top_secret

You don't need it at all for the I-129F. You will need a new one before your interview at the embassy. The embassy considers CENOMAR's valid for 1 year from the date of issuance. You often see advice that they are only valid 6 months because in past years there have been a few very rare instances where an individual consul ask for one less than six months old due to some question they had about someone's specific case. The six month advice does not apply to normal cases.

BIR accepts a Philippine Report of Marriage. In the Philippines they see that as a "PSA Marriage Certificate". (even though it's not a marriage certificate). "Remarrying in the Philippines" could be catastrophic to your situation in both the US and the Philippines. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER IT. By Philippine law you must both be unmarried before you could marry. However you are both married. To each other. You would have to commit fraud to even sign new marriage documents in the Philippines. Then you could wind up having to spend years annulling the illegal second marriage to even set things straight with USCIS. Your online marriage is fine. Work with that. 13a is the wrong visa if you are seeking to stay a few years waiting for your wife's CR1/IR1. You seeking permanent residence in the Philippines is contradictory to your wife seeking permanent residence in the US. US domicile is a core requirement to sponsor a spousal visa. The US citizen spouse seeking permanent residence overseas tends to contradict that. Balikbayan stamps seem ideal for what you seek. Fly over, spend a month with your wife, take a quick trip to Hong Kong, Taipei, Thailand etc., return together and you get stamped in for a year. Super easy.

Hmm. I just checked again too and indeed it's back to no appointments available. An hour ago there definitely were for K1. Earlier today no. I'm not sure what to make of that.

That situation which occurred earlier today seems to have resolved and August dates are available again now. Get 'em while they're hot. IR5's also have August dates now for reschedules and expedites. CR1/IR1's still have hundreds of open dates, even more than before, but almost no one who could actually book one.

For reference. While not directly applicable to USCIS or the State Department, Social Security has more or less established themselves as the gatekeeper of what are legal names in the US, so your could kind of argue they are authoritative. They very directly deal with it in their Operations Manual and state that discrepancies that are "obvious, easily explainable, and raises no doubt that the record pertains to the claimant." are inconsequential. They specifically cite variations in the "English equivalent of a foreign given name" as being inconsequential. https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200302460

When comparing experiences with different consulates it's important to remember there is no consistency whatsoever between them and the requirements at one may be quite different from another. Plus the requirements 'today' might be different from the requirements two years ago when they last updated their web site. It's important to e-mail the specific consulate and ask their current requirements. If you are filing from the Philippines it IS possible to file it at the DFA ASEANA office in Manila. It will still get forwarded and processed by whatever consulate or embassy has consular jurisdiction but the application can be dealt with in person in Manila.

They stopped allowing petitioners to attend interviews during the rona lockdowns and as far as I know they have not started allowing it again since. US Embassy Manila is having some kind of total meltdown regarding scheduling. No one can figure out what they are doing. Apparently they have not opened any August dates for anyone yet so those should appear all at once sometime soon. On the CR1/IR1 side they show over 800 interview dates open in July alone except they could only go to expedites and reschedules so they are unbookable to CR1/IR1 applicants that have been waiting a year and still cant get an interview. K1 and IR5 haven't had any dates open for a while now. Its a real mess.

There was this case last year that was successful. There was another case here in 2022 where they were denied.

SLEC will let people take their exam without an interview scheduled if they sign a waiver stating they are aware that if the medical expires before they get their visa and travel it is their responsibility that they have to repeat it. The applicant has 6 months from the medical results day to complete the rest of the visa process and actually travel to the US. 3 months from the results date if the applicant was flagged for sputum testing. Any visa issued will expire whenever the medical does.

If you are eligible to file N400 and intend to do so then just focus on getting that done and forget about the I751 unless USCIS reminds you. Allot of N400s are getting interviews really fast lately and would probably get the I751 approval at the same interview.

The E-Visa scheme does not apply to American citizens since we are visa exempt on arrival. Chinese, Indians or maybe some other nationalities need visas for the Philippines and had that open to them. I imagine the main reason E-Visa's are suspended is political tension between China and the Philippines. If an American wanted a 9A visa today for some strange reason they need to apply at whatever Philippine consulate or embassy has consular jurisdiction over there home. Not that I could think of any really good reason why an American would get one now.

It should be an ordinary passport renewal. She just completes it in her married name. When they ask proof she is entitled to use that name, she shows the Report of Marriage. https://philippineembassy-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/passport-v2.pdf

Yea, extending is cheap and easy but if you don't bother and just show up at the airport overstayed its a potentially significant fine. There was an overstayed Vietnamese tourist at NAIA just last week who made quite a public controversy protesting her fine. Errr,,,, umm,,,, if you do get fined it's best just to pay.

