Name change after marriage and I-130 application

[Hank_ 9,174]

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.

Why bother changing the address on your marriage certificate??? For sure don't bother.

P1000 .... yikes!! Ya a chance for some easy money....

You will need a CENOMAR from PSA for the interview.

[jg121783 3,909]

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??????

Yeah it seems like on my second trip to the Philippines I had more people attempting to rip me off because I was an American and must be rich. I can assure everyone I am far from rich lol. It takes me 3 or more months of basically living at work just to afford one trip to the Philippines and it kind of annoys me when people think I have a lot of money hahaha. I wouldn't be supprised if the 1000p per letter/number change fee was an American only fee. I am having fun dealing with the first buerocracy (the Philippines). I can't wait to see how much fun the second one will be.

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.

It was the church that made the error and not the LCR in our case. Still the fees and the wait time are unacceptable. I was so caught up in everything going on in the wedding ceremony that I didnt see the error when we signed the certificates. My wife caught it when she finally got a copy of the certificate so it is partially my fault for not seeing it right away.

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.

It did appear that the church typed the certificate on a type writter. However the town we got married in (a town over from where my wife lives) has what appears to be a very organized city hall. I went there a couple times with my wife before I came back home and it looked like everything was organized an computerized. It was in a modern looking air conditioned building. Pretty much like any city hall in most US cities to be honest. Seems like this town has a lot of people with money living there. I took my wife to a nice resturaunt for her birthday in this town and it was strange because you didnt see very many jeeps or tricycles only nicer cars in that part of town. We felt out of place pulling up to the resturaunt in a tricycle hahaha. To contast that the city hall in her town isnt real bad but they have less computers and no air conditioning and seem a little less organized.

Why bother changing the address on your marriage certificate??? For sure don't bother.

P1000 .... yikes!! Ya a chance for some easy money....

You will need a CENOMAR from PSA for the interview.

I had a feeling it wouldn't be an issue but just wanted to ask to make sure because you never know with the US government. So I will just leave it how it is and hope for the NSO/PSA certificate April 20th like my wife was told at the LCR. My goal is to have everything together and ready to mail before then and just stick the marriage certificate in the package and mail it out right away. I am sure I will have a few more questions regarding the I-130 in the next few weeks as I put everything together.

As far as the CENOMAR goes can she use the same one she used to get the marriage license or does it have to be an updated one?

[Hank_ 9,174]

Yeah it seems like on my second trip to the Philippines I had more people attempting to rip me off because I was an American and must be rich. I can assure everyone I am far from rich lol. It takes me 3 or more months of basically living at work just to afford one trip to the Philippines and it kind of annoys me when people think I have a lot of money hahaha. I wouldn't be supprised if the 1000p per letter/number change fee was an American only fee. I am having fun dealing with the first buerocracy (the Philippines). I can't wait to see how much fun the second one will be.

It was the church that made the error and not the LCR in our case. Still the fees and the wait time are unacceptable. I was so caught up in everything going on in the wedding ceremony that I didnt see the error when we signed the certificates. My wife caught it when she finally got a copy of the certificate so it is partially my fault for not seeing it right away.

It did appear that the church typed the certificate on a type writter. However the town we got married in (a town over from where my wife lives) has what appears to be a very organized city hall. I went there a couple times with my wife before I came back home and it looked like everything was organized an computerized. It was in a modern looking air conditioned building. Pretty much like any city hall in most US cities to be honest. Seems like this town has a lot of people with money living there. I took my wife to a nice resturaunt for her birthday in this town and it was strange because you didnt see very many jeeps or tricycles only nicer cars in that part of town. We felt out of place pulling up to the resturaunt in a tricycle hahaha. To contast that the city hall in her town isnt real bad but they have less computers and no air conditioning and seem a little less organized.

I had a feeling it wouldn't be an issue but just wanted to ask to make sure because you never know with the US government. So I will just leave it how it is and hope for the NSO/PSA certificate April 20th like my wife was told at the LCR. My goal is to have everything together and ready to mail before then and just stick the marriage certificate in the package and mail it out right away. I am sure I will have a few more questions regarding the I-130 in the next few weeks as I put everything together.

As far as the CENOMAR goes can she use the same one she used to get the marriage license or does it have to be an updated one?

