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Joe & Jer

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Posts posted by Joe & Jer

    FINALLY! (Interview date)

    in Philippines

    Posted

    2 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

    They are at least at June 2020 noa2. If your earlier than that you need to contact them. 

     

    Are they really on June 2020 NOA2 already?!? That would mean they cleared 3 months of backlog in the time since they ramped things up in June this year. Also, considering our NOA2 date is in February and we haven't heard anything yet, this is frightening news to me.  Are you sure you meant June 2020?

    Waiting for Interview in Manila

    in Philippines

    Posted

    On 9/21/2021 at 1:45 PM, top_secret said:

    There is a number attributed to discovery in the Milligan v. Pompeo K-1 lawsuit being being thrown around of 6,000 to 8,000 approved K-1 petitions for the Philippines, documentarily qualified and stuck at NVC.  I have not found the actual source of that number though so it remains hearsay, but it is a backlog entirely consistent with actual number of K-1 visas issued since the pandemic began vs the average number of K-1 visas issued monthly before the pandemic.  It is also entirely consistent with yours and other couples wait times for K-1 interviews here and elsewhere.

    Not rumor. This is from the State Dept's  Motion to Dismiss in Ramirez v. Blinken, filed back at the end of June: 

     (Civil Action No. 21-01099, "MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS" doc 6-1, p7)

    Quote

    At present, the U.S. Embassy in Manila has suspended routine visa processing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Id. ¶ 10. As such, the U.S. Embassy in Manila is processing only a limited numbers of certain immigrant visa classifications and K-1 nonimmigrant visa classification. Id. ¶ 10. As of June 2021, there is a backlog of 3,912 K visa applicants located at the NVC waiting to be scheduled for an interview, and a backlog of 3,593 K fiancé visa cases at the Embassy itself. Id. ¶ 11.

     

    My case was dismissed

    in Philippines

    Posted · Edited by Joe & Jer

    This is the same judge that dismissed 'Milligan' a week earlier.  Not looking too good for 'Ramirez'.  Hope the lawyers for 'Ramirez did a better job of arguing that USEM deliberately slowed K1s to focus on other IV groups of the same priority tier. 

    Cancel K1, get married and file CR1?

    in Philippines

    Posted

     

    13 hours ago, Adventine said:

     

    I don't think it's a rumor. The lawyer in the video (Jim Hacking) is sometimes recommended on this site as a competent immigration lawyer.

     

    Now, it isn't clear if the K1 cases being cancelled are ONLY those applicants who filed a Writ of Mandamus suit (and therefore are Jim Hacking's clients) OR if they also include all the K1 cases who did NOT choose to file any kind of lawsuit.

    'Ramirez' plaintiff chiming in...

    This comes up sometimes in our lawyer's weekly round-up, and this specific rumor was discussed last week. The opinion from our lawyers is this is a non-issue. Its been brought up in litigation before and DOS quickly backed down. If DOS/USEM actually tried to pull this ####### and make it stick, it would backfire on them. 

     

    Think about it, we are sueing for Mandamus relief, claiming the government hasn't done enough to adjudicate our cases. DOS responds with (among other arguments) that its not their fault - Covid got in the way and messed them all up  aaaand  "oh look, their petitions have expired, so their cases can't be adjudicated anyway".  The judge sees that and is going to be like "#######?".  The logic train that follows would amount to an admission from DOS that they only intended to adjudicate if and when they felt like it, thereby justifying the very complaint they are fighting against.  There have been some poor arguments from the lawyers representing DOS, but one like that would trump them all.  It aint happening, not in our case.

    NVC to Manila Embassy for K1 Visas

    in Philippines

    Posted

    17 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

     Someone posted stats in another thread that K1s had an 11K+ backlog at USEM.  I would imagine its more now. 

    Well, according to lawyers representing DoS, its actually less. This is an excerpt from the Ramirez vs. Blinken motion to dismiss:

    Quote

    As of June 2021, there is a backlog of 3,912 K visa applicants located at the NVC waiting to be scheduled for an interview, and a backlog of 3,593 K fiancé visa cases at the Embassy itself.

    I imagined it would be much more too based on past trends. Weird, LOL.

    NVC to Manila Embassy for K1 Visas

    in Philippines

    Posted

    On 7/6/2021 at 10:17 PM, brightfuture78 said:

    I got the following response today via email, after contacting from the Embassy about scheduling an interview for our case that's been sitting in Manila for 2+ years:

     

     

     

    Based on this, it doesn't seem like anything has changed from how they've been doing things for the past year, despite them changing up the verbiage on their website.

