top_secret

Strangely, for my stepdaughter's MyUSCIS account the OAN does appear under My Account > Profile. However the "Profile" menu choice does not even exist on either my wife's or my own MyUSCIS account. I'm not sure what would cause the difference. Here is a hack I discovered to find your online account number if it is not listed. Start a new dummy N-400 online filing. Then just click "next, next, next" ~10-12 times until you get to the page asking your Online Account Number and you should find it pre-filled with the OAN for the account you are in. It's on the page immediately after the page that asks your A-Number. Once you have the OAN just delete the dummy N-400.

For us, the green cards had unusual USPS tracking for some reason. Normally USPS Informed Delivery is fairly reliable in my neighborhood but both times we had green cards arrive they just showed up in our mail box without showing any of the inbound tracking we would normally expect. There may also be a big discrepancy between when USCIS says they mailed them, and when they actually mailed them. I wouldn't even start worrying about it being lost in the mail for at least a full week to 10 days.

I saw a new one for CFO posted in a Facebook group recently. The CFO counselor was demanding, in writing, a screenshot of the of the visa recipient having a video chat with her husband's family.

That very well could be. Everything was weird then. I never entered between April 2020 and July 2023.

They must have something personal against you then. I have honestly entered the Philippines something like 150 times over more than 2 decades and never once been asked for an onward ticket by BI. Flying one way tickets or round trip tickets originating in the Philippines the airlines WILL check your onward ticket about 90% of the time and won't check you in without one.

They would accept a valid onward ticket for any date in the future. Even a year out. Any round trip ticket works too regardless of the return date. The airline at check-in is the only place that ever checks, though the are strict about having one.

Opps. I did read that incorrectly and confused the petitioner with the beneficiary. Nonetheless, if someone intends to change their name due to marriage, they are legally entitled to, and in my opinion should go all in, immediately for everything sooner rather than later. Using different names in different situations or putting a name change when you intend to change it is more confusing. Name usage kind of has momentum and the longer one continues to use a name the more hassle it is. IF she want to change it, I would change Social Security, State DL/ID and everything else as soon as is convenient. USCIS even addresses it in their question with, "Your current legal name is the name on your birth certificate unless it is changed after birth by a legal action such as marriage..............."

If her name is changed due to marriage then just start using it everywhere for everything. A marriage certificate is a legal name change document. Use her married name on the I-130 and put her maiden name as "other names used". The visa, green card, social security card and all the other new US document that are derived from those documents will be in the name that appears in her foreign passport she brings to the embassy the day of her interview. If she wants to changes her name, and if it is at all possible, it will save her untold hassle if she changes her foreign passport BEFORE her interview. It costs $415 and can take a year to change the name on a green card once it has been issued. I'm guessing(?) it is much cheaper and easier to update a Turkish passport.

Good luck on the interview. CFO will not make an appointment until she has an actual visa on hand. Once she does have actual visa it should not be a problem to get an appointment very quickly. She specifically needs to attend GCP. Not PDOS.

Meanwhile, ~17 Filipinos DIE every day from TB, ~170,000 cases of Dengue per year, ~1,000 cases of Measles per year, Hepatitis, food poisoning etc, etc. The Philippines even has like 80 lightning strike deaths per year if you want that risk comparison. I would wager that every last one of those infected with monkey pox was involved in behavior that put them at risk, mostly while overseas, and the one death they mentioned was probably someone already weakened by other conditions related to there lifestyle choices. It's as close to zero risk as anything could possibly be in the Philippines. If anyone is really unreasonably concerned then just get the vaccine before you go. Your odds of death crossing the street in front of you hotel is far greater than catching monkey pox.

Although Monkeypox is not specifically a STD, it does seem to mostly infect persons of the same demographic groups that (ahem) might also be at risk for HIV. As such there is probably very close to zero risk for a child tourist. It's a total non-issue for most folks. There is a vaccine available for those who feel they may have an increased risk.

A Filipino retiree who has a child living legally in the US is by definition "well off" by Filipino standards. In many cases it may be best to just highlight how good the Filipino parent has it in the Philippines based on that simple fact. The Embassy may get it. The Embassy could care less about bank balance. Europe, Japan, Korea Australia, and other "visa nations" place a high significance on actual bank balance. US only cares about how could they get the money, not what money they have.

