Hoping to be in the US by Thanksgiving from Philippines (Merged)

[zebps3 4]

Hello everyone!

We finally managed to schedule the k1 interview for November 7th.  Currently the 3 or us, my fiancee (beneficiary), myself (petitioner), and our 8mo old son (has CRBA) have been living in the Philippines while we undergo the K1 visa process.  We are hoping to be able to enter the US before thanksgiving day to spend time with my family during the holidays (my parents have yet to meet their grandchild so I know it will mean a lot to them).  We have already completed the DS-160 and scheduled the Medical at St. Lukes for Oct 26th.  I am hoping someone could give advice on how to make the remaining process as smoothly as possible to give us the best chance to be able to fly to the US before Thanksgiving day.  I am moderately confident we would have the Visa within a week after the interview.  I am less confident about the CFO interview.  Firstly it seems somewhat difficult to schedule, the apply for OF-CORS interview for example does not appear to work properly at the moment (always seem to say maximum number of clients for this day).  Also I am worried about waiting to have visa in hand before scheduling an in person interview out of fear their may not be any available slots left.  The other thing I am most worried with regards to the CFO interview, is that from what I understand they may ask for a criminal background check on myself.  My criminal background is non existent, ie clean.  But when I went to request it from the FBI I noticed they require fingerprints which I am unsure how difficult it would be to obtain while I am still in Philippines.  Has anyone been in a similar situation or can offer advice on dealing the the CFO interview?

 

I know others on this forum have been able to enter the US recently within this timeframe after their interview.  I am hoping we can do the same.  But it is is starting to look like everything is going to have very little room for error to pull off successfully.  We still need to obtained a CENOMAR and also my fiancees police clearance.  I already have the necessary documents to show I can financially support.  Is their anything else I am missing?  Any things else we can do today to ensure this process goes smoothly?

 

Thanks!

Edited September 12, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[IWander 589]

2 hours ago, zebps3 said:

Hello everyone!

We finally managed to schedule the k1 interview for November 7th.  Currently the 3 or us, my fiancee (beneficiary), myself (petitioner), and our 8mo old son (has CRBA) have been living in the Philippines while we undergo the K1 visa process.  We are hoping to be able to enter the US before thanksgiving day to spend time with my family during the holidays (my parents have yet to meet their grandchild so I know it will mean a lot to them).  We have already completed the DS-160 and scheduled the Medical at St. Lukes for Oct 26th.  I am hoping someone could give advice on how to make the remaining process as smoothly as possible to give us the best chance to be able to fly to the US before Thanksgiving day.  I am moderately confident we would have the Visa within a week after the interview.  I am less confident about the CFO interview.  Firstly it seems somewhat difficult to schedule, the apply for OF-CORS interview for example does not appear to work properly at the moment (always seem to say maximum number of clients for this day).  Also I am worried about waiting to have visa in hand before scheduling an in person interview out of fear their may not be any available slots left.  The other thing I am most worried with regards to the CFO interview, is that from what I understand they may ask for a criminal background check on myself.  My criminal background is non existent, ie clean.  But when I went to request it from the FBI I noticed they require fingerprints which I am unsure how difficult it would be to obtain while I am still in Philippines.  Has anyone been in a similar situation or can offer advice on dealing the the CFO interview?

 

I know others on this forum have been able to enter the US recently within this timeframe after their interview.  I am hoping we can do the same.  But it is is starting to look like everything is going to have very little room for error to pull off successfully.  We still need to obtained a CENOMAR and also my fiancees police clearance.  I already have the necessary documents to show I can financially support.  Is their anything else I am missing?  Any things else we can do today to ensure this process goes smoothly?

 

Thanks!

Best thing to do today is ask Philippines specific questions in the Philippines regional forum 

[zebps3 4]

Hello everyone!

We finally managed to schedule the k1 interview for November 7th.  Currently the 3 or us, my fiancee (beneficiary), myself (petitioner), and our 8mo old son (has CRBA) have been living in the Philippines while we undergo the K1 visa process.  We are hoping to be able to enter the US before thanksgiving day to spend time with my family during the holidays (my parents have yet to meet their grandchild so I know it will mean a lot to them).  We have already completed the DS-160 and scheduled the Medical at St. Lukes for Oct 26th.  I am hoping someone could give advice on how to make the remaining process as smoothly as possible to give us the best chance to be able to fly to the US before Thanksgiving day.  I am moderately confident we would have the Visa within a week after the interview.  I am less confident about the CFO interview.  Firstly it seems somewhat difficult to schedule, the apply for OF-CORS interview for example does not appear to work properly at the moment (always seem to say maximum number of clients for this day).  Also I am worried about waiting to have visa in hand before scheduling an in person interview out of fear their may not be any available slots left.  The other thing I am most worried with regards to the CFO interview, is that from what I understand they may ask for a criminal background check on myself.  My criminal background is non existent, ie clean.  But when I went to request it from the FBI I noticed they require fingerprints which I am unsure how difficult it would be to obtain while I am still in Philippines.  Has anyone been in a similar situation or can offer advice on dealing the the CFO interview?

