What Happen on my Interview?

[BobGee 5]

Hello Vjers,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me giving ideas as to what is required in preparation of everything before my interview yesterday. And asking GOD to guide me always in every steps I take. PRAYERS are powerful and its only my weapon in this time of test. A very challenging test, I would say.

Here's what happened on my interview:

Since I live a bit farther to US Embassy, I rent hotel overnight (10 minutes walk) at Soriente Hotel (located at Bocobo St, UN Ave, near St. Luke's). I came to the area around 5am, with lines of people waiting, the line I followed was the 630am appointment schedule wise, as well as what type of visa are you applying for. So we waited til they started at 6am to get us in.

NOTE: Steps from start may vary to those who have had experience their interview:

1. Prepare your Passport, Appointment Letter & DS Forms. (Filipino staffs assisted to arrange these requirements) and return back to you and instructed to put your passport inside the ziploc plastic with your front page visible.

2. As you get inside the checking area, they will check everything of course you have (as advised from other Vjers, do NOT bring any gadgets, perfume, water, some other forms of liquid and food.)

3. Fall in line, they asked if your medical was in an envelope or in a CD(?) then giving you a queue number with the No. 1 stated above requirements and instructed you to drop the stapled (appointment letter, DS forms) to window assigned number. Please make sure you hold your passport, now in ziplock together with your queue number while waiting for your turn by monitoring the number flashed.

4. Pre-Screener: He asked for my BC, NBI, CENOMAR, Police Clearance abroad and Passport. Asked the following:

a. Who is my Petitioner?

b. What is my Name?

c. What is my Birthdate?

d. Have I been in abroad? How many countries? How long?

e. Was I married before? He also asked my divorce decree with the translation in it.

f. How and when did we meet?

g. When did we first met?

h. When did he last visit me?

*** Then he asked for Affidavit of Support, Form 40, W-2. Reviewed them. Again,asked that he needed to look at few pictures (if I have). Since my photos are in folder, with a captions, he took it and looked at them.

*** By the way, the pre-screener is a Filipino, friendly soft spoken male, which you do feel at ease with him

*** He instructed me to wait, again when the queue number flashes.

5. Biometrics - easy one. I was asked to say name and birthdate clearly. Put your Left to right four fingers and two thumbs :thumbs: infront of you.

6. Final Interview with Consul - She said hello and asked me to solemnly swear to tell truth and nothing but the truth (while my right hand raised). She looked all my papers infront of her and asked the following:

a. Who is my Petitioner?

b. How old I am? (which by the way, she said I look young with my age )

*** She looked at my CENOMAR (oh boy), and said "Your CENOMAR is a bit old, you need to get new one" and she crossed the white paper (oh boy, again)

c. How long my marriage was? Why? Where is my divorce decree? She crossed this out again in her white paper, and explained she needs/considers an annulment paper from Philippines, an annotated one. I explained that my marriage was solemnized outside the Philippines and divorce was obtained in the same country that I had been. While explaining, she asked my previous husband's name and trying to look at the divorce paper, she couldnt find it and I pointed where it was. She wrote my prev husband's name in the white paper. And then read/review again, she then, ERASED the supposed-to-be requirements, whew!

Here the comment I have read from one of our VJers that really enlightened me! No.1 applies on my case

Hi Tahoma,

It matters where the Filipino citizen got married.

Our annulment laws are complicated, as you will see below:

1) If the Filipino citizen gets married in the U.S., and then gets divorced in the U.S., and it was the Filipino citizen who initiated the divorce, Philippines has no choice but to recognize the divorce. Philippine courts have NO JURISDICTION over the US marriage because Filipino citizen married under US laws. Only US courts can dissolve a US marriage. There is no basis for filing an annulment in the PI because the Philippines has no jurisdiction. No Philippine court will hear the case. In this regard, Filipino citizen can marry either in the PI or the US, as long as the US divorce is final. As far as the Philippines is concerned, if its citizen married in the US, then US laws apply. Since divorce is legal in the US, then the Philippines has to recognize US laws even if the party involved is a Filipino citizen.

2) If the Filipino citizen gets married in the Philippines, and then gets divorced in the US, and it was the Filipino citizen who initiated divorce, it will not be recognized in the PI. However, if the Filipino citizen has naturalized at time of filing/granting of divorce, then the divorce will be recognized in the PI. If petitioner, on the other hand, was Filipino citizen at time of filing, and then has become a US citizen by the time divorce was granted, divorce will not be recognized.

