johnandcheryl

Once she gets a divorce in the State of Virginia, she can file for judicial recognition of her divorce decree in the Phils. That would make her divorce in the US binding to the Philippine law. Her marriage in the Philippines will be annulled by virtue of the judicial recognition. The process is much faster than the annulment. She can have a written interrogatories done in the Philippine consulate if she cannot come to the Philippines to testify. But she needs a law digest of the State of Virginia allowing divorce for Filipina attached to her petition. That is very important and one of the crucial documents to be submitted together with the petition for judicial recognition.

I'll have to check into that -- if there is a precedent or if law is written to that effect in Virginia. This sounds highly unusual but stranger things have happened. Thanks so much for this insight as I wouldn't have thought this possible.

FWIW,

Extending her I-94 isn't required... If she overstays it won't be a problem for AOS within country, only if she leaves the US prior to having a Greencard issued.

Yes, it seems we would need to buy an air ticket to be able to show a valid return trip with her visa extension and I thought, okay, we get a refundable ticket and then cancel and get our money back. Nope! Refundable tickets, according to my travel agent who specializes in Philippine-bound trips, have a penalty of $350 per ticket when cancelled!

Given she has a daughter too, this doubles that, to $700, plus the cost of applying for visa extension is $279 and it comes close to $1,000! So it's tempting NOT to do all that and save a $1,000...

However, if for some reason, we decide not to marry, then if she's still here after six months, she would face a three-year ban on reentry if she left and after one year, it's a ten-year ban.

Assuming her tourist visa is extended, is that enough time for a divorce to be finalized in the state of Virginia?

If this all works out for you, I would recommend that she not travel to the Philippines until she can do so on a U.S. passport. If she went to the Philippines on a Filipino passport, she might not be allowed to leave the Philippines without a CFO sticker in her Filipino passport, and there's virtually no chance that the CFO would give her a CFO sticker.

Good luck!

Thank you -- that is very important!! Although she does, of course, have family in the Philippines, she is otherwise not crazy about going back there. So probably holding out for four years until getting a U.S. Passport is not out of the question.

The one thing I will add, Schools in the Philippines are taught in English, not tagalog (or Bisaya for central visayas).

MangoAve, thanks, you are right -- my wife-to-be corrected me on that too. I've been to the Philippines but just remember Tagalog/Visayan or hundreds of other dialects being spoken and just assumed school was the same way. It's good to hear that even elementary schools teach in English there.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the responses so far but I may have good news...crossing fingers here...

Talked to a Filipino immigration lawyer today here in my area and he believes, based on what I said, that she can, after establishing residency here for six months, apply in my state (Virginia) for an uncontested divorce and this would satisfy US law. By Filipino law, she would still be married but what matters is how the U.S. Government would view it for immigration purposes. An uncontested divorce here would cost about $750 to $1,000 compared to the $4,700 I was getting from a lawyer in Manila.

I've already established a bank account for her here and her daughter is now enrolled in school here. The goal also is for her to get a driver's permit to start learning to drive too but that will take a month or two. I guess she'll need to be put on my utility bills as help establish residency and possibly another affidavit of residency that I sign indicating that she is living at my house (did one for the daughter for school already).

In addition, in order for her to establish six months' of residency, her tourist visa would need to be extended but he didn't think that would be too much of a problem (I hope not!). Just needs to be done within 45 days of the expiration.

In any case, we are going to meet with him on Saturday morning to clarify it further. I'll update when I have more news.

I hope this is good and that she and her daughter don't need to return to the Philippines for a year and a half or longer.

No your other posting has been moved here, just do a quick look down the list of topics... there it is!! I see it now!! Just below this one!!

Thanks Hank_Amy, you're right now that I looked. Guess someone moved it! Glad it's just one posting now.

Now back to orginal posting already in progress...

Your other post actually got moved to the Philippine forum. You can click the report icon on the lower left and ask this one to be deleted if you so choose and stay with the other posting.

Actually I posted it there in the K-1 Fiancee Visa Forum and then copied it here to the General Philippines Forum but am getting no responses here so far than yours and several in the K-1 Fiancee Visa Forum.

No easy way to speed up the government, be it in the Philippines or the USA.

If she is returning to the Phils soon you might as well get the anullment started in the Phils and go from there.

Look closely at the I-130 (married) and compare it to the I-129f (K-1 fiancee visa) after the anullment as to which may be easiest in the long run.

Thanks Hank_Amy, but how could it be the I-130 if I'm not married to her after the annulment is done? I'm not going to fly there to marry and then fly back (that would be a $3,000 roundtrip). Hopefully, there isn't too much difference between processing times for the K-1 Fiancee visa and IR-1 Spousal visa at that time.

I orginally posted this in the K-1 Fiancee Visa forum but was advised by some members to post it here to get feedback.

Hi Everyone,

The wonderful Filipina I wish to marry is actually here in the U.S. now with me on a tourist visa along with her six year old daughter. They arrived just over a month ago. She was able to get her first U.S. visa as a tourist visa as she had a good long term job in Singapore. She was to be transferred to Manila in May for a position there but gave that up by coming here.

We have decided we would like to get married but the dilemma is that she is still technically married to a Filipino and the marriage took place in the Philippines some years ago but was never annulled (lack of funds).

It seems that if she wasn't still married, we could go the I-130 route and file a concurrent I-485 to adjust her status so she and her daughter could remain here while the I-130 is in process.

But since she is still technically married (Filipino spouse is in Singapore and is amicable and will not contest divorce), she needs to get an annulment done first.