 

I know others on this forum have been able to enter the US recently within this timeframe after their interview.  I am hoping we can do the same.  But it is is starting to look like everything is going to have very little room for error to pull off successfully.  We still need to obtained a CENOMAR and also my fiancees police clearance.  I already have the necessary documents to show I can financially support.  Is their anything else I am missing?  Any things else we can do today to ensure this process goes smoothly?

 

Thanks!

[Crazy Cat 41,682]

****I moved this topic to the Philippines regional forum where the PI experts will see it****

***Threads merged***

Edited September 12, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Scott-Ilyn 81]

3 hours ago, zebps3 said:

I am less confident about the CFO interview.  Firstly it seems somewhat difficult to schedule, the apply for OF-CORS interview for example does not appear to work properly at the moment (always seem to say maximum number of clients for this day).

 

We experienced this while in the Philippines in May of this year.  The trick to getting around the maximum clients per day error is to sign up immediately after time period opens for the day.  For example, if it opens at 8am, be ready at 7:59am and start clicking on the register link.  Repeat over and over.  You should get access to the registration form by doing those steps.

3 hours ago, zebps3 said:

I am moderately confident we would have the Visa within a week after the interview.

I think our kids' visas took about a little less than 2 weeks to receive but I think that varies with how far you are away from Manila.  Also, keep in mind you cannot schedule the CFO interviews until after you have the visa in hand.

 

4 hours ago, zebps3 said:

But when I went to request it from the FBI I noticed they require fingerprints which I am unsure how difficult it would be to obtain while I am still in Philippines. 

I don't know if you need a background check for the CFO interview (my wife didn't need the CFO interview because she received her visa from a different country).  However, my kids needed a different type of CFO seminar.

 

You can google the FBI background check process.  Most of the process is online but you will need to get a copy of the fingerprint form (FD-258) printed on card stock and then have a local PD fingerprint you.  Then, internationally ship the fingerprint card via Fedex or some other shipper.  Once they receive the fingerprints, the results will be online for you to print.  I would start this process immediately.

 

Good luck.  I hope you get to spend Thanksgiving in the US with your fiance and child.

[top_secret 2,387]

3 hours ago, zebps3 said:

Firstly it seems somewhat difficult to schedule, the apply for OF-CORS interview for example does not appear to work properly at the moment (always seem to say maximum number of clients for this day).  Also I am worried about waiting to have visa in hand before scheduling an in person interview out of fear their may not be any available slots left.  The other thing I am most worried with regards to the CFO interview, is that from what I understand they may ask for a criminal background check on myself.  My criminal background is non existent, ie clean.  But when I went to request it from the FBI I noticed they require fingerprints which I am unsure how difficult it would be to obtain while I am still in Philippines.  Has anyone been in a similar situation or can offer advice on dealing the the CFO interview?

 

CFO has been undergoing all kinds of wild spastic gyrations and completely rewriting all the rules like every two weeks lately but they usually somehow work things out in time to travel.  Even if rather inelegantly.  I think as of like the last two weeks they are now saying they will strictly only schedule appointments for those with actual visa on hand.  I don’t know if you can still at least pre-register without a visa yet. Who knows what the rules will be by November, but it is highly predictable that the rules then will be different from the rules now.

 

Because their webserver backend API is "some lady at a desk" you have to hit their server at EXACTLY 7:00AM Monday thru Thursday. Whatever sign up slots are allocated for the day will be snapped up in minutes and they do not work nights or weekends.

 

The FBI report or fingerprints are not needed.  They only ever asked something like that for someone traveling to meet an overseas sponsor for the first time or something.  They would never ask that from a normal K1 case unless they had some kind of specific suspicion.

 

CFO will probably only want scans of her passport, visa, CENOMAR, and your passport.  They might ask for some relationship evidence like pictures, your divorce decree if previously married and maybe your ACR card and visa or extensions if you have been living together in the Philippines.  Every once and a while they throw in some oddball made up requirement but it's usually pretty straightforward for a K1 or CR/IR-1 case.