k1 vs cr1 and Marriage in US vs marriage in Philippines

[kpleas88 0]

Ok I' not sure if this question fits here but really could use some advice. My girlfriend and I were originally going to do a k1 visa and get married where I live in America as I had heard it was the easier quicker option and with my work and finical situation traveling and staying there long enough to get married might be a bit hard, but my future parents in law have recently stated they want us to get married there and do a cr1 Visa. I've tried doing some research but am still unable to decide if it is something I can do.

I've read it can take 12 days to get marriage licenses after getting a Affidavit in Lieu of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage which I read is not hard and then once I get home I can petition to bring her home which can take close to a year. But can I count on that time frame or would there be things that could keep me there longer? Will I have trouble bring her over and proving we have a real marriage if we just get married and I go back home right away and file?

I could probably spend a max of 2 maybe 3 weeks there if I push it do to my work so anything that could make it take longer might make it hard for me.

Other than having to go close to a year without being with my wife is there anything that makes the cr1 harder than the k1?

I'm having a hard time explaining to future parents in law why we're not getting married there so if I am able to do it I will try , but if what is right and it would be hard for us based on our situation I need to find a good way to explain it.

I appreciate any advice

[amosherron 1]

Have you considered doing an unofficial, unrecognized, non-legally binding ceremony for your fiance's parents after she receives her visa? Then when you come to the US you can get a legal marriage license here? I think many do this in your situation. It's not uncommon to have some type of ceremony for the fiance's family so that they can say good bye and be apart of the marriage celebration. Hopefully other posters can comment on this and share their experience if they have also done this. Good luck to you.

[kpleas88 0]

I have suggested that very Idea but they don't seem to even consider it as they are unfamiliar with the idea and I think it seems strange to them, but maybe if other post stories about theirs like you said I could show them it's not so strange Thanks for the suggestion!

[j&ana 380]

I got married in the Philippines in may of this year. Yes it is possible to have all the legal requirement done in two weeks. You will have to make appointment with the embassy on their website for the affidavit in lieu of legal capacity to contact marriage. It is fairly simple getting it at the embassy. Then you and your wife can apply for marriage license at the place of her residence. I was told both people will need copy of cenomar ( copy of no marriage) you can order it online thru e-census website. It will just show no record for you. I can not remember if I actually needed it or not but it is better to have something you do not need then to not have it. after you get that you can apply for marriage license. Then you have to wait 10 days consecutive days not business days for marriage license. Once you have marriage license you can get married anywhere in the Philippines and it is good for 120 days

Some things you will want to do is if you decide to get married there is you will want to plan for the type of wedding you are having. My wife and I had a simple wedding, but if you are planning a catholic church wedding then you will have to make plans for that as the church has their requirements

As far as the I-130 petititions for the CR/R-1 visa. they are still expediting petitions from the Philippines because of the typhoon. I am not sure if they will still being doing it when you file. There is one slight problem you might encounter when you file the petition and that is the nso copy of marriage certificate. In the Philippines every type of records such as birth death and marriage is sent to a central location which is the national statists office.It takes 5 to 6 months for the nso to have it process. Before when you sent in the I-130 petition you just send a copy of the local civil register copy and once you got to the 2nd stage the nvc part then you could sent in the NS0 copy. However Me and 3 others member on here got RFE on our petititions for that. But none of us file right away so we are was able to obtain it.If you do on planning on getting married and filing right away you might want to make sure you tell the local civil register that you want your marriage certificated expedited to NSO

[kpleas88 0]

Thank you that was helpful

[Ryan H 3,873]

Moved from What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration forum to Philippines regional forum.

[JohnandMhay 13]

I went there in May and we planned the wedding and got the marriage license.

Went back in August and got married and had our honeymoon in Palawan afterwards.

I filed Oct 14th using the local register copy of the marriage license and it was sent to TSC. Got approval Oct 17th from TSC and off to NVC.

I was back down in Manila at the end of November and we were able to get the NSO copy of our marriage license then, so just under four months for that.

NVC showed receiving the CR-1 from TSC at the end of November and we got our case number the Monday after Christmas. AOS fee was invoiced Dec 30th and paid. Shows paid now as of Jan 5, so just waiting on IV fee to be invoiced and I can send the rest in.

So they were still expediting as of mid October and the NSO copy took us about 3 1/2 months to receive

[j&ana 380]

Maybe tsc sevice center is not asking for nso copy of marriage certificate but nebraska service center is my petition was received oct 9th and i got a RFE for the nso copy of marriage certificate i know 3 other members on here got RFE for that too all was at nebraska service center