top_secret

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.

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