dj1206

Ianne25, you're from CDO too?

I already went there to nbi kiosk at glorietta. Sadly, they won't accept the photocopy. I don't have the original anymore. I'll just go to NBI carriedo soon.

I don't have voter's id too hahaha! I'll just bring my TIN id, passport and nbi clearance and other docs that I can bring to prove my identity. CFO building is just a walk away from my residence anyway but thanks a lot for those who replied.

This post is already closed.

I'm just getting too OC here. I don't wanna go there and be asked to come back, hehehe. Thanks for the fast reply ronmay.

Hi everyone. I already have my sched (Sept 10 for interview). I plan on attending CFO seminar early with someone I know within this week. I checked the website and saw the requirements, 2 valid id's for the seminar. I only have 1 valid id and that is my TIN card. I don't have a job id coz I've already quit a few months ago so that id would be invalid. I don't want to hear negative comments but I don't have SS card too! I only have the # and the paper copy since my previous job was my 1st job and I'm not familiar here in Manila so I don't know how to obtain one here. Do you think my passport would suffice as my "2nd valid id?"

Oh ok, I just found out that I know where Makati Square is. I only have the photocopy of the previous of the NBI clearance issued last year and it's still clear. Would it be ok to just show the photocopy? I checked NBI website and they said the barcode should be clear and they didn't state if it should be the original copy.

When do you all plan to have your medical?

I also have same appointment dates with you, Sept 10. When do you all plan to have your medical?

Hi I also plan to renew my passport. I'm also interested to get it at the kiosks. Where is Manila Square? can you give me instructions to go there? thanks!

Hi! Same medical and interview sched too!

I treated my baby to a trip of a lifetime last night and God willing almost every night for the rest of our natural lives... Hehehehe!!!

Since the original poster was asking about possible excursion ideas they he can go on with his loved one I would be very careful about what you suggest haha. :jest:

:D:D:D:D

Wioombeen

Hahaha - I can only wish that I was with my baby so I could give her that trip I'm back there in September for the 5th time since last June (thanks to Philippine Airlines miles club) I'd ask the Sheriff for pointers on that trip but since this is a family friendly forum I guess I will have to find the accomidations on my own!! hahaha

WOW - thanks for the great ideas . . . and I love those pictures!! I'm going to start researching now. My baby wants to go back to Malapascua again - it was sooo relaxing there, so I'm going to have to work that in for sure I just wish I could stay 6 months there with my baby until we get our visa - but the I-134 might not go well if I quit my job.

Thanks much. Good luck and have fun. There is a lifetime of places to explore in the Philippines. Just make sure you do some research on where your going first to make sure its safe. Don't let The Sate Department Warnings of Mindanao scare you to much. Best ask friends and family of your fiance, they will know better. There are indeed some places there you don't want to go. But for the most part Mindanao is such an amazing place to explore.

Wioombeen

My mother tried to stop me from going (emotionally) twice, the first time and my last time so far, because of the warnings for Mindanao and the Sulu area. I didn't follow Mom's advice, but luckily her mother's intuition was wrong both times. I never once feared for my life, and I've been to Mindanao twice. CDO is very safe and the people there are very friendly. I like the fact that they dress somewhat more conservatively than they dress like say in Manila and such, too. We didn't travel to Iligan area either time, mostly because Jacki said it might not be safe. So I agree that it is best to listen to your loved one who lives in the area over State Dept. warnings. I still would have gone to Iligan with my baby, but I didn't want to push things. I do wish we had had time to go to Camiguin together, as it both sounds and looks very nice. And in response to another poster, we also thought briefly about going to Corregidor, too, but the time in Manila was short this last trip, and since Corregidor is an early morning thing through the overnight only (we couldn't get to Manila in afternoon, for example, and do afternoon and evening/overnight in Corregidor...it's all day or nothing), we couldn't do it this last trip.

