W199

BTW, yesterday, we received the receipt notice in the mail. Total time, just under 3 weeks. The weird thing is it didn't show up in USPS informed delivery.

Many embassies have an email address to report fraud. I once sent an email to the fraud reporting email for the USA embassy in the Philippines. They thanked me, and asked me to continue sending any more fraud reports. Hence, if i was me, I'd email the fraud unit at the Manila embassy if it was the Philippines, and notify USCIS with the evidence. It may not amount to anything, but it at least you did your part.

I just checked my VISA card, and you are correct, we were charged $700 for the online filing. The weird thing, and the reason I got confused, is that the I-751 receipt notice that we just got online says "amount received: $750", Obviously they need to update their SW for this new online filing feature. Does your receipt notice also say $750?

Actually, about 2.5 weeks after filing and the status changing to "a receipt notice was sent", we just received a pdf copy of the notice in our online account. Also, the fee was $750. Did you make a typo when you said your fee was only $700?

Are you saying in your documents tab of your online account there was a pdf of the notice? Or do you mean that the status changed to something like "receipt is issued and will be sent to you"? For myself, it was the latter. we only filed 3 weeks ago, and there is nothing in the documents tab, except the status says a receipt notice has been issued. I expect it to take 6 to 12 weeks to get it in the mail. Some people I saw got the I-751 approved in just 6 months or so, but most take 2-3 years. This is a moot point in most case, because in just 1 more year most people apply for N-400. You will get your naturalization even sooner.

Congrats! Just in time to enjoy the blizzard!

Also, when we finally did hit the "pay and submit" button earlier this week, the status changed to something like "received, please allow 30 days for the application to be accepted or rejected". However, the very same day, we got an update that it was accepted and receipt notice is being sent out. Though there was none in the documents tab, so I suspect that it will take up to 6 weeks to receive it along with the GC extension.

We just submitted our I-751. We were able to add all the evidence online prior to submitting. You can start this before the 90 day window opens, just can't pay and submit it until the 90 day window begins. We could also just add and delete any evidence that we had uploaded without any issues, multiple times, as long as you did not let your application sit idle for more than 30 days. You can also delete the whole application and re-start later. It does a validity check on the I-751 pdf itself. So to give it a quick check before we finalized it, we uploaded the actual I-751 app to validate it. Then we deleted it. But that was a mistake because it also deleted all the uploaded evidence files. For the photos, we had to break it up into 2 PDF's to keep it below the 12MB file limit.

I do agree that the CR-1 is a better choice for you because she will need (and want) to work when she gets here, and it will give you more time to get a stable job with sufficient income. Note, in 1 year and 9 months after she arrives, you will still need to apply for her 10-year greencard (I-751) since her initial greencard will expire in 2 years. Also, I doubt it would be faster than a K-1 since you are not even going to get married for 4+ months. Then you need to wait for the marriage certificate, which can takes weeks or a lot longer, and then do all the paperwork, etc.. Though, you can and should start the paperwork now so you can be an A-student by the time you send it in. By the way, it might be a lot less expensive, and a lot faster and easier to get the marriage certificate by doing a Utah virtual wedding rather than trying to a marriage in the DR. You can do that marriage while you are in the USA over zoom, get the marriage certificate, then you need to go meet her to make it valid for immigration purposes before you can submit the CR-1.

He already said "I have no one else. Everyone in my family is dead. My Mom is the only person I have left in my life. "

How could you afford her (and yours) health insurance, and a million other things she she will need when she comes here? Seems like you should wait until you get your degree, and get a job if you want to be successful in getting a K1 and having a happy marriage. Its a really terrible plan to do a K1 knowing you will lose your benefits and using your mother's house as collateral. Losing your benefits when you get married, being disabled with no job, living with a jobless disabled mother is going to put a big strain on the marriage giving it a high probability of it not lasting very long .. despite her claimed love for you. IMO, if you love her, wait until you have a job or you will put her through hell under the above conditions.

There is a lot of fraud in Vietnam cases where relatives petition each other for the sole purpose of getting an immigration benefit. Therefore, they need to see the full family tree that shows you are not related in anyway.

In that case, you are making a wise move to find a skilled and honest CPA with experience in foreign income. There are likely numerous deductions, credits, or other strategies you can take to minimize the taxes. You should call a few, interview them, and do your background checks on them such as reviews, etc..

I agree the issue was probably it was in a different format than they recognized, which is why I suggested you try to ask the court house to generate a divorce certificate which is different from the decree itself to attest to the divorce decree. That is what I did .. and no issues and taking a scanned photocopy .. (which was pretty much idential the one the court printed with this cheap paper). And keep in mind, an Apostille is for a foreign government to accept a document .. But in this interview case, the document is from the USA and for the USA government. But yeah, it might help a poorly trained local realize your document is legit (if they even know what an Apostille is).

