jacob88

Another visa approved today!! Yahoo!

Try Pension Natividad on del Pilar street in Malate. Its simple, clean, and very friendly staff. Accommodation for 1,200 with aircon and pvt bath. They also have fan rooms, with shared bathrooms, dormitory, etc. It's close to Robinsons and peace corps volunteers are always around if you need info on places to travel.

29 - her (pinay)

28 - me (kano petitioner)

one and a half year difference here.

We received a packet in the mail about a week ago telling us when the interview date and time was scheduled for our CR1 (August 27th!!). Also in the packet is information on vaccination requirements and the medical examination, etc. However, there is no medical appointment date. It says going to St. Lukes is on a first come first served basis and must be done a week prior to the interview date. I have read in other threads that people have a medical appointment date and that there are some forms in Packet 4 to fill out before the medical exam? Is this true? We did not receive any forms to fill out in this packet. We are a little confused. Any help would be appriciated.

Also, when typing in our case number on the embassy website nothing appears. Maybe they only show appointment dates for the current month?

Thanks

Please update your list. Our case was completed on July 3rd! It's getting close now.

My wife is from the Philippines so we have to send in Part 2 of her DS230 to the NVC along with all attached requirements. One of the requirements asked for is a copy of her passport. Does anyone know if her new married name needs to be changed on the passport before we send in the DS230? (we filled her 1-130 with her new married name) Or does she just need to change her name before her interview?

For those also from the Philippines...NSO is taking quite a long time to send us the certified Marriage Certificate and Birth Certificate (we sent a request in sometime in mid-February and still haven't received anything). We would like to send in our DS230 as soon as we receive the NSO documents and don't want to waste anymore time going to the CFO and applying for an amendment to her passport if possible. Also, do I (the foreign spouse) need to be present for my wife's CFO seminar?

Thanks for all your help.

Jake

Well we got our NVC Case Number today! I just called and it's in the system now. Still unsure about the second NOA2, but LvivLovers it's all yours if it comes in the mail.

I received in the mail on March 14th our NOA2 with a Notice date of March 6, 2007 (saying our petition has been approved). I have been calling the National Visa Center to see if they have assigned us a case number, but still nothing as of today. Then tonight I received an email from the CSC saying they approved our petition and sent us our NOA2 in the mail on March 27th. We have already received our NOA2 in the mail! Are they sending us another one? Our on-line account has finally been updated today saying we were approved and the last touch was on March 28th.

I don't understand, especially why the dates do not match up. And we still do not have a case number from the NVC. I guess we just keep on waiting...

I dont believe it was ever touched from December until our NOA2. I checked regurally on-line to see our status and nothing ever changed. The first time I noticed a changed was the touch on 03/07/07 and then the NOA2 came in the mail yesterday with a date of 03/06/07. Hope that helps.

We just got our NOA2 in the mail! Please up-date our record. Thanks

Jacob

One quick question, was your I-130 touched at all from December until you were approved last week?

We just got our NOA2 in the mail! Please up-date our record. Thanks

Jacob

Just try calling USCIS and have them transfer you to an immigration officer. Tell them your check has been cashed, but you cant read the the receipt number on the back of it. The immigration officer will look up your name and give you your case number. Just be patient because we were put on hold for about 45 minutes before we were able to talk to an officer.

Thats what we did to get our case number, because we also couldn't read the number on the back of our cashed check (and we still have not received our NOA1 in the mail). The officer was surprisingly very friendly. Just make sure they hear you clearly in the way you spell your name. If one letter is off your information will not come up.

Good luck

I just realized that I only sent in one copy each (one for me and one for my wife) of our g-325a with our I-130 petition (4 copies are required for each of us). I don't know what I was thinking and this is not like me at all to not follow directions, especially with something so important. What a stupid mistake! I'm upset with myself and only wish I knew about this forum before we sent in our I-130.

Anyway, now I am expecting an RFE to be sent and had some questions going through my head. Does anyone know if an RFE is a form we have to fill out and sign, along with the additional evidence? I am currently in the Philippines and all my documents are being sent to my address in the states and my dad is sending in everything for me. If I need to sign a form for this RFE its just going to take that much longer to FedEx back-and-fourth.

