Kawika & Michelle

Does anyone know if we can submit his DS-160 after her K1 interview or how that process would even work if he is going to do a "Follow To Join" route? Would we just submit his DS-160 to the Manila embassy separately? I think I read that in one of the guides here. In addition...our plan was for the both of us or at least her to fly back to spend time with her family & then return to the US next summer (June 2024). The research I've done on the I-131 (Advanced Parole) seems suggest that the current processing times is 12-18 months. If she can't leave the country to bring her son here...what other options do we have? As a last resort I could go there to get him, but he doesn't speak a lot of English yet & I am not sure he would be 100% comfortable being with me without his mother or another family member there as well.

I started filling out the DS-160 for her son but cannot complete it until the passport is issued to him. I've sent an inquiry to the embassy to seek clarification on a few things regarding our situation. It appears that in most cases, the Manila embassy does not require an in-person interview with applicants 14 years old & younger. Since we do not plan for him to join us until next summer (June 2024), it doesn't seem to make sense for us to the medical exam until 3-4 months prior to that to ensure that it is still valid when it is time to travel. And just to confirm...is the DS-160 fee for her son the same as the cost for the mother (15370 pesos / $165)?

OK...if this is the case..then her son would be eligible for the K2/K4 for up to a year after his mom was issued the K1 VISA & would not have any relation to whether or not we were married already when he gets it.

Alright...I had put together a long post with questions that got lost after the topics were merged...so let's see what I can recall... Are you suggesting that my fiancé stay behind to get him through the K2 process? Or can she travel as we had planned & have him complete the process with a chaperone (likely his sister)? Does he lose eligibility for the K2/K4 if his mom & I get married before the K2 process is completed? She would like us to get married on June 10th (our anniversary that we have been using since 2020), so I'm not sure if we would be able to get him through the entire process by then based on the trend of interview slots available the last time I was able to see them. About 2-3 weeks ago the current appointments were in June/July...so I would assume by now that would be July/August with the occasional canceled appointment popping up for someone to be able to snipe.

This situation was different than the last...hence the new topic.

Guess I'm reading this wrong... Can my child come to the United States to live while the visa petition is pending? If you are a U.S. citizen, once you file Form I-130, your child is eligible to apply for a nonimmigrant K-4 visa. This will entitle him or her to come to the United States to live and work or go to school while the visa petition is pending. To petition for this benefit, you may file Form I-129F. However, you are not required to file Form I-129F and your child does not require a K-4 visa. Your child may wait abroad for immigrant visa processing. Seeking a K-4 visa can be a method for him or her to come to the United States more quickly. For more information, see the “K3-K4 Visa” page. If you are a lawful permanent resident (Green Card holder) and you have filed Form I-130 for your child on or before December 21, 2000, your child may be eligible for the V visa classification if more than three years have passed since the I-130 was filed. For more information on V visas, see the V Nonimmigrant Visas page. For more information, visit the Adjustment of Status within the United States page and Consular Processing overseas page.

Based on what I am seeing here... K1 Visa Application at Consulate - VisaJourney It looks like it is entirely possible for him to complete the K2/K4 process separately from his mother. It would seem that as long as she is granted her "Advanced Parole" before a year from her K1 VISA issuance, then she will be able to travel there herself to get him through the medical exam & interview...and then fly back to the US with him.

