Nathan Alden, Sr.

@HKJ Take a look at the processing times page here: https://www.visajourney.com/times/ It can be confusing to navigate at first, but stick with it. You'll see graphs generated from actual VisaJourney member data that show average durations for each stage of the process depending on the specific visa.

Interesting. Thanks so much for the wisdom. I'll have her order a marriage report for both of us (she already has the PSA marriage certificate that resulted from our Report of Marriage process long ago). As far as social media, yes, she and I just went through that last night. I listed all her accounts.

@heynow How did this turn out for you? I might run into a similar issue. I have two divorce decrees from Austin, TX that were just sent to me in PDF form over email by the relevant government agency--essentially just a paper document. No raised seals, no apostilles, no wet signatures.

@hamorflic247 What would you recommend for my wife? We're just submitting the visa application now so it will be quite some time before her visa interview, but from what I've read the medical exam results are good for up to one year. There's some timing involved but I think it makes sense to get it done significantly before the interview and CFO process.

What I'm planning on doing is just getting an FBI criminal background check a couple of weeks before her CFO appointment and then forwarding the results to my wife to print out to take to the CFO appointment. It's not that expensive and it's worth being prepared, IMO.

@Edward and Jaycel I successfully submitted the I-864 and documents, as well as the visa application. We've moved on to the visa application documents. Currently, they're only asking for passport, marriage certificate (PSA), birth certificate (PSA), and police clearance (NBI). Did the NVC require you to submit anything additional that we should prepare for ahead of time?

Thank you! Yes, my petition was delayed for several months. The average time right now appears to be 15 months. However, the approval was eventually given with no issues.

Thanks. Last night I was on YouTube and it seems like SLEC itself issues vaccinations after the medical exam.

Also, there is a good chance that she will need several vaccinations as I'm not sure she got any during childhood. She does already have the double-dose of Pfizer for COVID-19. Does anyone have recommendations for where she can get the required vaccines, or other wisdom to share on this topic?

My wife has a passport and also an electronic national ID through the eGovPH app. She never received a laminated national ID because of the national government completely bungling the project. Will that be enough in terms of photo ID?

My wife's and my I-130 spouse petition was officially approved today! To prepare for what's to come, I'm reading as much as I can about the NVC, medical, and interview processes. Is there a detailed guide somewhere about next steps specifically for Philippines beneficiaries? I already know in general about the CFO process, the need for a medical exam and vaccinations (and how this can get crazy with sputum testing and treatment), and the difficulty of scheduling an interview (refreshing the website every hour until a slot opens up). However, is there anything I'm missing? I don't expect the DS-260 or the I-864 to cause any issues but I know how unpredictable the US embassy in Manila can be from reading past stories. I'd love to learn about the document requirements that we'll have to submit that are specific to the Philippines (police clearances, etc.) Any words of wisdom, gotchas, etc. from anyone who's recently gone through this process, or a guide I can read somewhere that's up-to-date? Thank you all!

FWIW (and this may have been mentioned elsewhere) the USCIS has access to expunged and other hidden records for the purposes of immigration benefits.

Success! She came prepared to the DFA office in Dumaguete and she was approved in five minutes.

The CFO confirmed for us over email that the DFA's CFO requirement was pandemic-era and no longer applies.

Thank you. This was the wisdom I was looking for! We were both already aware that the DFA doesn't list it as a requirement.

We found references on several websites, although I am aware that tons of web content is now AI-generated and feeds off other sources that are untrue. Several of the sources have listicle-like layouts, which nowadays tends to indicate AI generation. I was suspicious, which is why I posted here.

Hi, all. My wife (Filipina) and I (US citizen) embarked on the Filipino name change rigmarole just recently. I have an I-130 petition in progress, FWIW. Tomorrow, my wife was scheduled to visit the DFA to change her name on her passport to her married name, which would be the first of several name change efforts. Unfortunately, after booking the non-refundable DFA appointment and hostel stay (she's traveling to Dumaguete from the Cebu area as the Cebu DFA is completely booked out several months), she learned a surprise requirement that isn't found on the DFA website: she has to have attended the CFO PDOS seminar! Now here's the problem: the CFO's scheduling website requires visa number and visa expiration date! She doesn't have her visa yet, so we don't know what to do. We did some additional research and found several non-DFA online references to having to complete the CFO seminar before the DFA allows passport name changes. Has anyone run into this problem? How do we proceed? An additional question is will she have to attend the PDOS again later on when her visa is approved, or can she just go back to the CFO office to get a sticker on her then-changed passport (although I remember reading that CFO doesn't issue stickers anymore)? Gripe: Please, DFA. Please update your requirements to be accurate for spouses of foreigners. We could've saved PHP 1000 plus the hostel booking if you just better documented your own processes. 🙄

Thank you, all.

Interesting. Well, it seems that I'm an outlier in one way or another. I guess I'll find out in a couple of weeks.

Yes, I, the petitioner, was scheduled for a biometrics appointment. I thought this was normal based on everything I've read up until this point. In fact, the USCIS' own language seems to indicate that not having a biometrics interview would be the abnormal thing. The appointment letter doesn't say anything suspicious; it just asks me to bring my identification. I have no criminal history (never been arrested, charged, or convicted of any crime) and I'm a normal US citizen.

Well, I finally got movement on my I-130 petition filed on June 20, 2024. USCIS scheduled a biometrics interview for a couple of weeks from now. Is it normal to have the biometrics interview scheduled without having received an NOA2? Can someone explain the usual timings of these two things?

Thanks! I've sent them an email.

I'm not sure how to know if I have transmittal details. The documents I sent to the consulate were returned to me stamped, though. Is it on that?

My wife and I filed the Report of Marriage in September 2024 and the PSA still hasn't processed it as of checking a couple of months ago. I emailed the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco and they are now quoting eight to twelve months for PSA processing. Absolutely insane.

Thank you so much for the details! This helps a lot. As far as the ROM, in your case, what was the result? Did the consulate expedite sending the originals to PH?