MarryMe987654

On 9/29/2018 at 5:41 PM, Leaper said:

Hi everyone! Just seeking some advice..We are planning to buy a residential lot but no title other than "rights" only in the Philippines. I  am just wondering what are the documents that I should require from the seller(seller is a relative of mine) as proof of ownership later on.. Any input is highly appreciated! 

 

God bless!

 

Leaper

Land with rights only are pieces of land/property that are awarded by the government to the poor people who were displaced. Most resettlement areas in the Philippines are awarded with 'rights' but some of them turn into legal ownership later once the government awarded them the actual title. Papers for these kinds of property are available in the city's LUPAHO (Local Urban Poor Affairs and Housing Office).

I would highly discourage buying a 'rights only' property though. It can take decades before a title will be made available to you. They are cheap but you won't have a peace of mind thinking that something can happen later and you won't have enough legal claim to it after investing money on improvements and building a house.

Yeah... I don't even bother checking the requirements right now because my husband tested positive of covid. Although I tested negative, it's not a guarantee that I did not eventually get it since we really did not stay away from each other while he was recovering from it at home. He is ok now but we just want to be careful around people since we might still be a carrier.

There's a big chance that I will get my citizenship before I can go home. I think I will qualify to apply next year.

I envy y'all.

Before I left the Philippines in July 2019, I promised my family that I would be home every year.

We planned a trip in May 2020 but it did not happen because of the lockdown.

Father died in June 2020, a very close uncle died in October 2020--still can't go home.

My husband says that I can go home and stay for 3 months but I just can't be away from him that long.

In addition, I don't feel safe traveling yet.

And if we ever do travel together, we can only do it for a week because of work-- I would definitely do this option but then, we still don't feel safe traveling yet.

Oh well....

6 hours ago, joymaureene said:

how long do you think it gonna take before they mail interview schedule? my I-485 application received USCIS June 2019 

Did you really send your AOS application in June 2019 and you still don't have interview schedule? If this is the case, it's awfully slow.

Because I sent my AOS in September 2019 and I interviewed in March 2020 for my greencard. I've had my greencard for a year now.

1 hour ago, DennisWaldron said:

Single

 

This might be the problem. 

Her NBI should have listed married because of the time of application, you guys are already married. Even though they did not say anything about the status on NBI, putting single on it makes it untrue.

Then the field for the husband's surname would make sense. In the AKA, it might make sense to use her married name even though she is not planning to change to her married name to satisfy the requirement.
 

The remark on CENOMAR is easier to explain as it is dependent on the marriage being reported for record-keeping.

Name change in the Philippines is not easy especially nowadays. The process of acquiring IDs with the new name is hard because they require other IDs to support it. I have a friend married 3 years ago that still can't acquire married name IDs because of the same issue.

Hope you guys get through this!

18 minutes ago, DennisWaldron said:

I agree,dont want to go down a road of changing name. 

Was just just saying seems like that is what they were insinuating. 

 

At the interview she even said she hasn't used husbands name. And at nbi she brought the 221g letter saying what they wanted.

 

On the online website I also seen the field for AKA/other name.

We might try to do the online nbi. And see if that works.

Maybe the live nbi worker didnt understand what she was looking for. 

Thanks

Yeah, that's what I would do. Put in the husband's name in the AKA anyway because the travel.gov website says to have it even if the name is not used.

I wonder if they assume that she will eventually use the husband's name because instead of saying, "I don't plan on changing my maiden name", she just said, she hasn't used it? That may make a difference on why they all of a sudden required an NBI with AKA.

I am looking at my NBI from April 2019. I am not seeing a place for NO AKA but I see that there is a field to put in husband's surname. 

And then on the NBI application website, there is a field for AKA/Other Name.

On the https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/MNL-Manila.html website, it says NBI with AKA should be requested 'even if the applicant has never used those names or spellings in regular life.'

I wonder if a letter along with the NBI with no AKA will suffice.

Because it is not really a requirement for a woman to change her last name in the US and the Philippines so there is no AKA to use at all (provided that there was no previous corrections to name due to spelling, etc.)

If you decide to just create one just to satisfy the consulate's request, you might be forced to change some of your documents to married name as well. This could be a hassle if you do not intend to change your last name at all.

