top_secret

CFO is required by the Philippine government for a K1 visa holder to pass Philippine exit immigration when leaving the country. CFO generally won't talk to anyone who does not yet have the actual visa on hand so not much chance of getting it done in advance. Luckily they have been pretty quick lately for people who already have their visas.

Are you waiting until she gets here and has a Social Security number, or are you planning to file now with an application for an ITIN????? Either is possible. As far as her Philippine income, you just need to declare it to the IRS, you don't have to document it unless you got audited. The IRS is unlikely to audit anyone over a typical Philippine income. Though it's not necessary, if her employer is doing things correctly (not all do) she should receive and have to sign a BIR Form 2316 annually. Her employer would provide that and it would have all her income and withholding listed kind of like a W2 in the US. I'm not an expert on foreign income but I believe you could then exclude her income on the IRS form 2555 https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-2555 because the Philippines does have a tax treaty with the US.

AOS is supposed to mean that if she takes public assistance from the government then theoretically the government could come after you for to pay for the public assistance she took. It doesn't say anything about you writing her a monthly check. Alimony, divorce etc is a whole different issue but not directly tied to AOS. I wouldn't pay a dime unless a court orders you to.

Probably just outdated information then. Originally the affidavit of explanation was required to excuse the absence of a US entry stamp in the Philippine Passport that they previously required. By now they pretty much accept it as normal. Utah online marriage are now going through the Philippine Consulate in SF, USCIS and US Embassy Manila, in large numbers with no problems.

Did you get that checklist directly from the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco or did you find it online somewhere???? Some time ago they eliminated that particular requirement but since the Philippines tends to constantly change all the rules for everything it is important to have very up to date information. Unless you got that requirement directly from the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco very recently, then you can ignore it. If they have resumed that in the last few weeks (????) then take what they directly tell you very literally. Information you find online even a few months old may not be up to date. Generally the Utah online marriage are well understood and accepted by the Philippine government by now.

I just filled out the direct deposit boxes on the 1040 with my bank account info. No problem receiving it by direct deposit. If you ever had a paper check you could also pretty easily deposit it with most bank's mobile apps these days.

Don't make the same mistake my friend's wife made that got her wrongly refused entry and bounced back to the US. She had just arrived with an IR-1 visa, properly endorsed and and everything correct. They live in upstate NY and decided to drive across on a day trip to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Canadian Immigration told them that her "US VISA" did not make her admissible to Canada and sent her strait back to US CBP who were very sympathetic and helpful getting her signed back into the US properly. When my friend was telling me about this, the best I can surmise went wrong is that the Canadian immigration agent probably asked her status in the US. Being new to the US and probably not fully grasping all the finer details of her own immigration case, she probably incorrectly responded that she was in the US "on a visa" rather than as a Permanent Resident. I'm sure the IR-1 VISA in her passport that they had just spent the last two years working to get was fresh in her mind. A US Visa does not get you into Canada and the Canadian Immigration Agent didn't follow up, look at the visa, figure it out or understand that she was a permanent resident and not just visiting the US on a visa. So the moral of the story for them was, if Canadian Immigration asks questions about US Immigration status say "US PERMANENT RESIDENT" and be quite specific that the endorsed visa is their "temporary I-551 green card". Canadian Immigration probably should have figured it out but did not.

I would say you should run the numbers both ways and see what the financial difference in the return is. It would vary depending on a number of factors. It is not uncommon that a US spouse may have a high income and a foreign spouse may have much lower or no income and in those cases the potential difference between MFJ, MFS or Single in the tax return may be HUGE . However, there are plenty of cases where the foreign spouse has substantial income or the US spouse has a lower income and the result may be different. In our case we filed MFJ on paper (printed from TurboTax) along with a W7 and documents to apply for an ITIN for my wife. It delayed our return for months exactly as our case was in the final stages but we successfully completed NVC and got the visa with just pdf copies of our entire 1040 and all schedules,W2s and 1099's. Our return was over $10,000 greater than if I had file as single or MFS so it was definitely worth the effort. Unless you run the numbers both ways it's hard to know how much effort you should put into the decision.

I saw those reports too. They appear to be credible and that is kind of big news. Here is my take on the situation. There are only a relative handful of IR1/IR2 cases remaining for US Embassy Manila that have DQ dates older than mid May of 2023. It is very demonstrable that that almost all ordinary CR/IR-1/2 cases up to somewhere in May were included in the late June "mass-expedite". The only older cases outstanding had something that artificially held them back, like they are F2A to IR1 cases where the sponsor naturalized after the the late June mass expedite etc. So Feb-Mar 2023 cases getting interview letters are not huge numbers. What DOES have huge numbers and got many more interview letters today for Feb-Mar 2023 DQ dates are IR5's. Previously IR5, and CR/IR-1/2 cases were in different queues at USEM and CR/IR-1/2 were prioritized. What it really seriously looks like is going on here is last June USEM cleared all the CR/IR-1/2 cases up until mid May and then removed any prioritization for any cases that didn't make the cut and dumped them into the lengthy IR5 backlog. The clearing of the IR5 backlog is more trackable because of the numbers of cases and sponsors who are active online. It will be interesting to follow if the CR/IR-1/2 backlog now remains in lockstep with IR5. I am wagering that they do. If it's any consolation they have been clearing the IR5 backlog very quickly. If indeed USEM developed a large backlog that did not previously exist as they work to reduce other backlogs that does seem incredibly dumb.

