top_secret

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)

CFO seems to have settled down considerably since their little meltdown last summer. Recently people seem to be getting through their process pretty easily and there have not been as many complaints as there were previously. CFO may ask for a copy of your divorce decree and apostilled Utah marriage certificate but cases similar to yours or even more complicated cases where it was the Filipino spouse who had the unrecognized foreign divorce still seem to be getting through CFO with no huge hurtles. US Embassy Manila seems well acclimated to Utah online marriages too and you should not need to expect any concerns there. Your planning seems sound. Though not strictly necessary, assuming your new Filipina fiancée has never been married before, you could probably even still register the new Utah marriage with the San Francisco consulate and have all of her paperwork in order with PSA and legalized in the Philippines.

I presume you mean beginning adjustment of status from a K1 visa and receiving an advance parole document. That would definitely address two of the greatest hurdles. Even just getting past Philippine exit immigration attempting to leave the country, and any transit issues in the US. I'm not aware of any countries where having an advance parole document would lift visa requirements they may have on Philippine passports. There are several countries where having a US Green Card may lift visa requirements. Mostly in the Americas and Caribbean. Visas are certainly much easier to qualify for with US status and a US spouse with US income but the vast majority of countries that require visas For Filipinos will still require her to go through the process even with a US green card. Any time you go anywhere you still have to check the fine details of any visa requirements and transit conditions. Philippine passports remain severely challenged and routinely face restrictions that US passports do not. As far as advice here, I think people are making assumptions in the context of a young Filipina making a first international trip from the Philippines, prior to having any kind of US visa. Conventional wisdom is to make that trip as simple as possible just to get that first stamp in her passport. Unless she has a good job, money in the bank, a college degree and/or a rich family she would have trouble with Philippine exit immigration leaving alone and would almost certainly need you to meet her in the Philippines and escort her. Even then the two of you will undergo a lot of intrusive scrutiny from Philippine Immigration about the trip. After that you want to be very certain about conditions for Philippine Passports wherever you go. Palau or Fiji might be good choices, being mindful of transit requirements getting there. Most major airport hubs in Asia allow visa free transit for Filipinos. Tahiti seems extremely difficult due to the US transit issue. No matter where you go, plan on meeting her in the Philippines and going together from there.

That's what we concluded too.

In the case of name change due to marriage it would generally be the Marriage Certificate. It seems that if the marriage occurred before the green card was issued then the name on the green card must be changed first. If a marriage occurred after the green card was issued then SS could accept the marriage certificate being different from the green card.

I think I found the definitive answer to this question specifically as it relates to Social Security numbers. From the Social Security Program Operations Manual Systemhttps://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110212001

It should not make any difference receiving or traveling on a K2 visa. If they raised the issue at all during adjustment of status it's nothing serious. I'm guessing the US would be much less strict about some spelling error on her existing vaccine record and would probably accept it as is.

There's a check box on the N400 form, both paper and online, asking if you would like USCIS to notify Social Security of your new US Citizen status.

For use it was a single I-751 package that covered both wife and stepdaughter. From the single package and single I-751 they automatically assigned my stepdaughter her own separate "I-751A" case number and separately sent her extension letter and all the notices you would normally expect.

Effective August 19 there will be HUGE increases in the cost of the medical exams at Saint Luke's. The fees for ages 15+ increases from P18,540 to P28,250. A whopping 52% increase to nearly $500. Below age 15 the price is raised from P11,400 to P13,910. A 22% increase. They are attributing the increase to a policy change extending IGRA TB testing to all adults. Although the increase is substantially more than the cost of IGRA testing even in the US and they had been doing IGRA testing profitably for all child applicants for years at the previous child's price. Not to mention how far out of line it is with the costs of any type of normal medical care in the Philippines. If there is any bright side, presumably this would replace their infamous x-ray machine and reduce the number of applicants being unnecessarily sent for sputum testing.

You can try the call center, though I'm not sure they have access to any appointments that aren't available on the ustraveldocs site. The way you get locked out of the ustraveldocs site if due to refreshing to frequently and possibly they have some limitation on how often you can log in per day. You are correct, the web site is awful. They have some kind of primitive system in place to theoretically thwart people using scripts or bots there. Using a slow motion approach when using the website seems the best way to avoid getting locked out. Limit and space out the number of logins and leave a substantial amount of time between clicking refresh. There is a Facebook group chat specifically for IR5 applicants looking for interview slots for US Embassy Manila where they share any time anyone sees any slots open. To get in that, join the FB Group "IR5 US VISA PROCESS" and then message the admin there "Di SabLan" asking to be added to that group chat. As far as Facebook groups go, that one seems well moderated. To the best of my knowledge they have not opened any August slots at all for anyone yet so presumably before long the whole month of August would open up at once.

For the Philippines it is very easy to get a certified passport copy and that's what we used successfully for the ITIN. We were married in Costa Rica but no first hand knowledge of how passports work there. However, for Costa Rica it mentions "Certificación de Pasaporte" here. Under "Información Importante:" https://www.migracion.go.cr/Paginas/Pasaportes-y-Permisos-de-Salida.aspx It seems it is initiated by e-mail so perhaps they might be able to answer questions. certificaciondepasaporte@migracion.go.cr The IRS has their official timeframes here under "Other forms" https://www.irs.gov/help/processing-status-for-tax-forms

I won't make any predictions but I do believe this coming week will be telling. Based on the last few months there should be a new round of NVC scheduling. They are clearly fully into the entirety of the backlog and last month virtually did nothing. Last month you could attribute the lack of progress to the IR mass expedite working through the system. This month there are currently 600+ appointments open in July. At minimum, unlimited open appointments means the IR mass expedite is cleared and no longer a factor. I feel the progress you see in this next week will clearly define where the embassy stands dealing with their issue going forward.

Who are "they" and how specifically was she notified of this requirement?? (I'd hazard to guess that notification of this requirement arrived via Facebook group chat)

CFO changed their policy as of last year sometime to strictly no CFO appointments unless you have an actual visa on hand.

I'm pretty sure they still can even if the child is already an adult. However, you would have to check with the consulate to get a definitive answer.

Mom can just include her children with her application when she reacquires Filipino citizenship. File a petition to include the children and pay the $35 fee. https://newyorkpcg.org/pcgny/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Petition-for-Inclusion-of-Dependents-Under-RA-9225-1.pdf Only necessary for children born after a parent naturalized to the US but before they reaquired Filipino citizenship and therefore was not a Filipino citizen when the child was born. If a parent was still a Filipino citizen at the time of the child's birth in the US, they merely need to file a Report of Birth with the consulate to claim the child's Filipino Citizenship.

Yea. BI will definitely look at your combo card. The combo card show's you are resident in the US. They only time they ever look for CFO is if you are leaving for the first time with an immigrant visa. Since you are resident in the US you will never need CFO again.

So whenever it gets approved and sent to NVC you can just not pay the fees for up to a year, if you need longer than that, once you do pay the fees you have another year to start submitting documents. Theoretically you could delay it indefinitely as long as you remain in touch with NVC. When you are ready to proceed just complete the NVC process.

I found this recent case in a Facebook group.