TravellingNomad

the fact that you cannot get a legal divorce as well as the difficulty of getting an annulment, might contribute to high infidelity rates?

IMHO...this is what's happening back home in the Philippines. Since 80% of the population are within the scope of poverty, they don't have any money to pay for an annulment. and even if they did manage to scrape the amount needed to file for it, it's still not a sure thing the court will grant the annulment. so some of our kababayans just say the hell with it. they go their separate ways and go on living their lives with another partner.

the wife and I use BayanTel's Half Family Ties unlimited calling plan for $25. it's called half because when we signed up, we already have the BT span service. The full Family Ties Program is $40/mo and they supply your loved one back home a BT wireless unit and service. the monthly fee back home is included in the $40/mo that you're gonna pay so your relative will not have to worry about any phone bills. the only caveat to this is....BayanTel only services the greater Metro Manila area and some provinces. but the call quality is really good and im saving a whole lot of money each month in calling. and it is really unlimited.

wish i had a maintaning balance of 25K in my account. but since i don't, i have one of their premium checking/savings account with the monthly $75 automatic transfer between savings to checking (or is it vice versa?..lol) to avoid monthly fees. and with that, i get the remittance at $2.50 per transaction.

for you to be scared because of one's man experience is silly. yeah he's not the only one to go through the situation but not all filipinas are like that.

my questions for you...does she understand your financial situation here? have you mentioned your financial standing here? if you haven't had the talk with her yet...then you better start. you can usually start the conversation with what your plans are for when she gets here....and then ask her what her plans are after she gets adjusted moving across the pacific. then lead the conversation off to budgeting and expenses.

as far as the biometric form, i submitted a printed copy the wife emailed me. but since she'll be sending you her divorce papers, she might as well send all in the mail. because you'll need to submit original copies of documents when the time come anyways.

the biggest thing you have to consider really is competition, competition, competition. even with your target demographic (expats/foreigners), you still have to think that the cheap cost of hiring an unemployed RN to take care of their loved one back home is still a big competition.

you would need to have something else, some type of service to offer that an RN hanging out at the corner store waiting for a job can't offer to market to your target clients.

sorry to sound insensitive...but if the other people that are supposed to be in the pamamanhikan brunch and are very busy and complaining, then you should just tell them na kung wala na sila when you get there...oh well. hindi lang naman ang mga relatives mo ang meron schedule eh. you and your fiancee is also on a very tight schedule. dapat intindihin nila na yung time na nakuha ng fiancee mo to go there. complain sila ng complain kse 3 days lang and feel nila hindi sapat na panahon. but did they think na that's all his work allowed him to take off? siyempre kabuhayan ng tao yon and wala syang ibang magagawa.

isipin naman sana nila how much pressure sa fiancee mo to accomodate your family's request...instead sourgraping about him not being able to stick around longer so they can grill him. it would've been better if he was able to get a longer vacation time...but again, the time he's allowed to be gone from work was not up to him. sabihin mo na lang sa pamilya mo, initial trip pa lang naman ito eh. im pretty sure in the future, he'll have more time to spend with your family.

they should already have your packet if your NOA2 was on 10/07/2010. if you call them today, i bet you'll be able to get your case number already.

thank you!! wow...i just checked how much it would cost for N-600, and to get that certificate, it ain't cheap!! *sigh* but it is what it is.

it's not like i'm gonna be processing this now...but at least when it comes time, i've gotten the basics based on you guys' advise.

Hello VJ friends!I would like to know any good travel agency with address and contact numbers here in Manila ( my flight is Manila to Tennessee ).. thank you VJ friends.

first time immigrant?

looky here-----> http://www.santraphael.com/home.php?cntyowf=1

Solteq, How were you notified when your file was at the NVC and from your time line it looks like a week from approval of I-130 to NVC?

if you signed up in the USCIS status check website to get notifications regarding your I-130, you can check online by logging into it.

and yes...it does take about a week for NVC to get your document packet showing in their system.

sheesh..this ####### is confusing

THANKS EVERYONE FOR ALL THE INPUT! i really do appreciate it. going through the immigration process sure isn't easy...and i am glad the members in this forum are ready to give any help they can clearing things up.

so just a recap...the wife and kids, based on the documents i've received from NVC, are under the IR-1 (wife) and IR-2 visas. they don't automatically become citizens (the kids) but....i would apply for an N-600 for them instead of an N-400. am i understanding you guys correctly?

