W199

My Wife is from the Philippines, and I see this all the time and hear many stories of Filipino girls like you. You choose the worst of the worst Americans to marry because that is who you could find or who found you. You think they are from USA so it will give you a better life for you and your family, and think that they will be nice to you and that you can still have a happy life. You don't even know who they really are. You don't have a clue as to the reality of moving back to the USA in a poor area, with a person who has limited intelligence, emotionally unstable, a long list of baggage, and is ultimately going to very abusive to you and ruin your life. You'll likely end up as being abused house cleaner, additional income, and babysitter for his kids, with horrible cheap meals, crappy car if any, and a horrible set of friends and associates. Don't you see these other bad Americans with other Filipino girls and see how they end up? - You will have a very hard time getting a K-1 or CR-1 VISA approved. - You will have even a harder if not impossible time getting the CFO to approve it. - If you make it past that, it is very unlikely you will be married (or even alive) long enough to get your 10 year green card, let alone citizenship. Just saying ... Of course, like every other victim they always say "he's different, etc..."

That's why I prefer Fidelity. It will automatically withdraw from your money market account, such as SPAXX or FZDXX .. And I use Schwab and E*Trade as backup.

The Philippine CFO is checking the criminal record before they issue a certificate due to abuse and killings for Filipinos overseas. I can only imagine what they will say when they see a 10 page FBI report and a a box full of criminal records. ...

To clarify, I mostly use the instant global bank transfer between the banks when I plan to transfer the money to another locak bank in the Philippines. But what I recommend too is to get free accounts at brokerage companies like Fidelity, Charles Schwab, and E*Trade. You can get 4% or so in their money market account (if you don't invest it), and their ATM card can be used in the Philippines to give you free withdrawals (they rebate the fees for both the local ATM machine and Fidelity) with top exchange rates. A regular bank will charge a large amount for an international withdrawal, plus the fee the local bank will charge. They have have free wire transfers too, free bill pay .. all the same as a bank except you get high interest rates, free international ATM, etc.. I don't know most people use banks and get only 0.003% interest in most cases and pay high ATM fees.

Besides HSBC, there is the Philippines bank, PNB, which has a branch in NYC. You can have accounts in both USA and Philippines and easily transfer money without using a remittance company. I use HSBC. Its much safer than dealing with compliance issues.

How many times has he been arrested, is it 30 times in 24 years? Do any of those cases involve a minor child? Domestic violence? Felonies?

Great, if it was me, I would include it ... p.s. When I was traveling to Montreal to meet my Fiancée (she traveled there so we can meet often while waiting for the K-1), I tried to get my travel history but Canada refused. Only Canadians can get it it appears. But during her interview at the Manila embassy they noticed she had a Canadian visa to meet me ... and her interview was a quick breeze.

Besides the boarding passes, do you have admission records, such as I-94 when you visited him in the the USA? If so that might be good in lieu of passport stamps which I don't think they give you anymore.

I assume she gotten her dual citizenship? Keep in mind the PDIC (The FDIC equivalent in the Philippines) is only $20K (up from $10K last March), so I wouldn't keep much money in a single bank there. The remittence companies like XOOM work great but their exchange rate is not the best, and like you said the big issue is compliance issues which can be a nightmare if you transfer too often or a large amount. I don't use them anymore. International wire transfers are too expensive and take too long. Instead what I do, is I opened an HSBC, USA bank account in NY/NJ. They in turn opened me a HSBC Philippines bank account, all for free. They did this all while I was in the USA. They provide a private banker in both USA and the Philippines that I can easily contact if I have any issues. With their app, I can literally instantly transfer USD back and forth from the HSBC USA branch to HSBC Phiiippines, again all for free, and with the market exchange rate. Then I can do a local (pesonet) transfer from HSBC Philippines to more local banks in the Philippines (since HSBC is only in Manila). Any issues, I just contact my banker ... Once my secure ID battery died or debit card expired, and they just fedex me a new one. Now, this all takes a little skill using all the apps and so forth .,, but you can aways call them for help. You do need a minimum balance in the HSBC account to get all this for free, but all I did was to transfer some mutual funds to the HSBC brokerage and that balance covers the minimum. I think there are other international banks, such as citibank they might offer similar transfer services. But I think only HSBC will open up the remote bank accounts remotely for you. Note, as a non-resident you are restricted from depositing PHP into the local bank account from external sources. But once she is living in the Philippines she can convert it to a resident account. It will be very easy to move money back and forth, and when you run into issues, which you always will, their support will help.

What was the nature of the derogatory info that they denied your I-751 on? Was it related to a divorce?

I am referring to first time visitors from high-risk countries. In those cases, they are sent to secondary inspection. Immigration literally looked at my fiancée's VISA and said "oh, this is your first time to enter, please go to secondary". This is the group of people that I was referring to that had very high rate of return to their our country. Therefore, I don't think it will be easy for him to go to Canada as a tourist based on the info provided. And it risks a lot of money for the plane ticket, hotels, and meeting there only to be rejected. While I was waiting the 4 hours for her to get out of secondary, there was a younger girl with her dad from Pakistan asking for help. Saying her mother is visiting from Pakistan and she is bringing them a lot of gold for gifts, but it has been 4+ hours. LOL. The officer told her "it will take as long as it takes". While I was waiting for my fiancee they got a phone call and then they quickly left the airport .... My fiancee almost didn't make it ... they checked everything ...

My fiancee got a VISA to meet me in Canada. But that was only because I had enough income to sponsor her and we had a K-1 pending. She had to prove she had a pending K-1 when she arrived. Canada sent back about 1/2 of the new VISA holders, including a older guy in wheel chair with his "alleged" son .. a lot of people from Nigeria, Paksitan, etc.. got sent back ... Its like they make it easy to get a visa (no interview was even required) but make it very hard to enter on arrival. Renting a nice condo wasn't expensive with airbnb for a few months ... while she lived in Canada and I visited her each weekend until the K-1 was approved ...

