RO_AH

If you want her to have it before the interview then send it. You are reading too much into this. Within 30 days is more than enough time if you are sending via air. My recommendations from best first is: 1. LBC if you are close to a branch. (via air not BB of course) 2. DHL 3. FedEx All of these should be 2 weeks or less. Why are you concerned what RapidVisa even says. Just use some critical thinking and ask here. You should only follow what the US Embassy website says. If I recall correctly I don't even think my wife had or needed the wet signature copy.

I am really not understanding what you are asking here. Change her mind on what?

Because he wants to make money. Because he doesn't understand Philippines law. This page discusses the law and the supreme court precedence HERE Giving them something showing the law in the Philippines should be good enough. The birth certificate will say unmarried and in the law in PH says that means that the mom has sole custody. If you need a court order affirming this she would need to retain a Philippine lawyer. But probably not the one she is currently talking to. Maybe even the one in the link I sent. Make sure that she is not asking too much. I would think that all she needs is a court order affirming that she has full custody of her children. It is common knowledge that she does in the Philippines, but she needs one (according to what you are saying) to prove that in USA. The last thing you want to do is get the father involved. He will most likely cause trouble and want to be paid off to sign anything. Welcome to the Philippines.

The father can't fight back. If he did not marry her he has zero rights.

In that case I do not believe that you need to do anything. Children born to an unwed mother are sole custody of the mother in Philippines law. The father has no rights. @top_secret may be able to confirm this.

I take it the children are not yours? Was she ever married to the father if not you? Is there a father listed on the birth certificate?

I don't think it will matter what it says for the fathers name. As long as their names, your name, and birth dates are all correct. They were born out of wedlock so that makes you the sole parent/guardian with full rights by Philippines law. You do not need his consent from what I recall.

Just email them and ask. Every place I have stayed at in PH has been very friendly and helpful when I contact them.

She'll be fine. I am surprised that she is not bringing a friend or family member. She should probably go to SLEC early but that's real close. No reason at all to go the USEM that early. The will not let her in until 30 min before the interview so she would have to wait outside. Make sure she doesn't bring her cell phone.

Will your Fiance be by herself. Is she a province girl or used to cities? She will be going in the morning or middle of the day so she will be fine. She can probably just grab a trike at the hotel to USEM and walk to SLEC. She has most likely lived in PH her life so she should know how to function. If she has not lived in a city before, of course she will need to be aware and cautious.

You need to have visa in hand to schedule. They only do in person. I don't think they ever did it via whatsapp. My wife did it over the phone during Covid but it is all back to in person now. Don't worry about it, it is pretty fast to schedule it.

Here is what I posted the other day. I got married there so this is first hand: Getting married there is not as daunting as it seems. Here are my main suggestions. 1. Have her go to her LCR and ask what are the requirements to marry an American in the Philippines. The reason is that it does vary depending on where she lives. Every LCR has some different policies. Make sure she writes down every requirement and then read it back to verify. The reason for this is things are not very detail oriented there. You do not want to miss any requirements. 2. One requirement in all of the Philippines is that it takes 10 business days to get a marriage license. Plan on a 3 week trip since it will take 14 days to get your license. Even more if there is a holiday so make sure you know the Philippines holidays. 3. Last make sure she asks if there is an expedite process for your PSA marriage certificate. That will make it faster to apply for the CR1. If you do not ask, and pay the expedite fee it may take 6 months or so to get your official marriage certificate. Your other option is an online Utah wedding. They are the only state that allows and has a process for online weddings. You can do this while you are together there or with you in USA and her in PH. You will need to be together in person during or after the wedding for you to be able to file for the CR-1 Now with that said, I am not sure all of the requirements for an online Utah wedding but if you search this forum for Utah wedding, you should find all that you need fairly easy as it has been discussed at length on this forum. If you do not have things like your birth certificate, do you at least have someone at home that can retrieve them and scan them to you?.

It would kill the I29F and you would need to file a CR1.

Just search posts in this regional forum, there is a LOT of info on it. It is pretty simple. I don't know how long you have virtually known her but if it's been a long time and you are living together for a month for a visit, you could feasibly get it done the last few days before you leave. Or do it when you get back home but before going for another visit. Make sure you take lots of pics together while you are there including family and friends. You will need that when you apply for the visa.

Utah weddings became a big thing during Covid when the Philippines was locked down, you would need a special visa that you could only get if you were married. So people started doing that, then they were able to go there to meet in person so they could file.

Your marriage must be consummated before filing for a CR-1. Meaning that you will need to be together in person. If you are there when doing am online wedding you are good. If you are apart when doing the online wedding, you will need to go in person before filing.

I almost wonder if they paused CR/IR visas to focus on clearing the K1 backlog

I think you are spending too much time reading too much info in the wrong places. I believe CR1 is a much better choice. I would say almost all people that have gone the CR Route and many who have gone the K1 route would agree. Getting married there is not as daunting as it seems. Here are my man suggestions. 1. Have her go to her LCR and ask what are the requirements to marry an American in the Philippines. The reason is that it does vary depending on where she lives. Every LCR has some different policies. Make sure she writes down every requirement and then read it back to verify. The reason for this is things are not very detail oriented there. You do not want to miss any requirements. 2. One requirement in all of the Philippines is that it takes 10 business days to get a marriage license. Plan on a 3 week trip since it will take 14 days to get your license. Even more if there is a holiday so make sure you know the Philippines holidays. 3. Last make sure she asks if there is an expedite process for your PSA marriage certificate. That will make it faster to apply for the CR1. If you do not ask, and pay the expedite fee it may take 6 months or so to get your official marriage certificate. Your other option is an online Utah wedding. They are the only state that allows and has a process for online weddings. You can do this while you are together there or with you in USA and her in PH. You will need to be together in person during or after the wedding for you to be able to file for the CR-1

Is this even longer than the covid shutdown?

If the poverty guidelines change between the time the petitioner signed the Affidavit of Support and the issuance of an immigrant visa, must the petitioner/sponsor and joint sponsor, if required, submit a new Form I-864? No, the Form I-864 remains valid indefinitely unless evidence of failure to meet the poverty guidelines in effect on the date of I-864 filing arises. The consular officer will determine whether the income claimed by the sponsor and documented with financial evidence meets the poverty guidelines in effect at the time the I-864 was filed. If the income claimed does not meet the poverty guidelines, then the consular officer may request that the sponsor submit current year income information. In other words wait till the interview. Otherwise you are probably just creating more headaches for yourself.

All this reminds me of our case. We were probably 1 or 2 weeks away from IL an then the Embassy locked down due to Covid. When they finally opened up and we got the letter, my wife got flagged for sputum. When it was complete we could not reschedule interview due to backlog. We finally got the interview about a week from medical expiration. She had to redo medical and luckily no sputum the second time. Ours became an IR1 too.

Why would you update it? I don't think they would request more current info until after 4/15. Why did you even file, you should have waited til after the interview.

That was a waste of time and money. Also, the reason for the sputum test is that is much more accurate. This is why the just do the simple skin poke test that the other doctor did. Sadly there is nothing that you can do. The real shame is that we are letting millions through the southern border with no testing and we hand them a cell phone and cash when they arrive.

I don't think you will need them but, if you want to send it go ahead. My recommendations based on service and price: 1. LBC if it is close 2. DHL 3. FedEx

Just so you know, different countries are different. This is why the OP posted in a regional forum to get Philippine specific answers. It is very, very difficult to get a visitors visa in the Philippines.