NEED Advice 2

[Jim N Augie 16]

she can also use her high school ID for secondary ID..

[tripod 0]

applying for a passport for the first time they need any school id elementary/highschool/college, yearbook/ library card.postal id not allowed -- don't know why. but they honor Philhealth wc anyone can apply just pay the fees even she doesn't have a work. birth certificate, nbi, voters id if non she can bring voters certification. copy of form 137 from elementary, college transcript, any ids with a picture of her will do.also live birth from civil registrar. she has to bring everything what she can show so she wont keep coming back on forth.

[PaulnUsa 19]

Once your I-129F petition is approved by the USCIS and is sent by the NVC to the U.S. Embassy Manila, the Embassy will send a letter to your fiancée telling her that she is eligible to schedule an interview. The letter will also tell her about the requirements for the interview, and also about the medical. You should study up on that information.

You can read the Embassy letter here.

You have already gotten some good information on how your fiancée can get her passport. Getting her NBI clearance and her birth certificate are the first steps to getting her passport. Your fiancée can probably apply for a passport on Guimaras. If not, she can do so in Iloilo City.

Paul...Is Ilonggo your fiancée's dialect? How are your fiancée's Tagalog language skills? Can she communicate OK in Tagalog?

I think her tagalog is very basic. Manily English and Ilonggo. She seems to speak english well the problem is he knowledge of words are basic and she is to shy and embarrassed to say when she does not understand words. I did not pick it up myself until recently when her responses made no sense to what I was saying. Then I stated asking directly what she thought a word meant and she admitted she did not know.

I would try to find someone to help her thru the paper gathering stage. Only idea I have is take out an add in the nearest local classified. She will need you more at the interview. Unless you can split the 60 days and make more than one trip but that gets expensive. Many province girls have never been to the "big city" and most parents won't let their daughters go far unescorted. You could put together a list of things she needs to get but only give her one task at a time to make it easier. First is ID , orig Birth Cert, passport didn't take us long. Later get the cenomar and NBI. You have time for the last two because it's best to have recent before interview even tho they are good for a year. When my fiance and I have something detailed or complicated to work on typing is often better than talking. It's not good you only have cell phone but that means you can text also. If you can get her thru the paper stage the 60 will come in handy later but if not problems or RFE's you can do physical, interview in a week and have visa in about 2 weeks roughly or pay express fee and maybe pickup in week or so. She will still need to attend CFO after visa to get her certificate and travel sticker, can be done in a day or two. One thing you should check because I don't remember but I have heard USEM is hard for a girl of 18 and I think her country requires written parental consent until age 21.

Why is it harder for an 18 year old to get approval of a visa? How do I get an official consent from her parents? I have hand written paper from them now.

[Kang 22]

It is gonna be a tough one esp when she goes on medical and interview as she will be the only one allowed inside, even say, a vjer will accompany her to manila

[Girl from Celebes 588]

applying for a passport for the first time they need any school id elementary/highschool/college, yearbook/ library card.postal id not allowed -- don't know why. but they honor Philhealth wc anyone can apply just pay the fees even she doesn't have a work. birth certificate, nbi, voters id if non she can bring voters certification. copy of form 137 from elementary, college transcript, any ids with a picture of her will do.also live birth from civil registrar. she has to bring everything what she can show so she wont keep coming back on forth.

Wow...It's surprised me that when applying passport first time in PI, all those things need to prepare. In my country, when apply passport for 1st time, They only asked my birth certificate. The additional papers can be my certificate from my university and employee letter from my work. I wonder why...

[TeapotGirl 66]

applying for a passport for the first time they need any school id elementary/highschool/college, yearbook/ library card.postal id not allowed -- don't know why. but they honor Philhealth wc anyone can apply just pay the fees even she doesn't have a work. birth certificate, nbi, voters id if non she can bring voters certification. copy of form 137 from elementary, college transcript, any ids with a picture of her will do.also live birth from civil registrar. she has to bring everything what she can show so she wont keep coming back on forth.

They do not accept the one from Civil Registrar. It has to be Cert true copy.

I suggest get a cert true copy of BC first (but I think she already have one she just sent it to Paul but for the sake of people who are in the same situation). Call NSO 737-1111 they will deliver it to you. Charges may vary upon delivery.

You need a cert true copy BC to get the NBI clearance.

Once you have BC and NBI that's enough to get a passport. Bring school ID or form 137 as a back up but NBI and BC are enough.

She will need NBI clearance for the interview at the consulate anyway so might as well get that first.

