An D

Yeah, that's what I assumed. Appreciate all your help. Just trying to keep my poor wife sane lol. She's really stressed over this, cause she thought (we both thought) the longest wait was done. ugh

I think that’s all absolutely valid. All the “pros” for the CR/IR route were some of the reasons we decided to go that route. It just made sense. And we wanted to be married.
 
And I was in a position where I could go visit my wife every 4 to 6 months for a few weeks at a crack while we waited it out, figuring on a 2-year wait. 
 
Then our county administrator retired, we got a replacement, and she refuses all leave without pay requests, without exception. So, I haven’t seen my wife in 7 months, and I won’t see her until she is here.
 
After she was robbed and sexually assaulted, my department head finagled FMLA for me, or I wouldn’t have been able to go there at that point either…because no unpaid leave, period. 
 
Fortunately, whenever USEM issues the next round of interview letters, unless they issue for only 1 day in August, she will be included, as her DQ date is August 24. 
 
At the end of the day, given everything that happened and all the uncertainty, I do often reply that I really don’t care about work permits, advance parole, or the cost to adjust status. We are plenty financially stable for that. I would rather be together. But, here we are. And so we wait. Along with everyone else. 

Yeah, I guess I am mostly referring to those who get married just to file for CR-1 instead of K-1. It's hard to ever justify K-1 over CR-1. However, I consider this ridiculous backlog an extreme circumstance. It's impossible to predict the future, but with the data in front of us now and the lack of evidence that it's going to improve? AND if time is the most important for the petitioner and beneficiary? Then, for a new petitioner, holding off on marriage and going the K-1 route at this moment in time is pretty valid despite the drawbacks later on. But that's assuming this is the new normal and that it will be this way in another year plus still. 

The information is not exactly officially released. This is based on anecdotal evidence of other people in the process (through this site, Facebook, or other means). As far as next month, nobody has any idea what is being planned at USEM. They were starting to move things along a little bit in late March, April and May, and then they took a big step back. Now, the backlog seems to be expanding even further. The furthest back DQ case yet to receive an interview date is sometime in late August (perhaps August 23rd or so). If you are very early to mid September, it's possible you could be included in the next wave of interview letters, which COULD happen in the next month or so (if one even happens). They are REALLY dragging their feet and it just appears to be getting worse than better. 

It's more fun in the Philippines. 

Any prediction would be a wild guess. There is little that makes sense about the past 15 months at USEM. Figuring it out is pretty much impossible. 

Let's be honest, IRs aren't faring that much better than CRs at this point. They're both in awful situations. It is completely unacceptable that tourist and fiance(e) visas are totally fine though. 

It's more fun in the Philippines. 

Let's be honest, IRs aren't faring that much better than CRs at this point. They're both in awful situations. It is completely unacceptable that tourist and fiance(e) visas are totally fine though. 

I saw an October 16th 2023 DQ included in the mass expedite, (supposedly).

I saw an October 16th 2023 DQ included in the mass expedite, (supposedly).

Medical: July 6/7 (Thursday/Friday)
Interview: July 11 (Tuesday)
 
Had no problems at all with only one complete working day between 2nd day of medical and the interview. 
 
All information is sent electronically - you do not carry anything physically to USEM from SLEC. 

We can see the tax line items but none seem to be it. I've seen it called passenger service charge and terminal fee both. None of the line items appear to match that by either abbreviation or amount (PSC/TF) or ~750 pesos. 
 
I called twice to Eva and neither could confirm it. Both representatives seemed confused. It's not that much, so it seems it's just better to show up with enough to cover it since its unclear. 

"AT NVC" 😒

But you do need a visa to complete the process. You can complete the face to face seminar without one but you still need the visa to actually receive a certificate. You would have to go back again when you have the visa.
 
You replied to my post about the online counseling saying no visa is required. That's wrong. If you're doing it online you can't proceed without a clear copy of the visa. For face to face, just straight up saying no visa required is false. It is required to complete the counseling process. 

Congrats, guys.  Less than 24 hours and we hope to post a similar report.

Finally approved. Was pretty quick and easy my wife said. 

Finally approved. Was pretty quick and easy my wife said. 

Finally approved. Was pretty quick and easy my wife said. 

Yep, just in time is right. My wife's interview is July 11, in about 7 hours. Good luck.

Likewise, my friend!  We're headed to Manila in about 11 hours.  We were able to book the same Airbnb as we did for the medical appointment -- a home away from "home away from home", if you will.

Yep, just in time is right. My wife's interview is July 11, in about 7 hours. Good luck.

Well, this trend seems to be supported by another data point... More cases went "Ready" today, including ours.
 
Just in time, too.  My wife's interview is Wednesday, July 12.

Yeah it is not the end of the world to wait a little longer. But the time adds up and this whole process seems never ending. We've been waiting since April 2022 and very tired. I am willing to take extra risks to try to finish faster. I don't care if I end up wasting money on hotels and carpools, it's just so irrelevant to me at this point. What I do not understand is why we keep being subjected to these immigration games. The government appears to highly enjoy teasing us and then ghosting us. 
 
Only trend I have noticed is actions seem to occur on Mondays.
 
Monday 6/26 - auto-expedites
Monday 7/3 - lots of people became Ready all at once
Monday 7/10 - ??? (this is why I want to wait till Tuesday and not have my wife just leave Manila and not waste her time, because what if)

Yes, many.
 
I have a July 11th interview now, and my case is still in transit. It took half a day for mine to become schedulable on the CGI (ustraveldocs.com/ph) website. 
 
If yours isn't now, check in 12 hours or so.