Arkitekt-GS

Well, today was interview day for my wife’s N400. We were still waiting for her I-751 approval as well, so I went with her in hopes of a combination interview (as recommended by the USCIS call center). Initially the guard only let my wife upstairs, but when they called her back for the interview and saw I was stuck outside, they came down and got me for the combo interview.

Excited to say both the I-751 and N400 were approved today! While the interview time was too late for a same day oath taking, she instead gets to be part of the big formal oath ceremony here in Seattle on July 4th, which should be awesome! 
 
We wanted to say thank you to everyone on this forum. While we didn’t post a lot, we learned so much about the process from this forum (including finding out about the DCF process that started this journey off when that existed and I was living in the Philippines) and the experiences and help you all give everyone here. 
 
just a quick item that may help others as they’re searching for tips… for all of our applications throughout the process we went a little heavier on evidence than we probably needed to. Lots of photos and other documents showing our life together.

I asked the officer about that when we finished the process and she noted it was a lot (not the most she’s seen thankfully), but that it was really helpful and gave her no doubt we were truly married. She also mentioned that it was very easy to follow because we organized into sections and had a cover letter with table of contents. That’s probably one reason I-751 interview was so quick today. So I guess for anyone starting the process I’d suggest killing a few trees and sending in maybe a little more evidence that the minimum noted on the application. Just make sure it’s relevant / quality evidence of course. 
 
best wishes for a speedy approval for everyone else waiting!!

Good news indeed! We actually got my wife’s NOA today as well and it was printed on 6/30/20 (case was received 4/28/20). Looks like it actually came from the national benefits center (MSC) which is who’s handling our case, instead of lockbox.
 
Funny thing is, our non-delivery notice is still pending as “not assigned for processing”, so this must just be USCIS catching up on the backlog as you suggested. 

Yeah we actually had filed K-1 first and then I ended up seeing a topic on this site about DCF and changed course, did a civil ceremony in Hong Kong (much simpler than Philippines) and then submitted our I-130 petition a few days after the marriage. 
 
Kinda sucked paying the petition fee twice, but it was totally worth it since it only took 3 months and my wife entered the US as a permanent resident as opposed to having to go thru adjustment of status. 
 
It might be something to consider in your case as well, depending on your timing and circumstances it might make sense to change course. Best of luck in your journey!

If you pay the tax online you get to a receipt at the end of the process. Print 2 copies of the receipt and present them at the airline counter during check in. 

For our CR-1 it was just under a week including a holiday. 
 
6/7 interview
6/8 issued
6/11 or 12 was a holiday
6/13 visa in hand (picked up at 2Go makati as we lived in Makati)

As Hank said, Hong Kong was very simple.
 
We looked at Singapore too but there was some residency or other requirement I recall that made Hong Kong better for my wife and I (we were both living in the Philippines at the time).
 
If you go that route you can apply via airmail/DHL and basically just have to show up 2-3 days before the marriage appointment. I’d suggest staying at least two more days after the ceremony as you can file the Philippines marriage record at the consultate and have it back the next day and then you can apply for a new passport for her the second day (she keeps the old passport and just has to go back to HK after 1-2 months to pick up the new passport). Doing the report of marriage at the consulate means you don’t have to do CFO or wait for the NSO certified marriage certificate before you can get the new passport (still have to do cfo before she leaves the Philippines on an immigrant visa). Also the HK marriage certificate is valid for submittal of the I-130 as HK government is a recognized “legit” government. 
 
Here’s the HK website and if you email questions or anything they’re usually back with thorough answers by the next day or sooner. (Also make sure and ask their fx rate if you’re sending a bank draft in USD as we had to ship a second time because we were like 50 cents short). https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/contactus/marriage.html

As Hank said, Hong Kong was very simple.
 
We looked at Singapore too but there was some residency or other requirement I recall that made Hong Kong better for my wife and I (we were both living in the Philippines at the time).
 
If you go that route you can apply via airmail/DHL and basically just have to show up 2-3 days before the marriage appointment. I’d suggest staying at least two more days after the ceremony as you can file the Philippines marriage record at the consultate and have it back the next day and then you can apply for a new passport for her the second day (she keeps the old passport and just has to go back to HK after 1-2 months to pick up the new passport). Doing the report of marriage at the consulate means you don’t have to do CFO or wait for the NSO certified marriage certificate before you can get the new passport (still have to do cfo before she leaves the Philippines on an immigrant visa). Also the HK marriage certificate is valid for submittal of the I-130 as HK government is a recognized “legit” government. 
 
Here’s the HK website and if you email questions or anything they’re usually back with thorough answers by the next day or sooner. (Also make sure and ask their fx rate if you’re sending a bank draft in USD as we had to ship a second time because we were like 50 cents short). https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/contactus/marriage.html

Your suspicion is correct. You can take the seminar and get the certificate whenever, but they won’t issue the passport sticker until the visa is in hand. 

Your suspicion is correct. You can take the seminar and get the certificate whenever, but they won’t issue the passport sticker until the visa is in hand. 

Great news for you both! Note, if you’re doing DCF they don’t actually send to NVC, just downstairs to the immigrant visa dept.  could be a few days to maybe 10 days or so to get the case number. Email IVManilaReplies@state.gov and keep emailing them (as an embassy worker told me) and you should get the case number soon! Don’t bother calling the hotline for visas as it’s just a call center outside the embassy and all they can do is check if you have a number and email the immigrant visa dept to follow up. You’re in the home stretch!
 
When you do get to schedule the appointment, if you get one long out, you can check a few times a day or even hourly and likely get one much sooner. Just give yourself enough time for the medical in case there is a hiccup (my wife had to go 3 or 4 days in a row for some stupid reason that turned out to be nothing, when normally it is just 2 days). 

