maryaaaa

Everything you need to know is on the website as @J.M. mentioned. It's probably on the emails sent to you too. 

On 4/6/2025 at 8:31 PM, bunsosoy said:

Greeting! My moms case is based in Manila US embassy, I would like to know how long do I get an update on the case after submission of the 221g due to pending medical from St. Lukes, for sure there are several cases like this since there are tons of people who are subjected for sputum test. My mom proceeded with the interview (Feb 11, 2025) even without the results of the test. Everything was good but since the result was not in she got a 221g due to pending medical. March 19 2025 we got an email from St. Lukes that the results were good and got forwarded to the US embassy. So my mom submitted the submission form together with her passport to the VAC (March 21 2025). Visa status check last update was March 25,2025. Any similar case and estimated time you got an answer will help. Thank you! 

Mine. Check my timeline below. My F2B friend also has similar timeline. 

Here’s a template I want to share. Hope this helps. This was digitally signed, one for me and my partner. 

2 hours ago, J.M. said:

 As I told the OP, if the beneficiary is just a jeepney ride away from the CFO office, I wouldn't get one, but if it's a ferry ride and a flight away, I would probably get one to be sure I didn't need to return.

 Agree! This is exactly what I did since I live close to the new CFO building.
 

 I also think morning slot is better a lot more easier because of time restrictions and limited number of interviewer. 9-11 slot (registration as early as 7:30 till 8:30) with 67 canva slides is almost not enough. They need to compress and finish the 1 on 1 as quickly as possible so the 2pm (registration starts 12noon) won’t overlap and avoid crowding. 
 

To be honest CFO is more scrutinizing than embassy interview which is also understandable with all crimes, illegal recruitment, human trafficking, domestic violence etc….. 
 

18 minutes ago, Phungo said:

Thank you, also how was your process for the k1 and what step are you at now?

Mine was okay. A little bit of delay but all

over now! Just finished the last step today  😅 Flying out on 05/08. 

I just finished my CFO today and none of us in our batch were asked about police clearance. I guess its really case to case basis. 

I told my fiancé I will try to attend the session and try our luck.  (we don't wanna pay $50 for the FBI rapsheet) If  they ask for it, then we will oblige.
 

Failure to provide (in case they ask) is not a denial, but will be treated like an RFE until missing docs is provided. 
 

6 minutes ago, maryaaaa said:

 

My fiancé told me if it was dismissed before court, you can visit the arresting sheriff or police office and see if they have any docs. 
 

If they claim that there's no records too, they must give you a written statement that there were no records found. I remember seeing that from USCIS's RFE letter sent to an applicant last year during my research. I will look for it and share here. 

15 hours ago, Phungo said:

Hi, yes I did get charge but the case was withdrawn when I went to court and the da withdrew the case before entering a court room. Would I need to provide information for that

My fiancé told me if it was dismissed before court, you can visit the arresting sheriff or police office and see if they have any docs. 
 

If they claim that there's no records too, they must give you a written statement that there were no records found. I remember seeing that from USCIS's RFE letter sent to an applicant last year during my research. I will look for it and share here. 

‼️ UPDATE ‼️

CFO done. Smooth and successful! ☺️

9am appointment. There's no parking so please don't bring a car. I parked 2 blocks away at Victoria Towers' basement.
 

I arrived at 7:30 am for registration at the lobby and moved to the 20th floor for encoding and payment of 30 pesos. 
 

Proceed to GCP room 1. We started at exactly 9am and finished at 11ish. Then 1 on 1 interview with the counselor. 
 

The lady counselor was kind. She didn't ask for police clearance! 😊 Thank goodness! She only asked if I was previously married, child, how did I meet the petitioner, and how many times he visited.
 

She then handed me the receipt. I scanned the QR code, signed in with my email and the password is the receipt number printed in red ink. 
 