Also, has anybody experienced the same situation we are in and do you think an RFE might not get sent? I'm assuming it will be.

Thanks in advance!

You can add us too... NOA1 December 12th, 2006. Still Pending

Thanks

Ok thanks a lot! Just whenever you have time would be helpful. Thanks again.

We sent our I-130 in on December 4th using priority mail to the TSC. Our check cleared our bank account on the 15th and I believe they received our petition on the 12th. However, we never received a NOA1 in the mail and still haven't to this day. We called USCIS after about three weeks of not having received the NOA1 and they informed us that the case number is stamped on the back of the cashed check. We could not read the number on the back of the check, but the immigration officer on the phone was able to look up our names and tell us the exact case number.

I guess the NOA's get lost sometimes. But give it some more time to see if your check clears. Thats the important thing.

jlivings99,

Your posts have been very helpful. I had a couple more questions that I thought you might be able to answer.

When filing our 2555-EZ, for foreign earned income exclusion, do we need to submit some kind of w-2 form with it? My wife is in the Philippines, but I am not sure if they issue a document like a w-2 to show total earnings for the year. Do you think a document like this is needed along with the 2555 and 1040?

Also, for the Bona Fide Residency test, my wife (a non-resident alien, but we are requesting her status to change to alien resident for tax purposes) has never left the country for an extended period of time. Do we list on the 2555 form her date-of-birth as the "began" date, since she is a Philippine residence?

On question 11a, what does tax home mean?

Thought you may be able to help answer these questions. Thanks a lot!

Jacob

Thanks for all the info. Looks like I will just go get a certified copy of my wifes passport from the DFA (although they say it is not a certified copy, but an actual letter saying they issued the passport). I'm in Cebu and the U.S. Consultant here will not do a public notary. This is what they suggested.

I will just use her maiden name for all the forms. I read that it could take 6 weeks to issue the ITIN, so we want to get this in the mail as soon as possible. If we wait for the amendment to her passport with her new name it could take a few more weeks. Also, we can not file for state taxes until we have her ITIN either.

Thanks again for all your help.

We are submitting a w-7 form to apply for a ITIN for my wife. This will be our first time filing taxes together and we must obtain a ITIN number for her because she is not yet eligible for a SSN.

I have two questions regarding this:

First, my wife does not yet have her name changed on any identification documents (her last name changed when we got married and it takes a while to get her name changed on her passport here in the Philippines) When filing the w-7 form and our 1040 tax return, does it matter if we use her new last name or old last name? Seeing how she does not yet have proper identification with her new name it seems like we will have to use her maiden name. Will this cause some sort of delay in the process and have any effect on our pending CR-1 visa, or during our interview?

Second, does anyone know if we have to submit a copy of our marriage certificate with our 1040 to prove we are married?

Any thoughts would be great! Thanks

Jacob

GORISIKH,

Good question about weather to send in a I-129F for a K3 visa or just wait out the I-130 Petition. We are in the same situation. From all the information I have seen, it really seems to be mixed bag. Some people are having their I-130 processed really fast (6 months until visa is issued) and others seem to have to wait an extremely long time. I just looked at the timeline on this site and it said on average it will take over 250 days from the time your NOA2 is received until you get the actual visa. It probably wouldn't hurt to just send in the I-129F petition, just in case INS looses something with your I-130 or there is a hold-up with it for some reason. The only downfall to sending in the I-129F, it seems, is the additional application fee you have to pay. Otherwise, it seems like it makes a lot of sense to send it in, especially if you are in a rush. Two seems better than one to me.

We haven't yet filed our I-129F because for some reason USCIS either lost or never sent us in the mail our NOA1 receipt. We were able to get our receipt number from the back of the cashed check and with the help of an immigration officer (over the phone). However, we still to this day have not received the NOA1 in the mail and they said it may take 40 to 60 days for them to send out another one. We can not file the I-129F until we have the physical NOA1 to send in a copy with our petition. The immigration officer said he wouldn't advise sending in the I-129F without a copy of the NOA1. It really sucks. So, depending on when we receive the NOA1 in the mail we not not even file for the K3 visa, because our I-130 may be pushing along. We will have to see where we are at when that happens. Any thoughts on this?

I would love to hear other comments on the topic. Good luck!

Jacob