Philippines related, seeking referral for a visa agency in Cebu City and/or the online agents

[Larry.in.HCMC 2]

Hi folks.  My gf and I have been in a relationship for over 7 years, and we are marrying soon in the Philippines. Our goal is for her to eventually live in the U.S. with me after marriage.  We are currently living together near Cebu City.  We could possibly do our own visa filing, however, it might be faster to use an agency and I would expect they would have the most accurate answers to the important questions relating to immigration.  We had an exploratory meeting with an agency here in Cebu City, I think it is one of the biggest and most well known ones in the city.  I was somewhat disappointed.  While they are very personable, they did not demonstrate the deep knowledge of the topic that I would have expected.  Does anyone have experience with a visa agency in Cebu City that they are quite positive with?  The one we chose not to use charges about $1,350 to manage a case.  

 

Do folks find that the short term consultations we can find on this site are of great value?  I just have a few specific questions, other than that, I could probably file it myself.  I am pretty good with documents and details, but some of these details require specialized knowledge, which I felt that Philippine agency was a little short of.  Yet I was hoping that since they worked in this country, they would have a good grasp of these specific issues. 

 

Among my disappointments, one of their flaws was the agent we spoke to said they really focus on getting the beneficiary ready for the interview. That is not what our great need is, we need an expert on how to properly fill out the forms and get it filed.  This agency said WE fill out the forms and then they check for errors.  Instead, I want THEM to fill out the forms and then I check for THEIR errors.  

 

The lady had never heard of IMBRA, and so had no idea if the discussion of how we met should consider the IMBRA statutes.  I question how can they have never heard of IMBRA if they are experts.

 

They also said that an age difference was no problem.  I politely told them that LOTS of Americans (including people who deal with the case) have a bias against an age difference.  The agent seemed clueless to this reality.

 

The agent was also seemingly unaware of the anti immigrant sentiment of our our government generally. Not trying to create a debate on this, but I think if an agency does not have an awareness of what is going on with these topics, one has to question their ability to property manage a case.

 

Rather than attempting to discuss these real concerns in a serious way, they seemed to brush aside these details and focus on trying to get our up front payment for their services.  

 

Thanks for any suggestions anyone may have.  I prefer not to trash the name of the agency, just looking for a good one.  

[Crazy Cat 42,757]

1 hour ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

They also said that an age difference was no problem.

Age difference won't be an issue for the Philippines.  Whether you fill in the forms or not, you will still have to do all the legwork in providing the information and/or documentation.   I am moving this topic to the Philippines regional forum for our PI experts to see.

[Larry.in.HCMC 2]

Thanks for your help.  From what I can see, there appears to only be about 3 viable choices for agencies in Cebu City, or agencies with much of an online profile that seem to have the relevant focus on family based immigration to the U.S.  

 

I would also be pleased if there are some members who have experience using these lawyers or visa agents who advertise on this site.  While they may not have a huge amount of expertise for this particular country, I am not sure that is terribly important.  What I really need is a specialist who can look at the details of my case and make sure I am not making any mistakes.  I could do the filing myself, but am trying to pay to some extent in order to avoid any mistakes.  I will just have a couple of particular issues that need to be resolved.

 

I am not really trying to address those technical questions quite yet (in this particular thread), instead I am trying to find the right agency or legal specialist to work with.  I do know this site has a wealth of knowledge archived, and so when the time comes, I will focus especially on those details.

 

[wildbug100420 207]

3 hours ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

Hi folks.  My gf and I have been in a relationship for over 7 years, and we are marrying soon in the Philippines. Our goal is for her to eventually live in the U.S. with me after marriage.  We are currently living together near Cebu City.  We could possibly do our own visa filing, however, it might be faster to use an agency and I would expect they would have the most accurate answers to the important questions relating to immigration.  We had an exploratory meeting with an agency here in Cebu City, I think it is one of the biggest and most well known ones in the city.  I was somewhat disappointed.  While they are very personable, they did not demonstrate the deep knowledge of the topic that I would have expected.  Does anyone have experience with a visa agency in Cebu City that they are quite positive with?  The one we chose not to use charges about $1,350 to manage a case.  

