visa approved! (just wanna share the issues I had before and whether or not it affected the process)

[jannapalmer 10]

So I just finished my interview today and thought I would share with you guys a glimpse of the experience.

Step1a: Data entry/review

Step1b: Fingerscanning
Step2: Pre-screening
Step3: Oath-taking
Step4: Interview with an American consul

That's it! When we got approved the consul said we're free to go home if we have no further questions. Since we already registered a delivery address online, and you also fill up that part on the DS-260, there's no more step 5.


We got there at 7:30 and we're done by 10am. So it took us about 2 1/2 hours all in all.

Issues (I got paranoid about in the past):

1. Inconsistencies of name - Didn't matter. The prescreener or american CO didn't care that my passport is in my maiden name while the petition and DS-260 used my married name. No need to update passport.

2. Different signatures - yeah..coz I got so eager to sign in my married name already I forgot my passport bears my old signature and I signed with my "married" signature in all the forms I had to fill up. BUT, it didn't matter. They hardly paid attention to it.

3. NBI Clearance - I gave one that has no AKA, just with my maiden name and husband surname. Doesn't matter. They still accepted it. I guess it only matters when you have been married before. And it also doesn't matter whether you put "Travel Abroad" or "Visa USA", both acceptable.

4. Birth Certificate - I was worried that whether NSO or PSA stamp would make a difference. Nope, not really.

5. CENOMAR - My advisory on marriages (CENOMAR) said "For passport/travel" instead of "Visa Purposes". Again, it didn't matter. They saw a yellow form and that's it. They didn't really looked into the details as much.

Last but not the least,

6. Form i-864 (original vs. scanned) - I brought scanned forms sent by my joint sponsor. They still accepted it. They just asked if the signature is original. I said yes, it's original, my sponsor really did sign it even though it's a scanned copy. I don't know how that made sense but they didn't ask any more questions and accepted it.

At the end of the day, our visa got approved! Maybe we just got lucky. Or maybe over-preparation paid off. I guess as long as you have all documents they could possibly ask for, you're good. Especially all original ones - BC, MC, CENOMAR, NBI.

[Anitafeliz 1,133]

Congratulations ??????

[jannapalmer 10]

Thank you!!

[MASH 172]

Wow in a month and 8 days 0-0 CONGRATS

[jannapalmer 10]

Yeah.. thank you!

[jk_0704 0]

Congrats! ??

Congrats! ??

[AP&AD 8]

Congrats! I think I saw you guys earlier, we also had our interview today.

[jannapalmer 10]

Really? Are you the couple behind us in line? What were you wearing then? I was wearing white and my husband blue polo, he he

[AP&AD 8]

I was wearing black, he was wearing a dark blue polo shirt

The whole thing was a lot faster than I expected, we thought we'd be waiting a really long time. I think Step 2B was the longest wait for us (which wasn't so bad).

[jannapalmer 10]

Yeah, everything went fast right? I personally think American consuls are more friendly and less intimidating than the Filipinos

[Hank_ 9,174]

So I just finished my interview today and thought I would share with you guys a glimpse of the experience.

Step1a: Data entry/review

Step1b: Fingerscanning

Step2: Pre-screening

Step3: Oath-taking

Step4: Interview with an American consul

That's it! When we got approved the consul said we're free to go home if we have no further questions. Since we already registered a delivery address online, and you also fill up that part on the DS-260, there's no more step 5.

We got there at 7:30 and we're done by 10am. So it took us about 2 1/2 hours all in all.

Issues (I got paranoid about in the past):

1. Inconsistencies of name - Didn't matter. The prescreener or american CO didn't care that my passport is in my maiden name while the petition and DS-260 used my married name. No need to update passport.

2. Different signatures - yeah..coz I got so eager to sign in my married name already I forgot my passport bears my old signature and I signed with my "married" signature in all the forms I had to fill up. BUT, it didn't matter. They hardly paid attention to it.

3. NBI Clearance - I gave one that has no AKA, just with my maiden name and husband surname. Doesn't matter. They still accepted it. I guess it only matters when you have been married before. And it also doesn't matter whether you put "Travel Abroad" or "Visa USA", both acceptable.

4. Birth Certificate - I was worried that whether NSO or PSA stamp would make a difference. Nope, not really.

5. CENOMAR - My advisory on marriages (CENOMAR) said "For passport/travel" instead of "Visa Purposes". Again, it didn't matter. They saw a yellow form and that's it. They didn't really looked into the details as much.

Last but not the least,

6. Form i-864 (original vs. scanned) - I brought scanned forms sent by my joint sponsor. They still accepted it. They just asked if the signature is original. I said yes, it's original, my sponsor really did sign it even though it's a scanned copy. I don't know how that made sense but they didn't ask any more questions and accepted it.

At the end of the day, our visa got approved! Maybe we just got lucky. Or maybe over-preparation paid off. I guess as long as you have all documents they could possibly ask for, you're good. Especially all original ones - BC, MC, CENOMAR, NBI.

Original signature means - NOT a copy of the signed document.

[jannapalmer 10]

Yup. I was gonna update this post as I thought about it, I wouldn't encourage people to do the same thing I did. They do need to submit original copies with original signature on Form I-864. It was out of sheer luck I got away with it.

[milimelo 4,477]

The visa and the green card will be in the maiden name as in the passport.

[jannapalmer 10]

Yup I know that as I decided not to update my passport yet to use my married name, and all the forms follow the passport details.

[eiram 0]

Hi! Ms.jannapalmer congratulations on your visa approval! And Thank you for sharing your experience I also have the same thought and bothering me about my passport I still used my maiden name on my passport,y interview is on June 9 , so it doesn't matter if it's on maiden or married name?