top_secret

That was before she had her green card. She never wanted to visit mexico again but after she has been here in San Diego a year she finally decided to try Tijuana for the afternoon. There the local TJ police hassled us very aggressively on the street. I'm used to that and know how to handle those guys but yet a second bad Mexico experience for her. More recently we drove down to San Felipe, hired a panga boat and caught an absolutely ludicrous amount of fish so she's happy now. In two weeks we are flying from Tijuana to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo which is super easy from San Diego. We'll see how that goes. Should be fun.

Traveling with you she should be fine but do bring an actual printout of hotel reservations. Traveling alone on any kind of visa and with a Philippine passport she better have at minimum bank statements, credit cards, atm cards and a stack of US $100's. Mexican Immigration is dead serious about proof of funds for holders of challenged passports.

That was in August 2020 during the Philippines non-essential outbound travel ban. We expected trouble from Philippines BI and were well prepared for that. They detained her and interrogated her for an hour but eventually let her go. We weren't expecting so much trouble from Mexican immigration since at that time they were soliciting tourism and touting themselves as the only open destination during the rona-travel bans. She had to fly Manila-Istanbul-Frankfurt-Mexico City. I flew Tijuana to Mexico City to meet her. She got kicked back to Frankfurt. I re-booked her Frankfurt to São Paulo Brazil and we went to Rio de Janeiro together from there. Going back to Manila she flew São Paulo to Addis Ababa Ethiopia to Manila. Good times traveling under rona travel bans.

Well, we had experience with my wife being refused entry to Mexico with a 5 year multiple entry Japan visa in a Philippine passport. But even in that whole debacle there was total consensus between Mexican Immigration, the airlines and my wife that the Japan visa was absolutely a valid substitute visa for Mexico. Rather she was refused entry based on Mexico's "we reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone for any reason or even no reason" policy. She was never given a reason and thrown out on the same plane she came in on. Sent to Germany, where we re-routed her and went on vacation to Brazil instead. Our experience is that valid visa or not, Mexican immigration treats Filipino passport holders very differently than they treat US passport holders. In the case of the MIL, if she is coming from the US, traveling with you, with a valid B2 visa in a Philippine passport she should be fine. Have round trip ticket, hotel reservations and available funds very well documented for the entire stay. Mexican immigration is very strict about that. Be aware that it does NOT reset her I94. The US sees it as a side trip during her allowed stay in the US. Her entire round trip to Mexico must fit comfortably within her allowed stay in the US. If Mexican Immigration sees it as an attempted "visa run" she would be denied entry for that. IE, if she spent 5 1/2 month in the US and flies to Cancun, they would deny her entry because her US stay was about to expire. If she is arriving alone or directly from the Philippines and using a US B2 visa to enter Mexico rather than from the US and traveling with you, she is still fine to enter but will face a lot of scrutiny and should have a very high level of preparation.

Yes it takes a lawyer and a court case. The relative handful of cases I heard of successfully getting recognized seemed to be about a 2 year time frame and maybe P100k plus. Like all things court related in the Philippines, the cost and timeframe may have an inverse relationship and individual results may vary and be negotiable. In terms of US immigration it is not really important since the US does not require Philippine recognition of a divorce that is otherwise legal in the eyes of the US. Recognition of a foreign divorce is mainly only important for dealings with the Philippine government.

She also should sign the return.

That is frustrating. Even in their e-mail response they clearly mention the policy that it is a CENOMAR or an Advisory on Marriages and the purpose is only to show that there are no undisclosed marriages. If you have not yet, maybe do get the ROM going as a last ditch contingency. Maybe re-submit the CENOMAR along with a detailed letter of explanation that you have ordered an Advisory on Marriages from PSA and they provided the CENOMAR and say it is the correct document by PSA's records? I'm wondering if you got some trainee counsel who does not yet have a basic understanding of Philippine laws or if this new VAC has introduced a layer of non-thinking check-box checking staff. Ultimately they cannot make an Advisory on Marriages specifically into a hard requirement because doing so would amount to a total ban for a number of otherwise fully qualified couples. It's clearly confusion on the part of the embassy but obviously a difficult situation to deal with. Just double checking. You did upload it to CEAC too?

Check on https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/ It definitely has some status. For the Philippines if that status is "Ready" then you can and need to self-schedule.

It varies from person to person. The Embassy is incredibly inconsistent. Probably a majority of people see CEAC status changed to "Issued" within a day or two and receive their passport with visa within a week. But there is also a sizable number who inexplicably take anywhere from two to six weeks with no explanation or outwardly identifiable differences from those who got issued in two days. Hope for the best but don't make any difficult to change plans until you have the actual visa on hand.

It is extremely common that the e-mail is never sent. Don't wait for an e-mail that may never arrive. You don't need it. If the case's CEAC status is "Ready" then you may proceed create an account on https://www.usvisascheduling.com/ to self schedule the interview. The embassy will not be scheduling your interview.

Detroit might be drivable and give you allot more options on Delta than Cleveland would. If meeting them on the ground at the POE is the issue. If you are traveling with your sons then just choose whatever POE gives you the best connections.

Since we are right at the beginning of the year. Unless there is any issues or significant changes from last year's work patterns and annual gross income, I would just stick with that any leave calculations of hourly wages and overtime out of it.

Passport can be gotten in 2 weeks in the Philippines. Pay the nominal expedite fee. She just needs the ID and PSA documents to satisfy DFA. USEM will cancel the interview on a no-show. No-show is not a problem at all, just keep trying until you can get a new appointment. Lawyer probably can't help at all in any way. Medical and everything else is fine with a new passport. It would all be easily worked out during the pre-interview document check. Getting a new passport is the only issue. It's not a huge problem.

