confusedshoes

Finally have my interview tomorrow! 😁 SF office

My interview was scheduled today (for November 20)! I filed my N400 back in December 26 2022 so it's close enough to January 2023, I'm in the SF field office. So I hope things start happening for the SF Bay Area people soon. I had a bunch of activity on my I751 this week before anything happened to my N400. Basically my latest case status for the I751 is New Card is being produced from a couple days ago after it was transferred a couple of times to different USCIS offices (who knows why). Then today I got the N400 interview date. Hopefully this is done before the year ends.

I just checked today and I finally have my interview scheduled for November 20!! Yay!! I hope you get your interview soon too! For mine, it took activity on my i751 petition for Removal of Conditions before anything happened with the N400. The i751 case was transferred to a different USCIS office a few days ago and then the very next day, transferred again to another USCIS that has jurisdiction (SF??). Then the case status updated a couple days ago to New Card being produced for i751. And today, the N400 interview was scheduled. So I'm not sure what's going on or why my case was transferred between a few USCIS offices but it got things unstuck and there's finally something happening so no complaints here!

If you just want to go to Russia, book a flight from Philippines to Russia. There will be stops. Use Google Flights- you can check all the flights and see what country the stops will be for different flights. If you want to stop at a specific country in between and you can't find a Russia flight that stops there, then book 1 flight to that country then a 2nd onwards flight to Russia from that country. If you want suggestions for which routes to take, provide more details about what you're looking for because there's a bajillion ways to get to the same destination. Your post doesn't really make much sense as it is. Did you want it to be quick or do you want to do a long layover? Was there something in particular you wanted to do in Europe before going to Russia? Why Europe? Where specifically in Europe? Coming from Philippines, you'd be going past Russia then doing another flight backwards.. why would you want to do that? You can literally go anywhere from the Philippines. You want to go to a European country with an embassy in Manila? Pick a country and check if they have an embassy in Manila. Do they have one? Great. Get that visa and book that flight. They don't? Then pick another country and do the same thing.

For over a month, I haven't checked case status. About 3 days ago, I checked, saw an update that my case has been transferred. I didn't even take a screenshot. I didn't even try to find out why it was transferred, or where could it be transferred to. Made no sense but I just felt done and was just going to wait it all out. Today, I checked again and to my surprise, case status says my card is being produced.. yay. No update about the N400 but that should follow soon, I *still* hope!

