Russ&MaryAnn

One thing that helped my husband was to plan the trip home even when it was a ways off.  You will want to take gifts back and you can start looking and buying unique things for people close to you.  This way instead of buying souvenirs at the last minute, you can think about what is more personal.  Shopping for his family one gift at a time made him feel the connection and a reminder they’d see each other again.

The whole process for me and my fiancee was at most 15 minutes coming thru LAX. I have been thru customs in more countries than I can count, and as long as you put on a happy face, and like others said be friendly and just answer any questions there will be no problems. I know after flying for 20 hours and you finally get to the end of the trip, and customs is the last part of it there has been many times where I am not looking forward to it, but you just smile and continue on. I think there is more to the story in the incident you made reference too. I have seen CBP put up with some real nasty is a nice word I guess people, and they made it thru. Just pay attention to what you are doing, do your best to be in the right line ( There are 3-4 of them) have your envelope out and ready when you approach the desk along with your passport. Say hello, and just be nice from the get go. I assure you you start out nice and have everything ready for the CBP officer you already earned some serious brownie points. I see all the time people fumbling for their passport and paperwork, not being organized at all, and I just see the CBP roll their eyes and take a deep breath because you can tell they are one step from Tazing this person and sending them to secondary. They understand you are going to be nervous especially if it is your first time to the US, but I have to say 90% of the CBP officers I have had to deal with are very nice and want you to be comfortable and not stressed out. There have been times you get the one that just hates their job, or is having a bad day, but you just be as nice as possible and go with the flow. This is the last part after a long trip and process you have gone thru and the last test to be with the love of your life. After everything else you have been thru until now this is the easiest part. You have the visa, your already approved, it is just a matter of a few minutes of your time, and your new life begins. I am not saying you can't end up in secondary tied up for a few hours ( I have been there a few times, even with my global entry), but stay positive and it will be no issues.

Hello friends! I'm late with an update here. But my fiance had his interview on Wednesday and it went well! He got the "congratulations, you're approved" line, of course with the caveats that if something comes up during processing they'd contact him.
 
Here were the questions he remembers getting asked during the interview:
* What is your beneficiary's name?
* How did you meet her?
* What were you doing in Europe when you met? (this was a follow up question -- we met randomly in a bar in Scotland)
* How long had you been together before the proposal?
* Has she visited Argentina?
* How long was your longest visit to the US?
* What are her parents' names?
* What does she do for a living?
* What are your wedding plans?
* What kind of phone does she have? (The officer asked this question while looking at my screencaps of our WhatsApp conversations)
* In which city does she live?
* What do you do for a living?
* What are the things you have in common with each other?
* Have you ever exchanged gifts? What were they?
 
The officer also said he couldn't find my fiance's police certificate in the packet (which is weird, because it was definitely there). Fortunately my fiance had another copy with him, so he just handed it over and that was fine.
 
My fiance said that the officer asked all of these questions while thumbing through the pages of the P3/129F packets. Basically, each question seemed to be based on whatever page was in front of him.
 
The interview was in Spanish and took about 10 minutes.
 
So we are very happy, of course! We just hope that the passport arrives in Cordoba soon. Our case is still listed as being in Administrative Processing in the CEAC tracker, though. I hope they mail the passport as soon as that status changes! @andreaam, I'm curious: did DHL notified you when your passport got put into the mail? And how long was it between that notification and you receiving the passport in Cordoba?

I posted this in the other thread but I copied and pasted here just in case you are not following it.
 
Hi everyone! I arrived yesterday to NYC after a crazy trip. I flew to Miami for my POE and there was a lot of people in costumes. I had to wait for 3 hours until it was my turn. Once I got to the officer booth he was nice and kind. Didn’t ask questions about us. Just about the flight, if I was happy and things like that. They took me to an office to process the envelope and that took 15 minutes and no interview. 
I almost lost my connection flight but I made it just in time (they were closing the gate when I arrive). And in addition to that my bags didn’t make it. 
My advice is if you can avoid Miami airport the better. Is really disorganized. After yesterday I read a lot of forums and lot of people went through the same. 
I’m not unhappy with how it went, I really don’t care right now because I’m with my fiancé finally but I would had preferred to be different and not be literally running through all the airport. 
I hope everything is fine for everyone. We will be requesting the marriage license this week and hopefully get married next week 😃

We don't use skype for messages, but do for calls on occasion. I did a screen shot of call history. I believe you could do the same for the chats. For our messages we use iMessage on iPhones. I downloaded an app that allowed me to view our message history on my windows laptop; called iMazing. It worked well and the free version allowed me to do screen shots of our iMessages. But I believe with skype you can view it from the app and then do screen shots.

