question regarding evidence for bonafide marriage

[bxbella08 0]

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so me and the soon to be husband will be getting married soon in the philippines....

1) does anyone know if 2 weeks is enough to get all the paperworks done to have the wedding there?

2) once i start my spousal visa, what would be a good proof of a "bonafide marriage". I do not want to have a joint account and dont have the money to buy an apartment together there.

 

[Ryan H 3,790]

Moved from K3 Process & Procedures to IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures.

[JFH 12,189]

There USC a list of examples of bona fide marriage evidence on the instructions page for the I-130. Read through those and send what you have. 

[bcking 3,157]

You don't need a joint bank account or joint property. My wife and I had neither. We submitted our marriage cert, a letter from the Vicar stating the committment we made prior to the wedding (We had to attend Church at least once a month for the prior 6 months), sworn affidavits from two close respectable friends and from both our mothers, lots of photos and records of visits together, a skype and email log...I think that was it.

[bxbella08 0]

On 7/27/2017 at 9:21 AM, bcking said:

You don't need a joint bank account or joint property. My wife and I had neither. We submitted our marriage cert, a letter from the Vicar stating the committment we made prior to the wedding (We had to attend Church at least once a month for the prior 6 months), sworn affidavits from two close respectable friends and from both our mothers, lots of photos and records of visits together, a skype and email log...I think that was it.

thanks so much for that information - appreciate it. curious though since you got married there. would 2 weeks in the philippines to get the legal capacity to marry and marriage license be enough time? or is it cutting it close? for a civil wedding

Edited July 29, 2017 by bxbella08

[bxbella08 0]

On 7/26/2017 at 11:03 PM, JFH said:

There USC a list of examples of bona fide marriage evidence on the instructions page for the I-130. Read through those and send what you have. 

thank u

[bcking 3,157]

On 7/28/2017 at 9:14 PM, bxbella08 said:

thanks so much for that information - appreciate it. curious though since you got married there. would 2 weeks in the philippines to get the legal capacity to marry and marriage license be enough time? or is it cutting it close? for a civil wedding

That is going to depend on the Philippines. The process would be very different than the UK.

 

In the UK we had to apply with the Registrar to marry. I had to apply for a specific type of visa to enter the UK for the purpose of marriage. I couldn't enter as a tourist, then suddenly decide I wanted to marry. Since we were marrying in a CoE church we also had to fulfill their criteria (typically they read the bans but since I'm not from the UK they accepted our application from the registrar) which included going to the church at least once a month for 6 months. Luckily my wife was able to do that without me.

 

Perhaps someone here knows the requirements to marry in the Philippines and how long it takes. Some countries are much easier, and perhaps Philippines is one of them in order to encourage people to have "destination weddings". Not many people pick the UK as a destination wedding (though our wedding was quite beautiful).