Ok found it! https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/23/23/iacat-revises-departure-guidelines-for-pinoys-traveling-overseas Hold onto your hats, it's a freaking lot. I haven't absorbed it all yet I've just scanned but I already saw that minors traveling must bring birth certificates LOLLL omg. Self funded tourists must bring certificates of employment or proof of financial capability (bank statements??). If a close relative is paying for your trip, you need to bring PSA birth certificates, their work visa and/or OEC, if someone unrelated is sponsoring, you're gonna need a NOTARIZED letter saying you're really just traveling as a tourist.. I cannot. But I'm gonna keep reading. Well here it all is: Self-funded tourists are required to show financial capacity or source of income and proof of employment, aside from the tickets and hotel booking. If the travel is sponsored by a relative abroad within the first civil degree (spouse, children or parents), an original birth certificate or marriage certificate issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is required, along with documents of the sponsor such as a valid passport, work visa and Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC). If, however, the travel is sponsored by a relative abroad within the 4th civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, or by a non-relative or a legal/juridical entity, a notarized original affidavit of support and guarantee is required, which should include an undertaking by the sponsor that the travel is solely for tourism purposes and that the passenger shall return to the Philippines. “[T]he unreasonable failure to comply with the obligations of sponsorship may affect the assessment of the passenger's future travels and the sponsor's capacity to invite,” Annex B of the revised guidelines said. The same undertaking is required if travelling with a local sponsor. The local sponsor is also required to execute an affidavit. Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said it’s important to establish the relationship between the passenger and the sponsor which could be shown through a marriage certificate or photos, the financial capacity of the sponsor and who the sponsor is, including personal details such as address and contact information, if there’s a need for the Philippine government to locate the sponsor. “That document po is a legal document and hawak po yan ng Philippine government should there be any problems po and [can] be used in the prosecution of the foreign national who might be aiding trafficking of Filipinos,” she explained. OFWS Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will need to show their OECs and work visas whether they are first time OFWs, Balik-Manggagawa (returning), or direct-hires. In some cases, a special travel exit clearance is required instead of an OEC, such as locally employed seafarers manning a Philippine-registered ship’s foreign port, seafarers who will still undergo orientation and an emergency change crew for Philippine-registered vessels docked in international ports. OFWs traveling to other countries during their vacation are treated like tourists. OFWs however with questionable documents or expired OECs will be referred to the Deparment of Migrant Workers-Migrant Workers Airport Assistance Center (DMW-MWAAC). MINORS Minors traveling with their parents need an original PSA-issued birth certificate while if the mother is not around, a PSA-issued marriage certificate will also be need. For minors, a travel certificate clearance certificate issued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is needed if they travel without their parents and other situations, or a DSWD certificate of exemption if qualified under the guidelines. The guidelines made clear however that minors below 13 years old are absolutely prohibited from traveling alone. “Ang hinihingi lang po namin ay birth certificate nung bata, nung nanay. Kung halimbawa po, alam naman natin na yung marriage minsan, hindi naging successful, so kung halimbawa yung bata hindi babyahe kasama ng nanay, doon lang po tayo may mga karagdagang mga hinihingi na certification. Pag kasama ho ng bata yung tatay, kailangan po mapatunayan na nasa kanya yung legal custody. May available naman po tayong form dyan,” a DSWD official explained. Different documents are required for traveling minors who are the subject of adoption, depending on the stage of the proceedings. OTHER CATEGORIES Under the same guidelines, other types of travelers will need to prepare additional documentary requirements. Some passengers such as the Filipino spouse or fiancé(e) of a foreign national, or first-time emigrants will require clearance from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. The same requirement applies to Filipinos holding J1 visas to the United States for an exchange visitors’ program or those traveling under au pair visas. Volunteers and pilgrims will also need endorsements from the relevant organizations. NOT MEANT TO RESTRICT TRAVEL, NOT MEANT TO DELAY The list of additional documentary requirements, DOJ spokesperson Asec Mico Clavano explained, are not meant to restrict travel of Filipino passengers abroad nor delay their flights. “Hindi naman ho sa naghihigpit po ang IACAT pero ang mandato po kasi ng IACAT ay iligtas talaga ang mga kababayan natin na malamang, magiging victim ng human trafficking. Medyo malala po ‘yung problema na ito dahil marami na tayong mga kaso na mga Filipino, ini-employ sa isang trabaho, let’s say for example legitimate po siya like call center or any other regular employment abroad na yun pala, niloloko lang pala sila,” he said. “And we’ve seen it too many times na kailangan pa nating i-rescue sa ibang bansa. So for us, kelangan muna natin i-screen dito pa lang sa Pilipinas and this as I said, is not a curtailment on the right to travel. But really an enforcement of a policy that we believe fits our culture. Na dito pa lang, pino-protektahan na natin yung mga kababayan natin. Hindi na natin kailangan lumabas ng bansa para rescue-hin pa yung mga kababayan natin,” he added. Sandoval said that based on their data, only a small fraction of passengers were not allowed to board their flights due to lack of the necessary documents. “In fact po, doon sa data namin, 0.6% lamang ng departing passengers ang hindi napapayagan for not having the proper documentation vis-a-vis their actual purpose of travel. So I think it’s already a misconception because of what is seen on social media na the guidelines are there para madagdagan ang mga requirements sa mga kababayan natin,” she said. “The thing is, the guidelines were set, laid out by the IACAT for the general public to know what type of documents should I bring, if I fall into a certain category. But again, if I am a self-funded traveler, meaning I am just a regular tourist, mamamasyal lang po ako abroad, then there is nothing to worry about,” she continued. Both Clavano and Sandoval said the primary inspection of documents will only last 45 seconds while a secondary inspection, if needed under the guidelines, will only last 15 minutes, “unless extraordinary circumstances require a longer period of inspection.” During primary inspection, Immigration officers will ask relevant clarificatory questions and require documents needed to “sufficiently establish his/her declared purpose of travel.” At this stage, a passenger’s departure can be deferred if there are fraudulent or falsified documents or if the traveller refuses to undergo primary inspection. On the other hand, passengers could be referred to secondary inspection if, for example, they are unable to establish the purpose of their trip or if they have insufficient documents, do not have a visa, or have previously misrepresented any travel information. During the secondary inspection, the Immigration officer will not just look at the purpose of travel but the totality of circumstances of the passenger including countries of destination, purpose of stay, travel history, age, financial capacity and educational background. Misrepresentation, doubtful purpose of travel or insufficient travel documents could also lead to a deferral of departure at this stage. Potentially trafficked passengers, however, shall not only be deferred for departure, they will also be turned over to the IACAT-Anti-Trafficking Task Force (IACAT-ATTF), which will in turn, hand over documents to the appropriate law enforcement agency for questionable passports or the Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of Consular Affairs for all other passports. IACAT’s crackdown on human trafficking recently led to the arrest of a suspected illegal recruiter whose Facebook post went viral back in May after she complained of being repeatedly offloaded from her international flights despite supposedly having complete documents.

