top_secret

We probably went WAY overkill on the proof of actual physical custody because when we got her US passport that was the one area where the passport agency said we needed more evidence than we had initially provided. The passport agency was really focused on us showing school records in particular, though USCIS may have different priorities. We filed online so we had one big multipage pdf named "proof_of_actual_pysical_custody.pdf. Inside we had: Scans of her California State DMV ID card and moms California driver's license, both showing the same address. Scan of her school ID from our local neighborhood school. Her enrolment and attendance printout as provided by her school. A report card covering the trimester when mom naturalized. A copy of a California State annual standardized testing report letter they mailed to her home address. A scan of her health insurance card and the mailer it came in. An "Explanation of Benefits" letter from her health insurance regarding some vaccine she got. A medical appointment letter. An after-visit summary report from a checkup appointment we downloaded online. An insurance notice letter they mailed to our home address regarding some change in their billing system. Her Social Security card and the mailer it came in showing her home address. We separately included a tax transcript where we had claimed her as a dependent. Other than the DMV ID and driver's license, none of that had any kind of signatures. We were mainly focused on proving her home address was the same as moms at the time mom naturalized. BTW, I didn't see if you mentioned having your US passport already. While we totally agree it is important to file the N-600, a US Passport requires exactly the same evidence but is faster, easier and cheaper so it makes sense to do that first. We got our daughters US passport in just one day with an expedited appointment at a passport agency (requires rather flimsy proof of planned international travel in the next 14 days to get an expedited appointment)

None of the evidence of actual physical custody that we submitted was signed at all. We just chose some medical letters and records and school records that showed our daughter concurrently living at the same address as mom. The main point was that the address and dates matched with mom and they were on whatever letterhead or form that the school/doctor/insurance company actually used.

Online status changed to "Approval Case Decision Rendered" today, so about 4 1/2 months from filing to approval. Faster than I expected. It says to wait for the approval notice for further info about picking it up. So far nothing under documents.

USCIS will usually figure it out in their own without intervention. Just wait for the actual green card. If the physical card arrives and USCIS somehow makes the same mistake, it's free and relatively easy to correct. Just file an I-90 online for free based on the card having incorrect data due to a USCIS error.

My wife’s sisters and brothers finally got their mom a 'very very very late registered' birth certificate. They recon she was born sometime in the late 1960's. There are absolutely zero records of her existence in the world before the late 1990's and there are so many discrepancies about her birth date I am convinced no one really knows when she actually born and there is ZERO possibility anyone could ever find out a correct date. Neither my wife or myself were directly involved getting her late registered but I asked my wife and she said it was basically a number of in-person visits to the LCR where they would keep rejecting stuff and asking for something more. Eventually they got enough to make the LCR happy and they issued the late registered birth certificate. It was a maddening exercise in typical Philippine bureaucracy. You just have to go back and forth with the LCR until they are satisfied. In classic Philippine style when she finally got her birth certificate it had her name misspelled in a way that did not even correlate to any of the multiple misspellings on her other documents. I asked about the affidavits and my wife said it was persons who I know are family friends. I'm not sure they are technically legit as a "disinterested persons” but it satisfied the LCR. They were younger than her so age of the affiants didn’t seem to be a problem. was not a problem. Maybe they just need to be mature adults, like 40+y/o or something. From previous decades there are huge numbers of older Filipinos, possibly even millions, who were born at home and their parents never registered the birth. Parents saw it as a hassle, it cost a small fee, and they just saw no useful purpose or need of having birth certificates for their children. Housewives, farmers and others living in the province who work for cash, very easily live their whole lives with no one ever asking about a silly birth certificate. More recently they are getting more strict about it but there are still plenty of children out there that don't don't get registered until they are old enough enroll in school, or even later.

While all states may be different, I think it is fairly typical that even if there were missing requirements they would still conditionally enroll the child and immediately allow them to start. They would usually just give like a 30 day deadline to come up with whatever was missing. The problems proving residency are common to just about any family that has just moved. It's not really unique to immigrants.

