Jubi & Tony

Oh I am so happy, I passed my interview!! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I feel so blessed to have meet my fiancé! I am so excited about America!

CONGRATS My Fiancee goes on Monday. I shared your words with her for comfort. Where in the US are you heading?

Can anyone tell me if they were denied at the Interview because they printed their return info from the tax return software and not from the IRS? I make well over the poverty level and I work for the Govt so my pay stubs reflex my income levels and length of service. I also provided an appoint level to my current position level which also reflects my annual salary.

Look If you are clearly over the poverty line I don't think they will be scrutinizing over whether you tax return was certified copy from IRS or the one you print off. If your pay stub matches up with what you are claiming on your return I'm sure they won't have a problem. Was anyone who was clearly over the poverty line ever denied because they didn't provide certified copies of their tax returns? I doubt it but if you were please speak up.

This was a great post and to have my fiancee get her international drivers license was golden. I live in the suburbs and she was telling me "Hon teach me how to get around by using the bus" I was embarassed to reply that we don't have bus routes in the suburbs...Hon you are going to have to learn how to drive ....hehehe but getting the international lic helps prevent the long wait for the other paperwork to allow her to get a US drivers license. Thanks for I want her to be able to get out and about so she doesn't get bored.

Well I found my soulmate she is 33 and I am 48. We met in a Yahoo Chat room and never expected it to go to where it did when we first met. The more we talked and learned about the other the more we fell in love. She is my greatest blessing from God...Thank You Lord

I read your post an its one of the primary concerns of what I want to avoid when my Fiancee arrives in a few months. We have already agreed to do ball room class lessons one night a week and I referee soccer games and she wants to attend to meet my friends which is great. I also learned that there is a Philippine community gathering that occurs so she can meet others in the area who are also from her country. I want her happy..I want her to always feel that she made the right choice for us to be together. We have also discussed that when I retire that we will move back to the Philippines. I try to be pro-active in what I can do to ensure she won't feel bored for I feel if she does get bored that the boredom will fuel resentment. I love her and want her happy. I can only suggest try doing activities together with your husband in the even9ing that will give you the opportunity to meet others. You have to remember the friends you have at home country are the ones you spent a lifetime developing by doing activities and meeting them. In the sub-burbs your close friends will not always be your neighbor. It will many times be the friend you make at activities. Ask your husband to do a regular activity each week where you get to meet the same group of people. Good Luck

Having Served in the Military don't worry about your taxes not reflexing a higher tax income.

On the LES (and have 6 months copies)

It will show:

1) His gross salary

2) His Non-taxed Allowances

3) His taxable Salary

4) His years of service

When asked about his job its ok to say which unit he works for and the type of work (he is a mechanic or admin support guru) and if they ask more than that just reply that you and he have an understanding that because you are a foreign National that he can only share a limited degree of information with you. That should answer the mail for you.

Good Luck

Just having gone thru the process I was told and experienced that NVC is just a pass thru. Yes it goes thru NVC but just to be documented to a Case File and logged into the State Department system and then is shipped to the embassy

You know its fun to read a post like this. Well my Sweetie likes to see new places. Instead of having her bare the 20 hour flight here I decided to meet her in Hawaii. Easy airport to do POE at too (small). We will meet in Hawaii with some of my family and then get married. Do a little sight seeing, take in a Luau. After wedding (on the beach Hawaiian style) send family members home and then stay a few more days for Honeymoon : ) I'm sure the only time we will be apart will be the morning of the wedding when she is preparing for the wedding. Otherwise it will be hand-in-hand with that slight arm twist to make us even closer together as we walk.

I will take the first few days we arrive home off from work to help her get settled and process AOS and SSN stuff. Show her around town and within the first month go into Washington DC to see the Capital, within about 6 months go to NYC to have her experience real pizza. For all you pizza lovers...you might like your chain pizza place but unless you had pizza in NYC or from someone trained in the ways of making NY Pizza you haven't had real pizza : ). When in NY visit family,

Soon after see arrives we both have agreed to have a couples nite. We both want to take Ball room dancing lessons and really enjoy ourselves learning how to dance. My biggest fear is having her get bored after living a busy life in the Corporate world in Manila. So making sure she doesnt get bored will always be a big focus for me. I want her Happy most of all.

Thanks for starting this thread

Hey I have a question along this line.

To prevent getting to this problem of passport and green card being different when we want to travel this is what my Fiancee and I are planning to do:

Have her sign Marriage certificate: Her first name, maiden name, my last name

Apply for SSN: Her first name, maiden name, my last name

Apply for AOS and EAD: Her first name, maiden name, my last name

Go to Philippine Embassey in Wash DC and register our marriage and apply for a new passport with her married name as shown above.

Does anyone see a problem with the order in which we want to do this or in what we want to do?

Thanks

Tony

I was in your shoes when USCIS first decided to switch to the texas lockbox. What I did was include the letter of intent made out to the service center that would be handling my petition (VSC) and sent the whole package to Texas Lockbox.. My letter of intent was made out to VSC It passed with flying colors so i hope this helps

Maybe I'm reading this wrong....But when did you get Married? If you didn't get married in 2010, than you are filing Single. If you did get married in 2010, file Married (Joint return) and file for an extension now. It's much easier to file extension and then file the regular tax return than to file a 1040x. A regular 1040 takes about two weeks to process. A 1040x can take up to 3 months and you have more paperwork to submit. Its like redoing your taxes again. I just did a 1040x last year for a mistake that I saw HR Block had in their software which resulted in a much bigger return for me.

