top_secret

We flew EVA Air Manila-Taipei-Amsterdam. That was a very good way to go. Almost all the airlines flying from the Philippines to Europe have visa free transit for Filipino passports. Before we were married my wife previously got a Schengen Visa. We discovered there are big differences in visa approval/denial rates for Filipinos amongst different Schengen countries, and the Netherlands is by far the most "Filipino friendly" and not surprisingly the most popular embassy to apply with a Filipino passport. (lowest denial rate, most multiple entry visas, highest total number of Schengen visas for Filipino passports)

Well they successfully charged my card at 11:56PM last night so I suppose I have to call that September 12 (by 4 minutes). Not sure if it's some automated billing process that runs overnight or if they have a night shift. No SMS or e-mail yet but maybe later today or at least 'soon'. The charge cleared as "Merchant: USCIS (PHOENIX LOCKBOX Amount: $765.00" 9/6/2023 -- I-751 packet mailed by USPS Priority Mail. 9/8/2023 -- Packet received by Phoenix lock box. Tracking said "Delivered, Individual Picked Up at Postal Facility". 9/12/2023 -- Credit card charged.

CFO holds all the cards on whether your fiancée can leave the Philippines or not with a K1 visa. You have to play their game according to whatever rules they make up. There is no way around it. It's one of those situations where the easy way past them is to just put on a big fake smile and compliantly do whatever they say you have to do.

CFO has been undergoing all kinds of wild spastic gyrations and completely rewriting all the rules like every two weeks lately but they usually somehow work things out in time to travel. Even if rather inelegantly. I think as of like the last two weeks they are now saying they will strictly only schedule appointments for those with actual visa on hand. I don’t know if you can still at least pre-register without a visa yet. Who knows what the rules will be by November, but it is highly predictable that the rules then will be different from the rules now. Because their webserver backend API is "some lady at a desk" you have to hit their server at EXACTLY 7:00AM Monday thru Thursday. Whatever sign up slots are allocated for the day will be snapped up in minutes and they do not work nights or weekends. The FBI report or fingerprints are not needed. They only ever asked something like that for someone traveling to meet an overseas sponsor for the first time or something. They would never ask that from a normal K1 case unless they had some kind of specific suspicion. CFO will probably only want scans of her passport, visa, CENOMAR, and your passport. They might ask for some relationship evidence like pictures, your divorce decree if previously married and maybe your ACR card and visa or extensions if you have been living together in the Philippines. Every once and a while they throw in some oddball made up requirement but it's usually pretty straightforward for a K1 or CR/IR-1 case.

I used to do that. Then about 15 years ago in a hotel in Indonesia I plugged in a cheapo charger that promptly detonated in my hand. Miraculously, other than some soot marks on my fingers, there were no ill effects to me, but it blew the circuit breaker for like half the rooms on my side of the hall. (who knew they had circuit breakers in Indonesia?) So I called the lady at the front desk who who spoke very little English, but more than anyone who was there at night. I somehow communicated the power was out and about 15 minutes later two "repairmen" showed up at my room with a flashlight and a ladder. They did not speak a word of English and despite my best efforts I was not able to communicate to them to just go turn the circuit breaker back on and everything would be fine. I 'think' they associated the blown circuit breaker with some recurrent problem with the air-conditioning(??), since they started climbing in the ventilation duct in the roof of my hotel room. After 5 minutes or so, the guy up in the ventilation duct yelled something to the other guy who then disappeared down the hall and presumably finally flipped the circuit breaker since everything came back on. The guy climbed out of the duct in the roof and the two of them were all smiles having heroically solved the no power situation. After they left I checked the label on that charger and sure enough it was like the only charger that was NOT dual voltage. Ever since then I do check the labels.🤣

Wow, that was fast for USCIS to acknowledge it. I guess we are a day behind you. Mailed Wed, delivered Fri.

I have read accounts of people actually being denied entry to Costa Rica and returned to the US, or not being boarded for their flight there over an extension letter. The Costa Rican Embassy is also quite specific that they do not accept extension letters and that persons from countries that normally require a visa still need to get one if their physical green card is expired and they have an extension letter. http://www.costarica-embassy.org/index.php?q=node/24

My $8 Walmart coffee maker is clearly labeled that it requires 120 60 Hz so it does NOT work on 240V 50 Hz. My $8 Walmart coffee maker would also not work with the step down transformer suggested by the OP since the coffee maker is labeled that it requires 700W and the Amazon ad says that step down transformer is only rated for 250W. An example of something that might be best to leave in the US and buy new in the Philippines if needed.

