Fiance Married before

[baxxy 0]

My fiancee was married before to an american, it was a long time ago (4yrs). They never officially got divorced and he returned to the US. She has been unable to find where he is, now this is holding up our application. She is looking into annullment, does anyone have any experience with this and if so, how much more difficult does this make our application. Will they hold her first marriage against us? Will it look like she is just trying to get into the US seeing that her first husband also was American?

[*JG* 2]

Well, since you aren't really able to apply without both of you being free to do so, it will most likely mean denial, divorce, and starting all over again.

There are ways to divorce when you can't find the other person. I am not qualified to tell you how to do that, though. I would suggest an attorney.

[william_wallace 8]

My fiancee was married before to an american, it was a long time ago (4yrs). They never officially got divorced and he returned to the US. She has been unable to find where he is, now this is holding up our application. She is looking into annullment, does anyone have any experience with this and if so, how much more difficult does this make our application. Will they hold her first marriage against us? Will it look like she is just trying to get into the US seeing that her first husband also was American?

Annulment isn't easy to do, all depends on what grounds. Why not get your girlfriend to file for divorce at the court of his last known address. I'm from the UK and was married to an American. She played awkward, so I ended up filing at the court in her State. The divorce was over quick and only cost me $180.

I certainly would look into it more. Call the court house to see what they say.

Good luck.

[sitkan 0]

The Philippines tends to be a little complicated when it comes to divorce (basically they do not have divorce in that country), anulments are another question though. She may be able to try for anulment based on abandoment. She will need to see a local lawyer and get the real advice on that matter.

[Carlawarla 1]

Your best bet would be to have this question answered by a couple where one party is from the Philipinnes. I know I've read on this site many times that you'll have to get an annulment. You can't file until you have an annulment from PI, or a divorce from somewhere. You're petition is going to be denied, and you'll have to refile once everything has been taken care of. From what I've read, an annulment can take up to 2 years, most likely less and cost approximately $2000.00. If you look at the K-1 guides carefully, you both must be free to marry when you send in the application. Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news!

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

Man that sucks

I wish you patience and luck

[Tsup2 0]

She should have his full name and possibly his social security number. You can locate him using USSearch.com or one of the other internet people locators. Contact him and see if he is willing to help you. If the US citizen initiates the divorce it will be recognized in the Philippines. The Filipina can not initiate the divorce. Her husband may be willing to go along with the divorce if it is non-contested and he doesnt have to pay anything. Some guys might think a divorce is not necessary if you marry overseas thinking that nobody will know of the marriage here in the US.

[ssgtam08 0]

How would they even know if you put single on the 129?

[KarenCee 3]

How would they even know if you put single on the 129?

That's outright lying. Believe me, it is NOT ADVISABLE to lie about anything when dealing with the USCIS.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

How would they even know if you put single on the 129?

Piece of advice: do not lie to USCIS. You don't want the consequences that will come with that.

[Kamz 0]

There is no divorce in the Philippines. Annulment is possible but you have to establish grounds and usually takes up to two years and mind you, the whole process could cost you even up to USD 5,000. The whole process is very frustrating because you have to present lots of evidences to prove that you have legal grounds to annul the marriage, especially when the other party is not willing to agree to the annulment, or more, is a no-show in court hearings.

Based on my friend's experience, the international law for international marriages provides that she can file for divorce. There are lots of ways to track this guy down. There are search engines that can provide you with the info you need to get the residence details of this guy and one way could be the last known address.

Sorry for having to deal with something this complicated. I wish you all the luck in the world. Don't give up.

[ssgtam08 0]

Ok got it just kind of throwing it out there. We had to file annulment by way of probable death or something like that.

[tallcoolone 102]

If the divorce papers are originated in USA, then a Divorce can be granted by a US court and recognized by the Philippines.

[ssgtam08 0]

The divorce would of been the way to go if you are dealing with a rationale person. But getting some guy to file a divorce that he is under no obligation to do is not that easy. Like for example this guy might of gotten remarried to someone else so getting a divorce from the 1st marriage is going to screw up his current marriage so there is no incentive for him to file it. We figured annulement was the way to go cause then we didnt have to deal with the guy. It was expensive but it actuality only took like 2 months from start to finish.

[ManilaIdaho 2]

My fiancee was married before to an american, it was a long time ago (4yrs). They never officially got divorced and he returned to the US. She has been unable to find where he is, now this is holding up our application. She is looking into annullment, does anyone have any experience with this and if so, how much more difficult does this make our application. Will they hold her first marriage against us? Will it look like she is just trying to get into the US seeing that her first husband also was American?

Hi,your fiancee needs to file for an annulment before u two could get married or before you could file for any K petition.I remember somebody who posted here about how his fiancee got denied without telling them,it's very unlikely that USEM will deny the petition without reasons,he swore that his fiancee was never been married but it turned out that the embassy was able to find out that she has a previous marriage that was never been annuled.i just couldnt find the link but what im trying to say is that no matter how you tried keeping it to yourself,the truth will always come out.and no matter how you hide it,the embassy has its way to look,check and find it out.

If she wants help regarding her annulment,just send me a message so i could help her out.

thanks

The divorce would of been the way to go if you are dealing with a rationale person. But getting some guy to file a divorce that he is under no obligation to do is not that easy. Like for example this guy might of gotten remarried to someone else so getting a divorce from the 1st marriage is going to screw up his current marriage so there is no incentive for him to file it. We figured annulement was the way to go cause then we didnt have to deal with the guy. It was expensive but it actuality only took like 2 months from start to finish.

really?it only took him just 2months for his annulment to be done?that was really quick!