tzeksman

Check China Airlines out. Its been the cheapest so far. Something else to save you some money is to fly mid week.

I have to second that. I looked around myself these last few weeks, im flying round trip and my wife and son one-way of course for under 2,000.00 for the three of us. Thats on china airlines on Oct 24th. They arent particularly my favorite airline to fly, but in the 3 times Ive flown with them in the past I cant complain either. Check EVA as well, I know there round trips were more expensive than china airlines but the one-ways manila to los angeles was runing about 460.00 (before taxes and fees) about a week ago

here's our info

--------------------SC----NOA2---NVC Cmplt---DocVer------Medical---------Intrview----Result

tzeksman...........CSC...Mar 13......Jul 09........Sept 7...Sep 3-5 &10th....Sep 17..........Approved/Visa Delivered Sept 19

LET'S FLY TOGETHER

VJ Name----------Date of Flt.------Flt. No. (Time)--------------POE----------Final Destination

tzeksman..............Oct 24...........CI0636 17:20 CI0636.......LAX.............Los Angeles

You asked about your NOA2 and when to expect it well thats a bit of a crapshoot but I would say on the best case scenario is about four months. There is a very good chance it could take six or seven months though. Best of luck to you, hope it all works out in timely manner. As for us this is how it worked out:

I-130 was approved in 131 days from our filing date.

Interview took 319 days from our I-130 filing date.

My heart really goes out to all of you who are still waiting. I was so worried that we might have the same situation but thankfully we were fortunate. My wife paid the DV 2 weeks prior because it had slipped both of our minds and she recieved her visa two days after her interview. I wonder where the differences in delivery come in? Is it Delbros, the USEM, the NSO or all of the above. I imagine it can be very frustrating. Well hang in there all of you.

If you want to teach, get your TESOL (more common in the US...TEFL is more common in the UK) because without it, your very small wage will be even smaller. I think most reputable schools expect this. I don't know how things are in VN, but in Thailand, the government is really cracking down on the requirements. Although not a problem for you, those that don't have a degree and are working in Thailand are doing so at their own peril.

That is true. I dont mean to say one should try "flying under the radar" and teaching without meeting the minimum requirements for the country they are teaching in I surely didn't do that. I had a degree and as far as the TESOL I did a part-time, evenings and weekend course in San Fransisco and had my TESOL within a matter of about four months. If you're able to devote full-time then you can get your TESOL in a matter of about four to six weeks. By the way if you're interested in reading up on the requirements for any country or asking questions, as well as searching for a job Daves ESL cafe is by far one of the best sites out there. What VJ is to visas Daves is to the ESL/EFL teacher. It can be found at http://eslcafe.com there you will find forums, country specific by region. From what I read just in passing Vietnam seems to have pretty lax enforcement. That being said I'm not suggesting anyone not follow the requirements.

I was an English teacher in Southeast Asia for a number of years, that could be something to look into. I never taught in Veitnam, but there were many attempts to recruit teachers to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos etc. There are so many oppurtunities for English teachers in SE asia. For many, the requirements are only being a native speaker depending on which school a person is employed with there could be more such as a degree (normally any degree will do) and still others like to see a TEFL/TESOL type certificate as well. I knew blokes that came through with no experience and/or education and taught in some schools for anywhere from 3 months to years and years. If its something you want to look into PM me and I can share more information with you.

Just to update, Ngoc and I entered the US together yesterday! Going to get our marriage license today and getting married Saturday!

Congrats bro! I was reading through this thread as if I was watching a suspenseful TV show! I read through all seven pages!!! So glad to see that it worked out, my heart still goes out to you guys for the added wait and stress but in the end it all worked out, give my best wishes to your wife

You deserve it..after almost a year of waiting since filing your I130...Congratulations

i know sis almost 1 year. im about to go to k3 before but since the uscis backlog due of fee's increase i decided to go on I-130. the processing time before seems to be the same. instead of me doing k3 with more fees to pay i switch to I-130 god bless us all.

First of all congratulations We almost went the K-3 at that time too but i think the CR-1 was the right decision at the time for us as well Once again congrats!

You have been so used to needing to get something done now you get a break to really live life as one happy family congrats

Isn't that the truth!!! Anyways I thought as much I just wanted to be completely sure.... I was a little bit torn whether to try the CR-1 route by itself or go the K-3/CR-1 "maybe" route. Im thankful now that we decided on the CR-1. I think it was the right decision for us and if anything may have only delayed our being together by a month, and thats a big maybe. As Mononoke28 stated: CR1 visas rock! And so does VJ, the help and direction we recieved here when we needed it was more than helpful and probably even saved us some money. Thanks for the replies!

I had a question regarding my wifes entry here in the U.S. She will be entering on a CR-1, other than applying for her SSN (would have to look back at my records to see if we checked the box for that) and waiting for her "greencard" to arrive is there anything we need to be aware of or need to prepare for within say the first 90 days of her being here? I understand that she will be a Conditional Resident for the next two years, but is there anything immediate that we should be cognizant of or can prepare for? FYI: We will be entering the country on Oct. 24th

Yeah I knew we didnt have to adjust status we just have to remove conditions in two years thats why I was wary of posting this here. As for the SSN box being checked I will have to look back at my records as to whether we did so, Im thinking we did but I would have to check that. Thanks for your reply though. Maybe i will ask this or a similar question in the other forum as you suggested, thanks again.

