top_secret

For the last three months there seemed to be some sort of pattern of NVC scheduling going out early in the month like the 7th to 10th-ish. Excluding the mass IR1 expedite, it more or less seemed that all CR and IR, including IR5, were in sync. It might not be unreasonable to speculate that a round of NVC interview letters might go out this coming week. If so it will be interesting to see if they clear more than a month of backlog since last month. It seems they cleared June and July 2023 last month. Can they clear August and September 2023 this month???????

Make them an authorized user on your credit card accounts. That will get their credit file started and get their name and social security number into the system so it is the number one best thing you can do to start them out. Call the bank that just denied the secured card, explain the circumstances that they are recent immigrants and ask if there is any further identification or proof of income that might get them to reconsider the denied application. If they have a local branch that you have been banking at, you can try going in and talking to someone in person. They might or might not reconsider but there is no harm in asking and sometimes it's just as simple as showing them a physical social security card, state ID or signing a release for them to directly verify a social security number. There are now these hybrid fintech banking products out there like Chime, cred.ai etc, that more or less function like a deposit account with a debit card but report to the credit agencies as a credit card. Those also have the added advantage that they will create the account without a hard credit pull.

I'm sorry to hear about Greece. I have heard they can be difficult. Someone else here recently reported a denial by Greece with pretty much the same level of rudeness for his wife with a Filipino passport. We recently completed our Europe vacation. We applied through the UK and Germany. Of the two I would say that the UK was a lower level of frustration and the higher value visa and vacation destination. I would not say that the UK visa was frustration free but at least it was 100% online and biometrics was at our local USCIS Application Support Center. The UK visa application seemed to be heavily focused on financial documents which we have and not focused on plane tickets, hotel reservations and detailed itineraries. It was mostly "show us the money". For Germany we ended up having to drive to Los Angeles twice which is 3 hours each way so two days off work and we had to take our daughter out of school for a day since her appearance was required even though she didn't have to do biometrics or anything else except sit there silently. Biometrics and application submission for Germany is with "BLS" which we found to be an even sketchier operation than VFS. My wife had previous Schengen biometrics from Netherlands too and they would not reuse them although they were supposed to. In the end, the UK granted them both 6-month multiple entry visas and Germany granted them visas with a whopping 17 days of validity. If you do apply for another Schengen visa, one thing we learned it to keep the application very simple. Submit an itinerary for only the country you are applying, listing whatever their top 10 tourist attractions are. They do not like to see country hopping on the application even though you can freely do so with a Schengen visa. For Germany we submitted an itinerary sightseeing around Berlin for a few days with hotel reservations that had penalty free instant online cancelation. That way we didn't have issues with having to show intra-Schengen plane tickets etc. After we had the visas, we changed our minds and flew to Munich, spent 2 days, rented a car and drove to Austria, snow skiing in the Alps for a few days and then we flew off to Greece for the remainder of our trip.

Previously we never received any e-mail or sms notifications at all, despite the fact we included a properly completed G-1145 E-Notification form as the first page of our application. But this time their email notification system kicked into overdrive and my wife received 2 duplicate notification emails and my stepdaughter received 4 duplicate notification emails, all simultaneously. We still have never received any SMS messages whatsoever. So we count USCIS's e-notification system as a little iffy at best.

Thanks Both receipt notice and approval notice came from National Benefits Center.

I'm absolutely stunned. Wife and stepdaughter both approved today and status is now "Card is Being Produced". I have no explanation and there are no special circumstances that could explain the fast approval. No interview. Timeline Sept 8, 2023 USCIS Received Case October 2, 2023 Completed Biometrics and within hours status changed to Actively Reviewing. May 2, 2024 Approved and card is being produced. Stepdaughters case had "Received" status since September 8 with no updates or changes in status since until it was approved today.

