JT114881

First of all, my wife got her visa and we are leaving on the 29th WOOOOO!

Ok now my question: I have been in the Philippines for over 6 months and I understand I need to get an "exit clearance" at the

immigration office for myself (U.S. Citizen and ACR-I Card holder).

My question is, what are the reasons for denial of exit clearance? I am leaving a bill here (PLDT because they really did me wrong so

I refuse to pay them, long story) worth around 4000 pesos. My question is, will immigration see this unpaid bill and deny me exit clearance

due to the unpaid bill?

I don't know if this is really the place to be asking but I have searched everywhere and I cannot find an answer to this question, and you

guys are always helpful. Thanks and Happy Holidays!

I told my wife's family that if they want money they can get a job. Both of them are college educated, just very lazy.

This country needs to get out of the mentality that

1.) All Kanos are rich

2.) It's the person with the most money's job to pay for everything

We may be in the same situation.. DOT completed and Manila interview set for next week. I haven't read anything about this special clearance but will let you know if I find out anything. Did the consular officer indicate whether the approval time needed would extend beyond the medical clearance period? (which I think for us is 3 months). Sorry to hear of your additional delay to an already long process.

The consular officer gave me a "ballpark" of 1 month and when I called the Embassy again yesterday they said 2-3 weeks. I am pretty sure it has to do with this:

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/other/news/sep1808noflylist.html

I guess St. Luke's (@ssholes) put people undergoing DOT on the "Do Not Board" list of the CDC. Why they do this is unknown to me as people undergoing DOT can't fly

to the U.S. yet anyway (no visa yet DUH).

I have a friend who has it and her connection is horrible maybe she doesnt have good internet but she sounds like a robot when talking on it and she only calls locally here in the USA so I can only imaginge what it would sound like if she called international.....

I work for a VoIP company, a competitor of magic jack, there is a couple of reasons for the "robot voice" that you are experiencing:

First is latency and bandwidth, you have to make sure that your connection speed is at least 1 Mbps and your latency should be low to Magic Jack's

proxy servers (contact Magic Jack and ask for their proxy IP address and then ping it from the computer you are using MJ from, if its over 300-350ms you

might have problems.)

Another thing is, at least in my opinion, the MJ device itself is poor quality as it utilizes a cheap USB device. I recommend Trying Google phone as stated

earlier in this thread.

No one?

My wife went though the 6 months of directly observed treatment at St Luke's, plus the 2 extra months for the final sputum result. She FINALLY had

her interview on the 13th and was approved (CR-1 visa) but the consular officer said it would take a longer for her to receive her visa because

of some clearance that they need to do with her medical and the CDC and the Department of State. What is that clearance, how long does it take, why couldn't they have started this clearance thing earlier and why was I never told about it until the last minute? Total delays imposed by St. Luke's so far: 10 months.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

hi, you just need the ome 1-864, the tax transcripts 2008,2009, is ok if your fileing next year then you can send 2010 also,

I already filed last year in July 2009 and I sent tax forms for years 2005-2008 with my application. The petition was approved last year

but she had issues with the medical that delayed the interview until now (December 13th 2010). My question is, do I need to bring the new years

tax forms or are the ones that I submitted with the application fine because at the time of filing the 2009 tax returns were not yet available.

I filed a I-130 for a CR1 visa and included a I-864 and not a I-134 with my petition. My petition was approved however

the embassy's website lists I-134 and I-864 as a requirement. Do I need both of these documents or just an I-864?

One more question:

I filed the petition in July of 2009 with my 2008-2005 (latest available at the time) tax transcripts. Since then I have done my 2009 taxes.

Do I need to bring my new tax transcripts or are the ones I used when I submitted the I-864 still ok?

Interview date is December 13th.

Thanks guys keep the information flowing!

Just to let you know our experience. At interview when the office said we were approved and he said please go to the AIR21 desk, I told him that we were staying at a hotel across the street and I needed to leave to go back to the US in a few days only. I asked if there was any way we could pick up our visa directly instead of AIR21 and he said yes. He then took my wife's cell number and said we would be called when it was ready for pickup.

The next day my wife got a call or a text that we could pick up our Visa the next day. So it took us 2 days from our interview to have Visa in hand. We didn't have any written request but after the officer said we were approved we just asked him and explained why we wanted to pick it up directly.

I've heard a few stories about some long delays for AIR21 delivery and we didn't want to deal with that. Hope that it works out well for you and you can pick it up. In all our experience with the people at the embassy there everyone was very nice and helpful to us.

This is great information as well. Makes me want to schedule my flight for the 18th instead of the 22nd heheh...

It's been 6 days, and I haven't got my visa delivered yet. I wonder what's taking them too long, and if this a part of their transition... My worry is I'm scheduled to go home to Samar this early morning (4AM), and even though I left my sister my authorization letter she'll also be busy with her job by next week. Paano na kung dumating yung taga-Air21 na walang kataotao dito sa apartment namin, dahil sa Dec5 pa ang balik ko... :-(

-Kezia

Please update when you receive your visa.

I believe you can submit a letter at the time of the interview requesting to pickup the visa from the embassy rather then having it delivered. See the bottom of this link:

http://www.visajourn...ines&cty=Manila

I'd call the embassy and ask to be certain though.

George.

"If you want to pick up your Visa and/or request expedited treatment of an approved Visa, you must submit a written request to the Consular Officer at the time of the Interview."

Excellent information thank you very much. I will triple check with the embassy as always. I am almost on a first name basis with everyone

when I walk in there, so I am sure they can't wait to get me out of their hair.

