dnavinnie

I went thru a 2 year relationship with a girl from Mindanao. I spent around 2 months over 2 trips. We were supposed to get married there. I ended up sending her money for support and finally for a big wedding. One month before the supposed wedding she finally claimed she went for the CENOMAR and said she didn't realize she was married to a Muslim. She said I needed to send her a large sum of money to get it annulled in the Muslim church. The red flags finally hit me in the face! 

I just look at it as a lesson learned. Be more cautious but don't give up, weed out the bad ones, and find your true love.

I believe anyone with a good heart can get tricked when you want to believe the best in people.

I just look at it as a lesson learned. Be more cautious but don't give up, weed out the bad ones, and find your true love.

There was another red flag when mine said she was in the hospital with dengue fever and needed 30k php for treatment. 

There was another red flag when mine said she was in the hospital with dengue fever and needed 30k php for treatment. 

She was very smart. I should have seen some of the red flags along the way like "someone stole my phone" and "I don't have any money for a birthday" and "my father's scooter broke down and he needs it to work". I don't care now because I was patient and found the love of my life now.

I went thru a 2 year relationship with a girl from Mindanao. I spent around 2 months over 2 trips. We were supposed to get married there. I ended up sending her money for support and finally for a big wedding. One month before the supposed wedding she finally claimed she went for the CENOMAR and said she didn't realize she was married to a Muslim. She said I needed to send her a large sum of money to get it annulled in the Muslim church. The red flags finally hit me in the face! 

She was very smart. I should have seen some of the red flags along the way like "someone stole my phone" and "I don't have any money for a birthday" and "my father's scooter broke down and he needs it to work". I don't care now because I was patient and found the love of my life now.

I went thru a 2 year relationship with a girl from Mindanao. I spent around 2 months over 2 trips. We were supposed to get married there. I ended up sending her money for support and finally for a big wedding. One month before the supposed wedding she finally claimed she went for the CENOMAR and said she didn't realize she was married to a Muslim. She said I needed to send her a large sum of money to get it annulled in the Muslim church. The red flags finally hit me in the face! 

I am no expert but I have been thru a successful K-1 and an currently going thru a CR-1 visa. There is nothing wrong with dating sites to meet great people. I have been scammed by someone I visited twice so you need to be careful but I also finally met my current wife who is over 20 years younger than me. It has been my experience that in general Filipino women are very proud and hard working. My current wife never asked me for money and would only accept small amounts to help her. You need to find out if she will stay with you without sending money all of the time. I would be glad to answer any questions but again this is just my experience. Hope this helps.

She was very smart. I should have seen some of the red flags along the way like "someone stole my phone" and "I don't have any money for a birthday" and "my father's scooter broke down and he needs it to work". I don't care now because I was patient and found the love of my life now.

I has a similar situation with sending a large some of money for a wedding. At one point I did not hear from her for about 2 weeks. Then I get a message that she was kidnapped and needed a large sum of money for ransom. 🤣  After some investigating online, I told her good luck with all that. 

I went thru a 2 year relationship with a girl from Mindanao. I spent around 2 months over 2 trips. We were supposed to get married there. I ended up sending her money for support and finally for a big wedding. One month before the supposed wedding she finally claimed she went for the CENOMAR and said she didn't realize she was married to a Muslim. She said I needed to send her a large sum of money to get it annulled in the Muslim church. The red flags finally hit me in the face! 

Yup there are scammers out there ... and they are good at it for sure.   But things are all better for you now!    
 
"annulment in muslim church" .. they are the only ones that are allowed to divorce.

I am no expert but I have been thru a successful K-1 and an currently going thru a CR-1 visa. There is nothing wrong with dating sites to meet great people. I have been scammed by someone I visited twice so you need to be careful but I also finally met my current wife who is over 20 years younger than me. It has been my experience that in general Filipino women are very proud and hard working. My current wife never asked me for money and would only accept small amounts to help her. You need to find out if she will stay with you without sending money all of the time. I would be glad to answer any questions but again this is just my experience. Hope this helps.

Relax...You are putting the cart before the horse. Just go and meet and see how things move along. You are putting way too much pressure on yourself. As far as age difference goes you are fine. Most of us here  that are married to Filippinas have a larger age gap than you. Don't provide any or much money before you meet. As far as one sexual partner goes it is entirely possible. Some of these women come from very conservative families. I would treat your first visit as a vacation/recon mission. Get some experience in the country. You will find that day to day living is a lot different than here.  The biggest mistake I see is guys rushing into a relationship and then "investing" too much in time and money to see the red flags that are right in front of them. Good Luck)

Drawbacks ... can't get Philippine passport is in her married name.    If you plan to live in the Philippines I would expect you (she) will own a piece of dirt, y'all would want that in her married name and with your name on the deed as well.       Not a ton of perks for ROM on its own, but lots of stuff connects up with ROM.
 