Also important to note that CFO is entirely a Philippine Government thing. The US Embassy is not involved in any way other than CFO wont make an appointment until she has a visa. https://cfo.gov.ph/CFO-FRONTLINE-SERVICES-FOR-GUIDANCE-AND-COUNSELING-PROGRAM-GCP

That is not at all outside of 'normal' timeframes for US Embassy Manila. They really do have very inconsistent visa issuance timetables with no outwardly obvious rhyme or reason why some are issued within a week and some take three weeks or more. It is still very reasonable to assume that nothing is wrong and the visa could be issued at any moment. Hopefully in time.

My wife got an AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card unsecured on her own credit. We definitely always list out joint marital income on credit apps. They started her with a credit limit ~$2000 and after, I think, 6 months the gave her back to back $10,000 credit line increases every 3 months, up to almost $40k in a very short period of time for a brand new immigrant. It's not the best credit card she has as far as rewards and general terms, but definitely fantastic for building a credit score

Foreigners can get a CENOMAR. They just apply at PSA like any Filipino. PSA responds that the never heard of any such foreigner before. That's a CENOMAR. I can't recall reports of CFO ever asking for one on the petitioner before so it does seem like a new level of harassment. But, relatively easy to get

I think it is scientifically proven that if your fiancee brings all those documents to their interview, no one will even look at them. But if your fiancee does not bring all those documents, it definitely would be that one time they suddenly decide they DO want to see them.😅

If staying for an extended period definitely get the Filipino Passport and enter on that to avoid any confusion. But the US Passport also exempts the child from many of the laws relating to minors traveling that otherwise apply to Filipino citizen children Under Philippine law the maternal grandmother has default legal custody of the child if a parent or designated guardian is not immediately available. If you wanted to go way over the top being over prepared you could do a special power of attorney at a Philippine consulate granting temporary custody and guardianship. But I'd think that would be overkill. In reality I can't imagine any circumstances where anyone would actually question lola caring for a grandchild. Filipinos don't generally question anything about women caring for children unless something really seems seriously off about the whole situation. Our 12 y/o is currently in the Philippines spending the summer with lola and ates. She flew there alone and no one even asked a shred of id or anything from us putting her on the plane. Just her passport and fill out this airline form. They are incredibly lackadaisical about the whole custody issue.

Whatever opinions anyone may have about CFO, they have produced a really detailed and informative pdf booklet covering Philippine nationality laws as they relate to dual citizenship here. https://cms-cdn.e.gov.ph/CFO/pdf/24. DUAL-CIT-PRIMER-FINAL.pdf The OP seems to match the hypothetical example CFO mentions on Page 8 CFO further explains the relevant Philippine nationality laws on Page 13 More specifically, under US Laws, the minor children of naturalized US citizen parents "acquire US Citizenship by operation of law" under INA 320 as amended by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA) Philippine Passport holders can come and go from the Philippines on any timetable they wish. US Passport holders can come and go from the US on any timetable they wish.

There are hundreds of YouTube videos. Just search "N-400 Civics Questions". My wife found them particularly useful because they more closely match the actual test where the questions are asked verbally and the answers are not multiple choice. YouTube also has many mock interview videos that may be useful to some.

I uploaded additional relationship evidence as unsolicited evidence and my wife's I-130 was approved shockingly fast just a week later. I do not believe the additional unsolicited evidence was at all responsible for the shockingly fast approval but I can say with 100% confidence that it DID NOT slow anything down. The progress tab estimate is almost certainly completely meaningless and in no way has the slightest correlation too how long your case will actually take. When you get to the NVC stage, that is where submitting additional evidence resets your document review wait time. Not so with USCIS.

PAL charges high prices because they can. Allot of Filipinos in the US are willing to pay extra for familiarity and the convenience of non-stop. Although PAL is not a premium airline they have no problem filling their planes charging premium prices. Be careful about any of the super cheap "self transfer" fares you may see because they may require clearing immigration in transit and that option might not be viable at all or at least complicated for Filipino Passport holders. Sometimes budgetair.com has slightly lower prices for flights originating in the Philippines. We use them from time to time and have had no problems but be sure of your travel plans because they would not be easy to make changes with.