1 hour ago, Love1989 said:

When it comes submitting your i129 f do you submit photos in this format or what you recommended when submitting the application

this is for interview what about when submitting the application.

I think we included the same pictures for the application. I just brought some more or copies of the same photos for the interview.

35 minutes ago, Love1989 said:

Do you have a screenshot of how that looks in regards two pictures on a page 

 

good ideal 

Here it is

14 minutes ago, Love1989 said:

Sounds good 

 

that’s what I am afraid of we got so many pictures that I get overwhelmed on how to prepare all this. 

Just pick ones with you and your fiance and with other people spread throughout the time that you were together within two years of meeting.

Just print two pictures on one page with caption at the bottom.

10 pages of it (20 pictures in total) should be more than enough.

CO might ask for it, they might not. But it is always good to have it just in case they asked for it.

8 hours ago, Love1989 said:

When you going to the interview and you want to have a folder of  pictures of the relationship. When it comes to things me and fiancé did together. Can we put like for example the picture the  name of the place and when it was taken. Cause I have receipts of some of things we did not all though 

 

does the folder can have 

 

communications 

things we did together 

family and friends 

wedding plans 

I am I missing something 
 

When I went for my K1 interview in May 2019, I brought pictures of me and my then fiance with captions such as date, place and the people in the picture as I have photos of us with my family.

I believe our case was strong and without any red flags but the CO asked for a photo anyway and I gave him the pile with all our pictures. He looked at all of them, took one page with two photos (out of 10 pages) and put it in my file folder.

Fast forward to my AOS 4 months later, I saw the same picture in my file the interviewer got. He said that it helps to have pictures on file so he told me to print it in a paper instead of bringing a photo album.

Hope this helps!

3 hours ago, boris64 said:

I waited a year or so until I was reasonably sure the marriage was going to last (s). Then I undertook the daunting task of making her my beneficiary of all my retirement and investment plans. She really has no interest in talking about these things. She always says you never know who will go first or other such nonsense. I have four adult sons but they really don't like discussing me kicking the bucket either. I am very lucky that I have a daughter-in-law that I trust completely to deal with these things. My natural inclination is to procrastinate about these things but I know if something happened to me my wife would be lost and my children would be stuck trying to figure it out. 

Yeah, my husband's the same way. He didn't want to talk about death and preparing for it in the future. He didn't even want me to get the life insurance until I told him that it's not just for him but for my family too. Lol. 

But he has put me as beneficiary to everything as soon as we got married--banks, investments, house, cars, life insurance, 401k, etc. He just trust that I will know what to do for my stepson if something happens.

I know it is a morbid topic to have to talk about but I would not be happy if something happens to me and my loved ones are left with nothing. Now, I just have to draw up a living will so that everything is in order. I can possibly use the will for my ROC too.

2 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

Also, she used to have a Pag Ibig contribution and understands that you can get that money when you are a senior.  Anyone know about that?

She can withdraw the money from Pag-ibig (also named HDMF or Home Development Mutual Fund) when below occurs:

• Membership maturity after 20 years, equivalent to 240 monthly contributions
• Retirement at age 60 (optional) or 65 (mandatory)
• Separation from service due to health reasons
• Permanent departure from the country
• Permanent and total disability or insanity
• Upon death, in which case, his legal heirs will receive his TAV plus an additional death benefit
• Critical illness of the member or any of his immediate family member, as certified by a licensed physician

Source: https://www.pagibigfund.gov.ph/FAQ_RS.html

But it is hard to depend on this too as there are a lot of factors that determine the members total savings and dividends earned such as duration of contribution, the employers contribution and also the interest earned.

It is still nice to have though as it can used for other things such as 

• Housing loans
• Short term loans
• Multi-Purpose loans
• Calamity loans
• Provident Savings

Source: https://www.pagibigfund.gov.ph/

Just now, Adventine said:

SSS on its own isn't much, but it helps as another future income stream.

I agree. It's a government mandated contribution anyway... might as well take advantage of its benefits when possible.

While the SSS is a good thing to have, I would suggest having something else other than SSS as it is not really much money to live comfortably when one is older.

My husband and I planned our finances not to depend on pension plans to kick in later as we want to be able to retire earlier than usual.

We've made investments that will continue to make money until such time that it makes so much, we can live off of it alone.

