Edward and Jaycel

That all looks great to me! For the taxes... do you have an updated tax return transcript from your husband from the 2024 tax year? (Or copy of the complete tax return and W-2)? Or is that what you mean by this section?

We are going to do the same for Jaycel... Her medical was Aug. 6th & 7th last year. She has a doctor's appointment on July 1st and I'm going to see if they can administer it there since I don't foresee us getting an interview before then seeing as it's already June 3rd. I am in a big group chat with other Denver AOS filers on Reddit and it seems that Denver is doing interviews for September 2024 filers this week and next (at least among the members of the group chat there's 3 September 2024 filers that have interviews this week and next)

I don't know that you'll need a civil surgeon for sure yet... we are waiting to see the paper her friend got at the interview. She thinks they said just to upload proof that she got the vaccine. I'll let you know as soon as I know. Way to go SLEC not knowing about the updated requirements. Jaycel got the medical 3 months after they changed

Did your wife get the Polio vaccine at her Medical at SLEC? One of Jaycel's friends she met at the embassy doing her K-1 visa interview at the same time just had her interview today and got an RFE to get her Polio Vaccination and submit proof it was administered. Apparently CDC changed the requirements in May of 2024 but it appears that SLEC did not know for a while because Jaycel does not have it either. They gave them both a blanket waiver for not being age appropriate but USCIS is saying that according to the new CDC guidelines, that is incorrect. We are going to go get Jaycel's Polio vaccine done before she gets her interview so that we have proof to give them when we go.

Congrats!! When is your interview? Jaycel and I are still waiting for our interview to be scheduled so I only have advice I have heard from attorneys and other's accounts who have had their interview: 1. Bring the certified true copies AND a copy of any documents you submitted with your application (birth/death certificates, divorce decrees, etc.) from US Citizen spouse petitioner and foreign applicant 2. Bring any correspondence you have received from USCIS and any cards you have received (EAD Card, NOAs) 3. Bring updated evidence of your marital bona fides you have accumulated since filing 4. Updated I-94 5. Your IDs (Both spouses) 6. Bring everything that the appointment letter lists as it applies to you 7. Don't be late - Just read an account of someone checking in 3 minutes late to their appointment and the officer came out and said that they would have to re-schedule them for another day Good luck! Come back and share your experience with us!

This is because for the documents needed, the medical exam and the interview purposes, the embassies treat K-1s as immigrant visas up until the point of visa issuance. Then the case is transferred to the nonimmigrant visa unit for the issuance of the visa. You will likely see the status in CEAC change to "Application Received" before it goes to "Approved" and then "Issued". This is because the NIV unit at the embassy has not seen or touched the application until the IV Unit transfers it to them. The application received means that they have put your DS-160 into their queue for processing and issuing the visa.

Yes... Never give up! I can only imagine the emotions.... The spousal visa IMHO is the superior visa anyway. If you are thinking of getting married while you're over there, start looking at all the requirements now. Jaycel and I started looking into it a bit late when I lived there and it looked like my remote employment was going to end. There are a bunch of requirements (counseling, etc.) that we were not able to get done before I had to move back here (my remote work authorization went from being "100% remote from anywhere I wanted" to "You need to be in one of our offices in the US 4 days a week" in about a month's time) so we went the K-1 route after I returned. You should be able to get it all done if you are going to be there a month and you guys plan ahead. You can even do the Utah online marriage and then when you go there for the month trip that counts as you two "consummating" the marriage and USCIS will accept the marriage certificate from Utah after that for the Spousal Visa Petition. Let us know what happens. So sorry you all have to go through this. 🥹

Oh wow... so they're actually returning it to USCIS. They must have seen something deficient in the application maybe? I would use that link they put at the bottom of the letter to contact the immigrant visa unit to ask why it was refused and being returned to USCIS.

Manila generally doesn't even look at the I-134, did they look at it during the interview? 221g is not a denial, it is a refusal either pending a specific document or for administrative processing. Can you post a pic of the 221g sheet with any personal information obscured?

I second this whole heartedly! You got this

This is where to contact NVC - And another vote from me to do this ASAP before they schedule the interview https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html

For correcting things on the I-485 - Type up what is called an "Errata Sheet". You will type out the Part # and Item # you need to correct, what your original answer was and what you want your new answer to be with a short explanation as to why you are correcting it. Like others said above, hand it to the ISO right at the beginning of the interview. I have read lots of reports of interviews and some folks that needed to correct things and almost every one of them reported that the officer said something along the lines of, "Don't worry, part of the interview process is so that you can correct mistakes made in the application." Then afterward they have you sign on a tablet confirming the changes. Don't sweat it too much

A request for expediting for humanitarian reasons being approved is almost always for a medical condition on the US Citizen's part, not the beneficiary. I'm sorry to be blunt about it but I want you to manage your expectations on this. It is very unlikely to be approved.

