The_Sage1

I'm not sure I've read anywhere that there is a required waiting period, the only thing I read on requirements is that you have to be free to marry.

I have a few questions I cannot seem to find the answers to, maybe someone can help. I sponsored my ex-wife on a fiance visa in 2009 and we married in 2010, and were married 3 years, but due to incompatibilities, we separated and pending a divorce. The problem is, I have a girlfriend from a different country now, we fell in love , and would it be possible to petition her on a K-1 Visa, or have I burned my immigration-sponsorship bridge? :/
What should I do now, that i want to marry her, and have her be with me?

Is it totally necessary/needed to have the W-2's? I don't have them with me, and it could take me a week or 2 just to obtain new copies of them. It seems I have a lot of stuff to gather and send to them. We both have a new gym membership with our address on it that we could use as proof we still are residing together and have an ongoing relationship.

My wife and I have come a long ways on our visa journey, getting through the hardest(and most expensive stuff), but 2 1/2 years down the road during the removal of conditions process, an RFE comes to haunt us. We filed for her removal of conditions in February or March...and waited so long, and nothing. And then this past week we finally got something, hoping it was a letter for approval, but instead an RFE. I thought I had placed a pretty good(and convincing package) together to send to the USCIS, but apparently it wasn't enough to convince them. And my wife is worried they won't approve her. The things I sent the USCIS:

Recent Joint Bank Account Statement

Recent Lease Agreement

2011 Tax Return

401K Form (they claimed we just sent them an application for 401K, that it's not evidence of an account)

One Photo and 2 Post Cards

It is saying we need to submit Financial Records of joint accounts. I thought the bank page was enough, with both our names and same address on it. I don't have certain things, like our car insurance is under my parent's plan...and we don't have a joint credit card. We don't have joint health insurance either. I know that she has a life insurance policy though. We misplaced our W-2's, though I thought I sent them to the USCIS along with the 2011 tax returns. I can get another one, but it takes a week or 2 to get them.

It also says to submit evidence that we reside together. I thought the lease would be good enough. I do have a water/gas bill with both our names on it. The electric bill is in my name and the cable bill is in her name. Can I use both?

My other question is...do people ever get denied the removal of conditions for stupid reasons? I think we have all the proof we live together, it just seems like the USCIS is not easily convinced or anything :/

I agree with your last post that my wife should meet other friends that aren't necessarily Filipinos, BUT...where my wife works the people are all wild crazy party people and she doesn't relate at all. We don't drink and party so we don't fit into that group. I guess it's just easier for her to make friends with Filipinas because they can relate more closely with each other...and speak their language...that's understandable.

Here's the honest truth that I have discovered:

I don't associate myself at all with stuck up people who only want friends with good paying jobs and social status. I could care less about those people. But when my wife started meeting a few Filipinos here and there (some at work, some in public), MOST of them act like they are rich, even like how a millionaire would act. It's disgusting. They have to drive the nicest cars, wear the most expensive clothes and jewelry...and they only seem to talk about how much they have and how great they are. I know there's an American dream to have things you couldn't necessarily have in another country, but it seems that immigrants here go crazy with materialism if they have the means to. I'm not knocking on immigrants because I know a lot of great Filipinos here too...but this problem we've encountered a lot! We went to an Asian festival this past May and there was a Filipina lady selling things and my wife was excited to talk to someone who speaks her language. But only a few sentences in she started asking us what we do for a living. I know what the intention is there - to find out how much money we make. UGH!

Hello, I am married to a Filipina and am living in Columbus Ohio...things have been going great there except for one thing. We've lived here for 9 months and the wifey hasn't met any Filipina friends. Any Filipinas from central Ohio that are looking to meet new friends? We've tried a couple things like getting involved with a Filipino gathering but most of them are really, really stuck up and they ask you about your job(ie how much money you make) right off the bat...she wants real friends not ones that only want rich friends. :-)

There is a big money saving loop-hole to skype though. You can set up the person in the Philippines' account on skype to be a US account and then put your card information in for $3.00/month unlimited US/Canada plan and the person in the Philippines can call any landline/cell phone in the US for nothing but the 3 dollars a month that you pay. The downside is that you still don't have the benefit of calling them, unless they are on skype that is.

I checked Globe's website and they have a 1 megabyte per second plan for 995 pesos a month. Is this sufficient in speed?

People here should support this law. Most of us here are going through or went through the process of LEGAL immigration. It's costly, stressful and a long process...so why should we support people who cheat the laws?

For those of you who's wife or husband received their green card...it says right on the USCIS paper for him/her to keep the green card on them at all times! It's the law...and it's not racist.

If you went to Mexico and overstayed they would either A) Deport you or B)Throw you in their hell-hole prison and then deport you.

The AZ law says if a cop has reasonable suspicion and is enforcing another law...they can investigate whether or not that person is illegal? There's no aspect of this law that's racist.

To me these illegals are insulting to the people who immigrated here in an honest, legal way.

I just spoke to a user here about Magic Jack and he explained to me how it works. It's an excellent deal but I can't force my wife's family to pay their internet bill to use it. The globe internet account is a wonderful idea though. If I can pay it myself, then I can hook them up with Magic Jack.

