Any Filipinas Heading To Texas?

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

Hi Everyone,

 

Been here awhile but just stumbled upon this forum. My fiancé & I been together since June of 2020 and are now a few weeks away from her K1 Fiance VISA interview at the Manila embassy (May 4^th). If everything falls into place, we hope to have her travel to the US (Texas) the following Friday (May 12^th)…if not…shortly thereafter. We are making plans for our wedding in Hawai’i so that my parents & the rest of my family can take part in it…

 

If there are any other Filipinas who are in Texas or plan to move there in the future, please reach out to me as we are trying to create a network of Filipinas for support & potential get togethers. 

 

Take care & good luck everyone!

 

Kawika

 

 

[EatBulaga 315]

51 minutes ago, Kawika said:

Hi Everyone,

 

Been here awhile but just stumbled upon this forum. My fiancé & I been together since June of 2020 and are now a few weeks away from her K1 Fiance VISA interview at the Manila embassy (May 4^th). If everything falls into place, we hope to have her travel to the US (Texas) the following Friday (May 12^th)…if not…shortly thereafter. We are making plans for our wedding in Hawai’i so that my parents & the rest of my family can take part in it…

 

If there are any other Filipinas who are in Texas or plan to move there in the future, please reach out to me as we are trying to create a network of Filipinas for support & potential get togethers. 

 

Take care & good luck everyone!

 

Kawika

Where in Texas?

Houston has the most Filipinos with a Jollibee 😂 .

Dallas has a Kabayan store and several Filipino restaurants.

The best place to network with other Filipinos are at church, especially Catholic Churches.

Do some searches on Google map to find Filipino restaurants and churches near you.

Filipino church will be a good place to build relationships with others so they can write affidavit of bona fide marriage for you when you go to interview for AOS or ROC.

 

Edit: beware not to make travel plans too close to the K1 interview. Filipinas need to pass the CFO to exit the Philippines, especially K1 Filipinas

 

Edit: Plano, Houston, San Antonio all have a Jollibee 😂

Edited April 18, 2023 by EatBulaga

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

I'm in Katy, Texas...just outside of Houston. I'm part Asian so I am well acquainted with a lot of the Asian stores and restaurants in the area. We were just hoping to create support groups with others how are currently experiencing the culture shock of moving to the US so that they could provide support for one another. There are some Facebook groups that we are a part of that connect Texas as a whole, but we are also looking for a mix of those who have experience as well as those who will be brand new.

 

As far as the CFO requirements go, we've already gotten a certificate from the counseling she received when we met in 2021 in Costa Rica. She has reached out to her counselor once before & was told that all she would need to do is bring her VISA to get the sticker attached. I am not sure if that is all that needs to be done & she seems to be unsure. She has reached out to her counselor once more for clarification (especially with the recent announcement of the CFO doing away with stickers in favor of digital certificates) but her counselor has not yet responded to her.

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Thread is moved from Introducing Our Members to the "Moving to the U.S." forum.

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

5 hours ago, Kawika said:

I'm in Katy, Texas...just outside of Houston. I'm part Asian so I am well acquainted with a lot of the Asian stores and restaurants in the area. We were just hoping to create support groups with others how are currently experiencing the culture shock of moving to the US so that they could provide support for one another. There are some Facebook groups that we are a part of that connect Texas as a whole, but we are also looking for a mix of those who have experience as well as those who will be brand new.

 

As far as the CFO requirements go, we've already gotten a certificate from the counseling she received when we met in 2021 in Costa Rica. She has reached out to her counselor once before & was told that all she would need to do is bring her VISA to get the sticker attached. I am not sure if that is all that needs to be done & she seems to be unsure. She has reached out to her counselor once more for clarification (especially with the recent announcement of the CFO doing away with stickers in favor of digital certificates) but her counselor has not yet responded to her.

I'm a member of Filipinos of San Antonio FB group.  We hope to move there this year.  They are having get- togethers every few weeks.

