Question about docs needed for CRBA in Philippines

[ReedLeed 2]

So while waiting for our K-1 visa, my fiancee had our daughter in Manila. My fiancee has her visa now, but we are preparing our daughter's paperwork so she can travel on a US passport. 

 

I'm not exactly clear on some of the details. I was quoted at city hall that it would take 6 mo to a year to get her NSO birth certificate in hand. That seems insane even for the Philippines. Doing the K-1 I've learned to always ask twice because you get two answers and just go with the better one. Well after a lot of questions, fees, and receipts at city hall, I'm waiting to get the SECPA in a couple days. They seem adamant that this is what I need for her US passport application. I asked about everyone I could. I'm not so sure because the embassy is clear about needing the NSO birth certificate, while the folks at city hall are telling me this is the same thing. 

 

Has anyone done this or can anyone verify this for me? Is the "SECPA" the same as the NSO birth certificate? Does it meet the the requirements for the USEM?

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

52 minutes ago, ReedLeed said:

So while waiting for our K-1 visa, my fiancee had our daughter in Manila. My fiancee has her visa now, but we are preparing our daughter's paperwork so she can travel on a US passport. 

 

I'm not exactly clear on some of the details. I was quoted at city hall that it would take 6 mo to a year to get her NSO birth certificate in hand. That seems insane even for the Philippines. Doing the K-1 I've learned to always ask twice because you get two answers and just go with the better one. Well after a lot of questions, fees, and receipts at city hall, I'm waiting to get the SECPA in a couple days. They seem adamant that this is what I need for her US passport application. I asked about everyone I could. I'm not so sure because the embassy is clear about needing the NSO birth certificate, while the folks at city hall are telling me this is the same thing. 

 

Has anyone done this or can anyone verify this for me? Is the "SECPA" the same as the NSO birth certificate? Does it meet the the requirements for the USEM?

 

https://ph.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/birth/first-time-report-birth-abroad/

 

Here is the information that is required by the US Embasssy in Manila. 

[doggieandsam 765]

hi there. SECPA just means "Security Paper", this is the yellow, watermarked paper that the then-NSO (they are now called PSA for Philippine Statistics Authority) uses to print the PSA-issued birth certificate on. this is not the birth certificate per se, well, not until the details are printed on it at least!

 

you can request PSA birth certificates online here: https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Default.aspx

 

takes approx 9 days to get delivered anywhere within the philippines.

 

caveat: you can request this online IF the child's birth has been reported and logged into the PSA system already. the problem i see in your case is that your daughter seems to be very born recently (ie within the last few months maybe)? if so, then it usually takes a while for the report of birth to move from municipal hall or city call (depending on where you fiancee lives) to regional PSA to national PSA. the birth certificate is issued by the national PSA. this is why you where quoted 6 months at city hall.

 

have you tried contacting the US Embassy if they can accept the child's baptismal certificate instead? or maybe the municipal or city hall issued birth certificate instead of the PSA one?

[ReedLeed 2]

Our daughter was just born two weeks ago. Following advice I found here, I hand delivered her birth certificate info from the hospital to the civil registrar which saved me a couple weeks, they said. They did say something to me about transmitting the data to PSA, but still quoted me 6 mo.+ the get the "NSO birth certificate." I'm not sure how long this transmission would take, but I'm going back to the US this week and I'm really hoping to be away from my family for the minimum about of time possible, of course. 

 

Since the NSO recently became the PSA I wasn't sure if this document changed. They were very sure that this "SECPA" was the document I'd need for the US passport, but the only references I really see online are for Philippines passports. 

 

Since this just refers to the paper, is this document I will receive on the secpa one that will be accepted for the crba application? I suppose this is a question for the USEM but I haven't gotten reliable answers there either. 

 

Anyway thanks for the info and I'm hoping someone out there has undergone this process recently and can lend some advice. 

[doggieandsam 765]

14 hours ago, ReedLeed said:

 I hand delivered her birth certificate info from the hospital to the civil registrar which saved me a couple weeks 

yes, this was a very good thing to do. i may have even saved you more than a couple of weeks even!

