top_secret

Actually with the "kids included free" it saves with credit card reimbursement, since mine only covers one Global Entry charge every 5 years.

That is only applicable if you were married in the Philippines. Since you are married in Utah you need the certified Utah Marriage Certificate. She DOES DEFINITELY need either a CENOMAR or an Advisory on Marriages. She needs to order a CENOMAR from PSA and whichever document she receives from PSA the embassy wants to see it. You can order one online if she doesn't already have one. https://psaserbilis.com.ph/

Only answer if the question applies to you. Since it does not apply to you at all, the answer is neither Yes or No. So leave it blank.

Starting yesterday, October 1, the fee for Global Entry went up from $100 to $120. The only good news for some is that now children are free if they have a parent who already has Global Entry or if they apply concurrently with their parent. NEXUS users take the biggest hit with their price increasing $50 to $120.

Any new winners from this election won't be seated until January '25 anyway so the current answers should remain correct. As others have mentioned, my wife is finding the flash cards from Amazon to be particularly helpful. They seem to click well with her style of learning. She also finds the mock interview videos on YouTube to be very helpful for knowing what else to expect. The possible vocabulary words for the writing test is here too. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/writing_vocab.pdf

US Embassy Manila banned US Citizens from attending the interviews of spouses, fiancées, family members, MIL etc in 2020 "because of rona-virus". AFIK that ban has yet to be lifted. I have yet to hear a single recent account of any US Citizen being allowed in for any visa interview. I have heard multiple recent accounts of US Citizens being forced to stand outside when they showed up for their spouse's or fiancée's visa interview at US Embassy Manila. The separate VIP line has apparently been replaced with a security guard who says "you have to wait outside". No recent accounts for MIL's though.

I will also tag @raizujukishi on tread. I noticed on their timeline they filed on July 30, the day after my wife. Also in San Diego and also hailing from the Philippines. And just now updated their timeline to interview scheduled November 19. Same day and field office as my wife.

My wife got her interview notice today. November 19, San Diego Field Office. Her randomized estimated time until decision number number increased from 5 months before any interview was scheduled, to 8 months now that there is an interview scheduled a month and a half from now.🤣

I have previously heard of a number of military couples doing Montana double proxy marriages. I suspect Montana double proxy marriages have just been around a lot longer than the Utah online marriages and maybe have more history and familiarity within military circles. However, the Utah online marriages are a lot more straightforward. You can do it all yourself online except a Zoom call to the Utah county Clerk's office for a ceremony, which is also nice touch. Probably cheaper and faster too.

Thanks. I thought they had completely eliminated hand carry to the Embassy. Obviously I heard that wrong.😁

Transcripts should be fine. Super easy for the consul. They know exactly what they are looking for. Page 2 "Total Income". The only reason to submit the actual 1040 is if the transcript is not available for some reason.

Are you sure this was sputum testing or that she was told she passed already? Typically in sputum testing cases they give them a date to return for results in 60 days. But they have recently introduced new IGRA testing protocols so maybe that's what got fast results(?????) In any case, if they send her for vaccinations she is good to go. Saint Lukes transmits the medical to the Embassy electronically so there is no medical package to bring to her interview. Typically Saint Lukes would transmit results the same day or next day so there is no problem making it in time. For K1's the yellow hand carry packet comes by LBC courier along with her passport and visa after she is approved at her interview.

Since the visa is not already issued pending resolving the 221g, if the medical expired in the interim, US Embassy Manila would have her get a new medical when the 221g was resolved so that they could go ahead and issue the visa. If it was valid but about to expire? If I recall correctly, @RO_AH 's wife had a valid medical that was expiring in the very short term and the Embassy gave them the choice to issue the visa now and make a mad dash for CFO and the border, or get a new medical before they issued the visa so that it would have a normal expiration timetable.

