top_secret

I saw that remark too and that is definitely interesting but it is an outlier and there are many more DQ mid to late May that definitely did not get interview letters. I was wondering if there is something unusual about their case or if they were certain about their exact DQ date. If you follow the IR5 group and the group chats there are allot more data points and with the sole exception you mentioned it seems like the cutoff date was very early May. It does seem certain they advanced two or more months in just the last month so it seems reasonable to assume all of June would be covered next month if they follow any kind of predictable pattern.

Interview letters just went out for a large number of IR5's DQ March and April 2023 and a relative handful with early May DQ dates. I also saw like two or three reports from IR1's with similar DQ dates. It still fits the hypothesis that CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 were deprioritized after the June 2023 mass expedite and were dumped into the lengthy IR5 queue without priority. Since it appears that the cutoff point for interview letters this month was early May 2023 DQ dates, that would still exclude the large number of backlogged CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 cases since almost all of the CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 DQ before mid May 2023 already got their interview letters way back in June 2023. So as it stands. It seems that in the last month, the IR5 backlog decreased 2 months. CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 backlog 'might' be following IR5. Interview letters came out on the 8th for a second month in a row so 'maybe' that could be looked at as a trend of when to expect interview letters. If the cutoff point this month is indeed early May 2023(?) then next month around the 8th one could wildly speculate that May-July DQ dates might have some chance to get interview letters. Unless US Embassy Manila does something wildly unpredictable, which they have been doing. The backlog rather definitely is 10 months at this point and would be a year by the time large numbers of CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 start actually getting interviews.

Here's a somewhat poignant news story reflecting the opinions of many here and on other immigration forums.

We recently had a VJ member from the Philippines do a strait same day turnaround in Guam to activate a IR1 visa before it expired and returned to the Philippines to wrap things up before going to New York to live with her spouse a few months later. They said immigration in Guam were understanding and they didn't have the slightest issue.

Were charges even filed? Unless I'm missing something here, it seems like there was an arrest, you were released, and the DA hasn't filed a case over it. (???) If that was what happened, then "there was an arrest but no charges were filed". If charges had been filed then there would be a court case to refer to.

I will relate what we did filing CA taxes as MFJ with a non resident spouse, with the extreme caveat that I am not any tax professional, just read some stuff online and let TurboTax do the rest. From what we were able to gather it seems that California's main requirement is that you must file the same status on state as you did on Federal. IE if you file MFJ on your Federal return, then you are required to file MFJ on CA state too. From there we just answered all the residency questions very literally in TurboTax and the program decided we should file 540NR (California Nonresident or Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return). SCHEDULE CA (540NR) Column E allowed for excluding income from non resident and non california sources. If you were a part year resident you pay taxes on all income earned while a resident and only on income from California sources while you were nonresident. They had a worksheet for splitting it up. In our case the return was accepted and very promptly paid months before my wife even had an ITIN. CA FTB has not complained, and I am quite sure they would have if they saw anything they didn't like, so it must have all been good..

Should still be fine. CBP doesn't issue green cards, USCIS does, and they have all the facts and are supposed to check.

ustraveldocs.com is CGI Federal Inc. which is the civilian IT contractor responsible for US Embassy Manila's and some other embassies visa scheduling websites. While admittedly their IT work is somewhat suspect and sub-par, they are officially sanctioned by the Embassy.

"NO RECORD ON FILE" does not require a letter of explanation. There is US Embassy Manila's website explaining where a letter of explanation is required and it does not apply to you. https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ApplyforImmigrantVisa.html#:~:text=An official letter of explanation,the date it is issued.

"NO RECORD ON FILE" or "NO DEROGATORY RECORD" are "good" and correct remarks on a NBI Clearance. Either of those two remarks are what you and the embassy wants to see. The quote from the 221g instructions does not make sense because "NO RECORD ON FILE" definitely is a correct remark. Since it seems you are interviewing at some embassy outside of the Philippines, perhaps the consul there is just not familiar with Philippine documents(?????) Given that the NBI Clearance you describe is definitely "good" and therefore the 221g instructions are not clear, I'm not sure what the solution is. Maybe a letter explaining to the embassy that the reason it says "NO RECORD ON FILE" is because you never had any arrests or court cases that would have created a record. (????) As a contingency you could try renewing your NBI Clearance again because sometimes on a renewal the remark changes from "NO RECORD ON FILE" to "NO DEROGATORY RECORD because now there IS then a record of the previous check. for reference "NO RECORD ON FILE" or "NO DEROGATORY RECORD" is good "NO CRIMINAL RECORD", "NO CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS" or "NO PENDING CASE" is not as good as it sounds and would require waiting for a letter of explanation from NBI. "WITH DEROGATORY RECORD" is bad. It sounds like yours is good.

If you are in a US city that has a LBC office then that is by far the best option. It costs us like $12 and gets delivered in like 4 or 5 days with full tracking. If you are not in a US city that has a LBC office, I would probably go with DHL. I previously had a poor experience with UPS in the Philippines and probably won't try them again. I haven't personally tried FedEx there so no real opinion good or bad.