You just go down to the immigration office and pay for an extension. It's a standard service . I seem to recall it being $40/$50-ish a month but it's been a while since I paid. These days they even have tourist visa extensions online though I can't personally vouch for that. https://e-services.immigration.gov.ph/ There's plenty of foreigners living in the Philippines defacto permanently by continuously extending tourist visas and doing a quick turnaround trip every 3 years.

You can pay as you go for visa extensions up to three years. After three years you have to leave country but could even do a same day turnaround flight to someplace like Hong Kong or Taipei and back, restarting the clock on another three years of paid visa extensions. Or, as @RO_AH mentioned, take your wife with you on quick trip to some nearby country and if you return to the Philippines traveling together they would give you a Balikbayan stamp good for one year free.

It the date is updating it at least means they are actively working on the case and haven't totally forgot about you.

The "CENOMAR" is good for a year from when it is issued and easily renewed. If your case is moving she will need it soon enough. You could order her one online with a credit card here https://psaserbilis.com.ph/ . She will also need a NBI Clearance. That's good for a year from issue too. Make sure her PSA Birth Certificate is up to date and if there are any issues like late registration, errors, etc. Make sure her passport is in order.

As of last month they are up to scheduling for the first week of August 2023. They have not done any new scheduling so far this month.

US Embassy Manila has famously reduced their wait time for B1/B2 interviews from a year in 2022 to under three months today. While over the same period, wait times for spousal visa interviews have gone from less than 3 months in 2022 to a full year today. So at least at US Embassy Manila the inverse is true and non-immigrant visas inexplicably seem to have the greatest priority at the moment.

The I130 is of primary importance. Every single day it remains unfilled is one additional day you will remain separated. The clock is stopped waiting for the I130 to be filed. The name change is irrelevant to the I130 and you have like well over a year to get it done. It's very simple. File the ROM, wait a few months until it's processed, then you wife goes down and pays $20 to change her passport. That's it.

"Philippines Statistics Authority" IS PSA. So, if you have that you are good. Her existing passport and the Report of Marriage would be the main requirements for renewal with name change. Check if they need fees for in the form of a money order and self-addressed stamped return envelope. Every embassy and consulate like to do some things differently so best to get their specific requirements. The Report of Marriage is the document that the Philippines will use to determine that your wife has the legal right to use your name if she wishes to. They would not let her change her name on her passport without one. With the Report of Marriage, she is legally able to write your surname on a passport application and have them honor it. Essentially Report of Marriage is the consulate or embassy certifying that your US marriage license is legit. Because the Philippine passport office has no idea what US documents are even supposed to look like and would not accept you US marriage certificate alone.

They are mainly going to want to see the Report of Marriage. Have you filed that and got the PSA copy? If so it should be easy. Passport apps have to go through the Philippines so it may take 6-8 weeks. If you haven't filed the Report of Marriage it may be possible to do it concurrently with a passport application if the embassy or consulate doing the outreach has consular jurisdiction over where the marriage took place. But basically the entire name change revolves around the Report of Marriage. The passport application is secondary.

'Almost' all major US credit card banks will allow you to add authorized users with just a name and birthdate. most will let you do it online. We had Citi, Capital One, Chase, and Barlcays authorized user cards long before my wife had a SS#.

USCIS doesn't even need the apostilled one. The county certified one is just fine for US Immigration purposes so no need to wait for the apostille to file the I-130. The Philippine Consulate in San Francisco will want the apostilled one for the report of marriage but that can come later. The examples they give there are just generic possibilities and most would probably apply much more to couples filing for adjustment of status in the US then a newly married couple with one spouse overseas. It is unlikely you could easily open a joint bank account in either the US or the Philippines at this time and USCIS does not expect you to. Almost all of your most important evidence would fall under the broad "Any other relevant documentation to establish there is an ongoing marital union" category.

As far as name changes. As mentioned above that can be settled later in the process so worry about getting the i-130 filed first. The name on her visa, green card and social security card hinges on a single document. The Philippine Passport she brings the day of her interview. That's all there is to it for the US. It is highly preferable if she gets that done BEFORE her interview. Changing her name on her Philippine passport requires the Report of Marriage to be filed with the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. Once she gets a PSA copy of that, she can easily change her passport. You are correct they will try to move her current last name to her middle name. If she wants to retain her mother maiden name as her middle name she would have to argue that with the passport office in the Philippines. Technically she should be able to keep her middle name. In reality Philippine offices touchy about that sometimes. Were her parents married?? That is relevant to middle names. But in any case the name change boils down to Report of marriage first. Followed by changing her Philippine passport. That is all there is to it. It can all be done while waiting on approval of the I-130.