3) If Filipino citizen gets married in the Philippines, and then gets divorced in the US, and the US spouse initiated divorce, the Filipino spouse needs to file a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce Decree if she wants to marry in the PI again. Judicial Recognition not required if re-marrying in another country.

d. How we met?

e. When did we first met in person?

f. When was the last time he visited me?

g. Does he have children? How many? How old?

h. How many countries I have been?

i. What is my marriage name? (this is a tricky question for me, , but I able to answer it, thank God!)

*** She then finalized her white form paper, making sure she erased the "divorce" issue. Again, she reminded me of my new CENOMAR. And then she said "Thank you for answering my questions"

She did not say if it was approved or not. And was instructed to wait for the final window.

7. Window 72 staff asked my whole name, birthdate, birthplace,father's name, mother name and printed a reverification form, he gave me and instructed to go to NSO at Pasay branch and said "once we received your CENOMAR, we will take care of it, you can leave now".

Note that, he have my passport attached on the rest of my documents in a folder. He only just gave me this form to present this to NSO. I dont want to waste time,after checking out from the hotel, I went directly to NSO, requested new CENOMAR and asked how many days it will take for them to have this CENOMAR processed, about 3-4 days. He explained that, every Friday, assigned USEM staff pick them.

DO YOU THINK I AM APPROVED? HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT TO GET THE RESULT?

[medasman 0]

Hello Vjers,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me giving ideas as to what is required in preparation of everything before my interview yesterday. And asking GOD to guide me always in every steps I take. PRAYERS are powerful and its only my weapon in this time of test. A very challenging test, I would say.

Here's what happened on my interview:

Since I live a bit farther to US Embassy, I rent hotel overnight (10 minutes walk) at Soriente Hotel (located at Bocobo St, UN Ave, near St. Luke's). I came to the area around 5am, with lines of people waiting, the line I followed was the 630am appointment schedule wise, as well as what type of visa are you applying for. So we waited til they started at 6am to get us in.

NOTE: Steps from start may vary to those who have had experience their interview:

1. Prepare your Passport, Appointment Letter & DS Forms. (Filipino staffs assisted to arrange these requirements) and return back to you and instructed to put your passport inside the ziploc plastic with your front page visible.

2. As you get inside the checking area, they will check everything of course you have (as advised from other Vjers, do NOT bring any gadgets, perfume, water, some other forms of liquid and food.)

3. Fall in line, they asked if your medical was in an envelope or in a CD(?) then giving you a queue number with the No. 1 stated above requirements and instructed you to drop the stapled (appointment letter, DS forms) to window assigned number. Please make sure you hold your passport, now in ziplock together with your queue number while waiting for your turn by monitoring the number flashed.

4. Pre-Screener: He asked for my BC, NBI, CENOMAR, Police Clearance abroad and Passport. Asked the following:

a. Who is my Petitioner?

b. What is my Name?

c. What is my Birthdate?

d. Have I been in abroad? How many countries? How long?

e. Was I married before? He also asked my divorce decree with the translation in it.

f. How and when did we meet?

g. When did we first met?

h. When did he last visit me?

*** Then he asked for Affidavit of Support, Form 40, W-2. Reviewed them. Again,asked that he needed to look at few pictures (if I have). Since my photos are in folder, with a captions, he took it and looked at them.

*** By the way, the pre-screener is a Filipino, friendly soft spoken male, which you do feel at ease with him

*** He instructed me to wait, again when the queue number flashes.

5. Biometrics - easy one. I was asked to say name and birthdate clearly. Put your Left to right four fingers and two thumbs :thumbs: infront of you.

6. Final Interview with Consul - She said hello and asked me to solemnly swear to tell truth and nothing but the truth (while my right hand raised). She looked all my papers infront of her and asked the following:

a. Who is my Petitioner?

b. How old I am? (which by the way, she said I look young with my age )

*** She looked at my CENOMAR (oh boy), and said "Your CENOMAR is a bit old, you need to get new one" and she crossed the white paper (oh boy, again)

c. How long my marriage was? Why? Where is my divorce decree? She crossed this out again in her white paper, and explained she needs/considers an annulment paper from Philippines, an annotated one. I explained that my marriage was solemnized outside the Philippines and divorce was obtained in the same country that I had been. While explaining, she asked my previous husband's name and trying to look at the divorce paper, she couldnt find it and I pointed where it was. She wrote my prev husband's name in the white paper. And then read/review again, she then, ERASED the supposed-to-be requirements, whew!

Here the comment I have read from one of our VJers that really enlightened me! No.1 applies on my case

d. How we met?

e. When did we first met in person?

f. When was the last time he visited me?

g. Does he have children? How many? How old?

h. How many countries I have been?

i. What is my marriage name? (this is a tricky question for me, , but I able to answer it, thank God!)

