Skeeter211

I voted for our girl Ramiele with two phones and must have called in at least 200 times. It must have worked that we all voted lots because she was not even in the bottom three. Hope this coming week she can maybe return to a nice balad, but something that shows her off. She has a really beautiful voice with a lot of range to it, but she has got to get over the stage fright and get into the performance. Seems she was playing it safe before. Then when she came out of her comfort zone and did a more upbeat song this last week, she sounded very nervous to me. Hope she can pull it off, but its only gonna get harder as the competition narrows down. Honestly, I don't think she can win the competition if she keeps up performances like the last two weeks, but hopefully she can turn it around.

Just my two cents.....

Scott

PS...What's up with Carly in the bottom 3??? She is actually one of my favorites to win, so I was a little shocked at that one. As much as I don't really care for Amanda's singing, I thought Kristy should have gone home.

Congrats Scott and Mirasol, I'm happy for you guys. Haven't been in here for a while, I started working 2 weeks ago and I'm overwhelmed, having NOC shift doesnt help either.

Hope everybody is doing great and good luck on the upcoming interviews

Thanks! Congrats on finding work too! What is the "NOC" shift? I guessed the N = Nights, but not sure about the OC...

Scott and Mirasol

think that NOC is short for nocturnal. guess it's not as dreary sounding as graveyard shift.

I think so too. Anyway its my day off today so I'm gonna catch up on some sleep.

Gracy<-------- sleepy head

Ok...now I get it. Hope you were able to catch up in your sleep. Mirasol works in the day time, but she is always tired too. It's because she goes to bed too late and wakes up very early, so she is always tired during the week. She makes up for her sleep on the weekends.

Hope everything is going well for you and your new family there. We are doing good here. Going to a concert on Saturday night with Sarah Geronimo, Richellene (sp?) Go, Mark Bautista and Christian Bautista in San Jose. Should be a good time. Other than that, just working a lot.

Take care.

Scott

Congrats Scott and Mirasol, I'm happy for you guys. Haven't been in here for a while, I started working 2 weeks ago and I'm overwhelmed, having NOC shift doesnt help either.

Hope everybody is doing great and good luck on the upcoming interviews

Thanks! Congrats on finding work too! What is the "NOC" shift? I guessed the N = Nights, but not sure about the OC...

Scott and Mirasol

think that NOC is short for nocturnal. guess it's not as dreary sounding as graveyard shift.

LOL....ic okay. Thank you!

Scott

Yep...its true....they will give you the customs form you need on the plane. Just bring a pen and fill it out on the flight. If you mess up, you can get an extra one too.

Scott

After reading the feedbacks of the people who called the USEM today I just remember what my fiancé has to say about the Filipino system, style and mentality.

1.The cab drivers in Manila doesn’t put down their meters unless if asked and some will insist to be paid by a specific amount. What’s the use of the meter? Some will give you a Manila tour so they can charge you high especially if they will notice that you aren’t from Manila.

2.Hotels has different tariff rates for foreigners as well as to some restor bar in Cebu.

3.If you dress nice the hotel, restaurant, malls staffs greets you and treats you good…make you sure you are comfortable in their place and you have everything you need. Some will just greet the foreigner as if you weren’t with them or were you invisible? hahahha

4.Calling USCIS and NVC is free of charge while USEM in Manila is charging so high.

5.And most of all, how can my friend complete her K1 processing and is already in States without having her papers verified at the NSO she was never asked to pay and she didn’t attend the CFO seminar that is required to every fiance’/fiancée. How lucky she was! Hassle free process. Ohh yes, she flew just a month ago.

my friend was interview just last thursday, march 13, and she didn't have to pay the 650 fee that everyone here is talking about. and the consul never even mentioned it. she got APPROVED. her advice is unless you have problems with your documents, are unsure of yourself and your honest intentions, then go and pay the fee, otherwise if the consul sees your sincerity and honesty, he will surely not need any more verification of your docs from NSO. just my thoughts. you can take it or leave it.

Just my own two cents.....

I believe that the selection for document verification is reportedly a "random" selection, but I also believe if the Consul SUSPECTS, for whatever reason he/she sees fit, that there is something different on your documents or something catches their eye that may be totally innocent, they will request the document verification to be sure.

I did not fear anything was wrong with our documents, but I paid the P650 early in hopes that it might get me ahead of the game if they decided some document needed to be verified. I believe, based on the fact we did not submit my step-daughter's BC until the interview day and our visa was issued the next day after the interview, that we likely did not have to do any "document verification". Having said that, I don't think I would change the fact I paid it and did so early before the interview. Maybe it would not have made a difference, but its just peace of mind in knowing we were prepared for it. Small price to pay in the big expense picture of the entire process. To encourage others to bypass paying it could set some people up for long delays.