 

14 hours ago, ReedLeed said:

Since the NSO recently became the PSA I wasn't sure if this document changed.  

the document itself has not changed. it still the same format and paper but just with the PSA logo now instead of the NSO one before.

 

14 hours ago, ReedLeed said:

Since this just refers to the paper, is this document I will receive on the secpa one that will be accepted for the crba application?

sorry wouldn't be able to say if this will be accepted for the crba application.

 

but what i can tell you is that the civil registrar can indeed obtain this PSA birth certificate for you. the civil registrar itself does not issue this PSA birth certificate, they also have to go to the PSA and request it from there on your behalf. they basically act as your intermediary to the national PSA (versus you doing all the legwork yourself ie either logging in to the website online or physically going to a PSA office to request the birth certificate yourself). to be honest, getting the birth certificate online is probably less hassle and faster assuming that your daughter's details have already been logged into the national PSA database. if it hasn't been logged yet, then the civil registrar's request for the birth certificate will either return a no record or will be put on hold pending receipt of your daughter's details.

 

anyway, fingers crossed for you. maybe the Philippines has changed in this regard and the transmittal to the national PSA is faster now?! all the best with this and hope it all works out in a timely manner. do report back if you can later for others to learn as well! =)

[Palawan1 11]

It took us 2 months and 1 week to receive our newborn's PSA birth certificate. When you go to the civil registrar, you need to specify that you are seeking an advanced endorsement. After receiving her birth certificate, we went to DFA and got her Philippine passport in 1 week...walk-in, no appointment necessary. 

[ReedLeed 2]

1 hour ago, iamdegie said:

yes, this was a very good thing to do. i may have even saved you more than a couple of weeks even!

 

the document itself has not changed. it still the same format and paper but just with the PSA logo now instead of the NSO one before.

 

sorry wouldn't be able to say if this will be accepted for the crba application.

 

but what i can tell you is that the civil registrar can indeed obtain this PSA birth certificate for you. the civil registrar itself does not issue this PSA birth certificate, they also have to go to the PSA and request it from there on your behalf. they basically act as your intermediary to the national PSA (versus you doing all the legwork yourself ie either logging in to the website online or physically going to a PSA office to request the birth certificate yourself). to be honest, getting the birth certificate online is probably less hassle and faster assuming that your daughter's details have already been logged into the national PSA database. if it hasn't been logged yet, then the civil registrar's request for the birth certificate will either return a no record or will be put on hold pending receipt of your daughter's details.

 

anyway, fingers crossed for you. maybe the Philippines has changed in this regard and the transmittal to the national PSA is faster now?! all the best with this and hope it all works out in a timely manner. do report back if you can later for others to learn as well! =)

Well instead of leaving this to my fiancée to juggle, we're spending my last day here running papers around Manila. I decided to not wait for Friday to pickup the SECPA at the registrar. So we stopped back just to ask a third time. Should t be much of a surprise that we got another, new answer, even tho some of the people we talked to were the same.

 

I asked about transmitting the PSA info and if we could do ehow expedite this process to get our PSA birth certificate. This time they said we needed to get the early endorsement, as you say. So we waited for some signatures, talked to a few more people, and got our "registration number and date." Took this to Gia in another office and paid P120. After about an hour wait in her office we got what I assume is the early endorsement. Basically a form letter and receipt that we are taking to the PSA in Santa Mesa. We're literally in the back of a cab as I type. They will be able to get us the PSA BC in 12 days apparently. Much better than a year!

 

Thanks to everyone for the help. I need to write up the whole experience in detail, while I still remember the many little details. Hopefully we'll finish this all soon and have a story to share.

[ReedLeed 2]

3 hours ago, Palawan1 said:

It took us 2 months and 1 week to receive our newborn's PSA birth certificate. When you go to the civil registrar, you need to specify that you are seeking an advanced endorsement. After receiving her birth certificate, we went to DFA and got her Philippine passport in 1 week...walk-in, no appointment necessary. 

Not too bad. Did you only get the Philippines passport or also a US one? Not sure the Phils passport would help us since she'd need a visa anyway and she's not eligible for one as a USC. Too bad the US passport isn't that quick and easy. 

