Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	I-90 to correct error on card	Well, six and a half months after filing a no fee I-90 to correct the immigration category on my wife's 10 year card, we got an email last night informing us that USCIS has ordered production of a new card!!!. We had given up on the application because when we went to an InfoPass a couple months back, they didn't have any information about the I-90 in their system. Hats off to the USCIS California Service Center!!! Way to go!	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2008-08-27 12:51:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	signature(s) for the cover letter for the docs to send to the immigration office	As long as both of you sign the I-751 form you can pretty much handle the cover letter the way you think is best. You do not need to sign the cover letter. In fact, you don't even need a cover letter at all. My wife and I have always just submitted a table of contents that we put on top of our filings and we've never had a problem.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2008-09-19 20:58:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Wrong name on green card	File form I-90 option 'd'. Be prepared to submit evidence showing you filed your application in your married name. Before you file the I-90, make an InfoPass appointment and get an I-551 stamp in your passport. USCIS does not generate receipts for no-fee I-90s, so it helps to have the stamp so you have proof of your status. It took us six and a half months to get a response to our I-90. USCIS issued a new card but didn't correct the error.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2008-09-15 20:54:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Remove of condition	I think the OP may be a bit confused. The one year extension letter is not an approval of the petition. It is just a receipt notice that automatically extends the conditional card by a year to allow time to decide the case. That said, since it's been a couple months without getting a biometrics letter, it might be worth contacting USCIS and asking about. It seems to me that a case like the OP's might take longer to process because she applied for a waiver of filing the joint petition.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-04-07 20:17:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Another Friday 4/17/09	As long as your case remains in the normal processing timeframes for your local office, there's nothing you really can do except wait.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-04-17 16:02:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	cover letter	A cover letter isn't even required, so if it wasn't signed, it's no big deal. If the petition wasn't signed that woud be another matter. We've never sent cover letters. All we've done is made a table of contents to serve as the cover page.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-02 14:36:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	quick question on order of documents	There is a separate biometrics notice. You can travel outside the US with the 2 year card. If the card is expired, bring the NOA as well. Just so you know, not everyone gets an approval notice. Sometimes they just send the green cards with no approval notice.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-02 21:00:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	I-90 for USCIS administrative error - How long does it take?	It took over six months for us to get a "corrected" card. My wife's 10 year card came with IR6 instead of IF1 on it. We sent an I-90 and CSC ieventually ssued a new card with the IR6 code still on it. I have no idea why they issued a new card if they didn't think they made a mistake on the first one...	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-02 14:44:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Maybe I missed This One	The green card has an expiration date on it. Count 90 days back from that date to get the earliest you can file.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-07 13:18:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Sending further evidence after submitting I-751	We sent some additional documentation for my wife's AOS back in 2005. When she went in for her interview, she saw it in her file as the officer was flipping through it. So, yes, sometimes it does make it into your file.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-07 13:16:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Second card production ordered.	See the following from USCIS: QUOTE Permanent Resident Card Production Delays USCIS is announcing that applicants may experience up to an eight week delay in the delivery of their permanent resident card while we are in the process of upgrading our card production equipment. USCIS Field Offices will be issuing temporary evidence of permanent residence in the form of an I-551 stamp to applicants approved for permanent residence at the time of their interview. You will need to take your passport to your appointment. If you do not have a passport, you must bring a passport style photo and government issued photo identification to receive temporary evidence of permanent residence. If the application is approved subsequent to your interview or by a Service Center or the National Benefit Center, the applicant should bring the above documents to an INFOPASS appointment to be issued temporary evidence of permanent residence in the form of an I-551 stamp.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-06-09 18:58:00
