Skeeter211

Only one note....yes...you will pay less taxes by filing married than single, but it makes no difference on the Bush stimulus package checks. I read that in order to get the full amount of the married couple, both must have an SSN and an ITIN (Interim Tax ID Number) will not work. In their case she would be given an ITIN until she gets to the USA and can apply for an SSN so no extra benifit there. Depending on the amount of money the USC makes, the tax difference could be significant though and might be worth it if all it takes is a copy of the passport notarized in the Philippines. I would have your tax preparer figure it both ways to see how big that difference is.

Scott

I am going to assume some things about your situation, but correct me if I am wrong. I see that you already have your visa. I am assuming that your petitioner included/listed your children on the original petition (I-129F) when it was filed with the USCIS to start the process of getting your K-1. I am also going to assume that since you have your K-1 visa already and are asking about your child's K-2 that you are going to use the "Follow-To-Join" provision of the K-2 that allows them to obtain their visa up to one year after the date your K-1 was issued.

Assuming all the above is true, when you are ready for your children to join you in the USA, you have to contact the US Embassy in Manila and tell them you are ready to process the K-2 visa for your children. They will ask you to fax in a document to the requesting that they begin processing the K-2. I had to request that an interview date be scheduled, but now that you call in for your own appointment, I am not sure if that part has changed. We faxed in the letter and then I checked the appointment website every so often to see if there was an appointment date. After about 3-4 weeks, my daughter's medical and interview appointments appeared on the website. Again, this part might have changed as I understand you now call in for your appointment schedules.

After that, it's much like your K-1 visa. Your child must have a medical exam at St. Luke's. Keep in mind that they will give your child a TB skin test that takes 48 hours to read with drags the process out for 3 days instead of 2 days for adults. Add another day if your child has a positive skin test (as many do) so that a chest xray can be done and read.

The interview is pretty much the same as yours except in your child's forms. The child will only need the DS-156 (online) and DS-157. No DS-156k is needed for the child.

As said before, your child must have his/her visa issued prior to the one year anniversary of your visa issue date. Keep in mind it takes a few months to process, so don't wait till the last minute. I would give it at least 3-4 months before your visa will expire.

I don't remember the fax number that you will need to fax your request to at this point, but if you call the embassy to tell them you want to process the K-2, they will give you the number and contents of the letter you need to send.

Good luck!!!

Scott

HI SCOTT

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR UR REPLY GOD BLESS ......

LYN

You're welcome!

I did just notice a typo....you should apply 3-4 months before the end of the year following your K-1 visa issuance. In other words, if I was issued a visa on May 1, 2008, I would send the request for the K-2 processing to the embassy no later than February 1, 2009.

Hope that helps.

Scott

I think I need to change mine too! It will be oldsexywhiteguywithbigtummy.... Hey...my wife loves my tummy...she helped create it will all her good cooking. hehehe

Here is my new avatar:

I just wish for the OP to find peace and resolve the issues within himself first before anything else.

Amen, Sister!

Scott

Sounds like it might be painful, but not visa ending. My only other concern would be if it was something more serious that might require prolonged medical care in the USA, the Consul might want some proof that your fiance has the financial capacity and/or medical insurance to care for your medical needs so as not to become a public charge. This doesn't seem that serious, but maybe one of the doctors on this forum can comment.

Scott

she doesnt have college, and didnt finish high school i dont think.. I didnt either, but I went back later to college and got a degree. Im having a lot of fun studying the cebuano language. We chatted a couple days ago for about an hour on yahoo. We kept laughing at each other. I just look up words with the online dictionary, but I dont have the verb conjugations and all that. I send her emails with pictures to describe what im saying. Its kinda wierd, coz we are back where we were a year ago. I told her Pasayloa ako, I made a terrible mistake when I took the ex fiance back after she proved herself untrustworthy. I learned happiness isnt in the job or education someone has or even physical attraction. She said shes been waiting for me all this time to wake up. She is always so excited when I call her. I am planning on moving to Cebu for several months or a year. I think you have to come back after a year and then you can go back again. I have to work at arranging that. The biggest difference I noticed in her is that she doesnt talk about the usa or say "i want to go there" and things like that. She just says when are you coming to see me, ive been waiting so long. I asked her if I can just move there, and she said yes thats fine with her. I get a little impatient that I cant tell her a lot of things and she probably feels like that to. I asked her through a translator if sometimes during this last year she felt me thinking about her, because sometimes I did, and I thought she was thinking about me. I never contacted her because my fiance asked me not to. She said she knew when I was thinking about her, and she knew I would come to see her someday and she is waiting for me. Maybe its bs, but I dont think it is. She never asks me for money, and an aunt told me she was crying because one of her relatives asked me for money on the phone and she was really upset about that. She always comes to the internet cafe and leaves me a message or an email even though she doesnt have a lot of money, and she texts my phone.