We went to Tagaytay twice and visited Volcano Island at Taal on the first trip there. It was my first ever volcano trek (thanks to half dead mules...hahaha) and hopefully not our last. I tried to talk Jacki into going camping in a camping area on the island in December, but Jacki suggested it wasn't safe so we didn't do it. In December, we did go to the big Crater Lake rim and snap pictures from a few hotels. Then we went down the mountain a bit farther, I'd say on the southwest side, and there was a very beautiful gardens type resort that we looked around and snapped pictures at. I can't remember the name of the place for the life of me.

It is nice to hear from folks familiar with or even hailing from CDO. My fiancee has lived in CDO for most of her life, and her most recent residence there was in the Kauswagan area, too!!! She always makes me laugh whenever I suggested white-water rafting...she always refered to it as brown-water rafting due to the Cagayan River's mud/silt/trash issues. But it didn't look that bad this past May...but we didn't get to try it, in any event Jacki would really like to hear from fellow Cagayonians (sp?) or anyone that speaks Visayan, so if you or your fiancee fits those categories, please let me know and I'll forward you over to her so ya'll can talk perhaps.

Regarding the Sheriff and Deputy Uling's recent "trip," I think I'll just let ya'll gather your hiya that you lost back and hopefully recover from her tampo at discussing matters like that in public forums...haha. Yikes!

Hi everyone,

My girl will be leaving the philippines on a K1 visa in 2 weeks.

I hear people are telling me that there is a travel tax?

I purchased her plane tickets here in the usa.

How much should she bring to the airport, and what taxes will she be charged?

Thanks again,

as always,

take care,

I tried to book a flight from manila to los angeles and the TAX was 5,200 pesos for her to leave the country.

Get this...I was on an airline web site this past weekend looking up quotes to possibly send 3 people from Phils to USA round-trip...the cost: 359,766PhP or $7,861 USD!!! I almost choked. Then just out of curiosity, I looked up a round trip on the same dates, same class, same flight numbers, leaving from Raleigh Durham, again round-trip (as if I were sending three people to Phils), and the cost for 3 people was $3,734 USD!! Why on earth would it cost more than double as it does in USA for the same flights, same times, etc???? And as for a Filipino traveler tax, but whatever it is, I'll pay it for Jacki when we leave together...and I can also confirm as of May 27, 2007 at least that the departure airport tax/fee thing is indeed 750PhP per traveler.

While we are all concentrated on the stressful situation of trying to get our love back home with us, my baby and I took a little stress off and made a reasonably inexpensive trip of a lifetime for us both.

Hong Kong does not have any visa restrictions for Filipinos, and it’s so close – we spent less than $300 for both of our tickets from Cebu to Hong Kong. I took my baby there for her birthday and spent 4 days for less than one ticket from LAX to Manila. Plus we have the airplane tickets, seated next to each other – extra proof for the I-129F “meeting in person” requirement

Honorable mention – 3 days in Malapascue (the Boracay of Cebu) we spent less than $200 for an air conditioned cabin right on the beach including travel, food, snorkeling and souvenirs.

Anyone have any other excursion ideas?

During my first trip there to the Philippines, we went to several locations that a young couple newly in love would enjoy. My personal favorites of the places we went were the following:

Kota Beach Resort (Bantayan Island) - north and west of island of Cebu, take ferry across. Nice beach location with sandbar and a small mini-pool enclosed by sandbar and main beach at low tide. Beach huts are quite nice, and as I recall, I think they were airconditioned.

Eden Nature Park - this is a nature park on top of a mountain near Davao City. We stayed in a very romantic, private cabin here, and though it was only for one night, I could have spent a week there with Jacki had we had time. Very nice pool area, and I'm sure there was a nice hiking/walking area as well...just didn't have the time to fully check out this place!

Paradise Island Resort (Samal Island, just off Davao City) - a short ferry ride across. Lots of things to see here, including bat caves, an absolutely gorgeous waterfall, and a small resort park. Only bad thing was the beach part...once in the water, it was very rocky. But the waterfall all by itself is worth the trip to this small island.

Palawan - all I've seen of this are pictures, but if we could have gone in the time we had together there in the Phils, we would have gone. Maybe one day (second honeymoon???) we can go there.

