top_secret

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.

Not so serious as you think. The Utah marriage certificate is all you need to proceed. Focus on getting the I-130 and I-130A submitted first and foremost to get the ball rolling. The best way to get going is create a USCIS online account and start filling one online. You can poke around all you want in the online I-130 and nothing is set until you hit submit so its the best way get a feel for what you are getting into. All name issues, passport issues and new Philippine document issues can all be resolved while you are waiting for the I-130 to be approved. You likely have over a year to deal with secondary issues. Name is not overly relevant on the I-130 since it can be change later in the process but if she has a preferred name then use it to file the I-130. To change her name in the Philippines based on a Utah marriage you must first file a report of marriage with the Philippine consulate in San Francisco. That takes time and is not important to filing the I-130 so worry about names later. I129F. That is called K3 when submitted after an I-130. It WILL be rejected. They are ALWAYS rejected. There is superstition that the rejection of the I129F speeds the approval of an I130. Up to you if you file it or not. It's not part of the normal process but it's a gimmicky trick that some people swear makes things faster. Its free but don’t waste worry or time over it. Philippine National ID. The US could literally care less about that. It's absolutely irrelevant to the visa process. Joint banking. Not important at all for an overseas beneficiary. USCIS doesn't expect you to have comingled finances. Add her as an authorized user on your US credit cards though. It will bump start her credit file in the US and produce matching credit cards which are good evidence. Proof of your communication and time together are far more important. Wait on the CENOMAR/Advisory on Marriages. You don’t need it until the interview. It would be wrong now anyways and doesn’t matter at this point. Report of Marriage is a strictly Philippines thing. It is mainly only important on the name issue since the Philippines will require it to change the name on her passport. It is NOT important to the US visa process so get the I-130 filed first. For a Utah marriage it all goes through the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco by mail. On the notarization, recently we had a single report of them accepting one notarized only by the husband which is convenient if true. But the report of marriage is not relevant to the I-130 so worry about it later. As far as the timeframe? US Embassy Manila is having some kind of catastrophic meltdown at the moment. It's so bad right now that it seems like it could only possibly get better. You could hope it would improve by a year from now but who knows. So, in summery. Get the I-130 (with I130A) filed immediately. That is what is setting the pace right now. AFTER you have filed that and the clock is moving you have like a year to work out i129f, report of Marriage, names, passports and anything else.

They say they are going to IGRA testing for everyone. IGRA testing 'should' replace x-rays as a frontline TB test but Saint Luke's has not officially announced as much. For some time now children 14 and under have received only IGRA testing and have not received x-rays unless they tested positive. One could infer that Saint Lukes would apply the same protocol to adults now, but they have not officially announced as much. Additionally, the "GeneXpert" testing they refer to should replace the dreaded secondary sputum testing and give much faster results. Again, "should replace sputum testing" but they have not officially announced that yet. So for now it seems like the x-ray/sputum testing issue goes away but until we see how Saint Luke’s actually really implements any new policy it remains uncertain.

I would imagine that every state and every school district has slight differences and your best bet would be to look up or go down and ask about your local requirements. Vaccinations and proof of residency seem to be the main requirements. Maybe proof of age or relationship at some places. I our case, with a 9-year-old from the Philippines entering 3rd grade in Southern California, I enrolled her online on the school district’s web site about 3 weeks before they even got here. I used her vaccine worksheet from her immigration medical at Saint Luke's and my driver’s license and utility bill as proof of residence within the school district. They didn't request a shred of proof of the child's identity. Subsequently someone from the school called me and wanted more information about how well she spoke and understood English. At the conclusion of that call, they said she is good to go and just drop her off at the school office whenever she got here and was actually ready to start. They basically took our word for it and went by age as far as grade placement. Even though I told them her English was fine they still tested her with an English assessment exam and determined that yes, she did speak and understand English. At least here the school district had little interest in her grade school records from the Philippines. It was funny because after my stepdaughter was already here a couple of months, her former teacher from the Philippines tracked her mom down on Facebook and was very insistently requesting proof that her daughter was in fact enrolled and attending school in the US and she seemed to feel some strong obligation to forward her Philippine school record to the new school. It seemed like her school in the Philippines had some very strong policy to track departing students and make sure they remained in school wherever they went to.

For my wife and stepdaughter last month it took 11 days from approval of their I-751's to actual 10 year green cards in the mailbox. At the time we followed the progress of several other similar cases to try and gauged how long we would be waiting and in all those cases 10 to 14 days was a pretty typical timeframe between approval and receipt of cards. While not guaranteed, it seem fairly probable that she would have her new green card before July. In any case, even if there was an unusual delay receiving the card, the extension letter and old card would still work.

If it was already sent to Manila by mistake but it should have gone to Bangkok I think you need to notify US Embassy Bangkok to request Manila to transfer it. The destination embassy needs to initiate the transfer. If it's still at NVC maybe they can fix it there.

It seems it is a fair argument that it is in part a USCIS error too because they did not follow their own policy manual that was in effect on the date that the petition was approved. I wouldn't want to speculate how effective it might be resolving the situation but I couldn’t see where it would hurt contacting USCIS citing the May 22 change in their policy manual and asking if they could forward the petition according to that new policy. It may be a long shot, but a letter, a call and a Senator contacting USCIS regarding the policy change might be worthwhile. While at the same time preparing the I-824 in case that effort does not bear fruit.

I do not think it will help since the petition is already approved, but this is EXACTLY the situation that is supposed to be addressed by a USCIS policy change as of May 22. It sounds like they didn't get the message in time at this office. https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-updates-guidance-for-family-based-immigrant-visas The updated section of the policy manual that they cite is here and it clearly spells out how these may now be handled. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-b-chapter-5 Unfortunately, it also reaffirms that that it can only be corrected by the petitioner AFTER approval by filing I-864.

I have no firsthand experience but my line of thinking on the topic is that the SF Consulate would accept and process the Report of Marriage without any questions as long as it is submitted with complete requirements. They would then forward it to PSA. To my knowledge PSA are simply the national record keepers. They record what is sent to them by LCRO’s, DFA, consulates etc. They are not involved in making legal determinations of whether a Utah marriage of a foreigner is legal or not. That was decided by the consulate when they processed the ROM. The ROM would be correctly completed showing your civil status as divorced. The consulate does not ask for further documentation or explanation of your divorce. Your new wife’s PSA Advisory on Marriages would be normal, the PSA ROM would serve all purposes a Philippine Marriage Certificate would. Your PSA Advisory on Marriages would look awkward if there was ever any reason you needed it. (can't think of any right off)