 

Do folks find that the short term consultations we can find on this site are of great value?  I just have a few specific questions, other than that, I could probably file it myself.  I am pretty good with documents and details, but some of these details require specialized knowledge, which I felt that Philippine agency was a little short of.  Yet I was hoping that since they worked in this country, they would have a good grasp of these specific issues. 

 

Among my disappointments, one of their flaws was the agent we spoke to said they really focus on getting the beneficiary ready for the interview. That is not what our great need is, we need an expert on how to properly fill out the forms and get it filed.  This agency said WE fill out the forms and then they check for errors.  Instead, I want THEM to fill out the forms and then I check for THEIR errors.  

 

The lady had never heard of IMBRA, and so had no idea if the discussion of how we met should consider the IMBRA statutes.  I question how can they have never heard of IMBRA if they are experts.

 

They also said that an age difference was no problem.  I politely told them that LOTS of Americans (including people who deal with the case) have a bias against an age difference.  The agent seemed clueless to this reality.

 

The agent was also seemingly unaware of the anti immigrant sentiment of our our government generally. Not trying to create a debate on this, but I think if an agency does not have an awareness of what is going on with these topics, one has to question their ability to property manage a case.

 

Rather than attempting to discuss these real concerns in a serious way, they seemed to brush aside these details and focus on trying to get our up front payment for their services.  

 

Thanks for any suggestions anyone may have.  I prefer not to trash the name of the agency, just looking for a good one.  

The forms are fairly straightforward. Any reason for seeking an agency. Seems like the do more harm than good 

[Larry.in.HCMC 2]

I do have a couple of reasons.  My case is not going to be as clean as most.  We have a big age gap.  45 years in fact.  74 and 29.  Though we have been happy together for over 7, almost everyone (including the consular officials) are going to raise their eyebrows at that.  Many people find that troubling, including caseworkers.

 

Plus, I have had 3 divorces, and while they were quite some time ago, two of them were with foreign wives.  Plus a fiance visa that did not result in marriage (though she did return to her country).  Again, more eyebrows being raised.  One of the issues (somewhat technical in nature) is how to report this stuff, I think an addendum is required, as I think at least one of the forms only has fields for a limited number of previous marriages or visa filings.  I just do not want to get delayed on some very minor technicality, (like not reporting something in the right field, or with the right kind of do it yourself addendum, or whatever they can find to delay you on) which certainly can happen.  It is my wild guess that if caseworkers do not like the looks of your case, they look for ways to delay you, so any small mistake can get you delayed.   That was my experience long ago, and that is what I am trying to avoid.

 

I was under the impression that agencies/lawyers were quite good at these matters (or at least some of them).  I wonder what percentage of filings are unassisted.  I am assuming you did not use help with your filing?  

Edited Monday at 01:19 PM by Larry.in.HCMC

[W199 376]

Hi Larry,

 

I agree with you about getting an agency to help. I had some similar if not more complications, and a ton of questions, but the agency did it all perfectly, processionally, and had a very deep understanding the nuaces and subtlies that come in complex cases.  They were even better than the immigration lawyer that I consulted with.  But unlike a lawyer, you still need to do the leg work, but they can check it and advise what you should or shouldn't do in your case.

 

The agency I used was run by a Filam couple, and specializes in Philippines visa and has done thousands of them. It cost only $600 for unlimited supported all the way to Embassy and interview level.  Oh, the agency was in USA, you don't need on local to the Philippines. That doesn't even sound like a good idea since you are the USA petitioner.

 

I'm not hear to give them free advertising, but if you message me, I'll be glad to give you their contact. 

