MyK1Journey

10 hours ago, j&ana said:

if the foreigner spouse is the one asking for divorce, then the divorce will be recognized by the Philippines

from the family code of the Philippines

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (As amended by Executive Order 227)

this wouldnt happen for my spouse automatically though... she would have to go through a long (1-2 year) court process, and hire a lawyer to represent her in court, it would cost thousands of dollars, and might even get denied for whatever reason

21 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

Short answer: No -- even without ROM, USEM will issue a spouse visa to an applicant married abroad.  The problem is CFO -- it is unlikely that a visa holder will be issued a CFO certificate if they were married online but did not file for ROM.  No CFO certificate/sticker, no boarding a plane out of the Philippines with a US spouse visa.

 

I can confirm from first-hand experience that USEM does not require ROM, but note that I had a traditional (not online) wedding in the US.  I got my IR1 visa and moved to the US in Nov 2021.  At my visa interview, I even presented my CENOMAR, the document stating that there is no PSA record of me being married.  There were no questions at all from the document screener and the consul officer about ROM or my CENOMAR.

 

In contrast, during my CFO telecounseling session, I was grilled extensively about my lack of ROM.  I believe the CFO counselor only let me off because I had an in-person wedding and lots of evidence that I visited my husband in the US multiple times.  Based on what the counselor said, CFO seems to be more strict with the ROM requirement now, with the surge of Utah online weddings for Filipino emigrants.

 

Hi Chancy,

First of all, thank you SO much for your insight... you dont know how much me and my gf appreciate it!

Also, just to be sure, I am going to lay out what I think all the abbreviations you used stand for below... please correct me if Im wrong on anything:

USCIS - United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
USEM - United States Embassy (in the Philippines)
ROM - Report of Marriage
PSA - Philippine Statistics Authority
CFO - Commission of Filipinos Overseas
CENOMAR - Certificate of No Marriage Record

Also, I just want to make sure we are on the same page - the whole reason me and my gf are even CONSIDERING the possibility of doing the CR1 without reporting the marriage to the Philippines government is because we want to avoid the requirement of her needing to file a foreign recognition of divorce IF we end up divorcing years down the road... so I guess my question is, if we ARE able to do the entire CR1 process WITHOUT reporting our marriage to the PSA, and then, we DO divorce, would my gf have to file a foreign recognition of divorce, or, would that not be necessary since the marriage was never reported to PSA in the first place? Does that all make sense?

Thank you so much for all of your help!!

1 hour ago, Corgent said:

A Utah zoom marriage is a way to get married without reporting your marriage to the Philippine government. But if you intend to pursue a CR1 visa with it, then the aforementioned requirements will force you to report it.

 

 

 

 

It is and will remain a valid marriage even if it has not been reported to the Philippine government. It's just not a marriage they know about yet.

ohh ok, I understand now... ok, so in that case, do you know, if we do a Utah zoom marriage and then stay married for two years, and then decide to pursue the IR1 visa (which is basically the same thing as the CR1 visa except it's for couples who have already been married for 2 years), do you know if THAT would require us to report her marriage to the PSA?

Thanks so much!!

4 hours ago, Corgent said:

According to the list of required civil documents:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Philippines.html

 

"For marriages that occurred outside of the Philippines, the original marriage certificate from the issuing country should be provided, and translated into English, along with the Philippines recording of the marriage."

 

Below that you will also find another document listed - the CEMAR-“Advisory of Marriage(s)”. The PSA would only provide you with this if your marriage has been reported.

 

Additionally, CFO clearance is required in order to leave the country. This isn't a requirement to obtain the visa, but if you waited to report your marriage until after you obtained your visa, it could delay your departure and your visa may expire before you satisfy the requirements to obtain the certificate:

https://cfo.gov.ph/overseas-filipinos-cfo-online-registration-system-or-of-cors-2/

 

 

 

If anyone says the PSA marriage certificate isn't necessary, they would need to explain why these requirements don't apply.

hey, thanks so much for the response... so if I understand this all correctly, you are saying that there is essentially no way to get married in the philippines WITHOUT reporting our marriage to the PSA? meaning we must report it to the PSA in order for it to remain valid? is that correct? Thanks so much for the help

Hello all, I am trying to find out the answer to a very specific question, so I wanted to ask it in the Philippines section, since it pertains to the Philippines... here are the details-

I am an American guy who has been living in the Philippines for the last 5 years

My girlfriend is a Filipina who has been living with me in the same house for the last 2 and a half years

We both want to go back to the USA to live together. We have decided that, due to the insane amount of backlogged K1 visas the Philippines is currently experiencing which is making the K1 route take WAY longer than usual, we will do the CR1 spousal route instead.

The thing is, though, the Philippines is the only country in the world that does not allow divorce. This means, if we DO end up getting married, AND, a decade or two later on, we end up getting a divorce, AND, my Filipina gf meets a Filipino guy that she wants to marry, then I want my Filipina gf to NOT have to experience the horrible legal battle that she would have to take part in to get a foreign recognition of divorce. We have both spoken about the possibility of divorce maturely and we BOTH want to make sure that this would be avoided in the case that we get divorced and then she wants to marry a Filipino.

