spicynujac

If I'm reading your timeline correctly, @Nathan Alden, Sr. you are still waiting on your I-130 petition to be approved and thus haven't even completed form DS-260 yet, so this should be even easier for you. When your I-130 petition is approved, fill out the DS-260 visa application using your wife's new married name. Then you don't have to make any *changes* to any immigration documents at all. Just fill out everything based on her new PH passport. Your estimated timeline date is October 2025 for I-130 approval. You will easily have her new passport by then. It was a very simple and cheap process for us. But if she's trying to begin using a totally different name than the one she was born with, yes, that is more involved and really has nothing to do with marriage or immigration so it must go through the proper legal process as it involves issues of public safety and trust.

I always get confused with these PH name change threads because people act like the PH assigns marriage names in some unique way, but they handle them EXACTLY the same as the convention where I am from (American south) which is also the standard in Scotland / Ireland and I believe most English speaking nations, so it's pretty straightforward for me and I don't get the long explanations about it (the name change convention, not the process). Wife's maiden name (last name) becomes her new middle name, and she takes the husband's last name. Her old middle name is dropped. That's how all my friends and family back home are named, so it's nothing new for me. The only thing I've ever seen differently is if the wife doesn't want to change her name at all, which is what happens in either PH or USA if you don't bother to contact any government agencies to change your documents. Your marriage certificate serves as proof of the name change. (In the PH the Report of Marriage is the domestic version of a foreign marriage certificate). From what I've read here, it's very desirable to have the green card issued in your wife's married name, in other words, change her documents to reflect her new married name BEFORE the visa interview in Manila. I think it's already been answered in this thread, but what we've done is: 1) obtain the Report of Marriage from the local PSA office (we went in at 5 months, they said it wasn't ready yet, went back 6 weeks later and they gave us a copy). 2) obtain Advisory on Marriage from PSA (couple of bucks) and background check with both names/alias from National Bureau of Investigation. 3) Registered for a visa interview date in March in Manila 4) Took existing PH passport and ROM to Dept of Foreign Affairs and applied for a new passport in married name (about $15) 5) Within 3 weeks we got the new passport back. Uploaded new passport, along with ROM, police check, and PSA Advisory on Marriage to CEAC website. 5a) We called the embassy and they reopened the Form DS-260 that we could edit through the CEAC website. I logged in, changed 3 fields: Current name: new married name. Prior names: Yes / maiden name. Passport #: changed to new #. Saved. From what I've read this step is optional and the embassy officer can do it at the interview, but since we called and were told to do this, we did it ourselves. 6) Will bring both original passports and original of all the newly uploaded docs (ROM, Advisory on Marriage, police clearance) to the interview. This shouldn't cause any change to our scheduled interview as we have the same case # as before. Not exactly simple, but straight forward, unless you are trying to change your wifes name to something unconventional. Only if you are rejecting the normal name convention of accepting your last name and keeping her maiden name. Which also requires court approval in the USA in my state. We already have a PH passport with my wife's married name and it cost <$20 for the whole process, which is way cheaper than even getting a new driver license in the USA.

Over 3 years after the US withdrawal and Taliban victory, It's much more likely these are relatives of Afghanis already living in the USA, or what Americans informally call "chain migration." The linked article states there are many children, which would corroborate this. However, it also states the Afghans are receiving visas with a maximum stay of 59 days which makes little sense. Hundreds of women and children on holiday in America in January during record low freezes? Either there are some factual errors in the reporting or something else is going on. The news was reported in a number of places, including domestic media like the Washington Post, so I'd imagine these are permanent immigrant families. If they are indeed issued short term visas, it's probably just a formality or faster way of getting them permanent status once they are physically in the US. The choice of Manila is bizarre. One can only speculate. But it wouldn't surprise me if the BongoBongo regime has become the nearest "American friendly" territory to process the visas.

Thankfully the I-485 with the huge fee is for fiance visas only We are IR1.

