An D

We just received the visa and sent her it finally and CC'd a few extra CFO emails we collected. Hopefully when they re-open Monday they can take care of us. Not sure what you're saying here. CFO GCP registration requirements include a copy of the visa.

We signed up for online GCP back in May. The counselor emailed us at that time told us to email her a scan of the visa once we have it on hand so that we can proceed. We are now finally expecting the visa to be delivered next week, 2 months later. She is not replying since that initial email, and we are not sure if we will be able to proceed with online counseling at this point given the above message (which has been floating around for a couple days). Her flight is scheduled for August 23rd but it is out of Clark, not Manila, in case that matters. Some people said you can show up in Manila with your visa and flight leaving same/next day and complete the counseling but that won't be possible in this situation. I'm not even sure if it's true anyways. I'm not entirely sure why they have made this process as painful as possible, but mission accomplished.

I made my wife fight tooth and nail to get AKA when she went to get her NBI clearance. They would not at first either despite seeing the US Embassy website outlining it as a requirement. Eventually she got through to a supervisor or something and they were able to ultimately get her the NBI clearance with AKA. I think there may be some confusion around the AKA though. I don't think AKA is needed if she has only been married once, to you, and your surname is on the NBI clearance already. The end result for my wife was a NBI clearance in her maiden name, with AKA of her married name, along with my surname listed. I think the maiden name and husband surname by itself is sufficient, at least that's what I have read in a few places since then.

Yes, huge relief to get past the medical without further issue. I'll be sure to update later on when we receive it how long it took. For CFO, we registered online in May and the counselor told us to email a copy of the visa once it is on hand. We went ahead and already bought the plane ticket as well, so I will have that and the visa and hopefully that pushes her through the CFO quickly. The only thing I don't like about the email counseling is that the counselor could just choose to stop replying and then you're stuck with no recourse. She will be flying out of Clark and not NAIA. I still have to figure out if there's any face to face CFO at Clark that could be done if she has the visa and plane ticket and urgently needs it completed and cannot get an email response.

Finally approved. Was pretty quick and easy my wife said.

Yep, just in time is right. My wife's interview is July 11, in about 7 hours. Good luck.

That's really unfortunate as well if you didn't make the cutoff. I can't imagine it will be another 6 months. Maybe 2 or 3 after all these current expedites are done?

Yeah it is not the end of the world to wait a little longer. But the time adds up and this whole process seems never ending. We've been waiting since April 2022 and very tired. I am willing to take extra risks to try to finish faster. I don't care if I end up wasting money on hotels and carpools, it's just so irrelevant to me at this point. What I do not understand is why we keep being subjected to these immigration games. The government appears to highly enjoy teasing us and then ghosting us. Only trend I have noticed is actions seem to occur on Mondays. Monday 6/26 - auto-expedites Monday 7/3 - lots of people became Ready all at once Monday 7/10 - ??? (this is why I want to wait till Tuesday and not have my wife just leave Manila and not waste her time, because what if)

Also still in transit, except we have a July 11 interview (this Tuesday). My wife is already in Manila (she doesn't live that far away) for the medical and is staying a little extra to do the interview. I know in transit folks have had zero success with their interview, and I am not sure if we should keep waiting over the weekend and see if it changes Monday or if she can somehow still do the interview Tuesday. Honestly this entire situation is silly. They expedite our cases and move them to in transit and then leave them sitting there. I don't get it.

Yes, many. I have a July 11th interview now, and my case is still in transit. It took half a day for mine to become schedulable on the CGI (ustraveldocs.com/ph) website. If yours isn't now, check in 12 hours or so.

Update: Just became In Transit to USEM, so anyone else in this situation that is still waiting for that should expect it any hour (or minute, literally).

Received expedite like others - May 10 DQ but still don't have this status (or email) yet.

Good to know. I won't believe anything until it says ready anyway, but this is promising.

May 10 DQ here, got same messages. Still can't schedule via ustraveldocs site as case is not found and case still shows as "at NVC". Am guessing some action has to be taken by the USEM this week still on the cases that were sent over before we can actually schedule.

It would be amazing if they did the same with CR/IR cases soon. There are plenty of appointments available and I actually feel like this could happen. Still, CR1 case is at NVC for me (May 10 DQ).

That's my comment, lol. And that's not a lie. This is what they told my senator: "The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines has been processing immigrant visas across all categories. The CR1/IR1 visa class has always been one of the prioritized visa categories. There is no need to request to expedite the interview appointment since appointment scheduling for this visa class is available through the U.S. Embassy’s Visa Information and Appointment Service Center. We suggest that the applicant contacts our service center as soon as s/he can while there are still available slots and schedules his/her appointment accordingly." They literally said to schedule it on our own and an expedite is pointless. And yet we can't schedule it because our case is still with the NVC. Manual scheduling was always only for expedites. There is a major breakdown somewhere between the NVC and the embassy. It's very very obvious now after the email reply that promoted that group post to be made to begin with. The embassy said that starting in February, all scheduling is done manually by the applicant. Yet that's clearly not possible as the cases remain at the NVC. So either the systems are unknowingly broken, or they lied, or they have no idea what they're talking about. This entire saga is so bizarre and I can't believe this total incompetence by our government.

