MarJhi

2 hours ago, Cheddy said:

There were no updates from today or any approvals from Monday.

 

Looks Like USCIS is still having some system problems, at least that's what I'm hoping, as the alternative is they aren't working on any K1s at all.

 

Here's what came through from yesterday:

 

Monday Updates:
107000 - 1 RFES (1 new / 0 in progress)
107500 - 1 RFES (1 new / 0 in progress)
108500 - 1 RFES (1 new / 0 in progress)
109000 - 1 Withdrawal (1 new / 0 in progress)
110500 - 4 RFESs (4 new / 0 in progress)
111000 - 1 RFES (1 new / 0 in progress)
111500 - 2 RFESs (2 new / 0 in progress)
112000 - 1 RFES (1 new / 0 in progress)
112500 - 2 RFESs, 1 Expedite(Approved) (3 new / 0 in progress)
116000 - 1 RFES (1 new / 0 in progress)
09/19/22: 16 Total Updates: 14 RFESs, 1 Withdrawal, 1 Expedite(Approved)

On an app I have I see several approvals and some RFE's right around me (in the 116000 range), hoping this thing is accurate. 

This is what it looks like on the Google Play store, anyone have any experience with this app?

On 12/11/2021 at 10:35 AM, MarJhi said:

Original application sent on July 10, 2021 but credit card payment was rejected for unknown reason. Used the same card (worked for them) to pay the lawyer the $535 fee and they wrote a paper check to USCIS. So the receipt for the NOA1 was on 7/27/21

 

Currently on 4.5 months and counting. I am hoping I have passed the halfway point waiting for the NOA2

Well this post by me didn't age well😁

21 hours ago, Kwilso25 said:

From the google doc sheet it seems like RFE sent are going through the roof for July why is that? I see the other months had minimal RFEs sent.

Possibly because during the height of the virus mess travel was restricted and many couples could not meet in person within the 2 year requirement. My guess (and yes I am only guessing) is that they need to prove they have met in person.

4 hours ago, Daisy.Chain said:

Do you have any updates on your case? Ours is a few days into August.

Nope, nothing yet. The "estimate" has moved to the end of September. The latest approvals i have seen come through are at around the 430 day mark, so that would take us to the end of September. I will happily take that,  but it seems for every 2 steps closer you get you move one step back.

7 hours ago, Nickm1002 said:

Hey everyone, just checking in for the first time in awhile.

 

It's been about 14 months since we filed our K1 and still no NOA2 😞

 

Really discouraged and starting to feel like I'll never be able to just live with the love of my life... long distance is so hard.

 

Do you guys think we will get it soon?? It feels like we've been waiting forever.

 

Also once we get it will the rest of the steps be faster?? I wanna start our lives together 😔 

 

My heart goes out to everyone else in the same spot or who has been through this...

Your time is coming very soon!

If you look at the latest approvals list below, it seems most are getting approved in the 420-430 day range.

USCIS Monthly Filers & Approvals (Igor's List) (visajourney.com)

1 hour ago, smore said:

I just keep saying wish we could communicate more, or am I being naive?

I would not call you naive, but I think I am a much more cautious person. Even though my fiance and I are 15 hours apart, we are lucky enough to have schedules that match up a little bit. I work nights (get off at 6am) and sleep days here in the US, she works around 11am to 9pm in the Philippines so we actually get home from work at the same time. We tend to have a 2 hour video call every morning (evening for her) and another hour every afternoon (morning for her). So it's a 3 hour a day video conversation on work days, 4 or 5 hours a day on off days, most of which is in the wee hours of the morning here because that's when I am awake. My overnight work schedule has turned out to be a blessing in this regard. 

5 hours ago, smore said:

Good question. But also difficult to answer. Have known here for 2 1/2 years now, the pandemic obviously halted any plans to meet sooner, plus she was working overseas. However I say difficult because I just do not know. Our communication has I guess not been consistent and often, she was an OFW up until Nov of last year so I guess communication was difficult according to her due to working long hours for a hong kong family and rules and such about phones while working and even in the house. I have no idea if that is the truth or not as difficult cultures are different than here in the USA where our phones are attached to our ears, hips, pockets and we could care less if we are at work or where we are, we are on our phones all the time and have them near by ready to communicate, even in front of the boss, we just seem entitled to be connected to our phones.

