top_secret

LabCorp is practically everywhere in the US and will let one 'self order' a wide variety blood tests online. Though I would concur with others that it is probably cheaper/better to get them done in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe. https://www.ondemand.labcorp.com/lab-tests/womens-health-blood-test

Entering on at IR1 Visa makes you a US resident but it is a much more grey area if it makes you a California State Resident. If you are temporarily staying with your wife's parents it seems you would have to do something more to establish yourself as a California State resident. Applying for a California Drivers license could be the act that starts your residency.

One could argue that if you are staying temporarily with your wife's parents until you sort stuff out, you may still be a California State visitor and not yet a resident of California. Thus, your UK license would be perfectly valid until you did sort stuff out and permanently make your home in California. Your Social Security card is good as proof of residence in California because it arrives in the mail, from a government office, addressed to you. Your wife's printed PDF bank statement (plus your marriage certificate) would be good as a second proof of address since it is a "record from a bank". You are obligated to obtain health insurance. That is another possible source of proof of residence. If you sign a lease, open a new bank account with your wife, etc. etc. Getting established in the US will probably rather quickly generate a volume of records.

We sent it with the I130. They weren't real interested at my wife's interview. But if the consul had questions about the relationship for any reason, it is strong evidence since it is documented proof of you spending time together.

Arriving and departing from your spouses country is probably most relevant for you. If you traveled anywhere together matching up all of those boarding passes is helpful proving you were together. Since I traveled internationally allot with my wife I matched up our passport stamps too.

I used Libre Office Writer https://www.libreoffice.org/ since it was easy to drag and size photos into a collage and write over them. I've heard of others using PowerPoint which may be more mainstream. Just save it as a PDF and print it in color. 3 or 4 printed pages with a bunch of little pictures is much less cumbersome and may make a more immediate visual impact than any kind of album.

We just made a few pages like a photo collage with different themes, typed a few notes over relevant pictures and printed it all on a color LaserJet printer. Our goal was not so much to document specific details but rather to show happy smiley faces together in a wide variety of circumstances, places and times. Anyone could casually glance at those pages for 10 seconds and surmise that there's a genuine happy family together.

The big move is obviously a much higher priority but it is good to know what options may be on the table.

If your medical was Nov 2 (or Nov 9??) it would probably be good until May 2 (or May 9). Double check the expiration date whenever you get the visa. If your 2nd anniversary is April 16, there may be a pretty powerful incentive to delay entering the US until after April 16 to immediately get a 10 year green card and completely avoid the hassle and expense of removal of conditions.

Capital One has two levels of authorized users. For "Account Managers" with online access they require a Social Security number or ITIN. For "Authorized Users" (without online access) The SS# is optional. Either type of authorized user will be listed on the statement. That is specific to Capital One. "Most" other banks allow you to skip the SS number for authorized users. Generally all they need is a name and birth date.

We initially started preparing for either a K1 OR a CR1 petition in tandem before deciding to go all in on the CR1. Best decision I ever made. Not only was CR1 cheaper and easier but in our case, it ended up being way faster too. Like most here, our bona fide marriage evidence was very heavily weighted towards boarding passes, matching passport stamps and photos together. Photos of me with her family probably worked well too. There are some things you can do comingling finances like adding her as an authorized user on your credit cards and I added her as beneficiary on my 401k. But those are probably secondary. Obviously, we had no joint bank accounts and never cohabitated. I don't think you could find a single person here who regretted choosing CR1 over K1, but you could find a more than a few who went with K1 lamenting being stuck in adjustment of status purgatory.

Immigrating to the US spawns allot of new documents. If it is ones intention to change their name, it is certainly easiest (and cheapest) to change it sooner in the immigration process rather than later. A single change of name on a passport early in the process can save the individual changes of names later on a Green Card ($455 and probably 18 months), changing Social Security name, state drivers license or ID, banking, insurance, etc. etc.

