Manila Embassy Interview/Visa Status

[Mike_Marivic 0]

Card Production Ordered!!!

(Please see my signature for my timeline)

No Interview, No TD shot, No I693-A just form 3025 from St. Luke's

Thanks God!!!

Good luck to those who are waiting for their approval and those who have upcoming interview PW, Ate Lucy and others.

Congratulations gracy and skeeter.

Been happily working for quite sometime now and lovin it...

Life's so good!

Enjoy...

[sunandmoon 450]

Card Production Ordered!!!

(Please see my signature for my timeline)

No Interview, No TD shot, No I693-A just form 3025 from St. Luke's

Thanks God!!!

Good luck to those who are waiting for their approval and those who have upcoming interview PW, Ate Lucy and others.

Congratulations gracy and skeeter.

Been happily working for quite sometime now and lovin it...

Life's so good!

Enjoy...

Congrats

Lucy and son Robin had their AOS interview on Nov 1 and were approved

believe PW has her interview on tuesday Nov 6th. Best of Luck PW. soon it will be time for your two year break from USCIS.

[Mike_Marivic 0]

Oh, Congratulations ate luzy, i guess im not checking on here as much to know the latest been so busy with work. Good luck PW

[gracy_byron 0]

Thank you Marivic and Maria.....

Congrats Ate Luzy and good luck to you Ate Cora

[joemaria 0]

Congratulations Ate Lucy, we're happy for you!!!

[Dean iWait 0]

Preparation for Adjusting to Life in the United States

HOME: Get a youtube.com account so she can watch Filipino shows/soap operas that she likes (if interested). Some folks get the Filipino Channel via cable/Direct TV/Whatever. Oh, you'll have to get deeply involved in showing her around the city and getting her out of the house. As Haole stated, if you have a home computer, be sure to have internet connection along with a webcam and microphone so that she can chat with friends and family back home and everywhere else.

FAMILY: If she has a Smart or Globe account, tell her to keep it active and check whether her family can eload her account. That way they can text her cheaply. Consider getting an international text package with your local carrier or do a cost analysis on having that versus loading the Smart or Globe account. In addition, if your family is close by, try to keep them engaged in communicating and social events with your wife.

COUPLES: Check here on VJ to see if any couples live in your area so that the wives can mingle and hopefully develope friendships. She might be shy about this so you will have to take the lead and make it happen.

HEALTH: Work out together. Talk walks together. Potentially obtain a gym membership for her or the both of you. If she likes intramual sports, check with the local parks and recreational centers for listings.

SHOPPING: Consider finding an Asian Market where she can gather known ingredients for those awesome Filipino dishes. Also consider finding some Filipino Restuarants in your area (if any exists).

SCHOOL: Another idea is for her to enroll in ESL classes, tech school, nursing school, or whatever (if she is interested).

VOLUNTEER: You might consider checking out volunteer work for her (if she is interested) at the hospital, library, schools, YMCA, and etc (well this is at least until she is able to work).

CLIMATE: Besides the summer months, the US is considerably colder than the Phil so consider purchasing some warmer clothes and shoes before or immediately after arriving in the US.

Cheers!!!

Sheriff Uling

p.s. - If you can think of anything else to add, please let me know because I want to include this as a "oh by the way" item at the conclusion of the guide.

We use chikka.com so she can text home for free and they can reply for 2.5 pesos

Sheryl met a local Filipina through her Friendster and was invited to a party for her daughter. From there she met a bunch of other Filipinas. They are all great friends now. I would encourage any Filipinas to use your friendster to meet local Filipinas. It's really been great for Sheryl to have so many friends from back home.

Edited November 6, 2007 by Dean iWait

[Roserick 0]

We use chikka.com so she can text home for free and they can reply for 2.5 pesos

Or you can buy another cell phone and buy a Roaming SIM from the Philippines and bring it here in the US. So you can text for free via chikka and families in the Philippines reply 1 pesos per txt or sometimes free if they have unlimited.

[Skeeter211 2]

Mirasol got her Green Card in the mail yesterday, 11/5/07....Woooowhoooo!!! We are both very happy and relieved it's over for another two years.

