top_secret

Probably most long distance couple do not have combined finances. USCIS isn't looking for you to open accounts just to check an item off a list. If you do think of additional evidence that you feel may make your case stronger you can always submit at any time in your USCIS online account under the unsolicited evidence tab.

The problem is that the Philippines is the land of inconsistency. Every city in the whole country has subtle differences in what they require and they tend to change rules like every other week. Anyone's previous experience would only be valid for comparison at the same place and time they did it. The only way you could get an authoritative answer to what will be required is to go down to the Local Civil Records Office (LCRO) in the city or town where you actually intend to marry and ask them for a list of their local requirements. Utah Online Marriages remains a good option too with considerably less red tape and a shorter time frame. They are valid and recognized by both the US and Philippine governments.

The fully booked schedule situation is now affecting many. No doubt due the US Embassy Manila releasing 3 months worth of interview letters in two days. Usually they do not take walk-ins any more but several people recently reported success walking in IF they have a scheduled interview in the next few weeks with no interviews available. If they are coming from out of town it may be a good idea to try and call first. +63-2-524-6083

I definitely am a big proponent of spending some time together. The more the better. Anyone can be anything the want anyone to see online. People can even keep up appearances in person for shorter visits. No substitute for in person time getting to know someone. If you are serious, the Utah online marriage has some significant advantages including time for overall completion of the process since it gets a marriage certificate you could file with much faster than Philippine bureaucracy would. The legal aspects of the online marriages are now quite tested and are being fully accepted both for US immigration and Philippine laws. They are successfully going through US Embassy Manila for visa purposes in large numbers. Probably daily.

Actually for the most part US Embassy Manila kept up on CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 interviews throughout all the lockdowns, even as they let K1's and other family categories languish. They never developed a major backlog in CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 even while K1's were screwed. The Embassy totally shut down with the mid-March 2020 lockdown, remained closed April and May 2020, resumed limited priority CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 in June and resumed kind of low normal-ish interviewing in July-September and then came up to full speed October on. I think that if you had your CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 interview canceled in May 2020 you were probably accommodated by July or August. For the sake of comparison in July 2020 they processed 76 CR1's and 84 IR1's vs January 2024 where they only processed 4 CR1's and 86 IR'1. Our interview letter in October 2021 came 2 weeks after becoming documentarily qualified so that's where the backlog stood then. This NEW backlog is not a product of the COVID era because as recently as June of last year they sent those mass expedites to everyone documentarily qualified up until early May. Very literally, if you became documentarily qualified May 5 2023, then in late June 2023 you could self schedule an interview and many are sitting in the US since July of last year. Whereas someone who was documentarily qualified 20 days later on May 25 2023 is still waiting and has not received an interview letter to this day. It seems crazy. I suspect what has happened is that CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 had always been prioritized but last year they just removed any prioritization and dumped them all in the lengthy IR5 queue. So rather than preserve those categories that did not have backlogs and catch up on the categories that did, they created a new backlog that did not previously exist. Some kind of government logic that normal folks cant understand. On the bright side K1's are doing awesome now. You could schedule a K1 interview next week.

Since this removal of conditions has become boring, here is something I saw posted in a Facebook group to spice it up. (not us) While the listed timeline follows our own by about a week, there is no such activity in our case. My wife remains at "Being Actively Reviewed" since October 2, 2023 a few hours after biometrics was completed at the ASC. My stepdaughter remains at "Case was Received and a Receipt Notice Was Sent" since September 8, 2023.

While I can not speak specifically about Islamabad, I have been watching Manila's backlog very closely and seen reports by quite a few F2A to IR1 conversions. NVC kept the IR's in order by Documentarily Qualified date. Inevitably, F2A's had been waiting much longer and had much older Documentarily Qualified dates then other IR's and therefore took a place in the very front of the IR line the moment they converted. Most often they got interview letters first in the next batch to be sent out. So waiting under F2A does count in the IR queue and it is a very positive time saving change converting to IR1. (with the usual caveat about any derivatives)

Another grim milestone. It has now passed 7 months since any VJ member has updated their timeline reporting issuance of a CR1 or IR1 visa by US Embassy Manila. A gap for Philippines spousal visas that as far as I can tell is unprecedented in the entire history of this forum.

US Embassy Manila is on their Facebook page AGAIN patting themselves on the back and trumpeting what an awesome job they are doing on visa interviews lately. This time for C1/D crewman's visas where they issued 110,000 last year, and publish a current wait time of 32 days to get a visa interview for that category. OTOH, all the CR and IR interview appointment letters they just sent out Friday and Monday were for cases that were documentarily qualified before the last week of June 2023. Since they got April Interview dates that makes the backlog for spousal visas rather definitively 10 plus months from becoming documentarily qualified. A backlog that only developed over the last year and that did not previously exist. The embassy is getting roasted in the comments AGAIN. Certainly one of the more dumb, tone-deaf social media campaigns ever.

