RO_AH

Once she has her visa it shouldn't be any problem.  But if you decide to take her on vacation to Thailand while you are waiting it's best if you travel with her rather than trying to meet her there.  Get to the airport early and plan on a secondary interview but if they are accompanied by foreign bf or fiance they would generally pass a secondary interview.  They might make YOU sign some very strangely worded affidavit promising to bring her back. 🤣

She will be interviewed by the US Embassy in the Philippines, assuming she currently resides in the Philippines.  I think you will be hard-pressed to find a Philippine Embassy within the Philippines, since there are none, so whatever TikTok said isn't even possible, or was misunderstood.
 
Also, CFO is not conducted by the embassy.  It is a class required by the Philippine government for Filipinos that will exit the country.  The passport stamp is also old news.  Now they issue a digital certificate.  The CFO interview can be similar to the embassy interview.  Take the same documents to CFO that she took to the interview.

For me when I arrive to the Philippines I put my passport in a safe place as soon as I arrive to where I am staying. I only carry my USA drivers license around while I am there so that I can be identified if something were to happen to me. Your wife has zero reason to be carrying the green card or any passport around with her while she is there so if that's the case she should not lose it. I wouldn't even worry about this, you can not begin to plan for every possible scenario of what "could" go wrong.

For me when I arrive to the Philippines I put my passport in a safe place as soon as I arrive to where I am staying. I only carry my USA drivers license around while I am there so that I can be identified if something were to happen to me. Your wife has zero reason to be carrying the green card or any passport around with her while she is there so if that's the case she should not lose it. I wouldn't even worry about this, you can not begin to plan for every possible scenario of what "could" go wrong.

For me when I arrive to the Philippines I put my passport in a safe place as soon as I arrive to where I am staying. I only carry my USA drivers license around while I am there so that I can be identified if something were to happen to me. Your wife has zero reason to be carrying the green card or any passport around with her while she is there so if that's the case she should not lose it. I wouldn't even worry about this, you can not begin to plan for every possible scenario of what "could" go wrong.

For me when I arrive to the Philippines I put my passport in a safe place as soon as I arrive to where I am staying. I only carry my USA drivers license around while I am there so that I can be identified if something were to happen to me. Your wife has zero reason to be carrying the green card or any passport around with her while she is there so if that's the case she should not lose it. I wouldn't even worry about this, you can not begin to plan for every possible scenario of what "could" go wrong.

Tell her stop watching YouTube videos, Facebook groups etc. I don't know if I will catch flack for this but Filipinos love to go out of their way to find things to worry about.
 
The other thing that is real in the Philippines is they "they said" culture. You will hear the strangest things you can imagine and ask where they heard that from. The answer is...They said. Who is this "they"? You can't let a baby get a drop of rain on them but you can give them a bath. You can't eat watermelon after a c section or your wound will open up. I have really considered writing a book and calling it, they said.
Stick to these forums whee you will get accurate information.
 
Don't you let her pull you into this. You need to be the voice of reason.

But a CR-1 generates more money for USCIS vs an IR-1.. 

At the beginning of 2023 there was no backlog.  People who DQ up to the third week of January 2023 got so called auto expedites and could self schedule by the last week of January 2023.  1 week.  By the end of 2023 it appears they have not done any new scheduling of CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 cases since the 'mass expedite the end of June which encompassed everyone DQ up to the second week of May.   Those who missed the cutoff date in May are still waiting and no movement for cases DQ since the second week of May.  The current backlog is fairly clearly defined as 7 months and increasing daily.
 
What USEM is up to is anyone's guess.  It seems something would have to give 'soon'.

Tell her stop watching YouTube videos, Facebook groups etc. I don't know if I will catch flack for this but Filipinos love to go out of their way to find things to worry about.
 
The other thing that is real in the Philippines is they "they said" culture. You will hear the strangest things you can imagine and ask where they heard that from. The answer is...They said. Who is this "they"? You can't let a baby get a drop of rain on them but you can give them a bath. You can't eat watermelon after a c section or your wound will open up. I have really considered writing a book and calling it, they said.
Stick to these forums whee you will get accurate information.
 
Don't you let her pull you into this. You need to be the voice of reason.

Tell her stop watching YouTube videos, Facebook groups etc. I don't know if I will catch flack for this but Filipinos love to go out of their way to find things to worry about.
 
The other thing that is real in the Philippines is they "they said" culture. You will hear the strangest things you can imagine and ask where they heard that from. The answer is...They said. Who is this "they"? You can't let a baby get a drop of rain on them but you can give them a bath. You can't eat watermelon after a c section or your wound will open up. I have really considered writing a book and calling it, they said.
Stick to these forums whee you will get accurate information.
 
