If someone is married in the Philippines but hides it from US and remarries US citizen, is it valid?

[Sorry2bother 0]

I want to know, my friends dad still lives in the Philippines, his wife took off and went to America, in search of a suckered to marry her. She never divorced her original husband, she ends up finding a suckered to marry her, and applies for citizenship. This ends up granted, she sent for 3 of her kids and her kids were also granted citizenship. They are all grown now and have their own kids here. Long story short, she became separated to her first US citizen husband, and in that time he dies, don't know how. I just know she most likely collected on that, but lied to her family especially her kids, because he supposedly left the youngest one money in his will, and she told her youngest not to even bother, that his other kids took it all.  She is a very greedy narcissistic person, she made sure not to divorce him so she could collect after he dies, which worries her real first husband in the Philippines because he has since moved on and met a woman. He wants to make it legal that his present girlfriend collects his estate, to help care for her and her kids. But when he contacted his kid in the US to ask his mom for papers proving she's been married in US and is now a citizen of US, she just ignored her kid, and won't send the documents to him in the Philippines.  What can he do? Is any of her marriages legal in the US if she never divorced her first husband in the Philippines?  Should she be fined $250,000, imprisoned, or sent back? Will this only effect her, she is a scam artist, manipulator. She uses people and leaves them high and dry including her own kids, she brought them out here, the youngest was in 7th grade, and she put them all to work in her fast food store her 2nd US husband got her. There they worked for years, she paid them practically nothing, claiming they owe her for bills. Since she relocated to another state most likely to find a 3rd US husband.

[Coco8 1,039]

36 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

 Long story short, she became separated to her first US citizen husband, and in that time he dies, don't know how. I just know she most likely collected on that

Kind of a stretch to imply she had something to do. If she was his wife, she probably inherited something because they had not divorced. There is nothing illegal or shady there.

 

36 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

I just know she most likely collected on that, but lied to her family especially her kids, because he supposedly left the youngest one money in his will, and she told her youngest not to even bother, that his other kids took it all.

This is not how inheritance and laws work. There is usually someone who executes a will so the other kids could not have taken it. Moreover, you are assuming there was a will and there was actually money. This doesn't have much to do with your story.

 

36 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

...her real first husband in the Philippines...has ...met a woman. He wants to make it legal that his present girlfriend collects his estate, to help care for her and her kids. But when he contacted his kid in the US to ask his mom for papers proving she's been married in US and is now a citizen of US, she just ignored her kid, and won't send the documents to him in the Philippines.  What can he do? Is any of her marriages legal in the US if she never divorced her first husband in the Philippines?  

He should contact a US lawyer. If the goal is to simply get a divorce, the lawyer will communicate that if she doesn't sign the papers they will start legal action showing she was a bigamist. That is a serious fraud and, in addition, her US citizenship could be revoked. In addition, she may even have to give back whatever she inherited from her US citizen husband because that marriage was not valid. Scaring her and putting the papers in front of her should work.

 

36 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

 Should she be fined $250,000, imprisoned, or sent back? Will this only effect her, she is a scam artist, manipulator. She uses people and leaves them high and dry including her own kids, she brought them out here, the youngest was in 7th grade, and she put them all to work in her fast food store her 2nd US husband got her. There they worked for years, she paid them practically nothing, claiming they owe her for bills. Since she relocated to another state most likely to find a 3rd US husband.

Here I think you go again with the long story. Yes, this woman sounds awful. But for your purpose is completely irrelevant. The guy wants a divorce. That should be the goal here. If her kids got to the US (are these the kids she had with her first husband? how were they able to come to the US if their birth certificate had someone else and they hadn't divorced? I'm surprised the consulate never found out) through her mother and her mother's citizenship gets revoked, they could be sent back to the Philippines because is she is not a citizen they are not citizens or residents either. So if he cares about the kids he should only focus on divorce and stop with the revenge talk you go on and on he. Again, I agree that his woman sounds awful but that won't take you anywhere.

