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Can anybody provide any information on how to register to vote as an Overseas Absentee Voter ?

Thanks in advance.

I have a technical question about what is considered to be the filing date of the I-485 Adjustment of Status. I hope our situation is just going to be a minor issue, but you never know about government agencies and how rules are interpreted.

Mayet arrived September 1, 2008, K-1 visa status. The Visa experiation date was November 30, 2008. We were married on October 9, 2008, well within the 90-day period. The I-485 package was sent via UPS, Next Day delivery to the address listed for couriers (per the I-485 Instructions) on Tuesday, November 25, 2008; it was delivered and signed for November 26, 2008, at 9:45 a.m. Chicago time, the 86th day of the 90 days on the Visa. The next day (day 87 of 90) was Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), a federal holiday, and Friday (Nov. 28) (day 88 of 90) is one of those days when a lot of federal and state agencies close even though the date is not actually a recognized holiday. The next day (day 89 of 90) was Saturday (Nov. 29), probably no federal agency work being done, and then Sunday (day 90) so all agencies are again closed.

The I-485 was accompanied by a personal check, which has not been cashed yet by DHS. My concern is that maybe the I-485 was laid somebody's desk in the midst of the Thanksgiving Holiday and then the week-end, and didn't get receipted until after Nov. 30. I hated to wait until the last minute, but it was necessary in order to come up with the filing fee, which put a really big hit on the wallet.

The K-1 visa rules don't really mandate that the I-485 be filed at any specific time, only that the marriage take place within 90 days. And the 485 package was in DHS hands within the 90 days on the Visa. So the question is, when is the I-485 considered "filed" ?

If anybody has any insight about this, it would really be appreciated.

The topic post says it all.

Interview is the 18th. Mayeth has received her letter from the embassy, but it does not state the amount of the document verification fee. In the examples for the text to delbros the amounts of "1300PhP" and "650PhP" are used, but I haven't been able find any mention of exactly how much the fee is.

Any help is greatly appreciated. More questions are on the way. ha.

Thanks

Lee

November filers.

NOA1 dated 11/30/07. Touched 12/27/07.

Today is 100 days since NOA1.

I flew Philippine Airlines late July 07 San Francisoc-Manila, then Manila-Davao and return Davao- Manila then Manila-LAX early August 07. Each flight PAL left on-time and arrived early. I thought security (which is actually an airport matter) was more than adequate with each flight.

When I go back to the Philippines to be at Mayeth's embassy interview, I will fly PAL again. I was very impressed with every aspect of Philippines Airlines service.

No sympathy here either. Sounds like this guy brings a lot of his problems on himself with his attitude.

As part of the Proof of meeting, I intend to submit the page from my passport showing the Philippines entry visa stamp. Should I copy and submit the entire passport, only the page with the entry visa stamp, the pages with my identification and the entry visa stamp, or some other combination ?

Any insight will be really appreciated.

Lee

I read an interview experience last August 2007, she's late registered too but she was not on AR cause she has lots of supporting documents like:

school records

baptismal certificate

employment certificate

SSS records

and any document that proves it

i just wondering i dont have much proof for my late registered bc , i only have baptismal , school diploma in highschool and transcript , my sss is just recently and also my voters certifcate .

I am also interested in learning more about this "late registered" birth certificate issue. While I am still within a day or 2 of filing my fiancee's I-129F, I am at the same time trying to plan ahead, and I just recently came across a couple of posts about possible AR's if the beneficiary has a "late registered" BC. When I read these posts, I asked Mayet about her birth certificate, and as luck would have it - it is "late registered".

I understand that it is very very common in the Philippines to have a "late registered" BC, especially if you were born in rural areas, and - no matter where you were born - if your family was poor at the time of birth.

I hope Irene's question gets some quality responses.