I think her tagalog is very basic. Manily English and Ilonggo. She seems to speak english well the problem is he knowledge of words are basic and she is to shy and embarrassed to say when she does not understand words. I did not pick it up myself until recently when her responses made no sense to what I was saying. Then I stated asking directly what she thought a word meant and she admitted she did not know.

For the interview, they will actually just ask simple questions. But she has to be exposed with different accents and terms. Problem is that they don't have electricity. This could be practiced by watching movies and american shows.

Why is it harder for an 18 year old to get approval of a visa? How do I get an official consent from her parents? I have hand written paper from them now.

Not that's it's hard it's because they are just starting a life. At 18, that's when you usually get a job and produce identification. Also, in the Philippines, Marriage applicants who are age 18 to 21 must have parental consent in writing, those age 21 to 25 must have written parental advice (a written indication that the parents are aware of the couple's intent to marry). I am just not sure if there's a form for that or a handwritten statement is enough.

Edited October 24, 2011 by teapotgurl1983

[TeapotGirl 66]

In DFA Manila to get a passport, you have to set up an appointment via online. It will show your schedule and it got a barcode. It will be scanned once you enter the gate. You should photocopy everything before you line up. Get in there 30mins before your schedule. Make sure also your BC is flawless. It should be readable, no misspellings and wrong info like wrong sex. Wrong sex and misspelling of the names will need to be taken tot he court for correction and you will not be allowed to get a passport until it's corrected. In my case, the sex is just blank. I was just told to notarized it on the other side of the building, they let me get a passport but it has to be correct once I renew my passport in 5yrs.

You also have an option to pick up your passport or be delivered to you. In either rush (10days) and 20 days.

Edited October 24, 2011 by teapotgurl1983

[Tahoma 2,292]

I think her tagalog is very basic. Manily English and Ilonggo. She seems to speak english well the problem is he knowledge of words are basic and she is to shy and embarrassed to say when she does not understand words. I did not pick it up myself until recently when her responses made no sense to what I was saying. Then I stated asking directly what she thought a word meant and she admitted she did not know.

Why is it harder for an 18 year old to get approval of a visa? How do I get an official consent from her parents? I have hand written paper from them now.

Paul, thanks for your response. Because your fiancée is fluent in Ilonggo, I'm thinking it would make sense for you to find someone in Iloilo City who could help her get her NBI clearance, one of the documents necessary to get her passport. It seems that she already is capable of getting her birth certificate from the NSO, and she will need another one to get her passport since she sent her only copy to you.

Once she has both documents, she could go along with the person helping her to the DFA in Iloilo City and apply for a passport. Since this is your fiancée's first passport, she will be required to apply in person at the DFA. If you can't find anyone to help her in Iloilo City (or Bacolod City), she could hire a reputable travel agent in Iloilo City to accompany her when she gets the necessary documents and when she applies for her passport. Good travel agents in the Philippines routinely handle passport matters.

The same person could also help her get her CENOMAR from the NSO and an updated NBI clearance when she's closer to her interview.

This would save you a lot of unpaid time off from work and it would also keep your expenses down. It would also make it easier for your fiancée to get her passport.

Since your fiancée is 18 years old, she will need a letter of consent from her parents in order to get married. The letter simply gives her parents consent for her to marry you. This is not necessarily a requirement of the U.S. Embassy, and they may not ask for it at her interview, but it's part of Philippine law and the CFO will likely ask for it when your fiancée attends their mandatory seminar.

A potential issue at her Embassy interview is her lack of fluency in both English and Tagalog. Most interviews are conducted in English. It's my understanding that some of the consular officers also speak Tagalog. However, I'm not sure they speak enough Tagalog to conduct an entire interview. The Embassy also allows for their interpreter to translate at the interview. However, I'm not sure if they have any Ilonggo interpreters available. They may only have Tagalog interpreters available.

Perhaps a bigger potential issue at her Embassy interview will be whether or not the consular officer believes you have a bona fide relationship with your fiancée since you two don't share fluency in a common language. This is one reason why it would be good for you to attend your fiancée's interview. The Embassy almost always allows a K-1 petitioner to attend their beneficiary's prescreening and interview.

Another thing you can do if you want to play it safe is to bring her parents to Manila for a day in order to wait outside while your fiancée attends the CFO seminar. There's a chance that the CFO people will not only ask her for a letter of consent to get married, but also to speak with her parents.

This is just some food for thought.

By the way, my wife is Ilongo too. We met online. How did you meet your fiancée?

