Edward and Jaycel

Jaycel and I just went through this successfully and she arrived here on her K-1 visa just a couple weeks ago. I took the philosophy that I have always taken with the US Government when asking for them to approve something, which is give them so much evidence that they almost "have to" approve you. I can't speak to the embassy requirements in Frankfurt but as far as USCIS, our I-129F package was 109 pages altogether. We sent about 3 dozen pictures (inserted into a word document with captions), most focusing on time we spent together with her family, pictures of our engagement, pictures of us on our first vacation together, etc.. I sent copies of the entry and exit stamps I received when visiting Jaycel in the Philippines. We also included scanned copies of the boarding passes for my flights to and from the Philippines and also for the flights we took together while I was there, hotel reservations and receipts with our names on it, receipts for gifts I gave her, receipts for the engagement ring, and we did include a sample of our messenger chats over the course of our time together. You will see from my timeline that we did get an RFE but that was stupidity on my part as I had a run-in with the law when I was young and got a conviction. I thought I just had to provide the details, but if you have something like that in your past you have to provide certified copies of the court records, which I did not know. However, since our application was so complete, once they received our RFE response giving them my official court disposition, we got our approval a week later. The embassy gets a copy of your I-129F and we had so much info included that Jaycel's interview lasted about 4-5 minutes total and her visa was issued within 3 days of the interview. Give USCIS enough good proof that they feel no hesitation in approving the application.

I couldn't agree with this more... I rented a car on my second trip to the Philippines so that we could go to Tagaytay and back to Manila and it was one of the most stressful things I've ever done. I've been driving for 37 years I've driven in Houston, Miami, NYC, Boston, Dallas, etc. and nothing compares LOL

Congrats!!

If you already have an interview scheduled, it does not affect you. This is only for those attempting to schedule a new interview on or after 9/28/2024.

I just flew my fiancee to the US via Philippine Airlines a couple of weeks ago. It would be the US that issued the Visa and then after that it should ask for the visa number. As far as expenses, don't forget she will have to pay the travel tax there at the NAIA on the day she flies out. I believe that is 1,620 Pesos. Philippine Airlines feeds them pretty well on the plane, but I made sure Jaycel had a couple hundred US dollars for her layover in LAX.

That's usually an automatic approval for an expedite on the I-129F. I'm sorry you had to get your congress person involved. God bless and thank you for serving our country! Hope everything goes quickly for you guys!

Just curious... What reason did you give to request expedited processing? (If you don't mind sharing)

I can't emphasize enough @AlaMike comment about using either Grab or metered taxis.... I lived in CDO for 13 months and I made the mistake of using a "flat-rate" taxi from the airport there to our condo once and it was 4 times the cost of a metered taxi or Grab trip. In CDO, eat at the Fat Chef restaurant (there's one downtown and one uptown). They have great bulalo!

My fiancée just entered the US on her K-1 visa at LAX 9 days ago and she said that the CBP officer was super nice, respectful and processed her entry there at the initial interview station, did not even make her go to secondary inspection. She said that once she got to the immigration officer, she was processed in about 5-6 minutes. Don’t let it worry you too much

Congratulations!

My fiancee will arrive her in the US in about 48 hours 😁

Congrats!!

Yes I filled it out, signed it and then scanned it and all of the supporting documents and emailed them to my fiancee so that she had it with her for the interview. She was NOT asked for the I-134 at the interview but that does not mean they can't or won't ask for it at your fiancee's interview. I would complete it and send it to your fiancee.

The visa officer who conducts the interview will extend the validity of your I-797 at the time of the interview. Please do not stress about this. It happens all the time because the State Department stage of the process often exceeds the 4 month validity date. I researched this very issue extensively because the Manila Embassy is notoriously slow when it comes to getting an appointment scheduled. In all that research I have never ever seen a denial because of a lapsed I-797 date of validity. They give the visa officer the ability to extend it at the interview specifically because it happens a lot. The only thing I recommend is to bring along proof of relationship (which you should bring anyway) and updated Letters of Intent to Marry.

Apologies for my misunderstanding... This discussion was revolving around the couple meeting within 2 years of filing the I-129F so I thought you meant new, recent proof of relationship photos being filed with the DS-160.

This is not true... The only thing you submit with the DS-160 is a digital visa style photo. You will bring proof of relationship with you to the embassy interview. We just did this a month ago and there is no way to submit anything with the DS-160 application other than the photo. As long as the meeting was within 2 years of the date your I-129F is submitted to USCIS, you meet the requirement.

I would bet a month's pay that this would, at the very least, result in an RFE from USCIS which will add months to the processing time. I also think that the RFE would be attached with a Notice of Intent to Deny which is not a place you want to be.... Believe me I get it. Our K-1 case just took a year and it sucks but don't take what would be a solid, straightforward case (CR-1/IR-1) and turn it into a complicated, messy K-1. You do not want to be on USCIS's radar for suspicions of anything

Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you for this!

My fiancee has her CFO GCP appointment this coming Wednesday. Do they require me to provide a police / criminal background clearance?

Happy for you guys to be able to finally schedule one!

@widude see above

@Riley-Janice Do you recall what time of day it was on the 13th that you were able to pick up the package at MOA? Did you receive a text saying it was available? I ask because we got our tracking number yesterday but LBC tracking website keeps saying, "We didn't find any records." when I try to track it.

So for anyone who looks at this post down the road wondering what will happen after their status changes to "Issued"... Jaycel got the email yesterday (Monday afternoon Manila time) from the USTravelDocs website stating that her visa had been processed and gave her the tracking number. Interestingly the dashboard on the website's portal populated again and the document delivery section is showing the status. It says it will be delivered to the LBC branch in MOA on or before 21 AUG 2024. So we went to "Issued" on CEAC on Friday morning 16 AUG 2024 around 8-8:30am Manila time, the passport status on the website changed around 12:00pm Manila Time and she got the email with the tracking number Monday afternoon at 3:45ish pm.

Jaycel had her interview on August 13th and then on Friday the 16th our status changed to "Issued"! Now we are just waiting for the embassy to courier the documents to her, do the CFO seminar and then she'll be on her way here! 😁