It's only my opinion, so take it or leave it.

Scott

Congrats Scott and Mirasol, I'm happy for you guys. Haven't been in here for a while, I started working 2 weeks ago and I'm overwhelmed, having NOC shift doesnt help either.

Hope everybody is doing great and good luck on the upcoming interviews

Thanks! Congrats on finding work too! What is the "NOC" shift? I guessed the N = Nights, but not sure about the OC...

Scott and Mirasol

I agree with everything said so far. As long as they were included on the I-129F petition and it is approved, then they are included for the visa interview and medical. You just need to bring the kids for their own medical and also fill up a DS-156 and DS-157 for each child when you bring them for the interview. No DS-156K form is needed for the K-2's, only the Fiance (K-1). The fees for the interview and medical will also be one fee for each beneficiary, not per family. So if you have two children and one fiance coming over, the medical and interview fees will be times three.

I'm not sure how it will work now since people are apparently supposed to call in to make their own appointments once they receive a notice from the embassy, but our appoinment letter had the child's name on it too. I would assume there will still have to be some correspondence from the embassy to let the beneficiary know when to call and set up the appointment, and that would likely list all the names. If there is any doubt, ask the embassy when you call for the interview appointment down the road after NOA2, but I see no worries since you listed them in the petition.

Scott

Thank you everyone for the congratulations! We are very happy and excited that Krrystal will be here soon. Good luck to those still in the visa process. We pray that your patience and diligence will pay off in the end for all of you.

Ingat ka!

Scott

WOOOHOOO!!!!! Thank you Lord!!!!

Our daughter's K-2 Visa arrived yesterday via Delbros!!!! Now she can come to the states and we can be a happy family together! We will wait till July just before the next school year starts, but the visa process for our family is finally done! (Except her AOS... ) WOOOHOOO!!!!

Thanks to all those that helped along the way and to the Lord for making all things possible!

Take care!

Scott

WOOOHOOO!!!!! Thank you Lord!!!!

Our daughter's K-2 Visa arrived yesterday via Delbros!!!! Now she can come to the states and we can be a happy family together! We will wait till July just before the next school year starts, but the visa process for our family is finally done! (Except her AOS... ) WOOOHOOO!!!!

Thanks to all those that helped along the way and to the Lord for making all things possible!

Take care!

Scott

Try planning for a July flight. My wife is going to fly home then to pick up her daughter. Tickets were about $1250 a ticket round trip last week. We were waiting to see if it will go down some as we still have some time yet. Unfortunately, I checked the sites today and it went up....to almost $1500!!!!

I was trying to go too, but that pretty much nailed that door shut. I wasn't crazy about two tickets at the old price, much less the higher fare. That's also only to Manila and we would still need to get to Davao from there. In-freaking-credible!!!! I usually never pay more than $1000 a ticket when I fly there and most of the time I am in the $800-900 range. I have paid as little as $648 round trip about 2 years ago. I guess the rising fuel costs are an excuse for the airlines to jack the ticket prices. Sure hoping they will drop to sub-$1000 again on a fare sale.

Scott

My wife has two tattoos and one is very visible on her thigh. She passed her medical with no problems, so I would not worry about it. I might consider waiting till after the medical to get it, but if you can't wait, its not a reason for denial.

Scott

hi! my usc husband received mail the other day from the nvc that they have forwarded my K3 papers in manila embassy and that i should be getting a packet any day soon. i just would like to ask you how to go about the K4 visa for my daughter? please share with me your knowledge on this. thanks and would appreciate your replies.

I'm not too familiar with the K-4, but I can only assume it is similar to the K-2. If so, you can either have them take the medical and interview in order to have their visa issued at the same time as your visa or if they will follow to join later they don't need to interview and medical until they are ready to go. If the child will go with you, they will have to attend the interview and have their own medical. The interview will be the same interview with you, but the medical will take longer. Depending on the age of your daughter she might get a chest x-ray or a skin test for TB. The skin test takes 48 hours to read so it turns a two day medical into three day medical. Then if there is a positive result on the skin test, a chest x-ray can be ordered, which could take another day. I only say this as we were not prepared and thought it was still a two day medical for kids too.

You will need to fill up a DS 156 and DS 157 and I-134 form for your daughter too. Just no DS156K is needed. You need to pay a visa application fee at the bank and get the DS-157 for each of you. Its per person, not per interview for the fee.