 

We have talked via the phone, not alot, but some and when we do its for 4-5 hours, but mainly seems to be via whatapp with messages, often times just quick messages, there obliviously is a time difference my morning is her night. But the communication is no to consistent, days, maybe week, maybe even 2 had gone by without response. Not the greatest way to form and keep a connection with one another going, hence why I say difficult to answer your question. I see and hear about other overseas relationships and they are talking all the time, guess I want that also, want someone to be in my life even know for now its at a distance. Now that she is back in the philippines she had said we would be talking more but its just not happened, maybe a little bit more consistent, but still not a ton. She mentions electricity out, not a good connection, had to help family. I am just not sure if there are excuses or what? I am searching for someone, and we only grow older, no one grows younger so I do want to enjoy life with someone.

 

I do need more talk via the phone,  more communication just like with any relationship to be able to really form that bond, that connection, and even more so with communication with someone overseas as you cannot go out on dates. So again difficult to answer your question, yes I do like her, yes I could see myself proposing to her, but at the same time I need that connection to be built with more consistent communication, and of course meeting one another and seeing how each other is in person to be able to decide.

I have to admit, the lack of daily communication is concerning, and the 2 week stretch of no contact is a red flag. I understand the difficulty in communicating when she was an OFW, especially if they are living in the house of their employers. But she has been home over 9 months so I would personally be a little suspicious when she makes more excuses. Is she paying for load for her phone on her own or are you helping her with that? 

Hopefully everything goes great for you 2 but just be careful and make sure you don't get into a bad situation without having an exit strategy. If you end up in her place and for whatever reason things don't click between you two, you need to know how to make it back to Manila on your own.

1 hour ago, Talako said:

2 hours - Hurry up, run, stress, and pray to your deity of choice

And this doesn't take into account the flight of origin arriving late to LAX.

Also, I have had a few layovers in LAX and EVERY TIME they moved my departing gate in the last hour before takeoff.

1 hour ago, top_secret said:

Libagon Leyte is likely to involve some kind of rustic transportation.  It may be ALLOT to take in on a first international trip.  Make sure you have very reliable plans for direct local guidance if you are going to do that.  Tacloban connecting from Manila is likely the most logical air route.  Getting from Tacloban to Libagon for your girl probably involves a cramped seat in a minivan (or worse) for hours.  I'm sure you can hire a car and driver but that is not likely her default plan for that segment so if you want a car or a comfortable seat, discuss that up front.  It's beautiful country and a great place to visit but one is likely to encounter very significant deviations from US and even international norms.

 

  (ask her if there are any "habal habals" on the trip 😉😅 she may live up in the hills you know). 

My first lesson on getting around in the Philippines is that distance is not measured in kilometers or miles, it's measured in time. If you ask someone how far something is they will never say 50km, they will say about 2 hours. Also, what would take you an hour to drive to in the US will likely take 4 or 5 times that in the Philippines. It's definitely an adventure.

2 hours ago, smore said:

It looks like Cebu is on a completely different island than Libagon. I believe what she says is you fly to Manila and than fly to Tacloban and than get a ride to where she is from. I believe the first plan was for her to meet me in Tacloban, but I asked if she could get to Manila to meet me being that I have never been to the country and it would help out alot her meeting me when I arrive. She said she could get there, never asked me to pay for the flight to get there. I do know she has family also in Manila as well. She has worked overseas several times so she knows how she has to get back to Libagon, so its basically the same for me flying in, sounds like fly into Manila, fly to Tacolban the next morning, and than drive to where she is from maybe 4 hour drive. Not sure if we are staying in Manila a day or so or what. At least from Manila forward we will be together to spend time together, whether its on a flight or on a long car ride.

Just out of curiosity, and to better understand your situation, can I ask to what level your relationship with this woman is? Are you in the beginning stages? On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being just getting to know her and 10 being ready to propose, where would you say you are? 

12 hours ago, smore said:

I did do a quick check and seems like you can fly to Cebu, but looks much more expensive and alot longer. I am flying from MN. I think the plan was to meet in Manila, have not heard about being able to fly to Cebu but I will bring it up when we talk.

Okay so it sounds more expensive at first glance. If you fly to Manila, you will still have to fly to Cebu at some point in order to get to Libagon, so factor in that you will have to pay for her to meet you in Manila, pay for a hotel in Manila, then pay for the 2 of you to fly to Cebu and then pay for your flight back to Manila for your trip home. That means you will have a couple of more trips through airports and airport security. It might be cheaper and less hectic in the long run to fly straight to Cebu and have her meet you there. 

