Northeast Nebraska and Candelaria Philippines | Some of you may remember I am here in the Philippines with my Filipino wife, Filipino step daughter, and 2 us citizen children.
It's been a long process. First the Philippine government held up my wife's status for 5 years. In May 2024 she received status that allowed us to finally start the USA side of the immigration process.
It's a 2 step process. First USCIS application and approval, then National Visa Center and Embassy interview.
Normally the USCIS process takes 12+ months. With the help of our local Congressman, I was able to speed up that to about 5 months. We received our USCIS approval on Friday.
Now we have to wait for the approval to be sent to the Manila Embassy, and get an appointment scheduled. They are currently 9 months out. In 2023 they were only 4 weeks out, but as of today it's 9 months. However it appears the backlog is decreasing.
It is frustrating because there are only on average 200 spousal visas requested per month in Manila. Compared to 20,000 tourist visa request a month out of Manila. The wait for a tourist visa appointment is 40 days. The wait for the spousal visa is 9 months. Can you believe that crap? Putting Filipino tourist ahead of US Citizens and there children? Someones head should roll for that.
We do actually have an interview for a tourist visa on Tuesday, but they say very unlike to approve since they know we intend to immigrate.
|
our immigration journey
