top_secret

SLEC would notify the Embassy if someone is flagged for sputum testing so it shouldn't be a problem. If you want to be proactive you can keep checking for appointment dates to open up in the future after the scheduled sputum test result date. The embassy releases future appointment periodically and undoubtedly has just not released any April appointments for anyone yet.

From recent reports it seems like CFO has got beyond the total scheduling meltdown they were having last summer and appointments are now generally available in the immediate short term future at all locations once someone has the actual visa on hand. I would probably agree with you that more seminars means more opportunities for appointments in Manila but I would make the decision based on which location is most convenient since I doubt there would be more than a few days difference either way.

My last passport was done in 2019 too, but at the time I got it done at the San Diego passport office in 72 hours based on nothing more than the fact I was only back in the US for a week before my next required travel and had tickets to prove it. Backlogs may be worse now but in 2019 it just took persistence on the phone to get the appointment and a long day dealing with bureaucracy to accomplish the task. Once I got through the appointment, my passport was ready in 24 hours.

You may be interested to know that Mexico keeps it's rechazo statistics categorized by nationality online. https://politicamigratoria.segob.gob.mx/es/PoliticaMigratoria/evento_de_rechazos_aereos It looks like about 4% of Colombians get refused entry on arrival by air in Mexico which is like close to 100 a day. It is kind of an appalling percentage for persons who obviously had all the required documents they needed to board the flight only to be kicked out on arrival. I do feel my wife would have been treated differently if I had accompanied her rather than her traveling alone and me trying to meet her in Mexico City. But she is not inclined to ever try flying to Mexico again. We rather abruptly changed our vacation plans and went to Brazil instead, where she received a much more friendly reception.

My wife was refused entry at Mexico City before for no reason whatsoever and they were not nice or even slightly professional about it, so I know what you are talking about there. She noted that as she was was sent to the "rudely get thrown out of the country room", it was filled primarily with a large number of Colombians and Venezuelans. That said, even though you definitely have my sympathy on the Mexican immigration issue, it sounds fishy even to me for someone to fly from Colombia TO Mexico, requiring a visa to transit the US, in order to avoid transiting Mexico City. It may take a combination of seperate tickets but I am quite certain there are cheap ways to get from CLO to PVR that don't involve transiting the US. I also am not sure PVR immigration is any more friendly than MEX. Even being sympathetic, if I were the consul I would have to deny that visa because the itinerary does not make sense to me. The consequences of someone being denied a C1 visa based on a questionable itinerary is that it would probably sabotage a later chance at a B2 visa.

The panel physician would generally issue a waiver for the boosters that are not due yet. The waiver would be annotated right on the visa as "212(g)(2)(B)". That annotation formally notifies CBP at the border that the boosters were waived by the panel physician and therefore unnecessary.

My wife had to do biometrics for her I-751. I was sure to notify her that picture might get re-used on her Naturalization Certificate and therefore follow her for the rest of her life so she better make it good. She spent like 45 minutes doing her hair and makeup and dressed in sharp business attire before heading down to the ASC. 🤣 We haven't seen the picture yet though.

DO NOT send her actual passport during an ongoing immigration process. It will disappear untraceably into an IRS black hole for an unspecified period of time until hopefully someday they sent it back. You can send a copy of her passport that is certified by whatever agency issues passports in her country or use an acceptance agent in her country. One or the other may be easier depending on the country.

Ours took 6 months from filing to return in 2021 which was about when they had the maximum backlog. I would think it would be somewhat less today. If you really need the return fast you could file MFS electronically and take whatever return you get quickly, and then turn around and file an amended return as MFJ with the W7 to get whatever additional return that would get you after the delay.

The activation code only applies to cases that were filed on paper and mailed to a lockbox. If you filed online, the case should be there in the online account and by clicking on the "Documents" tab it should give you the button to submit unsolicited evidence.

The issue is simple. When he arrives, CBP will ask the question "how long are you staying?". If he answered honestly that he intends to stay, marry and adjust status he will be denied entry on a B2 visa. If he lied and says he intends to marry and return to his home country even though he intends to stay and adjust status then it seems like a material misrepresentation.

During the rona situation the Philippine government decreed that ANY notary could notarize an Affidavit of Legal Capacity To Marry. Later when the President issued a general decree that rona rules were in general rescinded, some LCR's started requiring them to be notarized by the embassy again. Later still, there was some kind of ruling that any notary is still OK. Leading to today where different LCRO's may be making their own rules and the rules may not be consistent. So. US Embassy Manila has a sample Affidavit of Legal Capacity To Marry here https://uploads.mwp.mprod.getusinfo.com/uploads/sites/24/2022/04/Sample-Generic-Affidavit.pdf . According to most, it should be valid if notarized by ANY notary. Unless the LCRO says it its not. If that was the case it still needs notarized by the embassy. It is the Philippines. YMMV.

That is a frustrating outcome. I recently read another firsthand account of a extension letter being rejected for this reason at ICN. I wish I thought to come back here and post a warning. In that case the traveler was boarded and made it to ICN but Korean immigration there refused to admit her with an extension letter despite escalating it to the supervisor. It kind of seemed like they don't know their own rules and the individual officer made a wrong decision and the big boss backed him up. So in her case, she spent 48 hours airside in ICN.

That varies from state to state but generally, short of adopting the child, it would take a court order to change the name if they will do it. Texas has a helpful looking website here. https://guides.sll.texas.gov/name-changes/children I don't know for Texas but we looked into it here in California and it seems not totally clear cut and easy, so we abandoned the idea. There is also the issue of getting the Philippines to recognize a US name change to change the child's passport. I 'think' you would need to have the child's birth certificate annotated by the LCRO and then re-submitted to PSA to have the Philippines recognize the name and I don't think they would do that without a Philippine court order. Which would leave the child with differing names on his Philippine Passport and other documents.

