Nix and Poppy

Most state in the US will not allow you to have a monkey unless you have a special permit and facilities. And insurance.

This bothers me.. Can I bring my monkey in California? What about dogs, cats and parrot? Where can I find information about bringing my pets in the US? I'm willing to stay for a while until I acquire all my pets' passports. My fiance understands. Thank you.

There is actually such a thing as a pet passport... it doesn't remotely look like a regular passport but I had to get pet passports for my cats when I took them out of the US. The US doesn't have very tight requirements on dogs and cats entering the country but I found that other countries do!

Basically it was a standard form that my vet already knew what it was. It had to be filled out and my pets had to have a "physical" and all their shots up to date..then the papers were sent to the official gov't certified vet agency for my state. There, they certified the form and had it notorized with an official seal. It was then sent back to me and waahla! Pet passport! lol. I had to have all kinds of forms on the pets to get them into Denmark.

Course, you're coming to the US... so a lot of what I wrote is irrelevant to you, but I thought it might be interesting for people to know that there are pet passports.

Thanks for this information. I'll start calling the authorities for my pets' passports. I have 12 and I won't leave unless they come along with me.

I can give up my cats but NOT my wonderful dogs, monkey and parrot.

Hah i have 12 pets that i want to bring in the US as well....

hi guys thanks so much for the tip! was finally able to convince my fiance, thank god.. the only thing he pointed out is if we could settle in the bay area or near bay area for the sake of his job. my father initially suggested sacramento but it's too far from my fiance's job.

i called a real estate person as referred to me by my father and told her our preference. she suggested RICHMOND. my fiance is okay with it. the problem is my father who won't get us a house there because 3 filipino friends of his were mugged and murdered in that area.. so i went back to the real estate person and she suggested some places near richmond called BERKELEY, EL CERRITOS and ALBANY. okay with dad, okay with fiance. the real estate will send me pictures of the available houses once i confirmed.

any personal thoughts about these places? which of the 3 should we consider? our preference is peaceful neighborhood and accessibility. and of course my fiance's safety when he walks at night.

..by the way i asked some residents in a forum called city-data.com and all they say is stay away from california if we want to have a peaceful life. i don't know why they're so upset..

I don't have a color printer at home so I'm just gonna have about 70 pictures printed out at the local store. I got about 200 from our wedding already.

haha that's a lot!

cancel your credit cards with her and close the bank account. During the starts of my divorce I saw my ex took cash out of our account. I called her and asked her what she used it for. She said she took it because she wanted to. WRONG ANSWER! I closed that account immediately and opened another account so she couldnt clean me out (not that I had that much anyway) My ex is filipina too and she started doing exactly like yours is doing....running around with the wrong crowd. SO, definately do your accounts so she cant clean you out or create a large debt and consult with a lawyer!

OP: You have joint accounts or credit cards together? If you do then you should act as fast as you could. Anything that has the $ sign on it is the number 1 target so better get it out of her sight before it ruins your credit history.

Scott and Mhay: She said she just wanted to? LOL. That's so high school! Kind of an answer I could give when I get caught and didn't have enough time for an alibi. I'm so sorry for your ex wife.. Hope she realized she messed up with the wrong person. Well, you did the right thing!

Thanks for the link! Louisville and Keller look sooo promising! But, wth is that? LOL. Isn't there any place in CA that looks so peaceful as that? I prefer to live in CA, lot of family on my father's side is there. Now i'm starting to do my own research because my fiance doesn't know a thing in choosing the right place..

I found this out a little while back and I'm not so sure that the divorce was a fake as much as they didn't file the marriage officially and my wife said that her husband told her the marriage wasn't legitimate .. so they didn't go thru the problem of getting a divorce.

The problem is the child .. she only had one child but in order to bring the child to the united states with her she had officials and friends file paperwork making it appear as though she had 2 children (1 10 months younger than the other) During the interview she told officials that the older one stayed behind with her family and that she was bringing the younger one with her. The childs father has gone to extreme lengths to find the child, I'm pretty sure he knows where we are...

To top it all off my wife has started running around buying up all kinds of expensive clothing, purses, jewelry, etc. (which we honestly can't afford) and going out with her friends to the karaoke bars .. sometimes I don't hear from her until the sun is well in the sky the next day.

I wish a divorce was all that was needed but I'm afraid I'll face some legal issues myself if I don't clear my name of the laws that have been broken.

Tsk tsk I'm sorry but your wife is an angel of Lucifer! Did she tell you how exactly she cheated on the consulate? Well, it's really easy to produce fake documents here in the Philippines. That's often referred to as "gawang-Recto" or "gawang-Quiapo". Looks like your wife obtained a fake birth certificate (usually P300 to P500) for a non-existing child and presented it to the consulate. I suggest you to gather information and file a divorce asap!

