Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Do the I-751 Affidavits need to be notarized?	I've seen them go in both ways. I'd say it can't hurt to get it done, but I know of people who were approved with non-notarized affidavits. Not that the affidavits were even critical in those cases, assuming there was enough other evidence. I would say it's not entirely critical, but I'd get it done for peace of mind if it not difficult to do so.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-03 14:54:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Worried that I have a lack of evidence for I-751	Transcripts are not quite the same as returns, although they contain the same basic info. You can to to irs.gov and order tax transcripts for the last 3 years. They take about a week to receive. Not everyone has everything in the list. Get everything you can and be prepared with an explanation as to why you don't have the other items in case you get asked. They will ultimately decide if it's enough, but when you have and what you can provide seems reasonable enough to me.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-26 21:43:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Opinion on material for ROC	Looks more than complete to me. I would say that on top of what you do have the car registration information wouldn't be needed.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-05 19:26:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Wife's green card expires in 6 days, what to do?	You don't have to complete paperwork, send to her to sign and send back so you can file. You can have her complete the paperwork on her end and overnight it to you to sign and file. It saves one overnighted package and at least 1 day. While you are waiting for the overnighted package, gather up all the other information you will need to send. Once you receive the form from her, sign and complete immediately and send out by FedEx. If you do, you will likely make it in time. Otherwise you will potentially be throwing away a lot because of this situation. If that's really what you want, to throw it all away, by all means don't file and risk your relationship with your wife and child. If you don't want to end, you can do something about it. If you do want it to end, leaving her with her documents in your bag was a very unsubtle way of going about it.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-13 17:16:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Should I help possibly cheating wife?	I understand where you are coming from. I am going through a break up with a current fiance, who was not a bar girl, and I was previously married to a girl who was a bar girl. My wife (the bar girl) was very difficult, very similar to your stories. We have 2 beautiful children (one who was hers before we met) and I do have custody of the kids, although she is trying to change that since she needs the child support to live on. I know it is terribly difficult, and people will give you the coarse advice to "Just leave her". While that is very easy to say, and easy to accept in our minds, our hearts have a tough time letting go (the fear of being alone, the investment we've already made). Your mind knows what to do, your heart is struggling... As others have said, focus on your child. My advice, which is worth everything you pay for it (not much), is to stop the relationship with your wife. Having gone through it I understand your pain, but I also understand what you would be signing up for and I don't believe it is worth it. That said, my second relationship is having cheating issues. My mind says walk away. My heart isn't ready yet for that. My second isn't due to a wild woman with low morals, it's due to unresolved feelings with an old boyfriend... I am in the same struggle you are. It is not easy. Since there is nothing that needs to be done urgently, since she couldn't come back immediately anyway, I would recommend to you that you take some time to think. Time, as they say, heals all wounds. In 3 months or 6 months you will have a lot clearer perspective. Then follow your heart. Your heart right now today is not in any position to be dictating to your mind. Best of luck.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-04-17 12:10:00
Philippines	How and Where to Extend Visa in Manila?	This was 5 years ago, and things change, but I once had to extend to a total of 6 weeks. On my 20th day I went to the Bureau of Immigration in Itramuros. I arrived about mid day and was told I neeed to be their earlier in the day, as it is a full day process (submit form in the morning, get called to a counter in the afternoon for processing). I told the guard at the door that it would be inconvenient for me to come back. The fee at the time was 500 pesos. The guard offered to "expedite" the process for me for an additional 1,000 pesos. I went to the Starbucks across the street for an hour, came back, the guard disappeared for 5 minutes and came back with all the documents. I paid him the 1,500 and was done. The most uncomfortable part was giving him my passport for an hour and hoping the "expedite" wouldn't put me in a bad situation. But it appeared it did not. Easy peasy.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-01-30 00:34:00