In addition, I bought a life insurance amounting to $500k with my husband as beneficiary in case something happens to me and I don't get to continue our plans together.

12 hours ago, pocccco said:

OMG! Thank you so much for sharing all these details! Thanks to you and everyone who replied, we're much more informed now and hopefully, we'll come up with a wiser plan.

Many many thanks! ❤️

You're welcome. 

I believe the embassy also advised not to quit job until you have your visa on hand and this is very true. A lot of things can happen between the application and actual visa issuance and the timeline won't be easy to predict. It also helps to have a job to keep you off of losing your patience and insanity while waiting for updates.

I just hope your employer won't have a problem about taking a day off (or three) when you need to do your medical and interview. My employer didn't so that was a big plus for me.

2 hours ago, Lil dash of Faith said:

I tried to withdraw money here $500 is the limit per transaction fee is $2 and ph bank charged me 150pesos.

It's a bit troublesome to withdraw and transfer though 😅

I haven't tried using my BPI ATM here in the U.S. Never really used my BPI ATM anywhere else except within the Philippines. I dread the fees and the terrible exchange rates.
 

When I immigrated, I brought dollars with me instead. Didn't need to use them anyway for anything as I brought my necessities with me so I don't have to spend it. If I do, I just use cash. Was surprised to know that carrying $100 bill is not normal and that's all I had that time. Haha...

In the end, I just deposited it to my husband's account and we kind of used it for my AOS 2 months later.

4 hours ago, Adventine said:

 

Was the wire transfer from a USD denominated account in BPI? 

No. It was from my Php account. 

We were hoping to transfer it from my USD account instead to avoid the terrible exchange rate but the money was in pesos and was already deposited to my Php account.

I did a bank wire transfer from BPI to a credit union in GA few years ago. I have an aunt that that sold her house in the Philippines and deposited the money the money to my BPI account temporarily. I think the amount is just over $16k.

It was a bit challenging initiating the transfer because of the questions on the source of the fund because of the anti-money laundering law.

It took 3-5 days to receive the money. The fee was $15 on my side and $14 on the receiver's side.

Hope this helps!

We did the K1 back in December 2018. I was also working and the breadwinner. When we started the process, I had to make calculations on how much would I need to keep supporting my family for 6 to 9 months that I might not have an income. I knew that's the amount that I have to have before our K1 process was over. I had some money saved up already anyway that afforded me to help with the immigration process and a little cash gift for my MIL.

So I kept working until after I got my visa in May 2019. I gave my notice at work in June 2019 with my last day being July 12, 2019. I flew to the U.S. in July 18, 2019.

Before I left, I got my house prepared with whatever is needed to keep them afloat for awhile before I leave and before money transfer becomes a thing. So I paid for 3 months worth of electricity, water, internet, cable. Bought 3 sacks of rice, groceries, staples, condiments, etc. This allows me to have a little cushion before using the cash that I saved up. I was also able to give my mom and my aunt a good amount of money in their bank accounts before I left to make sure that they will be ok. I made sure that my bank is set up to easily transfer money to them anytime when needed. I kept some money in my local peso account and brought the dollars with me to the U.S.

This worked really well for me. I still have some left of what I saved before I returned to my previous work 7 months later. I applied for my greencard in September 2019, received my AP and EAD January 2020. I am back to work in February 2020.

Hope this helps!

11 minutes ago, Adventine said:

@MarryMe987654 thanks, I'll keep this in mind too. A bit strange for item #2, though. Did they give you any other reason for closing the account? 

No reason. (or maybe I don't remember)

I just know that after receiving my card, I was looking for the pin card and couldn't find it anywhere nor I remember setting up one. I asked if that's supposed to be sent later or if I need to set it up somewhere online but I did not get a good response from their customer service. After that, I cannot access my online account anymore. Few days after that, I received a check in the mail with all my money and a letter saying that it was closed.

They must have suspected fraud or compromised account.

It's fine as I prefer Capital One over them. Bank of America charges monthly fee just to have an account with them. Capital One doesn't charge any fee.

I use WU bank-to-bank with no fee. Money available in my BPI account within the hour.

It took 6 days in the beginning but I guess because I am doing the same transaction for the same account, there's less verification issues.