California askes for an applicants Social Security Number but it is completely optional for a non-"Real ID" drivers license. It may be wise to wait for the Social Security Card if they want "Real ID" drivers license. My wife's Social Security Card arrived in less than a week. Foreign passport with a stamped immigrant visa, Social Security Card and the mailer it came in with CA address, plus one other piece of government or financial mail addressed to either the immigrant, or addressed to the petitioner plus a marriage certificate will supply proof of identity and California residence for a "Real ID". In my wife's case we had to kind of stretch our interpretation of when her residency started (since she failed her first driving test by running a stop sign at high speed in the DMV parking lot). Generally speaking, the California traffic offence of a new resident driving on a valid foreign license without completing a California Drivers License application in time is not particularly serious. Most likely a police officer would just accept the foreign license anyways. If someone was unlucky enough to get pulled over by an ill-tempered police officer, a simple citation would be issued and if the recipient showed up in traffic court three months later with a newly received California Drivers License the citation would almost certainly be dismissed with like a $20 admin fee. Even if the citation was not dismissed it's a $250 fine and is not a moving violation so no "points" or further consequences beyond paying the fee.

You should just use whatever the legal name is at the time an authorized user is added. Then if that name changes at a later date as the result of marriage, notify the credit card company and they will issue new cards and also update the credit reporting agencies. Thier credit report will list the new name and also the maiden name as an AKA. My wife made a last name change prior to arriving in the US or recieving her social security number and both names are accuratly reflected in her credit reports based on her being an authoriized user on my accounts.

With Philippine SIMs one must subscribe to a data plan. Daily, weekly, monthly whatever. There are many plan variations and promos. Some may include free messages only for certain apps. https://smart.com.ph/Pages/freeigfbforall (as an example) If Facebook messaging works and WhatsApp doesn't, it may be something like that. Find out what carrier she is using and how she subscribes her data.

It is true that now someone who already has an immigrant visa does not need proof of COVID vaccination to board a plane and fly to the US. However to get that visa in the first place, they still need to pass a medical where they will be required to show proof of COVID vaccination or a waiver. https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/civil-surgeons/covid-19-technical-instructions.html Two shots of china-vax should be fine for an immigration medical. Though china-vax is probably not much good at preventing COVID. US does not require boosters. I'm pretty sure the 13 y/o still needs to be vaxed.

"TNT" (tago ng tago)

In the past my wife was denied tourist visas twice by USEM even with somewhat strong qualifications. She already had multiple entry tourist visas with good travel history for Schengen area (Europe), Japan, and Korea. Owns a condo, owned a business, car, tons of financial documentation, college grad, etc. Her observation was that it seemed to her, she had been shot down before she ever walked up to the window and the interview was just a formality. Other than her passport they wouldn't even look at any of her financial documents, deed, title, or any other evidence she brought. Paperwork was useless and presumably being able to eloquently discuss ones property, money, business, etc. would have been more important that any documentation. Except in her case they cut her off rather quickly so she really didn't even have a chance to highlight what should have been highlighted. I wouldn't say it is impossible, because in some ways it may just be a ####### shoot, but I would also go in with low expectations and fully prepared to lose any $160/each visa fees paid.

Our latest tax transcript was not available for NVC or at any point prior to the interview so we summited the complete filed 1040 with all schedules and forms required for filing. Putting the W2's and 1099's up front and center, page 1. I also included two or three pay stubs and tax transcripts from the two previous years just for good measure. For us, that sailed through NVC and the Embassy trouble free.

I'm not sure I totally understand this. Is it that PSA Serbilis website will only allow 2 concurrent orders??? In any case there is an alternative online source for PSA documents if PSA Serbilis isn't working for you. https://psahelpline.ph/ is a private company that was previously the only accredited online source for PSA documents. When PSA themselves opened the Serbilis website, they allowed PSAHelpline to retain PSA Partner accreditation. They are legit and deliver by courier in the Philippines. I used them once when the PSA Serbilis web site was down for like 3 week in 2020.