And what are you afraid of? You're the victim here. You were victimized. Your wife had obviously took advantage of your marriage for her personal benefit. There's NO way his first husband can bring you any sort of trouble. If he finds out that his wife (with their child) was remarried to somebody else outside the Philippines then that will be his dead end. Filipino husbands are gazillion times different from American husbands when it comes to situations that involve money and too much EFFORT. No wonder why a lot of Filipinas (like me) prefer to settle with American men..

As for your wife, there's nothing else you can do aside from divorcing her. She already has a GC then it would be difficult for you to report her for sham marriage unless you could get hold of the evidence like the fake documents she presented to acquire a visa to prove that she cheated on the consulate without your knowledge. And please, please, try to show your superior side now. If she keeps partying all night and you don't feel good about it then why don't you tell her to stop what she's doing? Have you ever confronted her about it? You've been with a Filipina for 2 years so you should at least know the most effective way to manipulate her when needed.

Good luck!

Eeeekk thanks for the tip Greg! Will have someone look for a better place to settle in asap.

Lol what a great great news for my father who gambles half of his life for that fight...

I have always considered myself as " The King", and finally found a house we fell in love with.

Here are some Pics:

Wow that is such a lovely house! The neighborhood looks so peaceful too. I've never seen a house like that in bay area haha I guess there would be no room for something that big. Congratulations for having a beautiful sweet house!

Hi congratulations! You deserve it!

Hello, my fiance and i will be leaving late this year to get married and settle down. We're moving to his place in Stockton, CA. During my interview i was repeatedly told by the CO that Stockton is the worst place in America in terms of crime, government, neighborhood which i didn't consider something very serious. I've been with my fiance for 3 years and i'm aware of his financial status and lifestyle so i don't expect anything above average as soon as we get married and settle down.

But if course it got me so curious about the new life waiting for me there. I did a little research online and looks like it really is a bad city, being number 1 in this year's Forbes' top 10 most miserable cities in the US. I also came across different websites that conduct social research/review and Stockton is always included in the top 5 list.

I was wondering if there's anyone here living in the same city? Or near that city? It's not my first time to get to the US but i've never been to Stockton and nobody in my family in CA knows a thing about it. In fact my cousins haven't heard of Stockton yet. I'm just a kind of curious on what to expect.. How is a "bad neighborhood" in the US like? Is it still safe to walk around, make friends and do normal stuffs outside? What about having kids and raising them?

Thanks for any input.

USEM Manila? Expect the long line.. 6:30 is okay. Plenty of vendors will offer you stuffs like snacks, pen, print service, monoblock chairs for a fee (P200 and up). Haha.

I'm sure you'll make it. Good luck!

Oh my that's so immature! How young is she? She's not supposed to be in a relationship. I don't blame you for making the choice of marrying her. Everybody takes risks and you sure don't want things to end up like that. I suggest you NOT to come in the interview. File a divorce asap!

OMG that is so ruthless.. Make him pay for it! And make sure he won't be able to bring his new girlfriend that's soo disturbing! I am so sorry that it happened to a fellow pinay. I wish i could help you out. I suggest you to consult a lawyer and fight for your rights!

so you are an outspoken wealthy young woman from a high fraud country marrying a guy who doesn't meet the poverty guidelines and is not your "social equal"? hmmm. be sure to stay married for 2 years before divorcing him.

I appreciate your input sir but divorce has never crossed my mind. There will be no room for that. And yes my fiance failed to meet the poverty guidelines but that didn't stop us from pursuing our marriage plan. We're together for 3 years and his status in life is not an issue. It's never been an issue. There's still a lot of things about him that i'm thankful for.

Try not to take that personally, Poppy. It's sort of typical from justashooter.

Oh okay. Now i realize why he sounds so hurt and bitter..

so you are an outspoken wealthy young woman from a high fraud country marrying a guy who doesn't meet the poverty guidelines and is not your "social equal"? hmmm. be sure to stay married for 2 years before divorcing him.

I appreciate your input sir but divorce has never crossed my mind. There will be no room for that. And yes my fiance failed to meet the poverty guidelines but that didn't stop us from pursuing our marriage plan. We're together for 3 years and his status in life is not an issue. It's never been an issue. There's still a lot of things about him that i'm thankful for.

congrats!

Hi there, my fiance was a waiter when he filed the I-134 and didn't meet the 125% poverty line so we were co-sponsored by his father. I was questioned about it during the interview but since i still ended up getting the visa, i can personally say that having a co-sponsor for a K1 is acceptable. USEM Manila by the way.

Interesting Interview, and not the way 95% of them are conducted.

