C&M14

I thought i would be banned too after my posts. I feel happy to know that the moderators of VJ are unbiased and objective. I admit some of my posts got out of hand and i realized that was not the right thing to do. We are all here in VJ to learn and share our experiences about the immigration process. So let's all just get along well. Peace!

sori talagang sinadya ko na tagalugin yun kasi gusto ko maintindihan nung mga stalkers dito. gusto ko kasi asarin yung kalbo na sobrang manlait sa tin. sa totoo lang gusto kung sagutin ng personalan yung mga posts nya sa OT para masara na yung sinulid na yun sa kabila. di ba sabi nila pag sobra ng personal, violation na yun. gusto kong assarin si kalbo kasi siya yung sobrang manlait sa tin. siguro pag nkita nya na pati Thailander ay nadadamay ito magsisi sya at sinimulan nya ang flame war.

Yes, i look at Roi's picture in his profile. My gosh! that explains it. i wonder how he met his wife. He said that he is a sailor. Well, Bangkok is the no. 1 sex destination for the sex tourists. Gosh, do you think his wife is ??????? Well, i am being guilty of making generalizations too like them.

it is sad when some people who are too lazy to learn about other culture or nation just generalize a country's population with what little they know about them, Like when people generalize that all pinay's are housemaids because the Philippines export domestic helpers or that all Mexican's are illegal aliens because the majority of illegal aliens on the US are Mexicans or that all Thai girls are prostitutes because Thailand is well known as the sex capital of the world.

I am sure that guy who married a Thailander is always offended whenever his friends or family or other people think that he got his wife in some nightclub in Bangkok.

matagal na ko di nag-post dito pero lagi naman ako bumibisita dito para malaman ang latest dito sa vj. di ko mapigilan ang sumagot kasi kainis naman ang mga pinagsusulat nila dun laban sa mga pinay.

it is sad when some people who are too lazy to learn about other culturthe e or nation just generalize a country's population with what little they know about them, Like when people think that all pinay's are housemaids because Philippines export domestic helpers or that all Mexican's are illegal aliens because the majority of illegal aliens on the US are Mexicans or that all Thai girls are prostitutes because Thailand is well known as the sex capital of the world.

I am sure that guy who married a Thailander is always offended whenever his friends or family or other people think that he got his wife in some nightclub in Bangkok.

I'm sorry that this has happened to you. I don't know when they changed the law as they said. I got a K1 visa and my three kids got K2 visas. My eldest daughter is 20 years old at the time of the interview. We were all approved July 11, 2007 and got our visas one week after at the Manila consulate. We never had a problem with my daughter's age during the interview. They only made her sign a paper stating that she should be still unmarried when she enters the US on a K2 visa. Though I hope we never encounter any problem during the AOS stage.

I think they made a mistake with your daughter's case. You should pursue it and insist that she is eligible for the K2 visa as she is still under 21 years old.

It happened to me too. They misspelled my father's name when I picked up my Cenomar at the NSO office at East Avenue. Thank God i noticed it immediately. I told the NSO clerk that they misspelled it. They corrected it right there and then. I just waited for 15 minutes for it to be signed again. I didn't have to go back and apply for it again.

Ann could order another copy of her Cenomar online or go to the NSO office in Manila. Ordering them online may be faster but the problem is they might misspell her mother's last name again. I have read about other applicants who ordered online and can't do anything about it when some names were misspelled in their Cenomar copy.

My POE was O'hare Chicago. I handcarried my X-ray as per SLEC instruction but the IO officer didn't ask to see it. I guess there's no need for them to see it because our medical exam result is inside the brown envelope that we will present to them. Still, it is better to handcarry them. You never know if they will ask for it.

When I got my NBI clearance, I noticed when i got home that I also didn't have my thumbprint there. So what I did was buy a stamp pad and put my thumbprint in my clearance before I submitted them at the embassy on my interview. I didn't have any problem.

Like what other's have said here, Chicago O'hare airport can really be so busy in certain times of day, like in the afternoons. My advice is maybe study the map of O-hare airport, print them and bring then with you when you fly to the US. I did that and it really helped me a lot. O'hare is such a big airport and you can lose a lot of time just trying to navigate or finding your way around. Get to know which terminal you're going to ahead of time, what gate you would need to board and look for them in the airport map.

