top_secret

I think ours was ~120 pages and fit comfortably in a sturdy USPS Priority Mail flat rate envelope. I just sent the big stack of papers held together by nothing but the envelope. However, a medium size flat rate USPS Priority Mail box is page sized and 6" deep so that does kind of set a goal post to aspire too.😁 As the ads say, "if it fits, it ships".😁

You probably should have started complaining earlier since it seemed to get results.🤣😂

US Embassy Manila has developed quite a backlog of CR/IR cases waiting for interviews. I think the most recent batch of interview letters NVC sent out included cases that were documentarily qualified up to about December 2023. So currently the backlog of CR/IR cases waiting for interviews at US Embassy Manila seems to be about 10 months. Hopefully that might improve going forward, as US Embassy Manila reduced their interview backlog for a number of other categories but guessing what the Embassy will do next is pretty impossible because they have been extremely erratic with scheduling lately.

I feel there is a significant change of mindset for what is best dealing with electronic processing. Tabs and dividers are probably incredibly helpful for USCIS to find what they are looking for with giant stacks of paper in a file on someone's desk. But they aren't much help at all where they have multi-page scanned .tif files on a computer monitor to work with. Probably the table of contents and description of the evidence in the cover letter would be most helpful for easy reviewing. I would also be in the camp of those who recommended reducing the number of pages too. Maybe quarterly bank statements rather than every last one? The risk of submitting to much sheer quantity is that no one will sit there and actually go through all 700 pages in giant .tif files one by one. They would probably chose some random points, look at a page here and there, and formulate their opinion based on what they saw. It would be better if your other quality evidence was highly likely to be what they looked at too rather than being overwhelmed in a sea of repetitive bank statements.

With almost 100% certainty, virtually ALL I-751's filed after Q1 2023 are scanned, receive IOE numbers and are processed electronically. So the USCIS advice for simplifying scanning definitely applies to I-751's.

USCIS has posted updated advice for paper submissions and a lengthy list of things NOT to do. https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/recommendations-for-paper-filings-to-avoid-scanning-delays

Times have changed. From some time in early 2023 pretty much all I-751's are scanned and get IOE numbers. They upload some or all of the dingy grey and white scanned pages to your online account so that you can see they did a pretty poor job scanning them.

Keep in mind that whatever packet you send will immediately be disassembled and fed through their giant industrial scanner so it can be given an IOE number for electronic processing. Anything that might jam up an automatic document feeder will have to be removed and discarded. Punched holes are useless but probably not harmful. Clips, binders, fasteners, tabs, etc will all have to be removed by the scanning crew.

I cannot say for sure if a SPA is definitely required for all those things or if a US notarized document would suffice, but as a general rule any SPA executed overseas to be used in the Philippines must be notarized at a Philippine Consulate. If you are in Las Vegas, the honorary consulate there should definitlly be able to handle that. https://losangelespcg.org/philippine-honorary-consulate-in-las-vegas/

Overseas medicals are recorded on form DS7794 or Form DS2054 and are signed by a panel physician rather than a civil surgeon.

CFO will give her a hard time and hassle her if she hasn't filed a ROM. However, they still have to let her leave. If you filed a ROM now you would probably have the consulate certified copy back in 4-6 weeks and that would make CFO happy.

If they have any questions, you have legitimate filed amended returns you can show them. More than likely they wont have questions other than, have you always paid all your taxes. If asked, I assume the answer is "yes".

Unfortunately, this is the second recent occurrence of EXACTLY the same problem from US Embassy Manila. Probably the same consul? @Jason and May are dealing with exactly the same 221g right now. It might be worthwhile to compare notes.

The ROM is merely to satisfy Philippine laws. It doesn't really have any relevance to the US or at the embassy. It sounds like it is late in the game to accomplish any name change before the visa and green card are issued in her maiden name. CFO will give her a hard time and hassle her if there is no ROM filed at all but it's not a showstopper. If you have no objection to filing the ROM, file it now and you would probably have the consulate certified copy in time for CFO and that would be enough to make them happy. Don't spend any time worrying about it as far as the embassy is concerned.

Basically she should have all the docs you submitted to NVC plus the CENOMAR or Advisory on Marriages. If her NBI Clearance expired (over 1 year old) she needs to update that. The NBI Clearance needs to include your surname as either "Husbands Name" OR as an AKA. Your name has to be on the NBI Clearance somehow. Even if she never used your name. Upload any new or updated documents to CEAC. NVC won't review them again but the embassy wants all the documents uploaded.

A ROM is not required at all by the embassy for US Immigration purposes. She doesn't need it. The Philippine government would require one for her to change to your name in her passport but if you are already at the scheduling interview stage then her passport has whatever name it has. It's expensive and time consuming for her to change her name after she gets to the US. Before she leaves the Philippines CFO will give her a hard time and hassle her if she doesn't have a ROM but they still have to let her go.

Actually with the "kids included free" it saves with credit card reimbursement, since mine only covers one Global Entry charge every 5 years.

That is only applicable if you were married in the Philippines. Since you are married in Utah you need the certified Utah Marriage Certificate. She DOES DEFINITELY need either a CENOMAR or an Advisory on Marriages. She needs to order a CENOMAR from PSA and whichever document she receives from PSA the embassy wants to see it. You can order one online if she doesn't already have one. https://psaserbilis.com.ph/

Only answer if the question applies to you. Since it does not apply to you at all, the answer is neither Yes or No. So leave it blank.

Starting yesterday, October 1, the fee for Global Entry went up from $100 to $120. The only good news for some is that now children are free if they have a parent who already has Global Entry or if they apply concurrently with their parent. NEXUS users take the biggest hit with their price increasing $50 to $120.

Any new winners from this election won't be seated until January '25 anyway so the current answers should remain correct. As others have mentioned, my wife is finding the flash cards from Amazon to be particularly helpful. They seem to click well with her style of learning. She also finds the mock interview videos on YouTube to be very helpful for knowing what else to expect. The possible vocabulary words for the writing test is here too. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/writing_vocab.pdf

US Embassy Manila banned US Citizens from attending the interviews of spouses, fiancées, family members, MIL etc in 2020 "because of rona-virus". AFIK that ban has yet to be lifted. I have yet to hear a single recent account of any US Citizen being allowed in for any visa interview. I have heard multiple recent accounts of US Citizens being forced to stand outside when they showed up for their spouse's or fiancée's visa interview at US Embassy Manila. The separate VIP line has apparently been replaced with a security guard who says "you have to wait outside". No recent accounts for MIL's though.

I will also tag @raizujukishi on tread. I noticed on their timeline they filed on July 30, the day after my wife. Also in San Diego and also hailing from the Philippines. And just now updated their timeline to interview scheduled November 19. Same day and field office as my wife.

My wife got her interview notice today. November 19, San Diego Field Office. Her randomized estimated time until decision number number increased from 5 months before any interview was scheduled, to 8 months now that there is an interview scheduled a month and a half from now.🤣

I have previously heard of a number of military couples doing Montana double proxy marriages. I suspect Montana double proxy marriages have just been around a lot longer than the Utah online marriages and maybe have more history and familiarity within military circles. However, the Utah online marriages are a lot more straightforward. You can do it all yourself online except a Zoom call to the Utah county Clerk's office for a ceremony, which is also nice touch. Probably cheaper and faster too.