It should explain it too in the packet 4. Take an early medical if you can do it....just in case there is a problem.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Post a specific question if you have one.

Scott

***BUMP***

Hey Everyone!

I know when tracking the visa delivery on Delbros, your tracking number is your case number with "01" added to the end. What is the tracking number for a K-2 with the same case number as the K-1 that has already been delivered. Mir's visa was delivered in May 2007 and now we are waiting on our daughter's K-2 visa. I tried to enter the case number we had when Mir got her visa, but it only comes up with the tracking of Mir's visa back in 2007 and not Krrystal's visa. I also tried to change the "01" to "02" at the end of the case number and that did not work either. It just said no data found.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Scott

Scott and Mir, Congratulations on your daughter's visa approval....hopefully you will be reunited soon.

Take care and wish everyone happiness!

Thank you!

David and I are going back to the Philippines this June. I have been monitoring the airfare and so far, it's stuck on $1500+ per person, round trip. It's way too expensive but we'll still go and make that trip. We're hoping though that by the time we finally want to book the flight, it will be a little cheaper. Who knows... who knows...

Congrats on the successful interview. Hopefully the visa will be released soon. And hopefully, you and Mir will be able to go and get Krystal together... that would be nice.

I remember when this thread is the exclusive thread for us... we even got our own list taken cared by PW. I wonder where she is now? Since I don't work, I spend most of my time hanging here, reading and giving out pieces of advice.

Oh well... Have a good start of the week everyone!

--Mae

Yes...I think with fuel prices so high now, its going to be hard to find a good fare. I look every day on many travel websites looking for something reasonable, but its still high. If I find something good, I will let you know and you can do the same. Just send us a message or post it here. What city are you flying from to Manila? We will go from San Francisco, CA.

Thanks for the congrats! It's really a good feeling to be done with that process....AGAIN!!! I hope to go pick-up Krrystal too, but its really airfare dependent.

Ok...bye for now.

Scott

Hi All.....

Well my step-daughter's K-2 interview is done and all seems well. She was given a pink slip and her appointment letter and told to pay Delbros for the visa delivery anyway. It's funny because I asked my mother-in-law about the approval and according to her....the Consul told her the "petition" is approved. I said, "Petition?" She said, "Yes...the petition is approved." Mir told her the petition was approved long ago, but we hope the Visa is now approved." She replied again, "Yes...the petition is approved." Since she was given a slip and told to go pay Delbros, I guess that's a good sign. She did not ask if the document verification was complete, so we are not sure if the visa will come right away or be delayed like others have been for the document verification. We're just happy to know she is approved and will get her visa.

As far as the interview, they arrived way too early at 5am at the gates. They had to wait and wait and finally Krrystal's Lola heard the gaurd call for 7am appointments. She proceeded to fall into the line. Only problem was that when she reached the gaurd, he pointed to her appointment time of 7:30am in the letter and told her she cannot go inside yet. She was finally allowed inside to get her seat after they called the 7:30am appointments.

At the pre-screener, the asked for my I-134 and taxes/w-2 forms, Krrystal's birth certificate, and some photographs of us together, which she gave them. One note on the birth certificate, she provided them with a copy first and he asked for original. She gave him the original and he returned the copy. She never got the original back. Not sure if that was an embassy mistake or what, but I thought only a copy was required as long as you brought the original to view. They asked a few more questions about me and where Krrystal's mother was located. Then she waited for the Consul interview.

At the Consul interview, they asked some of the same questions about where Mir is located and if we are married already. They asked Krrystal her age and then asked her birth date. She told them, "June 4, 2008".

The interview was short and sweet as usual and then the Consul told her that the "petition" was approved. They went out and waited to be called to the final window. Then they were told to go to pay Delbros, which they did.

Krrystal is so happy now and asks her mother if she will come get her now. It's so hard to tell her to be patient because they miss each other so much. We just tried to tell her that it will be soon, but that is not soon enough for her. We plan on keeping Mir's arrival back to the PI to get Krrystal a secret till she will walk in the door of the house. I can only imagine the look on Krrystal's face on the date of the happy reunion. It can't come quick enough for both of them.

Ok...time to get ready for work. Take care and God bless.

Scott

It's now 7:36am Manila time. hopefully you'll be receiving some good news soon.

We are talking to Mir's mother on the phone now and everything seems okay. The interview is complete. According to Mir's mother....the Consul told her the "petition" is approved. I said, "Petition?" She said, "Yes...the petition is approved." Mir told her the petition was approved long ago, but we hope the Visa is now approved." She replied again, "Yes...the petition is approved."