Also, I would suggest wearing shoes that can easily be taken off and if you can go without a belt then it would be better. It was such a hassle for me untying and tying the strings of my shoes and unbuckling and taking off my belt whenever I went through the security checkpoints. And they will ask you to do that in all the security checkpoints you will go through in Manila, any other stopover countries and in the US.

Hope this suggestions will help you have a more pleasant and speedy travel experience.

Thanks.. I'd been reading the ORD Int'l Airport website to familiarize msy mind with the said airport.. But it's really confusing.. My itinerary says that I will arrive in ORD Terminal 5. From there, I believe that I have to take ATS to get to Terminal 2 where in my flight going to CO Springs will take place. Do I have to claim my luggages and recheck it again at Terminal 2 or 1? Or they will automatically transfer the luggages to another aircraft? I have the same airline from HK to ORD and ORD to COS which is United and ORD website says that all United check-in and baggage claim is located at Terminal 1? Hahayy! Going bananas!

All international arrivals in O'hare will land in Terminal 5. You will claim your luggages and recheck-in them in Termainl 5. You will find the baggage carousel just when you go out of the Immigation area, then you will go through the Customs area and then go through a security checkpoint and then go to the United Airlines luggage re-check in counter. You will not get lost because you will go through all these points before you can get out of Terminal 5. Since you have the same airline from Hongkong all the way to your destination, I think they will give you all your boarding passes for all your flights in Hongkong so no need to check in again in Chicago, you only need to recheck-in your bags. Be sure to ask the airline in Hongkong if you still need to check-in in Chicago. The lines at the check-in counters in Chicago can be so long, it would be so frustrating to line up and then find out that you don't need to check in again. The after re-checking in your bags, you will go upstairs and board an ATS train that will take you to Terminal 2 or 1. You can ask the lady at the baggage re-check in counter what terminal you need to go and what gate. If your boardng pass is already issued in Hongkong, then you will see there what terminal and gate your will go to in Chicago.

For those who will go through Chicago as their POE, here's the website for the O'hare airport. Hope this helps in navigating your way around the airport.

http://www.flychicago.com/ohare/concession...nalMapsORD.shtm

Just what I need. Thank you for sharing.

BTW, did they open your luggage during the security checks? As in, looking at the contents, one-by-one?

Thanks for asking. I was about to..

Congratulations C&M14. You've fin'lly made it. Thanks for sharing your experience. My POE will be Ohare too.. I hope having 3 hour interval is good enough that may not cause any delays.

Like what other's have said here, Chicago O'hare airport can really be so busy in certain times of day, like in the afternoons. My advice is maybe study the map of O-hare airport, print them and bring then with you when you fly to the US. I did that and it really helped me a lot. O'hare is such a big airport and you can lose a lot of time just trying to navigate or finding your way around. Get to know which terminal you're going to ahead of time, what gate you would need to board and look for them in the airport map.

Also, I would suggest wearing shoes that can easily be taken off and if you can go without a belt then it would be better. It was such a hassle for me untying and tying the strings of my shoes and unbuckling and taking off my belt whenever I went through the security checkpoints. And they will ask you to do that in all the security checkpoints you will go through in Manila, any other stopover countries and in the US.

Hope this suggestions will help you have a more pleasant and speedy travel experience.

Just what I need. Thank you for sharing.

BTW, did they open your luggage during the security checks? As in, looking at the contents, one-by-one?

No, they don't open and check the contents of your luggages one-by-one. All your luggages will go through the security x-ray and I think when they only see something suspicious that's the time they will open and check the contents of your bag. Our luggages were never open at the security checkpoints from Manila to Narita to the first security checkpoint in Chicago. But I don't know why on the second security checkpoint in Chicago, the security officer asked me to open one of our handcarry bag. She checked them one by one but didn't find anything prohibited or dangerous, so she let us go. I don't know what set her off. Our handcarry bag only has our paperwork, some clothes and some toiletries and make-up kits.

Put all your toiletries and make-up in a clear zip-lock bag so they can easily check them. All aerosols and liquids like perfumes are prohibited in your handcarry. They should all be in your check-in bag.

Hi everybody! I'm already here in the US, arrived last August 1. I've missed a lot of post here and I am glad to see so many recent approvals. Congratulations!

Just want to relate my POE experience via Chicago O'hare airport. We have a 2 1/2 hour layover and we thought there was plenty of time. But then we almost missed our connecting flight to Kansas City, we arrived on our gate to board 5 minutes before depature. Just in the nick of time. How stressful!

