KansasDragon

I am traveling to the Philippines for Christmas, and then Annie is returning to the USA with me.

Our tickets take us into Taipei on Cebu Pacific Airlines the afternoon before our flight to the USA leaves on United Airlines.

Does anyone know what the rules or regulations are for a Filipina traveling through Taipei? I'm not sure if we are going to have to stay in the airport overnight, or whether we can leave for a Hotel for overnight.

Ask your petitioner to call USEM and ask for Lorraine Gonzales at 528-6300 loc. 5184. Good Luck!

For us Buang Americanos..who only call Philippines cell phones.. you need to dial a "2" in front of that number, so 011-63-2-528-6300

In trying to get the tickets purchased for me Round trip to Philippines, and Annie's ticket back with me, I'm finding my round trip ticket is on many quotes cheaper than her one-way ticket.

Is there any reason I can't buy two identical tickets, departing from the USA, and only have her use the return portion of the ticket?

What kind of problems is this going to cause for us? Ann's phone was stolen from her purse while she was on a bus in Manila, for her Embassy Interview.

All the paperwork shows her phone number, which she now does not have.

Is this going to cause a problem with Delbros delivering? Or with anything else?

How can I contact Delbros or the Embassy about this?

I just had a short phone call with Annie after her interview, and she is approved!!!!

lol, she wasn't sure, but she told me the Consul told her Congratulations, and asked her how soon is she going to USA, they released her papers, and told her to go pay Delbros for her delivery. (Sounds approved to me.)

Sounds like she had a very easy interview. She had a nice lady as a Consul, who just asked her about 10 questions, mainly about our relationship, her families approval, why she loved me, etc..

The pre-screener was a little less nice, but sounds like it was pretty easy also. They asked for only a few things. They wanted of course the DS-156, DS-156K, I-134, etc..., then they wanted her NBI, NSO Birth Cert, and looked at only a few pictures.

They never asked for her Cenomar (After her rushing around trying to get it, after the name of her mother was misspelled.) They never looked at our phone records, emails, boarding passes.. (Maybe they'd already looked at the large pile of evidence I sent in the original submission.)

Ann did fantastic, especially after having her cell phone stolen from her on the bus in Manila last night.

She managed to meet Crezvie, of VisaJourney's "Steve and Crezvie" at the Embassy, so she was very happy about that.

She visited with several other Filipina's who were at the Embassy, also. So had a pretty good experience...

Then after 10 minutes on the phone, she kicked me off the phone , and said "I'm hungry, we're going to eat, cya later" See how she is...lol (I'd be hungry too if I hadn't ate since last night, and the stress was over.)

Now we start getting the airplane tickets arranged. We're waiting a little while, since we both decided, it would be really nice for us to spend Christmas with her family, before she moves to the USA.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers, advice, and friendship.

P.S. Can anyone help pay for my new carpet.. I wore a path in it pacing tonight..

Tomorrow is Ann's big day for her interview. We both feel prepared, but she's still, of course, a little nervous.

Luckily she was able to get a corrected Cenomar today, since the NSO sent the first one with her mother's maiden name spelled incorrectly.

Any prayer's and good thoughts will be greatly appreciated..(Maybe that will guide her papers through the nice smiling, pre-screener and consul.)

Also, extend your thoughts and praryer's to Steve and Crezvie, their interview is tomorrow, also. Ann and Crezvie have become chat mates and text mates over the last couple weeks, and are hoping to meet at the Embassy.

I feel very excited about tomorrow, I have great confidence in our paperwork, our evidence, and especially in my Honey..

Thanks everyone, for all the great advice during this process, you have all been FANTASTIC.

lol, I never tried to send a card. I just always hopped over to the IslandRose website and sent Roses, and told them what to put on the card.

That way I didn't have to worry about postal, and could schedule when I wanted it delivered.

Congratulations

Thank you for your report, too. Any advice I can giveAnnie before the 13th is helpful. LOL, I'm one of those "inlanders" luckily Ann understands about our weater,too. Not only from me, but from a couple local Filipina, that she has been chatting with since I introduced them online months ago.

Congratulations!

That info is great to read, since Annie's interview is the 13th, makes me feel more confident we have everything in place..

Glad you received your package, FINALLY.

Just a note to anyone reading this thread..

If you're going to use USPS, use the Global Express Guaranteed option, it is more expensive, but it arrives in 3 days, hand delivered by FedEx.

USPS contracts FedEx to handle the shipping, tracking, and delivery of the Global Express Guranteed, and it is less per package than what FedEx charges. You can track your "USPS" package on FedEx's website.

I'm not sure how many Ann will actually take to the Embassy, I suspect she'll take her album. But I carefully selected a half dozen pictures that I sent her to take along.

