Spousal Visa Cebu Questions

[KennM 0]

Greetings, I am having trouble finding digesting the information I need regarding the spousal visa process. If anyone can help I'll be thankful. I have the questions organized below. U.S. Citizen, not married to partner who is a Philippines citizen, we have an infant now. May have to return to U.S. for work and won't have much notice when I'm hired. 

 

1) Given time constraints and avoiding other red tape we may need to do the online marriage approach via Utah. I understand this is not a problem now in the Philippines.

 

2) For the spousal visa, are interviews in Cebu or only in Manila. Manila is difficult for several reasons.

 

3) what is the timeframe now for getting the appointment?

 

4) Is the Direct Consular Filing an option in Cebu or Manila? If the normal process is started now can it be changed to DCF if necessary or is expediting possible with a rushed job offer?

 

5) Can anyone recommend a reliable attorney or immigration office?

 

Thanks, Ken

 

[Spicy Chickenjoy 14]

Hello. Interviews for all visas are held at the Manila Embassy. The Consulate in Cebu offers U.S. citizenship services only (e.g. passport renewal, etc).

[J.M. 230]

There is a pretty extensive and current thread about CR1 interview availability here: 

It's 33 pages long currently, with posts nearly every day.  The most current times are near the end of course.

[An D 27]

Everything is in Manila. If you get married online do not forget to file report of marriage. I do not know how long that process takes at this point. Timeframe at the moment from a case's National Visa Center documentarily qualified date (which, not sure how much research you've done, but that's something that happens after the arguably longest wait of the process which is the USCIS petition approval), seems to be 9-10 months at the moment for CR (which would be your case as you would not have been married for over 2 years by that point unless you had some massive USCIS delay or something). You may consider the fiancé(e)/K-1 visa instead, as it seems to be much faster at this point. It does not seem to have the same ridiculous delays at the embassy as spousal visas do. Although it comes with its own set of drawbacks compared to a spousal visa which you can research on your own. Expediting is nearly impossible at the Manila embassy unless there is a serious medical issue for the petitioner or something. A rushed job offer certainly isn't that. As far as DCF I don't know how receptive this embassy is to DCF requests due to job offer requiring relocation back to the US (assuming that's what would be the case for you). Lastly I would strongly recommend not using an attorney or other third party assistance unless you have a very complicated case (perhaps if there are annulments/divorces/criminal convictions involved on either side) as the process is quite easy and you will have absolute control every step of the way. 

 

[RO_AH 1,659]

20 hours ago, KennM said:

1) Given time constraints and avoiding other red tape we may need to do the online marriage approach via Utah. I understand this is not a problem now in the Philippines.

No problem

 

20 hours ago, KennM said:

2) For the spousal visa, are interviews in Cebu or only in Manila. Manila is difficult for several reasons.

Manila only. Is someone telling you that the immigration process is not difficult. Not sure where you thought that they make it easy for you.

 

20 hours ago, KennM said:

3) what is the timeframe now for getting the appointment?

You will get it when you get it. No one can predict the future. They were pushing them through extremely fast then dropped to not for quite a few months.

 

20 hours ago, KennM said:

4) Is the Direct Consular Filing an option in Cebu or Manila? If the normal process is started now can it be changed to DCF if necessary or is expediting possible with a rushed job offer?

DCF is not an option and a rushed job offer is not a reason for expedite. This process takes a while...A LONG while. Any thoughts of thinking you can find a way to make faster or easier you need to throw out of your head as it only causes the process to be more frustrating and aggravating than it already is.

 

21 hours ago, KennM said:

5) Can anyone recommend a reliable attorney or immigration office?

Why? You can do it yourself. If you want to get an attorney be my guest. But people that come to and frequent this forum did it themselves for the most part.

[RO_AH 1,659]

On 6/14/2024 at 6:22 AM, An D said:

You may consider the fiancé(e)/K-1 visa instead, as it seems to be much faster at this point. It does not seem to have the same ridiculous delays at the embassy as spousal visas do.

It wasn't long ago that K-1s were not being processed at all only CR1 so I would not use what is currently happening as a guideline. CR1 is still far superior IMO.

