Guitarlo

My fiance is worried...

She was told by her lawyer (handling her recognition of foreign divorce)...

The Manila Embassy has changed its policy regarding children of fiances for K1 visas. He had friend / client that had problems getting visa for child(ren). He advised that we get married in the Philippines and that I adopt her daughter (8 yrs. old, unmarried). Indicated the info was on the Embassy's website (which I can't find anything beyond my understanding below)...

Has anyone had recent experience with fiance and children traveling with them to US? Anyone heard of issues / new policy? Is there any concern regarding illigitamate father (whom left at birth)?

My understanding is...

I included her daughter in my petition I-129F.

She will file for K1 visa and a file for a K2 visa for her daughter (as a derivative).

Her daughter will need to attend medical.

Her daughter will need to attend interview at Embassy.

If we are graced, she will receive a K1 visa and her daughter a K2 visa.

They will both travel to US together.

BTW, is ther any advise regarding obtaining a Philippine passport for her daughter?

thanks,

Who is this attorney giving the advice?

My Pinay wife and her son (k1) and (k2) arrived safe and sound last August 2009. I have not heard of any changes in Manila. U do not need to go to Philippines, get married, and adpot. That's a bunch of nonsense. Make sure the child has a clear-ledgible birth certificate and if mom was never married you need no other clearance except possibly something from the NSO that says the child has no legal father. Otherwise you should be good to go.

It's been a long time since I've stopped to make a reply to the many difficult and interesting posts. This one caught my eye because I can relate. My wife is Pinay and our marriage was to say the least very "rocky." Once she started living with me she did a 180 from the giggly, endearing, young woman I visited three times in the Philippines. However, it took me many months to begin to understand many of the emotional reasons behind her change. The transition from her life to American life is to say the least a very difficult one. We also talked about the many options for her to stay here if we broke up. Out of mercy I thought to file the AOS and ASAP figure where she could go. SHe had no friends or family here so that was a hard if not impossible alternative. I'm thankful to say that eventually she did calm down and we are getting along. I think most couples go through this peroid of adjustment? If you wanted to be a humanitarian you could file the AOS and just go along with the status quo. YEs, it looks like a Green Card marriage but if you can hang in there she could eventually file for asylum and stay that way and you can get divorced. The trick is to convince the USCIS that the marriage was legit. It's a difficult decision I understand - I was there - but if you can help her to stay you'll be hero.

Good luck

Arlo in Minnesota

I married my wife in the end of December 2009, and the marriage is not turning out to be what either of us expected. We have talked about splitting up many times because it doesn't look like we will resolve our problems, but we do care about each other.

We have not applied for the Adjustment of Status, and she is pressuring me to file it. I have delayed filing because of our personal problems, but more so, because I haven't had enough money handy to pay the fee. Now that divorce looks like a likely reality, I'm not sure it is even practical to file it. She seems to think she will stay here and work and live with cousins and friends. She is from the Philippines but has three first cousins that live right here in the same town as us, who are married to Americans, and have lived here for years. She has a decent sized social network here that rivals my own. She always talks about getting a job, and says she will not return to the Philippines no matter what. I told her there are rules the government has about all that stuff.

She gets upset if I mention divorce, but she also admits that the marriage is not very stable. She is as unsatisfied with things as I am. She wants me to file for the AOS, but I'm hesitant because I told here if we divorce it would be worthless. Her family has even offered to pay for the filing fee.

I'm wondering if I should go ahead and file for her AOS, or just be realistic and move forward with a divorce. Furthermore, because we have waited, her K1 visa expired on March 1. But we were married on Dec. 22, 2009. She is worried she is in violation. I think she's OK, as long as she's married to me.

Thanks for your help in advance; my world has bee turned upside down lately and I need some advice if you have any experience in these matters.

Ok. Me and Shawnie's K-1 process is finally over! Received my visa by courier on Wednesday February 24th and returned to Houston the following day. A breeze getting through immigration, and the immigration officers were very hospitable indeed, although the whole process took about 2 hours! Landed at 2pm, and walked through the arrivals doors to an open-armed Shawnie at 4pm!

