Edward and Jaycel

I second this.... please do a little research and see if you can do it yourself. There are plenty of guides here on VJ that can help and the community here is always willing to answer things you are unsure of. Don't get yourself tied into any of these services. In the posts I've seen here and other forums, they do nothing but cause headaches. I'm no rocket scientist and I was able to figure it out and that was before I knew about this site.

Awesome! Glad to hear it and keep us posted! The two things that Jaycel likes to share about the CFO is: 1. Don't watch YouTube videos about "Horror Stories" regarding the CFO. They got themselves sorted out last summer (2023) and as long and your fiancee knows the details about your relationship it will be fine. She said hers was a breeze and because all of the proof of relationship she brought, she only had to spend like 10 minutes in the 1 on 1 with the counselor. 2. Bring proof of your relationship because they WILL look through it. Jaycel brought ~140 pages and the counselor looked through all of it! 😆

It can't hurt to start organizing all of the "evidence" from this trip (reservations, boarding passes, hotel receipts, pictures, etc.) that show that you two were together in person. It will help when you are ready to file the I-129F. It will be nice to have everything together already instead of trying to hunt it down at that time.

congrats! I can confirm what @top_secret reported… Jaycel said CFO was a breeze. Just bring lots of proof of relationship. Unlike the embassy, they WILL go through it all. Happy times my friend! You are almost there 😁

Since your brother is a US Citizen, immediate relatives (i.e. - his wife) always have a visa immediately available

So happy to hear this!! Ours changed to “Issued” after 2 days of being g in “Approved” status

I understand the thought process here and AOS does need more, however, almost a year had passed between our I-129F filing date and the date of Jaycel's interview. That plus the age gap complication, we erred on the side of "the kitchen sink" method because after all that time, the last thing we wanted to run into was a 221g from a Visa Officer who didn't get his/her cup of coffee that morning and decided to be a stickler and ask for everything. Besides, in the Philippines, at the CFO/CGP session Jaycel went to, the counselor asked for and looked through every page of our proof of continuing relationship. I believe it's what got her out of the 1 on 1 session in about 10 minutes. To each their own, but when it comes to anything immigration related we will always overwhelm them with evidence at every step of the way when evidence is requested/required. The key is keeping it organized. If you do that, the volume of documents shouldn't matter much. Just my two cents 🙂

I know this was asked of someone else.... I'll tell you ours too. Jaycel had a total of about 330 pages in her accordion filer, 160 pages of which were proof of continuing relationship. We went heavy on everything too because we have a large age gap between us and that sometimes gets flagged as possible fraud so we went with the axiom, "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it". 😆

Jaycel used an accordion file folder and labeled the tabs with things like: Civil Docs, DS-160 Confirmation Extras, I-134 Docs, Petitioner Docs, I-129F Copy, Proof of Relationship, etc. She said it worked perfectly as she was able to grab the documents they needed quickly and didn't have to fumble around looking for them.

So sorry for you and your fiancee WCF... Unfortunately to even register for the CFO, you have to have the Visa number that's printed on the visa. You can't make an appointment without it. I will tell you that once we had Jaycel's visa, we were able to get the CFO-GCP appointment booked within 1 week. The one in Cebu had 18 appointment slots bookable for the morning session and the afternoon session (36 slots daily) every day except Fridays.

Thank you so much.... You know the deal with K-1, since you can't really plan anything because you don't know when things will happen, we are just doing a ceremony in front of a judge here in Colorado with some close friends to be there as our witnesses. We're trying to make it as special as we can and then we will plan something a little more formal for next year or the year after.

Happy to be here and do what we can.... I wish we had found VJ so much earlier in our K-1 journey but the support and education we have received since joining has been amazing so we just want to "pay it forward" wherever we can 🙂 We are all part of a big "Immigration Family" we believe and if we can do anything to help down the line, please don't hesitate to reach out. We get married in 3 days and 3 weeks after that we will be filing our AOS packet so there's lots more "fun" to be had 😆

That's awesome news! So happy to hear!

How did you do the email inquiry? Did you use the inquiry form on the embassy website or did you use an email address?

Praying that they grant your request and approve your I-485 expeditiously!

That's for the I-693 medicals done by a civil surgeon inside the US not for overseas medicals. The overseas medical exam still has a validity of 6 months and that is what your visa validity date is based on as far as I know. I could be wrong.

We scheduled ours without the appointment letter. When she checks in, they will just have your wife sign a waiver saying that she understands that the medical exam is only good for 6 months and if it expires before she is issued or can use the visa, that SLEC is not responsible, etc. Unless something has changed since August.

If your interview is scheduled for after the validity date on the NOA2, the consular officer conducting the interview, if they approve the visa, will automatically extend the validity date for you. You do not need to do anything. My only suggestion is that you bring updated letters of intent to marry to the interview with you and proof of ongoing relationship.

I just realized that the cover letter I pasted for the I-864, I still had the line listing that I was including my W-2s for the past 3 years. As I am including Tax Transcripts downloaded from IRS.gov, per the instructions for the I-864, if you are sending them transcripts (instead of copies of your tax returns) you do not send in the W-2s or 1099s. So in my updated copy of that cover letter I have removed that line item from the list.

No worries... Just trying to pay it forward as I have received so much guidance from the amazing people here on VJ. They were a Godsend after I had filed the I-129F for Jaycel. I only wish I had found this site sooner. May have saved us from that RFE we got during the I-129F processing! LOL My best advice? Become "A" students at this process. Study the application forms and their instructions that are provided on the USCIS website, also look at all the drop downs on each Form page on USCIS.gov for things like filing tips, checklists of initial evidence, etc. And read, read, read through all the posts involving AOS here on VJ. I feel like I got a Master's level education on AOS here 😁 Feel free to send me a message on any questions on the screen shots or whatever. I will do my best to help with whatever I know.

Yes... If you are filing an I-485 concurrently with I-131 and I-765, you file them all in the same package together, with each form, its own cover letter, payment and supporting documents separated from each other. We are going to do it with a separate clip holding together the cover letter and each form and its documents so that they see that (for us) there are 2 separate submissions (we are only doing the I-485 & I-765 and not the I-131). Also don't forget that the US Citizen has to fill out the I-864 Affidavit of Support and provide supporting documents and that goes in with the I-485. Here's what we are using for cover letters for the other forms. Hope this helps. (P.S. - I put "Applicant's Married Name" in the letters because we are putting that as her "Legal Name" in the Form I-485 as she is taking my last name and we are filing with that as her new "Legal Name". (Legal name change based on marriage)

If you are filing the Employment Authorization application concurrently with the I-485 it needs to be in paper form mailed in along with the I-485 (Separated) with its own filing fee attached ($260 when filing concurrently)

Correct.... If you are filing concurrently, you do not have a receipt for the I-485 yet. Just make sure you include cover letters for each filing (I-485, I765, I-131) with the applicant's name, address, phone number and email AND most Importantly the applicant's A-Number. In the "RE:" of that letter, say "Original Submission, FORM NUMBER FORM DESCRIPTION Filing Concurrently with Form I-485" I'll pop a screen shot below of the one we are sending for the I-765 with all the identifying info changed

I got that same response on my first inquiry to them and submitted another inquiry about a week later and they gave me my case number.

Jaycel and I are getting married a week from tomorrow in front of a magistrate at the courthouse and then we will be having a bigger celebration next year for family/friends. As long as you have an official marriage certificate as a result, that's what USCIS requires.