top_secret

I think you are making it way more complicated than it actually is. As Adventine already mentioned up thread, you can just order it online with a credit card at https://www.psaserbilis.com.ph and have it mailed directly to the US. At most she would need to satisfy a clerk at the post office or DHL delivery guy that she is the intended recipient. I'm prettey sure even an expired passport would work there. Alternatly you could order one online and have it sent to her sisters address in the Philippines and just email her a scan of a letter authorizing release to her sister and her expired passport. All the sister has to do is convince a courior to release it. It costs $6 online to try that and high chance of sucess. Or, her mother is able to directly claim her own daughter's birth certificate from PSA if that is an option. Compared to having lawyers doing FOA requests, multiple affidavits, SPA's etc the "just order one online" option seems pretty simple.

Ultimately the name that appears on the spouses Japanese passport will be the name that appears on the visa, green card, social security card and therefore everything derived from those documents. Changing the name after all of those are already issued is costly and time consuming in the US. So, if she wants to and intends to change her name, it will be a huge benefit to change her Japanese passport as soon as it is practical and just start using her married name for everything if that is the name she actually intends to use.

US Embassy Manila's social media campaign on the issue.

My opinion on that type of mistake is that it has no legal bearing on whether you are actually legally married or not. Even with the mistake you most certainly ARE legally married in the eyes of the Philippines and therefore in the eyes of the US as well. No court in either country would ever overturn your marriage over such a trivial mistake. So it is a completely valid marriage certificate as is. Since your are showing Philippines as the country of the beneficiary you need a PSA copy of the marriage certificate though. The "civil registry" (Local Civil Registry) is not adequate by itself.

For comparison, the previous 2015 guidelines are here. https://immigration.gov.ph/images/ImmigrationLaw/2017_Feb/18_2015Jun15_IACAT_RevisedGuidelines.pdf Not that they were ever adhered to much.

I found the official PDF document. https://www.doj.gov.ph/files/2023/IACAT/2023 Updated Guidelines (for publishing)_1.pdf I assume enforcement will continue to be completely random without any rhyme or reason. It introduces a few new rules but is not completely dissimilar from the previous guidelines for departure which was never even remotely applied consistently. Much of it is actually not new. For the OP my guess would be than a 74-yr-old father visiting their US daughter sponsor would pass Philippine immigration trouble free "just because".

I'm not saying it is completely legal to drive. I'm saying it is a very minor infraction with fairly trivial consequences even in the worst case scenario. 12500(a), when the driver is in possession of an otherwise valid licence would be an infraction (ticket) with a maximum penalty of $250 (which would almost certainly be dismissed if the driver corrected the licence situation and showed the court.) No one is getting arrested, no cars are getting impounded, it's not a moving violation, it doesn't affect your driving record or insurance or anything else. If there was no evidence the driver EVER had a licence anywhere or there were multiple occurrences then there is a small chance 12500(a) could be charged as a misdemeanor. Those circumstances don't seem to apply here. If the driver is driving with a suspended or revoked license that is a whole different charge and that is where it starts getting serious.

One thing to consider about California law is that nowhere does it say that not getting a California drivers license within 10 days revokes or in any other way invalidates a valid overseas or out of state drivers license. It is as valid as it ever was until a court or DMV hearing says otherwise. You are still a legally licensed driver. What you ARE guilty of, is the fairly trivial administrative infraction of not getting a California drivers license in 10 days. It means you are late, it doesn't mean you are unlicensed. Most likely any police officer would not even question it or else just warn you. If you got a really mean, ill-tempered officer who just didn't like you, he would write you a ticket and send you on your way. There is no cause or grounds for them to do anything more. The ticket is not a moving violation, does not go on you driving record, there are no points or any other consequences. If you just paid the ticket it's probably like $150 fine. If you showed up at traffic court and showed them you had corrected the situation with a newly acquired California drivers license, they would dismiss the whole thing for like a $20 fee. It is at most a minor "fix-it ticket".

Yep. It didn't get my account canceled but I did have a Citi phone rep tell me it was absolutely impossible to add an authorized user without a social security number. She said it couldn't be done. So I hung up, went on citi.com and two minutes later successfully added my wife as an authorized user with nothing more than a name and a birth date..

Rejected what look to be very high quality photocopies. I find this account 100% credible. Not in English but very much got a 221g for not wet ink copy of a divorce decree. Rejected a photocopy Another one where at least she got it resolved quickly. Those are just a sample from only like the last 2 or 3 weeks at US Embassy Manila. There's more.