     

    18 hours ago, brightfuture78 said:

    I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me. Again, I received that correspondence yesterday in rejection to my K1 interview request.

     

    Woops... I missed the context from your earlier comment, sorry.

    NVC to Manila Embassy for K1 Visas

    in Philippines

    Posted

    17 hours ago, brightfuture78 said:

    I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me. Again, I received that correspondence yesterday in rejection to my K1 interview request.

    Its the difference between the two  The correspondence you received is the actual policy USEM is implementing (based on available evidence) while the other, taken from their website, is the policy from DoS that USEM ought to be following but isn't.

    Maybe Some Good News

    in Philippines

    Posted

    On 6/28/2021 at 1:41 PM, flicks1998 said:

    Yes its a new bulletin, but the information in the bulletin appears to be the same as before.

    No, wait, I think the part about special visas for Iraqi and Afghans is new... I wonder how many of those have a case pending at USEM, hmmmm....

    :D

    Passport expiring soon. Does beneficiary need new passport before interview?

    in Philippines

    Posted

    Thanks for all your replies.  Based on everything I have read it seems that our best course of action is to get the earliest interview available to us, and in that unlikely chance that it is in the next 3 months she should bring her current passport with her. The worst case is she gets turned away before the interview, but some have mentioned that USEM follows a convention of issuing the visa as long as the passport is valid on that day, so there is no need to worry.

     

    This process is still strange and unknown to me, and with the interview date now lurking out there in some indeterminate future, its difficult to keep things in order. Thank you to all for giving me one less thing to worry about by taking the time to share your knowledge and experience.

    Passport expiring soon. Does beneficiary need new passport before interview?

    in Philippines

    Posted · Edited by Joe & Jer

    So I posted this yesterday in the K1 discussion section, and according to payxibka this is something that varies from country to country and he suggested I post it here instead.

     

     

    My Fiancé's passport is due to expire in less than 6 months. She has made the appointment to get it renewed, but the earliest appointment she could get is two months away.

    In the off chance that we can get an interview before then, will she need to wait to get the new passport before she can do the interview? 

    Passport expiring soon. Does beneficiary need new passport before interview?

    in Philippines

    Posted

    11 hours ago, payxibka said:

    Do yourself a favor,  post Manila specific questions in the Philippines regional forum.   You will get the specific answers you seek and not generalities that may or may not apply 

    Ok, I will repost there.  I did not realize that this is one of those questions that varies from embassy to embassy.

     

    Thanks payxibka, JeanneAdil, and Paul & Mary for your replies.

    Here are the lockdown rules for Manila

    in Philippines

    Posted

    On 4/3/2021 at 3:47 AM, Puppythecat said:

    My first time in a car in the Philippines I get into a van and start digging out the seatbelt and my girlfriend says to me, "no hun only driver wears seatbelt here"

    I remember my first ride in a cab out of NAIA (yeah, yeah, get Grab, I know.. luckily GF was with me), and I was like " Holy ####! Is this driver really going to play chicken with a bus!?!".

    NVC to Manila Embassy for K1 Visas

    in Philippines

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

    Because I’ve been involved with USEM for the last 12 years.  As I said it’s the same thing posted since middle of last year.  If you think there is progress more power to you. :)  

    Well, I'm not sure if its progress - as I said it doesn't really change anything for us and things are still pretty messed up there as they go into one of the biggest (if not the biggest) holidays of the year.  I have only been paying attention to the update page since end of August, and it seems, to me, that this was a more direct and comprehensive update lacking the weird fluff (like references to the "global situation" * ) of the last big update. Just a little refreshing if nothing else. That's all I was trying to convey. Thanks for understanding someone in the "oh you just need to be patient" crowd.

     

     * = (in my best John Oliver voice) "Yeah, because I'm going to the Philippine Embassy website to read about the f****** global situation! Oh, you are restricting services because of a global pandemic you say? I just thought everyone was wearing masks in anticipation of of another marvel comic movie release!" Hahaha

    NVC to Manila Embassy for K1 Visas

    in Philippines

    Posted

    1 hour ago, flicks1998 said:

    A similar thing has been posted quite frequently for the past year. In fact they may have just changed the dates and kept the same message. 

    For the past 6 months it has just been lots of posts about how they are processing or not processing this or that class of non-immigrant visa, with a note that immigrant visas are not being process except for mission critical, blah, blah, blah. Always vague and, like you said, heavily recycled. This new update is different.

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