Congrats! The rest of the Journey will go quicker now. Less than a month since our NOA2 so I still remember the joy of finally receiving the notice. You can look at our time line to see how long it will take to get to NVC and then embassy. Big thing with NVC is that once you get the NVC letter (different than NOA2) you can have your Fiancess go for medical and get that out of the way before receiving the packet 3. The NVC forum has good info on how to track your package from NVC to embassy. Good luck and congrats

Was wondering if anyone can shed some light onto this:

Background:

We received our case number from NVC today. Jubi had TB about Five years ago and was fully and completely treated for it and had an exam from a personal physical exam last month to verify that she is still clear of the TB. Her TB is cured but it does leave scarring on the lungs. We know it will show up on the St Lukes exam when they do her chest x-ray. She plans to bring medical documentation that details her treatment and states that it is cured when she goes for the St Lukes exam.

Here is our question:

If we have her Case number, without the packet even arriving at the embassy yet, can Jubi schedule for an exam at St Lukes using just the Case number we received from NVC. Our feeling is that if we can do the medical exam soonest then if there is a delay on the medical it wont have as much of a impact on our overall time process to get to VISA approval. By Jubi schedule the physical exam now we could save a month vice having to wait for the embassy to direct her to schedule the exam. So VJ members is this permissiable to do and gives us more time or are we forgetting or overlooking a precedure that needs to be followed?

Thanks

Tony and Jubi

We are planning for Jubi to POE into Hawaii...I will fly out there and meet her. We will marry a few days after her arrival in a small civil wedding on the beach with maybe 2 other people attending. Then we will plan to have a Catholic church wedding in the philippines abt a year later. We figure we will be cleared to travel at that point. We are at the NVC stage now and can't make plans yet until she clears the physical. She had TB several years ago and is bringing her treatment records to the St Lukes physical and we know that the prior TB will show up as scars on the chest x-ray. So we don't know if they will require additional tests (delays) or accept the medical records of treatment as satisfactory. Trying to bring as much documentation to medical to help minimize any possible delay but that final decision is out of our hands.

I agree with Ahn Map The passport validity issue means that if you have a passport then it should not expire within an 8 month period of time beginning the date you plan to travel.. I guess that's to prevent you from traveling and then having your passport expire while you on travel. Some countries its 6 months.

what I might also suggest is that you think of getting two jobs to get your income up. If you love her you really dont want to bring her over her unless you can really provide for her

CONGRATS and Fair winds and Following Seas for the remainder of your trip

I'm surprised you didn't bite the heads off of people complaining that its been 4 months and no approval yet ...lol Great job in keeping it positive and with the Lord our God.. Congrats!

I concur with Breezy and Me. I would Pull the Ejection Handle and get out of this relationship ASAP. His Abuse Master Caution Light is blinking right in front of you and all systems will only fail more so after you get married. Sorry that you have invested all this Time but my advice is EJECT EJECT EJECT <wooosh out of the impending desaster you go>

There is skype and there is oovoo, also if you have a phone with Yahoo Messenger that helps a lot when your out and about. Skype has a feature that lets people on your friends list to be able to automatically establish video connection automatically. We use this feature a lot on weekends to where I put my computer on speaker and my Fiancee will sign-on just before I am to wake up or sometimes she works on a document and watches me sleep (I do the same for her as well) and when the other wakes up you can greet them and say good morning dear. I did notice that as the five month mark waiting on our I-129F approval came and passed the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. and when we received the NOA2 (6 months 1 week 1 day) it was as if someone released the valve to the pressure cooker.

I think it makes it easier if you advance you skype sessions from always expecting to be engaged in a conversation to being connected and doing things that need to be done and saying hi as you pass into view. The house still needs to be cleaned and laundry needs to get done. But how one vacuums...well you can be creative in that too to make it fun : ) Sometimes I switch to laptop and cook while she chats with me and she then tries the recipe there as well for her relatives.

Be transparent with each other but yet not demanding of each other. Remain flexible day to day. What worked well for Monday may not work well for Tuesday. Let each other know in advance changes in schedules as best as you can (e.g. - If you always chat Sat and sun and you have an event on sat that will cut into your normal time of chatting then let the other know in advance and not at the last second. Its just respecting each others time and not taking it for granted.

Most of all, let God be your guide

We had our I-129F submitted to the VSC it took 6 months 1 week and 1 day to get approved (17 Mar) and sent to NVC. Hang in there 4-5 monthers it will come soon

After you pass the 6 mo0nth mark you can call them up and file a service request. I received I-129F approval (NOA2) at 6 months 1 week and 1 day. I filed the service request by calling the number posted in your Initial Review. A week after my service request I received my approval. Not sure if it was a coincidence but I do feel that the service request helped. Also use Honey and not Vineger when dealing with the person on the phone and I think it will get you further along.

CONGRATS Guys.... We received our NOA2 on 17 March (St Patty's Day)as well. Hey maybe we both have Irish Luck in us somewhere from a very distant relative....Hehehehe Jubi lives in Metro Manila area if you need help

Thank you everyone for the kind responses and support. The NOA2 relieved a lots of tension and now we can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel... God Bless to you all.

Use Honey..Not Vineger when you try to speed up the process