Is it possible for wife to fly within the USA while waiting on the AOS green card but after K1 Visa expires? Should she use her maiden name to book the ticket since she might not have any photo identification with her married name? Presumably then she should  use her Philippines passport or Philippines Unified ID to go through TSA?

Thanks for for any insight you can provide.

4 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

That's awesome and congratulations. Did you make sure to have some type of TFC on your tv at home? 

At your recommendation I did.. TFC and GMA.  It's been helpful.  She follows a series called Wildflower.  Of course she also loves our HGTV.  Thanks again.

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 11:23 AM, Zzyzx said:

Amazing how fast the visa was issued, congrats!

 

Our timelines are almost identical difference being our medical and interview was a week later because we both wanted to be there.  Long story short she passed her interview!  I'll make a detailed post about the whole experience in another thread.

 

 

Yes everything moved very fast once we got the NOA2, it's been a blur.  But now she is here!  Best of luck to you all!

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 1:49 AM, Greenbaum said:

Congratulations. This is a big first step and you got through it. AOS after arrival and marriage is next.

 

BTW I would like to add one caveat for others to be aware and that is the WARNING that the Embassy Letter states and I quote "Do not finalize arrangements for travel to the United States, dispose of property, or resign from your job until a visa has been issued and delivered to you."  In other words, don't buy a plane ticket till that visa is in your HANDS!  We have seen others who went ahead and purchased a ticket without having the visa in hand only to run into delays costing them so much more money to switch their ticket. The excitement sometimes drives you to do some unforeseen things just to "hurry" the process and then something happens only to cause you more burden than necessary. 

 

Anywhooooo..... safe travels and happiness abound in your marriage.

Thank you.  We didn't buy plane ticket until we had 2Go tracking info.  Maybe a bit of a gamble, but prices were going up and flight choices going down. 

On ‎10‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 12:49 PM, John & Rose said:

My fiancee just took it in Manila.  It was a 9:00 seminar but she had to check in before 7:30 to complete the paperwork.  People in the 9:00 class that showed up after 7:30 were turned away.  The afternoon class just said that you have to be there 90 minutes prior to class time.

 

I'm sorry she had to stay all day but congratulations on getting through the process!  

Thank you!

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 8:33 PM, Hank_ said:

Congrats on the interview.  

 

There is a section in your timeline for your embassy review.. posting here it gets lost in a time.

Thanks, we will do that.

10 hours ago, Hank_ said:

Must be a new person at CFO.  With GCP there is the seminar and a one on one interview normally.

 

Agreed, no value in rocking the boat... just "Git Er Dun!!"

Good advice.  She got the certificate and stamp.  

I'm not sure if it's a new person at the CFO or a new policy.   Her appointment was for 2PM, but on her registration confirmation they emailed her  it says at the bottom to arrive at 8AM.  So she was there from 8AM to 4:45PM, with half hour for lunch.  

Another woman who also had an appointment at 2PM but didn't show up until just before 2PM was denied the certificate and stamp... was told she had to come back at 8AM on Monday.  It screwed up her travel plans.  It's a good think Ruby complied with the instructions on the confirmation page, otherwise I would have had to reschedule her flight to USA.  

She's at the Cebu CFO right now to take the GCP class... they're also making her take the PDOS class as well, even though she's a K-1 visa holder.  So instead of 3 hours, it's basically all day.  Everything I've seen here is that she only needs GCP and that it's only 3 hours plus the time to complete paperwork.  She's just going along with what they're making her do just to get what she needs to get on the plane Monday.  

Thanks for the replies. 

1 hour ago, John & Rose said:

The K-1 visa is the "checking with the consulate general".  You are good to go.  

 

Great timing.  Cebu must be a little easier.  Manila is about a month out for classes!  

Makes sense, thanks.

44 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

No issue at all.  She technically cant leave the US again until she gets her AOS or advanced parole anyway.

 

Did you just get lucky with your CFO scheduling?  You booked that a month ago and the timing was perfect!!!

Thanks. Might seem like a dumb question but airline ticket fine print says one way travelers should verify with consulate so no issues at time of boarding.  Perhaps this relates to tourist visas and not K1. 

About the cfo, she just scheduled it last couple days. She's taking it in Cebu. Maybe we got lucky (as seems to be the case with our post NOA-2 process and timing) with the availability and/or maybe there is less demand in Cebu than Manila.

So she got her visa yesterday (Oct. 2), and takes the CFO course Friday.  I booked her a one-way ticket to U.S. leaving on Monday, Oct. 9.  Does anyone know if it's a problem that the ticket is one-way and not round trip?  Thanks!

14 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

That is normal so don't worry at all. It usually does this for a few days so no need to worry. 

CEAC now says "Issued"!

29 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

That is normal so don't worry at all. It usually does this for a few days so no need to worry. 

Great, thanks.

