Need help getting married in Manila

[Gonzosan 0]

Hello all, I decided to join here to hopefully get some useful information. I've been stressing out a lot about it lately and I just want some reassurance. So, I am active duty Air Force stationed in Las Vegas, NV. My fiancee lives in the Philippines and she is a resident of the Philippines (filipina). We are planning to get married on Jan 10th 2013 and under the US Embassy of Manila it states I need a Commanders Approval Letter. No one has mentioned that I need anything, and no one has a clue what I need (if anything). I've talked to my First Sergeant and he doesn't know either, but he pulled up an AFI 36-2609 which he is using for this instance. It basically states getting married in an Overseas Command, of which the Philippines does not fall under. We will be getting married down in the Philippines and start the spousal visa process once we receive our marriage certificate. Now, the issue is that my First Sergeant claims my fiancee needs to be investigated and she needs a medical clearance in order to get approved to be married. I've gone back and forth with him stating that she does not need to be investigated (I've talked with my Security Manager and they've cleared me) and that she does not need prior medical clearance as she will get that once we start the spousal visa process. I leave on the 20th of December for the Philippines, so I need to get clarification on this. I've spoken with the MPF and Legal and both said that they do not require anything before hand, but my first shirt is insistent that per the AFI I need to get her medically cleared and investigated. Can anyone provide some good information on this? I know I'm not the first person to deal with this. Thank you

[Gonzosan 0]

hi there. just sent you a private message. take a look.

Thanks, I replied. My security manager has cleared me for everything and checked my clearance and they just said I need to fill out a form when I return with my name and information along with hers. I'm not in a sensitive career field so she doesn't need to be investigated or anything. The issue here is whether or not she needs medical clearance BEFORE we get married if we're getting a spousal visa.

[Gonzosan 0]

Thanks, I replied. My security manager has cleared me for everything and checked my clearance and they just said I need to fill out a form when I return with my name and information along with hers. I'm not in a sensitive career field so she doesn't need to be investigated or anything. The issue here is whether or not she needs medical clearance BEFORE we get married if we're getting a spousal visa.

Also to add, can she even go into a US hospital right now? She's not an American citizen nor has anything to show she's getting married to me, so I don't know. Thoughts?

[Kevo 69]

Your First Sergeant is confused. If you were stationed overseas then she would need medical/dental clearance before being command sponsored.

If your shirt still doesn't believe you then call the MDG, they'll straighten him out!

[Gonzosan 0]

Your First Sergeant is confused. If you were stationed overseas then she would need medical/dental clearance before being command sponsored.

If your shirt still doesn't believe you then call the MDG, they'll straighten him out!

Thank you! I was actually thinking about going to MDG about this issue. I agree with you as well.

[hellINTIM 9]

your 1st sgt dont know anything about this lol. ask the military hotline .. but most likely just bring your birth cert. your military ID . once you arrive there you can get your legal capacity to get married in US embassy. so you can start to process your marriage requirements.

[hellINTIM 9]

btw tell to ur 1st sgt that the security clearance investigation is only for those foreigner that join the military not the spouse that who is in military...... unless shes a terrorist

[Gonzosan 0]

btw tell to ur 1st sgt that the security clearance investigation is only for those foreigner that join the military not the spouse that who is in military...... unless shes a terrorist

Well usually if you're in a sensitive job they want to make sure that everything is cleared with the military member and the person they're going to marry. Nonetheless I don't have that issue since my security managers have cleared me. I just need to prove that she doesn't need medical clearance to get married and hopefully MDG will clear that up tomorrow. Thanks everyone for the help, I was getting pretty stressed out because of this. Pretty sad that my First Sergeant is causing so much stress because of this.

[Gonzosan 0]

Well today I went to talk to the medical folks. I first went to Public health and they directed me to talk to Tricare. I spoke with them and they informed me that she did not need anything prior to getting married. So I sent another email to my first shirt explaining all of this. I'm hoping he's finally going to come around, but we'll see how it all turns out. At this point I'm mostly fighting his ego. I wrote up an MFR stating who I talked to and what I was told. This should be signed off either today or tomorrow if all goes well, but at the latest at the end of this week. If I'm still having issues by the end of this week then I'll just go straight to the Commander about it.