9 minutes ago, AJeane said:

My fiance and I applied for a k1 visa September 2021. We've been waiting 11.5 months for noa2. Now we're wondering whether we should just get married and switch to CR1. Would he be able to legally work sooner with CR1? Would he be able to spend much time visiting here with his b1/b2 visa while waiting for the CR1 to be approved? Does he have to wait a certain amount of time in between his visits? How likely would a k3/k4 visa be approved while we're waiting for spousal visa to be approved?

You are probably 2 to 3 months from getting your NOA2 (assuming nothing changes). If you want to switch at this late stage that's fine but do you really want to start the clock all over again? You'll have to look into the approval times for CR1 versus K1 to make the right decision for you and your fiancé.

38 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

They say never do business with families...isn't that right?  Someone tell me if I should just drop out of him continuing to help me any further and just take it as a loss of the money I already paid him. I feel like he might be pointing me in the wrong direction and may cause me delays in the future. 

I think it's fine to do business with family if they are competent, but if they are doing it for you at a discounted rate you might also be getting discounted effort. 

As for losing the money you already paid him, think about it this way. Imagine it's 18 months from now and you still haven't gotten your NOA2 because of incompetence, how much would you pay to have it in your hands? Dropping that lawyer now and taking the $500 loss might end up saving you 6 months of waiting on the back end of this process.

If you want to use an attorney (we are using one), then make sure you have complete confidence in them, research them. 

7 minutes ago, Melohhdee said:

Palawan,

Thank you for commenting. I was quite upset with his reply. I came on here for help and he made it seem like I was doubting my choice on my decision. 
 

I am thankful firm on applying to for k1, we are prepared to pay the money. When I saw how much the hassle was to get married in the Philippines compared to where I live, I was like nope lol. 
 

thank you again for replying. I truly appreciate your comment. 

No need  to be upset, he was just explaining the positives/negatives of CR1 versus K1. If there are certain aspects that are important for someone then maybe the CR1 is the way to go, if you aren't concerned about those advantages then K1 is fine too. It never hurts to have all of the information as early in the process as possible in order to make the best decision for you.

FYI, I am also going the K1 route. If the Philippines was open for foreign travelers last year before we applied I probably would have chosen the CR1 route. I was aware of the CR1 vs K1 option but had not heard of the Zoom marriage so I didnt want to wait for the Philippines to open back up for tourists. Once I made my decision which way to go I was all in and never looked back or regretted my choice.

6 hours ago, ericdima said:

Hi I am totally new to the forum, can someone explain which part of the case number I should be looking at? For example when you say “106500” is that what the case number starts with, or ends with, or what exactly? 
 

My NOA1 was first week of August 2021 and Im trying to gauge just how far we are compared to cases being worked on now. 

Your NOA1 is about a week after mine, so you are looking at getting your NOA2 around the beginning of October (assuming things don't slow down even more). Most of the approvals I am seeing coming through lately are around the 420-430 day mark. 

You should fill out your timeline on here, it does help you figure out where you stand in the process and gives you an estimated approval time. 

On 8/24/2022 at 10:34 AM, EdwinShinobi said:

I'm getting the feeling they have started to work on July 2021 cases.

 

Anyone kindly tracking those numbers?

 

Thank you for the hard work.

There are a handful of July 2021 approvals coming through.

On 8/24/2022 at 3:45 PM, Foreignmiks said:

finally approved!!

Your timeline is not filled out, can I ask when you got your NOA1?

Congratulations

4 minutes ago, Talako said:

What is your disability?

 

Pretending to be disabled in a third country for discounts and benefits is much sadder than making up numerous alias on a Visa site.

It's despicable

1 hour ago, smore said:

I really do not know the final destination, first of course is Manila but she wants me to visit her family which we would have to travel, take another flight to another airport and than get a ride to where she is from Libagon.

Why not bypass the stay in Manila and go straight to Cebu? It's closer to Libagon I think.

53 minutes ago, Palawan said:

I said it was stupid to have to write down the serial #, I for one would never do that, if you are foolish enough to do all that nonsense then I don't know what to say.  If I was asked or requested to write down the serial # I would tell them to pound sand and move on to a place easier to deal with.