Manila embassy typically accepts a photocopy of the certified divorce certificate. Therefore, if the document itself is truly a problem, then its a gamble if an Apostille would help if they think the document itself doesn't meet the requirements. Hopefully, the next time you will get a better trained screener. I would suggest going back to the court house and ask them to print a certified divorce certificate, not the decree itself.

Your best bet is have someone help you write her a letter or contact her in some way, and to try to come to an agreement on the terms of a divorce. It seems like you don't want anything, so it should be easy. Then you can her can go and file for an fast path divorce saying you both agree on all the terms. The local court has all the paperwork and instructions for free. And has free lawyers to help with it too. You can tell her, if she refuses and don't want to agree to terms and file an easy uncomplicated divorce together, a then you will file the divorce yourself, and she will be subponea to court and and made to give a discovery/disposition and subponea to divorce court. It will get messy, nasty, and very expensive and long drawn out for her (and you). Its in both of your best interests to come to a mutual agreeable set separation agreement that you can present to the judge and ask for a divorce. If you can do this, you don't need a lawyer or in many cases, or only 1 lawyer or a mediator to help guide you to file the joint paperwork. Go to the court house and ask for the paperwork. Else things are going to get expensive, nasty, and drawn out for the both of you. I'm sure she wants to get rid of you the easies, fastest, and cheapest way. To file for divorce together with agreed terms is the easiest. Though it can depend on what State you are in

Yes, I paid for everything, my MIL has no money.

In my case, my Wife has only been here for 2 years and hasn't even applied for removal of conditions yet (too early). We also have no kids. My MIL is only 2 years older than me and quite healthy. She also was brutally honest and told them she didn't own any farm land, etc. to tie her to the Philippines.. But they were very fair in evaluating all the circumstances, risks, and other key things and approved her VISA

Yeah, its kind of disrespectful for them to make them come to an interview if they know in advance that they will deny them. When someone come from the province or another Island, it is expensive for hotel, travel, time-off, and so forth. A 2-stage approval approach would be good. Where they either deny you or then allow you to schedule an interview. It could reduce their interview load as well. But I suspect, they just don't have time to review the data twice given they have thousands of applicants per day.

My MIL's 4-5 questions in the manila embassy were extremely well crafted, each one based on her previous answer, and it was clear the officer granted the tourist visa based on her answers. Of course, the DS-160 and the background check had to have no red flags as well.

Well, no criminal ever thinks they are guilty or what they did was so bad, and every lawyer thinks they are right especially when you pay them. Its weird that you think your crime should not count as CIMT, yet you do not want to even anonymously disclose it (which could be useful as some may have experience or such with it). >> The closest offence under US law is explicitly not considered a CIMT. The brief from our attorney argued: I don't see why this is relevant or even a point of law. "closest" implies it is not the same crime so that doesn't apply. Law doesn't work by "closest crime". Its very specific. And I don't know any law or requirement that the CIMT law does not apply if you are convicted of a CIMT in your country but in USA, it would be considered a different type of crime. >> so some aspects can be considered a CIMT and some cannot. You are admitting that some aspects of it are CIMT. Therefore, I don't see why you think the officer made a mistake. The visa officer has a wide range of discretion and arguing a technicality is not likely to be a way to win the case, IMO. Seems like you should file a waiver with an abundance evidence of why they should overlook the crime, rather than telling them they made a legal mistake. But that is just my guess, you should follow your attorney.

My MIL recently got approved, but she never got denied before. She is just a retired farmer in the province who even had to use a translator for the interview. They just asked her a few questions. The embassy and the visa officer were all very kind, friendly, and helpful. This has always been our experience with the USA embassy in Manila. Why your MIL got denied and how to overcome the issues are impossible to answer with the information or lack thereof that you provided. It may be something simple or something impossible to overcome.

Only potential issue with HSBC for some people might be they bumped up their minimums needed to avoid fees for their premier account. Their premier account is what gives you and your family free premier accounts anywhere in the world where they have branches, including in the Philippines. Plus it gives you really great service with the premier team in the Philippines and USA. However, since their interest rate, like most banks, is not good, in order to meet the minimums, I just park some stock in their HSBC brokerage account as well as VMFXX, the highest yielding money market account. HSBC also has a feature where they will let borrow $10K USD in an emergency at any branch in the world for premier customers. I personally like that safety umbrella when I am travelling in the Philippines.

When people ask me when I am traveling, I usually say some unexpected Country to throw them off, because its none of their business and they are usually just looking for money.

Did you marry in the Philippines? If so, did you get a PSA marriage certificate? then you can just apply at the Philippines embassy nearest you. Its easy. If you married outside of the Philippines, did you file a ROM with the embassy, and then get a PSA? If not you need to do that first and that will take many months. Don't expect a passport for a long time. Otherwise, wait for US citizenship and get a USA passport