Filling the I-129f, K1 with K2

As a guide I will first post our cover letter

I-129F Cover Letter

Name: Petioner

Address:

Phone:

Email:

United States Department of Homeland Security

U.S.  Citizenship and Immigration Services

USCIS

Attn: I-129F

2501 South State Highway 121 Business Suite 400

Lewisville, TX 75067 

Date:

Nature of the submission: I-129F ORIGINAL SUBMISSION
To Whom It May Concern:
Enclosed please find my Form I-129F, Petition for K-1 Fiancé Visa for Beneficiary, and supporting documents. Contents include;

·         Payment in the amount of $

·         I-129F

·         I-129F Supplement: Part 2, Question 34.a, explanation of meeting in person 

·         G-325A and passport style photo of Petitioner

·         G-325A and passport style photo of Beneficiary

·         Birth certificate of Petitioner

·         Photocopy of passport of Petitioner

·         Photocopy of Divorce Decree (Petitioner)

·         Letter certifying intent to marry (Petitioner and Beneficiary)

·         Form G-1145

·         Proof of having met in person in the past two years

·         Proof of bonafide and ongoing relationship 

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration or Consular officer at a later date.
Signed


Petitioner





Filling Fee: Back in July 9, 2016 when my baby filled our petition, the filling fee was 340 USD. Check the current K1 Visa filing fee here  Note for K2, you only pay 1 filing fee for K1 and K2/s. You don't pay separate for each. You don't have to pay anything for K2 yet.


Completing the I-129f: For with K2, this is the first time the name of the K2 will appear. Make sure to not forget to write it or the K2 will not be included on the petition. No other paperwork for the K2 is needed in this stage, just the K2's name on the I-129f for under the beneficiary's children.

Make sure to read carefully and complete the form, some people get RFE just for little mistakes in filling up this form. Note is you [the petitioner] have any conviction of crimes stated in this form that you also need to submit court records, specially with convictions of Domestic Violence and DUI
 I-129F Supplement: Part 2, Question 34.a, explanation of meeting in person . this is just another sheet of paper describing how you met in person attached to the I-129f form

G-325A and passport style photo of Petitioner and Beneficary, this needs fresh or wet signature. Make sure to write you names at the back of the photos

Birth certificate of Petitioner Make sure it's the long form

Photocopy of passport of Petitioner It needs to be all the pages of the passport

Photocopy of Divorce Decree (Petitioner) make sure it's the decree and not just the divorce certificate, there is a difference.

Letter of Intent to Marry (Petitioner and Beneficiary) check previous post for an example

Form G-1145 to receive text updates and emails for your progress

Proof of having met in person in the past two years Boarding pass, receipts, and pictures

Proof of bonafide and ongoing relationship pictures and tons of chat logs for us


We mailed our next day shipping to the physical address and not the PO box, make sure to write the Attn: I-129F so it wont get lost

Attn: I-129F

2501 South State Highway 121 Business Suite 400

Lewisville, TX 75067 

Go back to K1 visa with K2 post

Things to prepare before filing the K1 with K2

Here are the things you need to prepare before filing your fiance visa. 

You need some documents from the Beneficiary or the Foreign Fiance [Pinay] mailed to you. When we were researching this we believed it needs wet or fresh signature so I had to mail this to him. 

• Letter of intent to marry: This needs to specifically state the intention to marry within 90 days of the beneficiary's arrival in the US. Example posted below
• Completed and signed G-325A 
• Passport style Photo, US visa standard. When you go to get your photo taken tell the photographer/attendant that its for US visa. The Philippines passport style photo is different in Size and head shot. Some people gotten RFE just for wrong size photo. Make sure to order US Visa photo, first the size is 2x2 and the head is between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or 50% and 69% of the image's total height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. So maarte, but less you want delays from RFE just make sure it passes their standards.

Documents the Petitioner needs to gather and prepare;

• passport style photo
• birth certificate
• naturalization certificate if applicable
• divorce decree if applicable -more tips on this below
• evidence of meeting in person within the last 2 years
• evidence of genuine and on going relationship
• money for the filing fee check current K1 visa fees here

K2 note: at this point nothing is for the K2. But make sure to write the K2's name on the I-129f. Will remind you on the next post. 

If the beneficiary k1/k2 still don't have passports it is best to get it at this point even before filing the I-129f, our whole process from filing to visa on hand was 3 months and 2 weeks, the passport application system in the Philippines can take awhile. You also need a passport that at least have 6 months validity form the time of entry in the US so if your passport is expiring soon, renew it.

Example of Letter Certifying intent to Marry

Fiancé Letter of Intent

Beneficiary

Address:

Phone:

Email:

United States Department of Homeland Security

U.S.  Citizenship and Immigration Services

USCIS

Attn: I-129F

2501 South State Highway 121 Business Suite 400

Lewisville, TX 75067

Dear Sir or Madam;

                I, Beneficiary , do hereby state that I am legally able and will , without a doubt and with all my heart marry Petitioner within 90 days of my arrival in the United States using K1 visa.