She was given a slip and told to go pay Delbros, so I guess that's a good sign. She did not ask if the document verification was complete, so we are not sure if the visa will come right away or be delayed like others have been for the document verification. We're just happy to know she is approved and will get her visa.

Thanks again for the well wishes.

Scott

Heeelllooooo???? Seems this thread has gone silent here.

Well Mir's daughter, Krrystal, is at the Embassy for her interview this morning. Her appointment was for 7:00AM. We are both sitting here nervous and anxious to hear some news from Krrystal's Lola about the results. With Mirasol already being here, I would think the only problems might be technicalities regarding documents, which can be fixed with time. It's just so nerve wrecking...especially after all the hassles at the medical last week. The medical came out okay in the end, but so many delays.

Hope everyone is doing well in your place. Take care and God bless you and your families.

Scott

Good luck, Scott and Mir! Hope your daughter had a successful interview! By the way, when it's time for her to join you, are you going to pick her up? Just curios...

--Mae

P.S. This thread used to be the most popular and busy thread of all until they gave us our own regional forum. While it's nice to have our own space here in VJ, I still love our close-tie small family... the original Manila Thread... Sigh... I even don't see some of the active regulars anymore... Gone were the old days...

Thank you for the well wishes and your reply. In answer to your question...at least Mir will go home to get Krrystal. Plane fares are really high right now for July. We plan to go pick her up then in time for school starting here in August. Its about $1400+ per ticket each for Mir and I to go round trip to Davao and back and another $800-1000 for Krrystal's one-way ticket here. It adds up quickly. If fares come down a little then we might both go, but if they stay where they are at now, then probably just Mir will go. Krrystal will only be 8 years old then, so we would not even consider her flying an international trip alone....even if it was possible, which I am not even sure they would allow it that young.

I agree too....lots of changing faces here. I think the trend has been to start a thread by month for those that are having filings and interviews and such. I don't post here as much as I did before too....mostly because of time. I have been hanging out in VJ lately because of questions I have had about the K-2 process. Luckily, the people here have been so helpful as always.

Ingat ka!

Scott

Heeelllooooo???? Seems this thread has gone silent here.

Well Mir's daughter, Krrystal, is at the Embassy for her interview this morning. Her appointment was for 7:00AM. We are both sitting here nervous and anxious to hear some news from Krrystal's Lola about the results. With Mirasol already being here, I would think the only problems might be technicalities regarding documents, which can be fixed with time. It's just so nerve wrecking...especially after all the hassles at the medical last week. The medical came out okay in the end, but so many delays.

Hope everyone is doing well in your place. Take care and God bless you and your families.

Scott

Thank you!

One more question...for those who's kids had a positive skin test for TB, how long did it take to see the induration to appear? Was it a couple of hours, or did it take up till the last minute to appear?

Thanks.

Scott

That's actually a good question. My daughter had a small redness on the part where she had a skin test on the day it was done, then it remains on that size and when we were on our way to go back for the reading, we took the MRT since we woke up late and can't bear to take the taxi and beat the traffic. The MRT was packed with people and unfortunately, my daughter's arm was pushed and the redness increased in size. The skin test turned to be positive, I am not sure if it was the MRT incident that did it or the BCG vaccine she had when she was an infant. In short, she was instructed to chest xray and we need to go back again tomorrow for the result. I'm getting impatient to get my result as well which is being held, and her medical results so these will be behind us and we can concentrate on the interview preparation...whew...i pray that everything is fine with her xray

hello just wanna know something here....you said your daughter got bcg when she was a baby did you bring with you her immunization record ?? how about if you will bring record with you showing that she got already bcg ... does she still need skin test???? and i wonder how old is your daughter ..my daughter is 5yrs is it ok for her to have xray in that young age?????

Don't worry....it's frustrating, but its safe. You should bring any immunization records you have for your child to the medical. If you are missing any for them or you, then they will give it there as part of the medical. You can refuse vaccination during the medical, but you will need them anyway before you adjust status or you child starts school, so you might as well get them there as its included in the cost you're paying for the fee. We skipped it because of the time limits we had, but I would recommend getting them there.

The BCG is not part of the medical at SLEC. Some children in the Philippines were given the BCG vaccine there, but not all. They give a PPD skin test for kids at the medical in place of a chest xray. As long as they have a negative results in the skin test, they will not have to get an xray. If the skin test is positive, then a chest xray will be ordered to determine if the child has active TB.

My step-daughter is 7 years old. I don't really know about the safety of a chest x-ray at their age, but I guess its okay or they would not require it. I am sure its avoided as its not the best thing for a child, but it's not life threatening.