Filing separately most commonly would not make financial sense for a married couple. There are exceptions and unusual circumstances but most often filing separately would represent a conscious choice to pay MORE taxes and receive a smaller return in order to keep finances separated. If that were the case, I could see why an an immigration officer might question why a married couple would chose to pay more. If there were a good explanation or circumstances than made sense than it shouldn't be a problem.

One thing we discovered from my wifes earlier Schengen visa applications before she was a US LPR, is that different Schengen embassies have differing responses to different nationalities. So the embassy that might be the most generous towards Filipino passports, may have a much tougher attitude towards some other nationalities and vs versa. It remains to be seen what response we get from Germany but we saw a number of anecdotal accounts of them giving somewhat longer term multiple entry visas to US LPR's with Filipino passports. Plus we missed Germany our last trip so plan to stop there anyways.

It was back in April when they said they discontinued the stickers but it doesn't surprise me a bit if they backtracked on that again after a month or two. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=610295504471310 When my wife did hers they made everyone pay a courier fee for the sticker and then never actually sent them to anyone or sent them many months later. It's kind of a moot point though because once she made it out the first time with her visa they have never asked or cared on any trip since.

Congratulations! CFO should be fine with only copies of documents.

We just completed a UK tourist visa for my wife and stepdaughter (CR1 and CR2 with Philippine passports). We are currently in the middle of processing German tourist visas which covers all the Schengen Area countries in Europe. For UK the process is that they apply online and pay the fee (USD $151). Then they must schedule and attend biometrics a USCIS Application Support Center. Obviously the UK and USCIS are on very close friendly terms. Then the receipt for the biometrics, all the documents, and passport are mailed to New York City to await adjudication of the application and placement of the sticker. UK seemed primarily interested in financial documents and proof of US LPR status. Bank statements and pay stubs showing how the trip would be paid for. I could guess the US spouses financial records would suffice with proof of the marriage. They accepted expired CR1 and CR2 green cards with extension letters without any problems. It took three weeks to get the UK visas which seems about typical. I think France requires biometrics at a VFS Global application center and pretty much any Schengen Visa requires a big stack of paperwork. Before my wife was a US LPR she was denied by France and at that time we discovered the Netherlands is the most "Filipino friendly" Schengen country. Though I think she would be fine applying through France now. This time we are applying through Germany based on some unsubstantiated anecdotal speculation that Germany is more likely to issue longer term multiple entry visas to US LPR's than some other Schengen countries.

If it's Philippines then all she needs to do is change her name in her Philippine passport to the one she wants. The PSA marriage certificate is all the legal proof she needs even though the name change is not explicitly stated. It will be way cheaper and easier to do it at some point before her visa interview.

Congratulations! All she needs is the online certificate with QR code and she is good to go. They eliminated the physical stickers.

No, shouldn't require that. Just tolerate with a smile whatever ordeal they put you through Monday and everything will 'probably' work out.

I would say that CFO has a long history of stringing people along to the last moment but finally coming through when it actually comes down to missing a flight or not. I would wager that it can probably be successfully handled somewhat inelegantly come Monday. Be in contact with her in real time in case CFO comes up with any oddball requests. I would put an all out effort into using that visa on time. I believe it is realistically doable.

I think you said you arrive Korean Air in LAX, is that your final destination? Korean Air will arrive at Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX. There you will go through Immigration first. That will probably take a while depending how many other flights arrive the same time. AFTER you have already cleared immigration you take the escalator downstairs and there is baggage claim. Find the carousel for your flight and most likely your bag may be there already given the time it takes to clear immigration. You will have plenty of time to pick it up. No worries there. Then you head out to the exit. Most likely customs will just wave you through. If LAX is your final destination you turn left and there is a ramp upstairs and whoever is picking you up should be at the top of the ramp. If you have a connecting flight, you turn right and there is a counter to re-check your baggage to your final destination. Any connections at LAX will involve a terminal change.

She should go down there early Monday. They will give her a hard time about no appointment but will 'probably' let her walk in same day. Try getting an appointment first thing Monday too as a backup. CFO doesn't work weekends.

She probably still has plenty of time to get a new corrected one. I think most of the NBI offices now have appointments available in the immediate near term future and could probably process it same day or worst case 2 weeks if she gets a 'hit".

Avoiding checkpoints in Jakarta is indeed a highly desirable endeavor but those guys can be tricky sometimes. 🙄 Stay in the hotel at night and your odds improve.

That is indeed a valid concern. I have been asked for my passport many times at checkpoints in Indonesia. Usually I had it on me, a few time in Surabaya I was passed through with just a photocopy and US Drivers licence. In Jakarta I was detained along with the poor taxi driver who was driving me for like an hour with the cops trying to shake me down before they got tired of it and let us go. Your circumstances is unusual so I could not say what the embassy would do but I am sure they are aware of the issue in Indonesia and would be sympathetic. Perhaps your own embassy could provide you with a temporary document?

5. or 6. are only for those with spousal visas. It doesn't apply for K1.

It sounds like you are good to go. In the US it's just passport with visa. Im sure it says “IV Docs in CCD” on your visa which means all the rest of the "paperwork" is already in their system and there is nothing to carry. Have your US Address written down somewhere for if they want to verify where to send your social security card and green card.