Thanks,

Lee

First, I am a relatively new member on VisaJourney. I am preparing to file the I-129F for my Philippino fiancée. This site has been very very helpful. I have by now reviewed hundreds of postings and I am really impressed by the members’ contributions. I hope that I will be able to contribute something useful along the way.

In the way of background, my fiancée and I met on line on May 3, 2006, and soon after began our “long distance” relationship. I am a single father of a 9 yr old son, which limited my ability to travel to the Philippines to meet my fiancée, but in July, 2007, I was finally able to make the trip. (I hadn’t been on a plane or more than 5 hours away from home in 27 years haha) Due to my job and my son, I was only able to be away for 11 days, so my fiancée and I were only together for 9 days. Although it was a short period of time, every minute was quality, and it only took a few hours to confirm our faith in each other and what we had been feeling for each other during our 14 months of extensive webcam chat, telephone calls, and e-mails and letters.

Ok. Now for my I-129F issues.

Mechanical assembly:

I assume from reading many posts about assembly of the I-129F that two-hole punching at the top of the I-129F and supporting documents, and fastening them together with ACCO fasteners is the preferred method of assembly. This is suggested by following statement from the USCIS ‘tips on assembly’: b. Use ACCO fasteners to hold together thick or bulky applications or petitions. Two-hole punching the top of the material for easy placement in the file is appreciated. I use the word “suggested” because this ‘tip’ is not really clear. And the last sentence “Two-hole punching the top of the material for easy placement in the file is appreciated“ ‘suggests’ that “the file ” being referred to is their (USCIS/Embassy) own filing system – i.e. that they use a two-hole top-of-the page filing system in the processing of our petitions.

Am I correct in my assumption about this method of assembly ? Is this the right way to go ? I would really like to benefit from other Vjers’ knowledge about this. It seems that there should be a uniform or at least a “preferred” method method of assembling the petition which USCIS would communicate to the public, as it seems this would make their job processing the petitions easier. But there is not.

Photographs:

I am having some difficulty in deciding how to submit the photographs which make up part of the evidence of “Proof of Meeting”.

I have 8 photographs that I intend to use as part of our “Proof”. I first had the photographs printed out at my local Wal-Mart by using their online photo service at walmart.com. Undecided on what size to use, I had the photographs printed in both 8x10 and 5x7 sizes. I then learned that I could e-mail the photographs to my local UPS store and have them printed out in 8x10 size but centered on high quality 8 ½ x 11 copy paper instead of on photo paper. I did this also. The photographs can be attached to the rest of the I-129F, along with the G-325A, etc., just like any other 8 ½ x 11 form or document. It makes for a much neater and easier to assemble petition and eliminates the need for the plastic bag or photo sheets, and with the pictures on regular paper, all of this contributes to decreasing the thickness of the I-129F petition. Other than the difference in regular paper v. photo paper, there is absolutely no difference in the image quality. And further, going this route simplifies the use of the larger 8x10 image size which would make the identification of the petitioner and fiancée being together in the photograph easier for the examiner, especially with semi-distant shots, of which I have 2. Still further, in the same process, the identification, location, date, etc. that is typically written on the back of the photographs can be printed or otherwise endorsed on the front of the photo, either directly within the image or in one of the margins. It seems like this also would ease the work of the examiner by not having to remove photos from photo sheets, etc. And, this process is a lot less expensive than Wal-Mart’s photographs.

Maybe this is a form-over-substance issue and to an extent involves the definition of what a photograph is, but I know the government sometimes is very very much form-over-substance. I want to go with the UPS version on regular paper, because it makes the whole petition more uniform, easier to tab with smaller, more secure tabs, easier (it would seem) for the examiner to deal with, and less cumbersome. But I also know that the conventional way – using regular photographs, is how it has been done so far by the vast majority of VJers who ultimately get their petitions approved and visas granted. I know the worst that can happen is an RFE or return of the petition to start over, but just like anyone else already on or about to begin this journey, my fiancée and I don’t want any delays once we begin the ‘final countdown’. I would hate to get RFE’d because I didn’t submit actual “photographs” (in the conventional meaning of the word).

