julianthecat

Her parents are OFWs, in a Middle Eastern country that doesn't have birthright citizenship, so she's been a Filipino her whole life. That is a bummer, but kind of what we expected re: the foreign divorce. It sounds like we're going to have to consult with a family law practitioner in the Philippines - but we're always thankful for VisaJourney as a much faster (and cheaper!) alternative.

My wife and I find ourselves in one of those bureaucratic quagmires that seem to be all too common when dealing with the Philippine government. Here are the basics: - My wife was previously married (and divorced) a Canadian. She has never lived in the Philippines, and they never registered their marriage with the Philippines. - We were married in the US in 2019, and she received a CR1 US visa in 2021. She got a CENOMAR from the PSA at the time even though she was already married twice. - We now need to register our marriage so that she can reacquire Philippine citizenship once she's naturalized as a US citizen (she can apply in early 2024). - Based on info from the consulate we would need to hire a lawyer and go to court in the Philippines (any Regional Trial Court, apparently) and the Manila City Civil Register Office to get her Canadian divorce decree registered before we can register our marriage. - Then we need to get the US Dept of State and the State of Maine (and maybe British Columbia) to apostille our documents before we send them off to the consulate. However, if she is currently legally single in the eyes of the Philippine govt, do we really need to bring the first marriage into it at all? On the registration of marriage, there's a box for civil status of the husband and wife before marriage. Could we just put "single" instead of "divorced" there? The only documentation that contradicts this is that our US marriage certificate shows this is her second marriage. If anyone on here has experience with any of this, we'd love your advice.

Update: Mailed 1/10 Arrived 1/12 Text notification: 1/18, MSC case number I-797 letter (3 years) received: 1/23 Now, time to hurry up and wait...

Due to moving at the start of this month and life getting in the way, we left our filing until the last minute. 😬 My wife's conditional green card expires today, and we mailed the petition to the IL lockbox on Tuesday. It was signed for according to USPS yesterday at 6:28 am, but I'm certainly going to be nervous until we get the receipt by mail or text.