Lone Wolf

6 minutes ago, payxibka said:

It is being sent to the embassy via NVC. 

 

NVC won't do anything.   Correct when it gets to the embassy 

Where does that put it in the processing time. She seemed to indicate that it would just take a few days to get to the embassy.

But NOA2 is 11/29.

I see a graph (https://www.visajourney.com/content/consulate-k1-historical/)

That says NVC has about 26 days processing time.

Then I thought it was forwarded to the embassy.

Do I wait for a notice from NVC to know when to contact the embassy?

I just realized today the the birth year on the I-129f for my fiancee was wrong.

Called USCIS and they informed me they could not change it because it has already been approved on 11/29 and been forwarded to the embassy.

Told me I would have to contact the embassy to have the date changed.

This is where I get confused.....

I thought it went to NVC (wherever that is) and then sent to the embassy.

Is it the embassy I should try to contact or NVC?

Who I spoke to at USCIS seemed to indicate that it was being sent to the embassy.

1 minute ago, Nitas_man said:

No

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Kuwait.html

 

Link to all countries, answers all document questions

I am guessing this is what gives me a clue?

Registration Criteria: Available only to applicants residing in Kuwait.  A police clearance certificate is required for U.S. immigrant visa applicants age 18 and over who are currently residing in Kuwait for 6 months or more. This is not available for former residents of Kuwait.

Is a Police Clearance required for past residence in Kuwait?

Is it even possible to get a Police Clearance from Kuwait for a Philippines OFW that no longer lives in Kuwait?

On 8/21/2019 at 8:04 AM, Falcon Cara said:

You only need to be there 7 days in order to file for divorce.  Most countries or places require residency like living there at least 6 months.  For a PI citizen since Guam is a US Territory, it requires a tourist visa.   It is where US expats living in PI go to a divorce.

http://guamdivorce.us/

 

Two hurdles. 
1) Visa to Guam.
2) Wife will have to have a waiver of service (or some such) notarized at the consulate in Cebu or embassy in Manila.

10 minutes ago, ram1009 said:

Why not focus on the extreme inconvenience?  Do you actually believe it necessary to show up every morning at the SLEC door to take a pill.  More people are discouraged than encouraged by draconian measures like that.  It's clear to me they would prefer patients would never come back once diagnosed.

While I know it is a royal pain, the DOT is a "draconian measure" required at some clinics in the U.S. too. 

 

10 minutes ago, ram1009 said:

Sorry, but I think you're being naive.  Someone in immigration would find a way to require an 8 week test over a 24 hour test no matter what the CDC says.  Just like they require patients to show up for their meds every morning for 6 months.  Such ludicrous policies would never stick on US soil.  Clearly, the goal of those and many other policies is to discourage compliance so as to reduce immigration.  I don't see how my fiance will be able to comply if she must do the 6 month treatment.

From experience I think you are wrong. My GF was sick, got chest X-Ray that did not look good at all, did the SPUTUM test and it showed NEGATIVE.  

Her symptoms and X-Rays convinced the doctor different and she was referred for treatment.

Another SPUTUM test was done, it was 3+ weeks before it showed positive. And she was seriously active already.  

I do not know why this can happen in some people, but I do believe it is the reason the guideline is 8 weeks. Short term SPUTUM can give a false negative.

 

I was wondering if anyone knows if it is required to get the biological fathers consent for a child to leave the country on a K2 or I-130?

Situation, father did sign birth certificate but was not married to child's mother.  I have read under those circumstances, Philippines law considers the child illegitimate and the mother has full custody and can travel with the child outside the country without the biological fathers consent.

But I am not sure if that would be valid for K2 or I-130.

Hoping someone knows the ins and outs.

Does anyone know what they will do about the interview for I-29f?

While on the subject though, if treatment is done at SLEC they have to go there every single day for 6 months?

Is there a charge for the treatment?

If there is a charge, anyone know the cost?

" There is NO early testing to negate the process (SPUTUM) at St. Luke's.   There is ZERO value in completing any testing early.   Any early testing, even at St. Luke's will not be accepted for the medical as required for the visa. "

At this point I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying. Your answer to #2 of the original question did negate what I was originally thinking.