Just checked my case status from the old USCIS Site and our case was approved!
💕😂💕  But we haven’t received a text or email notification yet. Should we be worried?
 
Sent I-129F : Mar 25, 2019 ( Our case was received : Mar 27)
NOA1 : Apr 1, 2019
NOA2 : Jun 20, 2019(from the old site)
 
 

We got approved
NOA1: 03/20
NOA2 : 06/21
Got a text and email notification.
Updated on both new and old website.

Good to hear the happy ending, and it must have been a huge relief to be reunited with your family after all those years living apart.  Your perseverance is impressive.  All the best to you and your family!

Small update. 
We have been officially Approved  ! 
Old website still says Case received, new website says notice date was June 17th, letter says June 15th.
 
NOA1: March 22nd 
NOA2: June 15th 
 

Good Morning! 
NOA 1 - April 1, 2019
NOA 2-  June 20, 2019  
case was just approved. 
Good luck to all April filers and to everyone that is awaiting approvals. 
 
Thank You so Much for all the great information from all of you ! 
🎉😋❤️

There’s several ways on this site. 1 easy way is to look at the March 2019 129F thread. A few people there reported receiving their NOA2

omgosh we just received our NOA2 in the mail today! It was 3 days sooner than VJ's estimate im shook
NOA1 is on 29th March
NOA2 13th June

We went into the embassy and while talking to the prescreening person she said that no medical means no interview, but as soon as the medical is complete, we can reschedule—no need to pay the fee again, and no need to wait... In fact she gave us a note to request an expedited interview by emailing once the medical is complete.. So it seems all is fine, but until it’s said and done, I’ll wait to see how it ends up working out.

We created a big notebook of evidence for the interview, that included a timeline, plane tickets, visa stamps, photos, Zalo chat examples, etc.  After I sat down and my fiance was interviewed alone, my fiance said the only thing the CO asked to see of the supporting evidence was some more of the Facebook print outs from the time after we were engaged.  So, based on that, I'm guessing the FB was helpful for the CO.  That said, I only submitted our FB as evidence because I'm very careful what I post (I'm an active duty Army Officer), and because I was sure it supported our application and wouldn't raise any red flags.  Depending on what you have on your social media, your mileage may vary.  
 
We submitted the I-129F on 2 JAN.  Was approved by USCIS on 12 APR.  NVC received, processed it and sent it to the HCM Consulate by 15 MAY.  Got the P3 instructions from the HCM consulate around 23 MAY (this gets mailed to the fiance).  was able to schedule her interview on 11 JUN.  So, just a tad over 6 months for the whole process which was much quicker then I anticipated.  This was with no RFEs.

Yesterday afternoon my wife gets a call from someone saying they are from homeland security and are around to see our home. she calls me cos she didnt understand why homeland was around. i was in a meeting and drove home. lucky i was close by. i see them and im like im glad youre here. been waiting to hear from immigration somehow. so if you are here it means youre working on my case. they asked if i wanted to see their badge, i was like i dont care, just come on in. they were like youre a trusting man but still showed their badges.
 
they came in with my wife in the house. she was a bit embarassed cos the house was a bit messy since we rushed to work early that day. i gave them a full tour. they went everywhere, checked everything. i wasnt even bothered cos its a real marriage so enjoy. wats the best way to win your case than for them to come see. we werent questioned like they normally do. it was a convo. like i was with friends. i had soo much fun cos i was glad they were there. we laughed and joked around and after like 15 minutes they said they were leaving . 2 of them dropped their cards and one gave me his personal number and i went back to my meeting.
 
All in all it was pleasant and wonderful from my point of view . lol . 

I watch this thread everyday, hoping that I see you guys approvals.
 
Sending positivity and prayers your way.  
 
If anyone wants to vent at 5am and is wondering if anyone is reading their post...I probably am. Lol.  

Hey! 
 
I just wanted to let you know that we got approved today! 
 
NOA1 March 4th
NOA2 June 11st 
 
The new website still shows ‘case received’, the old website shows ‘case approved’, the App as well, that is connected to the old website. 
 
We didn’t expect it and that makes it even better! 

Definitely an emotional process, more so than I ever imagined it would be.  There are good days and bad and we just have to take each as they come.  This site helps in strange ways for me.  Even as we wait, and keep up with times and estimates, it's actually kind of nice to see others post about their approvals.  I'm happy for those who move on to the next step in this emotional process.  I'm sure we all share in their excitement and just have be patient and realize our day will come too.
 
 

Just got done with fiance's interview at the Ho Chi Minh Consulate and her K1 Visa was approved!  Process was much faster then I was expecting 6 months 9 days from filing the i-129f to being approved.  This website was an immense help!!  I hope everyone elses journey is as lucky!

