Name change after marriage and I-130 application

[Hank_ 9,174]

Well i just got home from the airport a few hours ago and I called my wife. She was looking over a copy of the g325a I sent left again and she noticed a mistake. Under the address of one of her employers the employers first name is supposed to start with a "m" at the beginning and we have it with an "n". How far do they actually look into past employers and will it be an issue if we leave it as it is? If we have to change it that will require her Fedexing me a new signed copy and I would imagine that would be expensive. I will do it if I have to but I would rather not spend the extra money if it's not a big issue. What do you guys think? Anyways I am really jet lagged from my flight home so I'm going to bed now.

Personally I wouldn't worry on it

[Brassballs 47]

USEM has better things to do than send men out in trench coats and dark glasses to check on previous employment of the 2-300 visa aps a day.

Don't be concerned. If required address it later if it comes up. Doubt that it will.

Welcome back to the frigid north.

[jg121783 3,909]

Welcome back to the frigid north.

It was a bit of a shock walking out the door of O'hare airport yesterday. It isn't even that cold (mid 30s) and I was freezing. My friend asked me why I was shivering when he picked me up from the airport lol. Might take me a couple days to adjust. I miss the mid 80s of the Philippines.

I will be going back to work today. Going to ask for more time off at the end of this summer so I can go back and visit. Wish me luck. Maybe if I explain how long the visa process will take to my boss he will understand. If not I will wait for my wife to get her visa (guessing probably some time next year) then go and visit for a couple weeks and hopefully fly back with her. As soon as we have the marriage certificate I think I will pretty much be ready to send in the I-130.

[Expat1 971]

I only need additional space on the form if I am typing the answer. Some of the addresses of where my wife lived and worked are too long to type in the fields but will fit if they are written by hand. What I am wondering is if it is okay to type the rest of the form and leave the fields blank where I can't type the full answer then write only those answers by hand with the rest of it typed. Am I better off just filling out the whole form by hand?

So as far as the I-130 goes I am better off waiting until I have the PSA marriage license before I even send it in?

I typed a word document (titled "Supplement") and attached it to the I130 package / G325A's with the full addresses. Referenced each section and line number. Seemed to work. Everything got approved with no hitches.

[jg121783 3,909]

Well my wife should have the local copy of our marriage certificate today. She called city hall yesterday and it turns out the delay was due to the spelling of her middle name versus the spelling of her mother's middle name. They were just waiting for clarification from my wife on that. They also informed her to expedite the NSO copy it would cost 600p and they said it would take 20 business days. I don't know how accurate that is but if it is accurate that should give me just enough time to earn money for the filing fees (my bank account is drained after our wedding lol). So I am expecting in about a month I will be ready to file the I-130. The only thing I am unsure about is if I should send a copy of my wife's passport (with her name change) or if that is not needed. I have seen people say to send it and other people say it is not needed. It will probably add another month or so to our wait time if it is needed.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Don't need copy of her passport for USICS and the I-130

[Brassballs 47]

Check the cover letters I sent you earlier and the many guides available in this forum and main forum. I'm pretty sure the passport data page is not required until filing the IV with the NVC. But I believe you as petitioner need to provide proof of your citizenship with the I130, birth cert or copy of passport. Double check to make sure.

Re revisit.... You're you and I'm me but you will see the next year will really go by fast even with the various hurdles that will be thrown at you. My suggestion is to save your money for the mid-year trip and have a final blowout pre-departure. Show Lisa the Phils she has not yet seen. Just my suggestion.

[jg121783 3,909]

Check the cover letters I sent you earlier and the many guides available in this forum and main forum. I'm pretty sure the passport data page is not required until filing the IV with the NVC. But I believe you as petitioner need to provide proof of your citizenship with the I130, birth cert or copy of passport. Double check to make sure.

Re revisit.... You're you and I'm me but you will see the next year will really go by fast even with the various hurdles that will be thrown at you. My suggestion is to save your money for the mid-year trip and have a final blowout pre-departure. Show Lisa the Phils she has not yet seen. Just my suggestion.

