spicynujac

Current wait times from your NOA2 to interview are around a year. This isn't even limited to the Philippines. Use timeline search here to confirm. Your wait times are, sadly, "normal." If you filled in your own timeline, not only will we better understand what stage you are in, you will receive estimated approval dates (based on forum data), and also you help give everyone else a more accurate picture.

Amazing news ! This is huge! The ITIN/W7 needs to be filed with a tax return, so not sure if I can amend 2023 and send the W7 with an amended return or need to wait until next year and send it with the regular 1040, but either way I will be getting a huge refund soon. THANK YOU! I thought this was a ridiculous roadblock to filing correctly--so glad to see there is a solution! For anyone else doing this, you probably want to get your foreign spouse to sign a form 2848 at the same time, to give you permission to sign annual tax returns for both parties until you are physically united. One form is good for multiple years if you state them in advance (I'd recommend stating the next 3 years).

2 to 3 month wait times? I'm also wondering where this info came from. There are some webpages (like NVC) that say "You should get an interview within the next 2-3 months" but this is boilerplate language and that has not been true for years. Ages ago you could do the entire immigration process start to finish in 6 weeks. VisaJourney data for Mexico from Jul 22-Jul 23: Total Records Visa Type Avg Days b/t I-130 2nd NOA and Interview 35 IR1/CR1 369 I spent a lot of time searching wait times and they seem to universally be ~1 year for USCIS processing the I-130, ~1 year for NVC processing/consulate interview, plus or minus a couple of months depending where you are. Even looking specifically at the Juarez Consulate, avg times were 358 days.

It's pretty amazing that it takes years to bring a spouse to the USA; I guess we make Zimbabwe look good sometimes. The fact that transit visas are even needed is ridiculous (the US is the only country I know of that charges hundreds of dollars for the privilege of transiting through its (generally bad) airports, and then reserves the right to revoke said visa and ruin your trip if the immigration officer feels like it). But I just think of the Serenity Prayer -- we can't affect this at all so why worry over it. Yeah freeing up 7,000 cases a month would really help those of us with immigration visas pending but when was the last time you saw something significant in America get changed or fixed? Does the ambassador have the authority to prioritize one class of visa over another or speed things up? Not sure, but that's the only thing I see possibly changing things. https://ph.usembassy.gov/ambassador/ Anyway, prioritizing travel visas makes sense. What is really needed is sufficient staff to do their job in a reasonable amount of time!

I agree with the other posters that you are asking the wrong question. Focus on presenting proper evidence of the relationship, not on obtaining your spouse an ID number in the American public pension plan. Anyway, it is a very onerous process to be assigned a social security number while physically in the Philippines. The IRS now requires a third party agent to file for you, and the only one in the Philippines is in Angeles City (supposedly the large accounting firms in Cebu and Manila can do this but in reality they do not and you will just waste your time trying). I wanted to obtain a spousal SSN (Social Security Number--I assume you mean this by SSA?) so we could properly file joint tax returns and pay a much lower tax rate but traveling to Angeles City is not something I'm willing to do for this. You have 3 years to amend your tax returns and hopefully I can do that and get a refund once she is in the US... But the tax savings can be substantial (several thousand a year for me which should cover the money I'm paying to US immigration). Name Address Jim Boyd Foundation 1925 MacArthur Highway 2009 Balibago Angeles City Philippines (6345) 888-2748

I looked into this recently and concluded there is very little time to be saved. Japan was a bit faster but most everywhere is taking around 2 years total time to process marital visas, more or less. But I can see Thailand is also pretty good. Looking at data from 2022-present: Pakistan Visa Type Num with Final Visa Approval NOA2 to Interview Avg Total Days IR-1 / CR-1 2 270 601 Thailand Visa Type Num with Final Visa Approval NOA2 to Interview Avg Total Days IR-1 / CR-1 4 131 444 Japan Visa Type Num with Final Visa Approval NOA2 to Interview Avg Total Days IR-1 / CR-1 9 120 408 Philippines Visa Type Num with Final Visa Approval NOA2 to Interview Avg Total Days IR-1 / CR-1 20 289 575 So you could possibly save 4-5 months by relocating to Thailand. But if you have to wait 1-2 months residing there before transferring your immigration file (?) to Thailand you have to consider if it's worth it to shave only maybe 60 days off the process.. and remember nothing is guaranteed and these things fluctuate a lot. I'd love to relocate to save time, but at this point, I'm 14 months into marriage so I'll probably just wait it out, so we can convert to IR-1 after 24 months of marriage which is cheaper / better than CR-1. Looking historically, the wait in Philippines is about 10 months, which is perfect timing for us to get an IR-1.

