crazysauce

Thank you so much Tahoma!
You have been a great help and we are glad you are here!

Hello VJers!
We have our interview in two days, and hope we will be approved. Assuming we are approved, and that we will be picking up the visa at 2GO rather than delivery to personal address, do you know how much time that will save?
Also, so you know how long after the online status is officially "issued" until we can pick it up from 2GO?
I've read on VJ that it could take a couple weeks but also that it's taken just one day.
Your feedback will be helpful. thanks in advance.

Yes, status changed to AP yesterday about 4 pm local time.
hopefully today we will have the holy "issued" status!

Just did a CRBA successfully myself, and it felt quite good after a somewhat tedious process to get this done.
With respect to the question about how and where you lived, they want approximate dates, but in the form mm.dd.yyyy. Because I couldn't remember exactly when I moved from one place to another, I just gave approximate 1sts. For example I'd say:
Los Angeles, CA From 10/1/2012 To 6/30/2013
Anaheim, CA From 7/1/2013 To Present
To be honest, I knew what year and generally what season I moved, but not the date or even month. I don't think they were trying to scrutinize this part. They just wanted to make sure it didn't look suspicious, and would it have raised suspicions during the interview, I'm sure the CO would be liable to investigate it further.
After that particular section, they also asked me where I went to High School, and what areas I grew up in, just to reassure themselves my story seemed correct. After all, it really comes down to each individual CO's discretion whether they want to approve your application, considering it falls within their guidelines as well. Im sure that if particular inconsistencies are found, they may escalate the issue to their superiors and it'd become a total pita. Ultimately it is best and recommended to give the full truth, so that your memories can align with whats written on paper.

That's not correct. If you are in doubt, make the phone call to NAIA CFO and ask.

You need to call them ahead of time. Tell them your flight details so someone from their desk at NAIA will wait for you to give you your sticker.

Update:
After mailing off all the requested copies to the Embassy, they called us a couple days later to inform us that no appt was available until mid october, and that we should attend the US Embassy Outreach program at the Lewis Grand Hotel in Angeles City. I went in at 5am to sign in, for CRBA I was the first on the list. The staff at the hotel informed me to return at 8 (be there much earlier!).
They were scheduled to start at 8am. When I arrived again at 7:30 I was informed they had already called our name several times and I argued that this was all supposed to happen at 8 and I'm even 30 minutes early. They accepted us after they finished the person they were already helping.
Once one embassy employee looked through our paperwork to verify, i was instructed to pay (bring exact change to the outreach.) after paying we were shuttled off for the interview where wife and I, along with baby were seen personally and asked a few typical questions (who/what/when/where/why/how's of our relationship). My wife and I both swore an oath and were told every thing was in line and to take the documents over to the air21 table to fill out mailing forms and pay the shipping fee.
We were out of there in about an hour.
To anyone considering going to the Embassy Outreach in Angeles, here are some tips I want to empasize:
-Be there to sign up early, the embassy (when they called me) recommended I be there at 6-6:30. I was there at 5, and wasnt the only one.
-If you dont have to leave, dont.. they didnt seem to stick to there start time, probably in an attempt to help more people
-If you are driving, Lewis Grand Hotel has almost zero parking, be prepared to park down the street and walk back up.
-Bring exact change. The Outreach doesnt take credit cards. They do take US Dollars and Peso. They do not offer change and they cant "keep the change" so it HAS to be exact.
-Be prepared for a ton of people, we only had standing room and its incredibly loud and hard to hear the names being called over the loud speaker or the embassy staff sitting in front of you.
-They post outreach dates here: https://ph.usembassy.gov/category/messages-for-us-citizens/
-For Embassy Outreach, and filing CRBA/US passport for a child, you do not need to mail in the documents first, you can just go to the outreach.

Thanks everyone!
Lost of stress but its worth it!

Thank you so much Tahoma!
You have been a great help and we are glad you are here!

Hi all. I want to share my story for those who is undergoing AP and hope this will help a little.
07/30 - I had my interview. CO didn't clearly say if I was approved or not. I had one missing doc and I was aware of that. This was a Police Clearance from one country I lived more than 6 months. They kept my passport and told me to send the doc to them and they will contact me. They gave me white 221 g form.
07/30 - CEAC status showed AP ( Your case needs further review. )
08/01 - Sent the Police clearance to the embassy.
08/02 - Got a text from the courier saying the doc was delivered.
08/02 - CEAC still on AP
..... I didn't call the embassy regarding the doc submitted cause my fiance told me that's not how the government works, the more you call them the more they do it late...
08/09 - Sent an email to the embassy and ask for acknowledgment upon receipt of the doc submitted. ( couldn't wait no more so I asked them )
08/11 - Got an email from the embassy saying they have received additional doc and referred my case to concerned team for processing. CEAC still on AP.
08/12 - CEAC changed to READY ( You can book your appointment. )
08/13 - CEAC showed READY ( your case is open and wait for two business days. )
08/15 - CEAC changed to AP ( Your case is undergoing necessary AP. This can take several weeks. )
08/16 - CEAC changed to ISSUED.
I hope this helps a little. There is an AP and there is an AP. They are two different cases depends on it's content. You are put on AP after the interview if your case needs further review , you may have one missing doc or they really need further review ( CEAC shows AP your case requires furhter review. ) and there is AP which showez your case is undergoing necessary AP ( If I am not mistaken this AP showed when they will issue you a visa soon )
If you have any questions on my case, feel free to ask I will help. God Bless to all of us.

Thanks to everyone! We were approved and are in CEAC "Ready"- case open status since 4 hours after interview approval. The status update date changed yesterday to the 30th while the CC date is at the same of 29th.
We are hoping to have our visa in hand before the end of next week, about six days from today. Hopefully the status will be Issued on Monday and Thursday we can pick up visa. we still need to get the sticker from CFO, since we already completed the seminar last week.
Not sure if the CO processed our approval or paperwork faster, but she acknowledged that I, the petitioner have been in the phil for 6 straight months now, since the birth of our daughter, and that i will return to the usa asap.
Thanks again and good luck to us all!

Thanks Tahoma!