 

Edited August 5, 2017 by Coco8

[Sorry2bother 0]

Well from what I understand her citizenship was not solely based on her marrying a legal US citizen, it only helped her get approved faster. As far as her kids go, they gave some other type of citizenship, because they have to reapply after so many years. From what I understand one of them had joined the navy, but is not considered a legal citizen, which is a whole other topic of confusion. But nonetheless all of her kids have resided in the US, longer than 7 years, all have children that were born in the US, and to be quite honest, I don't believe they would lose their right to be in America because two are single parents and the US won't send their kids to another country. When it comes down to it, this woman has committed benefits fraud, she should have her 401k taken from her, and they should force her to return to the Philippines and divorce him like she should have from the start. Hopefully before he passes away and she finds a way to collect that too. But I doubt things would play out in such a way, I was hoping someone who knew the actual law, might be able to offer up some advice.

[Coco8 1,039]

24 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

Well from what I understand her citizenship was not solely based on her marrying a legal US citizen, it only helped her get approved faster. As far as her kids go, they gave some other type of citizenship...

Well, you had said this:

 

1 hour ago, Sorry2bother said:

she sent for 3 of her kids and her kids were also granted citizenship

That means that either when she was a permanent resident or a citizen petitioned for them to get green cards. That is basically the only way they could have all gotten green cards.

 

25 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

one of them had joined the navy, but is not considered a legal citizen

Illegal citizens cannot join the navy or anything. I think you are the one confused here.

 

26 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

But nonetheless all of her kids have resided in the US, longer than 7 years, all have children that were born in the US, and to be quite honest, I don't believe they would lose their right to be in America because two are single parents and the US won't send their kids to another country. 

 

It does not matter how long they have lives in the US or whether they have kids born in the US. The kids born in the US would remain American but if they got green cards in the first place through their mother, and he gets stripped of her citizenship due to bigamy, they are all at risk. It has happened before. You are already confused about how other things work so you should be very careful here. I am 100% sure they could all get stripped of green card/citizenship because she is a bigamist and committed fraud.

 

29 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

But I doubt things would play out in such a way, I was hoping someone who knew the actual law, might be able to offer up some advice.

I think I am more informed than you. Yes, I hope someone else joins the conversation, but things could play out as I say. You can read here if you want about what can result in the revocation of citizenship  https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartL-Chapter2.html 

And here it says that one of the consequences is that anyone (including the kids I mentioned) who was sponsored by this person would also get their GC/citizenship revoked https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartL-Chapter3.html

 

Again, the guy wants a divorce. The best ways is to tell her all the things I mentioned. Getting her in trouble is not going to make her sign a divorce. Whatever happens in the US is not going to affect what happens in the Philippines; plus, she married the other guy first. 

 

 

[Ryan H 3,790]

Moved from K3 Process & Procedures to Philippines regional forum.

[Sorry2bother 0]

In  early 2000's the youngest joined the United states navy, I know that, and I am not confused. The navy promised to help grant citizenship in return. So perhaps you have that part confused, however I will take into consideration, her other two, despite completing college, and all their accomplishments, could still be negatively affected, I will tell him.

I did read here on another post, that once your married in the Philippines,  there is no divorce, and that just seems like a whole other nightmare of issues for him. Thank you for answering my question, and I did read the USCIS prior to posting, but I wasn't convinced she would even feel threatened by knowing this. Turns out that part I was right about. 

Edited August 5, 2017 by Sorry2bother

[Coco8 1,039]

44 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

In  early 2000's the youngest joined the United states navy, I know that, and I am not confused. The navy promised to help grant citizenship in return. 

He had a green card in order to join the Navy. On their website it says:

 

"Foreign nationals and aliens must legally immigrate first and then apply for and receive a permanent resident alien card, also known as a green card, prior to enlistment. The Navy Reserve cannot assist with the immigration process. To be eligible, you must enlist prior to the expiration date on your green card."

 

Maybe he can apply for citizenship earlier and that is what you mean by help him with the citizenship process. He got his green card through his mum. There is no other way. 

 

47 minutes ago, Sorry2bother said:

once your married in the Philippines,  there is no divorce

 

If there is no divorce then he should get a lawyer in the Philippines, get a copy of his wife marriage certificate with the American guy (that should be easy to get because it is public record), and get his marriage annulled. Maybe even showing she moved to the US is enough proof.That would be the only way he could get married again in the Philippines. That way he would not even need the first wife. 

 

I think you are more interested in some sort of revenge and the issue is that, even if he tells USCIS that his wife is a bigamist, that is not going to solve the problem he is having in the Philippines. He needs to focus on the goal of getting married to his current girlfriend. 

