Nathan Alden, Sr.

FWIW (and this may have been mentioned elsewhere) the USCIS has access to expunged and other hidden records for the purposes of immigration benefits.

Success! She came prepared to the DFA office in Dumaguete and she was approved in five minutes.

The CFO confirmed for us over email that the DFA's CFO requirement was pandemic-era and no longer applies.

Thank you. This was the wisdom I was looking for! We were both already aware that the DFA doesn't list it as a requirement.

We found references on several websites, although I am aware that tons of web content is now AI-generated and feeds off other sources that are untrue. Several of the sources have listicle-like layouts, which nowadays tends to indicate AI generation. I was suspicious, which is why I posted here.

Hi, all. My wife (Filipina) and I (US citizen) embarked on the Filipino name change rigmarole just recently. I have an I-130 petition in progress, FWIW. Tomorrow, my wife was scheduled to visit the DFA to change her name on her passport to her married name, which would be the first of several name change efforts. Unfortunately, after booking the non-refundable DFA appointment and hostel stay (she's traveling to Dumaguete from the Cebu area as the Cebu DFA is completely booked out several months), she learned a surprise requirement that isn't found on the DFA website: she has to have attended the CFO PDOS seminar! Now here's the problem: the CFO's scheduling website requires visa number and visa expiration date! She doesn't have her visa yet, so we don't know what to do. We did some additional research and found several non-DFA online references to having to complete the CFO seminar before the DFA allows passport name changes. Has anyone run into this problem? How do we proceed? An additional question is will she have to attend the PDOS again later on when her visa is approved, or can she just go back to the CFO office to get a sticker on her then-changed passport (although I remember reading that CFO doesn't issue stickers anymore)? Gripe: Please, DFA. Please update your requirements to be accurate for spouses of foreigners. We could've saved PHP 1000 plus the hostel booking if you just better documented your own processes. 🙄

Thank you, all.

Interesting. Well, it seems that I'm an outlier in one way or another. I guess I'll find out in a couple of weeks.

Yes, I, the petitioner, was scheduled for a biometrics appointment. I thought this was normal based on everything I've read up until this point. In fact, the USCIS' own language seems to indicate that not having a biometrics interview would be the abnormal thing. The appointment letter doesn't say anything suspicious; it just asks me to bring my identification. I have no criminal history (never been arrested, charged, or convicted of any crime) and I'm a normal US citizen.

Well, I finally got movement on my I-130 petition filed on June 20, 2024. USCIS scheduled a biometrics interview for a couple of weeks from now. Is it normal to have the biometrics interview scheduled without having received an NOA2? Can someone explain the usual timings of these two things?

Thanks! I've sent them an email.

I'm not sure how to know if I have transmittal details. The documents I sent to the consulate were returned to me stamped, though. Is it on that?

My wife and I filed the Report of Marriage in September 2024 and the PSA still hasn't processed it as of checking a couple of months ago. I emailed the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco and they are now quoting eight to twelve months for PSA processing. Absolutely insane.

Thank you so much for the details! This helps a lot. As far as the ROM, in your case, what was the result? Did the consulate expedite sending the originals to PH?

Hi, all. My wife and I are still waiting on the approval of my I-130 (filed June 20, 2024). Recently, I've been reading up on any changes to the timelines, procedures, etc. from when I had looked into all of this last year. I feel like I have things mostly handled but I did have a couple of questions. I've read in some other posts that it's difficult if not impossible to get the medical exam scheduled before the visa interview and that the consulate knows this. Should she proceed to the visa interview even if the medical isn't completed? What will the embassy say in that case (e.g., will a rescheduled interview cost us another year-plus of waiting?) Same as #1 except regarding the sputum test. She's currently living in Cebu City but since she has nothing tying her to this island, I've advised her to consider moving to the Manila metro area to be closer to the embassy for when this rigmarole goes down, or to live somewhere very, very cheaply (she's comfortable doing this already) and then travel to Manila for potentially quite some time while the long-running medical testing, interview, and CFO shenanigans play out. Advice on this course of action? One aside for those interested: it has been many, many months since filing the Report of Marriage with the San Francisco consulate. Despite this, the PSA still reports there is no record on file. We're trying to get her name changed. The bureaucracy in this country is unbelievable to me at times. It looks like it might even be six months to a year to get the marriage registered with the PSA. I'm going to have her check again soon. She needs to get her name change taken care of!