They have to live in the US as green card holders for 3 years before they can qualify for citizenship...they'll be living with you, right? So they will qualify then.

so because i don't meet that particular requirement, they are not able to qualify to automatically become citizens upon entry to the U.S. - they would've qualified to automatically acquire US citizenship if i met the living with them provision, is that correct?

no one? (shameless bump )

I understood one of the reasons for an expedite was if the process was beyond normal time lines, such as more than 5 months for a IR1/CR1. November 2 will be 5 months for me. That is about 3 more weeks. Should I ask for an expedite on November 2?

under normal cicumstances, it does take more than 5 months for USCIS to finish review of your documents to be forwarded to the NVC. mine took 6 months. so you coming up on 5 months is normal.

yeah you can't wait on NVC to send you what you need. you'll be waiting a while. when i got my NVC case number, it took NVC almost two weeks to email me AOS fee bill.

but NEVER wait to receive the documents you need to submit for NVC to mail to you and/or beneficiary. as soon as you met the criteria (paying the fees and it showing as paid) in sending doc packages, mail those suckers to NVC.

what Indigo said is correct. it does take several weeks for the documents to show up in their system. it's somewhere with the hundreds of thousands of mail they get daily...so you have to play the hardest game of you life....the waiting game.

this...

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html

What Are the Requirements of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000?

The child must meet the following requirements:

-Have at least one American citizen parent by birth or naturalization;

-Be under 18 years of age;

-Live in the legal and physical custody of the American citizen parent; and

-Be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence.

does that mean that my children will not qualify for this because i don't meet the custody requirement stated above? my kids live with their mom back home, so they are not physically in my custody.

any of you immigration gurus care to chime in? TIA.

Hello,

I am petitioning to bring my wife here. She is currently living in the Philippines. On the I-864 Principal Immigrant Address section, do I put her current address where she is living, or the address here in the U.S. where we will live together?

Thanks,

Jon

you will need to indicate her current address where she lives currently.

you'll have to keep trying the phone number. it's a little hard sometimes but if you keep pressing the redial long enough, you'll get through. call them to check if it's already in their system. hopefully they did not lose your packet.

the exchange rate for WF today actually went up a bit to $42.50 from two days ago of $42.45 (woohoo!!...LOL). and also, the recipient don't actually need to have an account in BPI to receive the money. i just had the wife open up an account because it's just easier and more safer. i don't send a really big amount each month...but it is big enough to get attention when it is counted on the counter in front of everybody who can see. with the money being deposited to her BPI account, she can just then go ahead and take out the amount that she needs.

i didn't know that it was different the fee is different if you don't have a premium account. but to get the advantage checking, a person only needs to do a monthly automatic transfer each month of $75. which is no problem because after that amount is automatically transferred, i go in and transfer it back..LOL. also, the question about the account being in your own name...it doesn't matter if the account it is going to is in your name as long as you give them the correct account information. and you don't have to worry about any promo code.

you have to remember, they will only give you 10% of your savings amount to count towards the calculation of your income requirements.

Thanks for sharing. I wish I knew this earlier. LOL!

no problem. it's my own way of helping out my fellow VJ'ers for all the help i get from the site

I would bet they dont review docs at all. Just dedicated to answering questions and reading from their computer screen the infamous "wait 6 to 8 weeks" statement or seeing we have moved to the next step and then letting us know. But then your dealing with the Embassy right? So do you have to call or deal with NVC for anything?

i think some do and some just don't wanna bother with it and want to get you off the phone. because i called a few days ago regarding AVR telling me there was add'l info i needed to send. so i spoke to one of their agents. i asked her what it was they were looking for, and she told me i needed to re-submit a corrected I-864W for my kids. i asked her what was needed with my wife's case and she told me nothing because the packet for my wife was complete and that i did a good job in putting the docs together (i think she was just stroking my ego with that statement). but then again....maybe they don't look at the docs because she explained to me that when they process documents, they indicate on the system which forms were accepted. and if reviewer does not mark in their system a particular form is acceptable, system will generate letter.

but im on board with you guys about just waiting to here case completed.