Booking travel before CFO

[Steve & Erma 36]

I don't believe we will have any issues with our interview or the CFO as we are all prepared with paperwork and the knowledge needed... Here is my thinking...

 

My wife has her interview in Oct 21st. She lives in the province so we figure she will have the passport back within 10 days (Oct 31st). She can schedule her CFO for Nov 4-8 (sooner the better) in Cebu and be able to fly right after. 

 

I realize the later the CFO appointment is the more jeopardy this timeline is in... Do we think scheduling a flight to the USA on Nov 10th is pushing it too much? I could push it back a week to the 17th but of course we have been apart for far too long and want to be together as soon as possible.

 

People have told me not to book before she finished with the CFO but we know airlines are going to charge an arm and leg if I book only a few days in advance. I checked with the airline I am going with and it would be a $300 change fee which I am ok with since my brain says the ticket would be twice the amount buying it in a rush.

 

Thoughts?

[top_secret 2,414]

Booking without an actual visa on hand is probably the greater threat.  CFO is going fairly smooth for most people lately but totally random delays in visa delivery are a fact of life.  As far as booking travel, choose your tolerance for risk and consider what an unexpected delay might cost.  But delays from the Embassy are probably a greater threat than CFO.

[RO_AH 1,659]

Did she already do the medical? You are awful confident about that interview. I wouldn't even concern myself on the CFO, that shouldn't be a problem. Interview on the other hand, you could always get a 221g. If you're okay with the change fee that's fine but I would probably schedule 1 month after the interview, and that's if she has already completed the medical. If she has not done the medical, I wouldn't book anything.

 

[Steve & Erma 36]

Top .. So you think the 10 days to get the passport back is more of a threat to my plan than the CFO... I tend to agree with you there. My wife had a friend who got hers in 10 days. She has another friend going through the process right now and has her interview this coming Monday. Maybe we will wait to see how quickly she gets hers.

 

Ro... She past medical this week

Edited September 21 by Steve & Erma

[top_secret 2,414]

11 hours ago, Steve & Erma said:

So you think the 10 days to get the passport back is more of a threat to my plan than the CFO

 

 

The problem is.  10 days to get the passport back from the embassy is a very reasonable estimate and in fact most are getting it even faster than that these days.  But, if you polled 20 applicants you could hypothetically find something like 14 who got their passport back in less than a week trouble free, 3 that got a 221g (which at least you do have some control over), and maybe 3 that inexplicably, for no outwardly apparent reason at all, took two to six weeks or even longer and no one knows why.

 

In comparison, although CFO had a total meltdown scheduling around summer 2023 and you may still see a lot of hard feelings online about that episode.  They seem to have since to resolved their problems and applicants with actual visas on hand seem to be getting through them almost immediately.

[W199 333]

Nov 10 should not be a problem at all. I would just find the best airplane ticket deal with the best routing and book it now.  Otherwise as you said the prices will skyrocket. While you may be aching for her to come here ASAP, an extra 1-2 weeks or even 3 months is going to be a so insignificant drop in the bucket and long forgotton once she arrives. It will give her more time to do some final shopping, have good-bye parties, etc.. We actually delayed my fiancee's trip by about 2 months so she could spend more time with her family and for me to arrive to have a huge good-bye party. Just be sure the ticket has an option to change the fight with a change fee that you don't mind.  For myself, I just used miles to book it which had a very minimal change fee. As others have said, despite your confidence, there is still plenty of risk of having an unexpected delay.  Geting married by the end of the year will also allow you to file taxes married jointly and save you a LOT of money in taxes.

 

But one warning, you need to be careful with the LBC shipping of the passport back.  The safest thing is to just pick it up in Manila with having it shipped back. My Wife's is in the province in Luzon, and LBC can take 2+ weeks to deliver something to her since its outside their normal delivery area. Sometimes they even just send it back, Tberefore, iInstead of shipping it to her home,  we just shipped it to the closest LBC office that accepts the passports from the embassy (not all do).  It only took 3 shipping days to arrive there. Much easier than going to Manila to pick it up and not worrying about home delivery delays due to being out of the delivery area.