I sure hope that my post gets some feedback on this issue.

Copies of Documents:

I have 8 documents that I intend to submit as proof of our meeting. As with the photographs, my local UPS Store has an excellent color scanning service that is immensely better that using either a regular black and white copier or trying to do it at home. The documents/evidence are also printed out in color on 8 ½ x 11 paper. You can also have smaller evidence such as receipts and plane ticket stubs enlarged for easier reading, and like with the photographs discussed above, you can have printed with the color copy or otherwise endorse onto the copy identifying remarks or explanations as to what the document/evidence is and its relevance.

Is there any one who has tried this before ?

Relative to documentary “Proof of Meeting”, one such proof that I intend to use is my US Passport showing the Philippine visa endorsements page which documents my dates of arrival in and departure from the Philippines. These visa endorsements (the only ones in my passport) appear on page 9 of my passport. My question here is - Should I also copy the first 8 pages of my passport ?

Beneficiary’s Birth Certificate:

In a way, I am embarrassed to inquire about this, but I also want to make sure I am not overlooking something obvious.

I have read and re-read (about 250 times) the instructions for the I-129F petition, as well as reviewing all the forms, etc., also a couple hundred times. I understand very well that a required document for the petitioner is a copy of the petitioner’s birth certificate. However, nowhere in the instructions or any of the forms do I find it stated that the beneficiary’s birth certificate is required to be filed with the I-129F petition and supporting documents and forms.

Nevertheless, from time to time I come across a post that makes reference to the requirement that the beneficiary’s birth certificate be included with the initial I-129F filing. (the most recent being a post on Sept. 27, 2007, at 10:58 p.m. - see http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...9066&st=0#)

Can anyone give a “Final Answer” to this question. I think I have a good grasp of reading and interpreting government documents and I can’t see where the beneficiary’s birth certificate is required for the I-129F. But on the other hand, I am afraid that I might be overlooking something very obvious about a requirement for the beneficiary’s birth certificate and I don’t want to feel really stupid a few weeks from now.

“Copies of any evidence you wish to submit to establish your mutual intent”:

The I-129F instructions at 5.B. state the requirement of “original statements [of intent to marry] from you and your fiancé(e)” and then ‘invites’ the petitioner to submit “Copies of any evidence you wish to submit to establish your mutual intent”.

I have read many posts on VisaJourney that say that this type of evidence is not important in the initial I-129F filing, that its importance does not come into play until the Visa interview. And I understand reasons for this school of thought. Nevertheless, this language is in the instructions so I am not going chance underestimating the importance of such evidence and ignore the ‘invitation’ to give them some proof of our mutual intent, especially since I have plenty. Haha. But I also want to avoid bulking up the petition, so I am going to be selective about what evidence to use. My best evidence to establish mutual intent here is 17 months of phone bills showing almost daily contact and 17 months of 17 months of Western Union receipts showing bi-monthly remittances to my fiancée.

I would like to hear from VJers as to what evidence they have provided to satisfy the “Copies of any evidence you wish to submit to establish your mutual intent” language that appears in the I-129F instructions. And I would also be interested in more discussion as to why some VJers think this language is not important in the I-129F initial filing. This is opinion is very prevalent among VisaJourney members.

Well, I hope this post is not so long that it discourages responses. I really look forward to any replies and hope I can learn more from the collective wisdom of VisaJourney members. While each of our experiences that brought us here to VisaJourney are unique, each of our paths cross at this juncture and become common to all.

I hope also that in the coming weeks and months I can be a useful member of VisaJourney.

Congratulations to all who have successfully completed the Visa Journey, and best of luck to those who are still on their Journey, and to those who, like me and my fiancée, are about to embark on it.

Lee and Mayet

Congratulations! We look forward to seeing your detailed summary.