 

 

Edited Monday at 08:22 PM by W199

[W199 376]

Larry,

 

You also mentioned you had previous foreign wives, including filing at least one  K-1 fiance visa. How many total did you ever file for K-1 fiance visa and were approved despite getting married or not? If it was 2 or more than you will need to apply for a waiver.

 

By the way, I agree with you, if that expert agency had no idea what IMBRA is, and they are charging $1350 then it is ultimately totally incompetant if not a scam. If it was 1350 PHP, then it would be another thing.  Another example of why you should use a USA agency when it comes to US law. 

 

Message me and I can give you the contact of a very professionl Philippines speciliast agency in the USA ,,, It may be perfect based on what you said you need help with.  

Edited Monday at 08:39 PM by W199

[Larry.in.HCMC 2]

Hey W199, thanks for your messages. I will PM you about that contact you mentioned, thanks for your help.

 

I recall using this site about 20 years ago and it was very helpful.  Nice to see folks not blasting me for my age difference or number of ex wives or whatever.

 

I had a total of 3 fiance visas, 0 spousal visas.  2 of those turned into marriages and eventually divorces.  1 visa resulted in the girl returning to her own country.  I also had a marriage early in my life that was with an American, so of course no visa required. 

 

The visa agency here in Cebu at $1,350 is a pretty large and a relatively well known business, for what it is.  I suppose we can say “scam” is a relative term, especially over here.  I think the agency is probably okay, we know of people who have used them with good results.  Over here, there are several agencies that also specialize in getting visas for natives trying to get away by using overseas work or education as a path.  One could say that entire industry is something of a scam, yet at the same time it is legal and ongoing.

 

Any and every business over here is soaking in this alternative business/governmental landscape, and we could probably say they all have to participate in what you and I consider to be scams.  Even doing my own visa extensions here, there are government guys coming around whispering to us about a special path to a faster service.  But I digress.

 

 I am so detail oriented on this kind of thing that to me, I expect the agency we use to know MORE about the details than I do, not less.  And I have to assume they know the system, I know the agency does lots of visas, it is just disappointing to me that they had those answers to my questions and concerns.  Fortunately there is no big hurry, we will finally marry in about 6 weeks or so, and then we cannot file until we get the marriage certificate, which supposedly takes up to 3 months.  We are happy in Cebu, but I do eventually want to get us in a cleaner and more organized environment, and I have a nice life for us back in the U.S.

 

DETAILED DISCUSSION OF IMBRA FOLLOWS, THIS IS DULL READING AND NOT SUGGESTED FOR ANYONE WHO IS NOT CONCERNED WITH THE STATUTE  

 

Any IMBRA comments below are just my understandings and opinion, not a statement of legal opinion or certain fact.

 

On the waiver you discuss, if I am not mistaken, that is part of the IMBRA requirement, and that aspect of it is supposed to be about FIANCE visas, not SPOUSAL visas.  Or at least, the lifetime limit is for those FIANCE visas (again, this is all my  understanding, I am not an expert, which is why I want to pay for help).  That is also one of the reasons I decided to go the spousal route instead of the fiancé path. Plus, we have been attached over 7 years, so I am pretty certain about our relationship working out. 

 

IMBRA supposedly ALSO comes into play on whether or not you used a so called broker to meet your fiancé/wife. In this aspect of the law, both the fiancé visas and  spousal visas supposedly are affected by IMBRA.  When you answer how you met your wife (with either type of visa), the IMBRA rule is supposed to come into play.  However, my understanding is they do not pay attention to this, unless you specifically stated you used a real marriage broker, which may be almost non existent now in the current landscape (for our citizens, the Asians have some for their guys).

 

The IMBRA statute pretty much changed the landscape when it became law, the real marriage brokers went under (at least brokers catering to the U.S. guys), and now we have online services which supposedly bypass IMBRA by the way they charge customers.  This is based on how they equally offer free or paid services to Americans or natives at the same level, so they can claim they are not a marriage broker.  IMBRA was designed to regulate brokers who charged Americans (men, really) who paid money to find natives who were in poverty and had desperate lives.  It was especially powered by one or two cases that made the news back then where guys had brought fiances over and a couple of them resulted in the deaths of the women.  It was an interesting case study in how the news could change our laws based on a very small number of cases.  It also probably just added confusion rather than clarity and improvement.  I think this is why  it is largely ignored by our government now.