Hope that answers your questions.

Scott

Dave and Rose.....good luck with the chest x-ray. I think if she had the BCG vacc. then that is likely the cause of the positive. Our hearts and prayers go out to you.

As for my own situation....nothing in this process ever works smoothly and the medical was true to form. My step-daughter's medical results were not released in time to catch her flight and they missed it. I called the travel agent and made arrangements for another night's stay (now five nights for a two day medical) in Manila. I then realized that their flights had to be changed before the time of her flight or she would lose the ticket and no refund. They were still in SLEC with no end in sight so they can't leave to go to a ticket office. Yikes!!! I called the call center for Cebu Pacific and explained the situation of why my mother-in-law could not make the change herself. Luckily, they did the rebooking over the phone with just my request. My mother-in-law was able to get the results released from St. Luke's and then went to the ticket office in Robinson's mall to pay the change penalty on their ticket. Whew!!! (Sigh of relief)

Anyways....I just wanted to recommend Asiatravel.com to everyone. Those people are the best. Everytime I called them to say that we needed to add another night, they were always friendly and helpful. Normally, they send a payment voucher via email for the traveler to present at the hotel as proof of payment. Since it was such short notice for the changes, they just said that they would take care of everything with the hotel and not to worry about going to a cafe to print the voucher. They are so nice and their rates are good too. They even have a USA 1-800 number you can call them with so there are no international long distance charges.

Ok....take care everyone. I will post more after the interview.

Scott

Sorry, Scott... not all of us go to Manila for the interview. I personally could have (financially), but that would have consumed my remaining vacation days, added a couple of grand in expenses, and I'm confident the outcome will be the same, even without my personal appearance. So, I guess I should have pointed my thread to those of us unable to attend the interview.

- Derrel

Ooops....Sorry Derrel.....I misunderstood your post to mean you were in Manila and not attending the interview so I assumed that you couldn't get inside. There was some talk around here about them no longer allowing the USC to attend the interview, so I assumed that's what you meant. I just read it totally wrong. Sorry for assuming. I get it now and understand what you meant. If I was not able to go to Manila, for whatever reason, I would sit at home by the phone waiting for a text message with the results.

Scott

Vaccinations for K-1/K-2 not required in Philippines. My wife was asked if she wanted to do them there or told she could get them in the USA. She got hers there, but my daughter, who is at St. Luke's today declined the vaccinations from St. Luke's due to time limitations. She just has to get them and show proof before she will AOS.

Scott

"Thank you!

One more question...for those who's kids had a positive skin test for TB, how long did it take to see the induration to appear? Was it a couple of hours, or did it take up till the last minute to appear?

Thanks.

Scott"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My son's "wheal" started to appear the 2nd day. I honestly wasn't expecting him to be (+) since

he had a skin test done in a reputable hospital here in Cebu and it was (-). It was really a very

small induration (but obviously not small enough to be declared negative). The wheal wasn't

itchy and red like the other's i've seen. Usually, some would complain of itchiness a few hrs after

the injection of the drug and the wheal it produces is bigger about 2-3 inches in diameter.

peewee

Thank you!

Scott

Scott, pls do share your daughter's USEM experience on monday.. if her skin test turns out positive she will have chest xray right? and that would mean she will finish all medical by friday, and even if it will turn out negative, it still means she's done with medical thursday, just a few days before interview. I am curious if there would be no problem with that. it will absolutely help with my planning for our medical and interview when our time comes.

btw, did the grandma able to get the passport before going to manila? I also applied in DFA Davao and was supposed to get our passport feb. 19 but a friend told me, their passport which was supposed to be due feb 14 was not yet released so i didn't bother going to davao to get our passport yet. With the increase in bus fare, it is a waste of money and time to go to davao and go home with nothing.

thank you very much.

Well we just got word from SLEC that Krrystal's skin test was a negative. Wooohooo!!!! Thanks be to God! I could not take yet another delay. Their flight leaves at 3pm Manila time to go back home and they are currently waiting for the last two hours in "releasing". We signed the papers to have the shots done here in the USA as we could not wait for vaccinations and then releasing after. I am praying they can still make their flight as it's the last flight of the day on Cebu Pacific. The 7:25pm flight was cancelled, so its either run as fast as they can to make the 3pm flight or stay another night in Manila. The girl at the releasing counter said maybe 2 hours wait and it's been 2 hours now. Hopefully, they are close to finished now. If they can get their releasing papers in the next hour, they can still make the flight home.

Ok....I'm rambling now so I will go. Thanks for all your comments and help.

Scott