MY VISA JOURNEY

[nickoftime 0]

I am now here in the US, nursing a jetlag and a great deal of premature homesickness. Already, I miss the humidity in Pinas, the open windows, the soft breeze, my house, my car and the license to drive at anytime I like and most especially, the smell and hugs of my granddaughter! Thank God I've got my daughter to hug and kiss and talk to in Tagalog!

Anyway, I visited some posts here and cannot help but feel bad for those who are still in the limbo. Waiting is truly aggravating, frustrating and just too stressful. What truly makes it worse is that feeling of helplessness and of not being in control. As one had said, the moment you are done with the interview and you got a pink slip or have submitted the documents required of you after the interview, the waiting starts with such great anticipation to leave the country and be with our beloved. A week or two of waiting is bearable. But once that two weeks passed and you didn't hear anything, the waiting simply became aggravating and stressful.

I knew because that was how I felt. And being quite of a control freak, I did what I thought would help to speed up the processing of our visas, i.e., to ask my hubby to request for expedited visa processing and to call his congressman and senator and seek assistance from them. Luckily, his boss was a good friend of the congressman and thus, got an immediate favorable response and action from the latter. My sister-in-law, upon learning about what we were doing, also helped and asked her friend congresswoman in her state to call the USEM. As we learned later, this woman congresswoman made two personal calls to the USEM and sought for expedited visa processing for us.

Because I read from another post here that the USEM used the DV as the reason why her visa was not processed quickly as per its letter to a US congressman (her visa was released a week after that letter from the USEM, BTW), I did what I could to get the NSO required documents as per advice of Grace. It was when I applied for the CENMAR and such other documents that I learned that my DV had been done already but that the last time that the USEM picked up the documents from the NSO was last October 3.

I can never be sure if it was because of the proddings of some US politicians that when my hubby went to the USEM on October 20, 2008 supposedly to submit the CENMAR, we just found out that my DV from the NSO was already there. The week before that, specifically on October 17 when my hubby called Lorraine, she denied having received any letters from the politicians or receipt ofthe DV; then suddenly, on October 20, every document sent to the USEM was already logged in their system. My hubby was just happy about it and right then and there, wrote a request to personally pick up the visas. By Thursday, I got the call from the USEM and on our way to Manila, e-mails from the politicians about the grant of our visas and the arrangement for personal pick up flooded my hubby's phone.

Again, let me reiterate that I am not sure if it was because of the letters and calls from some US politicians that the USEM granted our request for expedited processing. (Lorraine was very categorical in telling us before that such a request was a long shot and she really discouraged us from pursuing it.) I do not want anyone who reads this post to take what I shared as a sure way to speed up the visa processing. I am simply sharing this to tell you what I did to empower myself. For me, it is not the result that really counts. It is the idea of believing that I did something while waiting for our visas. (I am sure though that it was because of the help of the US politicians that we were able to pick up the visas personally which we were made to believe was quite impossible because my hubby isn't in the US military. So yeah! If something said to be impossible happened to me, then try it, too.)

God bless everyone and for those who are still waiting, I am with you, peeps!

[Honey&Sweety 1]

Hi, sis! Finally you`re there now......I am happy for you! !!!! God bless!

[sara..... 371]

many congratulations to u :dance: :dance:

some of us as in me lol are not lucky enough to have congressmen or senators that views our lengthy wait as a reason to help us try to get this process on track but im happy that u had a lot of help and got thru this in shorter time frame.....

sara

[nowhereman 1]

My fiancee interviews for the K1 on October 30th and I am concerned about a delay due to improper processing of the document verification. We've had several delays already & I've come to the point where I don't believe anything until it happens (the setbacks have a devastating impact). She paid the DV way back in late July/ early August so everything should be fine, but we will see in a few days. From what I've seen visas are either delivered within a week or it takes several weeks; there seems to be no middle ground.

[ruby_jade 0]

congrats sis! how long did you have to wait for your visa from the date of filing??

sana you can fill in your timeline

[bevs 0]

I am now here in the US, nursing a jetlag and a great deal of premature homesickness. Already, I miss the humidity in Pinas, the open windows, the soft breeze, my house, my car and the license to drive at anytime I like and most especially, the smell and hugs of my granddaughter! Thank God I've got my daughter to hug and kiss and talk to in Tagalog!

Anyway, I visited some posts here and cannot help but feel bad for those who are still in the limbo. Waiting is truly aggravating, frustrating and just too stressful. What truly makes it worse is that feeling of helplessness and of not being in control. As one had said, the moment you are done with the interview and you got a pink slip or have submitted the documents required of you after the interview, the waiting starts with such great anticipation to leave the country and be with our beloved. A week or two of waiting is bearable. But once that two weeks passed and you didn't hear anything, the waiting simply became aggravating and stressful.