Jacki went with her family to Camiguin island shortly before we met in person. The beach looked nearly pristine from the pictures she sent me, and it didn't look crowded at all. Don't know if there are any beach shacks/cabins to stay in, but I'd imagine there were a few hotels here and there.

I'm sure there are many other very nice places to see/stay/visit in the Philippines, but that's just a list of my favorites so far. But in the end, it's not about the places that we go to, it's about who you're with. I couldn't have gone to those places without my baby Jacki.

David

LOL. Offensive as it is and as litigious a society the United States is, you can't sue for being offended.

So no, you can't sue.

That one atheist in California, Newdow (?), keeps suing to get "In God We Trust" off the money in the USA among other things...he says he's offended...yet he sues...why can't we sue for being affronted and offended by an interviewer's questions? I say if a potential employer cannot legally ask you those sorts of questions, then the US Government should not be able to either!!! And also, the ACLU sues for just about anything under the sun...I wish your average Joe Blow citizen would one day sue the ACLU for merely being offensive, irritating, and lining lawyers' pockets for frivilous causes!

:lol:

I'm a natural smartarse too...Come AOS interview time, I would probably say something on either extreme, depending on how offended I was. "No, I didn't take a shower before we came here. I take showers at night." (that would be a lie, btw) Or I could say "We showered together this morning for an hour...next question please." (who knows if this would be truth or not? haaha) For the other question, hmmm, again, I like extremes..."We're part of a quaker sect that doesn't believe in sexual relations, and we're both still virgins" (there is a quaker sect that doesn't do the sex thing) OR "Yeah, we got a little frisky while we were waiting for you to interview us, so we stepped into the bathroom about 20 minutes ago." (probably wouldn't be true, but it's a decent sarcastic answer!) As for the virginity aspect of the question, that would be over the line and too intrusive, in my opinion, and I would be inclined to refuse to answer. I mean, me nor my fiancee have ever been raped, but what if one of us had been? What if we didn't want to recall something like that, especially to a stranger?

That's just my 2c

hey u must dial 001.. OKAY u stated 011 thats wrong

please follow the this number in order not pain for ya!!!

001-63-28-25-6300 then follow the extn line .....

i hope its clear for ya!! i am sure u can ahold ...

Thanks pushbrk for the US # and jarl for the 001 info. I got home too late today to talk to the USA # before 5pm, so will do it on Monday, I guess. Regarding the 001/011 number, I tried it both ways (just to test...I know they're closed at this hour/day) and got the same message I got before about international calls. I've got to go see my cell phone provider about another problem tomorrow anyway, so I'll speak with them about it then. But it's a little silly (in my opinion) to get international calling service at presumably a higher service charge just for a few phone calls to see if our Visa petition has arrived in Manila yet. I wish I had SMART service, coz Jacki is on SMART cell phone there in Phils and it would be very nice to be able to talk to her and even transfer load to her from my phone when she needs it. Oh well. Thanks again for all your help. Still wondering if anyone out there could help to give us pointers on how to best adjust to this new environment, especially confronting the being physically away from family aspect. If I didn't care about how Jacki felt, I wouldn't be asking such a question, but even if you're not from the Phils and you had trouble adjusting to life away from your family, I would love to hear how you coped or how you helped your foreign fiance or wife (who's leaving or has left everything they hold dear to them just to be with you) adjust and cope with this big change in their lives. Granted, I'm not going to prevent her from conversing with them and such, but with AP and all that ####### and not being able to go home immediately to visit, it could get very difficult for her and us, too. Her concerns and worries become my worries and concerns, and we need to work them out together. I've never been engaged or married before, unlike some others out there. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

The lady at 5184 was just wonderful! Good luck

I have the telephone 011 63, etc. number given in the posts...however, as I said, my call to the Phils number was unable to be completed and I need a way of calling a number in the US that might could give me a status. I am unable to call outside the USA for some very odd reason. I can text my fiancee all day long, but the 011 or 001 stuff isn't working for the telephone call. It wasn't a line busy message that I got. It was from my cell service provider. Anybody have any other ideas???