I fully agree that no one should ever file as "single" if they are married. Both for legal and financial reasons. However, I have yet to personally see anyone say it was even mentioned by USCIS as part of an immigration case. Lots of people incorrectly filed as "single". It's not a common problem in most immigration cases. From an IRS perspective, incorrectly filing as single most commonly results in the taxpayer paying more. While the IRS could audit someone over the issue, they probably won't because there is nothing for the IRS to gain. I would reiterate that I think everyone 'should' file correctly and there is no reason at all for them not to. But as far as USCIS is concerned I think it's pretty close to a non-issue. I definitely wouldn't lose any sleep worrying about it.

This old thread was revived from January 2023 and should be closed. The advice given was accurate back in 2023 but USEM's policies are different now in 2026.

Unless and until you get the email and CEAC message that says "DOCUMENTARILY QUALIFIED", it is not. They often accept everything submitted and then ask for something additional. You can reupload by just selecting the type of document they asked for and uploading as if it is a new document. Be sure to submit it to

That's the correct final ROM. Certified on PSA paper. She can change her name in her passport and any other Philippine ID based on that. For the Embassy, bring it but it's not a requirement. They want the original certified overseas marriage certificate and PSA Advisory on Marriages which is a different document from the ROM.

The young ones should only need registered with CFO. I'm pretty sure they can do it on a walk in basis once actual visas are on hand.

It sounds like your 17 y/o stepson became a US Citizen at the moment mom naturalized. Apply for his US Passport right away since it's quick and easy. Don't wait for the N600. I'm not saying not to file the N600 too but it takes longer and is more complicated than getting his US Passport. Children born outside the US should be included on their mother's application for retaining Philippine Citizenship. I think it's an extra $20. If mom was still a Philippine Citizen when the kids were born in the US they were duel citizens at birth don't have to do anything other than the report of birth and apply for their Philippine passports. As far as delayed registration put anything you want for the actual reason on the affidavit. They will translate it into "reason? Negligence." Which is no big deal at all. The benefit for the kids is they get their rightful Philippine passports. Mom and 17 y/o could get balikbayan stamps with US Passports and PSA birth Certificates. The younger ones ARE Philippine Citizens so don't need and probably can't get balikbayan stamps but it sounds like they DO need report of birth and Philippine passports. CFO has a pretty decent document on the finer points of Philippine duel nationality law. https://cfo.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/pdf/2018/DUAL-CIT-PRIMER-FINAL.pdf

A valid multiple entry visa for the US or any other G7 nation IS accepted by Mexico as a substitute visa that is valid for entry to Mexico. Your MIL CAN visit Mexico with a valid US B2 visa in a Philippine passport. https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/toronto/index.php/en/servicesforeigners/doclegalization/52-conservices/225-visitors-who-do-not-require-a-visa-with-a-stay-up-to-180-days

Yep. Vietnam is an ASEAN member state. Filipino passport holders can travel visa free in all ASEAN countries. https://asean.org/member-states/ No problem at all for her to visit.

There is a lot of confusion about CENOMARs, Advisory on Marriages, PSA Marriage Certificates and ROM's (Report of Marriage). ALL applicants must have either a CENOMAR OR Advisory on Marriages. They order a CENOMAR from PSA and depending on whether PSA has them recorded as married or not they will either receive a CENOMAR OR an Advisory on Marriages. You can't make a choice other than by going through the long process of making sure PSA has the marriage recorded. You get whatever PSA gives you. Whatever PSA gives you is what the embassy wants to see. The embassy may further confuse things by asking specifically for an Advisory on Marriages without mentioning that a CENOMAR is also acceptable. If they ask for an "Advisory on Marriages" but all you have is a CENOMAR, it is up to the applicant to somehow magically know that it means the same thing and to hand over the CENOMAR. Report of Marriage (ROM) is also not a requirement. Filipinos often refer to a ROM as a "PSA Marriage Certificate" since in the Philippines it serves the same purpose. As far as the embassy is concerned it IS NOT a PSA Marriage Certificate. It is a Report of Marriage. To further confuse that, the embassy has lots of instructions requiring a PSA Marriage Certificate, referring to the certificate that is issued for couples that marry in the Philippines. Those instructions do not apply to couples married overseas but since Filipinos often call a ROM, a PSA Marriage Certificate, they frequently misinterpret those instructions to mean that a ROM is required. If at all possible, it is very advantageous to change the name in the passport BEFORE the interview. She could literally show up the day of her interview with new passport in hand and the old canceled passport, show them to the security guard and they would straighten it all out at the pre interview document check. If she waits, her visa, green card, and social security card will all be in her maiden name. Social Security will not change her name until she changes her green card. Almost no state would change state id until Social Security or USCIS changes it first. It costs $415 and can take over a year to change the name on a green card once it's been issued. If you already filed a ROM 6 months ago surely it must be processed by now. Are you requesting it from PSA or talking to the consulate.? They always tell you 6 months but 3 to 4 months is more typical. 2 weeks for a new passport is more or less realistic if you pay the expedite fee. Maybe add an extra week for holidays. You can reschedule once or twice. There is some kind of poorly defined limit to how many times you can reschedule without involving the embassy. If you aren't ready to move for a few months anyway it's probably better to just hold off scheduling for a while until everything else is in order.

In your case, the only requirement is either you arrive together or the petitioner is in the US first. Since you mention traveling together it sounds like your plan is good.

It has no relevance whatsoever to a N400.

I think the "case number not found" issue generally resolves itself within a day or two. That whole website is a monument to shoddy government IT work.