I tried to look for it but it's nowhere to be found online yet. Stumbled on the IACAT Fakebook page where they've put up a video of the press con where they read out something about it without actually saying what the guidelines are LOL. I actually watched the whole 5 minute video and they only start talking about the Guidelines at the 2.50 minute mark. The video's caption is literally what the man reads out but the video is cut off before he can finish reading the whole thing. The only useful information from all that word salad is "The Guidelines was subsequently published on August 18, 2023 in a newspaper of general circulation and will be effective 15 days from the date of publication, specifically on September 3, 2023." So... meaning... the guidelines will be effective on September 3. And people will definitely find out at the airport. If you know anyone currently in the Philippines, you can ask them to try requesting a copy of the newspaper printed on August 28, 2023 of the Manila Times, where the guidelines were supposedly published: I even signed up for the premium subscription of the Manila Times but it's somehow not working and the Aug 18 issue is locked away. I can only view the front page, the rest of the pages are blacked/locked out. But I have a feeling it's this page specifically that has these guidelines (A5): From the thumbnail: The actual blacked-out page: Anyway, I already wrote in about the issue to the newspaper and see if they can fix it for me.

I don't know how familiar you are with the country but this is not weird for the Philippines, land of red tape where job ads for retail positions paying less than $300 per month require applicants to be graduates of 4 year degrees. Nearly every thing you need to get done (usually a simple straightforward process in other countries) gets expanded into multipart endeavours requiring you to shuttle back and forth to different offices, branches and even islands to get that one signature, stamp, notary, certificate, apostille, second valid ID, certified copy of a copy of the original or whatever else they keep coming up with- to be submitted in triplicates or more. Your very valid on-hand card- acceptable elsewhere- is not enough, you would definitely need to also have the specific other card that this organization requires. Heck even paying for an item at department store or grocery involves a conveyor belt of multiple human hands scanning, rechecking the pricetag, scribbling on your receipt, stamping your receipt, stapling another piece of paper to it and finally stapling it to your bag and adding another special sticker or tape to the bag and stamping or scribbling on that too. Things take months or years because of the extra steps and it's rare to find someone who is empowered to apply obvious logical changes to how things get done for no other reason than 'sorry ma'am this is how it is here'. Most places expect you to jump through all the hoops, universities included.

For the ICVP, seems like they can order it from the CDC website and fill it out? For the original identification certificate, found this on one of the many Philippine consulate websites (this one's on the Calgary one) : I also found comments by the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco about it on their Facebook page. Your Filam friend can request it there or Bureau of Immigration in Manila. Otherwise, they should reach out to the university and get clarification about requirements they're not sure about.

Thank you for your detailed account! So helpful. As for mine, I'm still waiting on any sort of movement. The only update is this: 29 days. I'll be outside the country (with husband and in laws) when that day comes so I'm actually not in any hurry at the moment.