MarryMe987654

I was checking my flight back to the US set on June 30th and I do not see this requirement anymore either. I am flying via United Airlines.

I might be paranoid but yeah, this scares me so much too.

I wrapped both my bags with saran wrap when I traveled to the US in 2019. I just don't want to give anyone an opportunity to hassle me, I guess.

On my way back to Philippines this year, I lined my luggage with cardboard box along the zipper line, placed all my things in a huge garbage bag and placed inside the luggage, and tied the zipper with metal wires from bread. I heard of airport people trying to open zippers by stabbing them with a pen to break the zipper so they can steal the contents.

I plan on shrink-wrapping my luggage this month too, when I go back to the US.

6 hours ago, Ravenna said:

We've not been able to book a direct flight because of how expensive it is so instead we've been able to book one on japan airlines that has a stopover in Narita. Has anyone else had to go through there before? I was wondering if I'd have to pick up my luggage and check it in to the new plane when I transfer over? It was booked under one ticket but there's two different planes although they're both japan airlines. Any tips would be appreciated. Thank you!

When I booked my flight via Delta in 2019, my flight was Manila-Narita-Atlanta-Pensacola. I checked in my bag in Manila, retrieved it in Atlanta, checked it in again in Atlanta and retrieve it in Pensacola.

When I booked my flight via United this year, my flight was Pensacola-Houston-Hawaii-Guam-Manila. I checked in my bag in Pensacola and retrieve it in Manila.

You can always ask then check in counter where you are going to get your baggage. You can see the details of it in the baggage tag as well.

Hope this helps!

Hello,

I am hoping that one of you can give me an idea of what to do.

I am going to be a U.S. citizen soon, and I am planning on petitioning my 63-year old mother.

However, I can not find any record of her birth certificate. I tried getting her record using different possible names and years of birth, but no luck. All I have are negatives saying that she has no record.

Anyway, with the negative birth certificates, we have been trying to do a late registration for her, but this is taking too long and the effort is too much (we got to do the registration of her birth certificate in Eastern Samar and we just don't have anyone reliable to help us with it).

I am also not looking forward to getting her passport and other immigration-related papers with a late-registered birth certificate (they are prone to extra scrutiny).

Does anyone else have other ideas on how to go about it?

I'm not asking for anything illegal, just another option for registering her birth certificate or maybe an agency that can help?

Your experience in dealing with a birth certificate that is 63 years old would be helpful.

Thank you all for your help.

17 minutes ago, Prisonmate said:

You're a good daughter and your mom and family is fortunate to have you. Not all daughters will do what you and my wife is doing by sending money to their family.  At least, your mother appreciate your contribution to make their lives better.

Oh yeah.. I really think that I am lucky with my family. It's not just my mom but my siblings as well. In a way, they make my life easier by always helping me with everything. Since I was the breadwinner, they never let me do any housework or any chores. There's too many of them in the house to do that role.

But I think the important thing is, I do not really spoil my family. I let them see and know how much I am paying, how much I am making, my struggles, my worries. I give them the opportunity to do better on their own (sent them to college, help them achieve their dream house/car, sent them to trainings, etc.)I also don't let them feel like they owe me anything and it was a give and take situation, not a martyrdom kind of thing.

It's crucial for me to 'train' my family not to demand, not to be snobbish, not to expect, and to always be grateful and helpful in their own ways.

I would stop any sort of support if I ever heard my mom say that to me.

If she ever says that I owe her my life and everything, then we will be in for some eye-openers.

I have been supporting my mom and my family for probably 20 years now, and while I don't mind it because they are usually very grateful and do not take advantage of me, I made sure to always keep them in check and never make them think that we had bottomless resources.

When I got married to my husband, I set their expectations that things were going to change because I had another family unit to support now. While my husband is very understanding and accepting of my culture and what I do to my family, I also made sure that I shielded my husband from partaking in that part of the culture and made sure that they did not get into the habit of asking my husband for things.

