top_secret

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.

Her other ID's being in her maiden name is not a problem. CFO would automatically understand the difference between married and maiden name and would not expect ID's to be updated.

The ROM is required by the Philippine Government and it legalizes an overseas marriage under Philippine Law. It is unimportant to the US Government or for US immigration purposes, other than it would be necessary if your wife wanted to change to your name prior to her visa, green card and social security card all being issued in her maiden name. If you plan on having little or no real interactions within the Philippines in the future, it is probably of little value and doesn't really matter. If the Philippines may play a more significant role in your future, such as if you want to retire there, own family property there, etc ect, it would be more important because it could affect your rights as a spouse of a Filipino citizen in the Philippines and might often come up in any kind of dealings with the Philippine Government. Edit to add. The name changing aspect applies to CR1/IR1 cases. K1 applicants could just change their name during adjustment of status with a US Marriage Certificate so less important in K1 cases.

Nothing is "normal" about interview scheduling at US Embassy Manilla these days, but receiving dates scheduled by NVC is consistent with what they have done the last few months, with the recent mass-expedite of IR1 and IR2 cases being a seemingly more one off event. It's notable that IR5's were also included in this round of NVC scheduling with similar DQ dates. IR1's and IR2's were most likely excluded from this round of NVC scheduling by virtue of that pool being depleted by the recent mass-expedite. It's great to hear that CRs were not totally passed by. The referenced statement was completely correct when this thread started and when written in February 2023. A CR/IR-1/2 case documentarily qualified January 12, 2023 should have been included in the mass expedite that occurred the last week of January 2023 and would have been able to self schedule an interview at that time. But what a difference a year has made. Cases that became documentarily qualified January 2024 probably still have a few more months to wait. At least is is hopeful they seem to be addressing the backlog they accumulated during 2023.

Congratulations!! It's just nice to finally see some movement. After 8 months wit ZERO visajourney members getting spousal interviews at US Embassy Manila, nine have now updated their timelines with recent or imminent interviews. Those who still having trouble scheduling interviews just keep checking. Twice this last week they opened up a few more dates which were quickly snatched up. Speculation is that 1:00PM to 2:00PM Manila time is when they have recently released more dates. Also, anyone who has an interview date scheduled but cant get a date at Saint Luke's, apparently they are taking walk-ins without appointment if they have an interview scheduled in the next 10 days. I remain totally baffled by what USEM is doing.

I have given up on trying to figure out what US Embassy Manila is up to> they seem to be wildly thrashing around on scheduling with no rhyme or reason February's visa statistics are out and for an embassy that should be one of the busiest on the planet for spousal visa, US Embassy Manila managed to accomplish only 67 IR1 visas and only ONE!!!! CR1 visa in the whole month of February. The most recent mass expedite encompassing only IR1's and IR2's while passing over CR's with older DQ dates is yet a new previously unseen twist. US Embassy Manila continues their streak of being nonsensical. I guess if I were CR1, I would take note that in February and March, around the 8th or possibly the second Friday of the month (??) NVC had been sending interview letters to all CR's and IR's, including IR5's, going by DQ date. IR5's were also not included in the recent mass expedite so one could speculate that if NVC does still send out a batch of interview letters this week, it would encompass CR's and IR5's who were DQ from late May 2023 forward. That is a group that should be depleted of IR1's and IR2's by that mass expedite so maybe it could advance a few months?? Or, USEM could just do something completely random that is impossible to predict.