Mike and Elisa

Hi all,

You can add us to the January interview list. Elisa has her K1 interview scheduled for Thrs Jan 3.

I'm on pins and needles. I can't wait. We've already had the medical so the interview is all that remains (I'm being optomistic here).

Best of luck to everyone

Good luck. I know exactly what you're feeling. My mahal Elisa is also very close to her interview (Jan 3). She had an early medical on Dec 3 so at least we got that out of the way. I can't wait to get her here with me. We've been waiting for so long. If all goes well at the interview, she could be here inside of a month.

I would love to be able to fly to Phils so that I could come back with her. Unfortunately, finances just don't permit it right now.

helo there Ripolo,

I was told by beng and carl here in vj that as soon as you have the medical and interview dates online you can have an early medical,,,just print the appointment from the internet then call the SLEC hotline. tell them that you have your sched online and pinted it, then ask them if you can have you medical in an early date....then also tell them if you could just pick up your packet in SLEC...

update me of what SCLEC will tell you about picking up your packet from them..wokei?...

hope to hear from you soon..

i hope I will my medical and interview dates soon, the fact that we had our petition approve the same date...

The medical exam is generally scheduled one week before the interview. It's best to have the exam done 2 to 4 weeks before the interview. This will allow extra time for St Lukes to get the results to the embasy and also allows you time to take care of any issues that may come up during the exam. If you get the exam done more than a month before the interview, there is a very good chance the embassy will make you get another one.

When Elisa talked to the embassy a couple weeks ago, she asked about picking up the visa in person and was told that the visa can be picked up in person IN SOME CASES. It's at the discretion of the person who does the interview.

November 7 - Our NOA2 was sent from the NVC (after sitting in the USCIS mailroom for almost 6 weeks)

November 20 - The embassy sent packet4 with the appointment letter

The interview is scheduled for January 3. Elisa had an early medical exam on December 3. Right now, we're just holding our breath until the interview.

You may or may not be interested, but this is the contents of the packet I put together.

Section 1. Proof of Payment

DS-157 provided by the Bank of the Philippines

Section 2. Required Documents

2A. Passport

• Nothing. The passport was surrendered at the time of the medical exam and is included with the documentation sent to the embassy from St Luke's

2B. DS-156 Nonimmigrant Visa Application

• DS-156 Form (2 Copies)

2C. DS-157 Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application

• DS-157 Form (2 Copies)

2D. DS-156K Nonimmigrant Fiancee Visa Application

• DS-156K Form

2E. Birth Certificate

• Elisa's Birth Certificate from the NSO

2F. NBI Clearance

• Elisa's NBI Clearance

2G. Other Country Police Certificates

• Nothing. Elisa has never spent more than six months outside of the Philippines so this section does not apply.

2H. Evidence of a Meeting Prior to the Petition

• Copies of photo page and entry/departures page of Michael's passport documenting a trip to the Philippines. This is the trip when Michael and Elisa met.

• Copies of airline boarding passes further documenting that trip

• Photo album with several photos of Michael and Elisa together

2I. Evidence of a Genuine Engagement

• Emails from the beginning of our relationship

• Yahoo IM conversations

• Phone records showing phone calls between Michael and Elisa

• Copies of Western Union money transfers from Michael to Elisa

• Copies of cards sent by Michael to Elisa for the anniversary of their first online meeting, for Elisa's birthday and for Christmas

2J. Proof of Termination of a Prior Marriage

• CENOMAR - Certificate of No Marriage from Elisa

2K. Evidence of Support

• I-134 affidavit - Notarized

• Attachment to I-134 - Notarized

• Michael's tax return for 2006 with wage supplements - Notarized

• Letter regarding 2006 tax return - Notarized

• Employment letter - Notarized

• Bank letter

2L. Visa Photographs

• Visa photos

Section 3. Results of the Medical Examination

• This is sent directly to the Embassy from St Luke's clinic. The date of the exam was December 3, 2007.

Deleted.

Congratulations. We seem to be at the same point in the process. My fiancee Elisa has her interview scheduled in Manila for Jan 3. I created a documents list much like you did and had the service I am paying to help guide us through the visa process review it. They said that the I-134 (and I-134 attachment in my case) as well as the tax return and wage suppliments (w-2's, 1099's. schedules C, D and so on) should all be notarized.

I just sent my packet off to Elisa yesterday.

One thing I did a bit differently was to organize our packet based on the order in which the information was requested in the packet from the embassy. The packet I sent was broken into sections, one section for each section in the required documents list received from the embassy. For example:

2A. Passport

2B. DS-156

2C. DS-157

2D. DS-156K

2E. Birth Certificate

2F. NBI Clearance

2G. Police Clearances

2H. Evidence of Meeting

and so on

Within each section was all the corresponding supporting documentation. The first page in each section is a list of all of the documents in that section. At the front of the packet is a master list (like what you have above) of all the documents in the entire packet by section.

Friends of Elisa who have already gone through this process said that the embassy in Manila wanted to see all of the documents in the order given in the packet the embassy sent out with the appointment letter.

You probably won't find anything. That's my point -- SSA does not make determinations or policies or instructions regarding immigration status or what changes that status and it would be improper for them to publish any guideline doing so. If the clerk tries to make immigration determinations they are overstepping their bounds.

You may know that he's wrong to make the assumption, and I may strongly suspect it, but what I'm really looking for is something to convince the clerk. Is there anything I can use to show the clerk that K-1 status doesn't change because of marriage (either a SSA or USCIS or homeland security doc) or alternately, something that says he's not allowed to make that assumption unless HE has evidence indicating an automatic change of immigration status?

the lady was nice but she blew my mind when she said she cant give a SSN since my status is not K1 now , since we got married

They tried to tell us the same misinformed dribble about not being K1 because we were married. They are not immigration experts and often need to be reminded of that. The K1 status is valid for the duration of the I-94. I was not going to let some clerk at the SSA office make the mistake of sending us away without the SSN. We did end up getting the SSN and we got it with her married name.

I have seen many posts saying that people got their SSN after marriage and in their married name with no problem and I have seen many posts saying that the SSA denied the SSN on the grounds that after marriage, K-1 status no longer applies.

Does anyone have a reference to a SSA memo, policy instruction, document etc. that addresses this? Something that I can show the clerk at the SSA office which basically says "according to SSA guidelines, marriage does NOT affect the K-1 status"? After reading dozens of posts regarding getting the SSN, I have not seen any reference to a SSA policy addressing this in either direction.

You haven't specified, but I am assuming you are adjusting status from a K-1. In that case, you would check A as the petitioner. Your joint sponsor would file a separate I-864 and check E as the First joint sponsor not the second.