Not true. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but my wife has gone though this. Hundreds of people do the DOT at St. Luke's, and my wife was one of them. Her smears were all negative but the culture was positive. (Whether or not I believe they lied about the results in order to extort more money out of applicants and the U.S. embassy is a moot topic I guess. Apparently, I am not the only one that thinks this, but I digress.)

Anyway, while I hope they are negative, I hate to see hopes smashed as bad as mine were. My wife is just now getting her second medical after 9 additional months added to our journey (1 month they called and said it was positive, 6 months medicine and 2 months for the last culture result).

If they call you before her sputum test result is scheduled it means she was marked positive. If she makes it to the date of her result with no St. Luke's call, it means they marked her negative.

Edit: Sorry didn't read the original date post. Glad it all turned out well. I'm the pessimistic type I guess.

Mike...I'm glad to hear that Rhio's smear test was negative. Her culture will almost certainly be negative too. The hard part is the waiting! Hang in there.

Not true. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but my wife has gone though this. Hundreds of people do the DOT at St. Luke's, and my wife was one of them. Her smears were all negative but the culture was positive. (Whether or not I believe they lied about the results in order to extort more money out of applicants and the U.S. embassy is a moot topic I guess. Apparently, I am not the only one that thinks this, but I digress.)

Anyway, while I hope they are negative, I hate to see hopes smashed as bad as mine were. My wife is just now getting her second medical after 9 additional months added to our journey (1 month they called and said it was positive, 6 months medicine and 2 months for the last culture result).

If they call you before her sputum test result is scheduled it means she was marked positive. If she makes it to the date of her result with no St. Luke's call, it means they marked her negative.

I'm sorry i don't have the answer to your question but few people here in VJ has been lucky to be able to have pick-up thier visa especially when they told them that they are staying on a nearby hotel. You could try that or just simply tell them your situation...anyways congratulations to your wife interview date I know you've been trough a lot GOD BLESS

Thank you very much for your congratulations

Please clarify though, sometimes we are allowed to pick up the visa at the embassy instead of AIR21?

Cenomar is going to be Monday (or tomorrow if they are open) which gives us time to get it. The CFO has informed me that I need the visa in hand before the interview, but it is walk in so we can do it same day.

It is impossible to book a ticket after the 25th and I need to be out of the Philippines this month. We have a son and traveling separately is not an option. I know it is not *wise* to do but I am going to do it anyway because I have no other option. Please though, respond with your experiances

on how long it took your visa to arrive after the interview.

I want an idea of about how long it takes to get your visa in the mail after the interview. Please post with your

interview date, the date your visa arrived in the mail, the city the visa was sent to, and if there were any complications delaying

the visa right after the interview (missing documents etc.)

My wife has an interview on December 13th and I am booking tickets for the 22nd. I have heard it takes 3 to 7 days to get the visa by

Air21, and we are just in Quezon City. What do you guys thing about my specific case as well?

Thank you very much I am sure this info will be helpful to others as well.

My wife is now 1 month into D.O.T. her culture was "positive". Stuck in the Philippines for another 7 months.

Don't be an idiot. Seven months is insignificant in the scheme of things.

Don't be rude. I have already been stuck in this country for 14 months waiting for this process to complete and I can't deal with 7 more.

I have to stay here until this completes, and I have my reasons for doing so.

I am asking for advice not insults.

Read the comments on this page: http://coconuter.blogspot.com/2008/01/st-lukes-medical-extension-clinic.html

You can tell which ones St. Lukes decided not to scam.

You really what someone's opinion of what you asked? your kidding right? why would you try and override a doctor with a bribe? what if she is positive and you bring her to the states? oh how sad you she maybe, you need to wait and just be suppoertive of her as she deals with this, its only 7 months and if that doctor reports it to the embassy which he will then she is screwed and so are you she will never get a visa then, so think about what you are trying to do.

No I am not kidding. The clinic also stated that they are "not sure" if 7 months of treatment will be enough. She has no symptoms of active TB and I am sure that they are lying. If it makes everyone feel better I will get a sputum test at Medical City to be sure before I go though with it, even though I am sure that she does not have active TB. It could also be a case of the doctor that read the results incorrectly. All I know is she does not have active TB.

7 Months is a long time.

Take the medical as early as possible. You never know if they are going to force you to undergo a sputum test or falsify your sputum results.

Yes I am bitter.

What you're planning to do is extremely dangerous, risky and unethical.

Trying to bribe the hospital/doctor who is in charge of your wife's medical is foolhardy to say the least.

I strongly urge you not to even consider it. Your wife's visa denial could be the LEAST of your problems.

What you should do is have your wife undergo a test done by another doctor somewhere else. See what those results say.

Then you can proceed.

Good luck!

It doesn't matter if she gets a second opinion because the embassy will only listen to this one particular clinic.

Here's some interesting reading for you: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/142401-st-lukes-medical-center-quezon-city/

St. Lukes has marked my wife as TB active, even though they wont tell us that directly. They say she needs to stay here for 7 months. If my wife had active TB then she would be coughing really bad along with a whole ton of other symptoms. I am 100% sure that my wife either has latent or no TB at all.

St. Lukes, from my understanding, gets paid big money by the embassy for their "observed treatment service" that they provide to the "customers", which would give them plenty of motivation to mark people as TB active when in reality they really aren't. I have tried speaking to the embassy and they aren't willing to help.

I am thinking about going down to St. Lukes and passing some $ under the table to a pulmonologist to get her approved. I think the whole "business" they have is a complete scam. Has anyone ever done such a thing or can anyone provide advice on how to go about doing such a thing? I understand it's a big risk but I am 100% sure they are playing games with us. I have high ranking radiologist friends in the states and they highly doubt that my wife has active TB as well.

What should I do?