rbv_shard

For K-1 visa in Manila, the results are hand-carried by the applicant (beneficiary) to the embassy. If up against medical exam expiration, consider proactively doing a new one (giving a fresh 6 months). If you complete the process with the old medical, get the visa with almost no time left, and the visa expires, you likely have to start at the very beginning (new I-129F, USCIS processing, NVC processing, DS-160). If the medical expires before the visa issues, you just rewind to getting the medical. New medical shouldn't be a new suspicion-of-TB fiasco because either (a) she was treated and they have that record of TB history or (b) the x-rays caused false positives, but now SLEC is doing the IGRA test.

This times 1000. RFE is far better than fighting deportation proceedings.

Tip for getting mail at address: Wells Fargo will add an authorized user to a credit card without requiring an SSN. The card will be mailed in an envelope addressed to the authorized user with the primary account holder's address... tada, proof of address. In fact you can even do this before the fiancée moves to the US, but that might incorrectly be considered evidence of having been in the USA before being authorized, so may be better to wait at least for entry and possibly for marriage.

It takes about 8 months for them to process an I-129F. Apart from checking that you weren't missing the payment, most of that time is just waiting your turn, they have a large backlog. You won't hear anything until you get to the head of the line and they look at it closely. I recommend filling in your timeline here on VJ, it will give you a pretty accurate estimate of when your petition will be processed. Other steps of the process give you more frequent feedback. VJ tracks statistics and trends on processing time of each stage, which you can see here:

Awesome!

Did your petition get transferred to Vermont or is California Service Center still the one processing it?

Well my fiancee just finished her medical and she was given the Polio vaccine, but Hep B is marked "Code D" meaning "not available in-country". It is available at many clinics in Philippines, now I have to see if SLEC has a reasonable explanation why they couldn't give it. Grrrrr.

My fiancee just finished her medical at SLEC. Her DS-3025 shows the same vaccinations I expected based on the "instructions to panel physicians" except for two: influenza has code F "Flu vaccine not available" which I understand is acceptable, and hepatitis B has code D "Not available in country". Is it true that in Manila they have no access to Hepatitis B vaccines? I feel like SLEC is just trying to increase profit by not giving the required shots, the cost of which was included in the visa medical package. I have very good health insurance and Hep B is required for insurance companies to cover, so it's easy for us to pick up the missing shot after marriage. But that won't get it onto the official government form. Has anyone gotten RFE for Manila using code D inappropriately?

Apparently SLEC has an FAQ about this, proving that they have no clue about law. US Embassy Manila seriously needs to accredit a different clinic. Having worked on a medical research team before, I can say with confidence that "it's on government forms" is not considered by any USA law or policy to be an excuse for denying anyone a copy of their own medical records, and in the USA that would be a HIPAA lawsuit. Still advising my fiancée to be insistent in asking for a copy. And if SLEC stands by their improper policy, to ask at the conclusion of the interview to have a copy made.

To keep this simple, no the money doesn't disappear (until she spends it). The income does. If the money was saved/invested, those funds can be listed in the asset category. Funds from past employment cannot be listed in the income category. Even salary from a job that's still active but anticipated to end can only be included "pro rata" in annual income.

Yes, I mean leave and stay out long enough to trigger abandonment of US permanent residency.

Time in your origin country, or any country other than the US, doesn't count as overstay.

@FolieADeux Because of the I-864, your husband needs to leave the country. If he does voluntarily, great. If not, you may need to get law enforcement involved to document the substance abuse. If illegal substances, that should crater any solo attempt at removal of conditions. Once he abandons residency, your obligations end. If he remains a US resident, your obligations continue potentially for his entire life. You definitely should consult an attorney to protect yourself.

Has your petition status (the USCIS status website) changed? A week or so after it changes to "Sent to Department of State", NVC will have a case number assigned which they may tell you in response to a public inquiry. With that case number you'll be able to start checking NVC status through CEAC.

There's a note on the requirement for Polio which ends up saying it must be given to immigrants examined in "at-risk" countries, and Philippines isn't listed as at-risk. So perhaps that is why.

Assuming some sort of family visa needing I-134 or I-864... if not, skip directly to the last question below and clarify what type of visa Are you planning to provide petitioner's tax IRS transcripts up to and including TY2024, and trying to justify not having a TY2025 one? Or are you trying to justify not providing any IRS tax transcripts or tax returns at all? Will you be providing petitioner's W-2s? Is petitioner working? In the US or in Philippines? Or is this regarding beneficiary's Philippines ITR / lack of one?

By definition a lawful permanent resident of the US is a resident of the US. They can visit other countries, but if they transfer residence, they cease to be an X Y Z resident of the US for any adjectives X, Y, and Z, and in particular when those are "lawful" "permanent". And the US government does indeed rescind LPR status which has been abandoned by not remaining a US resident.

That's not your case. Your case was "created" months ago, after your approved I-129F petition was sent to NVC. (Your timeline shows 2025-10-09) Double-check that you entered the correct case number from the K-1 FTP letter, and if you did (it will start with MNL2025) then there's something scrambled. It shouldn't be possible for any case starting MNL2025 to have a creation date in 2026. Your screenshot shows status of a non-immigrant visa, but in CEAC status tracker, you have to use the "immigrant visa" option... and the status tracker for non-immigrant visa doesn't accept case numbers starting MNL. And the line above "creation date" shows "Immigrant Visa Case Number" when checking status. If you really did enter the MNL number on the "immigrant visa" status check, and got back that non-immigrant visa information, try messaging https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/ (you'd think "non-immigrant" but K-1 appears on this page), they do respond pretty quickly.

Most likely USCIS is under political pressure related to https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/ilhan-omar-accused-of-marriage-scam-by-trump-investigator/ar-AA1SfexT

This is definitely the explanation. Searching online, I've found some banks that have a policy that a new SS card must be brought to process the name change, and others accept one photo ID (drivers license) and one additional proof of name and address (like a utility bill), plus the name change document (marriage certificate).

Sounds like the entry officer didn't file everything correctly, or something was missed from the packet back at the embassy. Hard to tell since neither you nor your wife were allowed to look inside. I've also read that in some cases, a portion of the packet is returned to the arriving beneficiary and not retained by the entry office. This reminds me that I need to have my fiancée specifically ask for extra copies of the medical report when she goes to her medical exam.

Feels like you are missing the forest for the trees. You can open joint accounts, using your wife's married name, by providing a copy of the marriage certificate to the financial institution along with SS card even though that card still has maiden name (as does her identity document - Filipino passport). The marriage certificate is a name change document that allows the bank to use a newer name than on the card. You can simultaneously file ROM with the embassy and start the process of getting a passport in married name, and that also won't need married name on SS card.

Quite confident that you're right that the overseas medical satisfies the requirements for AOS, however it sounds like you might not have provided documentation of the medical to USCIS? If your wife showed it at the embassy that was enough to get K1 visa, but USCIS wants to see it themselves, not just know that it should theoretically have been part of the process. Do you have the packet given by the embassy for your wife to show at port of entry? As I understand, that's supposed to have the medical forms needed for AOS, and you need to submit all of them. DS-3025 isn't a replacement for the I-693, it's what's you would add to an I-693 that showed incomplete vaccination.

Does he have the old one in his possession (even if marked invalid/cancelled such as by hole punch or clipped corner)? If he can present both at the appointment it will assuage any complaints about the mismatch.

Getting the ROM is slow, but don't they give a filing receipt in just a couple weeks? That would prove to CFO that they are not hiding the marriage from the Philippines government.