January 8, 2004 - I called the Embassy in Manila. The call cost the long distance charges, as well as an additional $6.00 US fee they charged to my credit card to answer the call. The only information I got was that they have had Niña’s file since the early part of December but not appointment date has been set. They said that her appointment “should” be in Feb or March. No date, and they couldn’t tell me when they would have a date. How frustrating.

January 22nd, 2004 - I called the Embassy in Manila. I expected to be charged again, but the nice person who answered the phone didn’t charge me. She also gave me GREAT news - Niña has been assigned an appointment date of March 19th, 2004 at 7:30 am. She said to call the Embassy back if Niña didn’t get her packet in the mail by March 1, 2004.

January 23rd, 2004 - I faxed the Embassy in Manila requesting an earlier appointment date for Niña since my mother is going to be traveling out of the country around the time we will get married since we hoped that the appointment would be sooner. The instructions say that if they will give her an earlier appointment, we will be notified within 5 days - if you don’t hear in the 5 days, then consider it denied.

January 30th, 2004 - We didn’t get contacted by the Embassy in Manila about the earlier appointment date for Niña, so we consider it denied. Didn’t hurt to try.

February 5th, 2004 - Niña went to the bank to pay her fee for her K1 interview well in advance.

February 10th, 2004 - Niña got her K1 packet from the Embassy today - postage due. It had everything in it we thought it would, so Niña is well prepared.

February 20th, 2004 - I bought Niña a one way ticket from Manila to Dallas (stopping in Japan and Detroit) on Northwest airlines. We did an E-ticket so she can print it out there. Otherwise, the ticket has to be issued from an agent in the Philippines.

March 9th, 2004 - Niña left for Manila today, and will be going to get her health exam tomorrow.

March 10th, 2004 - Niña went for her medical exam today, and it turns out that they will not give her the immunizations until her chest x-ray has been read. They tell her to come back tomorrow. Originally, we planned for Niña to do the CFO seminar on the morning of the 11th and fly back to CDO on the 11th, but now the schedule will change. Niña spends all day of the 11th at the hospital, getting immunizations in the morning and then waiting all day for a document review. While there, she has made friends with several other girls who’s medical exams have taken a week or longer, with one of the girls missing her interview because she didn’t go to the medical exam early enough. Take that as a lesson, do the medical exam at least a week ahead of time, and now if I was giving advice, I would say two weeks. If you call the hospital, they say you can do it the same week as your interview - but know you are taking a big risk.

March 12th, 2004 - Niña to the required CFO seminar today. They can’t stamp her passport because she doesn’t have the visa yet, but all she has to do is return for a stamp once the visa has been issued to her. Last obstacle out of the way until the interview. Niña flew back to her house in CDO to spend the last few nights with her family until coming to join me here in the US.

March 19th, 2004 - Niña showed up at the embassy at 7:30 am, and had been told by 12:30 pm that she was approved for the visa. Please note that they did not issue her the visa this day, nor will they let her return to pick up the visa in person. They must courier it to her. She has asked them to courier it to her at the hotel she is staying at in Manila, and we are hoping it will arrive on Monday or Tuesday. Whoo hoo! She was approved. I’ll give you more details when she arrives and I can post her diary, but she did say that several applicants were not issued visas. One, had the middle name on her passport not match the middle name on the visa application. Immediate disqualification. Another, her fiancé did not meet the poverty guidelines for the afivdavid of support - his woman was insisting that they examine the 2002 W2 form, but they were concentrating on the 2003 W2 form (I suspect he got laid off). Another girl, when asked, said that her fiancé had only been married once before. He had really been married twice. They did not issue her a visa. The rough thing is that she actually knew that he had been married twice, but she “didn’t want to mention the other marriage because it was too much to explain”. The embassy either thinks that she is a liar, or doesn’t believe that they have a relationship since such an important fact was not known. Take this as a lesson to any Filipino woman reading this - always tell the truth at the interview, no matter how bad it is or how much “trouble” it is to explain. If they are asking you a question, they already know the answer and if you answer wrong, you will be denied the visa.

March 29th, 2004 - Approved but STILL no friggin' visa! If you call the embassy, pay the $6 they just say it is "in normal processing" and they encourage you to call back again. Yet, all of the girls who had their interviews on the same day as Niña (who got approved) already have their visas in hand. After "discussing" the issue with the person on the phone for about a 1/2 hour - asking probing questions - I got her to admit that to call back will do nothing. She can't tell me any more info until the visa has been issued, and Niña will have it in her hands by then.

