crystal01

I did most of it too. No biggie, I am more organized than he is. He just needed to sign.

That Happy Ladies site is just as bad ... just the girls that moved from Pretty Ladies but now they have to post in English or Tagalog. The rest is no difference. No Pinay needs a support group if they have a loving and supporting relationship with their husband. There isn't any time for that nonsense. There are a couple groups here but they are mostly Mindanao girls. The rest of the Filipina we know don't bother with that stuff but mainly because in Southern California we are blessed with so many Filipino people and church groups.

and it's probably why you created your own group with nonsense polls all the time. lol it's funny

you made this right?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/filamdiscussion/

That Happy Ladies site is just as bad ... just the girls that moved from Pretty Ladies but now they have to post in English or Tagalog. The rest is no difference. No Pinay needs a support group if they have a loving and supporting relationship with their husband. There isn't any time for that nonsense. There are a couple groups here but they are mostly Mindanao girls. The rest of the Filipina we know don't bother with that stuff but mainly because in Southern California we are blessed with so many Filipino people and church groups.

Oh this may be a year late to reply but you are WAY WRONG. The only reason that group requires members to speak English or Tagalog is because everyone understands those languages unlike Bisaya which only a few can understand. Do you get it? In order to have unity, we need to have a common language understood by all. Just like with me responding to you in Tagalog, would you like that? No, because you don't know the language.

No Pinay needs a support group? The group is more than just that. I have a happy life and a wonderful husband but there are things I'd rather ask other women for some things, specially those that have gone through the same process and will understand the situation better. I've actually made a lot of real life friends from that group so don't discount it and act like you know what you are talking about when you clearly dont.

Yep I am a green card holder and was able to buy our house

it usually is Terminal 1

Whoever said that education in the Philippines is meaningless doesn't know what they are talking about. I finished Highschool when I was 14. Finished college when I was 18. I started working a few months after graduation. I finished even earlier than the average age of 20. Was age ever a problem for me? Never.

Like Steph, I honestly believe the education I received in the Philippines is a lot more extensive than what I see kids getting here. Like for example, some are so clueless about history or geography. I feel like I know more about the US and the world!

A few days after I got my EAD, I started looking for jobs similar to what I had in the Phils. I submitted applications to several companies, all requiring Bachelors Degree related to IT. I never had any problems with them not accepting my application or being interested in me. In fact, I'll be signing a contract at the end of the month for one of the Fortune 500 companies here in the US. They are very much happy to hire someone like me

Hey Eugie, just saw the news article and the video. What happened was so tragic and now here comes this AP hole. It's a good thing though that he can spend time with you in the PI. The boys are cute too! You guys look like a nice happy little family. All the best for you guys. My prayers are with you

Wow. Too bad we live 3 hrs away from Chicago lol. My hubby loves Red Horse. He discovered it during one of their military exercises in the PI and continued drinking it when he was in Okinawa. Now that we're stateside, we can't seem to find it anywhere!

It's unfortunate, but fully understandable to the average American citizen after hearing about some of the things discussed and allowed on some of these groups, why during the CFO they have to instruct those coming to America on how to be respectable and how to represent the Philippines with pride, dignity, and some morals for God's sake.

But hold on, I'm certainly not grouping the whole bunch together. I know scores, maybe even hundreds, of ladies from the Philippines that are very respectable and dignified. But as the old saying goes, "One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch". Even though we have to be careful not to allow ourselves to be this judgmental and do this type of stereotyping.

And no wonder, when ladies want to post on a forum such as PL and some of the others that have spun off, talking about their hubby's dong, whether they spit or swallow, what positions they like...and on, and on, and on! I'm not saying you can't have some fun teasing each other about this and that...but to get so graphic and descriptive in a forum that is supposed to be for immigration help...GOD!

Notice I said for "Immigration Help" which was the original intent of PL. If you want to get graphic about your sex life, then start a group for that purpose. Don't start, and allow it, in a group with over 500 members, when most of those that joined did so for the purpose of seeking help, or wanting to help others, on immigrating and adjusting to life here in the USA.

I couldn't have said it better

What's rather funny is they got fuming mad I posted this here. I had no other choice, they won't discuss this like adults. They ignore my questions and act as if nothing happened. What do they do? Post jokes on the wall. Hehe. Now I no longer wonder why the quality of education in the Phils is going down the drains.. We have these people as role models

what's up?

congratulations!

