Kawika & Michelle

There should be an instruction form available at the link above as well as many YouTube videos out there where they walk you through it.

Hi Folks... My fiancé completed her interview a couple of hours ago & was approved. She indicated that her interviewer kept some of our original paperwork which included my divorce decrees, her NBI, birth certificate & CENOMAR. Are they going to be sending those papers back to us? She was told that the VISA would be sent in 1-2 weeks. Thanks! Kawika

VISA approved...now just waiting for it to be delivered. Interviewer told her that it would take between 1-2 weeks. If that's the case, then I'll definitely need to reschedule her flight.

VISA approved...now just waiting for it to be delivered. Interviewer told her that it would take between 1-2 weeks.

You can do the CFO at any time. We completed ours in 2021 for our trip to Costa Rica.

It's the only one available on the USCIS website. I think the more important date is the edition of the form that you are filling out as they just updated it at the start of the year. Edition Date 01/04/23. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. Dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format.

Yeah...now that I am thinking about it (we filled ours out back in March)...I think it may not have been needed for the DS-160. Maybe it was required for actually scheduling the interview.

I think we just put in the date on the top right of the NOA2 letter. It doesn't say priority date on the letter, but there is no other date to choose from & as you noted it is a mandatory field. I think the field is meant for a different thing & should not have been made mandatory on the form, but it won't be fixed any time soon.

It's definitely not what I was expecting...it has been a roller coaster ride from the start...but I think in the end it will be all worth it.

Have you guys been making public inquiries to request your case number? I thought the case number was required to complete the DS-160?

Unfortunately, it appears to be one of those situations where you won't know if it is worth it until both the AP & AOS is completed. In some cases, you may find that it was unnecessary for your future plans & in other cases it may be necessary. It would seem that an AP that is attached to an AOS wouldn't require a lot of validation to issue. I'm guessing they would basically need to verify that the beneficiary is legally in the country & has not done anything to require them being deported. Then simply verify that they are going through the AOS process. All of the legwork of allowing them into the country should have been done during the K1 visa process. The fact that immigrants who have already gone through a lengthy background process to legally enter the country shouldn't be subject to another lengthy process to allow them to return home for a reasonable period of time. It seems like a cash grab to me.

Once you have your case number from the NVC, you can go ahead & fill out the DS-160, pay your MRV fee, schedule your interview and schedule and complete the medical exam. We did all of this while our physical files were still in transit from the NVC to the embassy in Manila. Keep in mind that they cannot conduct the interview until they have the physical files at the embassy, so keep that in mind when selecting an interview date. You also need to complete the medical exam before the interview date. The medical exam is also only valid for 6 months. So make sure that your interview & travel plans coincide with this timetable. You will also need to start gathering all of the required files, forms, evidence, etc. for the upcoming interview.

The original question was simply regarding the reasoning behind getting both the AP & AOS when the timeframes for completing both were roughly the same (on average). As long as the forms are still free...then it's a no brainer to just fill them out as part of the initial process. It only really becomes a question when they want us to pay $575+ for the AP.

Yes. I was just looking for the marriage certificate since it was noted to not be the same as a license. As noted above, here in Texas the signed, completed & filed marriage license is the legal document for our state.

I just spent an hour researching our local county clerk site here in Texas & I don't think Texas has a Wedding Certificate. They do offer a keepsake certificate for an additional fee...but it is not a legal document of any kind. It looks like the way it works here in Texas is that you file for a marriage license, wait a minimum of 72 hours but not more than 90 days until you can get married. The officiant signs it & can either file it on your behalf or you can file it yourself. For the sake of expediency, I'll likely just choose to file it on my own as it is a pretty simple process & just requires a trip back to the county clerk for them to record it into the system.

We plan to get married on June 10th...so the earliest I could file everything would likely be Monday, June 12th.