But an early test and starting treatment early would be of GREAT benefit for anyone that can not sit in Manila for 8 months for treatment and clearance.

Simple examples of process should TB test fail:

1) Waiting to test until St. Lukes:

Petition submitted July 2019.

Approved in 6 months - Jan 2020.

Exam at St. Lukes - Feb 2020.

Passed 3 day SPUTUM test.

X ray indicates need for 60 day SPUTUM test.

Failed 60 day SPUTUM - April 2020.

Back home 6 months of treatment - Oct 2020.

One (1) year required wait (as required by CDC) Oct 2021.

Pass Sputum test at St. Lukes (60 days) and cleared Dec 2021.

2) Pre testing.

Private Test June 2019 - 2 month culture.

Failed last day of 60 day test - August 2019.

Treatment locally for 6 months - Feb 2020.

One (1) year required wait (as required by CDC) Feb 2021.

Petition submitted 6 months into 1 year wait period after treatment - August 2020.

One year after treatment - February 2021.

Petition approved in 6 months - February  2021.

Exam at St. Lukes - March 2021.

Passed 3 day SPUTUM test.

X ray indicates need for 60 day SPUTUM test.

PASSED 60 day SPUTUM test and cleared May 2021.

May 2021 and December 2021 is a difference should the applicant have TB active or latent. I did have to assume time range from the petition to St. Lukes was 6 months in both cases for illustration purpose, but the concept remains the same. You can shave off wait time by pre testing and getting treatment if treatment in Manila would be a hardship and will be done locally. This approach would meet the CDC guidelines of 1 year after treatment. All records would be given to St. Lukes and would show treatment, follow up and the one year wait.

IF treatment at St. Lukes is no problem, then pre testing would be a waste. BUT not everyone can park their butt for 6 months plus, out of work, away from family and everyone they know.

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You believe the TB is still active?

No, after treatment and for her job she has had x rays, it showed it cleared, but of course there is still scarring.

I am NOT worried about active TB, I am worried about latent TB.

15 minutes ago, missileman said:

Huh?  The process is the same whenever you do a sputum test........and at the official visa medical exam, you will still have a sputum test due to lung scarring....so with your method, you could have 2 sputum tests.

Isn't a sputum test now a lot cheaper then waiting until going to St. Lukes and then finding out you have to go through additional treatment?

You catch it now. You start treatment now. You do not travel from one end of the country to the other, months from now, just to find out you fail and then start the treatment process.

In our case, she is nowhere near Manila, living all that time in Manila creates multiple hardships for her.

If you live in Manila and already are close to the exam, I could see waiting.

Ok, as far as number 1 I think the question is being misunderstood. Why apply and wait all that time until you go to St. Lukes to see if someone was still positive. Seems that if there is any question or concern it is better to be tested as early as possible and start treatment. Since we have not even started the petition, seems like a lot of wasted time not to verify now she is clear with a 60 day test. As I said before, she was treated, passed a sputum test, but it was only 3 days and I am not 100% convinced.

Number 2 negates avoiding the one year wait should she require additional treatment. But knowing now, instead of waiting more than 6 months for St. Lukes to check is a waste of time.

1) Why would "1)" be impossible? ( If I am understanding clearly, the best approach is to make sure you can pass a 60 day sputum test BEFORE ever taking the medical exam at St. Lukes.)

I did not say sidestep taking the test. I already know they will order the test due to the x rays, there is no avoiding it. I am saying, if possible, taking a 60 day Sputum test before bothering going to St. Lukes. If fail you know not to do the medical. If you do it before actually applying for a visa it could save some hassle.

2) Ok, the one year wait concerns treatment both if St. Lukes catches it or it was caught before you went to St. Lukes and received treatment. I was not clear on the latter. That does have an impact on what I was thinking. I was not suggesting concealing anything, just trying to clarify my understanding, which was partially wrong.

In our particular case her treatment was 7 months total. It was completed October or November of 2017. I am not comfortable with the post treatment screening. I am worried it may of just gone dormant and possibly she still has latent TB.