[Palawan1 11]

I will be submitting our CRBA documents to US Embassy in the next few days. It should take about 6 weeks to receive her CRBA and US passport. Getting the Philippines passport will eliminate the exit clearance fee that would be charged if she would only have her US passport. 

[ReedLeed 2]

37 minutes ago, Palawan1 said:

I will be submitting our CRBA documents to US Embassy in the next few days. It should take about 6 weeks to receive her CRBA and US passport. Getting the Philippines passport will eliminate the exit clearance fee that would be charged if she would only have her US passport. 

I haven't read enough about this part of the process yet. Is this clearance fee like an NBI clearance? I've heard our daughter will need a clearance to leave, even at just a couple months old. If the PH passport is cheap and doesn't interfere with her US entry/citizenship maybe it's worth having anyway. 

[doggieandsam 765]

2 hours ago, ReedLeed said:

Well instead of leaving this to my fiancée to juggle, we're spending my last day here running papers around Manila. I decided to not wait for Friday to pickup the SECPA at the registrar. So we stopped back just to ask a third time. Should t be much of a surprise that we got another, new answer, even tho some of the people we talked to were the same.

 

I asked about transmitting the PSA info and if we could do ehow expedite this process to get our PSA birth certificate. This time they said we needed to get the early endorsement, as you say. So we waited for some signatures, talked to a few more people, and got our "registration number and date." Took this to Gia in another office and paid P120. After about an hour wait in her office we got what I assume is the early endorsement. Basically a form letter and receipt that we are taking to the PSA in Santa Mesa. We're literally in the back of a cab as I type. They will be able to get us the PSA BC in 12 days apparently. Much better than a year!

 

Thanks to everyone for the help. I need to write up the whole experience in detail, while I still remember the many little details. Hopefully we'll finish this all soon and have a story to share.

oh good to hear you got the early endorsement! 12 days is way way better than waiting 6 months - 1 year! wish you all the best and hope it all works out and your fiancee and daughter can be with you soon! =)

[Palawan1 11]

1 hour ago, ReedLeed said:

I haven't read enough about this part of the process yet. Is this clearance fee like an NBI clearance? I've heard our daughter will need a clearance to leave, even at just a couple months old. If the PH passport is cheap and doesn't interfere with her US entry/citizenship maybe it's worth having anyway. 

Yes, exit clearance fee is for when a foreigner leaves the country. Philippine passport costs $25.

[ReedLeed 2]

6 hours ago, iamdegie said:

oh good to hear you got the early endorsement! 12 days is way way better than waiting 6 months - 1 year! wish you all the best and hope it all works out and your fiancee and daughter can be with you soon! =)

Hey thanks so much! Yeah it's gonna be hard to leave them. My whole world changed once we had our daughter and I don't want to miss a second of it. But I know many folks here have had it even harder so I feel bad complaining. 

 

I took the endorsement to the PSA in Sta. Mesa and sure enough was quoted 12 biz days for the birth certificate. So that's great and of course it would be awesome to speed it up yet but I'm happy it went from a year to a few weeks. Now to work on the rest of the CRBA requirements. 

[ReedLeed 2]

5 hours ago, Palawan1 said:

Yes, exit clearance fee is for when a foreigner leaves the country. Philippine passport costs $25.

Not bad, I might just have to get her the PH passport then. Would we otherwise have to get a clearance ahead of time from NBI just like my fiancée? Plenty of aspects to research and I'm glad for this forum because there isn't a single great resource for this info otherwise. 

[doggieandsam 765]

47 minutes ago, ReedLeed said:

Hey thanks so much! Yeah it's gonna be hard to leave them. My whole world changed once we had our daughter and I don't want to miss a second of it. But I know many folks here have had it even harder so I feel bad complaining. 

 

I took the endorsement to the PSA in Sta. Mesa and sure enough was quoted 12 biz days for the birth certificate. So that's great and of course it would be awesome to speed it up yet but I'm happy it went from a year to a few weeks. Now to work on the rest of the CRBA requirements. 

12 days is not so bad...it will be over quickly i'm sure. all the best to you and to your family. =)