Congrats Mike and Marivic and all others recently approved for Visa or AOS. Good luck to those with interviews still pending. Take care and thank you to all that helped us along the way.

Scott and Mirasol

[Pinay Wife 47]

Congrats to all who got approved on AOS and to those who have received their green card or waiting for delivery in the mail.

I am happy to report that we also got approved yesterday. We were interviewed by a very young Vietnamese-American lady officer. We were swore in before we were asked to sit down and it was easy conversation after that. She just confirmed some of the info we typed in our I-485 and G-325. She asked how we met, where we got married, where Doug works, our birthdates etc. She also asked how many children I have, asked my son if he has kids(!), if he goes to school, how he finds school so far, etc. etc.

For documents she just asked, "what do you have for me?" I handed her a copy of our marriage certificate, wedding photos and photos of us here in the US, joint bank account statement, joint credit card statement, house inspection report (with both our names on it), health insurance and Doug's employment letter. She just received whatever I gave her. She did not ask for a new I-864 although we prepared one. She asked were we got married (Las Vegas), when (7-07-07), etc. etc. and we had fun talking about Las Vegas weddings, with Elvis Presley on the sidelines. She was very interested in our photos and she said that she also looked at some of our photos from the petition paperwork.

The officer commented that we have a neat pile of paperwork and Doug said that I am a very organized person because I was an executive assistant/secretary back in the Philippines. The officer said maybe I can apply for a job with them. Hmmm, I'll have to think about it hehe . Seattle is two hours away from where we live and Doug has a good job here.

I believe we were inside the interview room for 25-30 minutes. We were called promptly at our appointed time of 10:00 am and were back in our car at 10:40.

It was a good experience overall.

I'll try to post here everyday to keep our Manila thread alive and kicking.

[fish 0]

Way to go PW, congratulations!

[sunandmoon 450]

Congrats PW. enojoy the time off from USCIS.

[David-and-Mae 15]

Congrats PW! Yeah, maybe you should work with USCIS and then you'll specifically handle applicants who came from the Philippines? That would be nice, wouldn't it? Hehehe...

--Mae

[Pinay Wife 47]

Maraming salamat po! We're free from the USCIS for 21 months. Yiiipppeeeeeee!!!!!

Oo nga, Mae. It would be nice to work for them but I think for federal positions, especially the DHS/USCIS, one has to be a US citizen. Doug prefers for me to have a home-based job (takot nya lang maligawan ako sa ofis hihihi ) .

So in the meantime, back to my home-based job, that of being a "maid" of honor! Haaaay..... back to my labada.....

[jazzy 0]

Maraming salamat po! We're free from the USCIS for 21 months. Yiiipppeeeeeee!!!!!

Oo nga, Mae. It would be nice to work for them but I think for federal positions, especially the DHS/USCIS, one has to be a US citizen. Doug prefers for me to have a home-based job (takot nya lang maligawan ako sa ofis hihihi ) .

So in the meantime, back to my home-based job, that of being a "maid" of honor! Haaaay..... back to my labada.....

helllooooooooo to all the old VJ member here!

hi Cor...CONGRATS !....just wanna drop a message to say heeeelloooooooo to all the people here..(nagparamdam lang naman na we're still kicking...i read vj everyday but no more time to say hi or post....lol....just an update i am working for almost 2 months now... as an inventory specialist in one of the biggest auto parts in the u.s. my job assignment is very interesting and my co-employees are very cool and nice to me ....lots of guys in my work looking for a filipina wife...lol..hahhahahaha..coz they said we are pretty!....about federal positions we're thinking of that too...but todd said for now... i need to concentrate in a private company first... maybe after 2 years... i will take civil service exam here and i could apply for a federal job too.... i got envy with him sometimes about pay check..lol..hahahhaah..coz he's working in the state job and the salary and benefits are great...soooo i think I need to continue dreaming for now....lol..

jazzy

[Sheriff Uling 3]

CONGRATS Ate Cora! How many people get approved with a job offer... Really... Hehehehe!!!