That is very much normal. We have been seeing some cases get scheduled for interviews very quickly lately but they remain the exceptions. It's also very dependent an your local office's workload. Even in today's super fast N400 environment 4 months would still be extremely fast and 6 months would still be quite normal.

On that part I think LBC is the only option. AFIK the embassy doesn't allow hand delivery on 221g's.

It should not need apostille. The official US requirements are here. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Uruguay.html

That is discouraging. Maybe US Embassy Manila recruited a batch of ill-prepared trainees in a classic "government work" attempt to address their ridiculous backlog issue. My only (not really good) thought is that roundtrip airfare from the Philippines TO Qatar is probably about on par with the cost of a repeat medical at Saint Luke's these days. I 'think' that in-person they can get a police certificate in a few days. As a general rule Filipinos can get to the Mideast for very cheap on Cebu Pacific to Dubai and can transit without visa from there to Doha etc. There's Qatar visas and other concern but going to Qatar in person is at least a thought. Just to double check, how was the 221g worded? Did she have actual proof with her that she had not returned to Qatar, like her old passports etc?

What is the status on the USCIS case?? Has it changed to "Case Was Sent To The Department of State"??

I'm quite certain that at the visa interview the consul could care less if a B2 visa applicant has a plane ticket or not. They wouldn't hesitate to deny someone who did have a ticket if that's what they decided. They would probably be more interested in your explanation of how you were paying for the ticket than any ticket itself. If you got the visa you might be asked at the border about how your departure from the US is planned and if you showed them a plane ticket it better be a real one.

The "engagement certificate" as described sounds like a Catholic Betrothal Certificate. If so, I think it's not needed but it's probably not harmful either since it would be clear it was just the churches blessing of the engagement and not any kind of marriage yet. I don't think they are super common in the Philippines but they are not unheard of either. It sounds like you sent a lot more than what you needed to but as long as the basic requirements are in there like proof of meeting, statements that intend to marry within 90 days of entering the US etc., I think it would be ok. Relationship evidence is more for the interview and US Embassy Manila is often cited as being about the easiest embassy there is.

A transcript superseeds a return and is the prefered document so it should be fine. Usually they never ask for a paper one anyway but it's good to still bring. When my wife was interviewed the consul made a remark that makes me think he was viewing what had been submitted to CEAC on his computer in real time during the interview.

I have heard one specific example of that being successfully done by a Philippine passport holder with a Costa Rica "digital nomad" type visa. I think it was on a FB group where I saw that mentioned, but it seemed credible. I'll see if I can find where I saw that. But as Boiler mentioned, it's totally up to the embassy.

The problem is. 10 days to get the passport back from the embassy is a very reasonable estimate and in fact most are getting it even faster than that these days. But, if you polled 20 applicants you could hypothetically find something like 14 who got their passport back in less than a week trouble free, 3 that got a 221g (which at least you do have some control over), and maybe 3 that inexplicably, for no outwardly apparent reason at all, took two to six weeks or even longer and no one knows why. In comparison, although CFO had a total meltdown scheduling around summer 2023 and you may still see a lot of hard feelings online about that episode. They seem to have since to resolved their problems and applicants with actual visas on hand seem to be getting through them almost immediately.

Booking without an actual visa on hand is probably the greater threat. CFO is going fairly smooth for most people lately but totally random delays in visa delivery are a fact of life. As far as booking travel, choose your tolerance for risk and consider what an unexpected delay might cost. But delays from the Embassy are probably a greater threat than CFO.

UCSD is just an application acceptance point. It is the actual US Dept of State Passport Office downtown that can literally get your passport overnight if you have travel in 14 days. https://passportappointment.travel.state.gov/ We will probably book a celebratory trip to Cancun whenever my wife naturalizes so we can take advantage of the overnight service.😁 Checking appointments just now, someone who took their oath today could get an appointment at the passport office Monday morning with delivery of the actual passport Tuesday. San Diego Passport Office has been pretty much wide open lately.