Can I use this passport when I visit Philippines?

[Hank_ 9,174]

13 hours ago, John & Rose said:

Hank,

 

Does it make sense for me to do something when my wife and I visit the Philippines in November?  Can I get a BB stamp?

 

Hey John!   Hope all is well with you and Rose.    Quite a journey for you two .. now you want to go back?    

 

When you get in line for immigration processing (the booth) you both stay in the same line.   Then Rose can request the BB stamp for you as you both process through, takes all of 5 seconds.   Whether you are staying for a long period of time or not, its down and dirty simple to get the BB stamp.

 

As for the 30 day visa, right now the automatic 30 visa appears to be in limbo ...

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Hank_

[John & Rose 7,239]

3 hours ago, Hank_ said:

 

Hey John!   Hope all is well with you and Rose.    Quite a journey for you two .. now you want to go back?    

 

When you get in line for immigration processing (the booth) you both stay in the same line.   Then Rose can request the BB stamp for you as you both process through, takes all of 5 seconds.   Whether you are staying for a long period of time or not, its down and dirty simple to get the BB stamp.

 

As for the 30 day visa, right now the automatic 30 visa appears to be in limbo ...

 

 

We are all doing great.  Rose is a Team Leader at Walmart and both AJ and Aira also are full timers there.  They dont know what to do with all that money (they still are in a little Philippine mode and every paycheck ask how much that is in pesos...LOL)

 

We are going back for AJ's wedding and the baptism of his son.  It seems like he left a little of himself there when he went back last year!  They are in love and happy so all is well.  I will ask for the stamp even if it doesnt do much for me right now.  It is the first time we are going back together.

 

Thanks always for the input!  I hope all is well with you.

[Stevephoto 230]

11 hours ago, John & Rose said:

We are all doing great.  Rose is a Team Leader at Walmart and both AJ and Aira also are full timers there.  They dont know what to do with all that money (they still are in a little Philippine mode and every paycheck ask how much that is in pesos...LOL)

 

We are going back for AJ's wedding and the baptism of his son.  It seems like he left a little of himself there when he went back last year!  They are in love and happy so all is well.  I will ask for the stamp even if it doesnt do much for me right now.  It is the first time we are going back together.

 

Thanks always for the input!  I hope all is well with you.

SO awesome to hear such great news from all of you. I don't get on here very often anymore (I am now an "old dog" with [happily] 9 years of old experiences), but I do read the daily digests and I do think of you often. Take care kaibigan!

[John & Rose 7,239]

9 minutes ago, Stevephoto said:

SO awesome to hear such great news from all of you. I don't get on here very often anymore (I am now an "old dog" with [happily] 9 years of old experiences), but I do read the daily digests and I do think of you often. Take care kaibigan!

Well someday I hope to be that much of an old timer. I’m 89 days into ROC and totally blessed. A few bumps along the way but nothing that doesn’t bring lots of sly smiles occasionally. I owe my life and happiness to this group and hopefully some new people can see this and realize that the wait means nothing once it is over. Good to hear from an old friend who was there at the beginning. We have both come a long way!

[Stevephoto 230]

4 minutes ago, John & Rose said:

Well someday I hope to be that much of an old timer. I’m 89 days into ROC and totally blessed. A few bumps along the way but nothing that doesn’t bring lots of sly smiles occasionally. I owe my life and happiness to this group and hopefully some new people can see this and realize that the wait means nothing once it is over. Good to hear from an old friend who was there at the beginning. We have both come a long way!

You had a lot more bumps than we did, but we both escaped the horrors of the last 16 months. Yes, I hope people read our (and many others) and understand that this is NEVER an easy experience but going through it and sticking with it can be wonderfully life-changing. Joan and I celebrate 9 1/2 years together and 8 years married in August. Worth that first 16 months (K-1--she got here 2 months before the wedding)? Heck yes! Folks...stick it out...it will happen and it will be worth it. Read John and Rose's history to understand what I mean (I'd say read mine, but in hindsight, we were "fast" and "easy." Keep in touch kaibigan.

[John & Rose 7,239]

Ours was 770 days of a rollercoaster…I mean pure bliss. So many times we both wondered if we would ever be together here, if we would be married. If the kids were actually going to America. Well. We did it. Somehow. It was Hank and so many other people here who helped with the denied K-1. There is so much bad info out there that this place was like a pleasant resort. I didn’t always like what I heard but I always got the truth. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by John & Rose

[Megantaur 19]

Wow! I’m intrigued to see all of your journey to forever in your histories but idk where to find it. It’s nice to see all of you are buddies and supporting each other in Visa Journey. 

[John & Rose 7,239]

12 hours ago, Megantaur said:

Wow! I’m intrigued to see all of your journey to forever in your histories but idk where to find it. It’s nice to see all of you are buddies and supporting each other in Visa Journey. 

It is all here buried by the years.  I can give a brief synopsis.