There’s several ways on this site. 1 easy way is to look at the March 2019 129F thread. A few people there reported receiving their NOA2

Yes I’ve been watching that too. It’s great to see noa2’s for March. Knowing us April filers could get noa2’s soon!

Yes I’ve been watching that too. It’s great to see noa2’s for March. Knowing us April filers could get noa2’s soon!

Huge congrats 

Hello all!

I would like to share in detail (and I mean that, in detail, haha) my experience regarding the CFO GCP Seminar dated June 3, 2019 at the CFO Manila site. As much as the people on this site have helped me out with the process thus far, I thought I'd give back in my own way and maybe someone out there would find this helpful.

DISCLAIMER: The following account is based solely upon my personal experience and is not to be used as official reference for the CFO GCP Seminar procedure. Your needs, circumstances, and experiences may vary from mine. Always refer to the official websites and/or proper authorities for the requirements and procedures.

Also, this is NOT PDOS. This is GCP.

My info:

Seminar for K1 Fiance(e) Visa, USA, I am the beneficiary
California Service Center
NOA1 - January 25, 2019
NOA2 - April 18, 2019
MNL# - May 9, 2019 (approx.)
In Transit - May 28, 2019
NVC letter (e-mail) - May 29, 2019
Visa issued? - No. I decided to take the seminar early because most times the online appointment calendar will not have available dates within the next 3-4 weeks. For instance, on May 14 the earliest available date was June 3rd (3 weeks later, including weekends). In those three weeks I gathered and prepared all the other documents that I would need for the medical exam and the embassy interview. Before I leave for the US I would have to go back to CFO Manila (a second time, the first being attending the seminar), bringing my already issued US Visa with me, so that I could get the sticker on my passport (no falling in line, no extra payment, except for transportation costs as applicable). If you want to do the same, don't forget to bring 1) Your passport, 2) The CFO Certificate, and 3) Other valid government IDs just in case.

As for the seminar experience itself:

June 3, 2019 Monday AM schedule (9am-12nn)

8:00 am - I arrived at the CFO Manila office and fell in line to be received at the lobby. The line was quite long, extended up to the outside of the building, and slow-moving. At this point, prepare 1) A valid government ID, and 2) Your appointment confirmation/registration page (the one showing your photo, other details, and the QR code). The security guard will ask you to show him these (along with a bag check).
Note: Before entering the building you may find a snack vendor right outside the main entrance. If you haven't had a heavy breakfast and/or are the hungry type, you might wanna buy snacks for later.

8:15 am - I surrendered my ID at the reception area of the lobby, far left counter (take note: this is not the air-conditioned area with counters numbered 1-7, you'll need that info later on). The reception guy gave me an ID lace tag with a number (like a visitor's pass). I wore it around my neck and followed the instruction to take the elevator to the 3rd floor.

8:20-ish - Upon entering the room at the 3rd floor, the lady to my left gave me a 3-page form to fill out, instructing that I fill it out completely and that the document cannot be taken anywhere outside the room. WITH VISA: Give the personnel your passport. WITHOUT VISA: No need to hand over your passport.
Note: When I was there, the room was easily filled with people and the chairs and tables were limited so I didn't know where to write. If you encounter this problem, try checking the seminar rooms which would most likely be empty. It's alright to fill out the forms in there, too.
The first page of the form asked about my personal information, the second page was about my petitioner and other information about us both, and the third asked about the beneficiary's children, among other things (I feel I shouldn't disclose too much because the form was confidential to begin with). The bottom of the third page is where you sign and date the form.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you answer the form completely and accurately because as far as I've researched, some applicants get delays and other issues because of this. Most people tend to overlook 1) The beneficiary's and petitioner's complete home address including zip code, beneficiary's phone number, and mother's maiden name; 2) The petitioner's educational attainment and/or course/degree finished, job title, and other small details. Be ready with as much info as you can just to be sure. You can check your phone or notebook for reference anyways, so jot these details down ahead of time.
Extra note: There was a part that asked how I met my fiance, I didn't expect this one. There are some check boxes you can select from. I met my fiance online so I checked "internet". The form asked to detail the "website", so I wrote down the name of the Android application (a game on my phone), and then the website address and "fees charged" were also asked. I wanted to make sure I completed the form as much as I can, so I Googled the application developer and the address of their headquarters and wrote those down. 😂 They didn't seem to have any issues with that, haha. Then for "fees" I just wrote "None" because the app was for free.

8:30 am - I submitted the accomplished form to the lady at the form verification cubicle (the stations are labeled, you can't miss it). At this point, prepare 2 valid government-issued IDs, they will ask it from you. People commonly tell the personnel "My other ID is downstairs at the reception area", so it's best to bring 3 or more government IDs with you. Afterwards, you will be instructed to take a seat and wait for your name to be called.