Hello,

I'm specifically asking for information about how to find out if our packet has gotten to the Manila consulate yet. I tried 011/63 25286300 that another poster responded in a previous post with as a telephone, but for some reason my cell phone will not allow me to connect to this number. I know I have wide open service, and I can receive calls from my fiancée. I can't even call her number. Anyway, I know there is an 888 number where you can connect to the Manila consulate office and pay a service charge for each call, but I was wondering if there is a number in the USA that is toll free or even long distance (like the NVC #) or an email address I could write to to inquire as to whether or not our packet has been received. I tried the interview appointments web site and it's obviously still too early for our interview to have been put into the system yet. We just left the NVC on June 26. Anybody have any pointers for the Manila Embassy?

PS- I only have my cell phone. No landline at home. International calls are HIGHLY discouraged at my work...so dunno what to do from here. I don't want to have to pay a service fee for an 888 number where I run the risk of being told that the petition isn't even there yet. Looking at some timelines online, it looks like it could have arrived by now. Thoughts anyone? Thanks-

Also, anyone who did the K1/K3 route and your fiancee is about to come here to USA or is already here...do you have any pointers or suggestions that might help with easing the pain of my fiancee having to leave her family and living in a new and yes, strange place with a strange person like me? As you well know, the Filipino culture is much more family centered than here in USA, and it's obviously very tough for someone to have to leave their family and friends for one person. Anything that might help us, especially my fiancee, in this very difficult and real situation, please post or PM me and I will pass along your messages to Jacki. Jacki has already tried to reach out to Filipinos on here, specifically those speaking her native Visayan, in NC or at least nearby, and she hasn't gotten a lot of responses. We would greatly appreciate any and all help/advice in these matters. Thank you.

no, you do not need to have the letters of intent notarized. I can't think of anything in the 129f petition that needs to be notarized.

We didn't notarize anything with ours either. I know for the interview the I-134 has to be notarized, but I think that's it.

Roy or anyone who's been through this process with Manila before...Side-topic since you've been through this before. It appears that the tel. # for the Manila embassy is a pay-for-use service number. Similar for web site queries. Is there a free way of getting information from the embassy or state dept. or whoever that can let me know that Manila has mine and Jacki's petition? Thanks.

I think I found your problem. Think this may be it?

Cute! Funny though, I thought of Lily right away. She's our new kitten and her sleeping spot is on top of the woofer under my desk. I can't see how that's comfortable but what do I know, right? LOL.

Thanks for all the tips, dj and charles.

I'm gonna mess with it some more.

any luck yet?

Well, I tried some troubleshooting stuff on the dell support site and downloaded the video card drivers there but then my screen kept turning itself off during the installation. UGH!

I had to resort to a system restore. So it's all good now.

Thanks, again.

My old Siamese cat loved to sleep on top of my PC tower for some reason. I always kept it on, so maybe she liked the heat underneath the desk. I had the hardest time finding her the first time she slept up there. She never answered when I called her (very temparamental animal, and she later had to be put to sleep because of uncontrollable seizures), so I only discovered where she was after I sat down at the PC for a while and she started licking my leg. I have another cat here now (named Max), and my fiancée Jacki has already semi-adopted him as her pet, too, yet they've never met Max has his own bedroom for now, so he doesn't have the luxury of getting on my PC or roaming/hiding in odd places in the house. Anyhoo, any luck with the PC issues??? Might be not a cat but a bug <grin>...cockroaches are especially bad for PC's. Hint to all: TRY NOT TO EAT FOOD AT YOUR DESKS! I hear "gremlins" like to get in PC's, too.

There are lots of ways to organize and answer question 18. First I wrote a short paragraph explainging our relationship. I just explained how we met, when we moved in together and where we traveled together. Below that I put three sections and explained the evidence in each. Mine were 1.) Proof of living together - this including copies of ID's and bills witht the same address 2.) Passports - This established that we traveled on the same dates and that I had a valid Japanese visa for the time I claimed we were together. 3.) additional items - I included my work contract, travel itineraries and pictures. The last picture I added was of the two of us holding our completed I-129F.