 

 

 

 

[Steve & Erma 36]

W199 - I have been urging her to spend lots of time with family and friends for the last two years (for the most part she has) because at some point she is going to only see them when we can get back. LBC in Sogod does take passports so we are good there.

 

To all... thank you for the advice as always. This has been a long two years waiting through this process with a lot of frustration. We are on the final approach and there are a lot of mixed emotions, but we can't wait to start our life together in the US.

[RO_AH 1,659]

19 hours ago, Steve & Erma said:

This has been a long two years waiting through this process

If you have been married 2 years that's a good thing. She will arrive with 10 year status.

[DELTAFOXTROT 48]

I have purchased a few last minute tickets from Philippines to USA, like trying to leave in a couple of days, if you watch you can find deals, and they pop up and are gone quickly as well, of course you can pay alot as well, you just have to keep checking and prices change frequently and vastly when trying to catch last minute tickets.

 

 

[Edward and Jaycel 157]

23 hours ago, Steve & Erma said:

W199 - I have been urging her to spend lots of time with family and friends for the last two years (for the most part she has) because at some point she is going to only see them when we can get back. LBC in Sogod does take passports so we are good there.

 

To all... thank you for the advice as always. This has been a long two years waiting through this process with a lot of frustration. We are on the final approach and there are a lot of mixed emotions, but we can't wait to start our life together in the US.

I get the waiting part man… if I could put my two cents in, I would wait until the visa is in her hands. We did this with Jaycel and we were able to book a flight for 10 days later from Manila to Denver for like $1,000. This gave her time to book her CFO (we booked it for 2days before her departure as we were not worried about that part) and wrap up things at home. There are so many delays that can happen to delay the delivery of the visa. We set it for pickup at the Mall of Asia LBC branch and there were so many stories of people that did that and got it in 3 days, but Jaycel’s took a week. You just never know with the federal government, the State Department especially.

[DELTAFOXTROT 48]

1 hour ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

I get the waiting part man… if I could put my two cents in, I would wait until the visa is in her hands. We did this with Jaycel and we were able to book a flight for 10 days later from Manila to Denver for like $1,000. This gave her time to book her CFO (we booked it for 2days before her departure as we were not worried about that part) and wrap up things at home. There are so many delays that can happen to delay the delivery of the visa. We set it for pickup at the Mall of Asia LBC branch and there were so many stories of people that did that and got it in 3 days, but Jaycel’s took a week. You just never know with the federal government, the State Department especially.

Starting September 28th the US EMbassy will be using the new Visa Application Center, (Near Mall of Asia) now that is where you can pick up your passport in Manila and not deal with LBC.  

U.S. Embassy to Launch New Visa Application Center, Additional Consular Information Services - U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (usembassy.gov)

 

[Steve & Erma 36]

40 minutes ago, DELTAFOXTROT said:

Starting September 28th the US EMbassy will be using the new Visa Application Center, (Near Mall of Asia) now that is where you can pick up your passport in Manila and not deal with LBC.  

U.S. Embassy to Launch New Visa Application Center, Additional Consular Information Services - U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (usembassy.gov)

 

Our interview was scheduled prior to 9/28 so I am not sure how this affects us. Since she has already passed her medical, I have her flying in the night before and flying out the same day of her interview. So even if this was an option, we won't have the time to pick it up. I guess it would be worth a call to them after the 28th but I think a lot of the information at first is going to be unreliable until they get the kinks out.

[DELTAFOXTROT 48]

17 minutes ago, Steve & Erma said:

Our interview was scheduled prior to 9/28 so I am not sure how this affects us. Since she has already passed her medical, I have her flying in the night before and flying out the same day of her interview. So even if this was an option, we won't have the time to pick it up. I guess it would be worth a call to them after the 28th but I think a lot of the information at first is going to be unreliable until they get the kinks out.

You good, I was just letting you know if you planned on picking up passport at Mall of Asia that will all change on the 28th and you go to this Visa Application Place.

 

Calling the US Embassy seems to be futile, I remember me trying to call them years ago, Phone would just ring and ring and ring.