Without a completed timeline it is difficult to answer, but I looked into this and concluded that there was no substantial time savings to be found in any country. Japan was a couple of months faster, but factor in the high cost of relocating there and you're not saving much time at the expense of a LOT of money. You can verify this by searching the approval times reported here. Out of 63 cases, I'm seeing average total days for Kenya marital visa is 492 days which is NOT abnormally high (if anything, it seems a bit speedy!). I would quadruple check this before relocating!

FYI USA is the only country other than Eritrea that claims it is due income tax from you worldwide, no matter where you earn it. So you're stuck with Uncle Sam for life now. You may also be subject to the onerous requirements of FATCA which is notorious for opening certain foreign accounts quite difficult. As UK is the banking and finance center of the world, I suspect you can easily find a firm there to work with. https://www.angloinfo.com/blogs/global/us-tax/overseas-americans-cant-open-foreign-accounts-because-of-fatca-court-says-tough-luck/ There are plenty of FATCA horror stories out there, and the penalties are extreme, so I strongly suggest you work with an accountant or tax specialist familiar with UK and US tax rules.

If it were me, I would apply immediately after obtaining the marriage certificate (like the day after the wedding!) before returning to the US. Every day you delay is more time before the two of you can begin your life. FYI I am 13 months and counting, waiting on someone to begin processing our I-130... But sure, you can apply any time A) after the wedding and B) you have physical presence together as a married couple (only applies for remote / online weddings). The I-130 form is not particularly lengthy or difficult, particularly if you gather all the names and dates you need in advance (basically parents' birth dates / places and IDs for you both). I believe you can even complete the fields in advance online and then log on and submit it when you are ready.

It looks like the requirements of the NY Consulate are different than the California Consulate. The only original document CA requires is the apostilled marriage certificate. NY seems to require NO original docs, but "certified true copy" of passports, marriage, and birth certificates. I've never heard of that but it is described here. To further complicate things, certain states do not allow notaries to certify document copies, so you would be in quite a pickle if you were married under the jurisdiction of the NY Consulate but living in a state (like NY!) that doesn't allow notaries to certify document copies. https://www.nationalnotary.org/notary-bulletin/blog/2014/04/how-to-certify-copy-document You can always call the consulate if you have questions. CA Consulate was easy to reach by phone. (FYI they also are a bit lax or at least inconsistent in processing--I got a marriage processed with only one signature on the ROM while some report both spouses' signatures are needed). NY also lacks the form letter and checklist CA has so it's a bit more vague what they are expecting. I don't see green card mentioned at all on this page so I see no reason to include it (again, it proves nothing about your marital status). https://newyorkpcg.org/pcgny/civil-registration/report-of-marriage-of-a-filipino-abroad/ But the good news is you don't need to be without your vital documents like passport and birth certificate during processing, as you only send Certified True Copies of them. Slightly more work to get them certified as "true" by a notary but it won't impact the OP's travel plans.

Medical exam should be scheduled a couple of days before the interview (requiring a hotel stay in Manila). It looks a bit involved. It may be cheaper to do 2 trips (Cebu-Manila flights are < $100). I'll probably book a flight for the medical exam as soon as we get an interview date, then another one for the interview.