Surprisingly I can't find this answer in the forums or elsewhere online. How does one sign on the spouse signature line of a joint US tax return? I am including a signed application for IRS tax number, signed statement by both spouses selecting US tax residency, and Form 2848 which authorizes me to sign for my wife but WHAT NAME do I write on the tax return? hers or mine? My tax preparer thought I should sign my name on both lines, but I wanted to make sure. Since we are approaching April 15, I don't really have time for mistakes!

Thanks all. We decided to just do 2 separate trips to Manila. With the insanely cheap airfares from Cebu to Manila ($64 round trip and even lower if we had planned more in advance), it's cheaper to do 2 trips there instead of spending a weekend in a hotel room waiting for the medical results to be issued. So we will have the medical tests done several weeks before the interview, and then she can focus on just doing the interview and maybe some sightseeing and celebration in Manila on the second trip (she is excited and has never been to Manila before--at least the Embassy is by Rizal Park with a lot of museums and attractions--I don't care for Manila one iota personally). I told her she could have the gross sugary Jollibee spaghetti that's right there in the park haha. Hard to believe we are this close! And also hard to believe St Lukes charges a tarsier hair's shy of $500 for a flippin medical exam! I thought US medical costs were insane! That's a very significant component of the whole visa cost (which I've been tabulating: FYI $1469 in fees only, excluding travel or costs obtaining documents, and I believe there is one final green card type payment (USCIS Immigrant Fee of $220?) to go. So any new applicants count on about $1,700 as a starting point for what you will have to cough up going forward. Thankfully my tax preparer called today and I should get at least that much back in a tax refund from filing an amended married joint return last year! Another big benefit of the IR1 visa IMHO. I honestly cannot see how someone could complete this process alone without the fantastic (not to mention prompt) help from the VJ community. I suppose I still could have done it but it may have taken an extra year and duplicative trips and hundreds more $$ as I figured things out on my own because the official instructions and documentation for the process are abysmally poor (and in some cases nonexistent!). Thanks to all, especially those who have successfully made it through and stick around to help others !!! Blessings on you all.

In looking at the St Luke calendar today, you could even book same day appointments for later this afternoon (though only 2 were available). So as long as you are scheduling a week or so in advance, you should have your choice of time slots.

We've found midnight Philippines time is the best time to schedule (it's worked 3 different times when there was nothing available at other times). Don't beat yourself up logging in multiple times per day. There are either free spots or there aren't. We checked once per day, waiting on them to open up March spots (February has been available but we wanted better scheduling with back-to-back biometrics and interview, while the February calendar didn't allow that. And March spots became available today. It's really annoying that they won't show you the more rare interview spots until after you already book the biometric time. Because this often leads you with huge gaps between them which I'm sure leads to a lot of cancellations like we did. And let me just add that forcing you to go to two different places on 2 different days is NOT helping (they sold the second facility as something to make the process go smoother lol) FYI We were just able to schedule for March a few hours ago (Midnight / morning of Jan 16th). Yes we have scheduled after cancelling. The site is very confusing but I believe you have to "CLOSE" your application, and then it gives you a scary message that kind of sounds like you are cancelling the whole visa process but you are supposed to answer yes and then you start over again. You have to re-enter a lot of your info like passport #, address to mail passport, etc. but it saved some of the info and then takes you to the scheduling screen. Or if you haven't yet cancelled your dates you may be able to select "reschedule" instead of "close" and then "start new." Then it is sort of Russian Roulette--sometimes it will allow you to complete the process after showing you the calendar of dates, other times it looks like you have picked a slot and then it pops up a window "you are not allowed to schedule now." Haha it's truly a ridiculous site. By the way I should probably post a new question but is doing the medical exam on day 1, interview on day 2 ok or do you need to allow more time? (Biometrics is on Monday AM, Medical exam Monday PM, Interview Tuesday AM). I think my spouse will need some vaccines as she can't find a vaccine card for anything other than Covid-19 so from what I've read that means you need to come back the following day for vaccines, so can that be done after the embassy interview or do you have to have all the medical checks done first? Hoping to avoid having to stay over a weekend but will do that if it's needed.