My brain tells me to keep my mouth shut and mind my own business, but sometimes I can't help myself.

All I can think is.......Oh brother.....here he goes again. I can only assume from your timeline that since your interview on this last K-1 was 3-3-08, that you very recently broke up with your "fiance" that supposedly scammed you, but is now back in the PI. All I can say is that reading the above post makes me want to say, "Slow the heck down, Cowboy!" You have barely gotten rid of the last one and you are now talking about how great this new girl is and how you have already asked her if its okay if you will move there for a few months to a year. Of course, I am sure you don't plan on moving there next week or anything, right? Maybe give it a month or two to plan it out. Geesh!

In my opinion....and take it for what it's worth....but reading your post makes it sound as if you are already taken by the cousin. You need to give it a rest and take the time to get to know someone before you rush into another relationship. Is there a reason that this new relationship needs to get off the ground faster than superman on his next mission? I am not one to move quickly into a relationship anyway so I am sure that factors into my opinion, but let the dust settle a little.

One thing you can do to protect yourself from being "scammed" again is to put time on your side. A girl looking to scam you for money or a visa will not usually stick around for a year or two if they are not really interested in you as a person. (Yes....I did say a year or two.) They want the fast results and there are too many others willing to take the bait....sadly to say. If she is really into you as a person, she will wait forever.....not that you have to make her wait forever. Just slow down and take your time. Use the time to get to know the girl intimately. It's only then that you can develop a true love and not a puppy love infatuation.

Just my humble opinion. You can use it or lose it.

Scott

PS....I know this is all a bit presumptuous, so please forgive me if I got it all wrong.

Here is what they did not tell you....you can take those items to the DMV and get your driving learner's permit, assuming you pass the written test, but it is only good until your I-94 expires. For a K-1, that is 90 days. If you don't bring something back to the DMV within that 90 days that extends your residency beyond the 90 days of your I-94, like a green card, then it will expire and you have no license again. The chances of you getting your AOS completed and a greencard in hand within the 90 days is slim to none....even if you were married off the plane and you filed your AOS today, that would be tough.

I guess if it is worth it to pay your fee to DMV and get that learning permit for the 90 days, or if you can pass the written and somehow take your "behind the wheel" test the same day, then go for it. Just know that it will expire when your I-94 does. Don't wait more than 30 days to get it though because you must have at least 60 days left on your I-94 or they will not issue it. I ran into this problem with a California ID card for my wife. She had less than 60 days on her I-94. They took her money for the fee and then told her she had to bring her green card in (months later) before they would issue it because she had less than 60 days on her I-94. What a waste that turned out to be.

Good luck!

Scott

I am going to assume some things about your situation, but correct me if I am wrong. I see that you already have your visa. I am assuming that your petitioner included/listed your children on the original petition (I-129F) when it was filed with the USCIS to start the process of getting your K-1. I am also going to assume that since you have your K-1 visa already and are asking about your child's K-2 that you are going to use the "Follow-To-Join" provision of the K-2 that allows them to obtain their visa up to one year after the date your K-1 was issued.

Assuming all the above is true, when you are ready for your children to join you in the USA, you have to contact the US Embassy in Manila and tell them you are ready to process the K-2 visa for your children. They will ask you to fax in a document to the requesting that they begin processing the K-2. I had to request that an interview date be scheduled, but now that you call in for your own appointment, I am not sure if that part has changed. We faxed in the letter and then I checked the appointment website every so often to see if there was an appointment date. After about 3-4 weeks, my daughter's medical and interview appointments appeared on the website. Again, this part might have changed as I understand you now call in for your appointment schedules.

After that, it's much like your K-1 visa. Your child must have a medical exam at St. Luke's. Keep in mind that they will give your child a TB skin test that takes 48 hours to read with drags the process out for 3 days instead of 2 days for adults. Add another day if your child has a positive skin test (as many do) so that a chest xray can be done and read.

The interview is pretty much the same as yours except in your child's forms. The child will only need the DS-156 (online) and DS-157. No DS-156k is needed for the child.

As said before, your child must have his/her visa issued prior to the one year anniversary of your visa issue date. Keep in mind it takes a few months to process, so don't wait till the last minute. I would give it at least 3-4 months before your visa will expire.

I don't remember the fax number that you will need to fax your request to at this point, but if you call the embassy to tell them you want to process the K-2, they will give you the number and contents of the letter you need to send.

Good luck!!!