Respectfully,

You can use the same template just switch names with the petitioner like we did.

Divorce Decree and Birth Certificate of Petitioner:

• The divorce papers should be the decree and not the certificate, the difference if you are not aware it that the decree is the same as your Final Judgment of Divorce where it states all the details granted on your divorce, like separation of properties alimony and custody. The certificate is the piece of paper that only certifies you have been divorced. You can only get a copy of your divorce decree from the court that heard and granted your divorce, or maybe your lawyer may have a copy also. The decree should also be certified by the clerk of court, in New Jersey it has a gold embossed seal and a signature of the clerk of court. People get RFEs for sending only the divorce certificate and not the decree.
• The Birth Certificate also needs to be the long form and not the short form as other also had RFE for sending only the short form birth certificates.

Go back to K1 visa with K2 post

K1 visa with K2

I am writing this post because not only do I wanna share my experience but also I want to pay it forward and try to make a more detailed help for those who will undergo the same situation as I need. It was hard for me to find information about K1 with K2 before so I will try to write about my experience here hoping it will be helpful to others in the future.


I will break down each experience to different post so it will be more organized:

Things to prepare before filing the K1

Filling the I-129f

What to expect after filing I-129f and how to track your progress
NOA1 and NOA2
Getting your Case number and scheduling your interview
Medical examination at St Lukes with a kid with history of Primary complex
Visa Interview
CFO
POE


I hope this helps

TOFU SOAP Review

I just wanna share my experience with this Thai beauty soup. The place where I buy my Menow Kiss Proof Lipstick also sell a lot of beauty products and I got interested with some of their Thai soaps. I have never been to Thailand but I have met a few here in the Philippines and they seem to have perfect, poreless skins.

To be honest, I just had to believe the owner of the store about what she said regarding this soaps cause for one, the writings are all in Thai. She recommended Tofu Soap, to make my pores smaller. My pores are not really a big problem but as I age it's becoming more visible, I'll be turning 32 in a few days and I have recently felt the need to preserve my skin or should I say prevent it from aging.

I got a few soaps because they are cheap, although they are really small. But I tried the Tofu soap first, hence this review.

The soaps cost 65 pesos each, 

I cut the soap in half. This is what I usually do with beauty soaps to save and maximize it, tofu soap is cheap at only 65 pesos but it can be expensive if you are wasteful. 

The soap have a nice mild vanilla fragrant. It's soft and will easily melt so keep it on a separate soap dish to keep dry after use. it's foamy and feels good to lather on the face, I leave it on my face for only a minute or so, then rinse it. I think you're supposed to leave it for 3 minutes but I don't have the patience.

It has a tingly feels just right after you rinse it, and then you will fill a good pull on your face. It's good, most of the beauty soaps I use have that, for me I think it means it works. Hahaha.

It leaves your skin a nice glow actually, I like it. My face feels soft even though I can feel like my skin is being tugged or stretched. 

I use it twice a day, morning and evening. Have been using it for a week and my half of the soap is in half, so I have used up 1/4 of the soap. 

So far I like it. I don't see any significant improvements yet on my skin, except it dried up my recent pimple breakouts so that's good. I specially love the glow after just washing my face.

Bremod Hair Color Review

This is the first time that I colored my hair. I have been rebonding my hair for more than 10 years so It got really damaged. I finally decided to just accept and love my naturally curly hair and learn how to manage and style it.

Trying to save money, well because I don't have a lot, I went to the nearest Hortaleza Vaciador store and asked the sales lady for recommendation. She wasn't really helpful just pointed at the nearest hair dye from her.

So I picked the lightest ash blonde because I figured my hair won't lift a lot of color and a mild color may not show.

It's nice, it didn't damage my hair or made it dry, I just use more conditioner to be sure.

The color changed though after sometimes, it became more lighter...

My final judgment: Since I don't have prior experience with hair coloring and therefore no comparison, I'm 80% satisfied. I didn't like that the color changed and became more bronzy.

Price:

Bremod hair dye --- 140 pesos (70 pesos each ), includes a bottle of oxidizing cream ( for my thick hair, I used 2)

hair dye set, (3 different size brushes and a bowl)  ---- 50 pesos

gloves --- 5 pesos

__________________

195 pesos in total

Paradizoo Review

I was trying to look for a cheap, nearby and hopefully fun summer trip for my family, I browsed through Metrodeals vouchers and decided to buy the Day Tour Pass to Paradizoo Theme Park for P79 .

Metrodeal transactions are easy, (for first timers) you can use a credit card or they also have over the counters and bank deposit option. If you use a credit card, the vouchers will be available instantly after processing the order and then you can print out the voucher to present to the establishment. Note: some vouchers have specific instructions on how to redeem the deals, some requires you to call and make an appointment or reservation, some are only valid at certain dates or days, so please read everything carefully.

At first I thought that Paradizoo is located in Tagaytay as most of it's advertisement seems to say, or maybe it was just me. But the property is actually in Mendez Cavite. 