As long as my helping my family does not affect our (me and my husband's) finances, my husband does not intervene. He even scolds me when he thinks I do not give enough.

As a reference, I pay all the bills in my house online (water and electricity), then I give about $70 a week for groceries (that's what I spent when I was living there), and some extra if needed, which would be about $50 a month. My house has already been built and paid for before I got married.

12 hours ago, satances said:

hello!

bit of a weird situation here, bear with me. im currently helping a close friend (i'll call him A) leave the philippines (dual citizen, travel stuff is taken care of). a mutual friend of ours is there now, visiting A and leaving with him next week. A has a phone with no SIM card and therefore no phone number or calling ability, in addition to that his phone is quite old and hardly functioning. A lives in mandaluyong and can't drive, but our mutual friend who is visiting the area and helping him can use the grab app. before A leaves the country, we want to get him a working smartphone so that he can complete the necessary COVID forms and requirements to leave the country, many of which require apps and a valid phone number. we're trying to figure out if there is a way we could, within the next week (preferrably ASAP!!), we could get a prepaid phone with a working phone number, no contract or anything. unfortunately, A is in an unhealthy house situation in which he can not frequently leave his home and hasn't had to do this before, so he is unsure of places that would carry such a thing or how it would work. we're having trouble finding solid information online about what stores do and don't carry these kinds of phones, and i don't want to send our mutual friend on a wild goose chase for no reason. any tips on what to do would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

Hello,

If A can't leave the house, you might want to consider buying the phone,  sim card, and load (peso amount used for sms, minutes and data) online. Lazada and Shopee has plenty of smart phone available and they deliver. Just be mindful on the delivery dates.. but some might be able to deliver in 2-3 days. Hope this helps!

I'll be travelling in 2 weeks and this is the same list that I have except for extension letter when I filed I-751 because my green card expired this month.

In addition, I have made hard copies of my passport, my green card, my extension letter, green card, marriage certificate and kept it safe in an envelope at home and I will be taking another set with me.

I also made a scanned copy of everything, just in case.

1 hour ago, defeedme said:

i'm monitoring this thread - I'm curious if the stupid quarantine requirement will change by June 1, 2022

It's been changed since February this year.

Quarantine will only be required for unvaccinated people.... vaccinated people are no longer required to quarantine in an accredited hotel.

Something to look forward to:

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2022/1/28/PH-entry-fully-vaxxed-passengers-non-visa-required-countries-tourism-business.html?fbclid=IwAR29HLMNVQym-tjB7Nxq_MKQgfcFkHdciBdsVLx7Zj6QwU1uX4G3xZfZx-c

=============

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 28) — The Philippines will again accept fully vaccinated foreigners from non-visa required countries for tourism and business purposes starting next month, Malacañang announced Friday.

“Kung matatandaan po natin nung IATF Reso 150-A natin, dapat sinimulan na po natin ito nung Dec. 1 pero sinuspend po natin pansamantala. So this now would start Feb. 10,” acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said in a virtual briefing.

[Translation: If you recall IATF Resolution 150-A, we should have started (reopening) last Dec. 1 but we suspended it temporarily.]

These foreign nationals must hold passports valid for at least six months during their arrival, and must have a return or outbound ticket to their country of origin or next country of destination.

Travelers must also present proof for COVID-19 vaccination status, which include the World Health Organization international certificates of vaccination and prophylaxis, VaxCertPH, or the national digital certificate of their government that also accepts VaxCertPH as status proof.

Minors are exempted from these requirements according to Nograles. Fully vaccinated foreigners are likewise not included in the arrival quota set by the Department of Transportation and its one stop shop.

Nograles announced too the IATF’s move to lift green, yellow, and red list classifications for other nations beginning Feb. 1.

All travelers must only present a negative RT-PCR test taken within 48 hours before departure and need not undergo facility quarantine anymore. Instead, they will self-monitor for any symptoms for seven days.

Starting Feb. 16, the country will only allow entry to fully vaccinated foreigners. 