Scott

Congrats on the successful medical! Glad it all worked out and the chest x-ray was negative. Good luck on the upcoming interview!

Scott

Hope everything works out with your son's chest x-ray! Take care and God bless.

Scott and Mirasol

I'm a guy, so what do I know, right? I would not scrap the medical. I would go on Tuesday and tell them about your period. As DocJazzie said, since you will be almost done, maybe you can do all the other tests and by Day 2 you might not be bleeding and can do your urine test. Even if its an extra day for the urine, I think you might be okay still for your interview date. My daughter was delayed by a TB skin test for an extra day and she still got to take her interview and got her visa right away, so I would not give up. The worst that could happen is your medical results are delayed. You can still have your interview and the embassy will just hold the decision of your visa till the results of the medical are received.

Scott

We were stuck in NVC for about 4 weeks. I was panicked and thought there must be something wrong cuz I saw everyone else taking only 3-4 days to get to the embassy from NVC. I called once a week to the NVC and asked if it was released yet to the embassy. Each time they said it was not released and there was nothing they could tell me. Finally, about the third call to the NVC, the operator told me not to worry and that it was just in the normal process. He said it was just taking longer than usual to complete their usual checks and not to worry. The next week I called and it had been sent to the embassy the day before my call.

I will say they same to you....don't worry. Unless you hear there is a problem, assume its just normal checks and it should be cleared up soon. Plenty of people have had their cases held up at NVC and did not have any problems. It just took a while for them to release the file to the embassy.

Hope this helps.

Scott

I really don't know....but my guess is that "document verfication" is holding you up as so many others are now finding out. Just another reason for others to wait to get a plane ticket until you have the visa in hand. It used to be that you could count on getting your visa in a week to ten days if you passed, but not anymore. Now you can "pass" the interview and be approved, but still wait a month or longer for document verification.

Buying a ticket before the visa is in hand is always a gamble, but now it has become even harder to guess-timate when you can fly away from the Phils. I don't say that to chastize the OP as much as to remind others of the risk of doing what they did. I know its hard to wait even another day longer, but if you choose to play with fire, sometimes you're gonna get burned.

I really don't think going to the USE will help if you are waiting on document verification or are in some type of AR. In my opinion, you just need to wait until its released. What number did you call at the USE in Manila? When I called, I got a live person....Lorraine I think was her name. It did not seem to be a call center with standard answers. She was able to look up our case and help us. I believe its the phone number is in Sheriff Uling's forum signature or the guide too.

I wish you the best of luck and hope your visa will arrive in time.

Scott

Just an update....I had purchased a one-way ticket from a travel agent there in the Phils, but after giving them the money, they said they had a booking "problem" and could not get the ticket now. The reservation was made, but while they had this ticketing problem, the fares went up (or so they said) and they could not get Northwest to issue the ticket for the quoted fare.....or at least that's what they said after a couple of days of back and forth conversations. They agreed to keep trying to get a ticket in the "budget economy" should one open up, but also agreed to refund our money if we could get a ticket elsewhere.

I kept checking NWA.com and saw that the fares were low again and called the agent back. They checked and they said they still could not get that fare. I called NWA directly in the Phils and they said they could see the lowest fare in their system, but all seats were fully booked....what? They are selling the seats on NWA.com....how can it be "fully booked". I guess they must only released a limited number of seats at one time to the Phils agents.

I hung up and called NWA in America and asked about a ticket. To my surprise, not only did they have a seat for my daughter and would gladly sell it to me, but the agent gave me a "child fare" for her that was almost $200 USD cheaper than what the travel agent and NWA Phils had quoted me. WOOHOOO!!!! I booked it right away. Now I only hope the travel agent will live up to their word and refund my money from the previous booking that was never ticketed. *Fingers Crossed*

So my point is that it is possible to get your K-2 child a one-way ticket (at least with NWA) to the USA after you have purchased a round trip for yourself. No need to split your round trip into two one-ways.

Take care and God bless!

Scott

Before my wife came to the USA, I visited her in Tagum just outside of Davao City. I have been to the Phils six times and to Mindanao four of those times. I was careful about where I go, but never felt in danger. Maybe I am just naive. I never went to places that were not in the public view there. We were either at her family's home or in public places in the city. I would not go hiking in the mountains there. I never traveled alone.....even just to the store. I always had my wife or a member of her family with me.

I have been to Davao City and Cagayan de Oro too. Again....we stayed in populated areas and did not go off to the remote parts. I always kept my eyes open and don't talk to strangers. I would be friendly, but if I got bad vibes off of someone, then I just keep going quickly. Only one time I really felt uncomfortable with a stranger and I just moved quickly to get away.