8:45 am - The lady in cubicle one (who gave me the 3-page form) called my name and asked me to take a seat beside her. She proceeded to verify if the information on the form is correct, and then my photo was taken. You will be asked to check the photo and see if you find it satisfactory. Note: If you think it's a terrible photo, ask her to retake it because that photo is for FOREVER. 😂 And I say that because this photo will be printed on your CFO Certificate and that document will never expire. (Setting expectations: You may find that the photo is vertically compressed a bit. Don't panic. Apparently, that's normal. At least you'll look skinny, lol)
After the picture-taking, the lady told me to "go have breakfast if I want to and be back before 9am". Basically, you can just wait it out in there if you like.

9:00 am - We gathered inside the room labeled "USA", it was the first room. Note: If you're quite short (like me, haha) don't sit at the back because it will be hard to see the screen if someone sits in front of you.
From this point on you may find personnel going around the room handing out the immigrants'/emigrants' handbook and brochure about anti-mail order spouse law, along with a survey sheet where you can score the seminar experience.

9:20 am - The speaker arrived and apologized for the lateness. We started late because we had to wait for all the participants to finish registration before we could begin. Do the others a favor and come to the office early (around 7:30 am) to spare everyone else the trouble. Haha

10:32 am - The speaker gave her closing remarks and asked us to wait for our names to be called for the one-on-one interview. As soon as she left, I placed my completed survey form on the table, as instructed. There will be a cute little video playing on loop for those waiting in the room. At this point (and moving forward, while waiting for anything really), I recommend chatting with the other participants and maybe increasing your social network a bit. Personally, I found someone who was moving to the same state I was; so I got her info and now...I am going to be one of the principal sponsors at her wedding. 😂 Charisma: 25 (If you know what I mean)

11:00 to 11:30 am - I'm not sure when my name was called but I was something like 5th or 4th to the last to be interviewed. At the time there were two interviewers available, one guy and one girl (the seminar speaker). I was interviewed by the speaker.
From what I've heard, each consul has his/her own style of questioning. Some kind of drill you while others were super nice and easy to work with. Just be prepared for more in-depth and personal questions regardless of who interviews you. A lot of people are so paranoid but there's really nothing to be afraid of. You can answer in English/Tagalog/Taglish anyways, so answer honestly and straight to the point and you'll be fine.
My interviewer was more in-depth, I think, especially because my fiance is twice divorced and he has a kid, so I get why she wanted to understand how I am processing these circumstances. Anyway, your consul may refer to the 3-page form you filled out and ask you to expound on what you wrote on there.
Extra note: My consul didn't even ask for any of my documents. She just asked for 2 valid IDs. My file folder did not see the light of day. 😂 DISCLAIMER: This doesn't mean you can attend the seminar with just confidence and honesty, lol. Bring all your documents regardless, as I did. It helped with my confidence and peace of mind. Y'all can't act nervous in front of the consul.
IMPORTANT: If you are bringing divorce papers, bring the copies that show both parties' names and signatures, together with details of the divorce, not just the simple 2-page one. I think one of the participants in my session experienced issues because of that. If you don't have the printed copies, at least ask your petitioner to send soft copies to you; it just might work with the consul.

11:30-ish - My interview lasted about 5-10 minutes. The consul instructed me to go down to the ground floor and proceed to the air-conditioned area (one with the glass door, 7 counters, and lots of chairs). Try to sit by counter numbers 6 and 7 because that's where the magic happens. 😂 
If you see other people holding receipts and the like, don't panic. At this point you should just wait for your name to be called (person from counter 7 will probably do that one) and he/she will collect your Php 400.00 payment and issue your receipt. WITH VISA: Hand over your passport. WITHOUT VISA: No need to give your passport.
After that, you will once again wait for your name to be called. In the meantime, make new friends. Haha

Around 12nn - My name was called by a lady at counter 6 and she gave me my Certificate. Because I don't have my visa yet, this isn't my last encounter with CFO just yet. But if you already have the Certificate AND the CFO sticker, you're good to go! As in, go leave the country. LOL

Other notes:
On Sunday, June 2 I booked a room at a nearby hotel to make sure I wasn't late the next morning. I live quite far from Manila proper, Monday morning traffic would have killed me, so I decided that staying nearby was the best option for me. You don't have to do this, too; but the option is there if you need it.

If you've made it this far, congratulations. Your patience is praiseworthy. LOL. I hope I wasn't blabbering on too much.

Hope y'all have a smooth-sailing experience like I did.

Best of luck! 😁

Well 2Go just messaged her and said her package will be delivered today.