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| Manila, Philippines |  Review on March 3, 2010: |
mariebert
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Visa approved today. Here's a rundown of our experience...
Appointment was scheduled for 7am on March 3, 2010. The appointment letter suggests to arrive at the USEM an hour earlier. We get there around 6:15am. We were greeted by several helpful guards and was directed in the K1 Visa line. No one was there and the person checked and confirmed that we were on the official list. We were then directed to another line for Gate #2. We waited about 5 minutes and entered the security area where they x-rayed our bags and walked through the metal detector.
After the security room, we followed the signs and found the Immigration Visa room. Here, another guard directed us to a short line where two girls were checking on the completeness of the DS156, DS157 and DF156k. There was a slight hiccup with the pictures. We had given two additional photos at the medical in St. Lukes and they said they were going to forward that to USEM. We should have glued her pictures to the DS forms so we had to get her extra copies and paste them to the forms. They also checked the blue receipt from BDO. The blank copy of the DS157 was tossed.
We then received our number (5003). We waited about 20 minutes and saw the number on the screen to go to window 21. A filipina was our pre-screener and was pleasant. She asked Ana where and when did we meet, how many children does she have, was I ever married and divorced, and then asked for my Affidavit of Support package which included my tax returns, W-2s, paycheck stubs, bank statements and investment account statements. She also asked for some pictures, emails, chat logs. We had prepared a whole package so we slipped the whole thing through the window. She also asked for the standard birth certificates, CENOMAR and NBI. She never asked for my divorce decree. That whole process probably took less than 10 minutes.
We then waited another 20 minutes and then her name was called to go to the fingerprint window. That took about 2 minutes.
We then waited 30 minutes for the interview with the CO. She was a pleasant lady who asked the basic questions again, where and when did we meet, how many children, when will be get married. She was typing notes in her computer as Ana was answering. She gave us back the birth certificates and the documents that proved our bona fide relationship. They kept the Affidavit of Support package. She then said we were approved. It was very anti-climatic. The whole process was extremely efficient with minimal hiccups. This forum definitely helped us prepare better and reading everyone's experienced took alot of anxiety away today. Although, Ana was a bit nervous since she's the one that had to answer the CO's question in English. She did a great job. We paid the fee to Air21 and got our tracking number already. We were out the door around 8:00am.
We went directly from the USEM to Philippine Airlines in Makati and I booked a RT ticket to SFO with my 11 month old son (one way). We're very excited to be going to SF on March 28th! We're going to wait to get her passport with the visa and then go to St. Mary's for the guidance counseling at 10am in the morning and then on to Manila to get the sticker. Hopefully that should cover all of us at NAIA, her visa and CFO sticker, my son's US and Philippine passport, and my valid visa extension.
Thanks everyone!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #5755