Charina&Scott

My wife had the exact same problem. We also though she would be bald in no time. Note we are also in NJ. We asked our Dr, and was told that it is a common reaction from the change of food, weather and stress from moving, new life, ect. She started taking vitamins which may have helped.

It's been 2 over years, and the hair loss has reduced greatly. Probably at a normal level now. Took a while though. It went away about the same time she started to relax in her new life and started to really feel at home. That state of mind change took almost 2 years.

Our experience with Report of Marriage (ROM) and passport renewal at the NYC embassy.

My wife was due to renew her Philippine passport before it expired. We live in NJ so traveled to NYC for this. As much as I researched and prepared ahead of time, we had a few surprises. So to hopefully help someone else, here is what we learned.

We wanted to have her passport show her new middle and last name so:

Downloaded the Report of marriage form from the official NYC embassy website: newyorkpcg.org. This is not the site linked from the main US Philippine embassy site. Also the forms seem to be custom per embassy, with at least the address completed at the top.

Filled it out in Microsoft Word and printed 4 copies.

Obtained 4 passport photos of myself, and 4 of my wife. Taped them to the 4 forms.

The only mistake I made on the ROM form was for the husband (USC) it asked for my mother’s maiden name in the place of middle name (Filipino name format). I did as it requested. Wrong, they wanted my middle name exactly as in my passport.

Made copies of her passport main page. My wife had traveled back to the Philippines so the I-94 was removed. Fortunately I had scanned her passport before she traveled, and had that page. They wanted the I-94 page copies (with visa), so don’t know what they would have done if I had not saved it.

Our Marriage Certificate does not show how many times we were each married, so went to the county clerk, and they gave me a stamped/certified copy of our marriage license. The clerk knew exactly what I needed.

If you are divorced, you will need to include a copy of your divorce papers. Note: this is not stated anywhere, but they will not accept the ROM without them. (Unfortunately I didn’t do this and took a while to fix)

Lastly since we did not submit this within 30 days of being married, we generated an Affidavit of delayed registration. This is the only thing that needs to be notarized. (copy is attached)

Note: all but the ROM forms are copies. They will want to see the originals for; Marriage Certificate, Marriage license, Divorce decree, Notarized Delayed registration. They look at these originals then give them back to you.

Downloaded the passport renewal form, filled it out in Microsoft word, and printed one.

There is also a form for passport amendment for name change. I filled it out and brought it with me just in case. It is not needed though. The ROM and passport renewal is all they need.

What is not clear is that they need another copy of the entire ROM package with the passport renewal form. So copy the ROM form (after attaching the pictures) and another complete copy of all ROM papers. (I didn’t do this, thinking I would get a receipt for the ROM to include. I was wrong and had to make copies of everything, including yet a 5th copy of my divorce decree.)

Of course I did not have enough copies of everything with me. Fortunately I had brought my binder of paperwork with me that had a copy of my divorce decree. Note: They have one copy machine there for $0.25 per page, so cost me about $20 in quarters to fix everything and since everyone else also needs it over an hour. If that machine breaks, everyone is out of luck.

At the embassy, on the 3rd floor we submitted the ROM. Signed all 4 originals of the ROM form in front of the person.

Was asked to see all the original documents and our two passports, checked off they saw them and returned to us all the originals and passports.

Then, Submitted the Passport renewal, my wife signed this in front of the person.

We chose to not pick the new passport up in person so had her passport cancelled. They punched holes in it and gave it back to us.

Paid at the cashier.

Went to the basement for Boimetrics.

As we chose to not pick the new passport up in person, gave the Boimetrics person a prepaid USPS envelope. We just went to the post office and asked what we needed. They gave us one of the priority mail cardboard envelopes, attached a green tracking confirmation, and added a little under $6 in stamps. We put our address on it. The wall at biometrics had examples of this. What they didn’t tell us is if you don’t want to go back to pick up the processed ROM, you can have it sent with the passport. Just write on the inside flap of the envelope “Please include ROM”, and they will send both together. They forgot to tell us upstairs, but we were lucky and our biometrics person asked us about this.

Done. Now just waiting 6-8 weeks for delivery

Affidavit of delayed registration.doc

Your ages are EXACTLTY the same as Charina and myself. Age itself will not be problem. As mentioned here, when she is over 30, a 20 year difference is common for phil-am couples, and we never had it questioned at all during the visa process. The main thing is that you can show/prove that you are serious about being together. I think it was easy for us, as I visited her 3 times, one visit included attending the embassy interview.

