Klayzen

I don’t know how NVC pulls these numbers but here is what they sent my congressman. As of APR-2024, the NVC is scheduling IV interview appointments for the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in MANILA, PHILIPPINES for Immediate Relative applicants that were documentarily complete on or before MAY-2023. I suppose this follows the theory that was posited here a few months back. Back in September, they told him that they were scheduling for 6-2021. And in January they said 1-2023. The numbers are moving closer together… hopefully that trend continues

Any news is good news at this point. I am cautiously optimistic but not holding my breath either. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of our wait.

Hello! First off, a quick summary of our situation: We are currently both in the Philippines (Metro Manila). We got married via Utah County's Zoom Ceremony, as we wanted to have the certificate from the US We are waiting for the certified marriage certificates, but we have the digital version required for the Spousal Visa Now, we're trying to figure out the order of operations and steps required The next step is to either file the Spousal Visa or the Report of Marriage at the San Fransisco Consulate. I've heard mixed things about how long the SF Consulate takes, and I've heard varying timelines for the Spousal Visa. I'm concerned that the Spousal Visa could be done before the Report of Marriage is complete and we wouldn't be able to do the CFO in time. So that'd be my first question -- should I just bite the bullet and submit the Spousal Visa application ahead of the ROM while we wait for the Apostille copy of the Marriage Certificate? Aside from this, there are many things about the ROM itself that are confusing for someone in my situation: The ROM requires the application to be notarized, with the virtual wedding requiring both spouse signatures to be notarized respectively. If we are both currently in the Philippines, is it acceptable by the consulate that all notarizations on the documents are done in the Philippines, or would I have to go to the US to do all of this? I'm hoping this isn't the case as it seems rather unnecessary. The requirement of a Cashier's Check or Postal Money Order as well as self-addressed Priority Mail envelope is also a hurdle if I'm in the Philippines. I could have my parents do this portion of it, or I could go the DFA route below: The possibility to do all of this through the DFA would eliminate the cashier's check / postal money order as well as the envelope is intriguing, but my understanding is that this just slows the process down as the DFA sends the document to the SF Consulate ANYWAYS and reroutes it back to Manila I've read conflicting information about the CENOMAR document - is this necessary? We are already married and my wife has no previous marriage. I've read conflicting stories about the ROM itself -- does the CFO process require the PSA certified copy of the ROM, or will the initial copy we receive from the consulate be sufficient? I have also watched some videos on YouTube (I know, not the most official sources, but there aren't many options) stating that Utah Zoom ceremonies require an extra letter NOTARIZED IN THE US stating that the Filipino citizen was not in the US at the time of the ceremony and held no US Visa - is this true? If it is, can it be notarized in the Philippines? 😐 If we do go forward with the visa ahead of the ROM, would there be an issue getting the CFO stamp if we still hadn't received the certified copy / initial copy of the ROM from the consulate? So, we're juggling some options here as well as just being overall confused about the ROM process. I know there are a ton of questions here, but from all my exploration on this forum, there's only been one or two cases similar to mine, and there are no further updates on those threads unfortunately (and they don't answer most of the questions we have), as seen in this thread as an example: Any thoughts, information would be super helpful and appreciated. I'm going to be emailing the consulate itself, but as with a lot of PH government institutions, I don't expect much help there. I'd prefer to do everything here so that I don't have to spend more time apart from my spouse. Thank you in advance!