 

Here is a recent thread of annulments in the Philippines

 

 

 

 

[geowrian 22,335]

The way I see it, there's really 2 items here. First is his underlying issue - the divorce. The second is the spouse. For the divorce, he either needs to get an annulment or to have the spouse file for divorce in the US, then go to court to get that divorce recognized. This is possible in PI if the non-Filipino national initiates the divorce. I'm not sure how it works in this circumstance since the spouse was (I'm assuming) a Filipino national at the time of the marriage...it may not be possible without an annulment then. They should seek a family law attorney in PI for options there. Technically there is divorce in PI, but it's only between Muslims and must be performed via a Sharia court (and converting for that purpose won't be recognized for immigration purposes). There's a good read on it over at RapidVisa: https://rapidvisa.com/converting-islam-legally-divorce-philippines/.

 

As for the spouse, this is a massive can of worms...

If she was not free to marry and married in the US, then the US-based marriage is not valid. She technically committed bigamy (albeit this is very rarely prosecuted as a criminal offense). Furthermore, any immigration benefits obtained because of that marriage were invalid and the benefits can be revoked if USCIS pursues it. This includes her citizenship and anybody that derived their status based on that invalid marriage...meaning her 3 kids. It does NOT affect anybody that obtained their US residence and citizenship via other means (i.e. if you were born in the US you're still a USC).

 

As for actually applying this in a real case...USCIS has to choose to investigate (or not) and to pursue any revocation of benefits (or not). Revoking citizenship is quite difficult and they don't do so lightly. A bigamous marriage is a valid reason to do so and has been done before, but it's still a long and difficult process. All one can do - if they really wanted to pursue it - is report the issue to USCIS and provide evidence to support their claims. Everything beyond that is out of his hands for anything related to immigration.

 

This is a big "if". It is possible she divorced/annulled in the US prior to the marriage without him knowing. She would have had to try to contact him in accordance with due process for the divorce to be recognized (and meet the requirements to file for divorce in the US already), but it's not impossible that she did so and he just didn't know about it (unless she told him she didn't and I missed that in my reading). There's a lot of gaps and "what ifs" possible here.

 

9 hours ago, Sorry2bother said:

Well from what I understand her citizenship was not solely based on her marrying a legal US citizen, it only helped her get approved faster. As far as her kids go, they gave some other type of citizenship, because they have to reapply after so many years.

I think you're referring to being eligible for citizenship under the 3 year rule. Either way, both her green card and citizenship are based on a (legal) marriage to a USC. If the marriage wasn't legal, then those can be revoked.

There's no so such thing as having to reapply for citizenship when you already have it...?

 

Quote

I don't believe they would lose their right to be in America because two are single parents and the US won't send their kids to another country.

They currently have a right to be in America because they are USCs. If that citizenship was derived from somebody due to an illegal marriage, it can be revoked. At that point, they would have no right to be in the US and can be deported.

Again, this is all in theory. Revocation of citizenship is not a simple process and I'm also doubtful USCIS would actually pursue it against minors. But can they if the marriage was deemed invalid? Sure

[Hank_ 9,173]

Friends dad's wife "took off" and when to the USA..... OK.  How did she do that?     (hang on while I get my hip boots out)

 

This woman was granted "citizenship' but has to re-apply every couple years?    Really, that is a new one on me "term limit citizenship".      (thank goodness I found my hip boots)

 

There is no divorce in the Philippines (with extremely minor exceptions) ... if this guy wants rid of this woman whom he supposedly married.. get an annulment.

 

(I think I need my rain coat along with my hip boots ... it is raining do-do now)

 

And to think I actually wasted time reading though most of this .... 

[Greenbaum 12,258]

11 hours ago, Hank_ said:

Friends dad's wife "took off" and when to the USA..... OK.  How did she do that?     (hang on while I get my hip boots out)

 

This woman was granted "citizenship' but has to re-apply every couple years?    Really, that is a new one on me "term limit citizenship".      (thank goodness I found my hip boots)

 

There is no divorce in the Philippines (with extremely minor exceptions  ) ... if this guy wants rid of this woman whom he supposedly married.. get an annulment.

 

(I think I need my rain coat along with my hip boots ... it is raining do-do now)

 

And to think I actually wasted time reading though most of this .... 

I have swamp land that you can use your new boots after you purcha$e it from me. 

[Hank_ 9,173]

And I bet the swamp land is in AZ also.... dang!