[EatBulaga 315]

16 hours ago, Kawika said:

I'm in Katy, Texas...just outside of Houston. I'm part Asian so I am well acquainted with a lot of the Asian stores and restaurants in the area. We were just hoping to create support groups with others how are currently experiencing the culture shock of moving to the US so that they could provide support for one another. There are some Facebook groups that we are a part of that connect Texas as a whole, but we are also looking for a mix of those who have experience as well as those who will be brand new.

 

As far as the CFO requirements go, we've already gotten a certificate from the counseling she received when we met in 2021 in Costa Rica. She has reached out to her counselor once before & was told that all she would need to do is bring her VISA to get the sticker attached. I am not sure if that is all that needs to be done & she seems to be unsure. She has reached out to her counselor once more for clarification (especially with the recent announcement of the CFO doing away with stickers in favor of digital certificates) but her counselor has not yet responded to her.

I was able to get my Filipina spouse acclimated pretty quickly by going to the local Filipino restaurants and Filipino church.

She also met a few other Filipinas with similar experiences online so she has a few chat mates.

Keeping in touch with her friends and family back home is critical so make sure you have good phone plan and wifi at home.

 

One thing that will help her confidence greatly is learning to drive and getting the driver's license.

Find out how she can get a driver's permit and license in Texas and I recommend investing in driving lessons instead of you teaching her to drive since driving lesson cars come with passenger-side brakes.

Teaching the wife to drive is a source of great stress where some marriages may not survive.😂

But getting her onto your car insurance is good evidence of bona fide marriage.

 

Also get the SSN as soon as the I-94 is available.

Don't sign up for the SSN with the AOS or EAD--it will take too long and you will need it sooner for bank accounts, joint billing, marriage certificate, driver's license, etc.

Update the SSN card to the marriage name when you have the marriage certificate and before sending in the I-485 if she wants to file with the marriage name change.

You can see our Timeline or Profile to see the steps that we went thru.

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by EatBulaga

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

19 hours ago, Kawika said:

we hope to have her travel to the US (Texas) the following Friday (May 12^th)

Do you have her air ticket yet?  Not sure where she is but EVA flies from Clark now, or Manila, to Taipei then Houston.  It was the cheapest when I was shopping a few months ago but has gone up.  Only problem is 8 hour layover in Taipei.  A friend is flying EVA today Clark-Taipei-Seattle and it was only 750 USD.  He is on his 9 hour layover right now.

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

5 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

You can see our Timeline or Profile to see the steps that we went thru.

 

Thanks for all of the tips. I definitely appreciate them. I did happen upon the thought that we should be filing for her SSN 2 business days after she arrives which wasn't something I was even thinking about doing but now is part of our To Do list. 

 

3 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

Do you have her air ticket yet?  Not sure where she is but EVA flies from Clark now, or Manila, to Taipei then Houston.  It was the cheapest when I was shopping a few months ago but has gone up.  Only problem is 8 hour layover in Taipei.  A friend is flying EVA today Clark-Taipei-Seattle and it was only 750 USD.  He is on his 9 hour layover right now.

 

Thanks for the tips. I've been using EVA Air for the past 2 trips there. My first two trips to the Philippines I went from Houston to Qatar to Cebu via Qatar Airways. That included a 12-20 hour layover in Qatar (both ways)...so the 8 hour layover in Taiwan on the way back isn't too bad. The main issue I've had traveling from Houston is the short layover between my flights in Taiwan. The first time it was less than an hour which resulted in me having to rush from gate to gate & in our most recent trip with my kids our flight was delayed which resulted in us missing our original connecting flight in Taiwan. We ended up getting bumped to a second EVA Airway flight to Cebu (which ended up being too full) and then bumped to a China Airways flight to Cebu (which was actually a nice airline). It typically has cost between $1000-1200 for flights from Houston to Cebu via EVA Airway...several hundred dollars more to go via Qatar Airways. 

 

I have not purchased her ticket as of yet...but plan to do so in the next couple of days. I just need to make sure that I can reschedule it in case we run into any delays in her receiving her visa or any other issues along the way.