When we first met I was concerned about our age difference, but after our first visit together, I have never thought about it again. It's just a difference of cultures. As long as neither of you are bothered by an age difference, or feel like there is an age difference, then no one else will either. Charina & I don't think about or even feel like there is an age difference (She makes me feel young, and not visa-versa). I personally think that part of the immigration process is subjective. So how you act together and are perceived (in-person & pictures ect) can have an effect on what the reviewers & interviewers think and decide.

Be patient, the end result of being together is definitely worth it.

Good luck & God bless you two.

Did some calling for information today. Talked to USCIS first. They confirmed that I should not still have the visa packet, and was glad we have the I-94 and very glad we have not opened the envelope. They told me to call the Customs Border Patrol main number from their web site. The CBP was also glad about the I-94 and the packet was not opened, but was very surprised we were allowed out of the airport. They have refered me to the manager of the Entry Division at the closest international airport to me, where hopefully I can hand deliver the packet and get a receipt. So far I have called and left messages today but no reply. Im assuming he is out today, so will try again next week.

Very interesting turn of events, and I didn't realize anything was even wrong. Glad we found out now instead of later on.

I'm glad I saw this topic.

We also still have our yellow envelope after going through the POE.

I traveled with Charina, so going through the POE, the officer processed my US passport, then processed Charina's.

I held out the visa package and asked if he needed it. He said no, so I held it thinking perhaps it would be asked for by someone else. He took her finger prints and photo. Stamped the I-94 and stapled it in her passport. He told us we had to be married within 90 days, and we had a short discussion about having the day already set, and the trouble the box with her gown created for carry on luggage.

After that we left the airport.

I figured they just wanted to see we had the envelope, and only looked at the contents if they wanted to. We figured everyone else was given their envelope back to them after going through the POE, so didn't think anything was wrong.

Fortunately we still have it unopened and sealed.

Great news. I was patient all week and resisted the urge to call. So tonight I called and was informed that they finished, and my paperwork is on the way to Manila. So 20 days in AP.

I just called Charina, and we are so happy.

Thanks for the support from this forum, it did help ease the time a bit.

Charina & I pray everyone here will be on their way soon also.

Hopefully my Charina will be here very soon.

We live near Atlantic City.

So in the mean time I have been scouting out the local Filipino markets too. Just bought a rice cooker, ect.

I have been talking to live Person. They keep telling me my file is not in NVC.

It's not in AP. They don't have my file in NVC. I have talking to Live Person every day.

You defiantly have a different problem. Sorry to hear that. Wonder if you can get the VCS to resent the paperwork to the NVC.

Well now I also belong to this group. NVC has been performing additional administrative processing on our visa since 7-2-10. In reading the prior posts, I am guessing that ours was also flagged for a security clearance. So I guess I can't complain if that is why. Too bad NVC won't tell us, to at least give us a little peace while we wait.

I am glad to see the average AP time is now less than than a month, so Charina & I are about halfway through it then. All this waiting is so tough, Im keeping myself busy gathering together the papers and info for the embassy interview.

Sorry, I meant NVC not NVS in my last post.

There are a few forums for stuck in AP@NVC under the sections:

"National Visa Center (Dept of State)"

& "Waivers (I-601 and I-212) and Administrative Processes (221g)"

For all us stuck in this bureaucratic situation.

It's been 20 days since I received my NOA2 and I am still waiting for NVC to receive my file from USCIS

Anything over a few days, and you probably have been flagged for additional processing at the NVS. I am in the same situation with them. It seems to be a more in-depth background check, but there is no way to know for sure. You have to call and talk to a real person to find out if your in the "additional processing" status, since their automated system does not report on 'K' visas. They won't tell you anything more though. After waiting for the NOA2, now we have to wait another 2-5 weeks for the NVS. It's really frustrating.

Just got our NOA2 approved e-mail.

Sent Charina a txt message, can't wait for when she wakes up and finds out.

good for u guys but our application my fiancee sent that thru USPS last march 2010 then we never received a NOA1 yet and i saw our immigration checklist thats armenia...i dont know what happen..and then when i ask my fiancee, he told me that on process. i hope i can have some ideas about my problem...

It almost sounds like VSC did not receive it? Hope you did not just sent in regular mail, it's too important for that. Can you track or trace your package to verify it was delivered? Was the check cashed yet? Unless you have an application receipt number your limited as to what you can do.

We are another April NOA-1 VSC filer. Just waiting like everyone else here.