I think the 100+ pages of proof of relationship sitting in front of her helped. Hahaha. She said it's a lot and will scan through it but she didn't. Lol

Thank you everyone for the help! 🙏🏼🫶🏼💕 

2 minutes ago, Phungo said:

I am filling a petition for my fiancé and in the form I-129f in part 3 about criminal information. I previously had a felony fraud charge and went to court and before I went to court I spook with the DA with my attorney and the DA withdrew the case before we went into court and I was not fined nor imprisoned or charged. Will I have to list this in the 4. Part and if so do I need to get certified court paper saying it was withdrawn or is that just for the specific listed crime by the USICS like (rape,sex trafficking, prostitution, and minor) 

Yes, you must declare any pervious arrests and provide documents that shows the disposition for each. We did the same thing for my petitioner and provided signed court docs with dry seal (DUI). 

ARC doesn't apply to you.

On 4/4/2025 at 5:19 AM, liveralittle said:

Hi, thank you! I'm not very familiar with all this, what happens after a 221g? I searched and I get the possibility of it and I'll probably be receiving that. Do you know if it's simply a waiting game for all documents to reach the embassy, or is it a matter of rescheduling something like the interview?

You can check my timeline below how long mine took. But this is case to case basis.

On 4/4/2025 at 1:44 PM, thonati said:

EVEN FURTHER UPDATE: I was in Cebu for vacation with my fiance the past 2 weeks.   But Maryaaaa suggested I call the USEM and I called them TWICE.  Each time they told us to cancel the original appointment, re-schedule with the new DS160, and pay the visa fee again.  They also told me that USEM issued an internal memo not to make updates over the phone.  Evidently, the phone center operators were able to make this simple change over the phone.  However, as of 25MAR25, the phone operators are no longer allowed to make the change over the phone.

 

The website was difficult to navigate and it was not clear how to perform this action.  Also, there seems to be a certain number of times you can access the website over a specific time-frame because I timed out.  The system would not let me log in anymore.  The problem was there was no explanation, for example: "you reached your maximum of 5 logins over a 6 hour period.  Please wait 6 hours to log in again".  I will send a message to Elon and the DOGE team to see if they can fix this.

 

So my fiance found an "agent" on Facebook (per Maryaaaa's suggestion) to help us.  She was able to "reclaim" the $265 visa fee and re-schedule the BIO & IV with the updated DS160.  She only charged $100.  We were able to get the same day 13MAY IV as we originally had.  We got lucky and the Bio is the day before so I saved $200 in travel expenses for my fiance as well.  So I paid $100 to the Agent and saved the $265 and kept the same IV date.  Overall a HUGE success in my mind as the frustration was very high due to the incorrect information from the USEM.  I was about to stroke out.

 

I have no idea how this Agent was able to "re-claim" the fee (good for 1 year she said).  Maybe others on this forum know how to do this but I certainly did not.  It was no where to be found on the USTRAVELDOCS website either.  Again, the frustration level was very high.

 

I was so frustrated with the entire process.  I filled out the DS160 so I made the original error.  However, the DS160 is not very clear.  It does not ask for a "Middle" Name.  It only asks for a "given name" and "family Name".  So I thought my fiance's middle name (Mother's maiden name) was a family name.  Makes sense to me but oh no.  Nothing is simple with the US Government.  Again, DOGE should fix this.

 

The "agent" also told us that she had many clients that had the EXACT SAME ISSUE (I guess Philippine Middle names are a problem for USC).  In each case the Visa Applicant took both DS-160s to the BIO appointment and they made the correction at the bio appointment.  The "agent" asked me "Why did you cancel the original appointment?  You should not have done that". Evidently the BIO customer service IS ABLE to make changes in person.  All you need is the old and new DS160.

 

I explained to my fiance and the "agent"; that I only did this because the USEM on 2 different occasions "gave me explicit instructions to cancel the re-apply".  That satisfied the "agent" but my fiance was still TAMPO.  I wonder if the phone agents are actual USEM employees or a sub contractor.  I suspect sub contractor at some phone center in Cebu.

 

You can imagine how mad my fiance was as me for cancelling the first IV appointment..  This is my first experience with TAMPO.  FTR: it took several hours for her to speak to me after that so I just took a nap.

 

Overall, success BIGLY. 

 

Maryaaaa:  Thank you so much for your help. 