There is a scientific study with a lot of statistics and hard numbers for Saint Luke's specifically. I guess the point of the study was to prove that it is "cheaper" to waste people's time in the Philippines than it is to waste people's time in the US. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6390485/ The statistics are from 2007-2012 but absolutely none of the methodology or testing protocols have changed since. From the totals it appears 1.03% of applicants were found to be actually positive for TB after failing both the chest x-ray AND sputum testing. 13.63% of total applicants failed the chest x-ray but were found TB free after sputum testing. So it seems that in the study 14.66% (1.03%+13.63%) failed chest x-rays and were sent for sputum testing. That's 1 out of 6.8 who fail the chest x-ray at Saint Luke's. So mathematically you have 2% better odds chancing a round with Saint Luke's x-ray machine than you would playing Russian roulette. It's also worth noting that both false positive chest x-rays and actual active TB cases are heavily skewed against older applicants. For 46-65 years olds, nearly a third of all applicants get sent for sputum testing and for 65+ y/o it's closer to 50/50 coin toss type odds. I agree with everyone else here, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it so it is useless to spend time worrying about it. If you get sent for sputum testing there is nothing you could have done differently that would have prevented it. But your chances of passing sputum testing with nothing more than a frustrating and annoying delay are extremely high. For the very few who actually do fail sputum testing they probably really need TB treatment which is potentially an even greater concern.

go to https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Iraq.html and look at what NVC's standard is for an Iraq birth certificate. Go through each detail line by line and see if your document is missing any features they are looking for.

After you create the account and log in there is a check box to register delivery address. That should lead you to a page where it asks your case number and everything else.

You probably CAN legally remarry in the Philippines. It would be your ex who would have problems remarrying in the Philippines. Not you, and not your new fiancée. Have your fiancée go to her Local Civil Records Office and ask for their list of requirements for a foreigner to marry in the Philippines. If they don't even ask for a CENOMAR for the foreign party you are fine. The certificate of legal capacity to marry would be all you need on the issue. If they DO ask for a CENOMAR for the foreigner then bring an Apostille US divorce decree. The resulting PSA Marriage Contract from a Philippine wedding would be all she needs to change her name in the Philippines. If a big Philippine church wedding with family is really important then that is probably the best option. Alternately, if you choose to do a Utah online marriage, that is legal too. For a Utah online marriage to be recognized in the Philippines you must file a Report of Marriage with the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. They would subsequently report it to PSA and she could get a PSA Report of Marriage which would be all she needs to change her name and be recognized as married in the Philippines. Check the company's prices and services against that of just going directly through the county. In addition to the fixed government fees for the marriage licence and certificate, Utah County charges an extra $35 to officiate an online marriage ceremony. https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/Clerk/Marriage/ceremony.html There are some companies out there charging hundreds or even close to $1000 for the same service the county provides for $35.

Utah County estimates the Apostille process takes approximately 2 weeks. https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/Clerk/Marriage/certcopy.html We were not asked for an Apostille marriage certificate on my wifes Schengen visa application but Vermyndax was, so possibly YMMV or it may be embassy specific for different Schengen countries. Apostille or even a marriage certificate at all is not a requirement for traveling to Thailand or Singapore. Philippine immigration would be most impressed with a PSA Report of Marriage, and the Philippine Consulate requires an apostille for that, but ROM is not a requirement for traveling for tourism either.

Many of the vaccines are a series of shots. Even if you get all your vaccines done in advance you may find that you still get multiple shots the day of your physical because for any vaccines that are due for boosters you still must receive the next dose in the series. For K1 in the Philippines it would be best to complete your COVID vaccines if possible since it might simplify adjustment of status slightly if you have a fully completed medical in the Philippines. If not possible, then you can get COVID done in the US. Any other needed vaccines would be given at Saint Luke's during the physical at no extra cost.

Most smaller titanium bone screws and plates trigger no alarms and go through airport security trouble free. Larger orthopedic implants or those made of alloys other than titanium may consistently trigger alarms. The only real way to find out if your are likely to to have any persistent concerns about airport security is to try it a few times and see if your particular combination of hardware is even noticed. If not then you are good to go. If so, it is easy enough to work out with TSA.

PSA not NSO or NSA. I 'think' when it is a foreigner that is the one with the foreign divorce, it is not necessary to have the foreign divorce recognized in the Philippines. If it were the Filipino citizen that had the foreign divorce from a foreigner, then it is a much bigger problem and would require that it was judicially recognized. I 'think'' the foreigner could even marry in the Philippines or do a Utah online marriage and successfully register it with the Philippine consulate. A US divorce decree is proof of the US Citizens singleness.

That should be fine as far as the US Immigration is concerned. However, if you are planning to travel to Mexico by air, some people have had issues with not being allowed to board flights to Mexico without an actual physical green card. There is some ambiguity from Mexico about whether any type of temporary green card is a valid substitute visa for Mexico and people have had inconsistent results, mainly from the airlines, as to whether they are allowed to travel to Mexico or not.

