Edward and Jaycel

Great news!!

I do agree with this for sure.

Just hit my inbox at work........ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security is amending regulations governing the H-1B work visa selection process to prioritize the allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers. The new rule replaces the random lottery for selecting visa recipients with a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills. “The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Matthew Tragesser. “The new weighted selection will better serve Congress’ intent for the H-1B program and strengthen America’s competitiveness by incentivizing American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers. With these regulatory changes and others in the future, we will continue to update the H-1B program to help American businesses without allowing the abuse that was harming American workers.” The number of H-1B visas issued annually is limited to 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree holders. The current random selection process has often been criticized for allowing unscrupulous employers to exploit it by flooding the selection pool with lower-skilled foreign workers paid at low wages, to the detriment of the American workforce. To address these concerns, the final rule will implement a weighted selection process that will increase the probability that H-1B visas are allocated to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels. This final rule is effective Feb. 27, 2026, and will be in place for the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration season. The rule is another crucial step to strengthen the integrity of the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. It is in line with other key changes the administration has made, such as the Presidential Proclamation that requires employers to pay an additional $100,000 per visa as a condition of eligibility. “As part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to H-1B reform, we will continue to demand more from both employers and aliens so as not to undercut American workers and to put America first,” said Tragesser. For more information, see the final rule. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (Formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This is the worst part of the rampant fraud... the ones who genuinely need it get lost in the volume of bad actors

For context.... We just did this at the consulate in San Francisco. They required Jaycel to have the official copy of the PSA Marriage Certificate OR the official stamped Report of Marriage from the San Francisco Consulate. You can go to any consulate or the Embassy in D.C. with a PSA copy but if you only have the stamped ROM, you can only go to the consulate that issued the ROM for the first year after receiving it. After the 1st year, they expect you to have the PSA copy. Our experience in SF was super smooth... we were in and out of the consulate in 20 - 30 minutes and Jaycel had her new passport with her married name in the mail exactly 4 weeks later.

The can ask for anything on the list of "required" items. It's up to the Consular Officer. My wife was not asked for it during the interview for her K-1 but she had it and all the supporting documents with her just in case.

Congrats!! That’s great news!! 🎉🎉

USCIS never provided the tracking number for Jaycel’s green card that was delivered almost 5 months ago 🤣 Thank God for Informed Delivery

Jaycel got hers in the province in Mindanao 10 days after we ordered it for her.... I would also highly recommend ordering 5 copies when you make the request. It's been super handy having extra copies here in the US and it's way easier and cheaper to get them now while she's there in the PH than to get them delivered here in the US.

Your family gave you good advice and I'm happy to hear you are following it. Keep us posted on your immigration journey!

Glad they rescheduled it relatively quickly! 🎉

You will not submit the I-134 in the packet when you file the I-129F - That only happens when your beneficiary goes to the embassy for the interview. The I-864 never comes into play during the K-1 process - only after you are married and filing for the AOS

My apologies.... I misread what appointment you have on Dec. 29th. You can reschedule a biometrics appointment pretty easily if you have your online access to your account in the my.uscis.gov portal. I thought it said interview appointment. Now the question becomes, do you want to spend $580 (Online Filing Fee) or $630 (Paper Filing Fee) to re-file your I-131 application. That's a cost/benefit decision for you but personally, unless you think it might be likely that you need to do an emergency trip back home, I wouldn't bother. I say this because while the I-485 is pending, I would not travel on AP for anything but an emergency.

Do not reschedule your appointment unless it's a dire emergency keeping you from attending.... Having to change your travel plans is a small price to pay to get this done. You misunderstood this instruction. They are referring to the new $1,000 fee they implemented for being actually paroled into the country. You still needed to pay the application fee for advance parole when you filed. This is why it was rejected. Maybe fortunate and saved yourself $630 since they scheduled your interview so quickly, hopefully you will have no need of it.

It's never left for me.... been broken since you first reported it.