[TeapotGirl 66]

A potential issue at her Embassy interview is her lack of fluency in both English and Tagalog. Most interviews are conducted in English. It's my understanding that some of the consular officers also speak Tagalog. However, I'm not sure they speak enough Tagalog to conduct an entire interview. The Embassy also allows for their interpreter to translate at the interview. However, I'm not sure if they have any Ilonggo interpreters available. They may only have Tagalog interpreters available.

Perhaps a bigger potential issue at her Embassy interview will be whether or not the consular officer believes you have a bona fide relationship with your fiancée since you two don't share fluency in a common language. This is one reason why it would be good for you to attend your fiancée's interview. The Embassy almost always allows a K-1 petitioner to attend their beneficiary's prescreening and interview.

Paul, you have to oblige your fiancee to talk online at least once a week. Looks like cellphone calls isn't enough specially nowadays. I know it's 45mins ride but you will also need a chat logs and screenshots to show you regularly communicate, knows each other very well and you both know what you are doing. At the same time, she could do research on her own. Read VJ, could print maps and detailed instructions etc.

People are scared because of the thing that they don't know. Knowledge is power.

Edited October 24, 2011 by teapotgurl1983

[Tahoma 2,292]

Paul...Yes, knowledge is power. When your approved petition arrives at the U.S. Embassy Manila, the Embassy sends the beneficiary a letter which gives them detailed instructions on how to prepare for the interview, including information about the medical exam.

Some people call it the "eligibility" letter because it starts out by telling your fiancée that she's eligible to schedule an interview. Both you and your fiancée should become familiar with it. I will post a link for the English version and for the Tagalog version too.

English version.

Tagalog version.

[Bluerose001 4]

Paul,

You’ve been given good advice here especially from Teapotgurl and Tahoma.

Like Teapotgurl, I think the best thing for her to do right now(since you are still in the gathering stage) is to get online more and to research on her own about the visa process and the requirements for Passport and NBI Clearance application.

Once she gathered the requirements for Passport and NBI Clearance, as Tahoma suggested, she can then apply for her Passport and NBI in Iloilo.

Her mother or her aunt can accompany her to Iloilo since they would still be in Western Visayas (they don’t have to ride a plane) and if they get lost or get confused, they can ask around since the people there speaks the same dialect as theirs.

From their place all they need to do is get to the wharf, take a 15-20 min boat ride to

Iloilo, once in Iloilo get a taxi to take them to Department of Foreign Affairs and NBI.

This can be a good exercise for her to go to a city not as big as confusing as Manila but

can get her to gain experience in transacting and processing her papers on her own

towards the completion of her visa journey.

Btw, when you visited her in Guimaras, did you liked the place? I’ve only been to Guimaras twice and I liked the simple way of living there. I’ve always thought that it’s a driver’s haven as the next jeep/trike/car that you will see in the street is 5-10 mins

away from you. Definitely no Manila traffic 

Goodluck!

[TeapotGirl 66]

BTW there are different types of NBI clearances. I haven't got mine for this K-1 because I still need to go to the main branch because of a gazillion namesake. What's should this fiancee and I should check for purpose: Travel Abroad or Marriage Requirement? Should it be Travel Abroad?

Edited October 24, 2011 by teapotgurl1983

[Ann Marie and Leo 9]

Ok Let me try this Again.

As i mentioned in the other thread, also try, http://www.mag-anak.org/ lot's of people that can help you there as well.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Ann Marie and Leo

[Jim N Augie 16]

I think her tagalog is very basic. Manily English and Ilonggo. She seems to speak english well the problem is he knowledge of words are basic and she is to shy and embarrassed to say when she does not understand words. I did not pick it up myself until recently when her responses made no sense to what I was saying. Then I stated asking directly what she thought a word meant and she admitted she did not know.

Why is it harder for an 18 year old to get approval of a visa? How do I get an official consent from her parents? I have hand written paper from them now.

Not saying it cant be done, just always have heard it's harder getting approved at 18 due to Phil age of consent being different than US. Read up on this because I m going from memory but visa aside she would need parental consent to marry in her own country at that age. Maybe research here at VJ any that age and how it went. Sounds like a parental consent letter is not an issue because you have their consent

Edited October 24, 2011 by Jim N Augie

[Jim N Augie 16]

Ann Marie is right, maganok is a great resource. As for NBI and cenomar to each their own but I have always been told even tho valid for year theres a chance the embassy will ask for a more recent one if more than 6 months old at interview. We timed our so only about 4 months old at interview date. Tahoma had a good idea about the parents being around at CFO.