USPS tracking says they already delivered it in Phoenix today.

Be sure to double check you clicked the red "Submit Documents" button and the documents are tagged as "submitted" rather than just "uploaded".

Most AC powered gadgets and gizmos these days have a label on them somewhere which removes the guesswork. If it says 100-240V or 110-220V you are good to go with no adapter. I have encountered some sockets in the Philippines that physically won't accommodate the wide prong on a polarized plug.

LBC is totally awesome if there is a US branch near you. Sending documents from San Diego to North Luzon was $12 and took 5 days total with full tracking.

I would guess Chicago has a very diverse selection of foreign language speakers both in CBP ranks and others they could ask for language assistance. I'm thinking unless it was some very obscure language you wouldn't have much trouble. At LAX I have often heard PA announcements asking if a specific airline could send a foreign language speaking employee to assist one of their passengers at an immigration station so I assume that is also something CBP commonly tries.

Mobile Passport for LPR's is a very recent and welcome phenomenon. Previously it was strictly for only US or Canadian Citizens.

How did they "say" upload all pages??? Was that a "Case FE Review note" message???? If that was the case(?) you have to respond to what they said. Unless you got the message that specifically says DOCUMENTARILY QUALIFIED, it is not. Even if everything is accepted they still may ask for something additional.

Well it's off. For better or worse. I myself am not completely satisfied with it but there is quite a bit of quality evidence so hopefully "good enough". Priority Mail to the Phoenix lockbox. It's kinda' anticlimactic when you consider it will probably be a couple of years before anyone looks at it anyways.

If you get married in the Philippines USCIS, NVC and USEM expect to see a PSA Marriage Certificate. The quote you referenced was about a PSA ROM (Report of Marriage) which is often incorrectly called a "PSA Marriage Certificate", which it is not. If there is a PSA ROM the marriage occurred overseas and USCIS, NVC and USEM expect to see a marriage certificate according to the requirements of wherever the marriage took place.

I figure if I ever did get a RFE on the lease it wouldn't be that difficult to answer. The separate accounts was specifically checking. We have intermingled credit card accounts going back 7 or 8 years and I did include that. But yea, I do wish we had opened the joint checking account earlier.

Well our rent is kind of by gentlemen's agreement and a handshake with the owner and has been that way for years. The owner is charging us fairly substantially under market rent and throws in utilities to, but he doesn't like being bothered so I'm not going to bother the guy about some paperwork we never needed before and if anything ever needs fixed on the place, I just fix it myself. I do however totally get it that it is less than ideal on this petition. I like living dangerously. 😉 I figure if I can book a last minute plane ticket from some sketchy travel agent in north Jakarta without triggering a fraud alert, my bank has apparently finally come to terms with my spending profile. Thank You

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.

I believe the question referred to is It would seem the first situation applies. She WAS refused a B2 visa so the answer is YES. When it asks explanation, it is just what you said. The B2 denial has no impact whatsoever on the spousal visa but they do know all about it and why. So you have to put it there when asked. My wife had two previous B2 denials. We answered yes and listed them there and it was not the slightest issue.

PSA is merely the record keepers. PSA doesn't create any civil documents, they merely maintain official copies of documents created by the LCRO or in the case of a ROM, they keep an official copy of the document created by the overseas consulate. I often hear Filipinos referring to a PSA ROM as a "PSA Marriage Certificate". In the Philippines it is more or less the legal equivalent. But outside of the Philippines and for US immigration purposes it has no legal significance whatsoever. It's definitely not considered a "marriage certificate" in the eyes of USCIS, NVC or the US Embassy.

I know of quite a few persons who received their passports from US Embassy Manila recently in just 2 or 3 days. There are always exceptions and it's not unheard of for it to take quite a bit longer but after 3 weeks you definitely might want to start following up. Other ways you can check the status of the passport at US Embassy Manila is to e-mail passportstatus@ustraveldocs.com with the subject and body of the e-mail just the passport number. It should generate an auto-response with the passport status. They also have a web form here https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-passportretrieve.asp where you can input the passport number and see the status.. If her CEAC status is "Issued" or the other status updates say it was already shipped yet she still doesn't have it, you can also e-mail LBC at ustraveldocssupport@lbcexpress.com or call the LBC hotline at (02)8858-5999 to verify if they don't have it and are experiencing some delivery issue.

Crime Season?????? https://www.manilastandard.net/news/national/314366454/ncrpo-warns-of-rise-in-crimes-as-ber-months-start.html