EDIT: The only proof of relationship we had to provide were some photos and boarding passes from time we spent together, which were uploaded at the very beginning of the process when we submitted our I-130 form. And then the original marriage certificate in person at the embassy interview. The next time we anticipate interacting with US immigration (after Port of Entry) is when we apply for citizenship. With the marital visa, the proving of the relationship is done on the front end, before entry to the USA. Once she's your wife, unless there are reasons to suspect fraud, that is not typically questioned again.

Correct. ??? No, they are not the same, as you indicated above. The Adjustment of Status process is indeed onerous and expensive, and it's one of the drawbacks of K1 vs CR1/IR1. Your question is confusing. You seem to understand that CR1 holders avoid Adjustment of Status but then ask if it is the same process you go through as a K1 fiance visa holder? That's why many are scratching their heads. If you have a friend and don't want him to go through the Adjustment of Status headache, advise him to marry and go the CR1/IR1 route. Wife gets green card upon entry, and can immediately travel out of the country if she wants. There is no "status" to "adjust." There *IS* an "AOS" related to a marital visa, but that is an Affadavit Of Support (one reason I dislike using acronyms). Maybe this is causing the confusion? Affadavit of Support is proof of income, showing that you can financially support increasing your family size. It is filed after your I-130 is approved before your visa interview at the embassy, along with a fee of $120. But there is no Adjustment Of Status.

Generally, one should not take relationship advice from strangers on the internet. However, in this case, it is not likely that many of your friends and family have been able to meet your foreign partner. I used to work for a rather popular men's publication. And what I say here is not from any sort of position of a relationship expert, but merely one who has heard countless stories from other men, far beyond what my personal life experiences have given me. It is often only in hindsight we can see red flags or relationship problems in the women we are emotionally attached to. Lying to obtain money from your partner is a big one. The Philippines is FULL of sweet, honest, loyal, trustworthy, Godfearing women. Go find one. Unless this girl is extremely young, this type of behavior is a moral failing that is going to cause you lots of problems in the future. (FYI The other recurring theme I noticed in my time at that publication is that men often failed to take good relationship advice when it was offered.)

Curious if anyone has used LBC or a similar carrier for luggage shipment. I tried the general forums here, but found nothing recent. I'm looking for a reasonably priced service to ship a large bag or two full of my wife's things in her move to the USA. We don't want to lug them around during our honeymoon, and we also don't want to fly back to PHL to get them after the honeymoon, but hope to ship them and have them waiting at home for us in the USA afterwards. I've found the following: Mybaggage.com $248 up to 20 kg $323 up to 30 kg 4 days Luggageforward.com $269 11 kg $489 22 kg 7 business days DHL - maybe I entered something wrong but was getting $1,000 The LBC website gives me an error when I try to quote. Time isn't an issue. It could be sea freight or air. I guess the reasonable thing would be to honeymoon in the Philippines but we are hoping to celebrate big in one of the neighboring countries and then head to the USA together

What is the actual document you get back after 6 months? After 7 months (our form was still not processed after 5!) I ordered a marriage certificate from PSA online and it came back with just the same ROM form we filled out, with an official stamp. I thought we would be getting a new document, similar to a marriage certificate (PSA advisory on marriage?) Is this filed and stamped ROM ok to bring to the US embassy? Is it sufficient for applying for a PH passport with married name change?

We were able to find a free spot within a week of trying. They seem to schedule interviews for a 30 day advance period, so I would expect after Jan 1 you will have some options for scheduling in February. Whenever they release new spots (once a week?) you can easily grab them. It's a bit scary when they give you access to the site and then you can't book, but that's normal for the PH embassy They give you access to the site in a mass approval with a bunch of other people (which they inexplicably call "expediting" but it really just means scheduling) but don't add available booking dates into the website until later. It will tell you "no dates available" for several days and then once the embassy releases the next week of slots, you will be free to book them (and there are many, many free slots each day so don't worry). We just checked once a day until the bookings were available. We had several choices of dates, and each day had dozens of spaces left. Just pay attention because it's confusing, you book the biometrics and the interview separately and it is NOT clear what you are doing until you've completed it. They use some vague abbreviation like "VAC appointment" and then change that in the next screen to read something else in fine print without telling you these are 2 separate actions. It never explains you will be booking 2 separate dates so we had to cancel ours afterwards because we booked them 4 days apart without understanding we were booking 2 different things. You are booking fingerprinting in one location and in person interview on Roxas Blvd, in the same website action. Due to the holidays, you might have to try for more than a week until there are free spots, but they should be there soon. You are almost there!