Checked CEAC case status, says Administrative Processing. Tried to do some research before asking here. Seems maybe this is normal status for a few days after interview until passport and visa are delivered, although some cases have AP for many months.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

1 hour ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Not to remote at all. Actually what's funny is my wife has found like 3 good friends of hers who are from Bohol so she loves it now because they all speak Cebuano/Bisaya. What's even more funny is one of them actually grew up in my wife's province in Mindanao and then moved to Bohol. So they talk alot about home and everything like that. 

 

Make sure you have TFC and GMA on your TV when your fiance gets there because she will love you even more for it. TFC is required pretty much, but GMA is better because they have news and stories based in Mindanao and the Cebu area in Cebuano.

I will check with the cable company, might help with the culture shock and homesickness.

How was Bantayan? Nice to visit?

5 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

I would just consider it business days and not calendar days because they don't work on the weekends. 

 

Does she live in Cebu City or one of the outlying islands/towns?

Kind of what I figured. Tubigon, Bohol... not too remote.

59 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

Actually no one cares about your fiancee's work history that much.       

 

Did the pastor have you sign any documents (they tend to do that) ?   Hope not.  And hoping the embassy never gets wind.

You're right, they just asked where she traveled abroad. 

Definetly no documents or papers signed, civil or religious. I knew we had to remain unmarried to be eligible for fiancée visa. I was transparent in the I-129F about it, so while I recently became nervous, I felt good that we didn't do anything remotely wrong, legally or ethically. 

11 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

That's why we stay on here on VJ is to help people out in the process and make it as smooth as possible. As you saw earlier there are agencies or people offering to help others out for money that do not know everything of what is required. 

 

Did they take her passport there at the embassy? If she left it there and she is not required to send in more information then more than likely she is approved. 

Yep I think this site and contributors  are amazing... lots of knowledge and wisdom.

They kept her passport and didn't ask for more info. She was told it would be delivered after 5 days, not sure if that's calendar or business.

4 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

 

I wish my wife wanted to do that as well but she was scared and wanted me there for the interview. So her medical and interview were different months. 

 

But for the paperwork we just made sure to bring everything for the interview just in case. I am of the belief that it is better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

She wanted me there as well... I would have had we scheduled the interview further out to give me a chance to request time off at work.  But we decided to shoot for her arrival by October 11. Knock on wood...it might just work out that way.

Had her interview at 740. She was out by 9. Seems she passed! Thanks to you guys that helped me with your answers and guidance, especially in the last 2 weeks. It might have eventually worked out, but definitely not  this fast and smooth. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 

1 minute ago, cyberfx1024 said:

It does come after the medical but in a lot of cases like Ruby's they do the medical and interview in the same week if possible.

Yep, to save time and money if flying from different province.

5 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

You have to schedule the interview with the embassy online. Once you do that you will get a confirmation of the interview.

Yep, confirmation of interview has a barcode but no MNL number and is sent through email.

1 hour ago, JimInUS said:

Sorry folks, dumb question...

 

Regarding medical prior to the interview....

 

The Philippines agency assisting us says that the hospital in Manila where the medical is performed (St Lukes) won't schedule an appointment or allow you to do the medical without the letter or email from NVC, which we haven't received yet. All I have is the "Ready" notification on the NVC status tracker. I keep hearing here that they'll only need the case #/MNL # (which I have..), but the agency says otherwise. 

 

Who's right? And where/when will we get the letter from NVC? My "Ready" was as of yesterday, based on the online CEAC tracker status.

My fiancee had her medical Monday and Tuesday of this week.   She was able to be admitted for the first day of the medical based on the "Ready" printout from CEAC and also the Embassy interview confirmation page.  She was told at least once she still needed the NVC letter, almost seemed like someone made a note in her file that it was missing.  Anyhow I got home last night and the NVC letter was in my mailbox.  I scanned it and emailed it to her to print out and bring for second day.  She successfully completed the medical and walked out with a packet and CD to bring to interview.  It's not clear to me whether or not they would have given her final medical approval without the NVC letter.  Btw the NVC letter is dated September 20 and I received it in the mail September 25.  

Also, I called NVC several times to have them email me a copy of the letter... they put in the request to email it but I was told it could take a while to receive... it had to get supervisor clearance... I still haven't received that email.  Separately, I had emailed NVC for the MNL number on the 19th. I finally got an email response with the MNL number (but not the NVC letter) yesterday, September 25.

Thank you, gentlemen... and sorry, it was a bit of a lazy question. 

Update:  passed the medical today (Tuesday, Sept. 26), and they gave her a file and CD to take to Embassy for her interview tomorrow morning, so we were lucky with the gamble to not leave any time between medical and interview, and to schedule interview so soon after NOA2.  The only potential problems I can see our a few gaps in her work history on the DS-160 (didn't have a few addresses and phone numbers of old employers overseas, and the system kind of froze and didn't let us add one additional overseas employer from about 10 years ago) and an informal religious service we had with her parents and pastor in her home to bless our engagement and future marriage and life together (I only know now this could be a problem).

Fingers crossed.

So the interview is scheduled for 7:40AM... any recommendations on what time she should arrive?  Any advantage to showing up earlier?