I am actually picking up the certified marriage certificate tonight.  I was going to contact HR tomorrow to let them know about the marriage.  That is a great idea to include that in the evidence.  Thank you.

Well getting a human is the first step 😀. I got that response a few times but kept bugging weekly in the second month and magically the approval email came. If you’re on a tight timeline (my apartment lease was ending and we needed to move to US in my case) you can mention that to the person on the phone and they’ll at least put an expedite request in the file for you (or at least they said they did for me). You’re getting close likely though!

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with DCF.  And... CONGRATULATIONS. 
 
 
 

Hi there. Congrats on the upcoming little one! 
We submitted everything through U.S. Embassy Manila...only thing in HK was the marriage and registering the marriage at the consulate in HK. The HK marriage just cut out having to wait for a PSA/NSO marriage license before submitting as the HK marriage license is internationally recognized. 
 
Hopefully yours will will be quicker for the I-130 portion...definitely were a few posters on here approved around the same day as us that had just submitted a few weeks prior, so there’s probably not a bad chance of it going quicker than ours. 
 
Best of luck on your journey!

Yup she got that right after picking up the passport. Fortunately she had done the seminar early when we were still in the K1 process. 

Not exactly. Total process from submitting petition to visa in hand was just a day or so under 3 months. 
 
About a month longer than I was expecting or hoping for though. 

Hi All,
My wife and I just finished the I-130 / CR1 process via DCF in Manila. Just wanted to give a recap as a recent experience in case others are searching the forums for info.  If this should be in a different forum please feel free to move it. 
 
First off, if it wasn’t for the VisaJourney forums we’d probably still be sitting around waiting for an NOA2 for a K1 petition. I didn’t post a ton, but I gained a lot of knowledge and insight in the processes from reading the forums regularly, so thanks to everyone here!
 
Backstory...I’ve been living in the Philippines for 2 years for work and my wife and I have been together for a little over a year. After researching visa options and knowing some friends who went through the long I-130 process in the US, it seemed like K1 was the quickest option since I had to move back to the US in June 2018 for my next role at work. We submitted an I-129F for K1 in November 2017 and started the dreaded wait. Fortunately one day while looking through the forums I found a topic that had been moved to the DCF forum which was first I had heard of that option. After seeing that and digging into the research we decided to get married and file DCF. In hindsight there’s a ton of info out there for the I-130 via DCF, but for some reason I never came across it until I knew about it and was looking for it. 
 
Back to the process recap... we needed speed due to my return to US timeline, and while our process took a bit longer than some it still definitely provided the speed we needed (and in hindsight our complaints about taking long were ridiculous...ha!). A total of 13 weeks or 90 days from I-130 submittal to Visa in hand. 
 
3/11/18
Civil Marriage in Hong Kong (this was key as US recognizes the HK marriage certificate for petition submittal without having to wait for PSA/NSO documents). 
 
Recorded marriage at Philippines Consulate General in Hong Kong. 
 
3/12/18
Passport amendment for married name at Hong Kong consulate (in hindsight if you have time and can afford another trip to HK, do a renewal so you get the name on the passport bio page...takes 2 months and you keep the original until the new one is ready for pick up). 
 
3/16/18
Filed I-130 Petition at USCIS Manila Field Office at US Embassy Manila. (Take your spouse with you...they can enter through the US entry with you so it’s easy, and there’s a contact info form they need to sign with you and if there’s anything you forgot to have them sign they can do it on the spot while the counter agent reviews the petition). 
 
5/3/18
Notified by Philippines consulate in HK that the marriage records were transmitted to PSA/NSO Manila and ready for pick up. (Good to have just in case the IV unit asks for it at interview...they were still ok with the original Hong Kong marriage license though). 
 
5/17/18
I-130 petition approved by USCIS Manila
 
6/1/18
Department of State MNL case number received from Immigrant Visa unit at embassy. This allowed DS-260, interview scheduling, and medical exam tasks to proceed. 
 
6/4/18
Medical exam at SLEC. Do the online registration form as it speeds the process a bit at the clinic. 
 
6/7/18
Visa interview at US Embassy. Consular officer mentioned it was helpful and positive that I attended the interview with my wife. Told we were approved at the end of interview. 
 
6/8/18
Visa with Issued status. 
 
6/14/18
Visa packet in hand. Picked up at the 2GO Ayala branch in Makati. 6/12 was a holiday so probably delayed visa by one day. 
 
6/19/18
We will make our POE in Seattle, WA
 
Hopefully this info can be helpful to someone else researching the process. Good luck to everyone going through the process now...quite a relief to be done!

Fortunately we got the case number email today! Not sure if being annoying helped or not, but just happy to have that step out of the way. 

Shoot I’m an idiot. I was thinking adjustment of status not affidavit of support. My bad. 😁 My understanding is the I-864 AOS and all other remaining documents gets submitted during the visa interview. 

If you are filing the I-130 there is no AOS. Once the I-130 is approved and you get the MNL case#, then you file DS-260 application for CR-1/IR-1 immigrant visa. Once that visa is approved and your wife enters the US they get a stamp that serves as temporary green card while the plastic green card is produced and mailed to your US address. AOS would only occur if you did a K-1 application or were already in the US on some other nonimmigrant visa status. 
 
P.s. Congrats @nikkiprs such a quick approval!

Wow. I think all three of you make a good point, I was going with the try to not bug them too much method...perhaps not the best idea. March 20 and already has a visa? Shoot I will have to bug them, thanks for the info. When I spoke to them around April 26 they said there was no update yet but they would put in a note asking for expedited review...I’ll have to follow up a bit more. Thanks again!