I-129F June, Part II

[George & Roth 1,485]

53 minutes ago, Love Found said:

We just got the letter haha...

Dec 7

Hi, to confirm was it:

1) You meant to type January 7th

2) You received the letter close to December 7th and just updated on this forum now

3) The letter was from December 7th and you did not receive it until now, meaning it was not mailed or stuck in the mail

 

I thought it was #1 but please do let us know, thank and congrats!

[Alexg89 105]

49 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

I finally went that route.  I called and faxed and emailed my Congressman, Mike Quigley.  They even have a spot on their site to help deal with Government Agencies.  

I was thinking about asking my fiancé to contact his congressman too, but I read in his website he can’t do much if the petition is within processing times. I’m June 8, do you think I should try? When would I be out of processing time? Thanks in advance 

Edited January 10, 2018 by Alexg89

[Matt&Savannah 67]

4 minutes ago, Britanee7 said:

I would love to do this but im nervous to do it.

I have my house here which i am renting out and keeping anyway. But im scared as when you go into the US will they ask where your return flight is and question you alot?

Yeh I worried about entering the US but I've looked into it and as long as I have a Return flight then It wont set off any alarms.. Perfectly reasonable to visit your fiance if you think about it . As long as you only stay for the approved amount of time with a plan to return home how can they prevent you from doing so.

[Tony and Tillie 340]

1 hour ago, John & Rose said:

It is getting tougher to stay very positive.  We are doing our best but last night we had to discuss if we should pay the kids tuition for next school year.  They start in June and there is a very good chance that they will not be here by then.  So not only do I need to figure out if I will visit now, visit for the interview and trip home or pay their tuition for the next school year.  It is due in June and it is a one time payment.  

Just a suggestion. You and/or Rose may want to check with the school's administration office. Most schools here in the Philippines accept partial payments on tuition fees. It usually depends on the grading period that the school follows. If it's per semester, you pay tuition at the start of every semester. If it's quarterly, you pay tuition at the start of every quarter.

[Britanee7 49]

Just now, Matt&Savannah said:

Yeh I worried about entering the US but I've looked into it and as long as I have a Return flight then It wont set off any alarms.. Perfectly reasonable to visit your fiance if you think about it . As long as you only stay for the approved amount of time with a plan to return home how can they prevent you from doing so.

yeah i hzave visited numerous times without an issue but when are you booking your return for? Are you just booking one for 3 months time? I wish i could. I really dont know what to do i am lost without them

[George & Roth 1,485]

Just now, Tony and Tillie said:

Just a suggestion. You and/or Rose may want to check with the school's administration office. Most schools here in the Philippines accept partial payments on tuition fees. It usually depends on the grading period that the school follows. If it's per semester, you pay tuition at the start of every semester. If it's quarterly, you pay tuition at the start of every quarter.

Yes, I was going to suggest this a well. 

 

I know the Preschool in Cambodia would accept monthly payments from me but that is a bit of a family oriented school, perhaps you can work out a quarterly payment with their school in the Philippines 

[Matt&Savannah 67]

Just now, Britanee7 said:

yeah i hzave visited numerous times without an issue but when are you booking your return for? Are you just booking one for 3 months time? I wish i could. I really dont know what to do i am lost without them

Essentially yes but I'm thinking 2 months would be okay, then hopefully visa process will have moved on abit. So bored of worrying about it when the USCIS clearly don't!

[Britanee7 49]

1 minute ago, Matt&Savannah said:

Essentially yes but I'm thinking 2 months would be okay, then hopefully visa process will have moved on abit. So bored of worrying about it when the USCIS clearly don't!

Yeah I completely agree. If you don’t mind me asking what will you do for money or do you have savings? I would do it but don’t want to use my fiancé’s money or dip into my savings as we have a wedding and house to pay for as do all of you? Sorry I’ve thought about this so many times 

[John & Rose 7,239]

11 minutes ago, Alexg89 said:

I was thinking about asking my fiancé to contact his congressman too, but I read in his website he can’t do much if the petition is within processing times. I’m June 8, do you think I should try? When would I be out of processing time? Thanks in advance 

Yes.  Give it a shot.  I actually talked more about the 8 week delay for sending the approved petitions to NVC and the fact that I dont know if they lost the petition since there has been no update.

[George & Roth 1,485]

44 minutes ago, vocaledge said:

For example: It has been shown that if you get the right Tier 2 representative, your time to NVC CAN be shortened - once you get approval, call every day until you get the right one.  NVC is much more helpful.  Call ever day once they have your case until you get that representative who will assign your case number whilst you are on the phone (again, this forum has proven that can happen)...

Once you get to Manila, of course I dont know the process there, and I do know its one of the busiest, but you are prepared and I fully believe that you and Rose can call every day to try to find cancellations for the medical, and get into the embassy as quickly as you possibly can.

4

I am having a tough time with the 1st part of shortening time to NVC, I'll keep calling them though and update here on VJ. I believe you need to get the right person on the phone and I have not been able to. 

