jannapalmer

Yeah, everything went fast right? I personally think American consuls are more friendly and less intimidating than the Filipinos

Really? Are you the couple behind us in line? What were you wearing then? I was wearing white and my husband blue polo, he he

Congrats!! I'm so happy all of us scheduled on the same day got approved.

Yeah.. thank you!

Thank you!!

wow congrats too!!

So I just finished my interview today and thought I would share with you guys a glimpse of the experience.

Step1a: Data entry/review

Step1b: Fingerscanning
Step2: Pre-screening
Step3: Oath-taking
Step4: Interview with an American consul

That's it! When we got approved the consul said we're free to go home if we have no further questions. Since we already registered a delivery address online, and you also fill up that part on the DS-260, there's no more step 5.


We got there at 7:30 and we're done by 10am. So it took us about 2 1/2 hours all in all.

Issues (I got paranoid about in the past):

1. Inconsistencies of name - Didn't matter. The prescreener or american CO didn't care that my passport is in my maiden name while the petition and DS-260 used my married name. No need to update passport.

2. Different signatures - yeah..coz I got so eager to sign in my married name already I forgot my passport bears my old signature and I signed with my "married" signature in all the forms I had to fill up. BUT, it didn't matter. They hardly paid attention to it.

3. NBI Clearance - I gave one that has no AKA, just with my maiden name and husband surname. Doesn't matter. They still accepted it. I guess it only matters when you have been married before. And it also doesn't matter whether you put "Travel Abroad" or "Visa USA", both acceptable.

4. Birth Certificate - I was worried that whether NSO or PSA stamp would make a difference. Nope, not really.

5. CENOMAR - My advisory on marriages (CENOMAR) said "For passport/travel" instead of "Visa Purposes". Again, it didn't matter. They saw a yellow form and that's it. They didn't really looked into the details as much.

Last but not the least,

6. Form i-864 (original vs. scanned) - I brought scanned forms sent by my joint sponsor. They still accepted it. They just asked if the signature is original. I said yes, it's original, my sponsor really did sign it even though it's a scanned copy. I don't know how that made sense but they didn't ask any more questions and accepted it.

At the end of the day, our visa got approved! Maybe we just got lucky. Or maybe over-preparation paid off. I guess as long as you have all documents they could possibly ask for, you're good. Especially all original ones - BC, MC, CENOMAR, NBI.

My interview sched was 7:30, and we were done by 10am

Good luck today you guys!

Thanks!!! We're done with the interview. My visa got approved

Thanks everyone for the tips and advice! So I went on with the interview this morning with my husband, yeah the pre-screener asked whether the signatures on the form i-864 by my husband and my joint sponsor are original, I said yes. My husband's signature on the form is original. My joint sponsor's signature on the form is original, but the copy is scanned (I don't know how that made sense) but more importantly, no other questions after that. My visa got approved!!!!

Thank God and thanks to all VJ experts here who never tire to answer questions no matter how silly they are. God bless u guys!

Yeah 221(g)

omg, I'm scared now..

Thanks a lot guys! Truly appreciate it. I have my fingers crossed on this. I've been lucky with the process so far, I hope I get lucky with the interview. Either way, I talked to my joint sponsor and he agreed to finally snail mail the documents by Monday. So in case the CO asks for it, it would already be on its way.

Thanks for the response guys

Now I'm kinda torn, I never really thought about it before and my interview is on Monday..

Should I go ahead with the interview, try my luck? worst case scenario, get RFE.. (and what's the time frame I'm looking at?)

or, resched the interview and wait for my joint sponsor to snail mail the form i-864?

aww.. what if it's an electronic signature in adobe? and it is in black ink

Hi guys! I just wanna know if it's okay if I only have a scanned copy of form I-864 from my joint sponsor? I know USCIS specifically said "original" but, we sent our joint sponsor the pdf of the form, he filled it up and printed it out to sign it, and then he scanned it to be able to send it back to us via email. It looks a lot like the regular form only the print is not as sharp and a bit smaller (still perfectly readable) than the actual size. I wonder if that would work and the embassy would accept that? We barely get a hold of our joint sponsor coz he's busy with work in LA and he's also caught up with wedding plans atm. What do you think?

Yup, just go there to get the sticker. I think you'll also have to register there (fill up a form). Just show your certificate and passport with visa then they'll give you the sticker.

They're right. Once you have MNL case, you can already schedule for an interview. Just print out your appointment letter and bring it to the embassy at the time of your interview. Sometimes, they also ask for that appointment letter during your medical exam in St. Luke's, like in my case.

I chose the date for my interview. But I did DCF so it may be different. I just wonder if.. with DCF you have the freedom to pick your own date for interview.. or it's a thing in US embassy Manila that they let you schedule your own interview. I don't mean to cause any further confusion and maybe my situation doesn't apply here coz I did CR1 via DCF.

Maybe you can contact the embassy to clarify?

Yup, yellow is for local employment. Green is for travel abroad or visa purposes.

yay!! good luck and god bless!!

The spokesperson what-not at NBI constantly reminded us that:

NBI Clearance "travel abroad" if you're gonna use it to get a passport

NBI Clearance "Visa USA" if you're specifically going to travel and eventually migrate to US

But I dunno if they can be lenient, you can try your luck.

Also, make sure you get one that has an AKA, to be on the safe side.

I'm not sure but I think he'll have more issue with the domicile thing rather than the length of stay here in the Philippines coz as you mentioned he became a permanent resident here. He has to show proof that he intends to re-establish domicile in the US.

I kind of got confused with your post. Were you a previous K1 filer and now transitioning to CR1? Coz you mentioned you got married in California. Correct me if I'm wrong. Hopefully other VJ experts here would have better insight.

Sure! I'll update you after my interview on Monday as I was anxious about possible issues I might have that could affect my visa process like the name thing, signature etc..

You went to the interview with her right? How was it like, were you interviewed separately or the CO interviewed her with you right there? My husband is going with me to the interview.

Also, did the Filipino consul took some docs or just checked it and you gave everything to the American consul? Do I need to make duplicates of everything, and how many? Thanks in advance

May 23 here as well. But got the late schedule 9am lol

aww.. I got 7:30am

good luck to us!