spicynujac

The US Immigrant Fee was $165 when we began the process, as listed here Our Fees | USCIS: Immigration Benefit Request New Fee ($) Old Fee ($) USCIS Immigrant Fee 220 165 Water under the bridge, I know, but I work in finance and have been tracking / planning this to the penny since day one, including which visas are cheapest/fastest/best (boohoo for the once ubiquitous DCF!). Total cost of CR-1 Visa filed in 2023 and obtained 3/2025: $1,215 to US Gov, $1,704 total including required medical exam. Yikes! I expect total K-1 visa costs are well over $2,000.

Haha!! Crazy! I thought you were nuts but you are right. Even though the instructions say the system will add a zero if and where one is needed, and it does so, visible on screen, appending "A-0######" to what you just typed, if you go in and type the zero yourself, it works! GOVERNMENT I.T. AT ITS FINEST! haha thank you! (Note, don't type the A just type the 0 in front of your 8 digit number, The system appending the A is ok but appending the 0 breaks things... good grief!)

Blasphemy! Don't ever say this to a southerner! Exist? You can even buy their uniforms and wear them at home. Welcome to the Piggly Wiggly Swag Store!

The system is automatically appending a 0 when I type in the 8 digit registration number printed on our visa. Guess I'll have to call them next week. Thanks.

Thanks! So there is no sealed packed used anymore? I've read in numerous places about special packets you are not supposed to open, but you carry to the US border agents when you enter the country. Is that needed for a CR-1 visa immigrant?

I'm confused about this fee. The instructions state: You must pay the fee online. The U.S. embassy or consulate will give you your: A-Number (the letter “A” followed by 8 or 9 numbers); DOS Case ID (3 letters followed by 9 or 10 numbers); Instructions for paying the USCIS Immigrant Fee; Immigrant Data Summary; and Sealed immigrant visa packet. We received nothing from the Manila embassy when passing the visa interview. The only thing which arrived in the mail was my wife's current Philippine passport with an immigrant VISA stamped inside, expiring in 5 months. We have no "A-number" We have an NVC case # beginning MNL2024 which may be the DOS case ID (which we have had going back to the beginning of this process) We received no instructions for paying the Immigrant Fee We received no "data summary" whatever that is We received no sealed packet. In fact the only way I even knew this fee existed is from the forum here. Are we supposed to receive any of the above? Are we ok to pay the fee without those things? Will we have any issues entering without the above and only a CR1 visa? FYI we also received nothing when she passed her medical test and my wife is worried about being asked for proof of a clean medical when she enters the country. Another confusing step in this process where the government rules aren't intelligible. I'm hesitant to pay when I am missing 4 of the 5 items the government says we should have for this fee, as it is considered nonrefundable. (PS as for the fee amount, I wouldn't expect it to increase any time soon as it just saw a substantial increase over 40% to $235 a few months ago).

I'm in the same boat as OP (self employed, no health insurance). Is there a possibility for your wife to work somewhere at least part time that would provide health insurance for your family? Health care in the USA is extremely expensive and is tied to the workplace, due to arcane rules put in place in the 70s. So your best bet is getting it from the workplace, if you can. Plenty of places don't require a lot of experience and provide health insurance for part time workers (Starbucks, Trader Joes, etc.) This is probably what we will do when we have kids (that's also the time I most need the wife at home so I realize it's a catch-22!)

The K3 thing is ridiculous and needs to be called out when it is "recommended" here. I think they have processed something like 3 in the past decade. You have FAR better odds of winning the powerball (and then you probably wouldn't care about immigrant status!) But remember, there are plenty of non-immigrants who meet someone while in the USA and decide to get married. A completely normal and even expected way for things to go. My neighbor met his Colombian wife when she was here on one of these summer work visas working at an amusement park (lots of national park area jobs are staffed with these 20-somethings as well). It's very normal and even expected that a significant percentage of 20 somethings would meet their spouse while living and working overseas for months or years, and then adjust their temporary visa into a permanent one through marriage. Heck, I briefly dated an au pair here. If we stayed together, marriage was definitely on the agenda. But especially around college age--If I was a parent and my child went overseas for a semester abroad or temporary work, I would certainly anticipate a marriage is a strong possibility... Trying to put yourself in the shoes of someone else and conclude how and what (and WHEN!) their feelings are is almost impossible. Of course, marrying someone in less than 3 months after you arrive or something.. that's a red flag ( I assume this is where the waiting 90 days advice comes from). But I think this will always be a gray area that can be exploited. And it's not hard to understand why some look to cut corners when the legal route is so absurd.

The nicest grocery store I've ever visited in the USA is a Wegman's. They might be limited to the northeast / midwest. I heard about them for years and stopped in when I was visiting Lancaster, PA. The prepared deli foods are gourmet and incredible. They serve fresh cold pressed juice made daily. All the fresh fruits and veggies you can imagine (lots of international). Other than that, everything else (including Whole Foods) is a big step down. Publix is nice in my area, but I don't really have a preference. I go wherever is convenient and/or has a good sale. There's always Costco. I frequently go with my neighbor, and the prices are slightly cheaper, but ONLY if you end up consuming the giant package of whatever you bought before it goes bad. I'm not sure I would pay for my own membership, but if you have a bigger family, it's worth it. Their products are high quality and their policies are very consumer friendly. Aldi / Trader Joe's (related companies) are small but carry nice products at a good price. Aldi's is more rotating stock where you see a variety of new items every week and TJ is more the same popular products every week, but they have good fresh produce, fresh flowers and great potted plants. (TJ and Costco are both a great place to work by the way--if ours was closer I would consider getting my wife a job there!) The health insurance alone would be worth it! My general plan at the grocery is buy almost everything along the outside walls--the refrigerated items, which are REAL FOOD, and skip items in a box, jar, or can.