As someone who did the research in advance here, and went the spousal route, I've seen DOZENS of cases where the couple wished in hindsight they went with spousal visa. I've never seen one who wished they went fiance visa. There are some cases where a fiance visa makes sense (I believe when adopting your wife's children from a prior relationship) but otherwise spousal visa is cheaper, easier, better, and about the same amount of time. We are days from the final step/ embassy interview, and I can't stress enough how nice it will be to avoid further interactions and payments with US Immigration (this goes on for years and is currently at least a thousand more dollars, assuming they don't raise any fees before you are done, with fiance visa)! The only thing that's changed since we made our decision is that with the upcoming US administration, we are very happy to be bringing a *family member* to the states, vs bringing in an unrelated immigrant... perhaps (probably) nothing will change with border admissions, but it's a superior position to be in if things do. If you're already there, together? You could file for spousal visa in a week if you do the Utah video marriage. If you are physically together, and know you want to marry, why keep her in the fiance zone? (You cannot marry until she is admitted to the US if you go that route).

So in a few days, we will be unable to reschedule online and are stuck with the dates we picked (unless we cross our fingers and call)? We only grabbed some dates to have SOMETHING on the calendar but right now we have a 4 day gap between our appointments which we don't plan on keeping if possible. I'd be nervous just relying on the word of someone in Manila over the phone that they changed our date and time.... Good grief!

We successfully scheduled and I THINK we have two appointments (one for the interview and one for fingerprinting) though this was not AT ALL clear until we were done. We actually thought one of the time slots we wanted filled before we could confirm, but what was actually happening is you schedule the 2 different interviews back to back (and the only indication of this is that one of them says "OFC" which apparently is the fingerprinting appointment and the other doesn't. We just assumed Manila Ofc meant Manila Office and it wasn't clear at all that we were scheduling 2 separate things but we do have a (fingerprint?) appointment in Tambo Paranque and an (interview?) 4 days later at Roxas Blvd. We had no choice but to accept the 4 day gap but will try to reschedule before our appointment time. All I can say is this is a *ridiculously absurd* process, and that's coming from someone who has made it 80% through this immigration debacle without complaint... Without this forum it would be almost impossible to navigate this process without paid help. I can do 20 page IRS schedules by hand but getting a visa stamp in my wife's passport is running QUITE the gauntlet! I think we are supposed to pay someone some more money at some point??? Our last payment was an Immigrant Visa Filling Fee NVC of $325 paid right after Affadavit of Support $120.

Big thanks for all the help... this part of the process is quite opaque and your insight is quite valuable... I consider myself pretty skilled with tech stuff (I build my own computers and do some light programming) and I was totally stumped by the confusing and vague instructions at this step. For example, the *old* site requires you to register with an *email address*. The *new* site asks for an *account name*... if you use your email address, it gives a vague "one of your fields is incorrect" error (without highlighting the field). Turns out, you CANNOT use an email address for your account name on the *new* system. haha.. typical government I guess. Anyway, The first 3 weeks in January are now available for appointment scheduling! We are grabbing one but I have a couple of issues. 1) My partner is convinced (mostly from "They Saids") that a PSA Marriage Advisory is required (she showed me a screenshot of someone who took notes at her interview on what others were being asked for and someone was asked for PSA marriage advisory and PSA marriage certificate). Are these two documents required for someone with Utah marriage certificate? Or is Cenomar + Apostilled Utah Marriage Certificate (+ NBI clearance, etc. ) sufficient? 2) At this point I'm ok with abandoning the idea of a name change and just sticking with my wife's maiden name on our documents, for the sake of expediency, BUT just in case it can still be done: We requested another PSA Marriage certificate today (the last time they had not yet recorded the ROM yet even though 6 months passed). If we receive it, can we safely apply for a new Philippine passport before our interview date (turn time for new PH passport is only 2 weeks)? The US visa scheduling requires you to enter a passport # to schedule and says that this cannot be changed, and I'm afraid of this causing problems if the numbers don't match. Or maybe she can bring both the old and new passport to the interview? Would we need to cancel / reschedule the interview with the new US passport #? 3) Is it alright or easy to cancel / reschedule appointments? We don't plan on actually immigrating for another 3 months when our 2 year period passes. It would be nice to get this stressful part over with but I think we could get the passport name changed if we wait another month, unless we are going to cause more problems or risk not being able to schedule in Feb or March...