 

This  all came down just before  the internet changed the scene and so then these specialized brokers could no longer compete with their old business plan.  As this attempt to regulate so called brokers was no longer relevant (due to the new online scene), perhaps the entire concept of IMBRA faded away with our government.  It is an interesting question for specialists, and if you think about it, there are countless laws and regulations that are ignored or no longer really relevant in our nations.

 

Anyway, from my studies of all this, the IMBRA thing is not widely understood or at least rigorously pursued or enforced at the consular interview level.  I read up on it after my visit to that visa agency in Cebu, and found some detailed information, including notes from a U.S. government audit discussing how the consular officials often failed to even ask about the relevant IMBRA questions (especially how you met, was it technically a marriage broker?) during interviews with the beneficiaries.  So I have the idea that guys can have past marriages or fiancé visas and go through the process and the IMBRA thing can be completely ignored by everyone, and if there is no glaring problem, the visa process works.  To be complete, I should briefly add that my personal worry with the age difference and past history is that some government official will not like what I am doing, and so look for a reason to reject my case, and some minor detail like how I tackled the IMBRA question on meeting (which is usually ignored) will be a reason to delay or reject my case.

 

This kind of a discussion can get so detailed and sometimes there is no clear right and wrong, the question is how the statute is enforced and how applicants have to follow the unclear/uncertain/unenforced statues in order to succeed.  Of course, this is why I want someone with more experience than I have on the topic.

 

For anyone who happens upon this post and wants to see that note about the U.S. government audit finding a lack of enforcement and understanding of IMBRA by their own consular officials, I can find it, but prefer not to muddy up this relatively simple thought I am posting about here, which is, who should I use for help. PM me if anyone wants to see the file I put together on IMBRA, it is several pages and is dull reading unless it is a big question for a person and his particular case.   Folks who have a real issue with IMBRA should probably consult a specialist.

[Edward and Jaycel 924]

Jaycel and I have an almost 30 year age gap, and during her interview the Consular Officer did ask how we met. She said that her answer to that question was the one he seemed to pay the most attention to and was looking in her eyes the whole time she was answering. She said the rest of the interview was very formulaic by comparison and he only appeared to be half paying attention. On a similar note as yours above, when I lived there in the Philippines with Jaycel for a year, I was approached no less than 4 times while I was extending my tourist visa by people (who looked like they for sure were in Bureau of Immigration uniforms, except with the shirt covered up or taken off) offering to get me a permanent resident visa for the small fee of 500,000 PHP. Needless to say I did not want to risk breaking the law over there and continued extending my tourist visa until I had to move back here to the US.

[Crazy Cat 42,757]

10 hours ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

Nice to see folks not blasting me for my age difference or number of ex wives or whatever.

Your case is not unique to Visa Journey.  We see wide age gaps from time to time. That's why the answers you have received about the age difference for the Philippines are pretty consistent.  And we don't judge......😃 May you have a smooth journey.

Edited 22 hours ago by Crazy Cat

[Larry.in.HCMC 2]

Hi Edward, thanks for your nice response.  I am not an expert at what happens in these interviews, but I do know about what is called "the first 5 seconds", a very important lesson about meeting (or even seeing) people in business or social settings.  The lesson is that we tend to make very quick decisions on liking a person and wanting to help that person, in as little as 5 seconds. And while we may say we are more open minded and try to consider more than just cursory information, people do generally decide if they want to help you (or hire you, or date you, or befriend you) very quickly.  So, the first question and answer can be the key.  If the interviewee is friendly, confident, has a good answer, and maybe even an answer that pleases the questioner, then he may already have made up his mind.  After that, the beneficiary is just making sure she (or he) does not make some major mistake.  I would hope a visa interview was a bit more meaningful, but human nature is that either they like you or they do not like you.  