[hellINTIM 9]

well i talked to my battle yesterday , he was married also in pinas . he said he goes to philippines and visit his fiance, bring his military ID, birth certificate , money, then decide to get married there. he didn't get any documents from the CO saying his cleared too everything. well what he did after marriage , he expedite the NSO marriage certificate to show to AGR sgt to update ur DEERS. then process the CR1 ...

Edited December 5, 2012 by .MythaG-

[Gonzosan 0]

well i talked to my battle yesterday , he was married also in pinas . he said he goes to philippines and visit his fiance, bring his military ID, birth certificate , money, then decide to get married there. he didn't get any documents from the CO saying his cleared too everything. well what he did after marriage , he expedite the NSO marriage certificate to show to AGR sgt to update ur DEERS. then process the CR1 ...

Well plenty of people do that, but I have a TS clearance and I don't want to risk getting kicked out for something like this. I'm sure I could have easily gone down there, gotten married and feigned ignorance that I needed to get "approved" but it wouldn't look good and I know I would be stressing out about it the whole time I was down there. I'd rather just go through the proper channels and know it's good before.

On a side note, I spoke with my First Sergeant again today and it seems like he might be coming around. Basically it ended with him contacting someone at the Legal office and getting an email started along with the emai/MFR I wrote up to get all the information out there. I'm hoping all this will be cleared and resolved by tomorrow. At first my First Sergeant was all up in arms about the AFI, then near the end he kind of softened up a bit and said "well I just want to get with Legal and make sure the Commander is going about signing this letter the legal way". Basically he was worried the Commander would sign the letter and it would be considered "illegal" and they'd all get in trouble. So once Legal gives us the go ahead we'll be good to go. I've already spoken with them before, and they said I didn't need anything, so we're doing it again. Someone else at Legal apparently told him something different, so we're going through this process again. I'm happy though, we're making progress and for once it seems like we're getting over that hill.

[hellINTIM 9]

well good luck battle buddy... btw im filipina too .. just keep us posted . be careful in philippines safe travel.

[Gonzosan 0]

Well still fighting my First Sergeant on this. He "spoke" with the Commander and then met with me and basically told me, defiantly, that she needed a medical exam at the US Embassy/US Medical facility and a background check. I was so angry speaking to him that I just stopped before I lost my cool and just left. I spoke with my Superintendent who is the same rank as him and told him what was going on. He understood and realized the First Sergeant was pretty much being an #### and would step in if need be. He basically told me to go back to Tricare and get something in writing stating that she didn't need medical clearance before getting married. I went down to Tricare and was able to speak to the same woman as before. We got him (First Sergeant) on the phone and she wanted to ask what he needed for me. She specialized in overseas clearances and apparently has been doing it quite a while and never had anything of that sort happen. Needless to say the First Sergeant sounded like kid saying 'well based on the AFI' over and over, but he couldn't provide concrete evidence for what was actually needed. After the call she turned to me and said "Is he a jerk?". Funny, just a few minutes over the phone with him and she could sense he was a jerk. She was very helpful and took me over to talk to the hospital legal office. The Major in there got my information and briefly looked over the AFI and said "yeah this probably doesn't apply to you". He said he would talk to base legal just so he doesn't overstep his bounds and he would get back to me.

As far as the background check, we had an email chain from my Unit Security Manager all the way up to the Wing Security Manager stating what has been done and needed. The best part was the "Doesn't this AFI only apply if you're overseas" "yes, that's why I didn't use it since he is not residing overseas". Apparently everyone "gets it" but my First Sergeant. Needless to say I think the FS is going to get a "talking to" by someone much higher up stating he's wrong. I'm 99% sure nothing else needs to be done, but most of the "battle" is getting past the Shirt.

[hellINTIM 9]

For god heaven sake! Oh btw your the one needs to have medical and security clearance To go to Philippines not her>.> bcoz since we're in military and not base (not deployment business ) in the Philippines. They need to brief you in some places that you can only go and not to go. I guess that's what ur first SGT talking about.

Just be careful there and have fun.

[AF-Wife 181]

http://www.manilavisa.com/resources/getting-married-with-your-filipino-fiancefiancee-in-the-philippines/