In the Philippines they would accept the PSA Report of Marriage as unconditional proof of the name change. I suspect either way the plane ticket would work with the ROM and marriage certificate as proof of the name change. Changing the passport in the Philippines seems wise since it costs like $22 including the expedite fee and takes two or three weeks. Last I checked DFA appointments are now readily available. Make sure she does pay the expedite fee since nine times out of ten Filipinas are cost conscious and thrifty and would forego paying $4 extra to save a few weeks time, whereas American spouses would generally happily pay $4 extra to save a few weeks. since it is an option.

Be aware that there are much more extensive lists of required documents frequently mentioned in TikTok, than the much shorter list of actual requirements.

Just my uneducated opinion, but how we personally interpreted that question is that the entire purpose of the visa application was solely and for no other reason than to be reunified as spouses. Seeking any type of employment had no role whatsoever in the reason we filed the visa application. So we answered "no" and feel it was the correct answer even though my wife did subsequently seek work in health care for reasons that are completely unrelated to the reason we filed the visa application.

Once she has her visa it shouldn't be any problem. But if you decide to take her on vacation to Thailand while you are waiting it's best if you travel with her rather than trying to meet her there. Get to the airport early and plan on a secondary interview but if they are accompanied by foreign bf or fiance they would generally pass a secondary interview. They might make YOU sign some very strangely worded affidavit promising to bring her back. 🤣

Based upon advanced TikTok experience🤣, if she is not talking about CFO then she ''might' be concerned about the potential of a possible secondary interview by Philippine exit immigration at the airport(???) These sometimes do happen. It is typically not a problem for K1 or immigrant visa holders but is not unheard of. Secondary interviews by Philippine exit immigration get a lot of attention on social media and cause a lot of stress and worry because for young women traveling alone internationally for the first time as a tourist they can be quite invasive, intimidating and there is a not insignificant possibility they might not be allowed to leave the country by Philippine immigration if such an interview didn't go well. All of which is not usually a problem for a K1 or immigrant visa holder. It is unlikely to happen at all and and even if it does she just needs to play along and everything will be fine. It's not something she needs to worry about.

EVA Air is one of the best airlines out there. They know all about US Entry requirements. They have fantastic service and you will have no problem with them.

It's got to be one of the more dimwitted tone deaf social media campaigns ever. The interview backlog for CR1/IR1 CR2/IR2 interviews has now grown to 10 months which as far as I know is kind of unprecedented for Manila. It certainly wasn't anywhere near that bad even throughout the rona lockdowns. Posting on Facebook how awesome they are doing is kind of like poking an angry hornets nest with a stick. They are getting roasted in the comments.

For taxies install the Grab app on your phone. https://www.grab.com/ph/ . It's like Uber and makes things cashless and just soooo much easier. Manila is a big city and there is certainly crime and scams. But if you just use common sense and pay attention it's probably not much more sketchy than some US cities these days.

In the same month they processed 86 IR-1 and 4 (FOUR!!!) CR-1's they did manage to knock out 13,399 B1/B2 tourist visas and that doesn't even include all the interviews they completed that resulted in denials. At least K1's are doing well with 771 K1 visas issued. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/MonthlyNIVIssuances/JANUARY 2024 - NIV Issuances by Post and Visa Class.pdf The embassy is convinced they are doing awesome.

January's visa statistics just came out. Predictably, US Embassy Manila processed a whopping 4 (FOUR!!!) CR-1 and 86 IR-1 visas. That is with a ten month backlog that must be in the thousands. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/MonthlyIVIssuances/JANUARY 2024 - IV Issuances by Post and Visa Class.pdf

US Embassy Manila would probably not even look at your certificate of employment if you did have one. It is of little value at a US B1/B2 visa interview. It would be more important if you can talk convincingly about your job than having any paperwork. They would judge you more by how well you talk about your circumstances.

Just noticed that it's now been more six months since any VJ member has reported a CR1/IR1 interview at US Embassy Manilla. Previously you would frequently see multiple approvals a month reported here from the Philippines. I doubt you could find any more than a two or three month gap in reported Philippines approvals in the entire history of this board. https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/k1list.php?op6=All&op66=All&op7=Philippines&op1=3&op2=&dfile=No&op3=5&op4=1

It is indeed a wise policy not allowing Facebook links. However, the link someone posted here earlier was to US Embassy Manila's official verified Facebook page and a rather daft post the embassy made bragging about how awesome they have done reducing their non-immigrant interview backlog from over 6 months a year ago to less than a month now, all during a time period that has seen the backlog for spousal interviews increase from less than a month at the beginning of 2023 to almost 10 months where it stands now. Some may want to Google US Embassy Manila's official verified Facebook page if they have any commentary on the embassy's priorities when it comes to interview backlogs.

It is no problem at all for USCIS, NVC or the embassy since they will ask you ALL other names you have ever used at any point they ask your name, and you would list your maiden name there. Just start using your married name when the case goes to NVC.