Congrats again

Hi lbounds, just wondering how you proceeded with this. I just did my biometrics and they did the same exact thing to me. Crossed out the middle name and put in my maiden middle name. This is so frustrating, all my paperwork showed my name as how I want it to be and my name showed up correct in the system but they changed it anyways. They told me I can have it changed during the immigration interview but I'm just concerned because what if I don't get an interview. I called USCIS and they told me to do an infopass. The office is about 2 hrs away from where we live

hi guys! time really flies fast. I got here last May 11, got married last June 25 and now waiting for my biometrics appointment on Sep 6. We've been married for 2 months today. I hope everything is going well with everyone on here!

steph, thanks for the guide

Thank you everyone! I can't wait to be with my babe

Aren't you glad you didn't wait for your eligibility letter befrore you scheduled an interview!?!

Congratz on your approval!!!

...and thanks for your candid write-up!

btw, I still dont have the letter from NVC!

thanks everyone

The interview went fairly well. I wasn't nervous at all, it was all the waiting that made me anxious. My interview schedule is at 6:25 am so I left home at about 4:45 am and I arrived at the embassy at about 5:20 am. It was still a little dark but there are already several long lines outside the gates. Inside the barricaded area, there are three lines. One for seafarers, another for B1/B2, and the one for immigrant/ fiances visas. Just ask around to see if you are in the right line. There are several people offering help from ballpens, to ID photos, to holding your phones and other gadgets/ liquids for safekeeping. Keep in mind that you only need 2 photos (attach it to your 2 copies of DS156) some might trick you into thinking you need 4 copies for the K1 visa. My mom went with me so I left all my electronic gadgets with her.

The guard started asking people to go inside the premises at about 7:30 am. There is a heavy metal door you have to push really hard to get in. There are several guards manning the Luggage Metal Detector conveyor belt and they will provide you with trays to put all your stuff in. Once you are cleared, you will then go through another door to enter the embassy grounds.

There are several window booths just across the doors and there is a guide who will instruct the immigrants/ k1 applicants to go fall in line there.

Here they will get from you your appointment letter, DS 157, 2 copies of DS 156 and DS 156K, and the BPI receipt. The lady arranged my papers and stapled it together. She returned it and instructed me to drop my papers at window 39. I then proceeded to the main embassy building to drop my papers. Took a seat at the waiting area and waited for my number to be flashed on the boards scattered around the premises. I then saw fellow VJ members Cherry and J'lyn. J'lyn was just behind me and Cherry was ahead of us by a few numbers.

The lay out of the building is fairly simple. There are several window booths for each process (prescreener, fingerscanning, consul, and the 2go delivery form)

Seats are arranged in front of the windows and there are several boards where the numbers flash so you can see it wherever you are seated. You have to be really attentive because the numbers flash at random.

My number was called at around 8:30 am and I went to the designated window booth for the prescreening interview. It was a nice motherly lady who asked me questions. She asked for my NBI, Cenomar, and BC. My I134 and supporting documents, and some photos.

Questions asked are:

1. My full name, fiance's full name

2. Our birthdays

3. Fiance's work: I said "He's a Marine" and she said "wow" lol

4. Are you single? "Yes", do you have kids? "No". Is he single? "Yes", does he have kids? "No" . She said "Wow swerte mo" I just smiled but in my mind I said "Sya swerte sa kin" lol

5. How many ex bfs have you had? "None" Oh, sya pala first mo. I said "Opo"

6. How many times has he been here? "Twice but we've seen each other thrice, one is outside the country"

7. When did you meet him?

8. How did you meet him?

9. When did he propose? She said "Ang bilis naman" I said "ayaw na po nya ko pakawalan"

10. Where are you working? Turns out her son worked for the same company

11. Other countries visited and for how long. She then said everything looks okay and I was asked to return to my seat and wait for my number to flash again.

After about 30 minutes, I went to window 40 for fingerprint scanning. It was a Chinese looking lady who assisted me.

Waiting for the final interview was the longest part! I was sitting with other VJ girls so we chatted around to pass the time. We were just in front of the consul windows and we noticed that the black lady consul really takes her time asking questions but she seem nice and friendly and even speaks tagalog once in a while. The other consuls are way faster than her so I prayed I wont get her.

Alas, my number was called at about 11:20 am and I got the black lady consul! Haha!

