bolero_pa

I’ve successfully navigated two K1 visas. I wouldn’t switch. It’s always about patience. Assembling a new packet, all the forms and fees, and in the end it only complicates everything. 
 
Also, getting married in the Philippines is never a good idea, especially for women. With no legal avenues for simple divorce, women are screwed. Best avoid Filipino bureaucracy as much as possible as it’s always a nightmare. 

I’ve successfully navigated two K1 visas. I wouldn’t switch. It’s always about patience. Assembling a new packet, all the forms and fees, and in the end it only complicates everything. 
 
Also, getting married in the Philippines is never a good idea, especially for women. With no legal avenues for simple divorce, women are screwed. Best avoid Filipino bureaucracy as much as possible as it’s always a nightmare. 

I've visited the site on numerous occasions and never seen it, mainly bc it's not listed on our personal K1 timelines as a to-do? Why not add it there then EVERYONE will see it and deal with it properly.

I wish somewhere in the K1 process it mentioned making an appointment with the Social Security office to get an SSN. Evidently immediately upon landing in the US with a K1 visa the fiance can and SHOULD go get an SSN. As it stands we got married and then filed for I-485 Permanent Residence and I-765 (Employment Authorization). These take 5-6 months and included SSN creation, however that's six months without being able to obtain things that require and SSN, like bank account, driver's license, etc. It's too late now for us, but if your fiance lands here, immediately visit the Social Security office with your unexpired I-94 (Department of Homeland Security Arrival/Departure Record).

Thanks. Been using this site on and off for 10 years and never actually saw that page.

Thanks. Been using this site on and off for 10 years and never actually saw that page.

Following up on the above follow-up. I'll repost the entire timeline as the certificate was emailed.

 
 - K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
 - CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
 - Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
 - CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
 - Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
 - Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
 - 10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
 - CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes. During call told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 - I sent copies of bills of mine with my name and address. Also sent a photo of my Drivers License.
 - Once the email with the other documents was sent, the certificate was emailed about three hours later at about 5:30pm on July 15.
 
It's worth noting that my fiancé also has an 11yo son coming here on a K2. His certificate had to be dealt with separately. His also arrived at 5:30pm July 15. What's kind of nutty is CFO says children under 12 need not be interviewed, but they do need a certificate. Unsure why - seems very bureaucratic. The certificates thus were both obtained about 1 week after the interview. I don't know if this is normal or not. I've heard horror stories taking months, but from what I gathered it might take 2-3 weeks on average. Hopefully a 1 week turnaround is the normal. My fiancé felt she had a good interviewer, so perhaps it's also somewhat luck of the draw.
 
The CFO process is uncertain and unclear to navigate. It's not very transparent, especially regarding timelines. Hopefully this post helps others. For sure gather all the documents they require and have them ready to email. That will certainly help.

Trying to keep this updated.
 
K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes.
Told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 
Still yet to hear back after all these documents sent. Will see, but at least it appears to be moving quickly. Fingers crossed.

 
 

CFO likely less inclined to place as many demands on K1 visas, as those couples have already been well scrutinized and the title includes “fiancé“ rather than “tourist.”

Thanks for replies. I'm still trying to navigate this process and more importantly the timeline. You'd expect to feel relieved and elated after a visa approval rather than burdened and uncertain. 

I've been plowing through old VisaJourney posts and the one linked below seems to indicate that the visa is not required. I have no idea about how long the online CFO process takes. Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks. It's a big deal when you have other deadlines to consider. Just as stunning is the absolute lack of current accurate information on the process and the timeline. I think it's probably quite informal on the backend, Like maybe one the payment is received an email request is sent to the beneficiary. That email is replied to with more attached documents. Once that email is received then I suspect there is one person in charge of assigning an agent. The agent receives the email and depending on workload, makes the phone call. This has to be the system, but I've no idea how long it will take. Fingers crossed, two days?
 
Post which indicted visa no required in hand:
 

With CEAC stuff and basically everything I always called the embassy in MNL. Actually it's the "US Visa and Information Services", some sort of call center, but they provide decent advice on what to do.
They are open 6pm to 2am pacific time M-F (or actually sort of Sunday through Thursday our time)
US Visa and Information Services
1-703-520-2235
Once connected you listen a few messages, then press, 1, 2, 1, 2
Then you listen to about 8 minutes of music, then they call cuts off.
About 1 in 10 calls get through, but that's what I did about 500 times over the past 18 months.
 

Following up on the above follow-up. I'll repost the entire timeline as the certificate was emailed.