 

Are you sure that was 500,000 php?  That is about $8,777 at current exchange rates.  Going month to month on it is pretty cheap, maybe $50 a month or so.  They tag you for some extra charges from time to time, but that number seems way high.  We did not ask what the guy wanted for the fast service, probably should have.  I try to avoid the corrupt pricing, just find it somehow offensive.  

 

 

[Larry.in.HCMC 2]

15 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

And we don't judge......😃 May you have a smooth journey.

 

Nice to know the members here are helpful.  I used this site some 20 years ago on a previous marriage, and I was able to file my own case.  I probably still could, but with my profile, I think it is best to pay for some expert advice.  I do know that the government folks WILL judge, and I want to do my best to have a clean case for them, despite the age gap and past marriages.  I do not want to be delayed over some very small thing they can find and use it to delay us, especially because someone does not like my profile.

 

 

 

 

[Edward and Jaycel 924]

17 minutes ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

Are you sure that was 500,000 php?

 

Yes.... but remember this was going to be in exchange for permanent resident status, and the way they tried to sell it to me was, "You can live here forever and only check in with BoI once per year!" LOL I wasn't interested in bribing government officials. 

[W199 376]

11 hours ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

I had a total of 3 fiance visas, 0 spousal visas.  2 of those turned into marriages and eventually divorces.  1 visa resulted in the girl returning to her own country.  I also had a marriage early in my life that was with an American, so of course no visa required. 

 

My history is surprisingly similar to yours.

 

Important, there are new K-1 rules now that didn't exist when you did this 20 years ago.  Now that you have 2 or more prior fiance visas (K-1), you are NOT eligible to for another K-1 one without getting waiver. But there are no restrictions on CR-1 vias. That will add a lot of time if you marry in the Philippines since it takes many months to get a PSA marriage certificate, let alone several weeks to get married.

 

With your I-129F, you will need to submit a waiver.  I didn't, and got an RFE, but it only took about 4 days for them to approve my K-1 after getting the request for the waiver.

 

All your waiver needs to do is prove you are not abusing the K-1 system, and you are marriages were legit, etc.  This is just to prevent harm to girls from men that do serial K-1s for harming, absuing, human trafficing, etc ... 

 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by W199

[W199 376]

3 minutes ago, W199 said:

My history is surprisingly similar to yours.

 

Important, there are new K-1 rules now that didn't exist when you did this 20 years ago.  Now that you have 2 or more prior fiance visas (K-1), you are NOT eligible to for another K-1 one without getting waiver. But there are no restrictions on CR-1 vias. That will add a lot of time if you marry in the Philippines since it takes many months to get a PSA marriage certificate, let alone several weeks to get married.

 

With your I-129F, you will need to submit a waiver.  I didn't, and got an RFE, but it only took about 4 days for them to approve my K-1 after getting the request for the waiver.

 

All your waiver needs to do is prove you are not abusing the K-1 system, and you are marriages were legit, etc.  This is just to prevent harm to girls from men that do serial K-1s for harming, absuing, human trafficing, etc ... 

 

 

Hi

 

Sorry, I misread what you wrote. Yes, since you are applying for a spousal visa, CR1, the waiver for the K-1 does not apply.    But as I said, it should also be pretty easy to get the waiver. It was for me and others from what I heard.  But that is always a small risk of wasting time if it is not approved.

 

Just keep in mind if you get married in the Philippines, you will need the PSA marriage certificate to file for the CR1 spousal visa, and that can take upto 6-9 months to get after you get married.  If you do something like a Utah online wedding, that will be very fast. But it may come with other headaches down the line. But other people have not had a issue with it. 

 

If you are not in any rush, as in years, then a nice Phililppines weddings sounds like a good choice .. just be ready for the whole Barangay to stop by to take out some food.