That process will take six months to a year (I've got one lawyer guaranteeing six months for 260K Pesos but I will only accept that if I pay in milestones and last payment if annulment is actually done in six months!). Another lawyer is saying one year and wants 200K Pesos. Both in Manila. Marriage was in Iligan but doesn't seem to matter where you file for annulment. I know some lawyers may "bribe" court clerks to "speed up" annulment cases and that's why the first lawyer is asking for more.

The dilemma for us is that her six year old daughter grew up in Singapore (where her mother was working and living) and so DOES NOT speak Tagalog but rather English and Mandarin Chinese.

Her tourist visa allows her to stay until early October and then would have to return to PI but that would be a hardship for the daughter since she would have to attend school there and is not be able to speak the language. Granted, a six year old would compensate but it would still be hard. Also, her mother wouldn't have anything to do there. Sending them back to the PI is like putting them in a penalty box.

I know we can request an extension to her tourist visa but that's iffy at best.

And it's entirely likely that for her annulment, she would have to testify one day in court there unless anyone knows if Philippine courts accept annulment cases without the plantiff appearing. I've learned that her husband does not need to appear as long as he's not contesting.

Then, after the annulment is done, I can file a I-130 for a K-1 Fiancee Visa for her and a K-2 for her daughter. That would take another 140 days from when the annulment would be done.

All told, this could end up taking as long as a year and a half. A half year to a year for the annulment and another six or eight months for the fiancee visa.

Isn't there some way to shorten this?

She is forty and we would like the opportunity to have one child together and keeping us apart for that long means less likely for it happen and more difficult for her in terms of being older and having a baby. We might have to give up on the chance of having a healthy baby as a result.

Sorry for the long post but it's a bit complicated and so I wanted to explain it for anyone that might render some advice. Thanks and I'm glad this forum is here.

John and Cheryl

I-130 is not for K-1, that is for people who are married. I-130 is "Petition for Alien Relative". K-1 is "Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)". Fiancee visas are for people who are not married. I suggest you read the guides here and try to become familiar with the different types of visa. Sorry to say but there is no way to shorten this, you will have to wait like everyone else.

Rocks, thanks for the correction -- it's the 129F I believe. I stand corrected.

Well she can't file for a family based visa or to adjust status as she is not free to marry. I think John has the process pretty well planned out but is just looking for anything he might have missed that would make the process shorter. Maybe you could post in the Philippine forum as they could provide more specific advise about the annulment process and how long it takes. Me, completely uneducated about it, understand from several posts I have read that the process is long and difficult.

Can the daughter attend school on a tourist visa?

Thank you Belinda -- yes, daughter can attend school while on a tourist visa. Remember that even illegal alien children that cross the border from Mexico can attend school here unless state law has changed it. We haven't run into any trouble in enrolling her since they see that I have filled out an Affidavit of Residency indicating that her residence is in my home within the school's district.

coming here on a visitor visa with the intent to marry and immigrate is fraud

Hi, thank you but we know that -- it wasn't her intent to get married when she obtained a tourist visa. We have decided since she got here that we would like to marry. She spent two weeks in LA visiting family there and two weeks with me and my daughter as we did sightseeing in NYC and PA. Now she would like to stay here for the remainder allowable on her tourist visa (until early October) and we are enrolling her daughter in school here so that she is not missing out on an education.

Please, we are looking for help not criticism from the members here. Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

The wonderful Filipina I wish to marry is actually here in the U.S. now with me on a tourist visa along with her six year old daughter. They arrived just over a month ago. She was able to get her first U.S. visa as a tourist visa as she had a good long term job in Singapore. She was to be transferred to Manila in May for a position there but gave that up by coming here.

We have decided we would like to get married but the dilemma is that she is still technically married to a Filipino and the marriage took place in the Philippines some years ago but was never annulled (lack of funds).

It seems that if she wasn't still married, we could go the I-130 route and file a concurrent I-485 to adjust her status so she and her daughter could remain here while the I-130 is in process.

But since she is still technically married (Filipino spouse is in Singapore and is amicable and will not contest divorce), she needs to get an annulment done first.

That process will take six months to a year (I've got one lawyer guaranteeing six months for 260K Pesos but I will only accept that if I pay in milestones and last payment if annulment is actually done in six months!). Another lawyer is saying one year and wants 200K Pesos. Both in Manila. Marriage was in Iligan but doesn't seem to matter where you file for annulment. I know some lawyers may "bribe" court clerks to "speed up" annulment cases and that's why the first lawyer is asking for more.

The dilemma for us is that her six year old daughter grew up in Singapore (where her mother was working and living) and so DOES NOT speak Tagalog but rather English and Mandarin Chinese.

Her tourist visa allows her to stay until early October and then would have to return to PI but that would be a hardship for the daughter since she would have to attend school there and is not be able to speak the language. Granted, a six year old would compensate but it would still be hard. Also, her mother wouldn't have anything to do there. Sending them back to the PI is like putting them in a penalty box.

I know we can request an extension to her tourist visa but that's iffy at best.

And it's entirely likely that for her annulment, she would have to testify one day in court there unless anyone knows if Philippine courts accept annulment cases without the plantiff appearing. I've learned that her husband does not need to appear as long as he's not contesting.

Then, after the annulment is done, I can file a I-130 for a K-1 Fiancee Visa for her and a K-2 for her daughter. That would take another 140 days from when the annulment would be done.

All told, this could end up taking as long as a year and a half. A half year to a year for the annulment and another six or eight months for the fiancee visa.

Isn't there some way to shorten this?

She is forty and we would like the opportunity to have one child together and keeping us apart for that long means less likely for it happen and more difficult for her in terms of being older and having a baby. We might have to give up on the chance of having a healthy baby as a result.

Sorry for the long post but it's a bit complicated and so I wanted to explain it for anyone that might render some advice. Thanks and I'm glad this forum is here.

John and Cheryl