Bfloyd

2 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

That's correct.  Applicants in the Philippines are not allowed to proceed with the interview until after their visa medical is cleared.  Your fiancee would've been turned away at pre-screening at the embassy, if she even tried to attend before being cleared by SLEC.

 

I was also flagged for sputum testing at SLEC and had to cancel my original interview schedule.  My category is IR1 though, so the re-scheduling process I went through may not apply to your fiancee's case.  In my experience, the embassy staff resolved emailed requests within 1 to 2 weeks.  I thought that was already timely, as it was within or sooner than the response times reported by other members here in the PH sub-forum.

 

Thanks for the info

Just now, JeanneAdil said:

no, u do not repay the fee /  if she paid the fee twice -to who?

many pay directly to embassy at interview and sounds like someone ripped her off

 

because of covid the fee was even extended /  not sure when that will end or did end as K1 's are still backed up from covid

 

i may not know the month but i do know u don't have to pay this fee a 2nd time unless its a new petition

 

If you use the USEM website to schedule the interview, it requires you to pay before you can schedule the visa interview. You do this buy going to a bank and they give you a receipt number which you then use on the website. This was how we were able to schedule the initial March 10th interview. The problem is, when we try to re-use the same receipt number it shows it as being used. By paying again, the other couple received a new receipt number which allowed them to schedule another appointment.

10 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

sorry,   my error 

i have been off a month since this year started 

happens when u retire and don't need to keep track of times and dates

i no longer have to get up,  dress out or go to bed at a certain  time

and honestly ,  i mess up

why didn't she attend the 10th interview and just go into AP ?

 

Hey, I honestly thought you were not able to attend the visa interview until after your medical was cleared. That's why she tried to reschedule the appointment via the website after she found out about the sputum but we did not see a reschedule option. We did email the embassy (like a 7 day notice) and they told us just to reach back out to the Embassy after the medical was cleared.

Another girl in the K1 Support group she is on Facebook said they had a similar issue with the sputum and ended up just repaying the visa interview fee (which allows you to schedule an interview via the website) so they could schedule a new appointment easier than going through the Embassy call centers/email. I hope I'm explaining it well, it's confusing for me too lol.

Hello,

My Fiancé and I had our case sent to the embassy back around Feb 28th 2022. She set her up medical appointment (March 1 2022) and her embassy appointment (March 10th 2022). Upon going to her medical, she was flagged for sputum and she had to do the two month culture. She just went back for her results yesterday and was medically cleared (yay!). I called the USEM call center and they were able to see we had already paid and setup an appointment in March so they said we would not have to pay again. The call center worker set our case to (Operations Unit K1-No Show tagging) and put our case status to ("Escalated").  I received an email saying they would be in contact within 1-2 business days to start the reschedule process.

I've heard it is just easier to eat the cost, repay and reschedule your visa interview via the website. I was wondering if you all think I should wait 3-4 business days to see if they reach out before I do this. We have been waiting (like many since early 2020 due to Covid) and I'm just ready to finalize everything as quick as possible because I will be starting a new job locally June 1st. So getting everything done before then would be perfect in an ideal situation.  I don't mind waiting a few days but I don't have a lot of trust in USEM to handle the situation in a timely manner.

I appreciate your thoughts and perspectives.

Brad

9 hours ago, payxibka said:

If Manila reviews the financial information, it's all about current income.  They are not concerned about what might be in the future 

that's good to know, thanks. So based off what I said, do you believe I would be fine without a cosponsor based off my income/savings account?

Hey guys, thanks again for all the valuable information. I've been reading around and have a few more questions. My 1-129f has been approved and my case has been sent to the NVC. I'm still waiting for that to be approved.

My question is now back to the 1-134 form. My annual income is around 18000 now. My work and paystubs will show this but not my last W2 nor the previous 3 IRS forms due to my recent raise.  I have around $16000 in my savings account now. I read online that you can use assets in a 5:1 ratio which would give me around $3200 dollars that I believe I can add to my annual income. If all of this is correct, My annual income would be $21200 which is above the 100% 2 household income in 2020 of $17240 and very close to the the I-864P 125% income requirement of 21,550. I should be able to save a little more and hit the 125%.   

(I found on USCIS.GOV website that "Applicants presenting Form I-134 will need to show that their U.S. sponsor's income is 100 percent of the federal poverty guideline.")