Philippines	Extending Tourist Visa	Most of your questions can be answered here: http://www.immigration.gov.ph/	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-05 02:44:00
Philippines	mindanao	Once your wife gets the letter from the embassy there are a couple of steps she and the children need to accomplish before the interview. Payment and the medical (if routine) should be straight forward and not take too much time. Gathering any needed documentation may be the most time consuming. You will likely have over a month from the embassy letter until the interview can be scheduled at a minimum. If your documentation is ready to go, and the medical is routine, you should have several weeks to accomplish a few days worth of steps in Manila. That said, regardless of where she is when the letter comes from the embassy, she will need to plan only a few days in Manila prior to the interview. So being in Mindanao shouldn't cause any real delay.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-06 14:20:00
Philippines	Smiles and Excitement Tonight!!	Congratulations! That's awesome. I love good news	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-08 00:32:00
Philippines	Average processing time for CSC K-1 Philippines visas	Folks, I get bored and I love to play with numbers so the timeline tables are my Nirvana as I await the CSC adjudicators. So I played around a bit with the info and thought I'd share a few interesting points (well, interesting to me, but I could be the only one). I just did a quick sort on the timelines and looked at the last 50 posts sorted by NOA 2 dates, only for K-1 visas filed for Philippines beneficiaries going through CSC. Excluding all petitions that had RFEs noted, the most recent 10 assigned NOA2s were 145 days after NOA1, the next most recent 10 were 165, then 153 and finally 145. Average for the period was 151 days, exluding RFE'd petitions. Small sample size but they are going as fast now as they've gone in that period of time. The 9 RFE'd petitions during that time averaged 185 days. So it definitely pays to get a complete petition together before sending, as it seems to save, on average, about 3 1/2 weeks. Another intresting point, that is likely skewed because of how information hits the tables, but interesting nonetheless, is that the last 50 NOA1s listed cover 4 1/2 months worth. The previous 50 cover only 2 1/2 months. So (although again there is some skew) it seems there are fewer going in now, which might indicate it COULD speed up since the pile may be shrinking? It seems I read somewhere that the petitions increase in the summer.... might be hope for winter filers. Ok, interesting to me anyway. Cheers.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-05 03:08:00
Philippines	I-134 for K-1 Visa- What Documentation is Needed	If you read the guides they outline a lot of things that can be used to demonstrate the ability to support your fiance. Things like tax returns, statement from your employer, W-2s, bank statements, etc. You can go on and on. In the interview they ask for whatever they want. In the interview I had with my fiance 5 1/2 years ago they looked (glanced) at the previous year's tax return. That was it. This time around I still plan to send last 3 years tax returns, W-2s, bank statements, employer statement. The idea is that you have no idea what they may want, so send anything they might ask for. Everyone's interview varies. Be as prepared as you can be so it takes that pressure off your fiance during the interview.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-12 21:35:00
Philippines	Visa Approved	Congratulations! What a great feeling. Happy for you guys.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-15 00:06:00
Philippines	She's at embassy now for interview...	Congrats you guys! That's awesome. Can't wait for our turn. It is so exciting to read your good news!	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-29 18:34:00
Philippines	When a RFE is requested?	It looks like the RFE delay is about 3-4 weeks on average. But frequently the time delay is caused by having to dig up more paperwork, get additional documentation, whatever. I've seen some in the timelines that take months, but that is almost always on the petitioner's side, not the USCIS. I would count on 3-4 weeks, assuming you can pull everything together quickly. Then you might be pleasantly surprised.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-29 18:40:00
Philippines	Balikbayan Box from LA to Cebu through LBC	I've sent over a dozen boxes to Phils in the last 5 years. LBC is great. They take awhile (ocean freight) but at $65 bucks you can't beat it. I've sent soap, vitamins, clothes, toys, shampoo, chocolates, snacks, even a play station. No problems. I will continue to use them. A lot of things are cheaper in the Phils than here. I've been asked to send Spam - yes, seriously. Last time I checked Spam was cheaper in the Phils. When I pointed that out I was told "but it's not imported". Yeah, they care, imported is cooler than sending money and buying it there. I now go to Costco to help in filling up boxes with volume stuff at a pretty reasonable price. My last box had Folgers instant coffee, big hit. Yes, use LBC. It's a fairly cheap way to send a bunch of goodies. I do it every 3-4 months. They say 30 days. It's 30 days from when it gets loaded in the US until it gets unloaded in Phils. I've had it take 45-50 days with preloading time and deliver time on the other side. Make sure you have additional time, especially when sending stuff for holidays.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-02 13:26:00