Old CENOMAR shows your wife to be single. Needs to request a new CENOMAR, once married PSA will then issue a CEMAR ... don't think on that too much, just need a new one

[jg121783 3,909]

My wife and I were discussing the other day what she would do if her visa is approved before my step son finishes his next year of school. If it is somhow approved a few months before he finishes she wants to leave him with her sister so he can finish his school and come here as soon as possible. What we are wondering is how soon after she comes to the US can she go back to the Philippines and be able to come back to the US a few weeks later? The plan would be for my wife and I to fly back to the Philippines for a couple weeks and bring my step son back with us after he finishes shool. Is this possible or does my wife need to stay in the US for a certain period of time?.Maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves here beause no one knows how long the process will take but we are just trying to plan ahead.

As far as my I-130 goes I did some work on it over the last week and as far as I an tell all I need to add are some pictures (already printed a bunch of pictures on 8.5 x 11 photo paper of the wedding), a letter explaining our relationship and the NSO/PSA marriage certificate. As far as evidence of a bona fide relationship goes I have 3 affidavits notarized and signed by members of my wife's family stating how they know me and what they know about our relationship and about 20 pages of money transfer reciept copies in addition of about 20 8.5 x 11 photo pages (8 pictures on each page) I will be adding. Will all this be enough? I don't think I should bother with Skype logs like some people do because it only goes back 3 months and we don't chat very much on Skype anyways (just video call). As far as my step son goes will a letter and a few pages of pictures with us together be adequate? One other question. I made photocopies of my wife and step son's birth certificates and they were bigger than 8.5 x 11 so I used a computer to scale them down to fit. Is this acceptable? I am assuming black and white copies are okay. Am I wrong?

Edited March 19, 2016 by jg121783

[Brassballs 47]

My wife and I were discussing the other day what she would do if her visa is approved before my step son finishes his next year of school. If it is somhow approved a few months before he finishes she wants to leave him with her sister so he can finish his school and come here as soon as possible. What we are wondering is how soon after she comes to the US can she go back to the Philippines and be able to come back to the US a few weeks later? AFAIK she needs her GC to re-enter the US (Hank?). I don't know if her initial POE PP stamp would authorize multiple additional entries or not.

The plan would be for my wife and I to fly back to the Philippines for a couple weeks and bring my step son back with us after he finishes shool. Is this possible or does my wife need to stay in the US for a certain period of time?.Maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves here beause no one knows how long the process will take but we are just trying to plan ahead.

If I was in your shoes and having gone through this similar scenario recently I suggest chilling for additional time until the school year is over and keep the travel costs to a minimum and spend that on your new family instead of tickets. Just for rough planning say each ticket costs $1000 regardless if it one way or RT. You'd save ~$2000 if you wait a longer period. Decision you and asawa will have to make if that time comes and decide if that additional time of 'apartness' is worth it.

As far as my I-130 goes I did some work on it over the last week and as far as I an tell all I need to add are some pictures (already printed a bunch of pictures on 8.5 x 11 photo paper of the wedding), Hang these on your wall and reprint on bond. USCIS, NVC, USEM really doesn't care about the resolution of the pix. People here in the past have sent in BW copies of color pix without issues.

a letter explaining our relationship and the NSO/PSA marriage certificate. As far as evidence of a bona fide relationship goes I have 3 affidavits notarized and signed by members of my wife's family stating how they know me and what they know about our relationship Never heard of this supporting 'evidence' (Hank / Greenbaum) but certainly couldn't hurt.

and about 20 pages of money transfer reciept copies Overkill. I would think that 4-5 showing support over a span of time would be sufficient. Just my opinion.

in addition of about 20 8.5 x 11 photo pages (8 pictures on each page) I will be adding. Again if these are glossies, keep them for Lisa to scrapbook later and send them on copy paper.

Will all this be enough? Sounds like a reasonable front-loaded ap. Consider sending plane tix to show dates of travel.

I don't think I should bother with Skype logs like some people do because it only goes back 3 months and we don't chat very much on Skype anyways (just video call). As far as my step son goes will a letter and a few pages of pictures with us together be adequate? Yes. If you show Lisa and his blood relationship by birth certs. they will come as a package deal, haha.

One other question. I made photocopies of my wife and step son's birth certificates and they were bigger than 8.5 x 11 so I used a computer to scale them down to fit. Is this acceptable? I am assuming black and white copies are okay. Am I wrong? NSO/PSA is all printed on Euro size paper. Shrink to fit B/W is fine. Make sure Lisa has originals to take to the USEM interview of these as well as other gov docs.