I think calling someone "foolish" because you have a differing opinion is a little inappropriate. Try to relax and have a better day, you sound so angry all of the time.

13 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

Normally money changers do not require all of the serial numbers to be written down, however the money changer at SM Hypermart is run by BDO, so they generally want all of the numbers written down to exchange money. 

Well it's no big deal to me because typically I was only exchanging around $500, $400 of which was 100 dollar bills, so writing down 4 serial numbers wasn't much of a chore. The smaller bills ($20 and below) they didn't ask me to write down the serial numbers. Now if I was exchanging 50 large bills that would be annoying to write it all down, but 4 was nothing to stress about.

3 hours ago, Palawan said:

I have never heard of anyone requiring a person to write down the serial # of 100 bills, that is really wierd

 

Why would you go to a place like that?

 

You going up a Money Exchanger with a fist full of US Currency and exchaning is a lot different then a Filipino walking up to a money exchanger with a couple one dollar bills trying to exchange, they would tell them to get lost.

Well, you not hearing of it doesn't mean it isn't done. What is the big deal about writing down a few serial numbers? It was in SM Hypermarket at MOA, tons of security around, seems harmless to me. Relax, you seem very stressed about this.

Also, my fiance, her sister and her coworkers at the day spa in the mall occasionally get tipped in foreign currencies, even US $1 bills, and she says it is silly to think they can't get that exchanged, so I'll take her word for it. And by the way, she doesn't change one bill at a time, she waits until she has a certain amount collected  and then exchanges it all at once. 

4 hours ago, smore said:

Seems like what I am finding is 2 stop flights from where I am, and goes through Seoul Korea. Also seems like when I go to an airline site like Delta I actually come up with less options, sometimes just 1 or 2. There are lots of travel sites so I am just seeing what will be best, flight time which seems to be around 22-28 hours, cost wise, etc. Still have not given up on the LAX nonstop to Manila, just would have to have all the stars to align to fly from where I am to LAX and not have a long layover to catch flight to Manila.

 

Not having FB and not wanting FB I cannot use FB messenger. I do have whatsapp and have had it for several years. So I am wondering if I will be able to use it on flight over there and while there. I have straight talk plan, and I already contacted them and they do not have a plan that would work overseas. So whatapp does use my phone for the account, however since whatsapp is setup already can I not use that app if I have Wi-fi, I believe that is what my phone company said, they also mentioned this pocket wi-fi device I can get so I did not have to connect to any local wi-fi, no idea what this pocket wi-fi is, anyone heard of it?

 

I am just not sure of this Sim card thing, seems like that is what alot of people do, but don't I have to open up phone take my sim card out which contains all my data and put in a sim card which than will not have anything saved on it from my orig sim card? I would not like the hassle of doing that. Certainly have to figure out communication with who I am visiting, while there I am sure we will use her phone for that, but still we need to communicate when I am leaving, on the way, and when I arrive.

 

Sounds like credit cards are really not the thing to use and I can see how many small places cannot accept them. Just need to than figure out how much to bring, how much to exchange, I do not want to overly bring to much and be walking around with lots of money.

 

I am hoping we can use her phone for getting transportation, perhaps thru that grab app, she is already familiar with traveling around so I am hoping that is something I do not have to think about so much. Sounds like the private rides are the way to go vesus a taxi.

 

I agree she will will my protector as she knows the country, so I am hoping alot of things I will not have to worry about as she will know them and be able to just do, like transportation. We will be together I am thinking the entire time so no matter where we go from Manila she should be able to handle how we are going to do that.

 

 

Where will you be staying, in the Manila area? Make sure your hotel has wifi. 

You sound very resistant to all of the advice given by everyone here about sim cards and your carrier doesnt have an international option, so maybe you'll just have to wing it and figure out something on the fly. Good luck on that.

I wasn't suggesting you not take your credit cards, they will be good in certain places and it's a good backup to have in an emergency. Outside of the airports I never really used them. 

As for how much cash to bring, I don't know a good answer for you for that question. You said you don't want to walk around with too much cash, but in the Philippines you shouldn't walk around with more cash on you than you need for that day. Is your plan to walk around with all of your cash on you at all times? Remember, the minimum wage in the Manila is around 500 pesos per day, that's less than $10 per day. How big a target would you be if someone notices you have all of your vacation money on you at all times? What would you do for money if something  came up and you needed more? What if your money got stolen or lost? You need to figure these things out now, not after you get there.