Our plane landed at Chicago O'hare airport at 2:15 pm, started lining up at Immigration at 2:30 pm. When we got there the lines were too long already, there were like 150-200 people ahead of us. By the time we were interviewed by the Immigration officer it was already 4:00 pm. I was already fidgeting because our boarding time for our connecting flight was 4:20 pm. I became even more nervous when we were directed to line up to this Immigration officer who look stern and doesn't smile. He already sent somebody to go back to the end of the line again, I don't know what's the problem, maybe she hasn't filled up her papers right. I thought the Immigration officer was Chinese or Korean but surprise, surprise he is Half-Filipino! While he was going over our paperwork he heard me and my daughters speak in Tagalog, and he said, "Tagalog?" I looked at him and ask if he is Filipino. He said he was born in the US but his mother is a Filipina. Then for the first time he started to smile and my nervousness was gone. Then my daughters started to speak Bisaya and he said "Cebuano?" I was surprised he can understand and he said that his mother came from Negros, which is very near Cebu, our hometown. That made the rest of the interview very pleasant for us. Actually, it didn't feel like an interview, he only asked two questions: "What is your fiance's job?" and then he asked my daughters, "did you left your boyfriends crying in the Philippines?". We were there for like 10 minutes, mostly he spent the time stamping our paperwork, and joking with another Immigration officer that he got all the kids, since he was processing three K2's. Then he handed back to us our passports with the I-94 attached. I was like "That's it?" But then i remember the time and said thank you and hurried to the baggage carousel to get our luggages.

It was 4:10 pm when we got out of immigration and we have to catch our 4:50 flight to Kansas. My kids and I were literally running to catch our connecting flight. After claiming our luggages, we still have to go through Customs, then go through a security checkpoint, rechecked-in our bags then take the ATS train to get from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1. Then at Terminal 1 we have to go through another security checkpoint again which was longer than the first one we went through, then have to find the gate where we need to board our plane! We didn't even have time to go to a restroom to freshen up before our next flight. I wanted to look pretty or at least fresh for my fiancee but no time for that anymore, i don't want to miss our plane. We got to our gate at 4:45 pm, just 5 minutes before the plane's departure. We were the last to board.

It was a little stressful but all my worries were gone when i finally saw my fiancee and his daughter waiting for us at Kansas City airport. It feels so nice to be in my fiance's arms again. The long journey is over. Now we can start our new life together.

While our flight was long but okay and we just breezed through Immigration, one snag we had is that we almost lost two bags. We brought 8 checked-in luggages and 4 handcarry's. When we got to Kansas, two of our checked-in luggages were missing. We can't understand how our six bags arrived but two were missing. We filed a missing bag report before we left the airport. But then after 5 days they were able to locate our bags, I don't know where, and delivered them to our house with apologies from United airlines.

So my advice for those who will go through Chicago as their POE and has connecting flights, maybe you should think of giving plenty of time for layover at the airport. We almost missed our next flight with just 2 1/2 hours layover. I don't know, maybe we were just unlucky that when we arrived the immigration lines were already long. We were lucky though that we had a nice half-filipino immigration officer who didn't ask too many questions and also having our boarding passes issued at Narita airport also helped speed us up. We didn't have to check in again at Chicago but only rechecked-in our bags.

Now we are here in the US and really liking it here a lot. One thing me and my daughters still can't get used to is the long daylight hours here. It is already like 7-8 pm and the sun is still shining so brightly. We would be surprised that it is already late but feels like it is still 4 pm in Manila. Don't get me wrong, we are enjoying it so much. Me and my fiance have been busy and have so many things to do. We are making up for lost time!

I find it odd that he would this person would start a thread about sending jewelry through the mail, and cancelling the petition.

i think the OP is thinking of canceling the petition and asking about how to send jewelries to the US through the mail. I think maybe she is going to return the jewelries back to someone there.

hi Orion44,

if you're fiancee insists on having a wedding before she comes to the US, then maybe you should let her read the link below:

http://media.www.usforacle.com/media/stora...ollegeheadlines

Ask her if she is willing to take the risk of a 10 year ban from entering the US if charged with visa fraud by USCIS. Or are you willing to relocate here if she is not allowed anymore to come to the US? Maybe for you it is non-binding ceremony with no legal weight. But would USCIS think so too? You might find yourself deep in legal trouble for years trying to convince the USCIS that your marriage is not legal.