There is no right or wrong way to address this question as long as you include primary evidence in an easy to follow form.

I organized our original submission into four main sections. One was a sort of administrative section that I titled "Forms And Intent," which included the TOC, the main cover letter, the I-129F form pages, our letters of intent, and a letter on name clarification that both Jacki and I felt needed to be addressed to avoid confusion.

Section 2 I titled "Biographic/Citizenship Establishment Paperwork." Here I included my G-325A forms, with 2 passport pics in a bag immediately behind, followed by my birth certificate, a copy of my passport (with color copies of ID page and visa stamps), then her G-325A forms, her 2 passport pics in a bag, her original birth certificate, a certified copy of her birth certifiate, and a photocopy of her passport.

Section 3 I titled "Proof of Travel to Philippines & Meeting Each Other in Person within Last Two Years." Here I included several bank statements (acct. #'s blacked out) indicating travel to/within and/or purchases made in the Philippines, followed by airline itineraries, ticket stubs and receipts for flights, then hotel invoices and receipts for the hotels we stayed at, and finally a color photos section.

Section 4 I titled "Proof of Ongoing Relationship Between David _ & Jacki _." Here I included engagement ring receipts, an engagement photo card, newspaper obituary for my father where Jacki's name was included as "fiancée"), then selected e-mails from the date we first started communicating until near the present date (around 20th of Feb.), then 4 pages of Yahoo Voice chat logs between us, then selected letters sent between the two of us, and finally numerous cards sent between the two of us.

I have two additional packets in the works for Jacki now for her interview. A packet 2 includes all other miscellaneous trip and/or gift receipts.

Packet 3 includes or will include Administrative documents plus I-134-related forms and letters, to include delivery confirmation and copies of check for DHS I-129F appliation, canceled check printouts, NOA1, NOA2, NVC letter, a few other things, followed by a section of all bank statements since 1/2006 (thank God for eStatements!!!), then section 3 is Pay Stubs since April 2006, and section 4 will be tax documentation.

I'll likely toss the out of date/irrelevant materials out of the packets to save Jacki's arms on Interview day! But anyway, the above illustrates mainly my original I-129F submission. I know I need to tone down the other additional packets. But we really want to try to have all of our documents in one place, hence the packets containing everything I've been able to lay my hands on related to us...we want to show our children one day about our early days...I'm sure the kids will get bored if we ever show them the email archive I've amassed...well over 3000 emails between the two of us so far!!! But one day the kids might appreciate it. Oh well...I ramble...

I see I may have some overkill in what I'm about to send Jacki for her interview in Manila. I've been bugging my banks to get me letters, and I told them I wanted them notarized. However, one of the banks sent me a letter but did not notarize the letters, as requested. I was going to chew them out tomorrow for not following my explicit, repeated many times instructions, but maybe I'll just drop it since my income is above 30K. I have pay stubs dating back to 4/23/06, I think, and all bank statements since early 2006. How does one go about getting tax transcripts from the IRS? Can anyone give me a good telephone number to call to request this. Can the IRS also provide photocopies/microfiche copies of a prior tax return that I can't seem to find? I have 2006 and 2005 everything, but am at a loss as to where my 2004 filing is located at present. And also, just to clarify, does the ONLY thing that needs to be notarized at this point need to be the signed I-134. Any of the employer or bank letters?

As for the user's question about DS-156, I know for the Manila Embassy at least that this does have to be submitted. It has to be filled out via an online web form on their web site now, then I think it throws the data into a printable PDF for the beneficiary to print. Or maybe the data just automatically goes into the computer system at the Manila Embassy. But to answer the question of "is it needed," I would imagine it would depend on the consulate, but the safe answer would probably be a universal "yes" for K1 or K3 (I think).

i definitely think nothing can replace reading the guides, but they dont have all the answers...i just think that it can suggested in a little bit of a nicer way...the poor kid feels attacked because you made it seem like the most ridiculous question that you had ever heard in your life...how would you feel if you asked a question in school and your teacher made you feel like a moron...you would never want to ask a question again

play nice.