Don't you let her pull you into this. You need to be the voice of reason.

CFO is required by the Philippine government for a K1 visa holder to pass Philippine exit immigration when leaving the country.  CFO generally won't talk to anyone who does not yet have the actual visa on hand so not much chance of getting it done in advance.  Luckily they have been pretty quick lately for people who already have their visas.

@mike876 Is your caps lock button broke? Asking for a friend Refer to my previous post:
 
Do you think you are the first person to do this 2x? Stop worrying. She will get her CFO
Show me 1 example of this. I'll wait,,,,

Congratulations on the interview!
 
I strongly recommend your fiancee order new certified copies of her PSA birth certificate before flying to the US.
 

It's very simple, you meet the requirements or you don't. There is no such thing as kinda.

Aren't you the beneficiary?  If so, why would you file taxes as head of household?  The US spouse would file as Head of Household (if qualified), Married Filing Separately, or you and US spouse can file a joint tax return (if you have an ITIN or SSN).  I see no reason for you to file a separate return. 

That is correct, you now need to wait for either your EAD, employment authorization, or greencard in order to update your SSA for anything.  Then you can go back to the SSA with your marriage certificate, and the EAD or GC,  and change the name and remove the restrictions.  I'm pretty sure there will be no issue to change the middle name too as long as you did that on your greencard and EAD.  The latter is what we did, and I plan to go back to the SSA to change the middle and last name. You also need proof of identity at the SSA office. If her passport is expired, I'm not sure, but I think that could be a problem unless you have another government ID such as a driver's license. 

I was told the stamp on her passport is a temporary green card good for a year. 
 
I wasn't in Guam. I'm in NYC. They let her in and she explained her need to stamp her passport before expiration. Her dad is undergoing surgery right now so she'll come to NY in a couple of months. That was our original plan before we were surprised that the visa expired when the medical expired on Feb 7th. 

No  worries. Just make sure that she gets a green card before going back.
 
Why did she? Did you meet her in Guam?

It seems you are having a lot of problems using an Agency, judging from your other thread, I would cut them out of the equation. 

Good news, they let her take the class and she got the certificate!
 
Thanks for the advice. She didn't even have to beg. They were very accommodating. 
 
She has the certificate. Does she need a sticker from the airport CFO desk? 

CFO is something that any Filipino must complete before leaving the country for any type of immigration intent.
 
Yes, we had to do the medical again Fortunately, she was not flagged for sputum the second time. Our biggest issue was the covid shutdown. We did everything we could to try and reschedule the interview after having to go through the sputum. a little over 3 months later we finally got scheduled. We got a 221g and by the time that was fixed and they were ready to issue the visa we only had a few days of validity left and it did not give us enough time. The embassy said retake the medical and then they would issue the visa. Everything went smoothly from there.
 
In your case she has the visa. If she does not use it before it expires it will be a more difficult process. That's why everyone here is suggesting to do anything you can to get the CFO on Monday. Hopefully they will take pity on her and let her through.
 
As far as greasing the wheels, that is common in a lot of things in the Philippines, but don't even think about it with the CFO.

CFO is something that any Filipino must complete before leaving the country for any type of immigration intent.
 
Yes, we had to do the medical again Fortunately, she was not flagged for sputum the second time. Our biggest issue was the covid shutdown. We did everything we could to try and reschedule the interview after having to go through the sputum. a little over 3 months later we finally got scheduled. We got a 221g and by the time that was fixed and they were ready to issue the visa we only had a few days of validity left and it did not give us enough time. The embassy said retake the medical and then they would issue the visa. Everything went smoothly from there.
 
In your case she has the visa. If she does not use it before it expires it will be a more difficult process. That's why everyone here is suggesting to do anything you can to get the CFO on Monday. Hopefully they will take pity on her and let her through.
 
As far as greasing the wheels, that is common in a lot of things in the Philippines, but don't even think about it with the CFO.

No, shouldn't require that.  Just tolerate with a smile whatever ordeal they put you through Monday and everything will 'probably' work out.

I would say that CFO has a long history of stringing people along to the last moment but finally coming through when it actually comes down to missing a flight or not.  I would wager that it can probably be successfully handled somewhat inelegantly come Monday.  Be in contact with her in real time in case CFO comes up with any oddball requests.  I would put an all out effort into using that visa on time.  I believe it is realistically doable.