It was April and I was hoping to get a short trip and enjoy the coolness of the weather of Tagaytay but errr... it was scorching hot that day for me to enjoy the zoo/farm.

The place was decent, kids had fun. But we didn't get to enjoy the place as much as we might have if we went there perhaps during the afternoon or during the cooler months. We spent about 2 hours inside the property as it was high noon and we just want to go back to car for some air conditioning and eat. 

Here are some pictures

Do It Yourself Divorce in New Jersey

I haven't been married, Although I do hope so very soon. The reason I decided to post this is because there's barely any information or first hand experience about do it yourself divorce online. So it's not really a first hand experience, literally because it wasn't my divorce and I am in the Philippines and not in New Jersey, but I can very much say that it's like 80% first hand experience.


A quick story of the long story, I have a fiance (yes, he proposed to me before he gotten divorced, he's cool like that) who is a Filipino American, (you get it!?) in New Jersey, who was separated from his wife for 4 years before I met him (had to make that clear!). When US happened, he wanted a divorce right away but did not know where to start, how, and how much. He can't really afford an attorney cause he was also planning to visit me here in the Philippines. And I turned to Mr. Google, and learned as much as I know about Pro Se Divorce in New Jersey.

Pro Se - representing yourself in court, without an attorney.

Hopefully before you reached my blog that you have already read some (a lot) information about divorce in New Jersey, and don't take this post as a legal advise or something.

I figured someone out there who cannot afford to hire a lawyer and thinking about doing it yourself might want to read about someone's experience, so here it is. 

I read a lot about Pro Se divorce and told my boyfriend the gist, that it is possible, yet was he still not sure so I told him he might want to talk to the ombudsman. 

In Ocean county there is a judiciary ombudsman, it is a customer service oriented program that: assists court users by distributing information to help them navigate their way through the court system; presents public education programs about the court; and addresses complaints from the public. The ombudsman was really nice and helpful. My boyfriend called the office first and was accommodated that afternoon. He was given forms for Pro Se but also was advised to retain an attorney, and he was given a list of where to get free attorneys.

He checked with the free attorneys' office but he did not qualify. So he decided to do it Pro Se.

I was ready for action, and got divorce form online, but he doesn't trust it (or me? LOL) so we wanted "professional form maker", jk. He hired the service of Divorce Center, for a little over $400. They took 2 months to write up his divorce papers.

He then filed the papers for $300+ at the clerk of court's office.

But something strange happened, we waited for two months and has not received anything from the court. At 6 weeks of waiting am I was impatient, I felt something was wrong. I told him to follow up but he said it's better not to annoy them. well then, I annoyed him instead until at the 2 month' mark, I said you better go and check cause it cannot be this long. He went to the court and found out, they don't have his papers, he was waiting for nothing, he hand deliver this and somehow it magically disappeared. The cheque wasn't cashed out though. So he called the divorce center and ask then for more copies of the papers since the clerk of court lost his and they told him he needs to pay a fudging $150 to reprint the papers!!!! So he went to the ombudsman's office, (it's probably in the same vicinity, I'm not sure) and told her about the dilema. The Ombudsman gave him divorce forms and instructed him how to fill it up. He went home to fill up the paper works and this time he mailed everything through certified mail, return receipt requested. And two weeks after he received paper works with the docket number for his divorce case.

One of the most important part of the process is serving his wife the divorce papers. He sent the paper works to the sheriff but she no longer lives at the address she gave him months before. It took a couple of months before he was able to get in touch with her, and she doesn't want to be served by a sheriff, she only gave a PO box address.

He mailed her the divorce complaint, acknowledgement of service and waiver of service and permission to go on default ( these were the papers works from the ombudsman not from divorce center) After many weeks, she sent back these documents, signed and notarized. My boyfriend was happy to bring them to the clerk of court. But when he got there, he was advised that they need a settlement agreement. 

If you have read up on going on default trial, well, it is I think possible unless the spouse is on active military duty, but in my boyfriend's case, she was not served by a sheriff, she mailed an acknowledgment of service. I'm not sure if it was the procedure or they were just trying to be helpful to my boyfriend, but that's what they told him. Get a settlement agreement. 

He was pissed, he went there thinking about getting a court date, he doesn't want to deal with the EX anymore, so I told him, relax, I'll call the divorce center since he doesn't have a paper work for a settlement agreement. Skype lets me call toll free numbers even if I am in the Philippines. When I called up the Divorce Center they told me that my boyfriend's case wasn't set up to be like that, it was set up that the Sheriff will serve the papers and she was supposed to go on default and no settlement agreement should have been necessary. If my boyfriend wants, they can make another paper work for $150. He got more pissed when I told him that.

And I told him again, chill baby! I gotcha. I'll write it up, text your ex you need her cooperation one last time, and mail it to her ASAP. I wrote the agreement that afternoon and it was signed by him and notarized and mailed out before dinner. 

It took about 3 weeks for him to received the documents again. And he gingerly (hahaha) brought it to the clerk of court May 25 in the afternoon, and got a hearing date for June 21. 


I'll let you know what happens after.