I knew because that was how I felt. And being quite of a control freak, I did what I thought would help to speed up the processing of our visas, i.e., to ask my hubby to request for expedited visa processing and to call his congressman and senator and seek assistance from them. Luckily, his boss was a good friend of the congressman and thus, got an immediate favorable response and action from the latter. My sister-in-law, upon learning about what we were doing, also helped and asked her friend congresswoman in her state to call the USEM. As we learned later, this woman congresswoman made two personal calls to the USEM and sought for expedited visa processing for us.

Because I read from another post here that the USEM used the DV as the reason why her visa was not processed quickly as per its letter to a US congressman (her visa was released a week after that letter from the USEM, BTW), I did what I could to get the NSO required documents as per advice of Grace. It was when I applied for the CENMAR and such other documents that I learned that my DV had been done already but that the last time that the USEM picked up the documents from the NSO was last October 3.

I can never be sure if it was because of the proddings of some US politicians that when my hubby went to the USEM on October 20, 2008 supposedly to submit the CENMAR, we just found out that my DV from the NSO was already there. The week before that, specifically on October 17 when my hubby called Lorraine, she denied having received any letters from the politicians or receipt ofthe DV; then suddenly, on October 20, every document sent to the USEM was already logged in their system. My hubby was just happy about it and right then and there, wrote a request to personally pick up the visas. By Thursday, I got the call from the USEM and on our way to Manila, e-mails from the politicians about the grant of our visas and the arrangement for personal pick up flooded my hubby's phone.

Again, let me reiterate that I am not sure if it was because of the letters and calls from some US politicians that the USEM granted our request for expedited processing. (Lorraine was very categorical in telling us before that such a request was a long shot and she really discouraged us from pursuing it.) I do not want anyone who reads this post to take what I shared as a sure way to speed up the visa processing. I am simply sharing this to tell you what I did to empower myself. For me, it is not the result that really counts. It is the idea of believing that I did something while waiting for our visas. (I am sure though that it was because of the help of the US politicians that we were able to pick up the visas personally which we were made to believe was quite impossible because my hubby isn't in the US military. So yeah! If something said to be impossible happened to me, then try it, too.)

God bless everyone and for those who are still waiting, I am with you, peeps!

hi sis thank u for sharing this. just wanna ask how long u been waiting for your VISA till u heard the good news? im on m y 6 weeks now ad i know some members here is waiting more than i do, but if u have SON, u cannot really take the feeling that hopefully soon we be able at HIS dad arms to be a complete FAMILY. we did some letter about my SON great grandma poor condition, we didnt heard anything from them yet, well we just faxed it yesterday, i wish this will work if that then i will tell my ALex to try to ask for a senator or congressman power full help. but i wish this letter will enough for them to grant our visa. anyway welcome in the USA and may u live happy ever after.

[Ban Hammer 13,111]

[KC♥MP 0]

Glad to know you arrived safely.Congratulations!!!!

[HoneySkin 0]

My fiancee interviews for the K1 on October 30th and I am concerned about a delay due to improper processing of the document verification. We've had several delays already & I've come to the point where I don't believe anything until it happens (the setbacks have a devastating impact). She paid the DV way back in late July/ early August so everything should be fine, but we will see in a few days. From what I've seen visas are either delivered within a week or it takes several weeks; there seems to be no middle ground.

There really is no guaranty as to when USEM will deliver eventhough they claim they can deliver in 6 to 7 working days. Some of us are just tired of playing the waiting game and just wanted to get it over with but unfortunately some of us here dont have that kind of connection to speed things up within the USEM. I just wish they would really follow the FIFO system so it will be a fair treatment for all family based visas. Their job is to connect and unite famillies but they just cant do it fast enough. It is the system we are dealing with and not being able to elbow grease with the folks at the USEM. I hope some progressive news will pop up today especially for those who have been waiting for months.

[nickoftime 0]

My fiancee interviews for the K1 on October 30th and I am concerned about a delay due to improper processing of the document verification. We've had several delays already & I've come to the point where I don't believe anything until it happens (the setbacks have a devastating impact). She paid the DV way back in late July/ early August so everything should be fine, but we will see in a few days. From what I've seen visas are either delivered within a week or it takes several weeks; there seems to be no middle ground.

There really is no guaranty as to when USEM will deliver eventhough they claim they can deliver in 6 to 7 working days. Some of us are just tired of playing the waiting game and just wanted to get it over with but unfortunately some of us here dont have that kind of connection to speed things up within the USEM. I just wish they would really follow the FIFO system so it will be a fair treatment for all family based visas. Their job is to connect and unite famillies but they just cant do it fast enough. It is the system we are dealing with and not being able to elbow grease with the folks at the USEM. I hope some progressive news will pop up today especially for those who have been waiting for months.

Cannot agree with you more, HS. However, my post, as I said, was not to give anyone any idea that by having connections, one's visa application would be processed more quickly. It may or may not help.