Obviously, nothing can be 100% safe there. You are in a foreign country that has militant extremists that blow things up and have kidnapped people. It doesn't happen every day though and there are precautions to take to be safe.

I plan on going back with my wife to get her daughter in a few months. We will go to her Ate's house in Tagum and I don't really worry about it. I will be aware, but not paranoid.

Scott

Hi - just a correction, should be 750 PHP not USD

There is also a terminal fee of $750 in Manila if it hasn't gone up any since my wife came here in June. It's separate from the travel tax for Filipinos leaving the country. Everyone pays the terminal fee.

Ooppps!!!! You are very correct! Thanks for catching my typo. I imagine that would be a shocker for someone that did not know different to read that. Almost as much as a ticket.

Thanks again!

Scott

There is also a terminal fee of $750 in Manila if it hasn't gone up any since my wife came here in June. It's separate from the travel tax for Filipinos leaving the country. Everyone pays the terminal fee.

Why is one-way ticket much more expensive than a round-trip ticket? Care to explain? I don't understand why I should pay as much as $800+ dollars for a 1-way ticket when all round-trips are just a little over $1000.

You planning on going back home? hehehe I think I would save the $200 and just get the one-way. It's cheaper that way cuz you don't need a return flight unless you have doubts already. I know a round trip is cheaper than two one way tickets, but if you only need one way, then its cheaper to get just one way. If you plan to go back home then just get the round trip cuz its cheaper than two one way tickets if you wait to change your mind later.

Scott

PS....sorry....just being a smart a$$.

I just purchased a one way ticket for my step-daughter from a travel agent in Ozamis. Another agent in Cagayan De Oro also said they could sell it to us. All our travel agent required was a copy of the passport/visa pages and the ticket number of my wife's ticket, so i think it is possible if its done inside the PI at least. we are flying Northwest if it makes a difference.

Scott

I can only speak from my own experience. I found it was about $150 USD cheaper to buy the ticket over there. I sent my wife (fiance then) the money and she purchased the ticket from a local agency. I also found similar savings for my step daughter to come here in July. Online the best I could do for one way here was $820 and in CDO, we could get the ticket for $688. It takes some shopping around there too as not all travel agents in the Phils are the same either, but I find you can get better deals if she looks there then getting it here.

I found the best deal for a ticket to Manila from here on a site called www.cidtravelpro.biz. Most airlines were getting $1400+ USD for a roundtrip ticket in July. I got a ticket on Northwest for $1169 each. Once you hit the site, you have to click on book travel and then on the international flight search from the next page. That takes you to another search page that is for an airline consolidator. Only word of warning is that since its a consolidator, tickets refunds AND changes are NOT allowed, so once you buy it you're stuck to that itinerary. The search engine is a little finicky sometimes too, but keep trying.

That's my two cents......

Scott

Wishing you all a very happy Easter from our family to yours!!!

Scott and Mirasol

I am in this same position, but I have been told by travel agents that they can still get my wife's daughter a one-way ticket by cross-referencing the two. What airline did you buy from? Did you try going to the airlines directly or were you using a travel agent? I have been told by both that it's possible, but I admit that we have not actually purchased the ticket yet. I know most online agents (expedia, travelocity, etc.) told us they will not do unaccompanied minors and refer you to the airlines directly.

I would be interested in knowing what steps you actually took in trying to secure the ticket for your step-son. Did you try going through the airlines directly?

Thanks.

Scott

Look at your visa. Its should say on the face of it what is the expiration date...at least my wife's K-1 did. You must be in the USA by that date.

Scott

Yep...I agree with you Ronmay on Amanda's comment to Simon. I think some people might have taken that as sort of "cocky" and with an attitude that she was too good to be voted off. I thought the very same thing when I heard it. So I think maybe some people that took it that way possibly changed their minds and voted for someone else. Honestly, I don't think she meant it that way, but it came out wrong.

It's either that or they got tired of the Janis Joplin voice. She had a nice performance, but there is only so much I can take of that sound. I never heard any variation on her theme. It was always a rocker chick voice singing Janis Joplin style. It would have been nice to see another side to her....maybe a soft ballad. But then again...I think that was her problem and partly why she got booted. The type of act she did was all she could do and it got boring.

Ok...night night. Take care!

Scott

If she needs a new passport, start now. The days of getting a "rush" 3 day passport I think are pretty much over. When my wife got her passport, we did the rush processing and it took about a week. Just last month we did my step-daughter's passport and went to the same travel agency for assistance. They said no more rush and it will take 3 weeks. Went directly to DFA in Davao City and they said it will be about 18 days, but ended up being delayed and took even longer. In other words, tell her not to wait on applying for that new passport.

Scott