US Immigration from Philippines

Aloha!

Believe it or not, Joan and I are about T-minus 11 months and counting before the move to the Philippines! It will be here before we know it and we will have a LOT to do, especially in the second half of the year. We do have some (OK, a lot!) questions as we plan for the move. Any information would be appreciated as always!

Our local consulate is once again processing 13A Spouse Immigrant Visas. The processing time is about 15 days way better than months in the Philippines! We still do not have an exact move date, but we are looking at the end of 2023. I will be 62 years old when I retire/we move.

1. VISA questions:

The process seems straightforward and similar to what it was to bring Joan here (application form, medical, chest x-rays, financial statements, etc.).

A. How long before the move would be a good time to apply for the visa?

B. I assume the question about arrests does not include minor traffic violations. Am I correct? I have a few traffic tickets over 40 years but have never been arrested for anything.

C. They ask for a local police clearance. I assume they want it from Hawaii and not the FBI? Either is fine, I just don t want to waste time sending the wrong one.

D. I will obviously note that I have Cerebral Palsy in the physical defect question on the application but will note that it does not qualify as an A or B category medical issue (same will be noted on the medical form). Do you see any issues with that?

E. I searched and searched but could not find any specific reference to the financial requirements. We will own our house and land outright by the time we move and my pensions from NY, CA and HI along with SSA, while not a great deal of money, will cover our bills with some left over. I will not be retired yet if I apply for the visa from Hawaii. Would the calculated estimates plus title (I am listed on the title as married to...) be sufficient to prove financial stability?

2. Banking Issues:

A. Our current bank will allow us to keep the account with a Philippine address, so that is very helpful. We will be setting up a bank account in the Philippines when we visit this summer (I know about the IRS form we need if we maintain a foreign account with at least $10,000.00 no biggie). My pensions need to go into a US bank account (which is OK because we will still have some bills and taxes that will come out of our US account), but SSA can be deposited directly in the Philippines but I assume that my name needs to be on that account and I believe I can be listed on the account with Joan. We will have to send some of my pension from the US account to the Philippines, so it is not a major problem to have the SSA deposited to the US account and transfer if that is easier.

B. Speaking of sending money from the US to the Philippines once we live there, do you have any recommendations? We use Remitly now (I know that there are other choices, but so far, they work for us), however, they are only licensed to remit funds from the US if the sender resides in the US. They have a 6-month grace period but will then shut the accounts down. I have looked repeatedly online and I cannot find any options besides bank to bank transfers or ATM withdrawals and both of those are expensive. Do you have any recommendations? We may also have a larger amount to send once we sell our condo, but that might need to be bank to bank transfer unless someone has other experiences.

3. Health Insurance

A. Do you have any recommendations for health insurance? I am looking at the Kaiser International Senior Plan for me and something else for Joan, but not sure which way to go.

4. Driving issues

A. I have had a driver s license for over 40 years. I understand that getting a driver s license might be interesting once we get there. Do you see any issues with me obtaining a driver s license as a person with a disability? To be honest, I would not be terribly upset to retire from driving, but it would be good to have a license for emergencies.

5. Credit card issues

A. Do you know of any US credit card companies that allow you to have a foreign address? We have 3 now, but probably need to cancel them because they do not allow foreign addresses. We aren t thrilled with the idea of using a friend or relative s address. We also need to figure out how to cancel them without hurting our credit score. We have worked very hard and both have high scores.

I think that is it for now. We hope that we have not asked too much!!

Salamat mga kaibigan!

My Filipina Wife was DQ d on October 14, 2022. On January 10, 2023 we were notified by the NVC that the US Embassy in Manila has Approved our request for Expedited Processing of our Immigrant Visa Application. We never asked for it to be Expedited (Is this normal) however, how long should we expect to wait before we hear from the Embassy? How much time from Notification to Interview Date.

Hi, Just wanted to hear from others who are still waiting for interview to be scheduled after your paper was being documentarily qualified from NVC. its been 8 long months and still dont have interview appointment. Is this normal?

Below is a list of recent threads that track the NVC DQ dates that received IV ILs for specific consulates. This is meant to help members find a thread that addresses the question, "My case is DQ, how long til I get my IL?"

Note that this thread is intended as an index of tracking threads, not a DQ-to-IL tracker itself. If you have specific info about DQ to IL wait time, or are looking for such info, please post in the relevant thread listed below, not on this thread. If there is no tracking thread for your consulate, feel free to create one, so I can add it to the list later. If you know of an active tracking thread that is not on this list or a thread that is more active than the one listed here, let me know as well.

DQ - Documentarily Qualified
IL - Interview Letter
IV - Immigrant Visa

Hi you guys. My husband and I are gathering everything for the removal of conditions on his green card. I was wondering if mentioning we are getting remarried in the Philippines would help or hurt our case? We got married at city hall here in CA without any of our families. We've always planned on having a big wedding in the Philippines, but then covid happened. We're finally able to do it this MAY! SO excited! But I was wondering if its a good idea to add that to our evidence? I've got plane tickets, invitations, and a lot of vendor contracts showing both our names. Anyways, any advice would be great!

Thank you!!!