Utah On-Line Marriage Legal to Bring Spouse from PI?

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Okay I have a question, four or five really,  that has sort-of-been asked already but I just need to clarify this under the current Philippines lock down and requirements as they seem to change daily.

 

1.) Are on-line marriages legal as far as Immigration from the Philippines to the US is concerned. (NOTE: I was married in the Philippines back in 2013, divorced 7 years later in the US.) While I know the PI does not recognize divorce even from other countries I also understand that my divorce is LEGAL in the US and practically in every other country in the world. My concern is I guess I would technically be a bigamist in the the Philippines no matter where I am married in the world. Am I correct in thinking that the United States will be happy with me remarrying and they will not consider me a bigamist. (Yes, I know I will have to go to the Philippines to consummate the marriage.) And this brings me to question number two:

 

2.) Will my new Filipina wife have an trouble with her CFO class?  Will they refuse to allow her to leave the country based on our on-line marriage and them considering me to be a bigamist?  Will they check their data bases and see that I am still married in the Philippines?  

 

3.)  If we go the on-line marriage route will I likely be granted permission/waiver to enter the Philippines to be with my wife once I am in possession of our legal US marriage certificate?  I have been vaccinated 2 times already (I have my vaccination card/document.)  I am planning a two month stay.

 

4.)  Will the on-line marriage satisfy the US Government for immigration purposes?

 

5.) Do I/we really need to hire WEBWED to coordinate all of the on-line requirements or can I do that directly with the Utah government?

 

P.S. I reside in Hawaii and Hawaii does not offer/allow on-line marriages.

 

Any assistance/pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

Aloha from Maui, Dave O

[Dashinka 23,190]

I can chime in on number 4.  It appears that USCIS will accept an online.marriage after a subsequent physical meeting.  It appears they treat it like a proxy marriage, so after the online ceremony, you will have to meet in person before you can submit the I130.

 

Good Luck!

[top_secret 2,059]

55 minutes ago, David & Diana R said:

5.) Do I/we really need to hire WEBWED to coordinate all of the on-line requirements or can I do that directly with the Utah government?

 

Webwed is doing nothing but acting as a middleman by officiating at what many report are exorbitant prices.  There are plenty of writeups of people doing it directly with Utah county  that make it look very simple and inexpensive for anyone who can follow a very simple checklist.

[David & Diana R 1,005]

52 minutes ago, top_secret said:

Webwed is doing nothing but acting as a middleman by officiating at what many report are exorbitant prices.  There are plenty of writeups of people doing it directly with Utah county  that make it look very simple and inexpensive for anyone who can follow a very simple checklist.

Thanks,  I just got off the phone with a wedding officiant in Utah that will do the on-line marriage for 100 dollars.  I then deal directly with the Utah County Government, no middlemen or extra fees.  About 70 dollars to Utah.  Nothing to it!  Yes, I have been reading very negative reviews  on WebWed.  They charge like 890 dollars for the same thing.  Do it yourself for only 170 dollars!  Research pays off!

[top_secret 2,059]

17 minutes ago, David & Diana R said:

Thanks,  I just got off the phone with a wedding officiant in Utah that will do the on-line marriage for 100 dollars.  I then deal directly with the Utah County Government, no middlemen or extra fees.  About 70 dollars to Utah.

You don't really even need to pay someone $100.  You just fill a couple of online forms and pay Utah the $70.

 

 

[David & Diana R 1,005]

11 minutes ago, top_secret said:

You don't really even need to pay someone $100.  You just fill a couple of online forms and pay Utah the $70.

 

 

But don't we still have to do the online thing with a court clerk?

 

[payxibka 10,044]

5 minutes ago, David & Diana R said:

But don't we still have to do the online thing with a court clerk?

 

You need an officiant and one of the three parties must be present in Utah during the zoom event.   The officiant after the ceremony files the license with the county clerk 

[NeonParticles 120]

I'm wondering if this is the best route to take for folks like me who haven't even received NOA2 yet...