Philippines	Nice hotels in Manila	If you need to be close to the US Embassy, I've stayed at Bayview Park Hotel before. It's right across the street. I've also heard Manila Hotel is nice too - we ate breakfast there once but never stayed there. That one is close to the Luneta, historic sites, and the US Embassy. If location to the embassy isn't important, then I suggest EDSA Shangri-la. It's right next to SM Megamall and Shangri-la mall. The rooms are nice and the breakfast buffet is quite impressive.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-13 12:51:00
Philippines	Flying to USA	Avoid Northwest like the plague. It's cheap, but there's nothing to do on the flight (no in seat entertainment system). I booked my wife and mother-in-law on Northwest for their trips here and both times I regretted it. Asiana Airlines and Cathay Pacific are better options if you can afford them. My wife had no major problems at the POE. The officer asked her what I do for a living and what her occupation was. When she told him her family had a catering business, he replied... "Lucky guy!". The only problem was that he forgot to change the date of the stamp he put on her I-94 and passport, so her passport shows an arrival date in the US one day before the departure date stamped by Philippine Immigration. Fortunately it's never been a problem. Edited by jsnearline, 13 May 2009 - 01:30 PM.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-13 13:28:00
Philippines	I tried,but I failed :(	There are cultural differences that can come into play too. One time my wife found a receipt for a card I had bought for her. Instead of keeping her mouth shut, she teased me about it, to the point I walked out of the house quite upset. I was so mad because I was trying to do something nice for her and instead of appreciating it, she was being merciless about how I had left the receipt lying around in a place she could find it. I came to find out that that kind of teasing is more acceptable in the Philippines (or among her family there at least) than here). She was coming at it from the perspective of how funny it was that she had "busted" me, and didn't realize that here it's bad form to do that to your spouse. If you see something like that, you keep your mouth shut and act surprised when they give it to you...	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-13 13:18:00
Philippines	Report of Birth	QUOTE (Michael and Milahjean @ May 14 2009, 11:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> [We sent the docs listed in the requirements - original certified BC of child (which was returned) and 3 copies, 3 copies of asawa's Philippine passport (just the pages with the photo), 3 copies of our NSO marriage certificate (married in Phils), and the original and 3 copies of the Report of Birth form - signed by 2 witnesses - does not need to be notarized. We also sent a cover letter, the Certified Cashier check and the prepaid return envelope with $1 postage applied. I sent it flat-rate priority mail with delivery confirmation. Did you have to send the original Philippine passport with the application, or did you just get the copies notarized?	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 14:40:00
Philippines	Report of Birth	QUOTE (Michael and Milahjean @ May 14 2009, 10:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The advantage we see is that our daughter can apply for a Philippine passport which will avoid the 21 day limit on extended future visits to the Philippines,.. This is partially true. However, if a foreign born child and/or spouse accompanies the Filipino parent or spouse, the 21 day rule doesn't apply. Instead, they are allowed visa free entry for a period of one year provided they have a roundtrip ticket.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 11:55:00
Philippines	Report of Birth	Thanks for the info. In our case we just found out about this and our son is 16 months old already. There is an affidavit to file in addition to the report because we're past 30 days since the date of birth. Is not knowing about the option to file Report of Birth an acceptable reason for the late filing? What evidence did you send of the parent's Filipino citizenship?	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 11:36:00
Philippines	Report of Birth	Report the birth to the embassy or consulate of the Philippines. The child was born here in the US. The only advantage I can think of is that my son might be eligible for dual citizenship.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 10:24:00
Philippines	Report of Birth	I'm an American citizen and my wife is a citizen of the Philippines. We're wondering whether we should file a Report of Birth with the consulate for our son. He already has a US passport. Are there any advantages/disadvantages to filing a Report of Birth for him?	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 10:18:00