If you want to stay longer than a year and are married, a resident visa is not all that difficult (compared to the US). Current initial (probationary visa) cost for 13(a) resident visa is $150 USD. Permanent retiree visa with some special benefits like PhilHealth costs if I recall around $1,500. But I think it's more common people just remain indefinite "tourists". You can just travel abroad together once per year and get the balikbayan stamp on your re-entry. For shorter stays between 30 days and 1 year just pay the fee to extend your free 1 month tourist visa. There is no limit on total days, only consecutive days. https://immigration.gov.ph/faqs/ I am a foreign national under a Temporary Visitor’s Visa, I can stay legally in the Philippines for thirty (30) days however I want to extend my stay, how do I go about this? Foreign nationals who are admitted with an initial stay of thirty (30) days may apply for a visa waiver first, granting an additional stay of twenty nine (29) in the Philippines. Thereafter, you may apply for one (1) month, two (2) months or six (6) months extensions at least one week prior to the expiration of your valid stay. How long can I extend my in the Philippines? 36 months (USA)

I submitted a report of marriage to the San Francisco consulate. The only original document mailed was an apostilled marriage certificate, which was returned in around a month, and photocopies of our passports and birth certificates. I'm not sure why a green card would be sent. Working authorization is irrelevant to marital status. Looking at the NY consulate web site, there is no mention of a green card. The Philippines doesn't know or care about that and it's not relevant to civil registration. Are you following the instructions on their website (newyorkpcg.org) ? It takes around 6 months for the Philippine Statistic Authority to officially record the marriage.

What is your specific concern about buying the ticket? You have no timeline so we can't see what stage of the process you are in. If it's time to travel to the US and your documents are in order, what are you worried about? A VPN is used to obfuscate or alter your apparent online location for internet services which are restricted or priced geographically. For example, one can use a VPN to access "Netflix Columbia" and pay a cheaper rate than one would from their actual location in America. Airlines do not charge different prices based on where one lives. Why would you do this to purchase a plane ticket?

Form Form Description Classification or Basis for Filing FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY2024 I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) All Classifications 5.2 4.6 8.0 12.1 13.9 9.3 I-130 Petition for Alien Relative Immediate Relative 8.6 8.3 10.2 10.3 11.8 11.2 Median time in months. So a fiance visa filed a year ago was approved 2 months faster than marital. But keep in mind the marital visa is for most far superior and over $1,000 cheaper than K-1. I do find it bizarre that strangers are sometimes given a higher priority than wives, but not much about our immigration system makes sense... But I wouldn't make any assumptions about timing going forward--the visas often leapfrog each other. And a lot depends on chance. If we were sent to *ANY* other service center than the one we got, our case would likely be approved already...but we are still waiting at 12.5 months-- luck of the draw. I have no regrets going marital.

We sent photocopies of both our birth certificates, which were accepted (still pending recording in the official Manila PSA records, which takes months, but the consulate contacted us about a different issue and they said everything was in order). I don't believe it asks for originals. The only thing original is the marriage certificate (and the notarized Report of Marriage form). Just follow the rules of the SAN FRANCISCO consulate if you did a Utah online marriage.

The US is asking for any additional evidence that your relationship is bona fide, to make sure there's no scheme for someone to enter the country on a ruse (this occasionally happens, often with fiance visas. I even know people who have entered, and one even became a US citizen, through sham marriages first obtained with a fiance visa. There is a case before the Supreme Court right now about an MS-13 Hispanic gang member who got an American woman to apply for a visa for him, with authorities arguing that they did not have a legitimate relationship, despite obtaining a marriage certificate after his arrival in the US). One benefit of the marriage visa vs fiance is you are already married to the person in question, so you have a much more serious relationship and a very low bar to prove that it is legitimate. Also, they scrutinize different countries differently. The authorities realize in the Philippines, you're typically looking at an middle aged or older white man marrying a younger Filipina bride. Not a lot of shenanigans or gang entries going on there, and it's not a high risk country for visa fraud. While the US can theoretically ask for more information if they choose to, they really are just collecting basic data from you, and want to know the names and dates of births of people applying at this point, and make sure your marriage certificate is valid before passing you on to be processed. Where you really need to have strong evidence proving a true relationship is with a fiance visa. That said, I think I included a copy of our last boarding passes together showing we visited recently, and considered that as proof of the ongoing relationship. Fun fact: A couple of years ago my credit card company was offering a $50 bonus if I ordered another card for someone in my household. I gave them my dog's name, and to this day, he has a working credit card. US immigration knows which types of proof are meaningful and which are not. If you're paying $1,000 for a ticket, flying 20 hours in a plane and spending a week with her, that's pretty strong evidence. If she and my dog both have similar looking pieces of plastic that were issued for free, that means absolutely nothing. The investigators have seen lots of fraud, and they know which types of evidence is meaningful and real, and which is weak and does not demonstrate any true relationship. If you really need to give your wife a way to spend money drawn on an American bank, you can get a credit card with her name on it (huge red flag personally) but printing her name on a plastic card as some type of "proof" of your relationship is a waste of time. Also, don't overthink the I-130. It's a basic government form. We spent 2 days on it. Day one I read and saw "honey I'm going to need a copy of your passport and the full names and places of birth of your parents." Couple of days later I filled everything in and submitted. Get it in and then you have a year to worry about the next steps. If you are delaying because of the name, apply in whatever name is currently on her ID documents and it can be changed to your married name at the next step a year later (according to what I've read here).

