on was January 29th. Now, as we are both obviously new to this we signed up to visa help sites to be able to follow other people's journeys whilst ours was pending. However, we've now noticed that the number of NOA2's and even those with RFE's are going a lot faster than ours... The average waiting time in between NOA1 and NOA2 appears to be between 31-50 days - we are now on day 63 (which I understand there is a 5 month waiting time suggested by yourselves) however when everyone else around you is being accepted, and informed of what's going on with their K1's I feel that we have been kept somewhat in the dark. My Fiancée called your customer service team whom were less than helpful, and didn't want to offer any advice which I find somewhat saddening as we're going through the most stressful, yet exciting time of our lives and it is being dampened and made even more stressful by people like this - unwilling to help.

I would like to take this opportunity to request some form of further details as to what is going with our process. Even if we were number 32 million in the queue an you had a turnaround of 100,000 a day at least I'd know we were going somewhere. But now it seems like we've just been put at the bottom of a pile and forgotten about. Which I understand a lot of others must feel also. I would appreciate a response adequately and efficiently.

Side note to this - I can see that somebody accessed our file on the 3rd February (one day after it was stated on our NOA1?) Secondly, according to the website visa journey.com the processing date for the CSC is February 11th (9 days after ours?) and we still haven't heard a thing. It's starting to get a bit frustrating to be waiting and waiting and have no further information or anything to base our time on. I work full-time as well as attending university and would need to give plenty of notice to be able to attend the next stages of the process. I'd basically just like to know where we're at so that I could be able to plan ahead of time and make sure I have the correct money saved etc.

Hi! My fiance received our NOA2 four months after NOA1. So relax, and be more patient. It will come eventually! Good luck

Hi folks! I seem to remember reading something about the I-129f expiration date having something to do with the POE.

I may have read about at least a couple of cases where the applicant was denied entry despite having a valid visa because their I-129f had already expired. Could anybody shed light on this? I already have my passport and visa packet, but I wasn't planning on leaving until late July.

I called the USEM about this issue a few hours ago. Our I-129f/NOA2 expired in February and just got my visa last week, leaving in May. USEM said it's fine and that they usually renew petitions every 4 months for one year. If you want to be sure you can email USEM so you can have a document in hand to present to POE. That's what I'm doing now. Good luck!

Called USEM today and the lack of hyphen and annotation is not going to be an issue! Yay!

I put my MNL #. But I also read somewhere that WAC # is okay.

You will need the name on the visa to match your name on your passport exactly.

The spelling is 100% correct, except there's no hyphen. I figured because the visa/form does not accept special characters? When I was filling out my DS-160 before the interview, it wouldn't accept the hyphen so I didn't include it. Maybe the same goes for the visa?

Hi everyone! I finally received my visa on Friday. This feels so surreal! Three questions:

1. I have read in several forums people discussing the Annotation section in the visa. Mine has nothing. Not even the name of my fiance or the petition expiry. Is this normal?
2. My name is correctly spelled thank God! My first name should've been hyphenated though, but the visa doesn't have one. Is this okay?
3. Finally, while going through my papers, I discovered that our NOA2 has expired 2/18/2016. I plan to leave the Philippines in May. Will this be a problem at the POE? I'm entering Detroit. I've read several threads here on VJ where people got denied entry because the NOA2 is expired, even if the visa is still valid. I can't afford to be sent back. My fiance and I have been apart for far too long.

Thank you so much in advance!

Thanks everyone! I have decided to wait not to renew until we get married. Got my visa on Friday!!!

Yes, visa is considered valid until it expires but K1 are only singe entry as you have mentioned. CFO stickers are only in the Philippines and I believe that it is only needed for you to present in Philippines Immigration Officer when you leave your country. Are you able to renew your passport without presenting your old one? I am aware that Philippines passport costs $60 to renew here in USA plus airline tickets if you don't live near the state (where Philippine Consulate located). But, I've heard there are outreach programs wherein the Phil Consulate schedules and visits every state e.g. You live in Oklahoma, so you're local Philippine Consulate Embassy is in Chicago. It will costs you hundreds of dollars to fly to Chicago and stay in hotel (if needed). So instead of doing this, you will have to wait for their schedule to visit your state and renew your passport.

Also, if you renew your passport before you leave your country, would it 1-3 weeks for you to accomplish it?

Regarding your maiden and married name, it is your choice if you want to use your married name when obtaining your green card. When you leave USA or go anywhere else, you just need to show your marriage certificate (copy) if you opt to use your maiden name.

From what I know, the DFA (the Philippine government branch issuing passports) requires the old one during renewal so they could punch holes in it. My fear is, if I renew my passport before flying out, it might invalidate my K1 visa and the CFO certificate/sticker. Hope someone here has had this experience.

I can apply for expedited passport which usually takes 1-2 weeks.

You can apply for Advance Parole (free if filed with AOS) and I really recommend getting it because even if you don't intend to travel you never know what will happen, family can get sick.

You can apply for a new passport in your married name at any time, it doesn't have to be before AOS. Passport is not needed for AOS. You should file for AOS in your married name either way.

Thank you! Will definitely keep that in mind!

What to do if my visa is in an expired passport If my visa is in an expired passport, what should I do?

If your visa* is in a passport that has expired or will expire within 6 months of the end of your U.S. visit, you will need to get a new passport. However, you do not need to apply for a new visa. Just bring both your new passport and your old passport with the valid visa to present to the CBP Officer when you arrive in the U.S.

Source: https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/826/~/what-to-do-if-my-visa-is-in-an-expired-passport

Does this also apply to K1 visa and CFO stickers as well? So would you recommend that I renew my passport before leaving the Philippines?

For years I traveled around with 2 expired passports and a current one. The visas where in the old ones. Just make sure they don't damage the visas (and any required stickers that go with it). When they void the old passport. I also copied all the entry and exit dates that went with the visas, just in case I would need them in the future.

Do you think this could apply to my case? Even if K1s are single-entry?

Thanks everyone for your input!

You don't need to renew your passport. 7 months is still good and enough (validity is same with the date until it expires). Were you thinking going back to home country after getting your green card? If so, once you come here in USA you can just renew it your local Philippine Consulate.

Nope, but we do intend to travel outside the US this year. Figured I can't do that without getting a green card first, no? Will my green card reflect my married name even if I submitted a passport with my maiden name? Or can I renew my passport whilst waiting for my green card to arrive?

You only need a passport that has 6 months left on it from the day you get your visa so you're good. I was in the same position while waiting on my visa.

IF you renew your passport after getting your visa your visa will be invalid. It would be in an old destroyed passport (the people you get your passport from usually put holes in them)

You should wait until after you're married to renew passport.

So would you recommend applying for a new passport with my married name before applying for AOS? Or is it possible to do both simultaneously?