Today, I received my renewed Philippine passport which is now maroon in color and is finally amended. I didn't even went in person to the Philippines Embassy in San Francisco because it's too far from Colorado and we just didn't have time to go there. It was a fast and easy application.


These are the following requirements I sent to the San Francisco Philippines Embassy:

1.)One notarized passport application form with my fingerprints on it signed by me.

2.)Two identical 3.5 cm by 4.5 cm royal blue background photographs.

3.)One photocopy of our Report of Marriage since I wanted to have my married name on the passport.

4.)A $50 amount of money order.

5.)A USPS express mail envelope with postage stamp.

6.)My most recent Philippine Passport.

 7.)One photocopy of my passport data page.

I sent in my passport application three weeks ago and a week later, I received two forms from the Embassy for my fingerprints.  I then immediately sent it back to the embassy and now,  three weeks after the entire submission of my application, I got my maroon passport renewed and amended. This is just so unexpectedly early because when I called the embassy about the requirements and me being not able to apply in person, they told me that the processing time could take  4-6 weeks. So, I'm just really glad that I already got this done.
Anyways, they also sent me back my old passport which is good for a souvenir because it has my K-1 Visa and I-94 in it.

Because of the the growing numbers of interracial relationship, dating websites are also growing in numbers as well, in terms of competition. So,  if you are looking for a partner online, which one would you choose? A free dating website that wouldn't cost you any or a paid membership one that charges you monthly or whatever their membership packages are? Anyways, this topic interests me a lot because I used to be a member of a couple of dating websites before until I found my husband. Well, it seems to be easier for girls though because there's a lot of even paid dating websites nowadays that don't ask girls to pay, just men.

But then, here comes free dating websites. They don't really rely on membership fees since they have none but,  they actually do it and still making money through advertisements. The thing is, free dating websites nowadays is just like a crib of scammers. Well, I'm sure paid dating websites also have a few scammers here and there but at least, they have this security thing that comes with their package that deletes or marks an account as a spam. At the same time, with paid dating websites, the members especially men who paid for it are usually serious about finding their partners and not just there because they wanna play games with girls online because for sure, they don't wanna waste paying their money on an online dating service if they're not serious about it or, who knows?. There's a lot of men online like that. They come online and chat with girls and then ask them to do something for them in return of whatever their offer is which is for me is a scam. I am not saying that men are the only scammers. Girls do it too but really, nobody's gonna scam you if you don't allow them to. So, it just really depends on a certain individual online if they let themselves be a victim of such people.

On the other hand, I wonder how these businesses, free versus paid dating website keep up with the competition. Because, some people are willing to pay and some are not and, with the economy right now, I'm sure a lot of these men sign up on the free ones.

It is too sad hearing all these stories of people with interracial relationship that didn't end up the way they wanted it to be and worse thing happens is that it ends up in a crime. Like this article that I just finished reading. It is about a filipina who was shot dead in the head by her husband who, also took his own life by shooting his self at the parking lot outside the store where the girl worked at. The husband had actually two restraining orders in the past from both  his ex-wives before she married his current wife.

See, there's this law called "IMBRA" (International Marriage Broker Regulation Act) that was passed in 2005. This law is to protect women from predators or bad guys who just want to bring women here in the US to be abused. Like for example, if somebody files a petition for a girl to come to the US. The government will check the background of the petitioner first. If they find out that  the petitioner has/had a violent background, they then pass the information to the beneficiary to make them aware of the petitioner's past. So, then it's already up to the beneficiary whether to proceed or cancel the petition.

So really, this is a good law because it gives you advanced notice as well as extra information about your partner and the rest is just up to you.

I thought about posting this topic because I wanna be able to help those who are still on their journey of getting their visas and want to know or just get any idea or clue about what the interview questions are like.

Getting interviewed at the embassy or consulate of your country of residence is the last course or step to your Visa Application. Once you're approved during your interview, normally there's a week waiting period for the visa to be delivered to you.  Usually, if you know your sponsor's background and whereabouts, you are more likely to get approved on your interview if there's not any problem with your papers and other requirements. Here are a few pointers for your interview:

• What's your name and when is your birthday?
• How many siblings do you have and how old are they?
• What are your hobbies?
• What's your sponsor's name and when is his/her birthday?
• How many siblings does your sponsor has and how old are they? 
• What's your sponsor's parents names and how old are they?
• What's your sponsor's hobbies?
• Is your sponsor single or divorced? If divorced, what's the name of the ex-wife and how old is she? When, how and why they got divorced?
• What's your sponsor's address, telephone number?
• What does your sponsor do? 
• If he works, where does he work?
• How and when did you meet?
• What do you like best about him/her?
• Where are you gonna live when you get to the US?
• When are you planning to get married?

These are just a few of the questions that they might ask during the interview at the embassy but basically, all the questions are just based on the forms that you filled up and sent for the application of your petition. What it means is that once you entirely know your sponsor/partner, you should be in a good shape during the interview no matter what question they will ask you about. Another hint is that you should also be able to remember the important dates like birthdays, divorce dates, etc. I know that some people are not really that good at memorizing or remembering dates because it's numbers hehe,  but for the interview, you just got to  because they might ask you those and yet you don't know or you forgot. That's danger there. You must answer their questions with all honesty so not to jeopardize your entire petition. 