 
 - K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
 - CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
 - Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
 - CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
 - Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
 - Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
 - 10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
 - CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes. During call told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 - I sent copies of bills of mine with my name and address. Also sent a photo of my Drivers License.
 - Once the email with the other documents was sent, the certificate was emailed about three hours later at about 5:30pm on July 15.
 
It's worth noting that my fiancé also has an 11yo son coming here on a K2. His certificate had to be dealt with separately. His also arrived at 5:30pm July 15. What's kind of nutty is CFO says children under 12 need not be interviewed, but they do need a certificate. Unsure why - seems very bureaucratic. The certificates thus were both obtained about 1 week after the interview. I don't know if this is normal or not. I've heard horror stories taking months, but from what I gathered it might take 2-3 weeks on average. Hopefully a 1 week turnaround is the normal. My fiancé felt she had a good interviewer, so perhaps it's also somewhat luck of the draw.
 
The CFO process is uncertain and unclear to navigate. It's not very transparent, especially regarding timelines. Hopefully this post helps others. For sure gather all the documents they require and have them ready to email. That will certainly help.

If it helps, we just went through the CFO process (mid July 2021) and I posted a detailed summary of our experience in a separate VJ post:
 

Following up on the above follow-up. I'll repost the entire timeline as the certificate was emailed.

 
 - K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
 - CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
 - Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
 - CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
 - Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
 - Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
 - 10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
 - CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes. During call told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 - I sent copies of bills of mine with my name and address. Also sent a photo of my Drivers License.
 - Once the email with the other documents was sent, the certificate was emailed about three hours later at about 5:30pm on July 15.
 
It's worth noting that my fiancé also has an 11yo son coming here on a K2. His certificate had to be dealt with separately. His also arrived at 5:30pm July 15. What's kind of nutty is CFO says children under 12 need not be interviewed, but they do need a certificate. Unsure why - seems very bureaucratic. The certificates thus were both obtained about 1 week after the interview. I don't know if this is normal or not. I've heard horror stories taking months, but from what I gathered it might take 2-3 weeks on average. Hopefully a 1 week turnaround is the normal. My fiancé felt she had a good interviewer, so perhaps it's also somewhat luck of the draw.
 
The CFO process is uncertain and unclear to navigate. It's not very transparent, especially regarding timelines. Hopefully this post helps others. For sure gather all the documents they require and have them ready to email. That will certainly help.

Following up on the above follow-up. I'll repost the entire timeline as the certificate was emailed.

 
 - K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
 - CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
 - Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
 - CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
 - Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
 - Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
 - 10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
 - CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes. During call told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 - I sent copies of bills of mine with my name and address. Also sent a photo of my Drivers License.
 - Once the email with the other documents was sent, the certificate was emailed about three hours later at about 5:30pm on July 15.
 
It's worth noting that my fiancé also has an 11yo son coming here on a K2. His certificate had to be dealt with separately. His also arrived at 5:30pm July 15. What's kind of nutty is CFO says children under 12 need not be interviewed, but they do need a certificate. Unsure why - seems very bureaucratic. The certificates thus were both obtained about 1 week after the interview. I don't know if this is normal or not. I've heard horror stories taking months, but from what I gathered it might take 2-3 weeks on average. Hopefully a 1 week turnaround is the normal. My fiancé felt she had a good interviewer, so perhaps it's also somewhat luck of the draw.
 
The CFO process is uncertain and unclear to navigate. It's not very transparent, especially regarding timelines. Hopefully this post helps others. For sure gather all the documents they require and have them ready to email. That will certainly help.

Following up on the above follow-up. I'll repost the entire timeline as the certificate was emailed.

 
 - K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
 - CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
 - Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
 - CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
 - Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
 - Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
 - 10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
 - CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes. During call told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 - I sent copies of bills of mine with my name and address. Also sent a photo of my Drivers License.
 - Once the email with the other documents was sent, the certificate was emailed about three hours later at about 5:30pm on July 15.
 
It's worth noting that my fiancé also has an 11yo son coming here on a K2. His certificate had to be dealt with separately. His also arrived at 5:30pm July 15. What's kind of nutty is CFO says children under 12 need not be interviewed, but they do need a certificate. Unsure why - seems very bureaucratic. The certificates thus were both obtained about 1 week after the interview. I don't know if this is normal or not. I've heard horror stories taking months, but from what I gathered it might take 2-3 weeks on average. Hopefully a 1 week turnaround is the normal. My fiancé felt she had a good interviewer, so perhaps it's also somewhat luck of the draw.
 
The CFO process is uncertain and unclear to navigate. It's not very transparent, especially regarding timelines. Hopefully this post helps others. For sure gather all the documents they require and have them ready to email. That will certainly help.