Just need to set a date for marriage, adjust my status, and start looking for work!

Best wishes to all the other couples.

Love from Martin & Shawnie

YAHOO! It's party time!

hello

my fiance has been married for 7 years. she is currently processing her annulment. i will file for her visa immediatly after it is complete.

does anyone have any informationon any problems this may cause?

my understanding is that once you can prove you are free to marry then everything will be ok.

any info will help me.

thanks

kirk

My Pinay wife had (2) annulments. They can be lengthy and expensive to obtain. Annulments just because you file for one is automatic. Not all annulments are granted. The Philippines don't cultrally approve of divorces. I hope you're not in a hurry.

Good luck

My Pinay wife had (2) annulments. They can be lengthy and expensive to obtain. Annulments just because you file for one is automatic. Not all annulments are granted. The Philippines don't cultrally approve of divorces. I hope you're not in a hurry.

Good luck

Sorry I meant to say "not automatic."

I had my interview and got a problem with the I-134. The consul told me i had to resubmit because of the mistake in question number 11.. Has anyone had an experience like this? Does processing of my K-1 visa will take a lot longer? Please give some advice..

Thank you so much!

What is question #11?

What part of Minnesota?

We are in Iowa... about 4.5 hours from St.Paul.

OFF TOPIC/ You can join Nancy C. Hennings on Facebook with the million other pinays on FarmTown LOL. U must be in Des Moines? You should send any further messages to my email account here.

Thanks

So, then what else did you not tell the truth about? The question is rhetorical but this is what the Consular officer is likely to think. The petition asks a question to be answered by the US Citizen petitioner. It is a clear question saying, "13. List all children of your alien fiancé(e) (if any)". He listed no children. The consular officer will wonder if you neglected to mention the child to your fiance, conspired with him to withhold information or simply misunderstood the question. Be ready with a truthful explanation for this and anything else they ask, since you already put up a big red flag saying, I'm not concerned about accuracy or truth.

I agree with my long time VJ colleague above. It can be a red flag. When I forgot to include a previous marriage I thought I screwed it all up. You never know what can happen at the interview. I forgot to mention that I had also sent in an amended I-129 with the correct info. This did not delay or change the interview date. For us the CO didn't ask why the annulled marriage was left out of the first I-129 or asked for my letter. They CO did however, go over several times the actual legal anullment documents. She was heavily interrogated about the marriages. St. Lukes even made her see a special counselor who evaluated her personality! So, needless to say, the Filipino government/culture don't like/approve of divorces. Just be ready to explain why the "child" question was omitted/error and consider filing a corrected I-129. You're not the first nor certainly the last who will make a mistake on the I-129. It's not a deal killer as long as you got your bases covered why/how the error happened. In my statement to the Embassy I declared that I had made the mistake and my finance had told me everything.

Good luck

if she doesn't have the permission of the father list him on the form does not make sense

I petitioned for my pinay wife and her 10 year old at the same time. They're here and Green Card in hand. However, if there are no plans to bring the child I don't know why you would include them on your petition if you're not planning on petitioning them - seems to make logical sense. On the other hand you're propbably supposed to mention she has a child that will remain with the biological father? She will be appearing at the interview by herself and the VISA and petition are only for her. You could try to do what I did when I forgot to include my wife's anulled marriage on the I-129.

According to the instructions on the Embassy web site you can write an explanation of the error, have it notarized, and send it to your finance. If the Embassy brings it up at the interview she can show them the letter. The important thing is that the Embasssy is aware that you are aware and approve any changes made to the I-129.

Good luck

Wow August until now and she already has her Green Card? So that is pretty quick right?

Well no, my fiance is not previously married and has no children. The only problem I forsee is that she's been raising her little sister for the past 5 years. But she never legally adopted her... So now, that is what we're planning to do. My fiance will try to adopt her sister legally then we will begin our K1 process. But we just want to make sure we have everything needed during the process, so as to get it all right the first time.

Oh I'm not in Minnesota, I'm in Texas. So you took a filipina to Minnesota!! Wow... How is THAT going? I know my fiance is cold if the temperature goes below 70! Haha....