A "certificate of finality" is probably the same thing as "decree of annulment". I think you would be enough. You should also get your Advisory on Marriages/CENOMAR from PSA.

That is common. My wife's birth certificate was the same. You should ask for an AKA on your NBI Clearance with your mother's surname.

Unfortunately, that is rather definitively exactly what US Embassy Manila really did. It has been ALL CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 cases that became documentarily qualified past that May 2023 cut off date. I can't even imagine what they were thinking.

She was refused a B1/B2 visa. She answered the question honestly. There is no paperwork. They could look it up in their computer if they really wanted to but it doesn't make any difference at all for the spousal visa. No problem.

Awesome. Maybe the consul who wrote the 221g didn't know what it was supposed to say, but someone else down at the embassy knows what they are doing. It was correct. happy it worked out.

Most people who get a positive result on sputum testing would get called back to Saint Luke's early within the first month. So if your culture was taken Feb 5,6,7 and you haven't heard anything yet, that is good. Most people pass sputum testing anyways and your odds are improved even more after a month without hearing anything. The Psych evaluation is nothing. One day at most. It is not a delay. So it may be a little early to be looking at apartments. Chances are you wont need one. Any really good deal you found right now would probably be rented to someone else already by April. People I know who got good deals renting apartments or condos in Manila actually searched for places by walking around the neighborhood looking for posted ads and asking security guards etc. A lot of places aren't even advertised. People who rent from agencies or AirBNB etc tend to pay more but it's easier and more straightforward. A friends wife got sent for the psych evaluation just because she said traveling from her province to Manila and the whole immigration process has been stressful and caused her anxiety. It's an extra fee for Saint luke's

I don't think there is any consideration or difference of treatment scheduling between CR or IR. Fewer CR's and many more IR is just a side effect of the embassies slowness. Looking at CR's and IR's that reported got interview letters today, I think they literally stopped on May 25 and you previously said your husband was May 26. There was two cases that with May 24 DQ dates that said they DID get interview letters. At least one other May 26 DQ IR5 case that said they certainly DID NOT receive an interview letter either, as well as several May 30 and later cases without interview letters. I 'think' if you arrived in the US exactly on the second anniversary you are still IR1 but I sure wouldn't want to be the one to put that to the test. I think it would be a really good idea to wait the extra day just to be safe.

CR or IR should have the same priority and be in the same queue. Probably the reason you aren't seeing any CR's is that with a year long interview backlog at US Embassy Manila most of the CR's are hitting the two year mark and converting to IR's by the time they are getting interview letters. Looking at the people who reported receiving interviews letters today more carefully, it looks like they covered cases documentarily qualified up until almost the end of May 2023. There were two who had June DQ dates but looking at those cases more carefully they had associated IR2 cases with May dates and probably got interview letters today so they would interview as a family. I don't think they got to any routine June dates yet and it looks like they stopped at the last few days of May 2023 right now.

Apparently a second round of CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 are being out sent out now including DQ dates at least up into June 2023 somewhere. That would finally seem to actually start getting into the real numbers of the CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 backlog. Maybe the public shaming shaming they got on all their social media accounts actually worked.

N400's are getting processed really fast these days. It may depend on the local office but naturalization completed in well under a year is not at all unusual. Definitely get on it immediately.

Marriage certificate wasn't required. It's an easy standard service to get a certified copy of a Philippine passport from Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs so that's what we did. It sounds not as easy in Mexico so Im not much help there. Whatever you do, don't send in the actual passport since it disappears into an IRS black hole for an indefinite period of time with no traceability and that's not where anyone wants their passport to be during an immigration process. There are certified acceptance agents in Mexico so that might be a good option if conveniently located.

So, in the unlikely event that airport security did demand the envelope be opened. If they actually require you to open it, then do it by cutting a corner so they can see in. Then it would still be just like many other envelopes CBP sees.

There is Philippine Airlines unaccompanied minor page. https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/before-you-fly/special-needs-and-request/unaccompanied-minors We flew our daughter from LAX TO the Manila unacompanied at age 10 last summer so she could stay with grandma and visit her cousins while school was out. Philippine Airlines handled it very well and we felt she was in good hands for the trip so I would recommend them for an unaccompanied minor.

Sadly, it is probably time to start looking at apartment options in Ermita. Most of the time sputum testing turns out to be a big waste of time but realistically sputum testing is probably accurate and if positive the treatment is actually necessary. It would be better if it could occur under better circumstances.

How did you get NVC to refund you? I had a friend that recently got double charged by NVC and even though it is totally NVC's fault and he has documentation and everything they won't budge on him a refund.

I think you would definitely be in the next batch too. Even if it's another month at least there is finally some movement.