philippine passport name change.. slightly complicated..need help anyone

[Gheena10 0]

Hi to everyone. I would like to seek help on something very important to me. I recently arrived here in the US with a K1 visa and got married to my wonderful fiancé. we already applied for I-485 and I765 and we don't have any problem with that. I also sent the Philippine Embassy in New York my Report of Marriage (since we got married in Massachusetts) last August 30 but until now there is no update whatsoever (well, as usual PI embassies and consulates are very slow) My issue is, my husband was previously married in PI but got divorced here last 2008, my passport is going to expire October next year and i would like to use my husbands name as my last name. Will i be having difficulty doing this? Or can someone help me figure out what to do because i keep following up Philippine Embassy in New York and Washington DC and no one ever accommodate or answers my inquiries wether its email or phone. Thank you very much.

[Caryh 5,206]

In order to renew your passport in your married name, you will need a copy of the completed report of marriage abroad. You will not be allowed to use your married name in a new passport until this part is completed. Some of the consulates allowed you to do both the renewal and report of marriage at the same time in the past, but I've heard some are not longer allowing this. With you being in the middle of the report of marriage abroad process, I doubt they'll accept that. It doesn't matter if your husband was previously married in the Philippines, unless he was a Philippines citizen and still a citizen at the time of his divorce. You will need to make a personal appearance to renew your passport. If you do not live close to a consulate, check the consulate for your area for an outreach program closer to you. The report of marriage abroad takes a bit of time, as all the paperwork gets sent back to the Philippines, before the process can be finalized.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Caryh

[Pitaya 2,576]

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[Gheena10 0]

Thanks Caryh. I appreciate your quick response but is there any way i will know that my sent documents for Report of Marriage was received, or is it in what kind of status right now? Because the Report of Marriage was sent July 30 and it was received around August 2, after a few weeks that i have sent an inquiry thru email to Philippine embassy in New York i have received a response from the Consul General to call and follow up in these phone line and extentions 212-764-3722 ext 3825 or 3826 and look for Fe or Mark. So i did called this numbers and no one ever picks up instead asks you to always leave a message which i did several times but no body gives you a call back. I really want to get any status update or confirmation of my papers.

[Hank_ 9,173]

Thanks Caryh. I appreciate your quick response but is there any way i will know that my sent documents for Report of Marriage was received, or is it in what kind of status right now? Because the Report of Marriage was sent July 30 and it was received around August 2, after a few weeks that i have sent an inquiry thru email to Philippine embassy in New York i have received a response from the Consul General to call and follow up in these phone line and extentions 212-764-3722 ext 3825 or 3826 and look for Fe or Mark. So i did called this numbers and no one ever picks up instead asks you to always leave a message which i did several times but no body gives you a call back. I really want to get any status update or confirmation of my papers.

Once completed the consulate will mail you a copy of the form (Report of Marriage) you completed with the consulate stamp on it. Just be patient.

[Caryh 5,206]

Thanks Caryh. I appreciate your quick response but is there any way i will know that my sent documents for Report of Marriage was received, or is it in what kind of status right now? Because the Report of Marriage was sent July 30 and it was received around August 2, after a few weeks that i have sent an inquiry thru email to Philippine embassy in New York i have received a response from the Consul General to call and follow up in these phone line and extentions 212-764-3722 ext 3825 or 3826 and look for Fe or Mark. So i did called this numbers and no one ever picks up instead asks you to always leave a message which i did several times but no body gives you a call back. I really want to get any status update or confirmation of my papers.

I run into the same thing trying to contact people at the Chicago consulate. I found out the reason is these people are busy running around to different outreach programs. When they get back, they've a ton of paperwork to process, and are also prepping for the next trip. Unless you happen to catch them in the office, you probably won't hear back from them. They may not be good at returning calls or replying to emails, but they do seem to be good at getting the job done. I've yet to hear from anyone who didn't get their report of marriage abroad back. We even got an RFE on ours! As at the time the instructions at Chicago didn't list needing a copy of my divorce decree, and we got slightly delayed for that.