Treatment at St. Lukes is just impractical unless I move back to the Philippines and to Manila this time. And that right now is impractical.

So since it will be at least a month before I am cleared myself to petition we will try to have her screened more rigorously before even applying.

Thank you for the updated link.

Yeah, I know people don't take them. I have an Ex who sailed through St. Lukes. No TB hit. Then in the U.S. got a job at a nursing home. They did a TST I think it was and got a positive but x rays showed nothing.

They gave her a big bottle of pills and told her to take them every day, I think it was a 90 day supply. She took them 3 days and stopped.

Their was no follow up.

My ex is exactly why they're strict, my fiancee is an example of those who pay the price.
 

On 9/18/2018 at 9:09 AM, Hank_ said:

Doesn't matter if it was found outside SLEC or not .. it is where the testing/treatment was completed... treatment outside of SLEC is the issue

 

TB causes scaring of the lungs, if the X-ray shows scaring .. SLEC will request SPUTUM.

 

Correct if SPUTUM is needed according to SLEC and the culture is negative then all is good to move forward after that.

"So if the treatment is done and completed at another facility (prior to the medical exam at SLEC), and sputum smear test come out negative at SLEC, then there shouldnt be anymore problems, right? because at the end of the day, it is SLEC's  findings that matter. Is that right? If tests results at SLEC are negative, then there's no point questioning whether or not the treatment from another facility is recent. am i correct?"

"Correct if SPUTUM is needed according to SLEC and the culture is negative then all is good to move forward after that."   

This right here is what seems key to our situation (My fiancee had TB in the past and it does show in x rays).

If I am understanding clearly, the best approach is to make sure you can pass a 60 day sputum test BEFORE ever taking the medical exam at St. Lukes.

If you can pass you are good. If you can not pass, it seems like the best approach would be to get treatment and know you can pass the sputum test before ever going to St. Lukes.

If I am understanding this right, delay is big time if St. Lukes catches it, but if you get treated and can pass the test, there is no delay beyond the 2 month sputum test because of x ray scarring.

Is this correct?

On 9/17/2018 at 11:10 AM, Hank_ said:

Testing will be completed at SLEC if your medical shows need to complete the SPUTUM.   Does not matter what you bring from an outside facility, SLEC has to follow protocol.

 

If SPUTUM is positive you will then have to complete DOT through SLEC (6 months)

 

I posted a link to the requirements for the medical at SLEC in my earlier post.  Do read it.

 

Without your MNL# I don't see a way to complete the medical early.

Is this the link you are referring to: https://slec.ph/us-visa-applicants.shtml#kvisa

On multiple browsers I am getting just a blank page.

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Bring records to the medical exam. That said, they will still do an x-ray. If the x-ray shows something (it probably will IMO), they will do sputum.

This process is set by the CDC, and SLEC just follows their guidelines. While she knows she took the medications religiously, they don't know anything other than what the scans and records show. Many people stop taking the meds before they are fully clear, unfortunately.

If sputum is required, that'll be another ~2 months.

Looks like that IGRA test is just a wasted extra cost for us. I know the x ray will definitely show something. We have her x rays during and past treatment and she is getting one today for her job and we will be getting more. I read that St. Lukes won't look at x rays unless they are like 30 days prior to exam. But I've seen others say they will not look at them at all.

What bothers me is after treatment they only did a sputum test that was only a few days. And this was a TB clinic. The first time tested was just a few days and it was negative. After they did get a positive hit after 4 weeks. Yet after treatment they again only did a test with results after a few days.

It sounds like a 2 month delay and a return trip to manila (and she couldn't be much further from Manila and still in the Phils) is definitely in the cards.

Having her check today on getting Sputum tests at the hospital to see if we can get them to do long term tests (60 days). I can understand the 60 day test and was disgusted with the short test she did after treatment.

I need to get tested for latent TB, but I wouldn't bother there. 

On 4/16/2019 at 10:54 AM, 2018JNJ said:

I noticed the processing times for CR-1 are like 400+ days.  Does that hold true for PH marriages?  I thought K1 and CR-1 were running about the same amount of time. 