I'm just a few months ahead of you and can tell you that in all the pointless WAITING you have ahead of you, you will probably read enough here and eventually figure out most of your questions. One big complaint I have with VJ is some of the guides are outdated and there are far too few stickies (the Philippines thread should DEFINITELY have a thread about Report Of Marriage and the course and CFO stamp your spouse will need to exit the country--she will NOT be allowed to leave the Philippines without this once she gets a US visa in her passport! I don't even see the point of a specific Phl thread if it's not gonna include stuff like that!) My advice is get the I-130 filed ASAP and then start to work on the other issues. Your I-130 will likely sit in a pile somewhere for a year until anyone even touches it, and only then does the US Gov't start doing anything about your application (technically it's just a petition / waiting mechanism for your actual later visa application. Get it in TOMORROW!). As for the name change, personally what I would do is file using her married name (her current first name, current last name, your last name). I did NOT do this on form I-130 because we had zero documents showing that name (including the Utah marriage certificate) and that seemed weird to do, but I've read here that you can either do that OR use the new married name on the NEXT form (DS260, about a year later) regardless of how you filled out the I-130 so that's what I plan on doing. Other than her taking your last name, I would leave any other name changes alone for now (her voluntarily wanting a different name than the one her parents gave her is a whole other can of worms that should be separated from her immigration process). The next step (take your time, no rush, it took us 6 months to collect everything) is to gather the documents for the Report of Marriage to the Philippine Consulate in Utah. I don't know why this isn't a sticky here, but your wife will HAVE to report the marriage to PHL gov't before she is allowed to leave the Philippines so make sure you A) Send your Utah marriage certificate to get Apostilled by the Lt Gov of Utah, and B) start collecting the required docs like your birth certificate and have your wife do the same and allow 6 weeks for her to mail them to you (or go visit her). This was a huge packet, that was more paperwork than the US visa! But it's not hard. And I'm not worried at all about the processing time, it's just something you want to do in advance of your US interview. I think you are overthinking the name stuff. My wife is using whatever name is on her ID, and then once we get the Report of Marriage back we will get a new Phl Passport with my last name (costs like $15). I guess at that point we would USE her last name, but there won't be much more USING to be done (buy the plane ticket in that name I guess?) Basically K.I.S.S. and don't create problems where you don't need to. Do only what is required. 6.1 You don't need Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) for the USA at all. You need it for Philippines authorities only. USA is land of divorce, they don't care if your spouse has been married before or not! 7.3 The only original document you send is Apostilled marriage certificate and one notarized application form (plus copies of everything--there is a printed cover letter on the SF Consulate website explaining it all). 7.4 Apostille stamp is something placed on your marriage certificate by the Utah Lt Governor, for a fee. Mail him your certificate, a month later you get back the red apostille stamp on it. 7.5 Maybe I got lucky, but mine was approved without both parties signing. The instructions are unclear. If you can PM me I have a suggestion though. Getting the Phl notary was overpriced and done incorrectly anyway. 8.1 Yeah we are anticipating 2 years total. It's absolutely infuriating and the US should be embarrassed, but it is what it is. Personally what we did was: visiting her family, visiting her in the PHL, visiting her in a third country (Taiwan, Japan), doing a prenuptial photo session and formal engagement & wedding ceremony there (the Utah event we considered a civil union that we did not consummate, I later did official proposal and all that), and planning the wedding there can be fun and a GREAT way to stretch out the time. My other friend who did this went abroad and lived with his wife during the waiting (and had a baby and a first birthday before he even got an interview). The bottom line is it is not as overwhelming as it seems, just get the I-130 form filed NOW. There is so much waiting time that you can easily prepare the next steps in advance, and doing them one by one it's pretty simple as long as you don't have any out of the ordinary situations (like you are unemployed or something). Oh the other thing that is a huge can of worms is the US income tax situation. The US gov't has made it annoyingly difficult to apply for a tax ID # which your wife needs, which I've done by mail in the past, but is now an extremely obtuse process, and we went on several wild goose chases trying to follow their rules using supposed "IRS acceptance agents" who knew nothing about what we were attempting to do (apparently there is one guy in Clark who can do it). The bottom line is we settled on filing income taxes "married filing separately" and then later when the wife gets here I get the joy of re-doing up to 3 years of old tax returns as "married filing jointly" but I will get several thousand dollars back from Uncle Sam then! The only good thing about the long wait is you get a giant tax break beginning the year you marry!