She is really pleasant and has a smiling face. I was smiling and laughing all throughout the interview. It was just like chatting with a friend. She asked me for my full name and birthday, my fiance's name and how we met. I told her we became friends on a site called Mingle2.com and she said she haven't heard of that before. I told her it isn't really popular. I then told her we decided to meet up in Taipei as travel buddies and we became a couple after meeting in person when we got back to our respective countries. She then checked my photos and said "Oh so he has met your family" I said "Yes, and the whole extended family too". Looks like you two have been every where and have seen each other several times. She asked me for the dates when we have seen each other. She saw the underwater diving photo so she just said "Oh you two dive". I smiled and said yes. She asked for other countries I've been too and how many days was the longest visit.

I got nervous when she looked at the affidavit of support because I don't have tax returns. I only have the W2 and recent paystubs. She asked " Has your fiance filed taxes for this year?" I said "Yeah, but he said the military does it for him so he doesn't have a copy..." She said "Yeah, he should have a copy for the previous year". I said I don't have that. I was waiting for her reaction but she just proceeded to look at his paystubs. After a few seconds, she asked me for his age. I said "22" with a big smile. "Oh you're older than him". I said "Yes, by 4 years. Hehe". She also asked about my work so I told her all about it. She seems happy with my answers and said "Congratulations, your visa is approved. Wait for your number to be called for the courier forms" Whew! I said "Thank you!" and she replied "Your welcome!" The interview lasted for about 10 minutes. I waited for a few minutes before I was called at the window where a Filipina lady double checks all the papers and gives out the 2go delivery form. After filling this out, I gave it to another window and the process is done. I got out of the embassy at about noon time

PS. How ironic! The embassy eligibility letter arrived today. Saw it when I got home from the interview. LOL

That's right, there are no packets. You just get an eligibility letter...or not!

K-1 beneficiaries need two copies of the DS-156, one copy of the DS-156K, and two copies of the DS-157.

ooppps that is right. I made a typo. It's 157 not 170 lol

It pays to be "makulit"

The Manila Embassy does not send any packets per se. We just get eligibility letters (*or not get any*) LOL. I still don't have anything by mail except for the reply they sent yesterday to my email 2 weeks ago saying I am now eligible to schedule an interview ( which I already did last week)

You do need to fill out, download, and print the embassy forms (DS 156, 156K, 170) and bring it to the interview with you alongside the other requirements.

Good luck!

To Crystal01: exactly what i did with mine go girl!!! as with other Pinays here, we call ourselves "ataters" and makukulit..

To militarygf: dont wait for the letter, its just a piece of paper that you can print online. and dont get tired calling them everyday to see if your case is in the system already : good luck to you and start with your medical soon

haha so true! I called NVC everyday to see if we have an MNL number yet, when we finally had one and it went out of NVC, I started tracking the package every few hours lol. When it arrived, I started harassing the embassy operators to see when they will have it on their system lol. I also tried to schedule online everyday. My efforts paid off. I will have an interview in a few days time.

Sending them an email might be helpful too but they take FOREVER to reply. Guess what? I sent an email 13 days ago exactly like your problem in this post and I got a response just now.

This is the email ( I think this is the eligibility letter) :

We received the U.S. immigration service-approved fiancée (K1) visa petition from the State Department's National Visa Center (NVC) on April 12, 2011.

You should visit this website: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph to schedule a visa interview appointment. You may also contact the Embassy’s Visa Information and Appointment Service at (632) 982-5555 or (632) 902-8930 to schedule a visa interview date. The Visa Information and Appointment Service is open Mondays through Fridays, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., except on Philippine and U.S. holidays. Callers in the U.S. may contact the Appointment Service at (214) 571-1600 between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time). You should have your case number, passport number, and passport expiry date ready when requesting a visa appointment.

Please note that K1 applicants must pay the visa application fee of $350, before they can request a visa appointment via the online appointment website or the Embassy’s Visa Call Center. For K1 visa payment instructions, please visit a link to our website at http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwh3023.html.

You should follow all interview preparation instructions for K1 visa applicants located on the Embassy’s website at http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwh3238.html. The instructions contained on the website will provide you with the required documentation and procedures to follow prior to the interview date.

You should compile all the required documents and complete the medical examination before the interview date (when scheduled).

We hope this information will be helpful to you.

Immigrant Visa Correspondence Unit

Consular Section

U.S. Embassy, Manila

1201 Roxas Boulevard

1000 Manila, Philippines

Telephone: (632) 301-2000

Fax: (632) 301-2037

SBU

This email is UNCLASSIFIED.