Me and my 3 kids had our interview today and we were approved!!!!

I just want to thank everybody here for the all the help and information you gave to me which I credit for having a very smooth-sailing interview experience. By reading about other people’s experiences and advices here, it helped me to know what to expect and come to my interview prepared. We were also very fortunate to have a very nice Filipino Pre-Screener who didn't smile much but were joking with my kids and a very nice woman consul who were smiling all throughout the interview. God bless them!

We woke up at 4:30 am, left our Sucat house at 5:40 am and arrive at the embassy at past 6 am. Our interview was set at 7 am. The vendors at the waiting shed told us that 7 am applicants were not yet called and offered us some chairs for rent. I figured that since it is already past 6 am, we will not be waiting too long before the guards will call the 7 am applicants so I didn’t rent any chairs and just waited standing up. At 6:20 am, me and my kids went to the embassy gate to find out if they could already let us in. The guard told us that they are not yet calling 7 am applicants and asked us to go back to the waiting shed. But the other guard told him to let us in since they will be calling the 7 am applicants soon anyway. So we went in, had our things scanned, then was given 7001 for our ticket number.

At 8:00 am we had our finger scanned, then at 8:30 were called for our pre-screening. The Filipino pre-screener was nice and even joked with my kids which made us laughed. I was so tensed the whole morning and so it helped me felt at ease. Documents asked from me were:

- Birth certificates and baptismal certificates – I told him I didn’t bring any baptismal certs, only our birth certificates and he said ok.

- NBI clearance

- Affidavit of support with 2006 ITR, W2, employment letter. He didn’t get my other supporting documents like recent paystubs, 2005 & 2004 ITR, bank statements, stocks certificates etc.

- Divorce decree of my fiancée

- He only asked for ATM receipts for money sent by my fiancée as my proof of relationship. ( He didn’t ask for emails, chat logs, snail mails, gift receipts or phone records. I felt a little bad that he didn’t ask for those since I took a lot of time and effort to organize them)

- Pictures together

- My old passport since I told him I have been to the US before

- He didn’t ask for my CENOMAR but I offered it to him, and he accepted it.

Questions asked by pre-screener:

- Who is my petitioner

- When did we meet and where?

- Last time I met my fiancée

- How many times he visited

- What happened to my previous relationship with the father of my kids and why we didn’t marry

- Then to my kids, he asked them where are they studying and teased one of my daughters why is she short when her two other sisters were tall. We all laughed on that.

At 9:30 we were called for our interview at Window 30. The consul was still interviewing a family so we waited outside the cubicle. After their interview, we went in and the consul smiled and ask me how I am. I said fine though I was very nervous inside. She looked over our papers and asked me the following questions:

- Who is my petitioner

- When and how did we meet?

- How many times he visited?

- Ask me if I have ever been to the US before and I said yes, and just look over my old passport.

- She asked me to tell her something about my fiancée

- Then she asked my kids what’s their birthday.

She ended the interview with “ Ok, you can go back to your seat and wait for your name to be called again and pay the fees for the delivery of your visas.” I understood what she meant but I want to make sure so I asked “ Do you mean Mam, we are approved?” And she said “Yes, you are approved and congratulations!” I said “Thank you very much Mam”. If there were no glass between us I could have hug and kiss her right there and then! LOL!

So we went out, got the pink slip and paid Delbros. We were out of the embassy at 10:15 am.

I just want to thank again everybody and Visa Journey. My journey was really smooth-sailing and problem-free because of all of you! I also want to say congrats to all were approved recently!

Thanks Mae and Sheriff Uling! i think i will answer NO as my understanding is that a K1 visa is essentially a non-immigrant visa petition. The US Embassy website classifies K1 as a non-immigrant visa eventhough it is processed in the immigrant visa unit. I think question #36 refers to an immigrant petition filed on behalf of the beneficiary, like the I-130 petition which would lead to an immigrant visa being issued.

Question no. 36 is a little bit tricky. Though a K1 visa is a non-immigrant visa it has immigration intent. I think either a yes or no answer would not be a problem.

I also got this from the USE Manila website:

Who can Apply for an Immigrant Visa

In general, a person who wishes to immigrate to the United States must have a petition approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before applying for an immigrant visa. The petition is filed either by a relative or a potential employer at a USCIS office in the United States. Specific information about how petitions are filed can be found at the USCIS website. An individual with an approved petition and a priority date that is current for processing is eligible to apply for an immigrant visa or K and V non-immigrant visa.