FYI to anyone considering this, after checking basically every country in the VisaJourney Timeline search, there is not a single country with a significant shorter wait time from NOA2 to visa issued vs. Philippines (I believe Japan was maybe a couple of months faster but definitely not worth relocating for). I ignored countries like Monaco that did not have a sufficient number of cases to form an opinion. On the bright side, that means PHL is not really any worse than any other country for immigration waits. Or to put it another way, that all American consulates abroad are equally slow I was surprised at how long the wait was in Mexico, which we strongly considered relocating to.

I'm confused. If 1) spouse is a resident of a third country (Philippine citizen but working abroad for a cruise line in Singapore, where we are awaiting a job offer) there is no option to interview there? She must return home to PHL? Or 2) the other option would be us moving to Mexico now and waiting until approval. Are you saying this isn't allowed? I'm asking what is the process for informing the US gov't of the new residency and the best time to relocate if we chose option 2. If Mexico grants residency and we choose to wait out the process there why wouldn't it be allowed to interview in Mexico City? We would be physically closer to new home, could spend more time together, and historically have a shorter wait for interview since Manila is facing a severe backlog. I know of 2 couples who have temporarily lived in Mexico while processing US immigration docs (and one who did so using DCF filing when that was allowed). This is a fairly common practice AFAIK.

What is the process for interviewing in a different country and when is the best time of the process to relocate and initiate this? Checking the timelines here is not very encouraging... Mexico is showing around 1 year from NOA2 to interview date. Taiwan varies a lot at 3-11 months. It appears waiting up to a year for interview is the "new normal" of our broken immigration system. Might be better to just stick with Manila but it's good to know the options.

I have not done this but my only advice would be: A) Consider your girl travel to any country first, so she has proof of tourism in her passport (Taiwan is visa free and my PH partner just got visa approval for a trip to Japan for her first trip out of the country). Japan visa was pretty easy, needed a bunch of documents from me and around 1500 PHP fee with 1 week processing time. The main fear immigration authorities have is someone is coming to stay long term and work while unauthorized. B) Have heard from multiple sources that Netherlands is a good choice. I would also look in to whether Spain is a good option, considering the Spanish ties to PH. I do believe you must enter on the country that issued you a visa (or be prepared to prove that you will be heading there and spending most of your time there if you enter via another EU country). Yes it's a bit of a pain, but it's a walk in the park compared to the USA's system Generally if you follow all the steps you should be approved.

If one of you is a US Citizen, consider marrying online via Utah online weddings. From that point on you are already legally married in the eyes of the US, and you can apply for spousal visa CR-1.

FYI K1 visa is fiance visa. Marriage visa is CR1. As someone stated above CR1 is typically better/faster/cheaper (though speed is about the same for both). But be clear which path you are taking before you start it, as it is a long road (~2 years).

Philippines is taking around 1 year from NOA2 approval to interview date. Is it possible to select another country for the visa interview? Is residency required in that country? If not, I would select something close by SEA, easy to travel to. If so, spouse may soon be working abroad, and could either select that country or we would relocate to Mexico while waiting approval. What is the process and any issues/delays with doing this? (Bonus is that we would avoid the troublesome TB test in Manila!) Our status is filed for spousal visa last year and we are nearing NOA2 approval date (anticipated in the next couple of months).