Philippines	help with regards to cenomar	That's actually a good recommendation for anyone coming here. Some local documents in other countries don't mean anything here. Once the visa is granted there will never be another use for the Cenomar or NBI clearance. However, with my experience with my first fiance visa, you will always find uses for more birth certificates. My ex-wife came to the US with I think 3 official copies. On one of her return trips home she picked up 3 more. It seems like they get requested for so many different things. 6 sounds like a good number to me.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-04 11:49:00
Philippines	help with regards to cenomar	Yep, Hank, you are correct, just did a little checking. Also found an old post that someone had an 8 month old Cenomar that was accepted. I believe I also saw a post that someone had a 4 or 5 month old one and they were told to get a new one, which is why I thought it was 90 days. In my first time through, 6 years ago, my (now-ex) fiance had a very new Cenomar, less than a month old. But because she also had a son and they wanted "conclusive proof of no previous marriage" the CO said they needed to do even more research so they asked the NSO to do a more thorough review after the interview, which delayed the actual receipt of the visa by about 3 weeks. I am recommending to my fiance that she get new documents after paying the visa fee (except for the BC since she recently got several copies). Usually the Philippines is pretty straightforward and stuff flies through, but I hate to give them any excuse to slow or stop my processing.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-03 16:38:00
Philippines	help with regards to cenomar	My understanding is that Cenomar has 90 day validity, NBI clearance is one year, and Birth Certificate doesn't expire (until you do).	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-03 15:12:00
Philippines	Placing Bets	I went 5 years married to a filipina and was able to avoid eating it. If I can make it five years, I'm sure I can make it another 50 without partaking...	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-05 19:32:00
Philippines	Placing Bets	Filipinos love them. I haven't been able to get myself to eat one yet... and I might never get there. It frequently is mentioned on those "top ten worst/most disgusting food" lists. And generally near the top of those lists. Good luck with your bet!	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-04 20:00:00
Philippines	Another K1 approval here! Thank you so much Lord.	Sweet! Congratulations, so good to hear.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-06 00:53:00
Philippines	Pinay Friend Locations	Daniel, I live in Portland Oregon and my ex-wife has a lot of pinay friends, who are now my friends and quickly friending my fiancee now on Facebook. The west coast has a lot of Filipinas so she will surely find a number of pinays. Seattle has a Jollibee and a Goldilocks and I believe a Filipino market. Portland has none of those but does have a couple of asian markets. Troll around any asian market after she is here and she will likely hear someone speaking Tagalog. If she's not too shy and can speak to them, she can strike up friendships. A number of my pinoy friends came into the group that way.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-02-29 19:09:00
Philippines	step son question	Can I ask what state you are in? I'll see if my attorney has any thoughts about differences in your state. I'm in Oregon.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-25 21:40:00
Philippines	step son question	I've heard that it is fairly common to have lawyers who do it for a fairly low price because it is seen as a public good. Not everyone will do it for a low price, but many will if it is fairly straightforward, which our are because they are totally uncontested.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-25 11:01:00
Philippines	step son question	No. You advertise in the local paper where you live. I know, he will never read it, but it's the legal requirement. You don't post in the foreign country. Doesn't make much sense in terms of adopting a foreign born child, but that's the way it works. So don't worry about doing anything now. Get the visas done, get home, get settled, get married, be happy. The adoption doesn't need to happen the first day. Then later, when you are ready and things are settled down, talk to a local family attorney (one specializing in adoption would be ideal) and they will work it out for you. IF you can talk to an attorney now, they could possibly get a letter prepared for you on retainer if you want to go the route of getting the bio father's signature. If that's not an option you will pursue, then there's nothing you need to do in Phils. Just as an FYI though, I would like to show the adoption of my son in the Philippines, but doing so is much more expensive and would require (I believe, based on 1 Phil lawyer's comment) that I reside in Phils for some period of time. So it's not something I plan to do right away, which means he has different