Dual citizenship; if living in the Philippines the obvious one is owning land, former Filipinos are limited to how much land they can own, thus a plus for dual citizenship.  Owning a business.  Voting.  Running for public office.  Opening bank accounts.
 
USC ... most obvious is no limitation on how long a person can be out of the USA.   Opening a USD bank account (if you will be living in the Phils there will be times that it is better transfering dollars instead of PHP).
 
There is stuff with SSA as well but I don't have the info handy.   Do make sure your wife knows when she reaches "age" she can draw SS off of your account, even if she never worked.
 
 
 
 

Ok friends, I would love to hear your experiences on interview approval to visa in hand timelines. 
 
I am hoping to go to the Philippines and accompany my fiance to her US Embassy interview in Manila. I would also love to stay with her until she gets the visa in hand to accompany her on the trip to the USA. The problem is the big unknown of how long this time window would or could be.
 
Obviously there is best case and worst case scenario here. I'm just looking for insights on the best case or average case. I am hoping we could do all of this in 2 weeks. Much more than that and I can't really stay there for that long. Then I have to pick to be there for the interview, her trip, or neither.
 
She lives in Cebu City. How does she get her passport back with the visa? My understanding is they deliver it to some shipping pickup point or something like that in Cebu City?
 
Anyone have any idea how long this process takes? Any details or your experience on this would be really helpful.
 
FYIL She is going to do her CFO in advance so she just has to run back by for the final document for it.

Thank you...good luck to you guys.

I waited for the PSA. I made the mistake of not requesting an expedite. I thought about submitting it with the LCR certificate signed by the judge but decided not to. My belief is that they would send and RFE and hopefully by that time you will have the PSA one.

USCIS may not react to an LCR marriage certificate, but when the petition got to USEM they could make an issue out of it not being a certified copy of the marriage certificate (which is what the PSA copy is) and if they did they could very well sent the petition back to USCIS ...   just seems I heard of them doing that to someone a couple years ago.

Talk to John & Rose  .. they just finished if you want fresh info.
 
 
https://www.uscis.gov/i-130
https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-130instr.pdf?download=1
 
https://www.visaconnection-philippines.com/uscis-petition-process.html

You didn't request an expedite at the LCR when your filed your marriage certificate ?  (not sure of the fee)  That is the only thing I am away of to speed things up.   I know of one person from here on VJ that got the LCR to expedite their processing to PSA, but they were in the metro Manila area.   Here is the info I have, it is getting a little dated as it still mentions NSO not PSA:
 
Advance Endorsement Process for PSA Marriage Certificate
Requirements:
Certified Copy of Marriage Contract from Local Civil Register (LCR)
Endorsement Letter to PSA from LCR
OCRG copy of Marriage Contract
Courier Receipt
Process:
Note: Do this as soon as you get your copy of the Marriage Contract from LCR.
Request at Local Civil Register for Advance Endorsement to PSA.
Present Contract from Local Civil Register (LCR) to official.
LCR will prepare the Endorsement Letter and OCRG copy of MC.
Pay the corresponding fee. (I paid Php 40.00 only).
Get the Endorsement Letter and OCRG copy, photocopy the documents and keep the photocopies.
Enclose the ORIGINAL Endorsement Letter and OCRG Copy of MC in a brown envelope.
Address the envelope to the addressee indicated on the letter and send this to the NSO Main Office using next-day delivery. (I used LBC and paid Php 150.00)
Keep the courier receipt.
Next day: Proceed to the PSA Main Office at East Ave., Quezon City (near SSS and LTO Main) Map: 
Upon entering the building, ask where to go for advance endorsements. It’s at the back of the building.
Go to the helpdesk and present the Courier Receipt and photocopy of letter and OCRG copy.
Depending on what day you went, there is already a set schedule for releases so be as early as possible! Helpdesk will give you a form to fill out where you can request the number of copies (Php 140 each).
Proceed to Cashier Window to submit form and pay. The date and time of release and pick-up will be stamped at the back of the receipt. It’s usually 2-3 weeks from the date you sent the documents to NSO.
On the date and time of release, go to the same building, give your receipt and wait for your name to be called. Be ready for a valid ID to present upon pick up of the NSO Marriage Certificate at Window 29.
 

Well said @Hank_...I just married in the Phillipines to a girl with the biggest heart I have ever met. I did meet some scammers but that happens in almost every country in the world.