ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
PhilippinesK-1 .. Fee's and More Fee's

Cost of the civil marriage too... Recording, processing, officiant, yada yada. That's at least $100. 


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-23 07:40:00
Philippinescourier service

That's not that far. Then again, the sense of scale in the Philippines is much shorter than the US. 


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-23 08:04:00
Philippinescourier service

Apalit.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-23 07:55:00
Philippinescourier service

My wife, also from Papanga, uses LBC to send me stuff. It usually gets to me within 5 days. We've tried sending things through post office and... never again. One of our packages that was sent in July didn't arrive until Christmas.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-23 07:37:00
PhilippinesQueries regarding form 1040/ITR for K1 visa

FWIW, the only evidence I provided for I-134 was my employment letter. There wasn't even a mention of W-2 or 1040 on I-134 Inst (provided your sponsor is not self-employed), so I didn't bother.  I think they want you to provide evidence if your income is not sufficient enough that your beneficiary can become a public charge. The I-864 is where they'll really start to look for stuff. You'll see a lot of "musts" in the I-864 Inst.


Edited by pete_falcone, 24 January 2014 - 08:57 AM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-24 08:54:00
PhilippinesDMV (MVC) learner's permit

You should be fine with your combo card, marriage certificate, and bank statement. That's how we got ours. We tried doing it once with the Phil passport and I-94 printed from the site, but no luck that time.


Edited by pete_falcone, 31 January 2014 - 03:56 PM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-31 15:54:00
PhilippinesTraveling with Advance Parole

If you haven't gotten anything yet, call them up and inquire. We filed for AOS mid October and received a note saying they transferred our case to NBC. Interview waived, but longer wait. 


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-02-03 08:49:00
PhilippinesTraveling with Advance Parole

Nah, that's not gonna be a good option if they have to pay a bunch of tolls and drive across the five boroughs just to get to JFK. For us, we'll be departing and arriving from EWR, so it won't be a hassle unlike JFK.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-25 19:29:00
PhilippinesTraveling with Advance Parole

She's already there. Won't be back till March. That gives me another 5 weeks to enjoy life as a free man. :P

 

sorry honey. hope you're not reading this. :(


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-23 07:43:00
PhilippinesTraveling with Advance Parole

My wife stressed out about traveling as well; she got some dubious advice from friends about the "advance parole" document, but I urged her to go back anyway. For some reason, some Filipinos have a peeve about anything that says "parole" on it because of its usage among prisoners. So I told her, if someone asks you the name of the document that you'll use to return to the US, call it the "I-512." I'll be returning to the country with her, but I don't think that will help much either since we go through separate lines at customs.


Edited by pete_falcone, 23 January 2014 - 07:33 AM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-01-23 07:31:00
PhilippinesPlease Help!!!! Wife needs to do Name Change on Philippine Passport

When you get back to the US, you might have a better shot of applying for her Phil passport if you go to the Philippine Consulate in New York City. My wife needs to renew her Phil passport within a year-and-a-half, but since we don't have time to do that in the Philippines, we will do that in New York. 

 

 


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-02-07 08:21:00
PhilippinesDriving in Philippines. Have you done it with car rental ?

Unless you'll be driving around US-influenced cities like Clark Freeport Zone or Olongapo/Subic, I would much rather rent a driver. We once were approaching a chaotic-looking traffic circle in Dau. I asked my cousin who was driving, "in this situation, who has the right of way?" He answered, "the best driver has the right of way."

 

laughing.gif


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-09-23 15:11:00
PhilippinesConflict between the families - When/where to get married?

I'd go with option 2, except try to set up the wedding day well in advance for it (1 year in our case.) There could be a cultural thing you may not be aware of that could be in play in your situation. Traditional Filipino Catholics tend to want the church wedding outright and thus view civil marriages as sacrilege. That's probably why they don't want you to do the K-1. At the same time, there is a lot of preparation and pre-cana involved in getting a Catholic wedding done (6 to 12 months). So if you want to go to the K-3 route as quickly as possible, get a wedding date planned out and register it.

 

The closest thing to a quick church wedding is called a Convalidation ceremony, but such a ceremony requires you to have been civilly married and most traditional Filipinos still frown upon this.

 

Personally, we did a K-1; civil marriage in the US, then the traditional wedding back in the Phils. We burned some bridges in her family, but we could afford to do that because we're old and we had blessings from key people, including the archbishop who approved and officiated our wedding.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-03-10 12:44:00
PhilippinesPhilippine food banned by US Customs

Don't forget that some medications will get confiscated too if you can't produce an Rx for them. My wife's allergy pills were broken out of the bag.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-03-17 12:04:00
PhilippinesRequirements for Cath.Church wedding

The requirements are quite extensive. My wife knows the details much more than I do, but it involved almost a year of back-and-forth between you and the church administrator, followed by months of paper digging and event coordination.