Hey Folks, I posted a question about our situation a month or so ago regarding my fiancé's son. In the end, we decided that it was best in our situation for us to leave him behind for the first year & for him to join us thereafter. Our original intent was to petition for him after a year (we're not even sure what forms or process it would take to do this) & assumed that it wouldn't take long since his mother was here & was married to a US citizen. As time has passed, however, we have realized that the process is likely to take much longer than we had planned for. We understand that we did have the option to have him as a K2 so that he could "follow to join" within a year...and while that would have likely been our best option...with our current circumstances that doesn't seem possible unless we postpone our current interview date & potentially push back our wedding date as well as incur a lot of extra expenses in the process. Since my fiancé's son does not have a passport, it prevents us from moving forward to try to get him to her currently scheduled interview date. The earliest appointment we could get for her son's passport was on May 8th. It seems like most passports can take 1-2 weeks to process & be received out in the province areas. We would then need to complete the DS-160 for him & pay the additional MRV fee so that he could move on to getting his medical exam and then finally to a newly scheduled interview. We are currently out of reschedules on the website, so I can't even see what the next available interview appointment would be, but based on what we were seeing several weeks ago I assume that the next available appointment is probably in July or August (not including any potential canceled appointments that may pop up occasionally). I have read & have been told that K1's do not have to pay an additional MRV fee to reschedule their appointments, but based on the website...we would need to pay the MRV in order to be allowed to do any further reschedules on the website. In lieu of paying another $265 MRV fee to be able to use the website to set an appointment, I suppose the only other option would be to call the embassy to try to set up our appointment "manually". This would likely also be the only way for us to potentially snipe any appointments that would pop up before our scheduled interview. At this point, it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense for us to really consider this option. This is also assuming that he could not accompany her to her May 5th appointment & then complete all of the other steps later with one of his relatives for the medical exam and/or separate "K2" interview. If there is another option here, feel free to let me know. With that in mind, what exactly is the process for us to petition for her son after she is in the US? Should we start a petition for him immediately after we get married? After we apply for her AOS? What process would we be looking to follow to bring her son here? Petition for a family member (I-130 - Petition for Alien Relative)? Skimming through the guides here it would seem that in our situation, if I petitioned for him after we are married...I would fill out a Form I-130 to start the process and then I would be able to file a K4 (since I already have put him on the original 129F) which would allow him to live with us in the US while his I-130 was being processed. Am I understanding this correctly? The more I read this stuff, the more I get confused. Some of the guides seem to almost make it seem as if her son would automatically qualify for "follow to join" benefits since he was listed on the original 129F that was approved. My question then becomes...what about his DS-160, MRV Fee, Medical Exam & Interview...can he do those separate from his mom with a relative as a chaperone? Can anyone shed some light on any of this? Thanks! Kawika

Hey Folks, I provided my fiancé with the I-134 for her upcoming interview (May 4th). When filling it out, since my job salary is more than enough to meet the support requirements for the K1, the only documentation I provided with the I-134 was the offer letter from my employer, the past few months of pay stubs & the last three years of IRS Tax Transcripts. I did not list my home, my car or any of my bank accounts simply because I didn't want to have to go through the trouble of providing all of the documentation to validate those assets. From the videos & guides I had watched and read, what I provided should be more than sufficient for the I-134...however...I keep seeing people talking about including their bank statements & other proof to further validate their financial situations. Has anyone else used just the documentation I provided for this scenario? Looking for some thoughts & input on this. Last thing I want is for her to get turned away because they want to see bank statements or something else as well. Thanks! Kawika

Lol...yeah...I grew up in Hawai'i...so we often just took whatever food we had handy around the house or even just bought some cheesburgers from McDonalds before going camping at the beach for a couple of days. And I remember buying pizza in college on a Friday & still snacking on it on a Sunday with it sitting in the box on my desk all weekend. Probably why my immune system is so strong these days

I actually thought about picking up some Jollibee from the Sugar Land location (I work out there)...but was also worried about trying to keep it for the 6-7 hours before she arrived & would potentially be able to eat it. I personally wouldn't care about eating food sitting around for that long...but I'm not quite sure if she would be OK with it as well.

Not at all...even though it will be the middle of the night I am sure that she will be interested in seeing this new world that she has traveled to. I'm also sure that we'll be too happy to finally be together again that we'll likely be holding hands the entire way home. I'm guessing she'll also be hungry...so I'm trying to figure out what I might be able to buy her or prepare for her so that she'll have something to eat either on the way home or at least waiting for her when we get there.

