top_secret

My wife got four shots. Two in each arm. Her daughter got six. Two in each arm and one in each leg. They definitely came out of Saint Luke's thoroughly vaccinated 😆. No extra charge.

I meant a PSA Advisory on Marriages OR CENOMAR. The applicant orders a CENOMAR from PSA. If PSA, correctly or incorrectly, has the applicant recorded as married they they will receive an Advisory on Marriages. If PSA, correctly or incorrectly, has the applicant recorded as single they will receive a CENOMAR. The embassy understands there may be numerous reasons PSA may have the incorrect status recorded but none the less wants to see whichever document the applicant actually receives from PSA. Be it an Advisory on Marriages or CENOMAR. I avoid using the common expression CEMAR to refer to an Advisory on Marriages since although it is widely used, I have never seen PSA or the embassy use that term in any kind of official reference. Sometimes it causes confusion.

PSA Advisory on Marriages or CENOMAR. NVC will probably documentarily qualify without it if you don't have one yet, but the embassy will definitely want it uploaded to CEAC before the interview.

The regular Social Security card application asks for current name, name at birth and other names used. I485 asks for all the same names. It should all match what SS# has with the addition of one more name. Plus ALL of the other information matches too. So it seems like it would not be a problem.

Definitely no harm in trying it. For my wife and stepdaughter it just wouldn't let them change the date. Nothing bad happens. I forget the exact error message but it was nothing ominous.

For my wife and stepdaughter they tried updating it online. However, it would not accept the new date and kicked out any attempt to change it with an error message. So they were unable to make the change. Once they received their 10 year cards it did allow the change. So it seemed to us that the TTP website was actively checking the expiration dates of the physical card with USCIS. Traveling with extension letters and expired cards, at the facial recognition kiosk at LAX they were of course referred to an officer. He was totally familiar with extension letters and took less than an extra minute to clear the and send them on their way.

My wife's certified passport copy disappeared into an IRS black hole for like 5 months with no traceability and only generic answers as to when it would be returned. It was eventually returned via ordinary first class mail without tracking, like a whole month after the ITIN was issued. Things are allegedly better now than they were a couple of years ago and for us it was no big deal because it was a certified copy. But, I would still be highly hesitant to do it with a real passport while in the middle of any type of immigration process.

I don't think Tahiti is uniquely difficult for Filipino passports. Just that it appears to require a visa, which is always a hassle for Filipino travelers and as you mentioned, the most logical way to get there from the Philippines requires a visa that would allow entry to the US. Tahiti seems kind of poorly connected to many Asian hubs. So it seems it is incrementally more difficult for a Filipino passport holder to visit Tahiti than it would be for them to visit Hawaii. I 'think' Fiji is visa free for Filipino passports and has connections to several Asian hubs that are easy transit for Filipino passports. If there's good flights to Palau that sounds like a better option too. If it's her first trip out of the Philippines (?) there is allot to consider about Philippine exit immigration too. In many cases you realistically have to meet her there and travel out together if she is on a first international trip. It's not at all uncommon for Philippine exit immigration to stop young Filipinas traveling alone. International travel with Philippine passport holders can be challenging.

A US transit visa has exactly the same requirements as a 10 year multiple entry US tourist visa. Pay $185, fill DS160, interview at US Embassy Manila where they must convince a US consul they have no immigrant intent. An almost certain denial and disappointment for a young Filipina with a US boyfriend. Very unlikely to happen. Maybe she could transit through Japan since I think the have seasonal flights from Tokyo in winter months. But even just a Tahiti visa by itself may be difficult. Tahiti is a challenging destination for Filipino passports. Fiji might have way easier transit options for Filipino passports if you are set on doing a south Pacific trip. The Philippines itself has some pretty nice tropical island destinations. Thailand or Bali are much easier choices for a first overseas trip by a Filipina.

Waiting for naturalization is exactly what we are doing. However, I don't see a downside to just going into the SS office and requesting they make the change based on the marriage certificate. My wife was promptly refused but nothing but about 15 minutes of her time was lost in the attempt.

You are partially correct about subcases possibly being K2. But categories like F2A also allow derivatives so even that is not 100% certain. Again, if you caught the case early after creation cases with K2 go directly to "At NVC" whereas F2A etc. go through the additional steps first.

I kind of extensively played around with looking at other case numbers by date to try to make some predictions back when our CR1 and CR2 cases were at NVC. The wild card is it figuring out which cases are your category and which are other categories since they follow different timelines. In these cases "At NVC" could be a K1, but it could also be a documentarily complete CR, IR or other family category. The only way you could really differentiate is if you had been following cases from early in the process. K1 cases go strait to "At NVC" when created whereas other categories first go through "Pay Fees" and "Submit Requested Documents" and only go to "At NVC" once they are documentarily complete. That also skews the "In Transit" and "Ready" dates because while K1's go in order of case creation and by themselves would be easy to figure out, CR and IR also go "In Transit" and "Ready" and they go in the order of when they became documentarily complete which can vary wildly depending on how fast the applicant completed the NVC process. Then there are those who had successful expedites..... But it is a fun way to pass the time and you can indeed gain some useful predictions.

Well since we will be mailing our packet tomorrow I guess it's time to start a September 2023 thread. Our 90 day window started the last week of July but we were out of the country last month so we put it off until we got back to avoid any surprise biometric appointments or missed notices. It looks like we will be sending in.... G-1450 credit card authorization. G-1145 E-notification. I-751 of course. Copies of their green cards, front and back, and passports. Copies of California Real ID Driver Licenses for my wife and I plus California Real ID card for my stepdaughter all at the same address. IRS tax return transcripts of our 2022, 2021, and 2020 joint US tax returns. Statements from our joint checking account showing joint ownership of the account and direct deposits of both of our salaries plus payments of bills in each other’s names. However only the last 5 months. Prior to that we had separate accounts and just shared expenses. Dated photographs of our family together in numerous places at intervals throughout our time together in the US, plus photos of my almost 80-year-old American mom meeting her Filipino in-laws on vacation in Manila. Copy of a California car title showing joint ownership and two years joint car registration. Copies of various car insurance notices and proof of insurance listing both drivers, covering almost the entire period they have been in the US. Copies of both of our 401K’s beneficiaries with each listing the other spouse as beneficiary. Copies of our Visa, Mastercard and Discover credit cards showing joint accounts. Copies of various club cards and membership cards showing joint accounts. Copies of various airline boarding passes and receipts for vacations we took together. Copies of my stepdaughter's continuous registration from our address in our neighborhood’s public elementary school for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. The school registration lists both of us as emergency contacts with full authorization to pick her up from school. Copy of my stepdaughter's California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress test results showing two years results with her living at our address and enrolled in our neighborhood public elementary school. Paystubs for my wife periodically throughout her time in the US showing her continuous presence at our home address. We’ll be double triple checking everything this evening and probably send it by Priority Mail flat rate mailer ("if it fits, it ships") to Phoenix drop box in the morning. I'm hopeful that is good enough, however notable deficiencies would include not having any joint lease or other paperwork associating both names with the house. All of our health insurance is separate since my wife and I each get it from our employer and neither plan is any good for adding the step-daughter so we just pay her insurance separately out of pocket. No kind of joint utility bills or anything like that and as I mentioned only the last 5 months have we had a joint checking account. I also didn't bother to get any affidavits from anyone. I guess we will find out if it was good enough in like 2025 or something.

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-redesigns-green-card-and-employment-authorization-document