Need Advice!! K1 Manila Embassy interview dilemna.

[marlon429 0]

Today is February 4, 2017 (Saturday) in the Philippines. My fiancée in the Philippines just informed me this morning that her mother has not yet secured my cenomar. Her mother tried to get one only yesterday (Friday) and was told to pick it up on Wednesday, February 8. My fiancée's interview is on February 6 (Monday) @ 9am!

 

I told my fiancée to just proceed with the interview and receive a 221g since it looks like it'll be impossible to reschedule the interview when 8am is the office hours and her interview is 9am. I checked the US embassy Manila website and the soonest interview date available is Feb. 8 which is also the day when my cenomar will be released.

 

Now my other problem is that I already booked our return flight to the US which is on February 23 at 11pm. Getting my cenomar on February 8 (Wednesday) and sending it to 2GO to the US embassy on the same day, will it be enough time to receive the visa by the 23rd of February?

 

I am so stressed out because her mom offered to her that she will take care of our cenomar's couple of months back and hearing this news got me all stressed out since I already have everything planned out for my 2 weeks trip.  

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by marlon429

[geowrian 22,338]

To be upfront, there were a few significant issues here:

1. While relying on others is fine, the beneficiary is ultimately responsible for the outcome of their own immigration journey. You/Her should have been following up about the CENOMAR, or getting it yourselves long before this would have become a problem.
2. Never book a flight without a visa in hand. Things can change on a dime - AP, bad/lost paperwork or medical results, a certain president's orders, etc.
3. It's possible that the CENOMAR won't be available on the 8th. They may get behind, something can get mixed up, etc. If you're planning to submit your CENOMAR the same day it's issued, you're setting yourself up for failure. Yes, it's possible everything works out just on time. It's also possible it won't.

Moving forward, you have at least 2 additional options:

1. Do the interview as scheduled, and get the 221g. Then submit the CENOMAR once you have it. This may add a a couple weeks to your timeline. Nobody can say for certain if the visa will be issued before the 23rd.
2. Reschedule the interview until after you know you will have the CENOMAR (in a perfect world, just schedule it after getting the CENOMAR). Again, nobody can say for certain if the visa will be issued before the 23rd. However, assuming everything goes fine (a very big assumption!), the timeline is usually a few days to a few weeks to get the visa after a favorable interview. I tend to see more in the 8-12 day range, and I think the official timeline they estimate is 7-10 business days.

Keep in mind that she will still need to get the CFO stamp before she can leave the Philippines.

[marlon429 0]

@geowrian, Thank you for your time and effort, I really appreciate it.

 

1. I do agree that it is the beneficiary's responsibility to take care of the Philippines requirements for the interview. I have been reminding her about the requirements since December last year and on January and has been told that everything has been taken cared of that is why it came as a shock to me when she told me yesterday that the cenomar has not yet been acquired.

 

2. I did/tried to take a calculated risk but some things did not worked out as planned. Feb. 1 was the target date for her interview originally so we'll have ample time until the 24th. Unfortunately, she failed to secure the feb. 1 date because the earliest appointment date jumped from January 30 up to feb. 6 in a day's time. She is fairly healthy and I had all my paperworks ready for her to bring to the embassy which could prevent any unfavorable outcome from the medical exam and interview.

 

3. I agree, we might just take the 221g and I'll ask her to follow up on the cenomar after the interview on Monday onwards, in hopes that it will be released earlier than Wednesday.

 

* I read somewhere here in the forum that you can still attend the CFO seminar even without your visa and just come back once you've received it and they will then stamp your passport.

 

[javadown2 308]

Yes, you can do the CFO before getting your Visa, like you said just stop by and get it stamped after she receives it. Also I'm thinking you will not make the flight because they don't just instantly process the 221g and it will be in AP status until they get to it. And you don't even know how long it will take once they approve your visa for them to process it and then shift it to her. When my fiancée got her CENOMAR she received it the same day she went, but it was an extremely long line, like she got there at 5am and it took most of the day.  

Good luck and I hope it works out for you. Your for sure gambling with buying the ticket ahead of time (you already are aware I know).

[geowrian 22,338]

11 hours ago, marlon429 said:

@geowrian, Thank you for your time and effort, I really appreciate it.

