JE57

Hello All, I, USC, living in Hong Kong with my Wife, Nationality (Philippines), both of us HK Permanent Residents. I have Mandatory Retirement Dec 31st, 2025, and a Job offer to relocate back to the USA with my current multi-national company with a start date of 1 Sept. 2025. Filed I-130 in early Feb of 2024, VJ says latest approval estimate June 4, 2025. With NVC processing that makes the timing tight at best. My wife has a valid B1 visa that expires Nov. 2025 and has traveled many times on her B1 with no issues. - Opinions on what I should do? Possible thoughts: 1) Just wait and hope it all gets done on time. 2) Request to Expedite the I-130 3) Wait for I-130 approval and request Expedite at NVC stage 4) Have my wife apply for a B1 visa as a backstop in case spousal visa not approved in time For option 4, I suppose we'd have to maintain a residence address of some form in Hong Kong along with living in the USA and she'd (We) would have to fly back to Hong Kong for the interview? I suppose we also risk her not getting approved for the B1 or if approved being denied entry on the false presumption that she'd adjust status in the USA (we wouldn't, of course). She has entered the USA twice since I applied for the I-130 for her with absolutely zip, zero questions or issues. DCF is no longer an option as I-130 has been filed. - Opinions/Suggestions/sage wisdom or even just kindly advising patience and faith are all welcome. My start date might be flexible to push back if visa is not complete but can not under any circumstances be pushed into 2026 Thanks in advance. Joe Thanks in advance.

Good luck with you application and process.. I also applied recently for my wife using the online form. I found that it helped to have a copy of the printed form and the instructions for that form while I filled in the online form as some things were not as clear in the online questions as in the context of the online form. I also found that reviewing the 'generated' form before submission was a valuable activity some things like addresses and such had to be adjusted to fit properly.

After visa approval as per NOA2 then the case get's sent to NVC which has it's own process that can take 6 months before they send it to the embassy. It's at that stage when your wife will start the process in Hong to get all the documents required by the US Embassy Hong Kong for her interview. Yes, so long as she is resident in Hong Kong (so long as she has a HKID card she qualified even as a FDH) she'll do her interview there. But unfortunately if you don't yet have NOA2 her interview is likely much further away than either of you might prefer. The good news is that with due diligence and meeting the requirements of the embassy was not that bad once you get the letter but will likely require her to make at least one trip to the Philippine Consulate in Admiralty. Or at least it did for us back in 2015 maybe things have changes we'll find out in about 18 months. And no you can't really do anything in advance. It's about waiting sadly.

Just filed I-130 for my wife back on Feb 10th. Current estimates on VJ for approval of I-130 is 12 months. Then NVC another 6 months or likely more. As others have said spousal visa is a significantly better visa especially depending on the length of your Marriage as that depends on rather she will be required to go thru removal of conditions on her green card or not. Since you are already married K-1 isn't an option anyway. Keep your head-up. Try to make arrangements to go see her whenever you can. Also, as I previously also filed for a K-1 for my wife now wife I found that VJ timelines are a little funky. As you go thru this journey it will be better that your timeline reflects your current one rather than the previous K-1. The only way I could figure out how to do that was to extensively edit my timeline to remove all the prior K-1 information you may want to do the same. There are many wonderful people here who will support you and offer you assistance on your Visa Journey including my wife and myself. Suggest that you keep an eye on your application and check your NOA1 and see what service center you are at and get some estimates of times based on your service center. I don't see any indication that any of them would be 3 years so perhaps that was a typo as well. Would further suggest that you read thru the Philippines forums and try to anticipate any issues or different requirements. Good luck to you and your wife. Finally as it seems you previously brought your finance to the US from Armenia and she became a citizen you should be open and honest with your Philippines wife about what caused that relationship to go south as eventually in her interview she may face questions about that. Good Luck and God Bless you and your wife.

This was a bit confusing and I hope to offer others the benefit of my experience. The online questions and answers are not as obvious as filling out the form directly. I suggest to print or have the offline form available when filling out the questions to generate the online form. Things line space for address information on the online questions may truncate that information when populated into the generated form. As such I also suggest that once you think you have filled it out completely to review the submission where a 'sample' of the online form will be generated. Check that and modify your answers as required. The other gotcha was that after submission I waited for a week for the NOA1 but later when I logged into my USCIS online account I realized that my receipt was generated the same day as submission and that the information about the service center was at the bottom of the PDF receipt viewable from the online account. Finally, when paying for the application I did ACH transfer from a US Bank account which I'm lucky to have considering I live overseas. Not sure how a international Credit card would have worked out. ACH was quick, efficient and free.

I agree with others that the chances of approval are extremely low but so long as the OP is completely honest there is no harm in trying. I'll also point out that even if the visa is approved that the OP would likely face rather extensive questioning on exit from the Philippines and potentially be off-boarded as Philippine Immigration may see this as a risk of trafficking. I strongly, suggest that the OP consider traveling to meet BF someplace else that also requires a VISA that is far easier to get for which a 700,000 Peso job and bank information would make approval of that Visa much more likely and which would raise less suspicions outbound with Philippine immigration. Consider Japan or S. Korea perhaps? Bear in mind that 700,000 Peso a year is a good salary in the Philippines but not even meeting minimum wage in the USA. Of course, it's unlikely that the US Embassy will even ask about salary. As others have said.. Be honest. but be prepared with alternate plans.

No such clearances should be necessary to interview for a tourist visa. The stated requirements would be required for some immigrant visa's but not a tourist Visa. Generally speaking they should be prepared to present any ties to the Philippines but only produce those if specifically asked. Odds are they will not be asked.

Thanks. I'll have to go back and see if we can find her A-Number. And no we are not filing Adjustment of status. We have lived overseas for 8 years since her K1 was approved in 2015, she used it. We stayed in the USA... got married there total time in USA less than 90 days. We thought we'd be staying but then I got a job offer back in current county. Since leaving the US in 2015 she got a B1 visa and we've been in and out of the USA several times since then but we still live overseas. I will be forced to retire locally because of my age but will be able to continue working for the company in the USA and will use the 'job offer/transfer' to accomplish the financials to enable me to petition for her. We did the same thing with the affidavit of support for the K1.

Good Day, On I130 application there are sections that talk about rather I've ever previously filed a petition for this applicant. The answer is I previously filed a I129F which resulted in a K1 visa that was used. We got Married in the US in 90 days and then left the US and moved back overseas before submission of adjustment of status. I assume that the K1 visa doesn't count and that only the adjustment of status would have counted. Am I correct, or should I somehow mention the previous approved I129F. As a K1 visa isn't technically an immigrant visa rather a visa with Immigrant intent I suspect it doesn't count as a previous petition. Thoughts? Thanks, Joe

Confused. I-130 (online) asks if Petitioner has ever filed for Beneficiary - Yes. Filled a I129F for current spouse (I am petitioner and US Citizen), was granted she entered we married we did NOT adjust status and both moved back overseas. She applied for and was granted a tourist Visa and we've been to the USA several times since. After getting married she applied for and was granted a US SSN. We are still living abroad and I'll work with my international employer to get a job offer from the US division of the company I now work for so once I130 is approved will have information and support from current employer (US Division) to show intent to establish domicile and should be able to get by without a co-sponsor. So to the question... Clearly the answer to the has the beneficiary been in the USA is YES. Can look up I94 information for last visit but don't believe she has a class of entry as she never got a green card. The authorized stay on the most recent I94 would have passed (but she did leave before that date). How do I find detailed instructions for this section of the form ?