It would not be a problem. Just bring along the marriage certificate too. Also, they always say it will take 8 months for a processed ROM to be available from PSA but in fact less than 2 months is more realistic. You can check the status on it being sent to PSA by periodically e-mailing oca.crd-us@dfa.gov.ph with a copy of the ROM the consulate returned to you and asking if the "transmittal details" are available yet. If they respond with the "transmittal details" you can use that to get a copy from PSA.

It all goes electronically to the embassy. K1's and any other non-immigrant category that requires a medical still get yellow packets in Manila. Those people should get it when they receive their passport with visa. For CR,IR, Fx and any other immigrant categories it's all electronic.

Getting a Schengen visa for a Filipina is about a category 5 headache. As I mentioned, it is VERY paperwork intensive. It can be done but it is not easy. You need a DETAILED day by day itinerary. I suggest keeping it very simple and basic, involving only the country you are applying at. You could always change your mind later. For the visa application we submitted an itinerary for the Netherlands, sightseeing a few days in Amsterdam, a few days Rotterdam and the Hague. We googled "top tourist attractions in the Netherlands." and pretty much listed that. Then after she had the visa ,we totally changed our mind and spent a couple days in Amsterdam, then few off to Rome and Paris. She should enter through the country that gave her the visa. Technically she should apply at the embassy of the country where she will spend the most time but point of entry is the only place where it would be questioned. You need confirmed hotel bookings for every day of the itinerary. We did them on booking.com with big chain hotels that have free online cancelation without penalty. She needs an airline ticket for the visa application. Actually both of you together if you are sponsoring her. I booked a dummy award ticket with frequent flyer miles that had penalty free cancelation so she submitted a real ticket. Other have used services that make dummy booking for a fee. She needs to buy health insurance that is approved for Schengen travel and covers her stay. That's not really that expensive. Plus all the financial paperwork etc etc. It is a HUGE pain in the ###. Allot of wealthier Filipinos tend to pay travel agents to prepare their paperwork for Schengen visa applications. I do not have any recommendations there.

That is an incredibly common situation. It should not be any problem.

My wife got a Schengen visa on her own in the Philippines before we were married and another one just recently as a LPR. She was initially denied by France so she went embassy shopping and upon doing some research we found the Netherlands is the most "Filipino friendly" Schengen country by virtue of the lowest denial rate for Filipino passports, longest stay allowances, and largest raw numbers of visa issued to Filipinos. However, if your plan is to visit the olympics then you should probably still go with the french embassy even though we had a bad experience there. Of course even with the French denial we still visited France using the Netherlands visa. Schengen applications tend to be very paperwork intensive. For income and assets just list yours and highlight that she is your wife so those are family assets and family income. Make her an authorized user on some credit cards since that demonstrates she has independent means to support herself while traveling. Pay close attention to all the other requirements like plane ticket, hotel bookings, detailed travel plan, insurance. She will have to go to Manila and visit the VFS Application center for biometrics and to submit the application.

Typically on an I-130 you expect to see "Notice of Action 1" (NOA1). The action taken at NOA1 is that the case has formally been received by USCIS. Later on you get "Notice of Action 2" (NOA2). The action taken at NOA2 is hopefully that the case has been approved.

My wife is constantly trying to take over my side of the bed.

Hard enough? https://www.ebay.com/itm/196117469746

CFO has never been to concerned by age gap by itself but they have been known to give younger applicants a little closer scrutiny. Just go in there prepared to talk confidently about your relationship. The counselor may judge you by if they think you know what your are getting into with your relationship. If you seem responsible and mature they shouldn't give you any problems. In general CFO has been allot easier to deal with lately. After the total meltdown they had last summer they seem to have settled down a bit. No recent complaints about them that I have heard.

If your full maiden name on the NBI Clearance is exactly the same as it appeared on your original PSA birth certificate AND your husband's surname is listed AND your civil status is listed as "married" then you do not need an AKA. If your parents were married when you were born then your father's surname would be listed as "FAMILY NAME", your first name(or first names if more than one) would be listed as "FIRST NAME", your mother's maiden surname would be listed as "MIDDLE NAME" and your husband's surname would be listed as "HUSBAND'S SURNAME". If your names on the NBI Clearance exactly match that and there are no annotations, corrections or alternate usage on any of your documents then you DO NOT need an AKA.