I'm happy to help! ♥

Just now, liveralittle said:

Hi! Sorry if this topic's in the wrong forum. I have a different concern regarding my last post about the medical exam, and I'd like to know if someone can confirm. My Medical was on March 31st, we did the eye test, weight test, height test, basically everything located on the 5th floor of SLEC, and also a blood test. Now, we got told to go to room N and that was when we got notified that we needed to schedule a Psych eval bc of self harm scars. Now the earliest date we could have scheduled (and did schedule) is on April 21st, 2025, and I'm assuming it'll also be the same day I'll be doing the rest of my medical exam. The problem is, my US embassy interview is on the 14th.

 

My concern is, will the Embassy still take me in for an interview? Will worst case scenario be they'll just delay the results of my medical exam, or worse- will they refuse me and tell me to reschedule? I'm a little worried as I keep reading different scenarios concerning this problem here on VJ huhuhu. Thanks for the help in advance. 

Were you vaccinated on March 31st? Or received an envelope with the CD? 

You can still proceed with the interview and be given a pink slip (221g) Status will remain Refused until SLEC transmit your results to USEM. You will get an email from SLEC, then you can send your passport to the embassy.

Just now, SemperAye said:

Did you get a packet with it that you’re not supposed to open because immigration will open it at the airport? We heard this rumor but can’t confirm.

 

Thanks

Yes! 😁 Only K1 get that packet.

Just now, Purple_Paladin said:

So we got the visas in the mail yesterday. 

Of course there are a few snags (aren't there always?)

 

For one, his passport was due to expire in October and they attached the K1 to it, so he's worried now about coming with a passport that will expire so soon. In France, you must relinquish the old passport to have the new. Also you can't file for a new updated passport earlier than sometihng like 6 months before the expiration. He did all he could for that, but his interview happened while waiting for the new passport so they took the old and attaached the K1 to it.

 

Now he's not sure what to do about that. He can't relinquish the passport because of this. France doesn't give out passports unless you relinquish. He'll techinically come with a passport that has 'enough' time left on it... but only just. He's worried about what documentation  he'll have while waiting for his COS to process. 

 

The other concern/question was: Is it possible for him to open a bank account here before he comes? He wants to close out his financials over there and would like to open his bank account here before coming so that his money is already here. Is this possible? 

 

Then there's the little things, he's bringing his cat... we're trying to figure out the best way to do that. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

What about his cell phone? Can he use the same phone that was bought in France here and just change the cell service provider? I'm guessing that they'd just change the chip?

 

TIA for any helpful tips!

Congratulations!

I am taking my cat too and here's what I was asked to provide.

- Vaccine records (we have the 4in1 vaccine; the most important is vaccine against feline panleukopenia)

- updated anti-rabies shot/s

- microchip

- deworming records

- Import certificate from Bureau of Animal Industry

- Clearance from the veterinarian

There are the most common requirements based on my research.

Just now, SemperAye said:

Just received the message that the visa is ready for pick up!

 

so it only took a week getting it mailed to the VAC.

Bring a copy of the printed email, valid ID and a copy of it.

Just got my visa yesterday!

SOOOOO HAPPY FOR YOUUUU!

Just now, Edward and Jaycel said:

So happy for you both!! 😁 I’ll give you the advice that Jaycel got from a poster here on VJ  about the CFO… Be polite, be confident in your relationship BUT be firm in your answers that you know your fiancè and that you trust him. That got Jaycel through the first part of the 1 on 1 session where the counselor was very overbearing and quite frankly rude

This awesome and very much needed as I I've been hearing a lot of terror CFO stories recently.

Just now, Edward and Jaycel said:

Woo Hoo!!! You did wake up to good news!!  Congrats!! 😁

HAHAHAHA YES!

I slept 7am MNL overthinking, reading and praying SO hard.

Heard email notification at exactly 2pm, jumped out of bed, got dressed then drove 100km/h from QC to Aseana via Skyway 😂 Arrived 02:50, got the packet 03:35pm. They close at 4pm!