Supposedly, they'll let you take the exam still but you have to sign a waiver indicating that you understand it expires in 6 months and without having a visa interview scheduled, you are risking it expiring and they are not at fault, or something along those lines.

It's ridiculous and unacceptable. Seems that tourist and fiancee visas are faster than spousal visas at this point. Screw spouses right?

I am DQ waiting IL, too afraid to schedule medical at this point, and in trying the online CFO, the counselor said to come back when we have the visa and won't schedule anything until then. Nothing is ever easy.

6-9 months to clear the backlog per consul general. so, it's now faster to get a tourist visa from scratch than a spousal visa awaiting interview. how backwards is that? truly unbelievable.

I think previously it made some sense to do the medical in advance, but not anymore considering CR1/IR1 visa interview scheduling has seemingly stopped since mid January. It's hard to imagine you wouldn't have the visa within the six month expiration of the medical, but there is no indication of what's going on or when they may resume normal scheduling. So it may have be re-taken if you do it now. Should note that none of this interview scheduling speculation is factual since the US Embassy in Manila hasn't provided any update on the matter, and seems to deny it is the case when contacted, even when contacted by a congressman (I tried this already). The US Embassy's last reply to my congressman was this: "This is in further response to your May 19, 2023, inquiry on behalf of a constituent, concerning visa interview scheduling for spouses of U.S. citizens (CR1/IR1). The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines has been processing immigrant visas across all categories. The CR1/IR1 visa class has always been one of the prioritized visa categories. There is no need to request to expedite the interview appointment since appointment scheduling for this visa class is available through the U.S. Embassy’s Visa Information and Appointment Service Center. We suggest that the applicant contacts our service center as soon as s/he can while there are still available slots and schedules his/her appointment accordingly. Appointment scheduling may also be done online at https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/.  English- and Filipino-speaking customer service agents are also available through the Embassy’s Visa Information and Appointment Service at telephone numbers (632) 7792-8988 or (632) 8548-8223.  The service center is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Manila time), except on Philippine and U.S. holidays.  Callers in the United States should call (703) 520-2235 on its Eastern Standard Time equivalent of operation hours. We are working hard to process immigrant visa cases as quickly as possible. Immigrant visa processing is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels. As we increase interview capacity, the scheduling backlog will continue to decrease. Visa appointment wait times are improving and we have been issuing more and more immigrant visas that reunite families. Requests for expedited appointments are considered on a case-by-case basis. When requesting expedited processing, petitioners or applicants should provide reasons and documentary evidence justifying the request (e.g., urgent medical, humanitarian, a child turning 21 years old in the next six months, etc.). Your constituent may visit our website at https://ph.usembassy.gov/tag/update for updates regarding consular services and operations. Petitioners and applicants may contact the Embassy directly using the contact form found on our website, https://ph.usembassy.gov/contact-us-visas/. We hope this information is helpful." They claim CR1/IR1 are prioritized yet people are still waiting from January DQ. They say immigrant processing is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels but it's obviously not the case at this moment at least for this category. Plus, the reply doesn't even make sense. Why are they telling me to schedule on the website and/or by calling? My case isn't even at the US Embassy and the case cannot be found when entering it on the website. Plus, I don't have an expedite so I'm not supposed to schedule it myself. Our case was DQ'd in early May.

Does she have money and a career? Does she have children? Does she have a demonstrated history of traveling abroad in the past and returning? Is she studying at a university? These are all things that can help prove that she has strong ties to her country and would return. On the flip side, does she have family in the US already, or the opposite of any of the above? That would all hurt her. Chances could be really low depending on the above. It doesn't hurt to try. But I think your brother is making a huge mistake by not also planning his own trip, instead of waiting until September for the outcome of this. If it's denied, they will have no alternative plans made to see each other. And obviously it's 100x easier for him to visit her, than her to visit him. He doesn't have to go through anything to visit. He just has to buy the plane tickets and show up at the airport with a valid passport. But she has to go through the ringer.

I sent to the counselor the email from NVC saying the case was DQ and waiting scheduling at the embassy. Would be interesting to see if your friend's wife is able to get further and actually get the counseling scheduled online. Afraid to schedule the medical only because it seems like visa interview scheduling is at a complete stand still even though the US Embassy won't acknowledge it. Who knows how long it will really take at this point. I had this idea in my head that once our case was DQ I would knock out the CFO and medical, but now it seems like doing either of those is either a massive hassle, not possible at all, or extremely risky. I feel like we should schedule an in-person CFO appointment just to have it there in case...

I can't even get a call scheduled of any kind. I sent all the requested documents to the counselor and received the following in response: "Please email your visa in this email thread once it is available. Kindly note that you can only proceed with your registration with CFO upon completion of your requirements." What does that mean? That once it's available and I send it, they will schedule me for another 2 or 3 months out? This is kind of ridiculous. I'm also not sure how much I can plead over email. The last thing I asked was how long it would take once I send them the visa but I haven't heard anything in response yet.

How do you see that online are fully booked for months? I was simply told via email in response to my documents to "Please email your visa in this email thread once it is available. Kindly note that you can only proceed with your registration with CFO upon completion of your requirements."