 

The fastest and easiest way to pull off a Catholic wedding is to ask for a "Convalidation" ceremony. You are already civilly married, so the requirements are less. However, these ceremonies usually lack the glamour and pageantry of a wedding ceremony.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-06-04 11:23:00
Philippinesi want to move to phil.

 

10 dumb mistakes foreigners make when moving to the Philippines

 

http://liveinthephil...he-philippines/

 

Take it to heart. Good luck.1943.gif

 

BTW the law does not permit you to legally work in the Philippines on a tourist visa.

 

Thanks for that site, GB. Good read. I would find his writing somewhat amusing if the reality wasn't sobering or tragic. I've witnessed too many such mistakes made by friends and loved ones.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-06-10 07:33:00
PhilippinesWhat airline would u recommend

PAL if you're flying to LAX or SFO, mainly because they fly non-stop on the US-bound leg. Also, it's nice to eat semi-Filipino food and shoot the ###### with fellow pinoys to pass the endless amount of time. If you run into one of those on-demand dates, ANA usually has good prices and superior service. 

 

From Tri-State, pick your poison. I normally fly Delta because they have service from EWR, but if I have to take off from JFK, I'll fly Korean if I'm going to MNL. If I want to land at CRK and not mind the extra travel time and cost, Asiana is the only way to go. Debarking at CRK is so much easier and more convenient.


Edited by pete_falcone, 17 June 2014 - 01:41 PM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-06-17 13:39:00
PhilippinesWho's got good deals on Manila to LAX

https://www.google.c...2014-07-31;tt=o

 

Use the graph view to see which dates have the lowest prices.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-07-11 07:49:00
PhilippinesConsular Section U.S. Embassy will be closed on Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Glenda is making a beeline towards NCR and is expected to be Cat 3 when she hits. Good luck and stay safe kababayans. 

 

edit: Cat 3 by PAGASA classification, not NOAA classification.


Edited by pete_falcone, 15 July 2014 - 02:04 PM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2014-07-15 14:00:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsMarch filers

We got our NOA2 on 7/1. Application was postmarked 3/15.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-07-02 22:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsCSC March & April K-1 Filers

I don't think you have to worry about that stage - they don't use PhilExpress, or whatever the name of the snail mail over there is. Thousands of files get sent to the USEM, and if there was an issue, we'd have heard about it. Seems they all get there okay.

 

Ah good. I recently sent my fiancee a package. It's been stuck in customs hell for the past 6 days, even though I paid the duty and importation fees already. Sana walang problema.


Edited by pete_falcone, 11 July 2013 - 11:59 AM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-07-11 11:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsCSC March & April K-1 Filers

Yes, a VJer who had a March 22 NOA1 was approved on July 1st.

 

Yeah, that NOA2 came as a surprise to me because I only found out about it 2 days later when I logged on to my gmail account. They usually arrive via SMS, but an NOA2 via SMS never came. The snail mail NOA2 came last week.

 

The NVC/MNL part is the one that I'm most worried about actually. Anything that involves corrupt Philippine officials/courriers make me cringe.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-07-11 11:03:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsAfter POE, what do to next.. SSN or marriage? PLEASE help!!

I'm doing it the other way. Fiancee will fly into LAX, then we drive to the east coast, then civil wedding at our local town. You have 90 days upon POE anyway, so unless she needs to leave the country soon, there's no need to rush.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-08-01 10:57:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsMarch 2013 Filers K1
Mailed out March 15, been anxiously waiting for a couple of weeks for some sort of notification, but finally got NOA1 at 3/27, even though they started processing at 3/22.

Godspeed everyone.

Edited by pete_falcone, 27 March 2013 - 06:34 PM.

pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-03-27 18:31:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports20 days of waiting finally visa on hand

It took almost THREE weeks from your interview approval to having the visa finally in hand??


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-08-15 11:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsVisa approved but Administrative Processing?

Granted, there's been an incredible number of approvals from PI over the past few months. It's like an exodus going on in the country. Still, it's another set of bureaucratic nonsense we have to deal with. 


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-08-15 11:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsMarch 2013 Filers

Not expedited. There's no rhyme or reason as to how things are done at CSC. My packet was even rerouted to and from Texas, which is why my NOA1 came pretty late. I did get a notice of Alien number change sometime around April. If nothing else, that tells me that at least someone is looking at the packet.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-07-09 07:53:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress ReportsMarch 2013 Filers

NOA1 on 3/24. NOA2 was electronically issued on 7/1. Received hard copy on 7/5. Now is the hard part; directly dealing with NVC and Manila.


pete_falconeMalePhilippines2013-07-08 14:15:00