[Hank_ 9,174]

My wife and I were discussing the other day what she would do if her visa is approved before my step son finishes his next year of school. If it is somhow approved a few months before he finishes she wants to leave him with her sister so he can finish his school and come here as soon as possible. What we are wondering is how soon after she comes to the US can she go back to the Philippines and be able to come back to the US a few weeks later? The plan would be for my wife and I to fly back to the Philippines for a couple weeks and bring my step son back with us after he finishes shool. Is this possible or does my wife need to stay in the US for a certain period of time?.Maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves here beause no one knows how long the process will take but we are just trying to plan ahead.

As far as my I-130 goes I did some work on it over the last week and as far as I an tell all I need to add are some pictures (already printed a bunch of pictures on 8.5 x 11 photo paper of the wedding), a letter explaining our relationship and the NSO/PSA marriage certificate. As far as evidence of a bona fide relationship goes I have 3 affidavits notarized and signed by members of my wife's family stating how they know me and what they know about our relationship and about 20 pages of money transfer reciept copies in addition of about 20 8.5 x 11 photo pages (8 pictures on each page) I will be adding. Will all this be enough? I don't think I should bother with Skype logs like some people do because it only goes back 3 months and we don't chat very much on Skype anyways (just video call). As far as my step son goes will a letter and a few pages of pictures with us together be adequate? One other question. I made photocopies of my wife and step son's birth certificates and they were bigger than 8.5 x 11 so I used a computer to scale them down to fit. Is this acceptable? I am assuming black and white copies are okay. Am I wrong?

As for how soon after your wife arrives can she exit the States without issue - IF you pay the ELIS fee ($165) before she enters the USA, I have read of the green card arriving 4-6 weeks (approximately) after she enters POE.

BrassBalls answered most of your questions. Here is a link to the guides

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

[jg121783 3,909]

As far as a relationship letter goes by reading various posts on this website it looks like there are two ways to go. One way is to write a letter with a timeline of your relationship. The other way I found is making an affidavit with basically the same information. I found this sample affidavit (the one on the bottom of the page is what I based the affidavits off of that I had my wife's relatives sign that I mentioned earlier). Is it fine to just write a letter or is it better to do an affidavit?

As far as my step son's application should I just write a letter (or perhaps an affidavit) explaining he is the son of my wife and throw in a few pages of pictures with us together and call it good? Is there anything more I should add?

[Brassballs 47]

As far as a relationship letter goes by reading various posts on this website it looks like there are two ways to go. One way is to write a letter with a timeline of your relationship. The other way I found is making an affidavit with basically the same information. I found this sample affidavit (the one on the bottom of the page is what I based the affidavits off of that I had my wife's relatives sign that I mentioned earlier). Is it fine to just write a letter or is it better to do an affidavit?

Letter is more personal than a formal notarized affidavit and is probably what 99.9% of filers including myself use.

As far as my step son's application should I just write a letter (or perhaps an affidavit) explaining he is the son of my wife and throw in a few pages of pictures with us together and call it good? Is there anything more I should add?

That's what I did for my step-daughter. As I may have mentioned earlier if you establish a mother - son relationship and file everything at the same time USCIS/NVC/USEM will ultimately treat both as one.

[jg121783 3,909]

My wife finally got the PSA marriage certificate today (10 days sooner than expected supprisingly) and sent me a scanned copy.. I would like to get everything I need together and mail out my wife and step son's I-130 today or tomorrow. I just have a few things to add and they should be ready to go. Here is what I have for both petitions (listed in the order everything is in):

Wife:

-cover letter/table of contents

-G-1145

-I-130

-money order

-G-325a and passport photo (me)

-G-325a and passport photo (wife)

-copy of my birth certificate and passport ID and visa stamp pages

-PSA marriage certificate

-copy of wife's birth certificate

proof of bona fide relationship:

-Letter outlining our relationship (will type that up today)

-photographs

-money transfer reciepts

-affidavits from my wife's relatives

step son:

-cover letter/table of contents

-G-1145

-I-130

-money order

-G-325a and passport photo (me)

-G-325a and passport photo (wife)

-copy of my birth certificate and passport ID and visa stamp pages

-PSA marriage certificate

-copy of step son's birth certificate

proof of bona fide relationship:

-Letter outlining our relationship (will type that up today)

-photographs

Is there anything else I should add? Is that the right order for everything or does it even matter? I did figure out the other day how to go back about a year on Skype chat logs (thought you could only go back 90 days). Should I bother to spend the time going through all the logs and picking parts out to print off or will I be okay without it? I plan on fastening each petition together with paper clamps then attaching certian sections such as the pictures together with paper clips. Is this a good way to do it? Also should I mail both petitions in the same envelope? I am sure I will come up with more questions before i am finished but that is all I have for now.