RangerNomad415

CONGRATS!! How was the interview and was your petitioner also not allowed to be with you but made to sit down? Relatively EASY interview and they didn't look at most of the stuff we had with us, in fact we were definitely overprepared. Glad it worked out for you as it worked out for us that day as well, hope to never come back to that shitty part of Manila again btw. 

Another big update...... WE JUST RECEIVED HER US VISA EARLIER THIS MORNING! Mission accomplished. Came exactly 7 days after the visa interview. So we are very excited to finally and officially know our fate back to the First World. 
 
My only concern would be her CFO. She completed it back in 2017 while pregnant with my son, yes we didn't need it back then but she did it as we were traveling all over Asia and they allowed her to get a CFO seminar certificate back then, way before we even filed for this IR1 visa. Now, does it expire? Does she have to do that CFO again? I'm thinking not, but I just want to make sure.
 
Thanks again to all on this thread, great source of information, support and feedback on an otherwise confusing and unclear visa process. In total, it took exactly SIX MONTHS from the original filing of the I-130 Petition at US Embassy in Manila on March 4th to receiving her visa in the mail on this date of September 13, 2019. 
 

Will write a summary about my Visa Appointment experience about this morning. Immigrate Visa appointment at 645am. We got up at 5am to shower and put on our best attire (custom business suit from Thailand), swig of coffee and out the door of Bayview Park with ALL possible documents in two bags. Lined up at 6am and got through screening. The earlier the appointment, the faster and easier it is to get out of there as I seen the whole place fill up quickly. Thinking back, I was probably WAY overdressed since they didn't even bother to interview me, but they did ask my wife where I was, if I was present at all. 
 
Crossed the bridge to the Embassy and there was already a crowd of people at 6am. Manila Bay is such an UGLY pile of polluted water with tons of litter. Ermita, in all honesty of the word, is a complete ZOMBIE dump of a place that looks like it's falling apart, the total opposite of BGC and even Makati. We ignored the people asking if they could carry your phone as we left our phones in the room on purpose. Figured out where the 645am appointment people are supposed to line up. One beggar was singing some Filipino songs out loud in hopes of a tip. It's the Embassy but no matter how hard they try, you can't hide the obvious chronic poverty of the Philippines ever. We can't wait to get out of here basically lol. 
 
Apparently there's a 640am appointment slot and that's the earliest group before our 645am slot. We showed them our appointment slip from USTravelDocs as well as our DS260 printouts, which everybody had. Lady also gave our plastic bags to place your Filipino passports in with the first biographic page open. We got let in and went through security. Then the second building inside, where I eventually found out that the Petitioner is NOT allowed to be with the Beneficiary during the whole process apparently.
 
The US Embassy volunteers ushered me and another white guy to a different section where we had to sit, eventually talked to the guy and he's doing CR1 visa as well but just flew in from the States to do this. Expressed our frustration that why didn't we, the Petitioners, who gathered and worked so hard to put together all this mountain of paperwork, are not allowed to accompany our wives. Anyway, without any phones or anything, it was like jail in a way so talked for a while while our wives went through the whole process.
 
From my wife's first pre-screening interview, it was with a Filipino guy. At first, being Asian and mistaken for being "FIlipino" as always, he talked to me in Tagalog. Once I told him that I only knew English, he told me that I was not allowed to be there and to sit at a different section while he went over documents with my wife and conducted the prescreening. The prescreening interview contained the following questions (according to my wife) in no particular order:
 
-What's my name?
-How old are you? 27 years old
-How long have you been married? 3 years
-How old is your husband? 36 years old
-Have you been out of the country? Yes, we have been to Hong Kong, Macau, China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan in the last four years.
-Do you have kids with any others? None Divorce? Nope
-What does your husband do? Stay-at-home father to my two year old son, Carson
-Who supports you and your family? His family is helping us out.
-How long did your husband live here in the Philippines? Since 2015
-How old is your son? Two years old
-Your son has a US passport and CRBA? Yes
-When are you planning to come to America and how many would be in your household? Around February 2020 and three in our household
 
The first pre-screening interview with the Filipino guy also involved giving all documents. Wife gave the interviewer her birth certificate, marriage certificate, both I-864 forms with my Mom's sponsor letter and my sponsor letter, etc. However, no pictures of any kind were given. Then she came to me to have me pay the $325 visa fee upstairs and give it back to the Filipino interviewer downstairs.
 