*** She then finalized her white form paper, making sure she erased the "divorce" issue. Again, she reminded me of my new CENOMAR. And then she said "Thank you for answering my questions"

She did not say if it was approved or not. And was instructed to wait for the final window.

7. Window 72 staff asked my whole name, birthdate, birthplace,father's name, mother name and printed a reverification form, he gave me and instructed to go to NSO at Pasay branch and said "once we received your CENOMAR, we will take care of it, you can leave now".

Note that, he have my passport attached on the rest of my documents in a folder. He only just gave me this form to present this to NSO. I dont want to waste time,after checking out from the hotel, I went directly to NSO, requested new CENOMAR and asked how many days it will take for them to have this CENOMAR processed, about 3-4 days. He explained that, every Friday, assigned USEM staff pick them.

DO YOU THINK I AM APPROVED? HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT TO GET THE RESULT?

this is what happened to my sister in law she returned paper with passport Oct 3 embassy emailed her on the 7th they received and waiting for consul to review them

[TeapotGirl 66]

How old is the ur CENOMAR?

[BobGee 5]

this is what happened to my sister in law she returned paper with passport Oct 3 embassy emailed her on the 7th they received and waiting for consul to review them

My case was they did not returned my passport back. Instead, they give me a reverification form and submit it to NSO.

How old is the ur CENOMAR?

It is 11-month old. I requested new one prior to my interview but it didnt make it through.

USEM has a specific NSO branch for them to pick up these certificates.

[medasman 0]

when you get the new Cenomar and they look at it they will approve your visa and notify you but the time varies you can not hurry this part of the process they say 2 weeks but I have seen 6 months but usually not that long

[TeapotGirl 66]

It is 11-month old. I requested new one prior to my interview but it didnt make it through.

USEM has a specific NSO branch for them to pick up these certificates.

Wait, is that for the updated CENOMAR that you presented alone or everybody has to get a CENOMAR in Pasay?

Edited October 25, 2011 by teapotgurl1983

[medasman 0]

My sister in law finally got her visa on the 26 her updated papers was received by the Embassy on Oct 3rd

[joerec84 0]

Hello all I just have a quick question pertaining to the CENOMAR requirement. If I am posting this is the wrong spot just let me know and I will ask it else where. Ok my spouse and I started the I-130 packet back in Jun, we now have everything completed and just yesterday finished the Medical at St Luke's. Our interview date is Dec 12 2011 and I am trying to get everything needed for her interview. So far we have already turned everything in to NVC and have conformation they received it all. Now I actually have two questions, the first being if I already turned all originals in to NVC should I only bring copies to the interview? Or should I not have to bring anything? The second question is about the CENOMAR, my spouse and I married in South Korea 7 years ago, she has been married once before in the Philippines and has her annulment papers which we already turned into NVC. Now since she has been married before does she need a CENOMAR? Or something else? We live far from the Embassy and I would like to have everything with us when we go so we do not get denied. Thanks for your help.

[BobGee 5]

when you get the new Cenomar and they look at it they will approve your visa and notify you but the time varies you can not hurry this part of the process they say 2 weeks but I have seen 6 months but usually not that long

3-weeks to be exact I received my visa. Thanks for enlightening me :-)

[BobGee 5]

Hello all I just have a quick question pertaining to the CENOMAR requirement. If I am posting this is the wrong spot just let me know and I will ask it else where. Ok my spouse and I started the I-130 packet back in Jun, we now have everything completed and just yesterday finished the Medical at St Luke's. Our interview date is Dec 12 2011 and I am trying to get everything needed for her interview. So far we have already turned everything in to NVC and have conformation they received it all. Now I actually have two questions, the first being if I already turned all originals in to NVC should I only bring copies to the interview? Or should I not have to bring anything? The second question is about the CENOMAR, my spouse and I married in South Korea 7 years ago, she has been married once before in the Philippines and has her annulment papers which we already turned into NVC. Now since she has been married before does she need a CENOMAR? Or something else? We live far from the Embassy and I would like to have everything with us when we go so we do not get denied. Thanks for your help.

Yes she needs a CENOMAR with annotation that she was married and annulled.

What I know about is, since you are filing CR-1, NVC will forward these originals that you turned in to the USEM. But Bring originals (whatever you have) mostly during the interview. If not originals, certified true copy will work.

Hope this helps.

Hope someone knows more here (esp for CR-1) could add to enlighten your situation.