[KennM 0]

On 6/15/2024 at 12:22 AM, An D said:

Everything is in Manila. If you get married online do not forget to file report of marriage. I do not know how long that process takes at this point. Timeframe at the moment from a case's National Visa Center documentarily qualified date (which, not sure how much research you've done, but that's something that happens after the arguably longest wait of the process which is the USCIS petition approval), seems to be 9-10 months at the moment for CR (which would be your case as you would not have been married for over 2 years by that point unless you had some massive USCIS delay or something). You may consider the fiancé(e)/K-1 visa instead, as it seems to be much faster at this point. It does not seem to have the same ridiculous delays at the embassy as spousal visas do. Although it comes with its own set of drawbacks compared to a spousal visa which you can research on your own. Expediting is nearly impossible at the Manila embassy unless there is a serious medical issue for the petitioner or something. A rushed job offer certainly isn't that. As far as DCF I don't know how receptive this embassy is to DCF requests due to job offer requiring relocation back to the US (assuming that's what would be the case for you). Lastly I would strongly recommend not using an attorney or other third party assistance unless you have a very complicated case (perhaps if there are annulments/divorces/criminal convictions involved on either side) as the process is quite easy and you will have absolute control every step of the way. 

 

HI An, can you point to information on K1 going faster these days. That's the opposite of what I've read and seen on videos by immigration attorneys, but maybe it's a PH thing that K1 is going faster? There's a thread on the forum on DCF and leaving for a job being grounds that are granted. How can I find out if this is the case in Manila as well? Thanks, Ken

[J.M. 230]

I-129f approvals for Philippines are averaging about 3-4 month since the beginning of the year according to VJ stats:  K1 Fiance Visa US Immigration Timelines for Philippines from the California Service Center - SORT : Second NOA Date - DESC (visajourney.com)

 

Add 2-3 months to that to process the Philippines side.

 

If you only look at the ones going through interviews recently, it is closer to a year of total processing time, but that is not really representative of current processing times.  Following timelines that have filed more recently will likely give you a better estimate.

 

The most recent NOA2 for I-130 (sorted for Philippines) was filed 9/25/23.  The most recent NOA2 for I-129f was filed 4/11/24.  These are just from VJ timelines, so not a 100% correlation to the real world.

 

Processing times fluctuate, but the trend recently is K-1 is back to being significantly faster than spousal.

 

Be sure to understand the different requirements for spousal vs. K-1 after approval.

[Jon and Krissy 452]

4 hours ago, J.M. said:

I-129f approvals for Philippines are averaging about 3-4 month since the beginning of the year according to VJ stats:  K1 Fiance Visa US Immigration Timelines for Philippines from the California Service Center - SORT : Second NOA Date - DESC (visajourney.com)

Edit: I am hopelessly confused.

Edited June 17 by Jon and Krissy
Confused

[J.M. 230]

For some reason the link didn't post properly.  It was just a link to K-1 timelines sorted by Philippines and NOA2.

Edited June 17 by J.M.

[Spicy Chickenjoy 14]

On 6/16/2024 at 3:00 PM, KennM said:

HI An, can you point to information on K1 going faster these days. That's the opposite of what I've read and seen on videos by immigration attorneys, but maybe it's a PH thing that K1 is going faster? There's a thread on the forum on DCF and leaving for a job being grounds that are granted. How can I find out if this is the case in Manila as well? Thanks, Ken

 

Here are some data points from USCIS that show processing times:

 

Historic Processing Times (uscis.gov)

Processing Times (uscis.gov)

[spicynujac 23]

Form    Form Description    Classification or Basis for Filing    FY 2019    FY 2020    FY 2021    FY 2022    FY 2023    FY2024

I-129F    Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)    All Classifications         5.2             4.6             8.0            12.1            13.9           9.3
I-130    Petition for Alien Relative      Immediate Relative         8.6             8.3             10.2          10.3            11.8           11.2

 

Median time in months.  So a fiance visa filed a year ago was approved 2 months faster than marital.  But keep in mind the marital visa is for most far superior and over $1,000 cheaper than K-1. 

I do find it bizarre that strangers are sometimes given a higher priority than wives, but not much about our immigration system makes sense... 

But I wouldn't make any assumptions about timing going forward--the visas often leapfrog each other.  And a lot depends on chance.  If we were sent to *ANY* other service center than the one we got, our case would likely be approved already...but we are still waiting at 12.5 months-- luck of the draw.  I have no regrets going marital.