Hmm I asked this question recently in the forums and got the answer that fiance visas are self-scheduled, but marital are not... So kinda confusing. But either way I planned to manually schedule our interview if possible. Anyway, we are not able to register at the https://ustraveldocs.com/ph/ site (which redirects here https://portal.ustraveldocs.com/?country=Philippines&language=English ) We tried using multiple devices in both US and Phil and get the cryptic error message: "The country you are registering for is no longer active." Our CEAC status has been "ready" for 24 hours (though that shouldn't matter--account creation doesn't ask for any immigration data, just an email address and name).

We were notified that we were documentarily complete in August 2024. I received an email today: I've come to understand the immigration offices do not use the dictionary definition of the word expedite, as in "to speed up", but instead it they use it as a synonym for "to schedule." (We never requested any sort of special processing, just going through the normal process of an IR-1 visa.) The last email we received was exactly 4 months ago and said essentially the same thing: I'm a bit confused because I don't see that the email really says anything. We know the embassy has our visa application. We know we are waiting on an interview date from the embassy. It's also confusing because it implies we will hear from them when they have a confirmed interview date, so I got all excited before I opened the email, only to find the "expediting" nonsense. But maybe this means something to some of you regarding timelines? Maybe we will get an interview date somewhat soon?

This is the part that concerns me the most. You are two individuals, both wanting to come to the US for tourism. You each need your own visa. What if only one of them is granted? You're out the (extremely large) fees that the US charges for visas at that point, and I assume you would cancel the trip. Practically speaking, 1 week is a very short time to do such a long distance international trip. I would recommend 2 weeks minimum. US is not easy or cheap. We have a transportation system most third world countries would laugh at. You will easily spend all day on your arrival and departure days in transport to and from your lodging. So you're down to 5 days of sightseeing, probably just in one city. Is that worth what this is going to cost you? The US is not very traveler friendly. I'd look into other options if it were me. Maybe save your money and plan on a longer trip to US solo or when you are married. The big issue now is your plan requires both of you to be separately issued visas. We are also changing political leadership in January 2025 to a president who shut down visitation from some majority Muslim countries before. Bottom line is it sounds expensive, frustrating, and risky. (By the way, immigration officers can and sometimes do deny entry to tourists who hold a valid visa. What would you do if one of you was turned away at the border, but the other entered?) There are plenty of fun places that are happy to welcome you, visa free.

I was about as far west as one can be in Mindanao: Zamboanga to be specific, last year. No problems whatsoever, and I walked through the town center and went to the main mall near City Hall. Did a bunch of tourist stuff solo and even went to the pink beach island. Found nothing but a bunch of extremely friendly people (a family on the ferry to Santa Cruz Island adopted me for the day and invited me to share all their meals together). When I went out in the evening, a friendly police officer I had met upon arrival accompanied me at a distance, watching for my safety, due to the long time kidnapping fears. But it turned out I was safer than I am in my city back home in America. The bottom line is, don't be ostentacious. Don't be loud, rude, drunk, etc. Several other motives discussed here are dismissed by police, and "Eastman's abduction appears to have been carried out by common criminals rather than members of organized rebel groups known to operate in the region. Police believe the suspects targeted Eastman after seeing his Facebook videos documenting life in Sibuco" Sounds to me like a typical case of don't brag or put out personal information on the internet, and/or just being in the wrong place, and perhaps not having good situational awareness (it sounds like these were some known criminals he interacted with--the police found them and shot and killed at least 3 of them) I'm not sure what he was posting about but showing off wealth or extensive travels, expensive electronics, etc. amongst people earning a small fraction of your wealth is a terrible idea. Really common sense to those of us born in the last century... much less so to people who are terminally online. I'm not even *on* facebook. If the videos are still up, I'm curious what the content is. I'll keep my personal business humble and private, thanks.

