relgious non - legal wedding in the philippines

[sweetcakes 0]

Anyone here know if it is possible to have a religious non - legal wedding in the Philippines while waiting for the k1 visa? Situation is, me and my fiance are both catholic and would really prefer a religious wedding over a civil one however it would take 4mos seminar in US before we can apply for a catholic wedding and the k1 only allows for 30days stay I come from a very conservative Catholic family and they too would disapprove of a civil wedding over a religious one. My fiance, a wonderful person, would also want to honor and respect this tradition.

[washington1972 12]

I have no idea,

if there is a non legal wedding so that should be fine,

it's not legal and not anyone business,

but you have 90 days since yr fiancee enter the US to marry and not 30 days

[CCDC4ever 1]

Anyone here know if it is possible to have a religious non - legal wedding in the Philippines while waiting for the k1 visa? Situation is, me and my fiance are both catholic and would really prefer a religious wedding over a civil one however it would take 4mos seminar in US before we can apply for a catholic wedding and the k1 only allows for 30days stay I come from a very conservative Catholic family and they too would disapprove of a civil wedding over a religious one. My fiance, a wonderful person, would also want to honor and respect this tradition.

Hi

There is no religious non legal wedding in the philippines

[hcfrey 6]

Anyone here know if it is possible to have a religious non - legal wedding in the Philippines while waiting for the k1 visa? Situation is, me and my fiance are both catholic and would really prefer a religious wedding over a civil one however it would take 4mos seminar in US before we can apply for a catholic wedding and the k1 only allows for 30days stay I come from a very conservative Catholic family and they too would disapprove of a civil wedding over a religious one. My fiance, a wonderful person, would also want to honor and respect this tradition.

go to US get married there once all your docs are good go back to the Philippines and do the traditional wedding, or after getting married with in 90 days in US prepare for the traditional one. there is no such religious non-legal wedding in the Philippines, hmmmmm unless you're a muslim. muslim here in the Philippines specially in Mindanao when they get married there is no marriage license/certificate unless they register it, but in catholic church they will really register your wedding.

[sjr09 155]

Or, cancel the K-1 have your conservative catholic religious wedding in the PI, making both you and your disapproving family of a civil wedding over a religious one happy. Then file CR-1 petition. Problem solved!

[hcfrey 6]

:thumbs:

Or, cancel the K-1 have your conservative catholic religious wedding in the PI, making both you and your disapproving family of a civil wedding over a religious one happy. Then file CR-1 petition. Problem solved!

[caelo 3]

Hi! Far as I know, there's no non-legal religious wedding in the Phils (esp. a Catholic one). Washington1972 is correct though, that you have 90 days upon your arrival in the US to get married. My fiance and I are both practicing Catholics too, and we both want a church wedding above anything else. As soon as my fiance filed the I-129F, he got in touch with his parish priest to discuss our predicament (financial limitations and time constraints). The priest was so kind and understanding, they considered my fiance's coming to consult as the start of notification so we are able to comply with the 6 months notification requirement of the parish. My fiance was interviewed and was given a list of requirements that I have to send (basically my certificates-- birth, cenomar, baptismal, communion, confirmation and a letter of endorsement from my parish priest here in the Phils.), and the priest also got in touch with me through email. To make the long story shorter, the US parish priest approved our request for special arrangements for a wedding. I just have to attend one seminar/interview when I get there, fill out some forms, publish the banns and then we could already get married in a month or so... after getting a marriage license too, of course. If you want something like this, then I'd advise your fiance to get in touch with the pastor of the church you want to get married in, right away.

This option allows you to get married only once, and with the kind of wedding that you want. Of course, we did consider getting married (civil) in the US, then come back to the Phils for a church wedding... but we are already spending so much with the visa application and the AOS afterwards, and the airfare and everything else... we just can't afford it anymore. But if money (and vacation leaves, on his part) is not a problem then this is also a good option, that way you can have all your family and friends present during your special day.

God bless and hope this helps you.