Some from both of my trips to see her, in popular, easy to identify places, with many of her family members with us. I then wrote on the back of the photos, the date, where, who was with us, etc.

My primary concern was to show we had been together, that her family is very aware of our relationship, and happily approving, by use of pictures to tell the story.

ah, Sheriff... That explains so much..

Now I understand where all that "Hey Bro", "Wassup Bro", "Pasaload Bro".. comes from.

It's those Black Infiltrators...

Ann's Interview isn't until the 13th. But when she was in Manila for her Medical, she went to the Mall of Asia, and bought a big organizer album.

She's carefully sorted all of her papers, evidence, pictures, NBI, Cenomar, Birth Cert, DS-156, DS-156K, DS-157, Affidavit of Support, etc.. into separate portions of this organizer, so she can quickly flip to whatever they ask for and produce it.

But everyday, she still asks me, "Ok, tell me again, what do I need to have?"

Thanks for all the good wishes.

How did she know she passed? lol, I guess we just assumed that, since they gave her the X-Ray, The Vaccination Results, kept her passport, and told her "Good Luck with your interview".

Ann just picked up her Cenomar from the City Office today, and they spelled her mother's last name wrong. Instead of Sere, they spelled it Zere.

How critical is that she get this corrected? If so, she's going to need to have her cousin in Manila take care of it. It took almost 3 weeks to get this one through the City Office in Mabalacat. They told her minimum 2 weeks.

Ann finished her Medical at St. Lukes and is busy celebrating at the Mall of Asia (Honey, can you give me your wallet?)

And she only threatened to kill me twice, once for the blood draw (Honey, IT HURT, I'm going to kill you.) , and once for the injections (Honey, It STILL HURTS, I'm going to kick your lubot and kill you.)

Interview coming up on September 13th.. The Excitement is really building..

Ann was able to have a cousin go into St. Lukes with her. (Her cousin is friends with an employee, who everyone was addressing as "SIR"). That made the medical much easier and enjoyable for Annie.

I want to thank everyone for the great documents about the medical. I studied them and condensed them down to 8 text message that Ann carried on her cell phone with her, to remind herself of what was next and where. (She refused to print and take the documents, I was told, that's is your responsible, I want it on my phone.)

She also took my address, phone number, etc. on her cell phone in text message so if she forgot anything, she could look quickly. Obviously that's not going to work for the Embassy. But it worked great at St. Lukes.

And then add the fact that you can have that DS-157 totally filled out, ready to go, you walk into the BPI, and they say "Not Acceptable, you must hand fill our copy"

lol, Ann wanted to kill me, she thought it was all my fault, that I had made the wrong paper...

Just have to love the Philippine's shop keepers..

Annie went to a "Photo Shop" that "claims" to know exactly what you need. They gave her 4 2x2 Visa Photos, and 4 1x1 Photos. (What in the world would the 1x1's be for?)

I'll just have her go back after her medical for another set of them. They are pretty inexpensive.

Annie was not planning on taking anyone inside, but her friend, keeps telling her she can go inside with her.

But maybe that's because her friend is close friends with a couple of the St. Lukes guards.

I guess I'll let the two Loko Girls figure this out.

How many total Visa Photo's will I need for Annie?

I see it says take 3 2x2 to St. Lukes.

I need 2 for the two copies of the DS-156.

So, is the total 5? What are the purpose of 3 at St. Lukes?

Are there more needed?

Annie's is going to St. Lukes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and is wanting to know if anyone can go with her, and enter St. Lukes.

She is staying with a cousin in Manila, and would feel much more confident if someone could go with her.

I'm sure this has been asked many times before, but my searches are not finding an answer. (Maybe I'm just a bad searcher today.)

Thank you!

I've used JustFares.com out of Seattle before. They beat BT-Store by about $300 last time.

1-800-766-3601, ask for Mark. He was great to work with.

I'm going to be checking with the Uncle of the Owner of the Local Philippines market in Wichita, KS soon. I've been told by the Filipina's that go to the market that he can get me the best price. I read a Yahoo Group, that is by people who moved to the Philippines, and that was a recommendation by one of them. He said "Always check at your local Philippines Market in any major USA city, they will know someone, who knows how to get the absolute lowest prices." And in my case, it's supposedly the uncle...

(Almost sounds like working in a dark alley trying to get a deal.....)

One more update, EXTREMELY FAST SERVICE..

I sent this at 12:30PM in Newton Kansas on Tuesday. It is now Thursday night 10:45PM, and Annie is looking at the contents of the envelope.

To be clear, it is illegal to employ anyone without complying with I-9 requirements. You can be self employed.

Is that correct? So, If Annie wanted to clean houses, paint houses, do manicures, as an independent, self-employed person, that's legal?

She'll probably like that news. She's a very business minded lady, and has no use for a BOSS, including me. (Luckily I get to be a partner, which is what I want.)