If you are overseas, most instances where you would need a SPA notarized for use in the Philippines, it will need to be notarized at a Philippine Consulate. This is one service that even the honorary consulates can perform so you have options in many cities in the US. Choose the nearest and contact them. You would probably need an appointment. https://philippineembassy-dc.org/directory-ph-hon-cons/ https://philippineembassy-dc.org/consulate-finder/

To further clarify, travel Tax DOES NOT apply to Filipino citizens, dual citizens and Balikbayans who are resident overseas and spent less than a year visiting the Philippines. They just need to stop by the TEIZA desk and show their green card, permanent resident visa or foreign passport and their entry stamp to claim the exemption certificate. We do it every time now and no more travel tax for any of us. It's anyone, including foreigners, who are resident in the Philippines or has spent more than a year in the Philippines that ARE subject to travel tax. So, it goes almost exclusively by country of residence rather than citizenship. Ordinarily a Filipino emigrant would only need to pay it the first exit leaving to move overseas. All future trips are exempt unless they move back to the Philippines. I agree they don't seem to enforce E-Travel on exit but the online status in your e-travel account does change to "CLEARED BY IMMIGRATION" in real time when you actually pass exit immigration. So, even if they dont mention it their system is definitely looking at it. It generates a digital record that you have immediate access to of your exit in the unlikely event dates of entry and exit were ever questioned for any reason. I fill it just for that reason.

Anyone who has spent much time in the Philippines will come to understand that it is the land of inconsistency. Rules for EVERYTHING, everywhere, constantly change depending on who you deal with, where it takes place, temperament of parties involved, morning, afternoon, day of the week, time of the month etc etc. The results that the other guy got in no way means someone else might get the same. Americans tend to want concise and accurate rules, to properly fulfill the specific requirements and therefore be 100% sure of some guaranteed outcome. The Philippines just doesn't work like that. Flexibility and ability to quickly alter course when carefully made plans fall apart are key to any important endeavor there. CFO specifically has been making up random off the wall rules for years. Placating them just to get past them and out the door is the easiest path.

Using Korea as a broad example, USFK has instructions online for troops stationed in Korea. https://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/sja/assets/doc/marriage/Marriage-In-Korea-USFK-FN.pdf Other stations may be quite different but the basic concept is to get the new spouse squared away with military formalities, then go to Embassy, get green card.

Depending on where you are deployed overseas you may have options available to you that are not available to the general public. Troops deployed in Korea, Japan etc can often accomplish a direct consular filing at the US Embassy and get a green card in as little as a month or two. Definitely consult with base legal services and see what options and assistance are available to you before you file anything with USCIS.

Going through LAX Tom Bradley terminal last month they had a new facial recognition system that completely eliminated kiosks altogether. There were just two scanning points and people walk up and almost instantly get a "green-GO" screen or a "see the officer" screen. It was probably operating at about 10 seconds per person. The only thing that even slightly slowed it down was that some people seemed to be confused by what the "green-GO" screen meant and lingered unnecessarily until the "GO" part was explained to them.

SoCal conservative Republican here. I have been though countless riots/protests in California, etc. I was literally on gladiator status back in '92 and have physical scars to I could show for it to this day. The protest today are literally small time nothing by LA riot standards. Gladiator in '92 could walk freely and even argue face to face with them In 2025. More cars have been burned over winning basketball games. I drove through downtown LA tonight with wife and daughter. Never felt safer in my life. I would have considered it inconceivable that I could ever agree with Gavin Newscum about anything. BUT, deploying our troops on our own streets against this fuc@%√ up city really, viscerally, infuriates me. Troops on our own streets for nothing. I even support all of the ICE raids except that they are doing them wrong.

I never said CFO was logical.😄 Just that's what they attribute all the recent uptick in additional requirements too.

They are attributing stepped up CFO scrutiny to a specific incident this January where a Filipina was murdered by her husband just 7 days after she arrived in Slovenia on a Slovenian spousal visa.