She does not have to change her name at all if she never wants to, but if she does want to it is WAY WAY WAY cheaper and easier if she just changes her passport now in the Philippines. It costs P1200 ($22) including the expedite fee and takes 2 or 3 weeks to change a Philippine passport. It costs $540 and could take at least a couple of YEARS to change the name on a green card once it's been issued plus all the assorted hassles associated with having differing names on different documents during those years. She can change it anytime up until the day of her interview. All that matters is the name in her passport. It's a name she can already legally use in the Philippines so if she wants to, she should start using it immediately. The Embassy will use whatever name is in the passport she brings for her interview for her visa, green card and social security card.

Going back to my earlier recommendation of Japan, it seems that as of December 15, 2023 Japan has instituted entirely online eVISAs for US Permanent Residents which seems to eliminate even the mail in step. My wife still has a 5 year multiple entry visa for Japan granted to her in the Philippines so we haven't tried online but it does seem like a very promising development. Japan is a really cool tourism destination. https://www.evisa.mofa.go.jp

Having followed your case here almost as long as I've been here, I am very sorry to hear this. With all the illegal aliens running around loose in this country who should be removed, and are not being, it's disheartening that USCIS should waste their resources on someone who is undoubtedly an asset to the US. VisaJourney is famously a do-it-yourself forum but, there are cases where it is prudent and necessary to involve an immigration attorney to achieve a just outcome. This seems like one of those cases. You certainly have my best wishes no matter which course you choose from here.

You can submit unsolicited evidence online. There is no guarantee they would look at it but they might. We submitted additional evidence a month after we filed online and I can't say if it helped or not but it definitely didn't delay anything.

Assuming you are travelling on a B2 visa, the consequences if you were turned around would be the loss of the B2 visa, probably forever. It's a very high risk for a one week visit.

US Embassy Manila has mostly been pretty fast issuing visas after interviews lately. But there are a few cases where it even takes 4 to 6 weeks with no outwardly obvious reason. Holidays always slow things down too. It's annoying but probably nothing to worry about yet. Has the "Ready" date updated since the interview?

My wifes sister was recently successful out-of-town late registering their mother at Angeles LCR. They suspect that maybe she was born in Leyte but aren't even completely sure about that detail. There is literally no record of her as a child. Absolutely nothing. The earliest record of her existence at all is that she was listed as the mother on some of her children's baptismal certificates. Somewhere around 1999 the family late registered her kids including my wife, plus they late registered her marriage then too, so that is where PSA documents start mentioning her. There are mixed ages on all of those documents and numerous other glaring discrepancies. I really don't think anyone has any idea her true age or birth date. They used the baptismal certificates of her kids, PSA marriage certificate and some of her kids birth certificates plus whatever new ID she has like PhilHealth etc. I wasn't directly involved but I know they were back and forth with the Angeles LCR for a while and finally she passed and now has a "very late" registered birth certificate and passport. I'll ask my wife if they have any advice on the process.

Just today my wife and stepdaughters UK applications are formally sent off to Home Office UKVI for adjudication and their passports are in the possession of VFS in New York City. I will reserve any recommendations pending the outcome which we expect to hear in 15-18 days but the process has been pretty easy so far by challenged passport visa application standards. You can start a dummy application online here https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/apply-visa-type/visit just to see what you are getting into. Until you submit it nothing is permanent. Their biometrics was at the local USCIS ASC Tuesday and we sent their passports to VFS New York City by USPS Priority Mail. VFS got them today and emailed us that the processed visa applications were forwarded to UK Visas and Immigration today. Now we wait. If UK comes back successfully we are doing a Schengen visa from Germany also for the same trip. That one looks like 'maybe' we can do by mail since my wifes biometrics were taken in the Philippines in 2019 for her Netherlands visa, and her daughter is under 12. Germany uses BLS not VFS and once we are ready to submit the application, BLS has a phone number you are supposed to call and verify the biometrics are re-usable. If yes it can be done by mail. If not, it's a 2 1/2 hour trip to Los Angeles for us since that is the nearest BLS application center. It looks like it would be Miami in Florida. But at least you can call and find out if mail is an option with previous biometrics.

Per my Wikipedia sleuthing 😁 🤣 I was counting Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital employs 2,400, and Saint Luke's ~500 within a couple miles plus quite a few smaller medical facilities in the immediate area. Maybe not a "complex" but seems a health care oriented neighborhood. I'm guessing there might be a lot of Filipinos working around there (according to popular stereotypes about common vocational choices of Filipino immigrants😁)

Not to spread stereotypes about common vocational choices of Filipino immigrants, but the store is rather strategically located near a very large medical complex that employs over 3,000 medical workers. 😁 (including a Saint Luke's hospital😮) I'm sure it will be a very successful location. I checked the map and the Jollibee's in Houston are somewhat far from the new Seafood City so I believe it is now somewhat obligatory that a new one must be opened nearby in the not too distant future. Seafood City is a full supermarket but if you go for the fish they have fresh fish on ice which you can bag up and take it up to the counter where they will clean it and cut it to your specifications at no charge.

Seafood City is incredibly popular. Usually the stores are, or become an anchor point for a whole host of well known Filipino businesses. Surly there is or will be a Jollibee's, Red Ribbon Bakeshop, Goldilocks LBC, and a few local Filipino restaurants in the immediate surrounding neighborhood.