Oops ignore this advice... this is related to a form DS260, a different form that what you asked about and also a different visa type... looks like you have some good advice in the thread here or can call the embassy at the #s above.

We had our DS-260 form "re-opened" (I think it is locked after they review and approve it) so that we could change my wife's listed name from her maiden name, which we originally applied using, to her new married name. (This is not strictly needed--the embassy officer can do it at the interview--but the embassy advised us they could open the file for editing and we could go ahead and fix it so we did. Interview passed successfully by the way) There was no "new" barcode generated. All our info was the same, including our case #s, etc. They just updated an old DS-260 form with a new one. My advice would be to call the new embassy office which recently opened at (+632) 7792-8988 or (+632) 8548-8223 or (703) 520-2235 (1=english,option 3, 3, 5) - [the phone contact as of March 2025] and ask them what to do. In my experience, they answer promptly, and would give you the most timely advice.

The VAST majority of your time in this process is simply waiting months and months for anyone at US Immigration to even touch your application. And while I haven't heard of US staffing cuts, most federal agencies are currently being trimmed, so this could be even worse going forward. The marital visa process is the same regardless of where and how you marry. BUT the Utah marriage allows you to file your paperwork (US Form I-130) IMMEDIATELY (they email you a copy of the marriage certificate) instead of waiting weeks or months before you get the Philippine certificate in hand. Of course, you could also go to any country, say, Taiwan or Japan or even the USA, and marry there and you would be in the same immigration situation. But the thing about the Utah marriage is it's so fast and easy, (only requirements are provide a witness, state everyone's name and pay $50). You could I'm not sure it will be any faster. The reason to hire an agency would be because you can't or won't fill out the forms yourself. My advice would be download the USCIS I-130 form, look it over, and see if that looks like something you could easily fill out yourself. In my case, I've lived at the same address for a decade, never been married, and file all my taxes on time, so it was something I could fill out in about an hour. Then you wait like a year and a government agent spends a few minutes looking at your forms and approves or rejects them. But the key is getting in that paperwork ASAP to start the clock.

After investigating further, Philippine visa-free travel to Ecuador was revoked during Covid. It is rumored to return within the next year or two (?) Until it is, they want a face to face interview and $50 for a Filipino visitor visa. Normally I would skip it, but we have the opportunity to book an Ecuador tour this year at an extremely reduced price. It would cost us several thousand to wait until next year, so we might get the dadgummed visa. We can schedule a visa interview upon arrival in the US, as there is an Ecuador embassy in our US arrival city so it won't be a huge inconvenience.

The Utah online marriage seems like the best option. You can apply within a day or two of the marriage, as they email you a copy of the marriage certificate. It's a legal marriage just as if two Americans marry each other in any American state. I haven't heard of any difficulties with it, other than some brief confusion years ago when it was first announced, which was quickly clarified. Even if you already are planning a PH wedding as your post hints at, I would probably do the Utah civil marriage, followed by a PH religious ceremony. That's what we did, and it allows you to apply immediately, bypass some marriage regulations (Utah only wants your name and $50, much easier than my state or the PH), and lets you pass the time by planning a nice ceremony and celebration there. Then you end up with the superior (and much cheaper) IR-1 visa (not to mention the peace of mind holding an immigrant visa over a non-immigrant K-1 visa with all the uncertainty in the US now). The only thing out of the ordinary / more difficult than a "standard" visa if there is such a thing, is your past divorces. You need additional documentation for each of them. But otherwise, it shouldn't be hard to do on your own. Most people here are DIYers. I actually think a lawyer can slightly slow down the process, as they will not do things like file forms within 24 hours of eligibility as we did, as they have a backlog of clients and a review process, but it may give you peace of mind if you don't mind the additional expense.

So we were allowing foreigners to enter the US without being vaccinated, and then months or years later requiring the vaccination? Haha that's not how diseases work. The whole point of requiring innoculations at border entries is to stop global transmission of exotic pathogens. Getting a shot after you already arrive somewhere does nothing. Sounds like an utterly silly rule that served no purpose. Good to see it removed, but at this point anyone planning to emigrate to USA has probably already gotten the shot and it's a 4 year old pandemic so pretty much water under the bridge... I mean, can one even GET a covid-19 vaccine at this point? Sounds like a meaningless requirement. AFAIK immigrants could opt for the Sinovax or Sputnik which were traditional vaccines, as risky as getting the annual flu shot, and not the AngloAmero-RNA-modifying gene therapy injections masquerading as vaccines. But of course those were made by people from "bad" ethnic backgrounds so they weren't options for American citizens lol.