Trying to keep this updated.
 
K1 Visa Interview was Thursday, July 8.
CFO online "office" only open from Mon-Thurs.
Monday July 12, contact made via online form to start CFO process, despite no in-hand visa.
CFO replied (same day I believe) saying they needed copy of visa prior to call.
Visa arrived in CDO Mindanao on morning of Thursday July 15.
Copy of K1 Visa sent to CFO at 12:20pm on July 15. 
10 minutes later they replied and scheduled a call for 1pm July 15.
CFO phone call lasted 40 minutes, in stark contrast to the K1 visa interview which literally lasted 2 minutes.
Told that they needed a copy of my drivers license along with copies of bills with my mailing address. 
 
Still yet to hear back after all these documents sent. Will see, but at least it appears to be moving quickly. Fingers crossed.

 
 

CFO likely less inclined to place as many demands on K1 visas, as those couples have already been well scrutinized and the title includes “fiancé“ rather than “tourist.”

Over the past year I did a couple informal requests over the phone, but I don't think those are given much consideration. Finally, I submitted a more formal request including signed letter.
 
June 2, 2021 - Request was emailed to support-philippines@ustraveldocs.com and NVCExpedite@stave.gov (although the latter possibly no longer in use)
Additionally I submitted the same documents to the online web form "Immigrant Visa Inquiry Form":
https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/
 
No follow up calls
 
June 15, 2021 - They informed us via email and set the Interview date of the first week of July

Over the past year I did a couple informal requests over the phone, but I don't think those are given much consideration. Finally, I submitted a more formal request including signed letter.
 
June 2, 2021 - Request was emailed to support-philippines@ustraveldocs.com and NVCExpedite@stave.gov (although the latter possibly no longer in use)
Additionally I submitted the same documents to the online web form "Immigrant Visa Inquiry Form":
https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/
 
No follow up calls
 
June 15, 2021 - They informed us via email and set the Interview date of the first week of July

I think we're somehow in this same camp. I checked the CEAC site a few days ago and it showed our visa application had expired(???). I was stunned. I never received a word; No email. Nothing. We had an interview appointment scheduled in Manila in March 2020, then COVID hit and shut down everything. We've been waiting patiently for a year and then out of nowhere they say the visa is expired. Over the past few days I've sent three emails and made four phone calls. I just got an email telling me to check the site that we have a new status and I was confident the visa was likely reinstated. Instead it still displays EXPIRED, however, now it also states that "all supporting documents have been destroyed."

From above posts maybe all hope is not lost, but I'm absolutely at my wits end. We've been on hold since I proposed in September 2019.

Today is a holiday and I can't even contact anyone. It's the worst holiday I'll ever experience thinking that this may require a do-over. I'm absolutely heartbroken. I don't even know how to inform my fiancé. 

I've been too discouraged to visit this site. We were 2 weeks from K1 interview. I think our best option is wait an see.

I’d you search the website you will literally find hundreds of people in the same boat. I’m pretty sure you can’t travel to the Philippines so you would be out of luck either way. When the embassy opens I’d imagine you’d be some of the first ones interviewed if you only had 2 weeks to go..
 
It is your choice what to do but personally I’d stay where I was. I don’t believe filing a CR1 would get her here quicker... Why make a drastic change based on speculation.

Not really a big concern if she worked at strip club or even as a cam girl. I don't think she did, but it doesn't matter at all. It's a young, single mother trying to survive in a very poorly-design society. What interests me is why she and her sister aren't living in the family home. Perhaps the father left the mother as is so common there.

IMO the biggest problem in PH is the lack of child support laws. The men just bounce from woman to woman to woman and wages aren't garnished. Then kids raised exclusively by the mother and grow up thinking it's normal and acceptable for men to abandon the family. In a country with such sacredness place on marriage, they sure have established the opposite of the desired effect. Perhaps it's the politicians who want to keep the status quo so they can keep creating more and more unsupported families. I joke around that I should run for President there. My platform would be mandatory child support laws and divorce made legal, especially for women from deadbeat dads. As it stands, the easiest and often only way for women to get divorced there is to convert to Islam, then get some sort of blessing from the Islamic community leader dude. The Philippines needs true change and a true leader to promote real change. Vote for me next election! 

I agree. I'd say it's near to 50-50. It sounds terrible, but many Pinays here begin trying to compete with each other in unhealthy materialistic ways or over-applying make-up and the cheap look you get when you buy into fashion trends. I recommend try to find a Pinay who is conservative and private about social media. It's a tall order, but much more stable and less drama pitfalls.