Mylilelar

My wife and I we're married on December 7th, 2017 and the last I saw her was December 11,2017 until I picked her up in San Francisco on February 11 of this year. OVER THREE YEARS. A LARGE and extended family in the Philippines and they chat daily. She plans on working soon in a deli here but we are not rushing it. Our plan was and is to have ROAD TRIPS in the Pacific Northwest of places I have not even been to before. She leans on me constantly for absolutely everything as she should. The road trips are awesome as it leaves her talking about it for days after each one.

Took her skiing on the last day the resort was open. 

My advice is to get the neck out of the house IF YOU CAN and exp!ore your new country.

On 3/30/2021 at 7:05 AM, Lemonslice said:

They suggest to pay as early as possible, to make sure the card is received in a timely manner.  However, for one year after entry, the stamped visa is the same as a physical card.  You'll have time to fix it, should you still have problems in a few days.

I paid for my wife's a month before she got here on Feb 10 and it came a month later to USA.

Above poster is correct>>>>>the stamped visa on his passport is all he needs.

2 hours ago, Murph4865 said:

Is there any place available to book in ermita or manila relatively close to SLEC and USEM to go get medical and get interview done?  My wife has called all over and each place says they only accept quarantine people no outside bookings of any sort. Medical has to be done now 2 weeks before interview and we scheduled for march 9th at Slec and interview is march 26th, we are having problems finding a place for her to stay now for 3 weeks cause of the BS.

The Hilton in Pasay will take you. Before one enters though....an antigen test is administered.

I believe the Sheraton in Pasay also.

I know>>>>>stressful. We just put it all in God's hands and went for it.

I had my wife stay at the Bayview in October November for 36 days for her interview and that was also a quarantine hotel and they allowed both,but now they have changed it so Bayview  only allows quarantine OFW to stay there. So things are changing daily and you gotta keep up on it.

The Hilton in Pasay will take you.

It was $947 for 5 nights for three.I believe it is significantly less for 2 or one. INCLUDES BREAKFAST. There is a McDonald's across the street and I mention this because it cost my wife and her two nieces $267 for dinner.😮😮😮  My wife stayed there last week so she could fly out to meet me in San Francisco.

She had to take an antigen test before entry into the hotel and then of course a RT PCR test before she could fly on Philippine Airlines to America. I believe the Sheraton in Pasay takes non quarantine.

17 hours ago, tomigaoka said:

Did i hear your right, from SF you will  go drive home to Boise? I'm just surprise.

Oh no....we're flying.

On 11/24/2020 at 8:33 PM, PWB said:

I think you are right about covid testing and Emirates.  Problem is finding a place in Manila that will do the testing at a reasonable price.  8000peso seems high.

$160 is not only a bit high, it's outrageous.

My wife took a rapid test before she left Manila to Isabella province and it was $80.

When she left quarantine in Isabella the rapid test was nothing.

Congratulations on her approval.

1 hour ago, Adventine said:

Now they want tombstone photos too... dios mio, sorry it's been so hard on you and your spouse.

The tombstone photos seem to be no problem. It's the laying him in the ground part. This whole thing is just so morbid.

7 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

More than the expense, I think the time it takes to complete an annulment is even more ridiculous.  I personally know two women who went through annulment in the PH.  From their experience, it seems it would take a miracle to get it done in 2 years from start to finish including annotation of PSA record.  So I'm not surprised at the quoted price you got, and also the embassy's line of questioning.

 

We knew he had liver cancer from his lifestyle. So when we found out he was in stage 4, we just waited and forgot about the annulment.

I know, kind of cruel, but the world can be a cruel place sometimes.

17 minutes ago, Adventine said:

That seems reasonable. 

 

Please do keep updating us and hopefully your wife gets approved soon, and can finally go home to Isabela without much more trouble.

Someday I will write a timeline. I have hundreds of pages about 18 cm high. All I can really say at this time is our NOA2  was July 13, 2018. And it waited for months in Nebraska.It took 2 months before they accepted her birth certificate which was hardly legible from the PSA since it was from the 60s. And this was after several times bringing it to a professional print shop to have it lightened. But then you send it in and you wait to see if it was accepted. Then after 6 weeks they would say not accepted. And then months with no more evidence to send.And then months in New Hampshire with no RFE. Waiting....waiting.... just like everyone else I suppose.

56 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Yep, I've also been to a few wakes where people did this.  But most people I've seen taking pics just posed by the side of the casket, which would not be useful for identifying the body in the casket.

 

In any case, though I see that funeral pics are becoming more common now, I think it's still not the norm.  Some families, like ours, are just not open to the idea.  So if that's all the embassy wanted, I would think that unreasonable.  Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

 

After my wife had memorized almost every conceivable question they would ask her, including my father's full name and date of birth,they almost completely asked her all the questions about her ex husband and his demise. I don't think they picked on her as much as I believe that there is fraud going on with people claiming their exes are dead and not having to pay thousands of dollars in annulment charges. At one time, before he died, we were quoted between $5,000 and $11,000 to get an annulment. It's really something what these spouses have to go through.

1 hour ago, boris64 said:

 

Just my pitiful attempt at illustrating the absurdity of the situation...

From my wife's perspective, none of the 5 women she met of which 3 she walked back to the hotel with we're approved the 1st time. There was only 9 women in the interview room! She feels that since they're so few applicants that they spent more time with each one. If that is true, I have no idea and really she doesn't either. Albeit, they only spent 12 minutes with her and she waited up to 35 minutes for the others before they walked back. She feels they have much more to present than they have compared to her.