Researching marriage in PH seems to be at least a 2 trip affair as there are multiple waiting periods of 10+ days.

So any thoughts about best way now to be with loved ASAP here in USA?

 

Thanks again..

jj

I didn't read the whole thread, but.....

Personally I see a problem with marrying someone in the Philippines, specially for a different visa process. The K-1 is the best route to go, the circumstances you described for a second application seems to be one of the most legitimate.

If you marry someone in the Philippines and anything goes wrong, then there's a problem that is a real headache to fix (unless you can easily throw gobs of money at it and don't mind)(P250,000, 3 years, I gave up and came home for divorce).

No divorce in the Philippines, and even if you divorce her in the U.S., if she is in the Philippines, the divorce will not be recognized by the Philippines government unless she goes to court and proves the divorce is valid. This will cause hardship and possibly trap her.

My fiancee got sick around June of 2017. When she went to the doctors they suspected TB. The sputum test came back negative. But her symptoms and the x rays led to her being referred to the TB clinic for treatment. She started treatment, first the one time hit of the 2 antibiotics (forget their name) and then almost 7 months treatment with the 4 med combo. They also did another sputum test, longer duration, I think it was about 4 weeks, but then it was a positive hit.

She did take her meds religiously, I was there, there is no doubt of that.

I know the x rays are going to show the past TB. She has since gotten medical clearance required for her job. But just now, after 8 months, they want her to get another x ray.

I came back to the states to get a divorce due to waiting over 3 years for an annulment and no end in site, I had to do it where I didn’t have to deal with… well you know.

So we are close to filing the application, but haven’t yet. We have a lot of time ahead of us to prepare, if we can.

What can we do, if anything, to get cleared through St. Lukes without a nightmare?

I have read different things about dealing with TB/Latent TB/Past TB at St. Lukes. But depending on when, procedures change. So I am looking for what they do now.

One thing I have seen in posts leads me to believe that anything in the x ray is automatically going to cause a 2 month sputum test, is that still true?

I know they are now doing the IGRA test, but not sure if past TB sets that test off anyways. Or even if it matters if they already suspect or know of past infection.

Really looking for guidance of any preparations we can make now and leading up to exam time. And also any info on the current procedures at St. Lukes when dealing with past treated TB.

The first time I ever tried it was early 2015, never a problem. Before that I was cruel and used the send someone else to stand in line method. Never knew of or tried the old system. Cebu Pacific used to be like that, painfully work your way through their clunky online booking just to have the payment process fail.

Getting documents from NSO/PSA is one thing the Philippines deserves a compliment on. The online system is great, response quick, price cheap. I was shockingly impressed. Used to be a line up at 5am type of thing.

6 hours ago, payxibka said:

Don't leave it blank, put "unknown" 

I was thinking of doing that. But wanted to check if anyone knew if there was a way to obtain it. I did not want to chance a rejection or delay.

I noticed USCIS lists Texas as the only place to file. But processing times for Texas is only for K3/K4's and I did notice California lists K1/K2/K3/K4.

I am guessing everyone submits I-129F through Texas and then they are processed at different regional offices based on the address of the petitioner.

Is that how it works?

10 hours ago, Hank_ said:

Foreigners can't get an annulment in the Philippines .. citizens only.

Legally, that is not true. I just had lawyers that were ripping me off. I will forgo the rant and explanation. Cheaper, quicker and less risky to go to Guam. But I do have a friend that was able to get an annulment in the Philippines. I did have a case in the Philippines, valid grounds from the doctor we had been trying to get her help with.

If you have an honest lawyer and live (or pretend to live) in the right RTC area it is possible.

It was actually  due to the "Recognition of Divorce" issue that I tried the annulment route, for her sake. As a foreigner one ("Recognition of Divorce" ) should not be needed IF a foreigner wanted to get married in the Philippines again, foreigners show proof from their country that they are not married, not a CENOMAR.

Yes, this was my second marriage to a Filipina, and from the doctor I found out what the issue was and what to look out for.