top_secret

To further clarify, travel Tax DOES NOT apply to Filipino citizens, dual citizens and Balikbayans who are resident overseas and spent less than a year visiting the Philippines. They just need to stop by the TEIZA desk and show their green card, permanent resident visa or foreign passport and their entry stamp to claim the exemption certificate. We do it every time now and no more travel tax for any of us. It's anyone, including foreigners, who are resident in the Philippines or has spent more than a year in the Philippines that ARE subject to travel tax. So, it goes almost exclusively by country of residence rather than citizenship. Ordinarily a Filipino emigrant would only need to pay it the first exit leaving to move overseas. All future trips are exempt unless they move back to the Philippines. I agree they don't seem to enforce E-Travel on exit but the online status in your e-travel account does change to "CLEARED BY IMMIGRATION" in real time when you actually pass exit immigration. So, even if they dont mention it their system is definitely looking at it. It generates a digital record that you have immediate access to of your exit in the unlikely event dates of entry and exit were ever questioned for any reason. I fill it just for that reason.

Anyone who has spent much time in the Philippines will come to understand that it is the land of inconsistency. Rules for EVERYTHING, everywhere, constantly change depending on who you deal with, where it takes place, temperament of parties involved, morning, afternoon, day of the week, time of the month etc etc. The results that the other guy got in no way means someone else might get the same. Americans tend to want concise and accurate rules, to properly fulfill the specific requirements and therefore be 100% sure of some guaranteed outcome. The Philippines just doesn't work like that. Flexibility and ability to quickly alter course when carefully made plans fall apart are key to any important endeavor there. CFO specifically has been making up random off the wall rules for years. Placating them just to get past them and out the door is the easiest path.

Using Korea as a broad example, USFK has instructions online for troops stationed in Korea. https://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/sja/assets/doc/marriage/Marriage-In-Korea-USFK-FN.pdf Other stations may be quite different but the basic concept is to get the new spouse squared away with military formalities, then go to Embassy, get green card.

Depending on where you are deployed overseas you may have options available to you that are not available to the general public. Troops deployed in Korea, Japan etc can often accomplish a direct consular filing at the US Embassy and get a green card in as little as a month or two. Definitely consult with base legal services and see what options and assistance are available to you before you file anything with USCIS.

Going through LAX Tom Bradley terminal last month they had a new facial recognition system that completely eliminated kiosks altogether. There were just two scanning points and people walk up and almost instantly get a "green-GO" screen or a "see the officer" screen. It was probably operating at about 10 seconds per person. The only thing that even slightly slowed it down was that some people seemed to be confused by what the "green-GO" screen meant and lingered unnecessarily until the "GO" part was explained to them.

SoCal conservative Republican here. I have been though countless riots/protests in California, etc. I was literally on gladiator status back in '92 and have physical scars to I could show for it to this day. The protest today are literally small time nothing by LA riot standards. Gladiator in '92 could walk freely and even argue face to face with them In 2025. More cars have been burned over winning basketball games. I drove through downtown LA tonight with wife and daughter. Never felt safer in my life. I would have considered it inconceivable that I could ever agree with Gavin Newscum about anything. BUT, deploying our troops on our own streets against this fuc@%√ up city really, viscerally, infuriates me. Troops on our own streets for nothing. I even support all of the ICE raids except that they are doing them wrong.

I never said CFO was logical.😄 Just that's what they attribute all the recent uptick in additional requirements too.

They are attributing stepped up CFO scrutiny to a specific incident this January where a Filipina was murdered by her husband just 7 days after she arrived in Slovenia on a Slovenian spousal visa.

Wether it will be a problem or not on the I-130 is an open question. Disclosure isn't required anywhere on the I-130 but USCIS definitely still sees all. But filing for the K3 is completely useless and the (unnecessary) I-129F would require going out of his way to drag up, disclose and document everything. So the whole K3 idea is a really bad idea.

I would guess that it does not really make a difference. You could argue that K1 visa holders are technically still resident in the Philippines until they actually file for adjustment of status in the US, but CR/IR visa holders are resident in the US because they are actively traveling to their new country of permanent residence.

Reduced rate travel tax is pretty much limited to OFW's and their families. Your wife and daughter would be exempt from travel tax on future trips once they establish residence in the US. But first trip out they both have to pay.

She should be able to prefill most of that under "Manage Booking" on https://www.philippineairlines.com/ . She would also have another chance when the online check-in window opens at minus 24 hours from the flight. No matter what she will still need to check-in in person at the airport and they will sort it all there but completing online check-in grants them access to the much shorter online check-in line rather than the regular line. Also be aware of travel tax. Both must have paid 1620 Pesos. With Philippine Airlines it might, or might not have, been included in the ticket price depending on how you bought the ticket. If you aren't sure check the itemized ticket price for ~$29.10 each as travel tax or similar. If it's not paid in the ticket they have to stop by the TIEZA counter at the airport and pay before they can collect their boarding passes.

For E-travel the Philippine Passport is the one that is relevant to BI. A dual citizen would be leaving as a Filipino Citizen. If there is only a US Passport it would seem there is a 7 year overstay that does not apply to Philippine Passport holders. For the airline it is the US Passport that is most relevant since that is what allows them to board a plane to the US.

You can add the photo and all the passport info now, you just can't put in the flight details yet. It says 72 hours but it actually goes by calendar days. If is to soon, it simply won't allow you to choose the calendar day of the flight. It will be most convenient to have you daughter added under her mom's account because in the future you could pick both with a single visit to the web site. Dual citizens should list their Filipino Passport. You can change anything at any time up until you successfully use it. The online status changes to "CLEARED BY IMMIGRATION" in real time when they get past immigration at the airport.

Social Security likes to defer to the name that exists on your most recent "immigration document". They want some kind of visa, EAD, advance parole, green card etc with the name before they want to change it. If you have EAD now that should be gold.

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.