Thanks everyone, for the links!

Hello Texas - first your K1 fiance can't adopt her own sister because she is family. After you get married your wife can petition for her sister under an I-130 but it's a very long process. The subject of her sister should be in another forum here on VJ. How old is her sister? I suggest you be prepared to send her sister money until you can figure it all out. The timeline from marriage to conditional Green Card without any problems is running pretty much 3 months or so. We suffering from Cabin fever. Off topic but we went skating for the first time and my wife met another pinay at the rink. There are about 20,000 Filipino in Minnesota.

Good luck with everything

If you have been through this process with a fiance/spouse in/from the Philippines, would you please help me with something? I am looking for a GOOD list of the items she will need to gather on her end during this process...

I know she will need an Birth Certificate, a Passport and some extra Passport photos - but what else? I heard she may need some police records and college transcripts? It's so hard finding a comprehensive list of the things she needs to have at some point soon...

If you've been through this process, in the Philippines, would you please list the items you remember needing to have? Just a quick list, nothing fancy... If I just knew everything she needed, I could search online for some addresses or phone numbers so she can call and work on getting those things.

Pleeeeeease help me! I love this woman, and I don't want anything tying up our paperwork. I would really appreciate your help.

Thanks

My wife is a pinay. She came here in August 2009. We now have her Green Card for her and son. Was your nobya previously married? Children? Otherwise the guides - links are good and you should have smooth sailing. If you're in Minnesota give us a call.

Best wishes

Most people who are unemployed and filing AOS NEED a co-sponsor for the I-864. That wasn't bad advice, and people are only trying to help. If I hadn't been lucky to land a job, then that's EXACTLY what I would've been doing if filing AOS during my unemployment. You take a risk when you use unemployment insurance as income for the I-864. It's temporary income, and you need to prove sustainable income in most cases. My opinion? You got lucky with your adjudicator.

That said, KLavis, try to secure a co-sponsor IN CASE you need one for the Affidavit. It doesn't hurt. Sure, you can try to use unemployment insurance, but for something SO important as AOS, I just feel it's better to build as strong a case as possible. Co-sponsors can help with that.

In my opinion, the most difficult thing about trying to pull our AOS together when I was unemployed (I was laid off exactly one week to the day after we got our NOA-2 for K-1, so you are defo in my thoughts … HUGE *hugs*) was trying to scrape the $1010 together, not trying to sort out the I-864. And I can almost guarantee that USCIS is seeing a lot of unemployed cases lately.

You're gonna make it, no worries. I hope you can get another job as soon as possible … it took me six months; I hope you won't have to wait as long. And congrats on your upcoming wedding.

What I said was my 2009 W2 earnings probably got my I-864 vetted. I included my unemployment insurance because by law you must include all sources of your income. Had I only used unemployment insurance I can see that may have caused a red flag. Plus, there are other factors at play when your I-864 is looked at: how much you made previously, type of work, assests, education, et al. In other words do you look like a public charge risk. According to the rule on I-864 if there are no RFEs when you file the AOS that generally means you[ve been vetted and the adjudicator unless they have good reason shouldn't be asking you about your job situation. Like I posted, I was not asked. And I've read other VJ members who also got approved while collecting unemployment insurance. The question back to you: what is your W2 earnings? And did you get unemployment insurance? Can you get a co-sponsor if needed. In my case I'm too old to get a sponsor LOL.

Good luck.

Hello, I am looking for some advice. My fiance and I were approved for our K1 visa and he will be entering the country on March 15 (from the United Kingdom) for our April 3 wedding. However, we were thrown an unexpected curveball today as I was laid-off. My salary was well over the stated minimum at the time of filling out the Affidavit of Support for the K1. However, I am unsure as to how being unemployed will affect the adjustment of status after we are married. I think I will have to either find a job or find a co-sponser. I am not familiar with any similar situations and I honestly have no clue what to do right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I just had my AOS interview last month and I was unemployed. I was also approved and we have our Green Card - thanks! The difference in my case possibly from yours is when I filed my AOS I also became unemployed but when I filed I had enough W2 earnings to just barely squeak by to make the financial guidlines. I also used my unemployment insurance on the I-864. My question to you is what is your W2 earnings when you got laid off and are you elgible for unemployment insurance? If you either don't give up yet. Everyone on VJ laid that "get a sponsor" type talk on me too and during my interview I was never asked if I had a job! If we can get your I-864 vetted before the interview you can make it.