I would allow that there may, or may not be differences in original document requirements between K1 and IR1 (?????) The embassy sends out the same generic checklist for both. For CR1/IR1, in just the month of July alone, I personally know of at least 6 persons who actually received 221g's from US Embassy Manila to send in an original certified copy of a petitioner’s divorce decree because a photocopy brought to the interview was not accepted. I know of no one who said they successfully made it through US Embassy Manila with a photocopy of a divorce decree. I haven't heard any recent K1 accounts so I couldn't argue one way or another if they apply a looser standard to the same documents for K1's. But for CR-1/IR-1 an interviewee has about zero chance of making it through US Embassy Manila with a photocopied divorce decree.

You would have to ask the court about that. I'm sure every court in the country is different. Some courts might handle it same day but I have also heard of courts requiring a written request. Also make sure it's a certified copy. Some courts have the copy, and the certification, as two seperate fees..

US Embassy Manila is being wildly unpredictable with their scheduling this year. They now seem to be using the expedite system for EVERYONE as a roundabout way of switching over to all self-scheduling and completely eliminating any scheduling by NVC. In January this year they expedited EVERYONE who was DQ for spousal visas. Then there was no spousal visa scheduling activity at all, save for a handful of actual expedites, up until June 26. On June 26 they expedited EVERYONE who was DQ up until about May 15. Since then there has been no further scheduling so as it stands now anyone DQ from May 15 onward is waiting for scheduling. Presumably by another "mass auto-expedite". When that will happen is remains a mystery.

If you need to send her an original copy from WA State, LBC Express has branches in Seattle and Tacoma if that works out. For documents from San Diego to Luzon, LBC charged us $12 and took 5 days with tracking. FedEx, UPS or DHL were charging like $80 or more.

It has to be an original certified copy from the court. US Embassy Manilla will not accept a printed scan or photocopy of the court's certification. US Embassy Manilla has been handing out many 221gs lately on just that issue.

If you don't submit them apparently the embassy staff cannot see them. If you are already DQ they will not be reviewed by NVC but would be visible to the embassy.

All Utah online marriages must be registered through the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. Their instructions and requirements are here. https://pcgsanfrancisco.org/civil-registry/ (select the "REPORT OF MARRIAGE" drop down) Previously they were requiring an affidavit explaining that it was a virtual ceremony since obviously the Filipino spouse doesn't have a copy of their US visa. However, currently they seem to have completely dropped that requirement. There is also an affidavit of delayed registration mentioned if the marriage was not reported within a year. That does not seem to apply here either, so most likely no affidavits are required. The best way to handle getting the forms notarized is to fill out the pdf ROM form, save it and e-mail it to the Filipino spouse. Then the Filipino spouse can print copies of it and take it to a Philippine notary where they can sign and have the copies notarized. (FOUR original wet signed and notarized copies). Make sure the Filipino spouse notifies the Philippine notary to reserve half the space in the notary box for a second notarization or else the Philippine notary will take up the whole page. Then have the Philippine spouse mail you the original forms and you take them to a US notary where you can sign and have the copies notarized.

A girlfriend (or a boyfriend, because I am confused) was,,,, a "friend" back then. I'd leave it at that and not think much about it further.

US Embassy Manila posted a sample online. https://uploads.mwp.mprod.getusinfo.com/uploads/sites/24/2022/04/Sample-Generic-Affidavit.pdf Probably best to get it notarized there by a Filipino notary since diferent LCRO's could make up their own rules about what they would accept. https://ph.usembassy.gov/marriage/ Depending on your timeframes, a Utah online marriage may be MUCH faster and less bureaucratic than a Philippine marriage and is 100% accepted by both the US and the Philippines. Judging by ALLOT of recently approved visas it seems a huge percentage of them are now Utah online marriages. US Embassy Manila is seeing multiple Utah online marriages daily and isn't questioning them even slightly.

Korean Air comes up $583 one-way MNL-ICN-SEA a bunch of dates in October. In today's airfare market I don't think you could do to much better than that. I would really try hard to avoid an unnecessary domestic connection just make things easy on your fiancée. I'm sure it's stressful enough by itself.

In the Philippines they generally consider a PSA Report of Marriage to be a valid "marriage certificate". However, the US Government most certainly does NOT consider a PSA Report of Marriage to be any type of marriage certificate at all, and would instead require a marriage certificate from whoever the marriage took place. You could submit your PSA ROM as relationship evidence but it has no legal value whatsoever in the US.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript The transcript is most likely way smaller than a 100 page tax return.

It's really variable. I have recently heard of several 221g's from US Embassy Manila resolved in 3 or 4 days. But we also had one here recently that took 6 weeks with no outwardly obvious differences between the 3 day case and 6 week case.

We have one VJ member right at this moment with a 221g from US Embassy Manila requiring a certified copy of a divorce decree rather than the photocopy that was brought to the interview. It is best to assume the embassy is quite serious about that requirement. Generally it would be a photocopy that is certified by the court clerk with a stamp or embossed seal and signature. Any court has a records department that can supply certified copies of their records.

They need a designated phone holder.🤣😂