18 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Are you able to upload an image of the actual 221(g) letter (with personal info redacted) given to your wife?  Seeing the exact wording for the requests could give the folks here more insight on your wife's case and give you more useful input.

 

The 221G letter askEd for my tax transcripts from 2019 from my IRS, a certified copy of my divorce decree and her NBI clearance. All simple and taken care of.

This was a phone call she received 2 days ago from the embassy. A little more clarification. They want a medical certificate from the hospital, a funeral certificate from the funeral home and post mortem photos. Or as my wife said "Photos from the funeral". And after talking to her last night, evidently they are on their way.

With the strict divorce and annulment rules in the Philippines, I can see how sometimes there is fraud committed,  but why didn't they ask for these documents 15  months ago when she sent in his death certificate as requested?  I have a feeling she can just keep sending in documents, they'll go over them and then ask for more documents. Why can't they just ask for what they need all at one time? 

4 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Package up?  You are sending electronically i hope.  

I upload all docs to the CEAC site,but she has to have hard copies with her to give to the courier at the 2Go drop site at Mall of Asia in Manila also.

I'm trying to send these out UPS tonight. 

44 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

We uploaded 2017 to CEAC but NVC mentioned that since our interview was taking place after April 15 we were required to bring 2018 transcripts with us.  NVC doesnt approve or deny anything.  They just make sure that the correct files are uploaded and they are legible.  We only have copies of our divorce and nothing else was asked for.  I did request a new one from the court and all they did was print a copy of the old PDF they had on file.  I suppose it was stamped when the judge signed it so it was a certified copy or a copy of a certified document.

Yeah I take  responsibility for these little errors here. It sounds like once we get them resolved they will approve her visa. It's just been so long since our NOA2 (July 13,2018) that we both kind of lost concentration here. We actually never thought this interview would happen until next spring. So we had to recharge everything and rethink everything and I guess that's life. So that 2019 tax return is no problem but I have no W2s or 1099s on some of my income because part of my income is being a landlord and I just write receipts to my renter and document it with Turbotax and fill in the blanks foe the feds. So that's what I need to resolve today. Maybe just send in receipts along with the 2019 return.  I do my own taxes. 

  I suppose at this stage, it doesn't make any difference what my assets are as their rules are they need the last or most recent tax return. They have their rules that they have to follow.

Thank you for your response John and Rose.

7 hours ago, Allovertheworld said:

It is from the US Embassy in Philippines. 

 

You would hope or at least think they would have correct and up to date information

Well...It is the way they word it. 1st they start off by saying 14 day quarantine and then they say once you have cleared and proved negative you can go. And then I'm pretty sure on the Bureau of Immigration it says from 2-3 days to get a negative result and then you are free to go to your hotel. 

Thank you very much.

1 hour ago, Allovertheworld said:

So they let them go on their way after results?

 

Cuz I keep seeing 14 days quarantine time 

 

https://ph.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/#:~:text=Quarantine is required for 14,their COVID-19 test results.

You see......this is one of the conflicting articles that one reads all over the internet. 

1 hour ago, Allovertheworld said:

I don't trust most public transportation there.  One early morning I caught a trike to the local bus terminal to go to the local airport to fly out.  We came within about 3 feet from getting flattened like a pancake from a bus speeding thru town around 4 am in the morning.  I looked into the trike drivers eyes and realized he with either drunk as a skunk or high as a kite after the near death experience.  Lesson learnt that day for me.  

And what choice do we have or our spouses have? In Puerto Princess car taxis are not allowed, only motorcycle taxis. I made the mistake of giving 250 pesos instead of 150 pesos to the taxi driver and the next morning there was 5 lined up. And this comes after we couldn't find anybody to give us transportation the day before. Word gets around !

1 hour ago, Grace29 said:

Why does she have to quarantine for so long? I thought max is 14 days (assuming negative). I am arriving Manila from US to see my spouse and was told after I get the results (assuming negative) I can quarantine at her home in metro Manila for the remaining 14 days. Also, I thought quarantine was for arriving international passengers and not those flying going to Manila domestically.

I believe technically the true quarantine is when she arrives in her province from Manila. At the hotel,which has a mix of international travelers in quarantine and people such as my wife>>>>who technically is not,they try to make her feel as if she is when she goes out.

18 minutes ago, user555 said:

https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ph/home/covid-19/arrivingintheph

Pay for your RT-PCR Swab Test in the airport. The test costs Php 4,500. At your age, you can only go out for food or medicine, although I've never seen an ID check in my area of Manila.

Thank you. I don't need any medicine but perhaps restaurants count as food. Thanks again.

13 minutes ago, boris64 said:

From the few people I have talked to who have traveled to Manila recently the airlines won't let him on the plane without it. At least PAL won't.

Thank you. Yes,I need a marriage certificate, a special visa for me from the San Francisco consulate and proof that my wife is going back with me via a ticket for her. Her friends over 60 are locked down in Isabella province up north. I'm 67.Am I allowed to go out and about in Manila? Or will I be quarantined because of my age? I have emailed to San Francisco consulate with no response. I have emailed RapidVisa with no response and now I am here. Thank you for your answer on verification that I need a special visa to enter the Philippines. And from my readings,It looks like I will be quarantined from 2-5 days upon arrival. But if I'm quarantined because of my age, why should I go there? Unlike the 2-5 days upon arrival, I won't be getting any younger when I arrive there either.