 

I was overwhelmed (lazy) when it came to K-1 paperwork.  I went with RapidVisa because their name was Rapid and Visa...BIG mistake.  While I blame them I also realized that I have full responsibility for the petition because I signed it.  I was arrested 30 years prior and the charges were dropped and the arrest was expunged.  I told them about it and even tried to get court documents.  All I had was the expungement order with the judge's signature.  They told me that since it was expunged that I didnt need to disclose it.  I remember thinking that I should anyway but they are the pros so I would listen.  

 

It took 10 months for USCIS approval and 11 months for the interview.  They took my fiancee's (now wife's) passport along with the passports of the two kids.  A few days later everything was returned with the 221(g) stating that the visas were denied because the petitioner failed to disclose information in the petition.  We were devastated but determined.  

 

I started researching the spousal visa and realized that we needed to marry within the next couple months or I would lose the step son/step father relationship with her son who was about to turn 18.  I didnt have much time off and to get married in Manila would take a good 3 weeks if everything fell perfectly into place, which is not easy to do there.  I planned two trips.  One for the affidavit from the embassy and the marriage license.  That was just a three day trip.  I went back a month later and got married.  

 

We filed the spousal as soon as we received the PSA marriage certificate and this time I did it all on my own.  We were approved by USCIS in just over 3 months but NVC took 5.  There was confusion because of the previous petition and my wife's paperwork kept falling off the grid.  We were expedited at NVC for the kids school and eventually we all went to our second interview at the embassy.  That is another story as while I was told to stand there and be quiet and to not help Rose, the CO asked her when we were married then spent the next 15 minutes talking about my job and Chicago with me.  Just one question and he said he would recommend approval.  We had been there before so we were still nervous.  We got back to her place in Pateros and the status was Administrative Processing.  About 5 minutes later her sister wanted to see the status so I checked again.  This time it was issued.  Probably 2 hours after the interview.  It went so fast that they needed another months to get the house ready and say their goodbyes.  They arrived in Chicago on July 16, 2019.  So lots of emotions and lots of stress that would have really killed me if not for Hank, Greenbaum and others.  Now I do what I can to help others.  

 

The biggest lesson is that the process is truly made to be done by the petitioner and beneficiary.  It is really quite easy if you relax and learn to read governmentese.  It is very literal.  The "ands" and "ors" mean something.  The process is very easy...and very slow.  Most stress is self inflicted and if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about.  Now we are 90 days into ROC and preparing for the citizenship test that they will be eligible for next July.

 

That was kind of long for a brief synopsis so there were some details left out like my OCD "do do" that I drove people crazy with.  LOL  Some reading this will understand...  Be patient, be strong, be honest.  The 770 days meant ZERO to us once we saw "issued".  All that stress was just gone (to be replaced by new stresses but those we handled together).  

Edited July 21, 2021 by John & Rose

[Megantaur 19]

That must’ve been so stressful! for sure it’s worth all of that wait. When we first started applying for spousal,  I felt like I am the one petitioning myself since I do all the work and research lol. I learned a lot from this. 
 

 You’re so close to the  final process, the naturalization interview will be a breeze for your wife. Wish you all the best of luck! 

[Talako 785]

18 hours ago, John & Rose said:

 Now we are 90 days into ROC and preparing for the citizenship test that they will be eligible for next July.

Good to see that you have gotten past the ROC submittal.  While a simple paperwork exercise, the poundage of that filing is amazing.

 

You'll find the electronic filing for citizenship to be extremely easy.

 

Congrats on surviving the journey so far. 

[John & Rose 7,239]

58 minutes ago, Talako said:

Good to see that you have gotten past the ROC submittal.  While a simple paperwork exercise, the poundage of that filing is amazing.

 

You'll find the electronic filing for citizenship to be extremely easy.

 

Congrats on surviving the journey so far. 

No kidding!!!  It was easy but that is a lot of papers for backup. I had 2 CR-2s too. We also included their joint bank accounts but we probably didn’t need to. 
 

I would hope that it gets easier the farther into the process you get. I assume we will be filing for citizenship before we get the 10 year cards. 
 

We are surviving and thriving. We are truly blessed. 
 

I hope all is well with you and yours. 

[tree248 13]

If you can get all the paperwork together by August 28th, you should immediately try to get an appointment for the Counsular Outreach being held in Southfield on that date by the Chicago Consulate. http://chicagopcg.com/michigan outreach 2021.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2C3u-f9IkWdBFF5B4aAEUWoACYsn4tCk5Zl40QDwZi9V2hp8ccgmtryxY

 

It was just announced today, and they have limited slots. It is for Michigan residents only, and they are doing passport renewals and dual citizen application services only.....

[Megantaur 19]

On 7/22/2021 at 10:58 PM, tree248 said:

If you can get all the paperwork together by August 28th, you should immediately try to get an appointment for the Counsular Outreach being held in Southfield on that date by the Chicago Consulate. http://chicagopcg.com/michigan outreach 2021.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2C3u-f9IkWdBFF5B4aAEUWoACYsn4tCk5Zl40QDwZi9V2hp8ccgmtryxY

 

It was just announced today, and they have limited slots. It is for Michigan residents only, and they are doing passport renewals and dual citizen application services only.....

Wow thanks for the info! Really appreciate it