FYI: I dreamt twice in between that I got the visa already. I was manifesting so hard! 😂 

CFO booked  for Monday 9am! ♥

Just now, liveralittle said:

Thank you ! Hope it isn't too bad, just a little worried if I fail it because of the money that will be spent. My nerves are a little calmed, i guess im just experiencing stress from the pressure put on me. 💓

You'll be okay, I promise.  It costs 3,500 right? What I can suggest is during the conversation, do not dwell much on the bad experience but focus on talking about what you did to overcome it, speak with positivity, how peaceful and healed you feel. 

Wishing you goodluck! 

Just now, liveralittle said:

Hi. I'm sorry if the topic doesn't fit in the forum, but I've been restless for a while now. I'm sorry in advance if there will be a bit of dumping of my emotions here, too. But I wanted to know how the process would be like when undergoing a psych evaluation? I'm very scared of not getting my visa accepted because of this, as if my visa gets denied I will be sent away by my parents.

 

I had my medical exam on March 31 at St. Lukes Extension Clinic, it was all going good albeit the waiting times were long, but it wasn't much of a problem. Until we got to the physical exam. I noticed they were making us undress (all except underwear), and started panicking internally, searching up if they ask about self harm scars (Because I have a history of them, and a bunch of them, at that, all over my arm.) and they do. So when I walked into the dr's room, the tension was very cold and all I could do was Pray that it wouldn't be too bad.

 

But then I took off my clothes, and suddenly the doctor asks first thing to see my arms. Bad sign. She looked at me very disappointedly and I felt judged, but maybe that's just bc me being scared. She asked where I got them from, and I said I don't know, and she said to be honest. This is what I said: I started my self harm in September 2024 and stopped between December to February, then did one session recently this month (as it was obvious there were still healing wounds on my arm), and then she let me out. I thought it was going ok, until we went to the Room N thing and the person in there told us we had to be scheduled for a Psych Evaluation and pay extra 3.5k pesos to get it because of my scars. I wanted to cry that time.

 

Now, my interview at the US embassy is on April 14, but the psych evaluation is scheduled on April 21st since that's when they're available. They said it wouldn't be too much of a problem at the embassy, thankfully, but I'm still worried on the evaluation. My father has scheduled me an appointment on April 5 at a psychological service center that will hopefully provide me a medical certificate stating that I'm no longer a danger to myself or others, and he is mad at me, but I guess that's just what I deserve. Anyway, I read a bunch of threads on the same topic here, and I have the outline of the whole process, but of course I'm still anxious. My mother's the one who filled up the form given from Room N, and I heard they ask about family history and whatnot; however, I am not close at all with my mother's side of the family nor do I talk to or know the information of my 6 siblings because they all have their own lives. Will that affect things? 

I don't think so. Other applicants I made friends with during DOT underwent psych evaluation too due to scars in her arm and the other was due to excessive. She was asked about it, and more about what she feel about herself now. You'll get through it  They are in the US now.

CFO / GCP

https://cfo.gov.ph/cfo-hybrid-frontline-services-for-guidance-and-counseling-program/

E-TRAVEL

https://etravel.gov.ph/

TRAVEL TAX (check   if included in the airfare)

https://tieza.gov.ph/travel-tax/

‼️UPDATE! ‼️

VISA on hand as of 04/02/2025 🥰

Received an email ready for pick up at VAC.

Just now, Edward and Jaycel said:

 

They did not ask Jaycel for the IRS Transcript but they did ask for the Proof of Relationship. What we had prepared for the Embassy/CFO was 120 pages and she said the counselor looked at every page of the proof. She said her counselor was very strict but once she saw that I had lived there with her and she saw lots of pictures of me with her family, she softened up a little bit

OMG! Haha. This is a deal breaker! I just checked our 3-part proof relationship and on-going relationship. 115 pages by far and could be more since I have to update them with the most recent for this year's visit.

Thank you for the heads up! We'll be READY! 💪

Just now, Edward and Jaycel said:

 

I did this.... You have to sign up on the FBI website first and get a case number and then register it with the USPS. I had the email back from the FBI with my results within 2 hours of doing the fingerprints at USPS

I heard they ask for the IRS transcript too and proof of relationship. CFO is more notorious the embassy! 😣 Which is understandable after the Slovenian incident..

The only thing I'm lacking is the police/FBI clearance. We registered way back November and we hold off until VOH.