What's your situation?

Hi How did your interview go? Hope it was very good

APPROVED!!!!!!

The day finally arrived and my wife, step son, and I went to our AOS interview in Bloomington, MN on Feb 8, 2010. My big worry was I am currently living on Unemployment Insurance and ready to face the big question "ARE YOU EMPLOYED?" I'm pleased to annouce that the question was never raised. As a matter of fact besides being asked for my Drivers License, I was asked nothing. The entire interveiw seemed focused on my Pinay wife. After being sworn in the CO asked for their PASSPORTS, State I.D. and anything showing we were living together. I produced a Life Insurance policy, Marriage Certifcate, (which he just glanced at) and a joint bank account (plenty). The CO then went through question by question on the I-485 I believe with the standard are you a terrorist? Have you been arrested? et al. Then the CO was very interested in my wife's (2) pervious Philippino marriages (which also raised red flags in Manila and subjected her to a special psychological evaluation at St. Lukes) and wanted to see the original annulment papers - satisfied he wrapped things up and said, "I will be looking your file over today or tomorrow and you'll get the decision in the mail probably in about week or so." Furthermore, he added, "You should put your wife's name on your mailbox just to be sure the document arrives. We get too many returned becasue of mail delivery issues." I figure I can log into the USCIS in a day and see if it was approved.

The CO was pretty much stone cold serious. Just straight to business no emotion.

If you caught my earlier posts my major concern was about being Unemployed at the time of the interview. The question was never raised and as I guessed could be a random question. According to the I864 rules the affidavit of support is supposed to be vetted before the interview and unless there's a specific reason the CO should not be asking anything about your income.

I will post again when I see the status was approved.

Thanks for asking!

This is terrible advice, sorry.

Lupus is not communicable, as several others have stated. It's an autoimmune disease and non-curable, therefore is chronic. Because of this, it's extremely complex in its presentation and therefore its diagnosis. It's extremely unlikely that it will cause grounds for denial HOWEVER she will need to apply for a waiver for some of the vaccines, as they are contra-indicated for people suffering from autoimmune diseases. This is true for all live vaccines and possibly others.

Make sure she has her full notes and prescriptions, recent blood work results to take with to her medical.

I don't have any experience of visa medicals in PI, but my mother has Lupus - sub-acute Cutaneous, not systemic (SLE) - and she successfully obtained 4 L2 visas and LPR status with a 10 year GC. This was through the London embassy.

FWIW, she also had health insurance, although it did impact her premiums significantly. If you want to know more, I can ask, just send me a PM.

I hired an online VISA lawyer service called JOHN ROTH ASSOCIATES. One word comes to mind (worthless). I wound up doing all the leg work and tracking my case. Had I not been on top of my own case it would have been screwed up. The lawyer is never in and they hire a secretary to fill in your forms on an automated system. The price for basically nothing was $1800.00!!!! Not joining VJ and spending the time to understand the forms and process was my mistake. However, if you don't have the time and it's all just too confusing I would try a service that only prepares the documents but be aware they can screw it up too.

Good luck

I was hoping someone could help me.

I was wondering if whilst i am waiting for my green card application to get cleared after I get married whether or not I will be allowed to enter the USA on a tourist visa or whether or not I have to stay out of the country until it gets cleared?

I think you're confused? If you have filed your AOS and waiting on a Green Card , I-485 approval, as a K1 you would have by now your AP I-131 travel papers (assuming you included that). You would travel on your I-131 pending your I-485 approval. It sounds like you have your VISA to travel to the states mixed up with a Green Card. You get the conditional Green Card after you get married. If sounds like you're out of USA and not married yet.

well, congratulations, that was great... hehehe... well, i just wanna ask about the k2 forms you used in filing for your stepchild... i will be filing our AOS with my 3yr old son and i am confused of the forms i need to use... hope you can enlighten me with this... thanks!