Why not have the Admins redo the forums section and break the K1, K3, CR, etc. questions forums up by form types and requirements needed for each? Yes, this is done in the guides, to some degree, but grouping the questions by form # and document type, etc. could help new visitors to be able to find their answers much easier. Having to scroll through pages and pages of stuff or fiddle around with a search function that doesn't always find exactly what you're looking for just to find something about the G-325 can be a bit much for a new user who wants a quick answer. Perhaps even on the forums, within say the K1 questions section, and in the proposed section for the G-325 forms, have the admins or a moderator clip a basic information section at the top that would address most of the commonly asked questions about this form. If their question is not answered there, then they can post their question for others to answer. When I was working on mine and Jacki's packet, I found it a bit cumbersome to get to the guides for our forms and what needed to be submitted with them. But I found them, all the same. Still, I wish it were somewhat simpler to navigate around here. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good, useful, and yes, helpful site.

Should I explain what I am sending as a proof of having met him within 2 years? For example, on the letter its says we met on this restaurant he works at, so im sending pictures of us in front of this restaurant, and a couple of my credit card bills showing ive eaten there a few times. whould i explain this to the USCIS and if so, where should i do it ?

thanks!

No need to explain what you are sending, you can write ___ Restaurant, Brazil xx/xx/2006 on the back. Also, boarding passes & passport stamps are most important!

What I did with mine and Jacki's was to provide bank and credit card statements (I blacked out all account numbers) showing the bills for the International Travel via plane to the Philippines. I also included the travel itineraries for the first two trips, as well as boarding passes. I labeled each section and subsection of our packet as to what exactly they contained, but I did not go into great detail other than dates and what was included in that section. Almost a Table of Contents would be what I would call it. Color photocopies of passport stamp pages showing the passport stamps of entry into and exit from beneficiary's country, and also for entry back into the USA is also helpful. Photographs of the two of you together are in my opinion, the best evidence. But you should bolster that with travel information as I noted above. Hope this helps.

We had a problem with a mis-shipped monitor today at work from Dell. Another tech was using an analog/VGA cable and running that into the video card via a VGA to Digital converter. Needless to say, she couldn't get above 1024x768 and the PC required 1260x1024. What ended up fixing the problem was me grabbing the only thing I had that would work with the supplied cable, which was a 2 way digital splitter and the digital cable that came with the monitor. (The supplied cable wouldn't fit in the video card due to different digital cable pinouts). After a reboot and an input signal change on the monitor, she got her desired resolution to display.

Your issue sounds different. Make sure all of your connections (power, signal cable) are secure on all ends. Check for a newer driver online for your card. If you're using an UPS or a power strip, temporarily plug the monitor power into a normal AC jack in the wall. Something could be wrong with the UPS outlet or the power strip outlet. You could have damaged the monitor, particularly if it is a CRT. If your monitor cannot display the higher resolutions, some internals could be damaged and the required refresh rates for higher resolutions may not be able to be displayed. If you can get good resolutions and your colors just look low-quality, confirm that you have your video are settings set to display 16 or 32-bit color depths.

And some monitors require drivers for higher resolution displays. Check for updated drivers for your monitor at the MFC web site.

Also make sure that if you're in a potential multiple-monitors situation, make sure your primary display is "Identified" as #1. Sometimes channels can get mixed up, especially if cable splitters are used, and the mulitple displays thing won't display the required rotation or color depth or resolution. We have another issue at the hospital where I work with a brand new PACS system that runs 4 monitors. Need 3 of the 4 rotated 90 degrees to the left. The two monitors on the #1 channel of the card display fine. However, the #2 channel is hosed and will not do the rotations required, and it's a video card problem. Getting replacement from Dell.

You can also go into your NVIDIA settings and default everything in there to MFC-installed specs. Then try to change it as you had it before.