 

1. I do agree that it is the beneficiary's responsibility to take care of the Philippines requirements for the interview. I have been reminding her about the requirements since December last year and on January and has been told that everything has been taken cared of that is why it came as a shock to me when she told me yesterday that the cenomar has not yet been acquired.

 

2. I did/tried to take a calculated risk but some things did not worked out as planned. Feb. 1 was the target date for her interview originally so we'll have ample time until the 24th. Unfortunately, she failed to secure the feb. 1 date because the earliest appointment date jumped from January 30 up to feb. 6 in a day's time. She is fairly healthy and I had all my paperworks ready for her to bring to the embassy which could prevent any unfavorable outcome from the medical exam and interview.

 

3. I agree, we might just take the 221g and I'll ask her to follow up on the cenomar after the interview on Monday onwards, in hopes that it will be released earlier than Wednesday.

 

* I read somewhere here in the forum that you can still attend the CFO seminar even without your visa and just come back once you've received it and they will then stamp your passport.

 

No problem. I wish the circumstances were better, but it is what it is.

 

1) Yeah...my fiance is generally the same way no matter how much I remind her of stuff! Something always pops up much later than I would have liked.

 

2) I know where you're coming from, but again - sometimes things don't go as planned.

 

3) That might be your best bet. As javadown2 noted, AP will add processing time. Trying to reschedule may also result in delays as well. Which one is faster is mostly a gamble IMHO. Keep on them on the cenomar...maybe you'll get lucky. I've seen people get it same-day, and others have it take closer to a week.

 

* Correct. You can attend the seminar before getting the visa, and just get the stamp later.

 

Good luck!

[marlon429 0]

41 minutes ago, javadown2 said:

Yes, you can do the CFO before getting your Visa, like you said just stop by and get it stamped after she receives it. Also I'm thinking you will not make the flight because they don't just instantly process the 221g and it will be in AP status until they get to it. And you don't even know how long it will take once they approve your visa for them to process it and then shift it to her. When my fiancée got her CENOMAR she received it the same day she went, but it was an extremely long line, like she got there at 5am and it took most of the day.  

Good luck and I hope it works out for you. Your for sure gambling with buying the ticket ahead of time (you already are aware I know).

Thank you @javadown2 for your comment. Right now we are just hoping for the best but also preparing for the worst. I am already conditioning my mind that I will be making the return trip alone.

 

It wasn't really that much of a gamble initially. Feb. 1 was our target date for her interview, unfortunately the date jumped from jan. 30 to feb. 6 in a days time. I've been reminding her about all the requirements as early as November and last was on January and was told that everything has been taken cared off. Then I found out that her mom hasn't yet secured the cenomar.

 

If only she had her cenomar with her for tomorrow's interview (feb. 6) then she would likely get approved. If only, then I would have been somewhat confident that her visa will arrive before the 24th of february. Unfortunately now, that's no longer the case.

 

I love her too much though to get mad at her for what happened. I know someday we'll look back at this moment and just laugh about it.

[javadown2 308]

35 minutes ago, marlon429 said:

Thank you @javadown2 for your comment. Right now we are just hoping for the best but also preparing for the worst. I am already conditioning my mind that I will be making the return trip alone.

 

It wasn't really that much of a gamble initially. Feb. 1 was our target date for her interview, unfortunately the date jumped from jan. 30 to feb. 6 in a days time. I've been reminding her about all the requirements as early as November and last was on January and was told that everything has been taken cared off. Then I found out that her mom hasn't yet secured the cenomar.

 

If only she had her cenomar with her for tomorrow's interview (feb. 6) then she would likely get approved. If only, then I would have been somewhat confident that her visa will arrive before the 24th of february. Unfortunately now, that's no longer the case.

 

I love her too much though to get mad at her for what happened. I know someday we'll look back at this moment and just laugh about it.

That is very true, it's not worth it to get upset.  I had thought about buying our tickets before the interview but after reading so many warnings on here I just waited until after her interview (and I did gamble a little buying our tickets before she got her visa in hand, hahah...so I can't scold you too much on this!) But it worked out for us but it was almost 2 months between her interview and when I was flying to pick her up.

 

Anyways, keep us informed and I hope it will work out for you.