Honestly the only thing you can do within the short timeframe you have to respond to the RFE, is to go get a new medical exam ASAP and submit it. To try to fight it at this point and risk a denial of the AOS over a few hundred dollars, after all this time and effort, IMHO would be crazy. If USCIS says they don't have her medical, then it got lost somewhere between when she gave the yellow packet to CBP and them shipping to USCIS and USCIS adding it to her A-File. There really is no other option. You had the interview, the only thing they said was lacking is the medical so give them what they want and be done with this AOS part of the journey.

Today's stats: June 2, 2025 23:15 MDT November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 7,877 (+209) • Denied: 1145 • FingerprintScheduled: 86 • InterviewCancelled: 318 • InterviewScheduled: 10,420(-59) • Processing: 21,048 (-154) • Received: 600 • Rejected: 102 • RFE: 422 • Terminated: 182 • Withdrawal: 32 • Others: 36

They tell everyone 1-2 weeks… sometimes it’s a few days, sometimes longer. Jaycel also chose to stay and pick up her visa in Manila and hers took exactly one week from thee day of her interview to be ready for pickup.

The question is clear... Have you EVER previously filed a petition for this beneficiary or any other alien. If your wife filed for her parents then the answer is yes.

I am not a lawyer so my answer will be based on my own opinion which is rooted in my extensive research of the immigration process since starting this journey with Jaycel I would file immediately after submitting the withdrawal and include a short letter with the new filing explaining the situation and that you have requested withdrawal of the original I-130 and are now re-filing because you did not want to fall out of status before filing the I-485. I have found at every stage of this process where we have had a doubt or a questionable situation, we were completely honest with either USCIS or the consular officer and it has worked in our favor.

Yeah they are not playing... which is why my risk tolerance is pretty much zero

What you should do depends on your risk tolerance... If you feel adamant about getting the I-485 filed before your I-94 expires (this would be me because I do not tolerate much risk in this process) and you do not receive the receipt in the mail in the next few days, then I would do the following: 1. Have your husband write a letter to USCIS referencing the receipt number for the I-130 and telling them that he wishes to withdraw the petition and asking them to stop processing it. 2. Upload that letter to the Unsolicited Evidence section of the petition on his my.uscis.gov portal under the category "Withdrawal Request Letter". 3. Also send the letter to the Service Center that is currently processing the request - My assumption would be it's the NBC. He can find out for sure by going to the "Ask Emma" chat on USCIS.gov and selecting the option to chat with a live agent. 4. File a new package with both applications in the same envelope concurrently The downside to this is that you lose the filing fee paid on the original I-130 The Second option is to file an E-Request for Non-Delivery of Notice with USCIS and ask for the receipt notice that was not delivered at https://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/ndn Once that is received, then file the I-485 with the replacement letter. Unlawful presence is forgiven from a spouse of a US Citizen when Adjusting Status however.... Downside here is that you are deportable in between the time your I-94 expires and you file the I-485 AND they may or may not get the replacement I-130 Receipt Notice to you expeditiously or even at all and you've wasted time waiting. Those are the two options for you as I see it...

1000% this.... Don't risk everything you have worked for to get to this point. Like @Crazy Cat said, CBP can deny her entry at the Point of Entry. The visa being approved and issued by the embassy simply allows her to "Apply for admission at a Port of Entry". It does not guarantee that entry.

Zero effect

We did the same for Jaycel - She stayed in Manila to pick up the visa and then we scheduled her CFO appointment. She wanted to do hers in Cebu though because the TikTok groupies said it was "Less Strict" and there was no appointments the remainder of that week so we booked it for the following week, two days before her flight here. She went home to Mindanao and packed up what she was going to take with her, flew to Cebu the day before the CFO and had no issues. @top_secret is correct... all she needs is the GCP session. Jaycel did the morning session for the GCP and flew out to Manila later that afternoon, spent the evening with her sister that lives there and flew to the US the following morning. It was a tight enough schedule that it made me nervous but our beautiful Filipinas seem to thrive on this kind of chaos Best of luck and let us know how it all goes!

Today's stats: June 1, 2025 23:15 MDT November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 7,668 (+240) • Denied: 1134 • FingerprintScheduled: 87 • InterviewCancelled: 315 • InterviewScheduled: 10,479(-174) • Processing: 21,202 (-91) • Received: 600 • Rejected: 104 • RFE: 427 • Terminated: 183 • Withdrawal: 31 • Others: 37 Grabbed the stats each day but did not have a chance to post until this morning, so this will be post 2 of 2 from the last two days

Today's stats: May 31, 2025 23:15 MDT November 2024 Filed I-485 Stats • Approved: 7,428 (+177) • Denied: 1123 • FingerprintScheduled: 87 • InterviewCancelled: 300 • InterviewScheduled: 10,653 (-102) • Processing: 21,293 (-82) • Received: 600 • Rejected: 103 • RFE: 430 • Terminated: 180 • Withdrawal: 31 • Others: 38 Grabbed the stats each day but did not have a chance to post until this morning, so this will be post 1 of 2 from the last two days