If all of this is correct, I would not have a need for a cosponsor. I would also let the CO know that I'm close to graduating from graduate school  (provide my GPA, enrollment status etc) as some information on why my income is on the lower end( school full-time and required internship results in lower work time).  Does all of this sound reasonable to you guys or do you still believe I should seek a co-sponsor for the I-134. 

Thanks for taking the time to reply geowrian. I'm not sure my mother makes that much since my step father makes the most money of their household. Her last W2 might have enough on it though, she recently stepped down from a lot of her work.  However, my step father makes over 100k+ a year. Would he be a acceptable Co-Sponsor even though we are not blood-related?  Looking at the Assembling the I-129F Package, is this the part where the co-sponsor Affidavit of Support form (I-134) would be included. I'm assuming it would be smart to include that in the original package since my income is around/below the minimum for best consideration. 

Hey everyone I posted here a few months back. I'm looking into the k1 visa for my fiance and I. She lives in the Philippines. After getting a raise, my gross income is a little above $17000. This wouldn't really show on my last W2 though. My current pay stubs would indicate the new wages however.  I'm working around 30 hours a week while in graduate school. My income will rise after I graduate and require a new job. I would like to go ahead and start the visa process though. I have around $10k asses in my bank. I've already met my fiance and have pictures etc. My mother said she wouldn't mind co-sponsoring if I needed her to as well. 

  My question is, do you think the k1 visa would be viable for me and my fiance. My income is a little low but my assets make up for it I think.  I would prefer the k1 visa as I don't have much free time to travel abroad due to school. Any advice is appreciated. I just want to give me and my fiance the best chance to be married and live together.

Also can someone give a good resource as to where to start if you think I would have a legit shot of achieving the k1 fiance visa? Is the total k1 visa process around 3k? Thanks for your help. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and anxious about the entire thing.  

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. Sorry for not responding sooner but I've been crazy busy with school.  After talking it over with my girlfriend, I think the spouse visa (cr1 visa) will be our best route as I will most likely need a co-sponsor (since I'm still in grad school and can't work full time).  

?

So I know first we will have to get married in the Philippines, is there a guide anywhere for the documents I need to bring when I get married there and what she needs as well ?

After the wedding, is that when i begin the CR1 Visa process or do i start that beforehand? ( I plan to stay in the Philippines for around 20-25 days) My coworker said he was able to get married and get all the paperwork filed in around 2 weeks but I guess his fiance had done a lot of paperwork beforehand or something.  Is there a guide for the CR1 visa process?

Thanks for your help and I apologize if I'm asking the same questions again, I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed and just want to develop a game plan. I appreciate you all taking the time to respond and help me. Any advice you may have is welcome too.

Best,

Brad 

Hi everyone, I just had a few questions. Some of the information I had read had somewhat conflicting information. I'm trying to decide what visa route would be best for me and my girlfriend considering my situation. 

I met my girlfriend for a couple weeks recently and we talked and decided to pursue marriage. We are both excited but I'm having some worries about the K1 Visa. First, I was wondering if the annual income is counted before taxes or after. I make around 16-17k before taxes and after taxes it's around 14.5k-15k. I've been working part-time while finishing up my bachelor's degree and will keep the same job and wages as I transition into graduate school (which starts in a week or so) My biggest concern with the K1 is my annual income might be just barely too low. Will they take into account that I'm in graduate school in the application  process? I also have some savings in my bank account ( around $5000) and a lawyer told me that would be counted as an asset. He made it seem like that would be enough to cover the couple thousand I might be short. Lastly, My mom said she wouldn't mind to co-sponsor if I needed as well. The lawyer I talked to said maybe to mention that my mother and I both live together as I rent a house from her as they would combine our incomes (She lives my step-dad though and I live alone) I had read some online that the US Consulate in Manila is reluctant to accept co-sponsors with the K1 Visas while other places online said they did. If the K1 visa isn't the best option for me then I wouldn't mind getting married there in the summer when I had time off from school. My only worry with that is my lawyer said I may have to be in the Philippines for around a month or so to get all the paperwork/marriage process done. I could maybe get 2 weeks off at my work but a whole month would be pushing it. I just want to go about picking the right visa carefully as I don't have a lot of extra money if I were to get declined. Thank you for your help and for taking the time to read my questions.

Brad