After doing more reading and the advice of people here I don't think I will worry about her passport. However I made a photocopy of my passport along with a copy of the stamps of the dates I was in the Philippines as proof of the time periods I was there. I don't know how much this will help but it can't hurt I guess. I also have all of my boarding passes for all the flights going there and back except for one that I misplaced that I will make photocopies of.

We were actually just talking on skype and making initial plans based on the assumption the process will take about a year (we are not counting on this though). My step son would be in school until March when their summer break starts so we decided if the visas are approved shortly before then we will wait until March for them to come to the US. At that time I will probably take a 2 week trip to the Philippines and they will fly back with me. We have talked about a few places in the Philippines we want to visit. I was planning on taking her to Boracay island for a couple days after the wedding but things ended up costing more than we thought and there wasn't enough money left. Maybe I will take her on my trip in March (or whenever it is depending on when the visas are approved). As far as the mid year trip goes that is up in the air. I can get away with taking time off after next January because I will have vacation time then. I burned up all my vacation time for this year on my last trip. If I get on my bosses good side and things slow down a little maybe he will be nice enough to give me a couple weeks of unpaid time off. Failing that I will probably be waiting about a year to see my wife and step son again.

[Brassballs 47]

Trust me it will be a short year.

Get input from Lisa on travel destinations. We did Calaguas (beautiful), Davao (Pearl Farm), Palawan (El Nido, exotic) and north to the Baugio, Banaue, Sagada treks along the rice terraces and water falls.

Never made it to the Visayas and from what I've heard, not that every other place we went wasn't, Boracay is really touristy.

[jg121783 3,909]

My wife just got our local marriage certificate today. She scanned it and sent it to me and I noticed a problem. The person at the church that filled out the information copied my address wrong. The road I live on is highway 175. They put the "HWY" part but left out the "175". The rest of the address is correct. My wife said it is already registered at city hall so I don't know if it can be corrected on the NSO copy or what is involved in that. My question is how big of an issue will this be for the I-130 application? Will whoever is reviewing my application see my correct address on my other documents and realize it is just a typo? If so I don't see a reason to go through the trouble of correcting it. What do you guys think?

[Brassballs 47]

Welcome to the Philippines. What's this the 3rd or 4th 'issue' you've discovered so far????

If the issue ever comes up (it won't) just say you moved from HWY to HWY 175.

[jg121783 3,909]

So my wife went to city hall the other day to find out what we need to do to change my address on the marriage certificate if we decided to do so. They told her it would cost 1000p per letter/number that had to be changed and would take 3 months to complete. At this point I think that is just a waste of time and money. Anyone disagree? Anyways she paid the expedite fee for the NSO copy and they told her she could expect to have it by April 20th (maybe its a good sign they gave her a specific date) so I hope to have the I-130 and money for fees ready to send in immediately when I get a copy of the NSO certificate.

Edited March 7, 2016 by jg121783

[Brassballs 47]

I guess they saw she is married to a 'Kano'. Don't bother changing. People move / change address all the time.

Isn't this fun so far??????

[bellashay 14]

Wow! Php 1000 per number/ letter for their clerical mistake? So ridiculous.

We had an error too on our local civil registrar on my husband's middle name. Instead of "Earl" they typed in "Carl." I caught that part when our wedding officiant was doing the ceremony. I corrected him right away and necessary changes were made on our civil documents without additional fees.

[Brassballs 47]

FWIW when the clerk at the LCR was doing our paperwork she had to MANUALLY type the document 4 times before all the info was correct to our satisfaction. She would correct one error, usually mis-spelling, and then create another in a previously correct section.

Cramped office, papers stacked 2 feet high on the desk, aircon bringing in outside air being blown around by a 10" desk fan with more people milling around than the 'fire marshal', haha should have permitted. Shoulder to shoulder if not closer with everyone talking louder than the next to be heard. What an experience.

There were binder stacked high on bookshelves going back at least 30 years that I could see. And this was in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, not an isolated province.