Filing Forms I-765 and Form I-131 with Form I-485 If you submit Form I-485 and pay the required fee, you do not have to pay an additional fee to also file Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and/or Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, for advance parole. You may submit these forms together. If you choose not to file Form I-765 and/or Form I-131 with your Form I-485, then you must submit a copy of your I-797C, Notice of Action, (also known as your receipt) as evidence that you filed Form I-485.

Is this noted on the I-485? Because that is the one place I didn't look

Unless I have the incorrect form or am misreading something...I am assuming that the cost for the AP is $575: Application for Travel Document | USCIS Based on some of what has been indicated above...what would be the use of an AP if it is generally not completed before the AoS? I figured that the whole point of having the AP was to allow for travel back to the home country (or anywhere) while the AoS is still processing. If I am misreading the fees, then it would be a no brainer to submit it just in case...but if it is a $575 gamble or useless document since it would be coming after the AoS is completed...then it would seem like a waste of money. The I-765 also appears to have a filing fee of $410: Application for Employment Authorization | USCIS I don't really plan for my fiancé to work right away after she arrives here...so waiting a year or two for the AoS would be fine. Again...if the filing fee is free...I'll certainly file it for her...but if it is going to cost us $410 for something we aren't likely going to need or use before the AoS is completed...then it would again seem like a waste of money. In addition, if the AOS and/or AP are taking over a year in some cases, how are they handling the "follow to join" K2 cases that would be affected by the parent not being able to return to the home country to bring their child/children back to the US? Seems like they either need to extend the "follow to join" or expedite the cases where the parents need to return to bring their younger children with them to the US. I have already contacted the Manila embassy to ask some other questions and they indicated in their response that the "follow to join" deadline of one year is not able to be extended (despite what we were told about it being extendable to 18 months due to COVID in the past)...so that's our main issue here. Making sure that we can get her son to the US within the one year timeframe and ideally allowing her or the both of us to return to the Philippines to fly back with him.

Hi Folks... Am I reading these timelines correctly: AoS - Average total days until interview 262 days Adjustment of Status (Green Card) I-485 US Immigration Statistics (visajourney.com) AP - Average Total Days 224 Advance Parole (I-131) US Immigration Statistics (visajourney.com) Our primary goal is to allow my fiancé to return to the Philippines around 9-10 months after she gets here so that she can have enough time to take her son to get his medical exam completed & interview for his K2 so that he can follow to join us within the year of her K1 visa issuance. Based on what I am seeing above, is it basically pointless to file for Advanced Parole since the decision seem to be close enough for us to achieve what we are hoping to achieve? It doesn't seem to make sense to pay $575 for the AP if the AoS will be completed a month later & within the time frame we are hoping to complete the process in. I am also planning to get our congressmen involved to ensure that she completes the AoS with enough time to get her son here. Am I missing anything here? Thanks! Kawika

I must have missed that. I was just looking at it a day or two ago.

Is that what they are using for "Filipino" on the app? I figured it was just using Tagalog.

If it is anything like the Philippines, you should be able to complete your DS-160, pay your MRV Fee, schedule your interview appointment (when one becomes available) and schedule/complete your medical exam (only valid for 6 months...so make sure you plan to travel within that time frame). Keep in mind that they can only conduct the interview when they physically receive the documents sent from the NVC. In our case, the embassy sent us an email when they received the documents to let us know that we were free to conduct the steps above. You can wait for that email or you can be proactive & take the steps above. All you can do is continue to try to contact the embassy and also try to find other couples or groups for folks who are petitioning that embassy as well. There may be issues in Pakistan that the rest of us who are not dealing with that country are not aware of.

I took two years of Spanish back in high school...but also took two years of the Hawaiian language prior to that...and then of course made the wise decision to take a year of French in college...lol...I think I used all three languages during my oral exam back in college.

What kind of photographs? I would presume that they are simply looking for the same visa-style photos to use for her future visa card. The rest is to just verify her identity, who her father is & if she has a criminal record that the government needs to be concerned about.