New Baby - US or PHL?

[AKteacher 104]

My wife and I are expecting another baby due in August. We're thinking of having this one in Phiippines. My wife wants to be near her family, and we're both teachers so we have summers off anyway... The question is, how much hassle is it to report the birth abroad, and how long does that take to process? We would want to return to the US not tooo long after the birth...

[apple21 953]

IMO, if time is of the essence, just have the child in the US.

It could take 1 to 6 months before you can get the child's NSO birth certificate, which is a requirement for CRBA.

[SennaBrigante 92]

Unless you're able to process the birth registration yourself, getting the NSO birth certificate can take up to 6 months. Then you'll have to schedule an interview with the embassy which could take another month or two depending on how busy the consulate is. Then another 3 or so weeks for the CRBA and passport to be sent to you if you are approved.

On the plus side, you'll be able to stay on top of those requirements if her family is around and willing to help out. It will be easier for her to recover because she'll have all the help she needs and prenatal care, labor and delivery is cheaper here anyways.

I got pregnant in the US and decided to come home to give birth. Whichever route you choose tho there will be pros and cons and the pros of giving birth here is more emotional than anything else.

[Alona_Dan 0]

The other pro is your child will have dual citizenship which enables him/her certain rights in the PI like land ownership is they ever so chose.... I just went through the CRBA process...if you plan to do this keep any ultrasounds and the fact you were with your wife during the timeframe of conception but since you're married that should be a no brainer. The actual filing and interview itself is easy as long as you have all the proper docs. Waiting for the NSO is the long part.

[Greenbaum 12,260]

Alona_Dan, on 21 Jan 2014 - 01:41 AM, said:

The other pro is your child will have dual citizenship which enables him/her certain rights in the PI like land ownership is they ever so chose.... I just went through the CRBA process...if you plan to do this keep any ultrasounds and the fact you were with your wife during the timeframe of conception but since you're married that should be a no brainer. The actual filing and interview itself is easy as long as you have all the proper docs. Waiting for the NSO is the long part.

Can you be so kind and share your timeline on this process. I am very curious. How long between filing and your interview? How long did it take for NSO to respond with their paperwork? Any pitfall's one should be aware of that would slow the CRBA process? Thanks.

[SennaBrigante 92]

I think baby can still have dual citizenship even if he/she was born in the US. Just report the birth to the PH embassy.

[Alona_Dan 0]

Unfortunately my timeline is not a usual case. Our birth occurred in the small town of Sogod in Northern Cebu and took about 8 weeks. It should be quicker in the city. Then my CRBA application and interview was scheduled and done within 1 day due to an awesome Visa interviewer who grabbed us a interview date the day after my fiancée's Visa interview. See story at: (2 pages after this K1 with children..Big mistake I made)

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/475957-k1-with-children-big-mistake-i-made/

[carton025 38]

Like others have already told you, the average timeline is about 6 months for the CRBA to be processed and provided there are no hiccups during the process. I am basing my opinion from what I have heard from others here and a yahoo group called MAG-ANAK that I am a member of. Best of luck!

[SennaBrigante 92]

Unfortunately my timeline is not a usual case. Our birth occurred in the small town of Sogod in Northern Cebu and took about 8 weeks. It should be quicker in the city. Then my CRBA application and interview was scheduled and done within 1 day due to an awesome Visa interviewer who grabbed us a interview date the day after my fiancée's Visa interview. See story at: (2 pages after this K1 with children..Big mistake I made)

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/475957-k1-with-children-big-mistake-i-made/

Unfortunately it is not quicker in the city. Imagine all the hospitals and lying-in centers in a city and just one city hall to process all those birth registrations. Plus from what I was told these birthing places submit the documents in batches and not everyday which adds to the delay.

[AKteacher 104]

Unless you're able to process the birth registration yourself, getting the NSO birth certificate can take up to 6 months.

How do I process the birth registration myself? You mean take the paperwork to NSO myself, or are you talking about something else?

It could take 1 to 6 months before you can get the child's NSO birth certificate, which is a requirement for CRBA.

average timeline is about 6 months for the CRBA to be processed and provided there are no hiccups during the process.

6 months just to get the birt cert on NSO paper? That's a long time... is there any way you know of to get it faster? SennaBrigante mentioned processing it myself... how would that work? Is there any other way?

[SennaBrigante 92]

It's the processing of the registration of birth that takes a lot of time.

It is usually the hospitals or birthing centers who forward the certificate of live birth to the civil registry or city hall. For bigger hospitals, they usually submit these in batches which adds to the delay. You can request for the document of live birth and bring it to the civil registry yourself. There are fees to pay depending on your city and I would imagine the lines to be impossibly long and the clerks impossibly slow.

As you can expect from a third-world municipal hall, they don't really work as fast as anyone would like so the processing could take forever until they forward it to NSO. Once it is forwarded to NSO, you can now request for a copy.

In my case, I would be requesting the documents from the hospital where I'm giving birth and bring it to city hall myself and I'll be monitoring everything until they forward it to NSO. Then I'll be harassing NSO. Lucky for me that both the city hall and NSO are near my house so I can harass them in person lol.

My mom's boss facilitated their kid's bc themselves and they got it in less than a month so I'm hoping for the same timetable.

Edited January 22, 2014 by SennaBrigante