To recap, her appointment was on the 19th, they said it was approved and to wait for it to be delivered, by the 29th she still doesn't have her visa in hand and Fed Ex doesn't have it in their possession for delivery on the 30th (so it wasn't released yet). Next week is Holy Week so if she doesn't get it soon then another whole week will be wasted. She is still tied to the hotel in Manila where the visa should be delivered, away from family and friends.

I have already called my congressman this morning and have been assured a call back from his office before noon (they seem really nice, so I think they will). Hopefully they will open a case, make a call - and they will locate her file and take it off of the desk of the person who is on holiday for the next three weeks and put the dang thing in her hands...

Can you tell I am frustrated??

March 31st, 2004: Ya learn something new every day. Today, unfortunately, I found out what an admin review is.

While Niña's paperwork was in order, and her interview went fine, her case was picked for an Admin Review. There is speculation of what causes a file to be picked... it is more often with women over 24... and with Filipinos who have visited other countries.

Anyhow, now that it is picked - our case is sitting in a big pile of other files that need a consular to manually go through each case to make sure that everything is there, and to finally approve it. From what I have read on the Internet, this process usually takes about TWO MONTHS but the Embassy has up to 180 friggin days to get it done and still stay within guidelines.

While I have contacted my congressman about this, and they have opened a file on the case, there really isn't much he can do as long as they are working within their standard guidelines - and in this case, they have six months to review the case.

Can you believe this crap? We file, everything is in order, wait forever for an interview - the interview goes fine and NOW we don't know when the visa will be delivered and it could take up to six months!!!

I am pissed, disgusted, sad and depressed all at once. I can't tell you how bad this has been for Niña who has been living in a hotel in Manila for the last 16 days waiting to travel to the US. I had to even pry it out of the Embassy to tell me that it was put into an admin review. They were giving me the "it is in normal processing" speech.

April 7, 2004: Niña got her visa today! The embassy made a mistake in processing her paperwork and tried to send the visa to the hotel in Manila. Because I faxed the embassy to let them know she was going back to her home town, Fed Ex had the visa and it was re-routed. All of that aside, the most important thing is that Niña has the visa!

April 13, 2004: Niña arrived in Texas today. Everything went perfect. I bought her an E-Ticket from Northwest airlines (note - that is the only way you can buy a ticket for your lady, otherwise the ticket MUST be bough in the Philippines). She was tired when she arrived, but we were both so happy to see each other!

May 16, 2004: Niña and I got married today at the Always and Forever Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Photos can be seen here. Please note, the photos are not on my web server, so they can take a while to download and the site may be down from time to time.

June 2, 2004: We filed Niña’s adjustment of status forms so that she can get her conditional green card.

June 10, 2004: Niña’s adjustment of status forms were returned to us. As it turns out, between the time I ordered the forms (before she arrived) and when we filed, the fees went up significantly and also the mailing address changed.

June 14, 2004: We filed Niña’s adjustment of status forms again - along with a work authorization request. This time, to the right address with the proper fees. One week later, we see that the checks cleared our bank account.

November 8, 2004: Niña’s appointment for fingerprinting comes and goes uneventfully.

November 16, 2004: We get notification that our in-person appointment for Niña’s green card is in December.

December 20, 2004: We did our in-person interview at the Dallas office. It took about 30 minutes and we basically just went over the paperwork. It was not stressful or difficult, and we were over prepared (which is a good idea). Niña walked out with a stamp in her passport giving her a conditional two year stay in the United States with a promise that the actual green card will be coming shortly.

February 4, 2005: Niña’s conditional green card arrived without issue. Whoo hoo!

August 24, 2005: We finally get around to a Honeymoon. We took an Alaskan Cruise on Holland America. Photos are here.

October 21, 2005: Brett took a new job and we moved from Dallas, TX to sunny Las Vegas, Nevada.

November 10, 2005: We applied on line for a replacement green card for Niña to account for her name change (taking Brett’s last name). This wasn’t done previously because her Philippine passport had her maiden name - but she renewed her passport in November of 2005 and registered the wedding and now her Philippine passport reads with her married name - so now the green card must match with her married name (and therefore be replaced).