It likely just means that your physical case files are in transit to the embassy.

You would think...but it has varied on my last two trips. Once I was able to make it home before midnight & on our last trip we didn't get home until almost 2 am. Granted it was largely due to the luggage taking a lot longer than usual to come out. And I've already talked to my fiancé about that drive home...that will be the longest drive of my life :😁

Understood. She is likely to be flying in on EVA Airways which would bring her into the airport around roughly 11 pm at night. She'll just need to be prepared for whatever happens...I'll be sure to do a write up on our experience when we do.

We scheduled & completed our medical exam prior to our documents arriving at the embassy. My fiancé completed her exam on Thursday, March 30th and we were contacted by the embassy on Monday, April 3rd that they had received our documents. In our case (Philippines), my fiancé was handed all of the items she needed for the interview. I've heard that in some countries the items will be sent to the embassy (in which case you have to wait until it gets there before your interview)...so you'll need to look into that for the country your beneficiary is from. Keep in mind that when she was having the medical exam, we had research & expected that the items she needed for the interview would be sent to the embassy as well. So this may very well be on a case by case basis or just how they are doing things now at the SLEC (Philippine specific medical clinic).

Lol...I think I'll keep that review to myself & not share it with my overly worried fiancé

The embassy cannot do the interview until they receive the physical from the NVC. From the US to Manila it took a little over two weeks (our two weeks hit on a Friday but we were notified on the following Monday that the embassy had received the physical documents).

Hi Folks, Another question for those of you who have recently been through the interview process in the Manila embassy...especially those of you who may be in the provinces of the other islands. How long after your interview approval did it take before you had your VISA in hand? Did you pay for the premium delivery option? My fiancé is from the provinces near the Toledo City area outside of Cebu. She has her interview on a Thursday in Manila and we are trying to get an idea of when she may be able to receive her VISA so that we can plan our next steps accordingly. Thanks! Kawika

One can only assume that they scan the QR code and verify the certificate in hand against what is in the system. Whether or not every person does their job diligently is another question.

I believe this is meant for the Houston Hobby airport & not the George Bush Intercontinental Airport as there is a separate entry for that airport in the list.

In my specific situation, my fiancé will be entering the US on a K1 VISA. But I was just speaking in general terms as the POE reviews for George Bush Intercontinental Airport only has a single entry as of now.

Hi Folks, Not sure where this question should be posted but there seems to be a severe lack of entries on the review of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport reviews. Can some of those who have been through that POE recently post some of their reviews for those who are soon to be experiencing it? Thanks! Kawika

Thanks for all of the tips. I definitely appreciate them. I did happen upon the thought that we should be filing for her SSN 2 business days after she arrives which wasn't something I was even thinking about doing but now is part of our To Do list. Thanks for the tips. I've been using EVA Air for the past 2 trips there. My first two trips to the Philippines I went from Houston to Qatar to Cebu via Qatar Airways. That included a 12-20 hour layover in Qatar (both ways)...so the 8 hour layover in Taiwan on the way back isn't too bad. The main issue I've had traveling from Houston is the short layover between my flights in Taiwan. The first time it was less than an hour which resulted in me having to rush from gate to gate & in our most recent trip with my kids our flight was delayed which resulted in us missing our original connecting flight in Taiwan. We ended up getting bumped to a second EVA Airway flight to Cebu (which ended up being too full) and then bumped to a China Airways flight to Cebu (which was actually a nice airline). It typically has cost between $1000-1200 for flights from Houston to Cebu via EVA Airway...several hundred dollars more to go via Qatar Airways. I have not purchased her ticket as of yet...but plan to do so in the next couple of days. I just need to make sure that I can reschedule it in case we run into any delays in her receiving her visa or any other issues along the way.

When does he need the sticker? In a couple of weeks (May 1st), they do away with the sticker system in favor of a digital certificate.