Hello VJ - APPROVED!!!!!!

Here's the update to my AOS meeting yesterday came today Feb 9 in my email. I signed up for the email case notification through the USCIS web site. This means a VERY LONG (2 years from the time I met my gal on CherryBlossoms.com to being married and living with me and her 11-year old) is over. I am overwhelmed with emotion and a bit teary eyed. This was a very expensive and difficult ordeal for us. To name a few: I had to hire a local Pinoy attorney to fix an illegal marriage, another lawsuit filed against the first Pinoy husband for child support, the many ups and downs with a stupid US online legal service (worthless) and being laid off in the middle of it all. What a soap opera. VJ was a great help and my biggest mistake in hindsight that I didn't know about VJ when I started. I will lurk on VJ and make comments where I think I know something. I wish the best to all of you going through this difficult process.

Happy and APPROVED! From Minnesota.

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Receipt Number: MSC ************

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

On February 9, 2010, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Check My Case Status and Check Processing Times.

*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

This is a follow up to my question about using notarized documents to prove we have met and intend to get married.

I am submitting the 129f petition this week and I am intrigued about the various suggestions people make regarding the evidence that is required to prove we met and intend to get married. I will submit photos and passport stamps as suggested but it seems to me that the use of notarized documents is indisputable proof that cannot be contested.

Photos can easily be doctored with today's technology.

Airline tickets and passport stamps only show that the parties were probably in the same country at the same time ... they do not prove conclusively that the two people were together.

I can easily create emails with whatever dates I want to show. None of these are absolute proof that we were together.

In my opinion there is nothing easier and less expensive than using notarized documents. It costs less than $10 to have a document notarized. In our case we are submitting a Letter stating our intent to get married that contains both of our signatures that has been notarized. This proves conclusively that we were together in front of the notary. The notary is an authorized representative of the government and the notary cannot stamp the document unless they have been presented with the necessary information (passport, photo ID, etc) that proves the people who are signing the document are who they claim to be. The notary also records the information in a logbook so that one simple call to the notary can be made by anyone who needs confirmation that we met by talking to the notary.

We also are submitting a notarized letter from the person who will be performing our marriage ceremony stating that we met TOGETHER with him and that he is planning to perform the marriage ceremony. The letter is on his stationary (in our case this is a mayor of my town).

Those two documents would seem to me to prove exactly what is asked for. I cannot find anything in an official document that states they need to understand the nature of the relationship.

I am intrigued about this issue and I am wondering if there is any way to get an "official" opinion from the USICS about the use of notarized documents. IF these prove conclusively that we met it is a lot easier than printing emails and taking photos, etc that can still be challenged as to their validity.

My two pesos worth on the subject is a lot of photos with your bride to be and her family members assuming she has family was plenty good for my case. I did do the required intent to marry letter and had it notarized. What you're planning to do is probably more than you need to do but it won't hurt anything.

Hi everyone! I’m new here. This is our problem…Last December 2009, my fiancé was temporarily laid off from work. He’s been working there for 16 years, he’s not sure yet when to go back to work. I passed my medical exam last month, and we thought they would call him, but it’s almost 2 months now and they haven’t called him yet. But the sure thing is, he will go back there.

We want to call the embassy call center here in Manila to schedule my interview but we’re worried that they might call his work and they will find out that he’s not working now. I called the USEM but learned that they don’t accept co-sponsors for K1 visa. 

He’s got everything ready…employment letter, tax returns, etc. We filed in August and received the NOA2 last December. What should we do? I hope you can help us. Thank you.

I could be wrong but I thought the affidavit of support I-129 was vetted before the K1 VISA interview? Once the K1 schedules the interview and appears they may ask "Do you know where or what your sponsor does for a living?" I wouldn't answer, he was just laid off. I'm not advising you to lie but at this point in the process they're not going to pick up the phone and call your sponsors employer or if self-employed be making another investigation into the legitamacy of your sponsor's livelihood. I would say your sponsor is good to go but his next hurdle is if he's unemployed and files for your AOS I-864 after marriage. My pinay wife in Manila was only asked if she knew what I did for a living and where I worked. If I had been laid off I would have instructed her to stick with where I worked when I filed the petition.