How did the CO know your Fiance had an eye problem, I don't remember them asking for disability's on the forms ones fill out for the initial paperwork for a K1 Visa.

Glad you stood your ground.

Hi sir my fiance had a bike accident when he was a kid and it made his left eye appear smaller than the right one. It's a mildly slant eye. I'm sure they figured it out by just looking at him. It doesn't affect his facial appearance that much but he needs to wear glasses when he's outside to protect the eyelid.

Looks like regular letters (snail mail) is the top favorite of the COs here in the Philippines. That's the first thing they ask for a physical evidence. I wasn't asked for any physical evidence during the fraud interview.

Ok. I'm not exaggerating things here but 90% of his questions are weird, funny and pointless. His first set of questions consisted of my fiance's age, birthday, zodiac sign, school, previous relationship, siblings, pets, house, body tattoo. He stopped typing then proceed to the second set of questions. I noticed he started to speak slowly and changed tone and looked real serious and that made him look like he was confronting me for some kind of crime. Well, we eventually had a small confrontation when he asked (in a very sarcastic tone) if i am aware of my fiance's eye problem,

I'm curious how the CO would know the answers to the parts I left bolded? How did he know about your BF's eye? Or the other information that isn't revealed normally in the application/petition?

Sorry if that's been revealed in past posts, I didn't look.

Hello sir i'm sorry i didn't notice your question when i first read your post. My fiance had a bike accident when he was a kid and it made his left eye appear smaller than the right one. It's a mildly slant eye. I'm sure they figured it out by just looking at him. It doesn't affect his facial appearance that much but he needs to wear glasses when he's outside to protect the eyelid.

As for the questions they gave me, i tried to write down everything that i remember. I mostly missed their questions for my fiance.

Initial Screening: All questions are based in the information i have in the application. My name, birthday, age, job, my fiance's name, his birthday, the date we met, where we met, how long we've been dating, etc.

CO Interview: Simple questions about my fiance and his family such as his birthday, pet, piercing/body tattoo, job, previous relationship and his siblings.

Fraud Interview: All questions are based in the application as well. But the way they ask the question is very sarcastic and there's always a follow-up question.

CO to Fiancee:

Are you aware of your fiance's eye problem?

** What happened to your fiance's eye?

Do you have any other sponsor aside from your fiance?

** Why isn't he able to reach the required salary in his affidavit of support?

What's your fiance's standing in college?

** Have you ever thought of how low his average salary could be for being a college drop-out?

Where do you plan to live if you will be granted a visa?

** How come he's living in stockton all his life? That city is the worst in america!

CO to Fiance:

How many are you in the family?

** Do you still depend to your parents in any way?

May i have the name of your sister?

** What about your fiancee's sister?

How much is your annual salary?

** And you think $___ is enough?

Where did you meet your fiancee?

** What was your job then?

** College and working part time by the bay, did you afford to pay for your rent in such an expensive district?

(There are still 2 to 3 more follow-up questions after this but I can't remember the questions anymore.)

Do you you have any other police record aside from shoplifting?

** So you're saying that you're not a criminal?

(This one is purely invented by the CO. My fiance doesn't have any police records.)

And these are the questions we encountered. But i'd like to point out that this may not apply to other cases. I even met a bunch of beneficiaries here who finished their final interview in less than 10 minutes.

COs are not accustomed to dealing with pinay who have money and also are not subservient to them.

You having paid his way over would have been a red flag also. First time I ever heard of a pinay doing so.

As pushbrk mentioned: Get married ASAP and file to adjust status before the 90 days is up.

I'm sorry but i can't see the logic why it could be a red flag for those COs. My fiance made 4 visits and yes i paid for the 3 of them but they should have at least considered the things he paid for such as the ticket for his surprise visit and wedding ring. He applied for a 2nd job when we got engaged and and was able to present his own bank account it doesn't have much but it shows he was saving money in a regular basis. We're now under the impression that it's the "money" that matters during immigration and it made me feel sorry for the other sincere fiances that can't reunite with their fiancees due to financial issues.

And yes we'll get married right away thank you very much!

I admire your bravery and your love for your husband to be. THAT's the true filipina! may dugong Gabriela Silang heheh...people can try to intimidate us all they want but they can never bring us down. I wish you both all the best and happy marriage. God bless you!

Hi thank you very much! It feels good to hear from a fellow pinay who can relate to my experience. My fiance is a very shy type of person, he doesn't quarrel and cries instead when something bothers him. It breaks my heart to see him confused and humiliated like that he's not into arguments since he was a kid and will not make a decision without asking me so from the time he became my boyfriend i see to it sure he's comfortable, back him up if needed, and protect him from anything/anyone that can hurt his feelings.

Nice to see your wedding pictures! Can't wait to have my own set of wedding pictures real soon..