My wife and I in the US cannot find any reasonably affordable way to talk to her family back in the Philippines. It seems everything is a rip off. I'm not willing to spend a bunch of money just to chat on the phone especially since we already have phone bills anyway. My localphone account, which acts like a calling card is 12 cents a minute, which is way too much. My original communication plan fell flat on the ground. I bought her family a netbook and set up their skype account for 3 dollars a month unlimited calling to the US and payed for them to have internet and phone. I found out later they stopped paying their internet bill so their service was cut off, so there's no use in trying that now. How can we call their cell phones and not get charged a fortune?

Does anyone have any knowledge about the removal conditions fee possibly going up in the next couple years? I know the USCIS is always talking about raising their various fees...but I don't know if the removal of conditions fee is one of them on the table. It's already way too expensive...my wife just got her 2 year green card this month...so we'll have to wait til 2012 to apply for it.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but how could my wife become a dual citizen(Philippines/USA)? Is there any way for a US Permanent Resident Card holder to become a US citizen and still retain Philippine citizenship if she is just simply married to a US citizen?

Another thing I'm wondering is with the start of conditional permanent residence is it 3 or is it 5 years after that she can apply for US Citizenship?

You'll make it through it! It's so hard during those waiting times. The months of waiting WILL pay off big time. I remember it being so hard waiting for my then fiance flying to Manila and doing the medical, the interview and the CFO. I will never forget when she called me after the interview. Immediately I knew she got approved by the sound of her voice...she didn't even need to say it. All these things you are going through will soon be a memory and you won't have to worry so much anymore. I didn't realize that this would happen, but waiting for my then fiance on her flight to arrive in the USA was far worse than waiting for her in Manila at the embassy. I didn't have any contact with her for over 24 hours. She was travelling by her self so I had reason to be worried and so was her family.

My wife's vaccination supplement was not ticked as "complete".

On May 28th on the night of my bachelor party I got a text from the USCIS saying that my case has been updated. I didn't find out what it was until I got home late that night but to my excitement I read that my wife's green card has been approved and card production has been ordered with no interview. We had our actual court wedding back in February and I filed a few weeks later for AOS...but the wedding for the family was on May 29th. It just made everything all the better.

One thing I should mention here on this forum is that we followed the instructions in the AOS instructions precisely. Since my wife came over on a K-1 visa and had her medical in Manila, there was much debate about whether or not she should have got an I-693. The instructions simply say that K-1 Visa holders just need a copy of the vaccination supplement sheet. A lot of folks here were saying that there's a good chance we'd get an annoying RFE for that. Fortunately for us we never had a problem with that and I encourage people here on K-1 Visas to just submit the vaccination supplement sheet and not go through the trouble of getting the I-693. Even if the USCIS screws up and sends you an RFE for it, you can always then proceed to get the I-693. It's better just to take the chance and have a smooth process. The only thing we got for an initial RFE was that I forgot to scan mine and my parent's passports for proof of citizenship but that was my fault. That caused about a 2 week delay.

I'm headed to Tulsa this weekend to see if my wife and I would choose to move there. Are there any Filipinas in Tulsa here?

We just got another case update today. Only this time it says the same thing as the last case update. Our case was updated May 13th and they said they ordered production of the card to arrive within 30 days.

This time, the case updated May 18th and said the production of the card has been ordered in 30 days..

I wonder if this second update means that they've finally shipped the EAD.

My wife just got her EAD approved on May 13th. Check my timeline for more info on date specifics. Finally the time has come.

My wife just got her EAD approved on May 13th and on the site it lists "Document Production" and says that it will be mailed in 30 days. Does that mean 30 days at the latest or do people usually receive their EAD pretty quick at this point?

It's never a good idea to book the flight until the visa is in her hands. I know that you've been waiting forever already...a lot of us have been through this already. But trust me, you wouldn't want to spend 1000+ dollars on a nonrefundable ticket and have some sort of problem with the visa. Sometimes the visa arrives in a few days and sometimes a couple weeks. It's just wise to make sure she has the visa in hand and check for possible errors on the visa and make sure the packet you hand to the POE is not opened. Your patience will pay off ! =)

This photograph is exactly why we should send all the illegal Mexicans right back to Mexico ASAP.

I am a US born citizen and I don't know much of anything about Philippine politics, other than the fact that the Philippines has had a host of corrupt leaders in the past contributing to the poor state of their economy. I am just wondering what the major election issues are and which candidates are projected to be closest to the winner. Also who is the least corrupt one running?

My wife and I received our NOA1 for the EAD and AOS dated March 16th. We had an initial RFE soon after and I sent a prompt response and so that was all settled 2nd week into April. Then my wife had her biometrics on April 23rd. The very next week we got a letter saying that our case is being transferred from Lee's Summit, MO to the California Service Center. Our case received a touch at the very end of April shortly after the CSC received the case. Is there any indication of how long it will take before the EAD arrives?

It wasn't even that long ago(last summer) that we were getting 48 PHP to a USD. Does anyone else notice that when they send money via Western Union, Money Gram or Xoom that the exchange rate is always a peso lower per dollar than what it actually is? Lately the exchange rate has been 44 PHP to the USD but every time I send on those services it comes out to be about 43.3. What gives?

A weak US Dollar affects us all. I haven't seen any signs of it getting better, either.

My wife doesn't have her green card or EAD yet as she is still waiting and we are wanting to fly somewhere in the USA pretty soon. Is it allowed for her to fly domestic flights without any US ID?