Do any other VJ agree or disagree?

Good luck

hi guys, i have a question about police certificate.

my friend's interview at the us embassy in manila will be on feb24. the problem is that she hasn't gotten her police cert from Hongkong yet. she lived there for seven years. they told her that the police certificate will be released after 120 days. can she just show the embassy her attempts of getting it? do u think they will accept it?

any idea of what might happen?

She is going to need the clearance or her case won't be processed. It's a required document. Why did she wait so long to apply for the clearance?

Good luck.

I'm an American and my fiancee is a Filipina. She has her K1 visa in hand and will now go for the CFO seminar. My question is, does she need PDOS and the Peer Counseling or just Peer Counseling. We're on the CFO website trying to make an online reservation for her seminar date and it says "if petitioned by spouse/partner that is a foreign national or a former Filipino, you do not need to fill-up this form and attend the PDOS. Instead you will have to attend the Guidance and Counseling Program....". Is this right? We don't need the PDOS, just the counseling?

What is a PDOS? My wife, K1, only did the seminar. Don't know what a PDOS is or Peer to Peer? What web site are you trying to book an appointment? We had to make many phone calls - no web site bookings. The seminar is walk in. But, make sure you have the required documents. There is a small fee. After the seminar she needs to go to the CFO office for the offical stamp/certifcate.

Good luck.

So does this thing really have to be notarized by an official officer or can we just sign it. I'm kind of annoyed by the things that need to be "notarized" but whatever. So what do you guys know about this? (I'm filling out the I-134 by the way...)

Where's your spouse from? No NOTARY needed on I-364. But you do need your affidavit of marriage intent notarized. Did you do that? And hey, the whole process gets more fun!

Hang in there!

i just had my interview done so my birt cert, NBI, cenomar is there with the manila usembassy,... i just read that i have to have cfo seminar and those are required documents to have that.

So, what i'm going to do? do i need to apply for those again?

According to my Pinay wife you should have had duplicate security papers - like a Birth Certificate. One copy goes to the Embassy the other you keep. The Embassy will return your VISA with the I-94 stamped in it. It will arrive in a plastic bag with a sealed envelope. DO NOT OPEN THE SEALED ENVELOPE!.

Hopefully you'll get here in time to see snow!

Good luck

I will do that. May GOD bless u guys.

Maybe my experience I just posted will help?

The day finally arrived and my wife, step son, and I went to our AOS interview in Bloomington, MN on Feb 8, 2010. My big worry was I am currently living on Unemployment Insurance and ready to face the big question "ARE YOU EMPLOYED?" I'm pleased to annouce that the question was never raised. As a matter of fact besides being asked for my Drivers License, I was asked nothing. The entire interveiw seemed focused on my Pinay wife. After being sworn in the CO asked for their PASSPORTS, State I.D. and anything showing we were living together. I produced a Life Insurance policy, Marriage Certifcate, (which he just glanced at) and a joint bank account (plenty). The CO then went through question by question on the I-485 I believe with the standard are you a terrorist? Have you been arrested? et al. Then the CO was very interested in my wife's (2) pervious Philippino marriages (which also raised red flags in Manila and subjected her to a special psychological evaluation at St. Lukes) and wanted to see the original annulment papers - satisfied he wrapped things up and said, "I will be looking your file over today or tomorrow and you'll get the decision in the mail probably in about week or so." Furthermore, he added, "You should put your wife's name on your mailbox just to be sure the document arrives. We get too many returned becasue of mail delivery issues." I figure I can log into the USCIS in a day and see if it was approved.

The CO was pretty much stone cold serious. Just straight to business no emotion.

If you caught my earlier posts my major concern was about being Unemployed at the time of the interview. The question was never raised and as I guessed could be a random question. According to the I864 rules the affidavit of support is supposed to be vetted before the interview and unless there's a specific reason the CO should not be asking anything about your income.

I will post again when I see the status was approved.

Thanks again VJ.