Next, came the biometrics. Just scanning fingerprints with both hands. 
 
Finally, the second interview was with a white American guy and asked basically the exact same questions as above in no particular order.
 
Then they told her about anti-violence against women, that you have to dial 911, blah blah blah. Then they said you're approved, have a nice day. Wife came to my section and excitedly told me that she got approved. Me and the white guy exchanged FB contact via ball point pen so I could see about his status after our long talk. Couldn't believe it was that easy and boiled down to that "you're approved" moment. We were done by 830am, had breakfast at Bayview at 9am and called my Mom on Skype in California to inform her of the good news. 
 
You're given a slip about anti violence to women and a contact info of all websites we know, USTravelDocs and Ceac and a number to call. Now the wait begins for the visa, which should be mailed to our place in Angeles City.
 
 
 

Hi there, YES the interview is on Friday September 6th at 6:45am. We are leaving tomorrow and checking in at Bayview Park Hotel. Think we got everything in terms of paperwork, DS260 print outs, I-864 forms filled out by me and by my Mom, Mom's sponsor letter and financial supporting documents, my letter of domicile and non filing of tax, etc. Such a headache to organize this, but determined to get this over and done with. 
 
Medical wasn't so bad? Just a lot of waiting, it seems, and chismis with the other applicants. Lots of K1 filers from online dating sites lol. Update here on your upcoming interview.
 
Lots of pressure as it seems this is the most important date... the interview. We didn't really practice as we just gonna tell the truth, there's honestly nothing to hide about our situation. 

So how would you explain it? We both don't pay taxes or work or show income. Then again, my other friend did DCF back in 2015 and he didn't work either but made up a fake job offer (his other friend "vouched") as a marketing position and showed 30k usd in a bank account. And it actually worked and he's been back there ever since with his wife, back then he probably lived about three years in the PI or so. On top of his mother being his joint sponsor.
 
Would they buy a "raising my son" excuse? How strict are they these days? You're right, looks better if I can show them some future prospect of employment. Now I wished I had picked a later date in September, didn't really think this out on paper as they will ask about my "work" but I just receive income from my folks anyway. You're right, ain't no good paying jobs in this third world country really. 
 
Were you born here in the Philippines or something? Or born in the States? 

Thanks for the help. Wifey didn't sleep AT ALL last night as we had our alarms set at 430am. Walked her to Clinic and she was already like number 36 at 5:10am. Obviously she wasn't in her right mind and thinking clearly without any damn sleep (slept all day) for Day One of this insane robotic medical exam. That screenshot that she sent me from another applicant must have been on a Fiance K1 visa to have a "Invoice ID Number" that we fellow Philippine DCFers obviously don't have. They probably had to choose an agent online and pay fees online, that's what I'm guessing.
 
Wifey clocked in there at 5:10am and finished around 9:45am. Said around 200 people today there and Day Two starts at 930am. Had her Xray along with a blood sample test, then physical examination, then urine test. 
 
Day Two will include the immunization apparently. She will submit what she totally forgot. Besides, I'm the one that did literally EVERYTHING, scheduling this medical and printing out all documents and filing DS260 and all. You're amazing to figure this all out. 
 
What I loved about staying at Bayview Park Hotel was that there's an Anytime Fitness Gym right around the corner on UN Avenue, so spent the day there along with lunch at Robinson Place. Ermita is such a dirty cesspool of a third world DUMP lol, still can't believe the irony of setting up a "medical exam" for the first world when there are COUNTLESS drug addicts, homeless and shady looking families living and sleeping on the streets openly without any enforcement. Such irony that most Fil-Am immigrants had to pass through these dirty ### streets, was wondering why the Embassy wasn't built in BGC in the first place (the only place besides Clark & SBMA that remotely reassembles the "US" with traffic rules and no trikes allowed). 
 
Will update this thread again with results of Day Two.