Forgive me if this if off-topic for this part of the forums but I had a question regarding my wifes entry here in the U.S. She will be entering on a CR-1, other than applying for her SSN and waiting for her "greencard" to arrive is there anything we need to be aware of or need to prepare for within say the first 90 days if her being here? I understand that she will be a Conditional Resident for the next two years i believe, but is there anything immediate that we should be cognizant of or can prepare for? FYI: We will be entering the country on Oct. 24th

yeah shes went through it already, as a matter of fact she did it well before her embassy interview, but someone told her a few days ago there was something else, some other thing but i think the person was either misinformed or just confused and that was what we both thought, so ill pass that along to my wife. Now our son he has his CRBA and Passport already but he still has to get and exit permit, can that be done anytime between now and when we fly for the US? We are probably gona plan for the second week of OCT for tickets .

Don't forget to save money for the airport tax and emmigration tax. My fiance gave me some money just in case I needed that to bribe my way onto the airplane. And then I had to bribe the folks in the airline office so that they will let me use their fax machine and their cellphone because they won't let me get on the plane with my electronic ticket. They want a photocopy of my fiance's credit card and his passport. I felt like I wanted to break down when they won't let me board the plane. -- Marie

well im flying there to accompany my wife and son back, so hopefully there wont be any scenarios like you described. You know Ive been traveling all over Asia and S E asia for years and have never had a problem with Imigration at the airports...as a matter of fact the only time i ran into problems was with an extension in Yogyakarta Indonesia. I had lived there a few years on a KITAS aka work visa and then i wanted to travel and so forth so i stayed there after my contract expired on a Social Visa, after the 3rd extension of the "social budaya" visa they deported me kinda sorta, well basically they told me i have to leave before my visa expired or i would be fined etc....or i could have payed the immig chief bout 300 bucks, i wasnt gonna do that so I just bought a ticket and left. but at airports ive never ran into a problem with immigration......and since ill be there with my wife and son i assume things will go smooth but of course ill be prepared nonetheless

Since she's already has the seminar she only has to go back and get the CFO sticker in her passport. Took my wife about 20 minures to do so.

cool..sounds good thanks for ur replys!!!

yeah shes went through it already, as a matter of fact she did it well before her embassy interview, but someone told her a few days ago there was something else, some other thing but i think the person was either misinformed or just confused and that was what we both thought, so ill pass that along to my wife. Now our son he has his CRBA and Passport already but he still has to get and exit permit, can that be done anytime between now and when we fly for the US? We are probably gona plan for the second week of OCT for tickets .

hey folks, my wife just had and passed her interview this last wednesday and we wanted to know if there are any other requirements the PH gvrmnnt requires besides the guidance and counseling seminar???? someone told her there might be another seminar for first time travelers??? its the first we heard of, so whatever you guys can share with me id appreciate it

my wifes interview is the day, im nervous in an anxious sort of way excited as well but hay buhay i know what ur feeling....ill pray for you guys

hmm ok so i guess it all then huh.... like i said i had just read from other posters that it wasnt always required, everyone ive spoke to has had to have it done so when i read that it just piqued my curiosity.

I read several times in different post that not ALL cases require Doc Verification, what cases fall under this criteria? We've already paid ours and according to Delbros its with the NSO so i would assume we werent one of them, so in our case its a moot point but just out of curiosity, which cases dont require it? I know our sons CRBA didnt. But thats a whole different deal. As far as Immigrant and non-immigrant visa's why would they not be needed in some cases?

hey all my wife will have her interview on the 17th...anyways is there a CR1 guide or is the interview basically the same as the others .....i kinda know what to expect but if there is a guide or some post with good info id like to share them with my beautiful wife before then.....im pretty sure we have everyting in order but ya know as it gets closer we get more nervous anyways we are prob just acting crazy anyways i appreciate ur responses

hey all my wife will have her interview on the 17th...anyways is there a CR1 guide or is the interview basically the same as the others .....i kinda know what to expect but if there is a guide or some post with good info id like to share them with my beautiful wife before then.....im pretty sure we have everyting in order but ya know as it gets closer we get more nervous anyways we are prob just acting crazy anyways i appreciate ur responses

hey all my wife will have her interview on the 17th...anyways is there a CR1 guide or is the interview basically the same as the others .....i kinda know what to expect but if there is a guide or some post with good info id like to share them with my beautiful wife before then.....im pretty sure we have everyting in order but ya know as it gets closer we get more nervous anyways we are prob just acting crazy anyways i appreciate ur responses

thank you so much, and yes i sent it through fed ex, she completed her medical yesterday and ill look for some of those interview guides you spoke of and go over it with her this weekend as her interview is on the 17th

I just have a simple question, does the embassy send any paperwork to the person being interviewed prior to the interview. Of course i recieved a letter from the NVC once they had scheduled an interview and my wife has a copy of that, but should she recieve anything as well? Im just double-checkin in case i need to call someone prior to her interview next week.

As for myself I want to learn to be fluent in tagalog, at least in the spoken language, as far as writing at a reasonable level I'm not so concerned. While I was living in the Philippines of course i was learning quite a bit, since ive returned to the States ive probably lost some or maybe alot of what i had learned. When my wife and son are here i would like to continue to learn and above all I want my son to be fluent in tagalog that is very important for my wife and I. And that being said if my son learns and i dont then him and his momma can talk bout me behind my back but in front of my face !!!! hahahahahahaah but yes ill learn for sure i lived in indonesia as well and was able to become semi-fluent in Bahasa Indonesian so hopefully tagalog wont be a problem