[caelo 3]

Oh, and I don't know about a 4-month seminar... is that really their requirement? I was allowed to take my pre-cana seminar here and I will just bring a certification from my parish priest. Then there's just one more seminar to attend there with my fiance, and that's that.

Of course, different dioceses have different policies... but go anyway and explain your situation. You're going to start a family that is soon to be a part of the flock and so your pastor will have to consider your unique needs too.

Hope everything works out well for you too.

[MI.PI 7]

This was exactly our concern prior to getting married. I happened to have a US tourist visa so I was able to visit my fiancé while our K1 petition is being processed. During my visit, we met with his parish priest to tell him about our wedding plans. We thought we could do the seminar while I was visiting as a tourist, but the parish required a 6-month pre-cana seminar and the schedule was for a later date which would not fit in to our schedule or I would have to overstay my tourist visa, so our only option was to do the seminar when I get back on a K1 visa. We tried to explain to him the 90-day restriction of the fiancé visa and asked him if we can just attend the Engaged Encounter Seminar (which is only a 3-day seminar), but he said he can’t allow it. To our surprise, we got his “blessing” to have the civil wedding for immigration purposes, HOWEVER, he made it clear that while we are legally married, we cannot consummate the marriage until we have the church wedding. This was not an issue because I was also scheduled to have a major surgery at that time which required months of recovery. So, we had our civil wedding in the US and 5 months later, we had our church wedding in the Philippines.

It is best that your fiancé talk to his parish priest and explain the situation. Some priest may be lenient about it. He might allow you to attend the Engaged Encounter Seminar in lieu of the 6-month pre-cana.

Edited June 1, 2012 by MI.PI

[renecherubs 18]

the catholic church in the phils. requires a marriage contract/license from the civil registrar's office. the church won't allow you to get married without informing the civil registrar. which in turn of course would submit your marriage to the NSO which in turn your fiance will now be registered as married. there's no going around that.

[sweetcakes 0]

Thank you so much for all your replies. I swear this has been driving me crazy for the past days since I feel like Im caught up between my conscience and my faith and the legalities of the whole marriage process and the restrictions. Your answers really helped alot I will get him to contact his parish priest and see where to go from there.

God Bless you all

[Xanax 349]

Good luck , Sweetcakes! It seems you have gotten some sound advice!

[RickJovi 81]

Anyone here know if it is possible to have a religious non - legal wedding in the Philippines while waiting for the k1 visa? Situation is, me and my fiance are both catholic and would really prefer a religious wedding over a civil one however it would take 4mos seminar in US before we can apply for a catholic wedding and the k1 only allows for 30days stay I come from a very conservative Catholic family and they too would disapprove of a civil wedding over a religious one. My fiance, a wonderful person, would also want to honor and respect this tradition.

I dealt with this before. Talk to your priest in the US where you want to do the Catholic wedding. Explain the 90 days to get married requirement. He can give you the personailty/compatibility questionaire you can take or mail to your fiancee to answer and send back. You will complete one. THey cant do in office counseling as part of the Catholic pre-marital counseling. If you can give her a MagiJack it would make calling her from the priest office much easier, no international long distance charges.When she arrives on her 90 day K1 VISA you both can do the in office counseling with the preist, attend a Pre-Cana seminar as a requirement and then the preist will normally assign you a married Catholic couple that you will meet with several times, they will talk to you, give you advice on marriage and also have your personality questionaires, etc.... after they sign off on the paperwork, you can talk to the preist about your marriage date. The preist will need a recent baptismal certificate showing she is free tomarry as a Catholic. She can bring this when she comes to the US on the K1 VISA. Then you can have your Catholic wedding in the US within the 90 days timeframe.

[Cw3rob 0]

We held a wedding party in China. We did not register becasue of our pending visa but all attended and we had a very good time.

[sjr09 155]

Sounds like the catholic government legal proceedings are more argues then the US government immigrations process. Wonder if the fees are any cheaper?