 

For the second part that is where I think people can definitely shorten the time, including Manila. I have heard in Manila you can be on the lookout on the embassy/consulate appointment booking calendar online and find some appointments that come available within weeks (due to cancellations/rescheduling). 

 

For both I'll be keeping this site up to date. 

[John & Rose 7,239]

13 minutes ago, Tony and Tillie said:

Just a suggestion. You and/or Rose may want to check with the school's administration office. Most schools here in the Philippines accept partial payments on tuition fees. It usually depends on the grading period that the school follows. If it's per semester, you pay tuition at the start of every semester. If it's quarterly, you pay tuition at the start of every quarter.

Thanks.  I will check into that.  I know last year was a single payment in full.  It is Pateros Catholic School.  I believe it is private and pretty strict with the payments.

[Matt&Savannah 67]

Just now, Britanee7 said:

Yeah I completely agree. If you don’t mind me asking what will you do for money or do you have savings? I would do it but don’t want to use my fiancé’s money or dip into my savings as we have a wedding and house to pay for as do all of you? Sorry I’ve thought about this so many times 

Not a problem! I came back to England in August and as I said was only planning on being back until end of December. I just got the first job I could, supervisor in a coffee shop. I'm living with my parents whilst im back so I haven't had much money out going and have saved every penny I could. I will be able to live with Savannah in America and she wont have to pay anymore rent so that's not an issue either. As I said when I go back it will be on a shoe string budget but being with her will be enough. We are lucky in that I have quiet a lot of savings (I have always worked and have saved whatever I could) and her dad is paying for the wedding which means we don't have that to save for. I guess you should just look at your finances closely and try and roughly plan what it would cost you if you did decided to quit your job and move out there for a few months. Made sense to me because as i said i have always saved my money for 'a rainy day' and as things stand days dont come much rainier than this 

[John & Rose 7,239]

51 minutes ago, vocaledge said:

John.  I dont talk to you very much but I do want to say this to you.

Stay strong.  June would be an extremely unlikely scenario, and no matter how you feel right now, I believe that to be the case.
I also have seen your estimated timeline, and whilst I think its probably 'realistic', I still think its a little on the pessimistic side, and there are cracks that you can exploit if you choose to do so, its all down to how much effort you want to put in.

For example: It has been shown that if you get the right Tier 2 representative, your time to NVC CAN be shortened - once you get approval, call every day until you get the right one.  NVC is much more helpful.  Call ever day once they have your case until you get that representative who will assign your case number whilst you are on the phone (again, this forum has proven that can happen)...

Once you get to Manila, of course I dont know the process there, and I do know its one of the busiest, but you are prepared and I fully believe that you and Rose can call every day to try to find cancellations for the medical, and get into the embassy as quickly as you possibly can.

The moral of my post is this:  Stay strong and don't lose faith... I may be a guy who doesn't particularly get along with you, and I may be overly positive sometimes, but do you know why?  I have faith in YOU.  Not God, not USCIS... YOU. Thats all you need, a little faith in your own strength and your own perseverance, and your own ability to make this work.  May today bring good news, and if not, soon, so that you can move on to parts of this process where you can exert a little more control.

Thank you sir.  I am doing all I can think of doing.  I got the congressman involved and I am really hoping to cut the wait time for USCIS to send the file to NVC.  That is the real killer here.  6 to 8 weeks of just sitting and waiting because they won't forward the file.  If I can cut time there I am pretty confident with the NVC time and while Manila is busy, there are also cancelations.  It just means we will check everyday for openings.  Rose lives close enough that she can get to the Embassy in about an hour.  

 

You are correct, I am using a somewhat pessimistic timeline but with my experience here, that pessimistic mat turn optimistic at some point.  The whole 160 to 180 discussions taught me a great deal.  Those really didn't need to escalate like they did.  I'm at 218 and as of yesterday I was told I haven't been assigned.  I dont necessarily believe them and I am trying to stay as strong as possible.

 

Thank you for the thoughts.  I really wish you and your partner an easy ride through the rest of this gauntlet.  We all really appreciate all that you do for us and we wish you a great peaceful and loving life.

[John & Rose 7,239]

23 minutes ago, George & Roth said:

Yes, I was going to suggest this a well. 

 

I know the Preschool in Cambodia would accept monthly payments from me but that is a bit of a family oriented school, perhaps you can work out a quarterly payment with their school in the Philippines 

I will certainly give it a try.  Right now it is so sad that we even have to think about it!

[Tony and Tillie 340]

6 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

Thanks.  I will check into that.  I know last year was a single payment in full.  It is Pateros Catholic School.  I believe it is private and pretty strict with the payments.

It's still good to check. I studied in a private school too, from preschool to college. Both the college (Stella Maris College) and university (University of Santo Tomas) I went to accepted partial payments on tuition fees and they did not even require a deposit.