US Embassy Manila operates on the assumption that it is trivial to produce a convincing forgery of almost any document in the Philippines. Since they have no time to properly authentic any certificate, statement, deed, title or anything else other than a Philippine passport at a B2 visa interview, they attach no significance whatsoever to those documents and won't even look at them. Anyone could say or document any bank balance they want. It's meaningless to the embassy. It's all about the interview and the DS160. To pass one must seem like they have the overall circumstances that merits a visa. How they say the get the money in the bank is more important than money in the bank.

They won't even look at her bank certificate, statement, deeds, titles or any documents she brings to the interview other than her passport. There is no magic bank balance that is helpful at all. Realistically it all hinges on how convincingly she can verbally discuss her circumstances in the Philippines.

You should be good to go. Everything covered. DSWD Clearance never applies to any child traveling with their mother. Paperwork or not, BI will not dare to question a mother child relationship unless there is some glaring outwardly visible issue. Children with non Filipino citizenship are exempt to.

They have commuter status that would allow LPRs to live in Mexico or Canada and commute across the border working in the US without risking being deemed to have abandoned their LPR status. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-11-part-b-chapter-4 I don't think it works for N400 though.

Does the apostle cover part of the back? On our Costa Rica marriage certificate it took three scans. Front, back with apostle, and a third scan of the back with the apostle folded out of the way revealing what's underneath.

We have people where I work who commute daily from Tijuana to San Diego and back. It's actually quite common. Like the US, Mexico has no formal exit control. Foreigners in Mexico are supposed to have a FMM and it is your responsibility to go to the IMM office and get one if you arrive by land, but if you stay in the border region no one is going to enforce that and it is mostly ignored. They may check that at the airport departing on international flights, but not at land borders. They also have checkpoints beyond the border regions that may check your FMM. Like in Baja Norte I have never once been checked. Not even at the military checkpoints. But if you drive down as far as Baja Sur there is a good chance they might (or might not) check your FMM. It's really a system of randomness. We visited UK for the first time last year and I guess I just assumed we would encounter passport control on exit there but I was surprised when we didn't. I guess they leave that to the airlines like I-94 in the US.

It's sounds like significantly more than what we submitted and we were approved quickly. I don't think you have any worries.

LBC is certainly cheapest and has extensive logistics on the ground in the Philippines. It would be my first choice. We've had them deliver documents in 4 days before. DHL would be the choice if LBC wasn't an option. We had problems with UPS Express before in the Philippines and would not recommend. No experience with FedEx.

Usually on a certified copy of a divorce decree it's either a raised embossed seal or an ink stamp seal and signature from the court clerk or other official certifying it is a true copy. It's the certification of the copy that must be original. Since you list Honolulu as a locality, there is a LBC office there and that will be the fastest, cheapest, most certain way to get an original document delivered to the Philippines.

Today, 05/19/2025, more false "We have taken action on your case" messages and the "Actively Reviewing" date updated to today. Still nothing under documents tab.

The Embassy could care less about the Report of Marriage. It is not a requirement at all for US immigration purposes. CFO would give you a hard time if you don't have a ROM but they would be happy with just the the "receipt". The Embassy absolutely requires either a CENOMAR or an Advisory on Marriages. You order a CENOMAR from PSA and whichever document they return is what the embassy wants to see. They would accept a CENOMAR that incorrectly lists you as unmarried but they still want to see it.

It would seem almost unbelievable that any country would actually, really, fine a baby born within their borders for an overstay, but Philippines BI has really done that

The issue is, if the child would be treated by Philippine immigration as American or Filipino. Having only a US Passport is fine for entering and leaving the Philippines as a tourist. The child would even get a Balikbayan stamp allowing a one year visit. The problem in the above case is that the US Citizen child born in the Philippines has no Philippine entry stamp in their US Passport and may have accrued a serious overstay if they didn't have a Philippine Passport to show immigration. In the past Philippine immigration has actually fined foreign babies born in the Philippines for overstays. Renewing a Philippine Passport overseas is quite simple and efficient if you are anywhere near a Philippine embassy, consulate, or consular outreach location. Its not required, but also not a bad idea for dual citizens to keep passports for both citizenships.