It has been 4 months since my mom received her visa from the USEmbassy in Manila. It was middle of October when she picked the packet with the visa at our local 2GO office.
I flew to the Philippines on October and stayed there for a whole month. My mom and brother and cousins fetched me up at NAIA airport.
My Mom did her PDOS or the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar in Manila the next day after I arrived. She was accompanied by my uncle. She had the seminar at the Citigold Center by Quirino Avenue which is not far from the airport. She had it at 10am session and finished a little bit after noon with the cfo sticker stamped on her passport.
POE-Port of Entry-
On Oct 17?, my mom and I flew together through Delta airlines. Our stop over was in Narita, Japan and our port of entry was Detroit. The Port of Entry of my Mom was very smooth since I was with her and it really helped a lot. The border custom officer asked me some basic question and not my mom. All in all I think the POE process took only 10 minutes that includes her fingerprinting which is a normal process.
Nov 26, 2011- My Mom's SSN card arrived in the mail in less than a month. Back on the
DS-230 form which is the application for immigrant visa form, we checked "YES" on page 3, 43b that asked, "Do you want the Social Security Administration to assign you a SSN and issue a
card?". That's why my mom got the card in the mail without going to the SSA office.
Dec 2, 2011- About 6 weeks my Mom received a welcome notice from the Dept of Homeland and Security welcoming her to the USA.
Dec 12, 2011- And not too long, she got her 10-yr GC in the mail. We thought she will get it 3 months after her port of entry. But only took 7 weeks.
Right now the weather is still cold but the snow are melting. Mom was enjoying the snow we had two weeks ago. She's on the process of adjustment and I can tell she misses home.
Next is my brother and sisters immigration journey.......