A beneficiary of an approved Form I-130 petition must apply for the appropriate immigrant visa under the Family-Sponsored (IR or F) categories. The Form I-130 is filed by a relative who is either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident (LPR), at a USCIS office in the United States. In certain cases where the sponsoring U.S. citizen resides in the Philippines, the I-130 petition may be filed at the USCIS office at the Embassy in Manila.

A beneficiary of an approved Form I-140 petition must apply for the appropriate immigrant visa under the Employment-Based (E) category. The prospective U.S. employer files the I-140 petition and must obtain a certification from the U.S. Department of Labor that there are no qualified workers available in the United States for the proposed employment.

For the Special Immigrant visa category, with the exception of a qualified current or former U.S. Government employee, an applicant needs an approved I-360 petition from the USCIS. Special workers in a religious occupation or vocation, qualified U.S. government employees, Amerasians and widowers of American citizens fall under this classification.

Investors must file a Form I-526 petition with the USCIS.

A Filipino spouse or fiancée(e) of a U.S. citizen may apply for a non-immigrant K visa with an approved I-129F petition. A spouse or child of a lawful permanent resident (“green card holder”) may apply for a V visa. The K and V visas are non-immigrant visas that allow beneficiaries to join their petitioners sooner. Persons who enter the United States with K or V visas must apply to USCIS for a change in status from non-immigrant to lawful permanent resident (LPR).

I am finalizing my DS 156 form. Actually, i have changed it so many times. I am confused with question #36 "Has anyone ever filed an immigrant visa petition on your behalf?" Should i answer yes and put the name of my fiancee? I am confused because i know that K1 visa is a non-immigrant visa petition though it is processed in the immigrant visa unit. For those who were already through with their interviews, how did you answer this question? Thanks!

Thanks PW!

I'm also wondering what's the reason why some applicant's are put on AR because of Cenomar check. I have read about applicants who were older, unmarried and have children and got their visas just a few days after interview. And there are some who are single, young and never married and still were put on AR and wait months for the Cenomar check to be completed. I am thinking that maybe the USE already make background checks ( including the CENOMAR) even before the interview. There is a 2-3 months time from NOA2 to interview that the embassy has the applicant's files already and can do preliminary background checks before the inteview date. I don't think the USE will do the background check after the inteview just becasue they feel like it to put someone in random check. I think some applicant's preliminary checks are not yet completed by the time of the interview and so were put on AR to wait out the result of those checks. One reason I can think of is having a very common name and therefore would require more checks to verify. And applicants who don't have a name hit breeze through the backgound checks and get their visas right after the interview. Maybe there are other factors aside from having a very common name that makes the embassy put someone on a longer background check. So even if the applicant bring her own CENOMAR, if the USE hasn't completed their own background check yet by the time of the interview then the applicant is put in AR. Just my guess.

I have a question regarding the i-134 affidavit of support form. Does my fiancee have to make separate affidavits for me and each of my 3 kids or just one affidavit for all of us? Thanks!

One more thing, it is SLEC who forwards the applicant's passport together with the medical results to the US Embassy. So SLEC should have taken her daughter's passport.

It sound to me that SLEC may not have finish yet the processing of Mylene's daughter's medical results. Did Mylene ask where is her daughter's results or when are they going to release it? Sometimes, they don't release the K1/K2 med results at the same time. Like for us, they called my daughters' names first and after 10 minutes my name was called by a different SLEC officer. Maybe the medical result of her daughter is not yet finish. But then, they should have told Mylene when they will release it so she will be able to come back for it.

It is also odd that they didn't give her daughter all the shots she need to complete her vaccination record. usually they will advise us to take all the necessary shots here and take only the shots in the US for those that are not available here in the Philippines, like the TD shots and the booster shots.

Hi! me and my 3 daughters (K1/K2) just finished our medical June 13 and 14. They took all our passports and visa photos and then they gave back to us our X-ray films and vaccination records. In fact, they finished the processing of my daughters' medical results ahead of mine. I have to wait a few minutes more which even made me worry that there was something wrong with my medical result. But then after 10 minutes my name was called and everything was ok with our medical results. They said that they will be the one to forward the results to USE Manila. Maybe you should try to call SLEC and find out why they didn't take Mylene's daughter's passport.