Philippines	Need you help	I wouldn't call my wife's family well off. They rely on the support of relatives from here. Family ties are huge there and as the previous poster said, some will choose duty to family over opportunity here.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 14:43:00
Philippines	Need you help	Believe it or not, there ARE Filipinos who would choose to stay in the Philippines rather than come to the US. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. My wife has some family members who turned down the chance to come here because they would prefer to stay close to family. Perhaps the young lady had a change of heart once she got her nursing degree and figured she might be able to have a decent life in the PI without having to leave her family. Sometimes, when people feel guilty about something, their response is to try to blame it on the other party. In the young lady's mind, she might have to hate the OP and say it's his fault to avoid feeling guilty about the fact she got cold feet and changed her mind.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 13:41:00
Philippines	Need you help	The very first piece of advice I got from friends before I made my first visit to meet my wife was that if she or her family asked me for money, it would be a RED FLAG and if they did so, I should call the whole thing off. Even now, any money that my wife sends home comes from what she earns from her job.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-13 18:31:00
Philippines	Visa denied	QUOTE (Tygrys @ May 17 2009, 12:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> K-3 IS an immigrant visa. That is not quite true. According to the State Department, a K-3 is a Nonimmigrant Visa for a Spouse. http://travel.state....types_2993.html Here is some of what the site says about the K-3 QUOTE Spouses of U.S. citizens, and the spouse's children, can come to the United States on nonimmigrant visas (K-3 and K-4) and wait in the United States to complete the immigration process. Before a K-4 visa can be issued to a child, the parent must have a K-3 visa or be in K-3 status. QUOTE The spouse of an U.S. citizen applying for a nonimmigrant visa (K-3 applicant) must have an immigrant visa petition on his/her behalf by the U.S. citizen spouse. Therefore, the spouse of the U.S. citizen (the K-3 applicant) must meet some of the requirements of an immigrant visa. Edited by jsnearline, 17 May 2009 - 02:24 PM.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-17 14:20:00
Philippines	Visa denied	Does Manila allow co-sponsors for K visas? For some reason I'm under the impression they only allow them for immigrant visas.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-14 18:27:00
Philippines	CFO question	Here are the contact numbers and email addresses... CFO Manila Tel. Nos.: (632) 562-3848, (632) 561-8321 ext. 104, 105, 201- 203 Fax No.: (632) 561-8332 E-mail Add.: info@cfo.gov.ph; mieo@cfo.gov.ph My wife is also from Taytay... Edited by jsnearline, 13 May 2009 - 01:08 PM.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-13 13:08:00
Philippines	Submit additional documents	Have them go back and resubmit, but type up a receipt with a list of what you submitted. Get the person receiving your documents to verify that all the documents are there and then have them stamp your receipt with the date received and the name or number of the person who received them. That would give you something to show them if they again claim the documents weren't submitted.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-18 17:16:00
Philippines	Want to bring Sister to US	K visas are non-immigrant visas, but they are processed by the Immigrant Visa Unit. Hence the requirement for I-134 for K visas. The guidance I posted was for visa issued by the Non-Immigrant Visa Unit. Edited by jsnearline, 20 May 2009 - 05:11 PM.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-20 17:10:00
Philippines	Want to bring Sister to US	FYI, the embassy website says not to bother with affidavits of support for non-immigrant visas. QUOTE AFFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT In general, affidavits of support of any sort from relatives or sponsors will be of little value to an applicant (except to student visa applicants). The Affidavit of Support is a requirement only for immigrant visas. The interviewing officer is less concerned about how the applicant will be supported during his or her stay in the United States than whether the applicant has compelling reasons to return home. We encourage the interested third parties to save their time and money and not prepare affidavits of support. See http://manila.usemba...v/wwwhnv03.html for more information on demonstrating ties. Edited by jsnearline, 20 May 2009 - 04:16 PM.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-20 16:15:00
Philippines	Bringing younger sister from phil	Bringing a relative on a visitor visa to take care of your child is a BAD idea. My mother-in-law came here on a B2 to help us take care of our son after he was born. We filed an extension and were honest that one of the reasons she wanted to stay was to help take care of our baby while I had throat surgery. USCIS denied the request because providing childcare for a relative could be considered employment. As a result, my mother-in-law's 10 year visa was cancelled. We're worried that she might not even be allowed to come back until my wife gets her citizenship and petitions her. I was laid off just after my mother-in-law left, so I'm the caregiver for our son during the day.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-20 11:11:00
