Need some advice from the guys that were at Fiancee's Interview

[Steve&Ema 25]

I need some advice on buying the plane ticket to be at the interview.

Did you just buy a one way ticket and then buy 2 one way tickets back to the US? I have heard that you can't get into the Philippines with a one way ticket.

So if that's the case should I buy a round trip and book the return about 2 weeks after the interview?

Will I have any trouble getting Ema a ticket on the same flight?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Caryh 5,206]

In some cases the two way ticket won't be any cheaper than a one way. Sometimes the one way can even be more. Usually depends on how close to the travel date you buy them.

This is when booking through a real live travel agent can be helpful. They can set up a one way ticket to work with your round trip at the same time. I would make sure those tickets can be changed either free, or for a low cost. Some of the online tickets, if you need to change the date you can't or pay a huge fee to do so. You could open two different web browsers, and coordinate your ticket purchase at the same time. But often when buying online, its hard to find out what the reschedule cost is until after you have the ticket purchased.

[Hank_ 9,174]

I wouldn't book anything that close, 2 weeks after the interview can be "iffy" for actually having the visa in hand. Embassy states up to 7-10 days for delivery AFTER issuance, and the interview is not issuance.

Embassy flat out warns you not to make travel arrangements until visa is in hand.

With that said when I booked our flights (mine round trip) I had to call the airlines to get my wife's ticket done with mine. (But then we didn't fly to the States until almost 2 months after the interview)

[Greenbaum 12,259]

From experience, I would not book the flight for her till you have the visa in her hands. My experience is that it took almost 6 weeks to clear a 221G that came out of our interview and I followed the rule "don't book till the visa is hand". Saved me money by not doing so.

Good luck