So yeah, that's it. I may not have all the informations here but at least, hopefully this can help a little to everyone.

It is so hard if you are here in the United States and you only get to talk to your family once in a while.  My family in the Philippines don't have any internet connection at home and if I call them everyday on my phone, the monthly charges will be a lot. I have been having this issue ever since and even up to now. I always wanted to talk to them everyday because it's not really easy being here in the U.S. with no filipino family to talk to. Plus, family is different from friends. My mom lives in a remote area in the Province that can't have an internet connection because the ISP's in our province wouldn't install it there for some reasons. It's too far from even the closest ISP branch and there's not that many people who live there who would want an internet connection in their homes. 

So now, I'm working on getting my mom an apartment in town where they can get a connection from the internet. Yesterday, my husband bought a Magic Jack for $39 that already includes the gadget and  the first year of service. Once, my mom gets the internet connection installed at the apartment, we will send her this Magic Jack that we have now so she can also use it for an unlimited call abroad to me and we will just buy a new one for us.  With Magic Jack, you can have an unlimited long distance call if the other party has a Magic Jack too. After the first year service inclusion is over, you'll only have to pay $19.95 for the yearly charge which is still affordable, right?. Compared to an estimate of a thousand dollars yearly phone bill for an average person with long distance calls. So, other than chatting on the internet, me and my family can already call each other at an unlimited time with Magic Jack. Hopefully it works as they claim it does.

I know that most people know about Western Union. Yes, they do have a fast service of sending your money anywhere in the world but they also have an expensive charge for it. If you are looking for a cheaper way but almost as easy as Western Union, Xoom Money Transfer Service is the one that you're looking for. I first tried sending my mom some cash through Western Union and I've used their service for a couple of times. I am a member of a few filipino forums online and one time there was a post regarding money transfer since we, filipinos are known for sending money to support our family back in the Philippines because of our culture. A lot of members replied to that certain post and recommended a couple of money transfer services that are cheaper than Western Union. One of the replies mentioned this Xoom Money Transfer which I also have heard before but still used Western Union because it's more famous. 

So then I tried Xoom. I went to their website Xoom.com since you can send your money  from there too if you don't like going to their store locations. It was easy. After I sent the money and gave the tracking number to my mom she picked it up at the MLhuillier pawnshop the next day. She said she filled up a form and showed them two identification cards and then they gave her the cash. So, it was pretty easy. Basically, it's just like Western Union except that it's cheaper. 

Another way to easily send your money to your family is to give them an extra debit card that you have. All they need to do is just withdraw the money from the atm, so it's pretty easy too. Although, there might be a little issue about trust here because it could be a little risky especially  if it is your primary account so, you might wanna give them a debit card from a separate account. Most banks charge $5 dollars for every transaction but still it's way cheaper than Western Union's $12 fee.

I can definitely recommend this type of service to everyone. Before using the balikbayan box service, when I first got here, I used to send my package through the post office and for a big package of course, you'll expect higher fees. It's not just the higher fees that I'm concerned about sending my package through the post office. It also has to do with the existing corruption in the Philippines mainly in their post offices.

I once sent a box to my mom with chocolates and other stuffs in it including a used Nokia cellphone that I previously owned and just sent it to my family because my husband bought me a new one. When my mom picked it up at the post office, they ridiculously asked her to pay 2000 pesos fee for the box and an extra 1000 something pesos fee for the cellphone alone because they said it's an electronic and there's a different fee for it. When I sent it at the post office here in the US, I paid $150  for it so the fee that they were asking my mom for was almost half the sum of money I originally paid at the post office here. It's really ridiculous. I know that they have to pay for some taxes there but not a four digit amount. I think it's too much for just receiving a package. My mom is the type of person who doesn't want any troubles so, she went back home just to get some more money since the budget she brought with her wasn't enough for their absurdly high fees.

So, after that incident, I looked for a cheaper and reliable  courier services on the net and I stumbled upon this Manila forwarders who has a Balikbayan Box service. Fortunately, there was one lady there in Columbia who was actually an employee of a company who also does this type of service. What they do is, they give you a box depending on the size of the box you want. I ordered an estimated size of 30 inches tall, 20 inches wide box which is a good size for a package to send to Philippines. They told me that I will get to keep them and fill it up with anything I want and just call them  to pick it up once it's ready for delivery. I paid $90 for the whole service. The only problem I have with this service is that it takes 1-2 months for the package to get to it's destination. But what would I expect for a $90 fee, right? At least, my family received a bunch of assorted craps from me. I really filled up the box as much as possible to make use of my $90 fee for the box plus the amount of all the stuffs in it since there's no weight limit for it.
The guy who delivered the box to my mom's house took a picture of my sister who that time was the one who received the package. They asked her for her Id and had her sign the receipt. The picture is basically a proof that a certain person actually got the package and it can also be used if ever you have any complaints about the package not being received or something or somebody else from your town got it.

So yeah, it's pretty easy and hassle-free for me and for my family as well.