Checked my status and got this today:

Got this update for me today:

5 minutes ago, Adventine said:

I used this exact same test kit on my return flight from Costa Rica to the US last month. Very easy to use and absolutely no issues with boarding. 

 

However, @Chancy is correct, with the PH travel restrictions being so inconsistent and unstable, you are better off with a laboratory that is clearly DOH-accredited. The last thing you need is an overzealous employee who insists on seeing results from DOH-accredited labs.

 

If it was me in your shoes, I would go for a DOH-accredited lab but I would keep these test kits as a backup option, just in case the travel requirements change again or PH labs are fully booked by the time you need to travel back to the US.

Thank you, @Adventine. That's what I am leaning towards to.

But for now, I think I will wait and see what the situation is, at least one month before my trip

10 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Don't risk it with those home test kits.  You may encounter airline staff who would require test results from a DOH-accredited facility and strictly check for the CDC requirements for COVID test results for travel.  The JAL staff who checked my paperwork were very strict.

 

Just get tested at PADLAB near NAIA.  You can get the results within 30 minutes, and it costs less than 1k pesos.

 

Thank you so much for the tip!

Hello,

So I booked a flight to the Philippines for March 29 to June 30.

I was checking on requirements and found this on United Airlines' website:

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/covid-testing.html#to_us

Does this mean that I don't need to go to a clinic to get tested on my way back to the U.S.? I need confirmation as this seems too easy to be true. I understand that this  can still change in the coming weeks.

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks!

751 filed on: sent via USPS on 12/20/2021, received on 12/22/2021

green card expired on: 03/03/2022

n400 filed? (Yes/No): No

new extension letter i797 received date: 12/24/2021 (notice date)

First 3 of Receipt Number - YSC

55 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

I wonder how many people discard these, thinking "there is no way the govt. made such a typo, must be a scam"?!

 

Probably what happened was similar to the paper watermark fiasco on the Office.  Quality Control slacked off, but USCIS had no money in the budget to reprint them, so they're using them up.

That was my first thought when I saw the image. 

I almost lost this mail too as the mailman put it in the wrong mailbox. Good thing, my neighbor gave it to me as soon as he received it as he is fixing to be deployed in 2 days 😬

Update: Got my NOA on hand. 

It also says that my greencard is extended for 24 months from the expiration date of my greencard, which is on March 3, 2022.

1 hour ago, Jana H said:

It's mostly likely your NOA

Yeah, it's probably my NOA but I was referring to 'IMMAGRATION' in the return address.

Informed Delivery showed a mail coming from USCIS.

Anyone else bothered by this?

16 hours ago, Y & J said:

Hi, May I know what Potomac Svc Center means? How to check if mine was delivered to there?

Potomac is the service center located in Arlington, VA. Not sure if the word 'Potomac' means anything else.

Once USCIS confirms that they received your packet, they will give you the receipt number. The first three letters of the receipt number will determine your service center. If it starts with YSC, then your application will be processed in Potomac.

8 minutes ago, Toastbear said:

Funny enough I just got the text message with our casenumber. So that was me being worried for no reason as always haha.

 

Looks like its Potomac Service center, so I'm guessing no interview?

I am not sure if that what Potomac Service Center means... I would interested to know if Potomac is historically easier or quicker or not.

My greencard will expire in March and I need to make sure that I won't have any problems when I travel in April.

Goodluck to us!

1 hour ago, Toastbear said:

May I ask when you sent your petition out? They received my petition at 11am on thursday and nothing has happened yet. I know it was christmas and stuff, but I'm a little worried since my greencard expires next week.

Sent my packet via USPS on December 20th.
USPS tracking shows as delivered on December 22nd.

USCIS Case Tracker says that it was received on December 22nd.

Checked my bank account this morning and it showed that the check has been cashed.

USCIS just cashed my check today.

Just received the text from USCIS today. Looks like I am in Potomac Service Center as well.