Philippines	Travel Tax	Thanks for the correction on the terminal fee price. I forgot it had gone up... which is surprising since I flew out of MNL three times in less than two weeks last November. Personally I found flying out of there to be a real pain, especially when compared to other cities in Asia like Singapore and Hong Kong. If the ticket was purchased online or outside the Philippines, chances are the travel tax wasn't included in the price. Make sure you fiencee gets to the airport at least three hours before her flight. Better to be early than miss the flight.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-21 10:05:00
Philippines	Travel Tax	Travel tax is 1620 pesos (or it was as of last fall). It is collected in pesos not dollars. The 500 PHP airport tax is in addition to that and can be paid in pesos or dollars (It's about $13 if you pay in dollars).	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-21 09:39:00
Philippines	its hard in the philippines	It always amazes me when I go back to Philippines with my wife. Her family doesn't have a lot, but they seem happier there than a lot of folks here who are much better off financially. They like to laugh and use any excuse they can to have a party. Yes, it's a hard life there in that they don't have a lot of the conveniences that we have, but I've found people all in all there to be very friendly, kind, and generous.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-19 17:40:00
Philippines	Phillipine Passport	If you decide to stick with the green one, be prepared for extra scrutiny at the POE. My wife has insisted on not renewing her passport until it expires and she's had nothing but trouble traveling with it.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-21 10:07:00
Philippines	Phillipine Passport	It's better to replace it before you go. All renewals in the US now require that you make a personal appearance at the consulate with jurisdiction over your area. So, save yourself some money on travel expense and get the machine readable one in Philippines before you leave.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-21 09:22:00
Philippines	Question about purchasing ticket for fiancee	I booked a one way ticket for my wife on Northwest out of Manila using the nwa.com site and my wife didn't encounter any problems. She just paid the travel tax and airport departure fee at the airport the day she left. I just checked the nwa.com/ph site and they still allow you to purchase one way tickets online. I don't think they'd be doing that if it were illegal.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-28 11:09:00
Philippines	Visa Expiration	Having a church wedding in Cebu would be a bad idea. If you're coming to the US on a K1, having a church wedding in the Philippines would invalidate the visa. You can always go back to the Philippines for a celebration once you've adjusted status.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-28 17:12:00
Philippines	Visa Expiration	If you are a member of a parish and you know the priest, sometimes the marriage prep can be expedited. My wife and I started attending marriage preparation one week after she got here and we got married about 50 days after her arrival. We got married at a Jesuit parish. They seem to be pretty open minded about making exceptions if your reason is valid. Our parish normally would have required us to schedule a wedding date one year in advance, but when we explained that we had to marry within 90 day because of the visa requirement, they accommodated us. When you tell them that you're getting married either way, but would prefer to be married in the church, they can make exceptions. Good luck!	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-05-28 15:48:00
Philippines	Filipina Fiancee Visa Service	We filed our K1 and AOS before ever learning about VJ. From my perspective, those were the two most complicated filings. USCIS approved the I-129F petition a week after issuing the receipt notice. That said, I have a political science degree and am used to reading rules and regulations. Some people just don't have the time or patience for paperwork, so for them, a reputable attorney might be worth the money. I would be wary of other third party services though. Who knows if they're even using the correct form editions.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-06-07 22:31:00
Philippines	Is it safe to bring chocolate in the philippines from usa	I brough a duffle bag full of chocolates for my fiancee's family on my first trip to Manila. It was no problem at all.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-06-08 15:11:00
Philippines	what??!!! i129F copy?	It's a good idea to provide your fiancee with a complete copy of your I-129F filing. In our case, I made a second visit to Manila after the petition was approved so we would have additional evidence of relationship that she could submit at the interview.	jsnearline	Not Telling	Philippines	2009-06-08 09:17:00