 

Does anyone have an example of timeline from Online wedding -> Visa acquisition? It sure seems like the Manila embassy is doing spousal visas at a blistering pace while completely neglecting fiancee.

Edited July 12, 2021 by NeonParticles

[top_secret 2,059]

9 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You need an officiant and one of the three parties must be present in Utah during the zoom event.   The officiant after the ceremony files the license with the county clerk 

 

I believe the Clerk themselves will fulfill the role of the officiant that is present in Utah, for the princely fee of $35

 

https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/MarrCeremony.html

[RO_AH 1,614]

51 minutes ago, NeonParticles said:

I'm wondering if this is the best route to take for folks like me who haven't even received NOA2 yet...

 

Does anyone have an example of timeline from Online wedding -> Visa acquisition? It sure seems like the Manila embassy is doing spousal visas at a blistering pace while completely neglecting fiancee.

Since online weddings are fairly new I'm not sure how many if any have actually made it to the visa acquisition stage yet. However @top_secret was planning to get a K-1 and after they stopped processing K-1's he met his fiance in Costa Rica and got married. His CR-1 is already at NVC I believe. As I said in another post it will be a long time to catch up on the backlog of K-1's when they finally do start processing.

[payxibka 10,044]

51 minutes ago, top_secret said:

 

I believe the Clerk themselves will fulfill the role of the officiant that is present in Utah, for the princely fee of $35

 

https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/MarrCeremony.html

You can use them but you are under no obligation.  I could do it (if either the bride or groom was in Utah) and I would do it pro bono.

[payxibka 10,044]

4 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

Since online weddings are fairly new I'm not sure how many if any have actually made it to the visa acquisition stage yet. However @top_secret was planning to get a K-1 and after they stopped processing K-1's he met his fiance in Costa Rica and got married. His CR-1 is already at NVC I believe. As I said in another post it will be a long time to catch up on the backlog of K-1's when they finally do start processing.

At least one if not a handful here on VJ have made it all the way

[top_secret 2,059]

4 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

Since online weddings are fairly new I'm not sure how many if any have actually made it to the visa acquisition stage yet.

For the Philippines anyways, It is confirmed that the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, which has consular jurisdiction over Utah, IS registering Utah Marriages and issuing ROM's which will register with PSA, making it completely legit in the Philippines.   There are confirmed cases of spouses of Filipinos successfully traveling as balikbayan with the Utah marriage certificate.  There are confirmed issuances of 9a visas based on Utah marriage certificates though the unrelated travel waiver problem remains.  AFIK no one has reported trying for a 13a visa with one yet though it would seem it should work.

 

1: Get marriage license.
https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/Marriage.html
$70

 

2: Get married.

Take payxibka up on his generous offer to officiate $0, or pay WEBWED ~$1000 or something(???) , or some guy in Utah $100, or the Utah County Clerk who you are already dealing with anyway.
https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/MarrCeremony.html
$35

 

3: Order Apostilled copy of Marriage Certificate for use with Philippine government.  (Apostille not needed for USCIS)
https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerkaud/CertCopy.html
$45

 

4: File Report of Marriage with the Philippine consulate in San Francisco.  (it is confirmed they ARE registering online marriages)
https://pcgsanfrancisco.org/civil-registry/
$25

 

There is still the issue of consummating the marriage.  Costa Rica is a great place you could accomplish that with current travel restrictions.
 

[David & Diana R 1,005]

3 hours ago, top_secret said:

 

I believe the Clerk themselves will fulfill the role of the officiant that is present in Utah, for the princely fee of $35

 

https://www.utahcounty.gov/Dept/ClerkAud/MarrCeremony.html

Yeah I just read that.  So 105 dollars (Marriage license, certificate and officiant) versus 899 dollars for WebWed...Somebody is getting rich here.  And they have the nerve to make a claim on their home page that threatens that marriages performed via any other method of theirs is a copyright infringement on them because they "Have patented the on-line process of marriage"...that was the first thing that turned me off.  I hate liars, don't you?

[top_secret 2,059]

I think webwed charges an extra $450 for the Apostille which you need for Philippines and that you can order online from the County Clerk for $45.