Unfortunately, this is all fantasy and wishful thinking. Doctor notes, waivers, etc are all not going to work. And you don't have enough money to make the several trips required, not to mention even if you did, you can't travel with your medical condition. Also, seeing his graduation degree and passport is not enough to not end up like you did with the guy from India. First steps are to get your medical and finances in shape. Then meet him several times, and see if you even get engaged or not. You already nearly broke up with him once. BTW, do you have enough income required to qualify to petition someone? And how did you meet him?

They are not going to ask you to explain your joint sponsor's tax transcript to them.

When is the rescheduled N-400? Did it already pass? Did you try to go to it and explain? Or did they not even let you in the door?

What does "wait and see" mean? It sounds like she wants to do nothing and wait to see if you get detained and put into removal proceedings? That would be a nice income boost for your lawyer. Technically there is an argument to make that USCIS did not make any error because the letter confirms you only rescheduled the N-400. Then the N-400 had to be denied since the I-751 was previously denied. Its can be hard to make USCIS admit they messed up and it was really their fault. Question, does filing the I-290B means that you will be out of status because your I-751 was denied? If so, it might be better to get another extension letter by re-filing everything. But I really have no idea, you really should get several consults with multiple experienced immigration lawyers to find the best path forward.

I basically use that strategy on steroids. I know I won't owe any tax penalty because my income and taxes keep increasing significantly (thanks to AI and from the tech boom from the pandemic.. lol) from the previous year. Due to the increase, the tax penalty is waived (tax paid this year is more than 110% of previous year). Therefore, I end up with a huge amount that I owe, which collects interest and capital gains until I pay it on 4/15. No need to pay it down over the tax year and get a refund when I get this interest free loan. But that was also my subtle point, but admittedly which no consular officer will have the savvy to realize. Because the tax penalty was not waived it implies it is *likely* because his income in the previous year was the same or even higher than the current year. Hence, the income this year was not a one-off with a low income the previous year. This speculation lends strength to the joint sponsor rather than adding skepticism to it Though, probably they will mistakenly think the opposite just from the sight of "penalty" .... In anycase, to be clear, this was all a tangent and won't affect immigration either way.

As everyone said, its a normal tax transcript. My tax transcript has a much larger amount owed that I paid after filing. But I didn't have any penalty. Therefore, the only thing of noteworthy is that it implies his taxes due were not more than the previous year, probably less, hence maybe his income shrank from the previous year, so his income was even higher in the previous years, and that he needs to get a better accountant or learn how to estimate his taxes better. None of this would be an issue with the consulate. Note, the above is just speculation based on the tax laws of when a penality applies. I could be totally wrong regarding his unique tax situation since business taxes can be complex.

Unless you or your fiancée have serious legal issues, you may find that an agency that specializes in K-1 is going to better and a fraction of the cost of an attorney (who will simply have their latest paralegal fill out the forms). The only difference is you will need to mail in the final package, whereas an attorney can be the one to sign-off and mail it in for you (albeit at your own risk).

Exactly, that's why I said a K-1 has the advantage of giving you time to do a prenup before the promised marriage. A prenup is a smart thing to do when there is a big disparity in prenuptial assets, or you own a business, etc... In addition, for a prenup to have strenght, you should start agreeing on the terms ideally before you file the K-1 and certainly before she arrives in the USA. Your fiancee can not be put under pressure into signing it, e.g. "sign it or you will be sent home in shame". It won't be valid.

Sounds like K-1 or CR1 will not be an issue at all, as long as your fiancée doesn't have a criminal record and you meet the income requirements. Your bigger risk than being rejected in 17 months is finding out you that you have been scammed, or you married in haste like so many men find out from there. Sounds like a K-1 is what you want, it will get her here faster and give you time to do a prenup.

Keep in mind that the K visa expires 6-month after the medical exam, not the interview. Also, contrary to what many people say here, it can certainly be a good idea to for your K1 to come first. Its common in the Philippines for the aunt and other relatives to care for the child, and there are many many reports on the Philippines forums/discussion groups of problems when the K2 comes with them right away. Many of these K1 regret not coming alone and getting settled in their new home assuring everything is stable with their family life before bring their K2. The 1 year "K2 to follow" option may be the best balance. Only you know your unique family situation and culture and what would be best for you and your fiancée. But to the other people's point, I would agree regarding the school district issue, you can do all that well ahead of time and to go beyond that, to get deeper insight, will take for years and probably not until the child is already attending school, .. its not a valid concern ... but establish a home, family life, and so forth are great points, many of which people greatly underestimate ... depending on many many variables that no one here has any idea what yours are.

That is good news. They are actively working on your case now. The initial evidence isn't just "whatever you could come up with". Initial evidence are required document. For example, did you include all final divorce degrees, and many other things in the correct format as required? You'll just have to wait to find out what you missed. Or perhaps they want additional evidence as well, and not just initial evidence.

I wouldn't worry about it .. at least not until the end of the week... I got the impression that when I got the 1st email that the passport was out for delivery, that it really wasn't even shipped yet .. just packed. If it was me, I would wait until Wed or Thu and just go to the 2GO office to see if it has arrived, and send another tracking request. Keep us updated

I had the same negative results using the other online shipping tools. That is because the other tools will just interface with 2GO's server, which is down. The only way to track it is is use send 2GO a message on messenger or on email. Also, be aware that if 2GO said it arrived at the delivery hub but is waiting for final delivery, then that appears to mean that it is waiting for you to pick it up.