rad1182

This is super helpful, I greatly appreciate it. I'm not sure if it matters but she'll be doing her interview in the UAE where she has residency and not in Manila.

Hi all, sorry to bring this topic back up. We're now at the CEAC stage and my wife is applying for her NBI clearance. We never did submit a ROM. If she puts 'married' on the NBI application, will there be issues? Should she put 'single'? Tried searching the forum but I couldn't find any posts on this topic. Thanks!

Hello all, We submitted the I130 for my wife back in Oct. 2022 and we're still waiting for the NVC stage. I'm trying to do as much research as I can about the upcoming steps. My wife is Filipino but is a resident in Abu Dhabi. I've read a lot about long wait times for interviews at the AD consulate (up to a year!). My question - when we reach the interview stage, do we have the option to select which consulate to do the interview in? It sounds like there is almost no wait time in Manila so that sounds like a much better option. I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum thread for this post. Thank you!

Hello all, I'm a US citizen and my wife is Filipina. We met in Abu Dhabi where we both lived and worked, though I'm back permanently in the US now and she's still there. We got married in Abu Dhabi in September and filed the I-130 petition shortly after. We haven't yet submitted the ROM to the Philippines Embassy in Abu Dhabi and were going back and forth on if we should even do so. I've seen a lot of posts on here about the ROM but most of them are procedural questions. We'd like to know what the benefits of filing a ROM are? I know that without a ROM she won't be able to renew her Philippines passport under her married name. That's not a big deal for us. Are the benefits mostly on the Philippines side or will the US government care about a foreign ROM at all? She also owns a couple of properties in Manila which she'll be keeping. Will not having a ROM affect that at all? Thanks so much for you input.

That's a very helpful website. Thanks Chancy!

Thanks for your response. We haven’t thought of that. Is that required? The marriage certificate is already attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thanks again!

Thanks. Unfortunately we don't have any shared assets as it was impossible to do so while we weren't married. I did just add her as the beneficiary to my retirement accounts and once I get confirmation, I'll include that in the documentation. Thanks again for your response!

Hello friends. I'm getting ready to submit the I30 for my wife and I was hoping to get input from those of you who have been successful with your applications. I'd like your thoughts on whether what I plan to submit for Proof of Bonafide Marriage is sufficient. Background I'm a US citizen and my wife is Filipina with residency in the UAE. I moved for work to the UAE in 2015 and we met in 2017. We started living together at the end of 2017. At the time, unmarried couples could not officially live together so we don't have any leases, bills, etc. in both of our names. I moved back to the US in 2020 right at the beginning of the pandemic and she remained there. She's visited me multiple times since, and I visited her in Sep 2022. During this trip we got engaged and married. Proof I Plan to Include Residency visas for the UAE showing that we both lived in the UAE Many pictures spanning 5 years of us together with friends and family. This includes the time we both resided in the UAE, as well as after I moved back to the US. Her mom visits the quite often and my family has also visited. I read that it's important to include pictures with family & friends. Her mom, uncle, and aunt were at our engagement dinner and I plan to include pictures of that as well. For the wedding, it was just me and her but I plan to include pics of that as well. Airline confirmation for the trips she took to the US once I moved back and for the trip I took in Sep (I don't have original boarding passes anymore - will this be an issue)? Do you think this is sufficient? Thanks! PS - I saw that there's a merged Proof of Marriage thread below. I apologize if I should not have started a new thread on the same topic.

Hello all, This is a wonderful forum and I've gotten a lot of valuable information. Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I have a few additional questions about the I-130 (online) form that I wasn't able to find answers for here. My apologies, if they've been answered and I didn't search more thoroughly: Last address we physically lived together (P4.Q59 on pdf). My wife and I have never lived together while married. However, we lived together for almost 3 years in the UAE before marriage. In the UAE, this was technically illegal, though widely accepted for non Muslims (they've recently changed the laws so that it's now legal). Because we we're not married, we didn't have a joint lease, joint utilities statement, mailings to the same address (no one really used snail mail in the UAE lol), etc. Should I put our last shared address here in Q59 or put "Never lived together"? Petitioner Previous Addresses (P2.Q12-15 on pdf). I planned to leave the UAE in Feb 2020 to return to the US (while my then GF stayed behind). My lease expired in Feb and I was set to fly back to the US around mid March 2020. And of course the pandemic closed all borders in early March 2020 so I stayed with my GF at her home until June 2020 when some flights finally resumed. Should I include my GF's home as a previous address? Does USCIS care if there is a timeline gap in previous addresses? Date Marriage Ended (P2.Q21 on pdf). This is for the current spouse question. Since this is my online marriage and it's current, is it okay to leave this blank? Parent City and Country of Residence (P2.Q28-29 on pdf). My biological dad is deceased. I put 'deceased' in city of residence and I was able to leave country of residence blank on the online form. Is this okay? Where in US Beneficiary Intends to Live (P4.Q11 on pdf). I plan to put my current address, however it's an apartment that I plan to move out of in a few months. She won't actually be living at this address once she comes to the US. Will this be an issue? Am I better off putting a permanent address like my parent's place? Info About Beneficiary in Native Language (P4.Q58 on pdf). This is not required for Tagalog (Philippines) right? That's it for now. Thanks again!

Hi all. I've recently gotten married abroad and plan to submit a CR1 visa application for my wife very soon. My wife is Filipino but has residency in the UAE where she works as a flight attendant for one of the UAE airlines. Will a pending CR1 visa application have any effect on her ability to come into the country when she has US flights? I just want to make sure we're not doing anything that could potentially jeopardize her job as she still plans to work until her CR1 visa is approved. Thanks in advance for your responses. Looking forward to starting this journey!