Curious if anyone here knows anything about the new Freeport Area of Bataan Investment Visa, which provides permanent residency, and promises low bureaucracy for a one time investment of $75,000 USD. Philippines Permanent Residency Program (FIV) Attracts Strong Global Interest | Markets Insider The newly launched Philippines FIV permanent residency by investment program has reported impressive interest in its first few months. Since its announcement, the program has conducted over 300 interviews with applicants from 49 countries across Asia, Europe, America, and Africa. The Philippines FIV (FAB-Investor Visa) is a fast-track permanent residency program, managed by the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB), a special administrative zone in the greater metropolitan Manila area. It offers a streamlined, faster, and digital-first alternative to the country’s legacy SIRV program, which has served applicants since 1987. The FIV is a permanent resident visa that allows anyone to live, work, or study anywhere in the Philippines with the opportunity to naturalize as a Philippine citizen. With a low investment threshold of $75,000 US dollars, applicants and their entire family can become Philippine permanent residents in less than a month, with no minimum stay, intrusive net worth, or real estate purchase requirements. This makes it one of the most accessible residency-by-investment programs in Southeast Asia. Streamlined application process with a typical wait time of approximately one week after submission. Low investment threshold of USD 75,000 as a fixed deposit. Option to include family members without additional investment. No minimum stay requirements or compulsory real estate purchase requirements. Freedom to live, work, or study anywhere in the Philippines. Pathway to Citizenship Consultations can be scheduled at PhilippinesFIV.com or by emailing hello@philippinesfiv.com. I can't tell if the above website is some third party offering to apply for you for a fee, or the actual Philippines agency that is administering this program (with a processing time of 1 week, I wouldn't be surprised if it is a non-governmental agency administering the program, because that is an almost too good to be true processing time, as most VisaJourney members know!)

There is absolutely no way to know. Next president doesn't take office until January 2025 and he is somewhat of a wild card. Honestly there is no telling what he will do. Could be a complete nothingburger, or he could shut the border down. You can't worry about things you can't control. I wouldn't recommend anyone rush a dating relationship they aren't ready to formalize, but if I knew I wanted to marry this person, I would go ahead and do it. You can have a civil union now and a church ceremony in the future. This is what I did with my partner. A relative by marriage has superior standing over almost any other type of immigrant. But anyone who tells you yes or no is just speculating. I admit I was somewhat apprehensive about how our immigration system is going to change last month, but I quickly realized it's futile to worry about things you cannot control. The serenity prayer!

No need for more passive aggressive hostile snark to the OP, or accusing him of being a criminal or suggesting if the wait is longer than he expected it would take, then he is going to commit immigration fraud lol. Come on! I'm pretty sure it was all a wakeup call to everyone the first time we learned how lengthy / expensive / unfair / onerous the legal immigration system was. OP, the fastest (and cheapest) way to get your wife/child to the US would have been Direct Consular Filing, which bypasses the Customs and Immigration processing in the USA and does everything at the foreign embassy. But if you have filed an I-130 already, then it's too late for that and you will just need to wait for IR1 visa processing to be completed. Read the guides here and they will walk you through the steps. There is a big backlog of cases since the pandemic, so maybe as those continue to clear, the timeline will shorten, but the most realistic expectation at this time is 2 years. Yes it sucks and it is a broken system, but just start working on all the required steps now and things will go smoothly (ignore the fearmongering about how your wife might not be allowed to join you from random strangers). In the meantime, does she have visa-free ability to travel to the USA as a tourist? Perhaps she could make extended visits while her case is being processed, though read up on potential issues with that. But it's absolutely allowed and many here have done so.