last names on his Philippines and US passports. I expect he will only use his US passport from now on anyway. Side comment, I am now divorced from his mother and he and his younger half-brother (our joint biological child) live with me. When his mother walked out she left him with me, which was perfect for me. Now she wants them back, but since he was adopted by me I have all the rights and responsibilities that I would have if he was born mine. She can't easily take him away (thank god) but if she does I get to pay child support (which wouldn't be a problem if it came to that because he is MY son). I would always recommend getting married and settled for awhile before adopting. I would pray that your relationship is all that you would hope, and I would never go into it in half measures, but since time is not an issue at all, be totally sure everything is what you would expect before signing up. I told my ex before the adoption that it might impact us both: in the event we ever divorced (which I did NOT foresee at the time) she wouldn't be able to "take him away" from me, but if we divorced and he lived with her it would cost me many hundreds of dollars per month. Both she and I laid something on the table. I am working on a visa for my new fiancee now. No kids involved on her side, but one of the things that attracted me to her was how her eyes light up whenever she sees my kids. My boys are 7 and 5, and being a good loving step-mom was the number one requirement for me. So far it looks like I've found the perfect one. If I'm unclear on anything, please don't hesitate to message me. I would hate to have given out bad or unclear advice on this sensitive and critical issue. Edited by Grant n Karleen, 25 March 2012 - 12:56 AM.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-25 00:53:00
Philippines	step son question	Rice and dried fish or langanisa... the breakfast staple. I adopted my step son. I did it with a lawyer for $1,000 plus fees, a total under $1,200. There are lawyers who specialize it in and don't charge much, because it is seen as a "good thing to do". In my case we had the bio father sign off on parenting rights. It was simple for us because my ex was already heading back to phils anyway. Otherwise you will need to advertise in your local paper for a period of time. Not a big deal, but getting the signature is preferable as it totally takes away any concerns forever. I would use a lawyer again. Just to make sure you do it right, and don't leave any question about who the legal parent is. My two cents.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-23 22:11:00
Philippines	Just need some advice	The father's name on the birth certificate does not indicate it is false. Please stop claiming it's a false birth certificate because he's not the biological father. I adopted my previous wife's son and his birth certificate now has my name not it. There are children all over the world whose biological father is not on the birth certificate. The birth certificate it absolutely fine, his wife had a baby and he claimed the child as his own. Now, there will likely be legal issues pertinent to the immigration and citizenship. The OP and his wife need to be clear about it. This process is very limited in scope for the OP, there are not many people in his exact situation so most advice will be recommendations based on people's best guesses about what will happen. Frankly, a blood test would prove he's not the biological father, but once the child is in the US gaining citizenship should be relatively easy. My adopted son's post-adoption birth certificate showing my name and my birth certificate were all that was required to get a US passport for my son. That's the easy part. Getting the ability to travel will be the more difficult part. There are a lot of women who give birth while in the visa process. I'm not entirely clear on how the child gets added. Since he can't prove the biological side, it might best be treated as if it was a child she had before the marriage, as far as processing. Once in the interview she should be totally upfront about the situation. She should also have a letter from the OP stating he is aware of the situation, but claiming the child as his own. He should be clear also about the exact situation, so the CO doesn't think she is keeping anything from him. His claim on the child will be that of a biological parent once the visa process is complete. Since the child was born after the petition was filed, I believe there's a process to add the child to her processing. Alternatively he could file separately, although they would have to wait through the full processing of the petition, then the visa. My biological son was born 12 days after my ex was given her visa, and 10 days after she arrived in the US. Luckily I didn't have to deal with this process, but I know there are ways to deal with it. Best of luck. Just because he took her child as his own doesn't make him a sucker. I love my adopted son as much as I do my biological son. When I divorced my ex I ended up with custody of both. Doesn't make me a sucker at all, but it sure makes me a proud papa to have them. Edit: I would recommend an info pass appointment. Who knows how immigration will see it. Edited by Grant n Karleen, 31 March 2012 - 09:37 PM.	Grant PDX	Male	Philippines	2012-03-31 21:35:00