So, this is my question - if we get married via a virtual marriage service that has the officiator based in the US (like a service such as WebWed or a Utah zoom marriage), would our marriage certificate need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) BEFORE the US embassy in Manila grants us a spousal visa? The answer to this question is critical, because if we DO NOT have to register our marriage certificate with the PSA, then that means the Philippine government would not have any "record" of the marriage happening for my girlfriend, and would therefore pose no problems if we got divorced and my gf wanted to marry a native Filipino (since it would look like she's never been married in the first place, in the eyes of the Philippine government). But, if we DO have to register our marriage certificate with the PSA, then the Philippine government WOULD have a record of the marriage (and would therefore cause a huge headache if we divorced and she wanted to marry a Filipino man).

Thanks so much all for any clarifications in this. If anyone has gone through this personally I would be super interested. Thanks

20 minutes ago, Rocio0010 said:

There are. 

Read this guideline, it will tell you exactly what the requirements are and what you need to know/ present:

 

CR-1

thank you so much! reading this now

3 minutes ago, Adventine said:

 

And that's the key part of my initial reply: "The question is, does your Utah marriage certificate need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) before the US embassy in Manila grants a spousal visa? This part is unclear to me and hopefully someone in the PH regional forum has experience. "

 

If the Utah marriage certificate does need to be registered with the PSA to get a spousal visa from the USA embassy in Manila, then yes, if you separate, she still needs to do the judicial recognition of foreign divorce before remarrying in the Philippines.

 

However, if the US embassy does not require the Utah marriage certificate to be registered with PSA to get the spousal visa... that opens up possibilities for both the American and Filipino spouses. if things go south, and if you both only have to get divorced in the US without needing to go through the PSA, maybe you can avoid the Judicial Recognition of Divorce entirely.

 

*** 

 

Side note on thinking about divorce scenarios before marriage: I'm a Filipina. I've seen many Filipino and Fil-Am relationships. I've seen marriages start off well, then after some years, one of the spouses becomes physically abusive. Usually, it's the man.

 

I believe in planning for worst case scenarios. Personally, of course I will do my best to make sure my marriage lasts. But I can't control the future and I can't control my spouse. If my spouse changes drastically, if our priorities change, and if it becomes irreconcilable. I want to have a backup plan. It isn't romantic to think about the possibility of divorce before marriage. But it's practical.

hey, first of all, I just wanted to say a sincere thank you because your answers have been phenomenal... also, I completely share your point of view that "nobody can tell the future", its best to be real about it rather than lying to yourself. Ok, about what you are saying - I think I understand - if the utah zoom marriage DOES need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine statistics authority) before the US embassy in manila grants a spousal visa, then IF we divorce AND she wants to marry a new filipino, then she will have to do the judicial recognition of foreign divorce, which is a major pain to go through, if im understanding it all good... 

ok, so, how can we figure this out? should I call the US embassy in manila, tell my situation to them, and ask them if my gf could remarry a filipino without doing the judicial recognition of foreign divorce if we do divorce? thanks so much

1 minute ago, Unlockable said:

Yep.

 

And use your self employment income to meet the financial requirements.

oh shoot, there are financial requirements? What if I dont meet them? Do you know if I can have a family member or somebody else act as a financial sponsor for my gf? thanks so much

Just now, Unlockable said:

Yes, of course.

oh wow, thats awesome! I cant believe this utah thing exists... so to my understanding, we could both get married together on a zoom call in utah while we are both just sitting in our bedroom? and then wed be married (through the US marriage system, not the philippines marriage system)? Thanks so much 

1 minute ago, Unlockable said:

Be warned that you have to show proof of US domicile (residence, job/income, paying US taxes) before she is approved. The US domicile is required on any immigration path you choose.

 

oh, but what if I am self employed, and have been for 5 years? will I still be able to go the CR1 route if I have been self employed for the last 5 years straight?

19 minutes ago, Adventine said:

***Moved to the Philippines forum for country-specific answers and removed duplicate thread. Please do not post the same question multiple times so that the discussion stays in one place. Thank you***

 

You're right that the spousal visa is a much better option. You are also right to be concerned with separating. If things go south with your marriage, it's expensive and difficult to get annulled.

 

The best and easiest option is to use the Utah Zoom marriage to get married online by a Utah officiant, while you are both physically in the Philippines. That generates a US marriage certificate valid for US immigration. 

 

The question is, does your Utah marriage certificate need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) before the US embassy in Manila grants a spousal visa? This part is unclear to me and hopefully someone in the PH regional forum has experience. 

holy (removed), you have just blown my mind with the Utah zoom marriage thing... is that for real??? I am looking it up now

Just now, Adventine said:

@seekingthetruth it's a more horrible problem for the Filipina. If the relationship breaks down (and sometimes it does despite one's best intentions) and she finds someone new, she can't easily get remarried in the Philippines. Of course, if they're both in the US by the time they divorce, it solves the problem for both of them.

To my understanding, even if we were both in the US at the time of the divorce, it would still affect my gf, in the sense that, if she ever were to want to remarry a filipino, she could not - as the philippines would not recognize the US divorce as a "real" divorce here in the philippines. She would have to spend years and many dollars in lawyers fees to get it recognized as a "Judicial Recognition of Foreign Divorce".

Hello all, I am an american living here in the Philippine for the past 5 years. Been with my Filipina gf living together for the past 2 and a half years. What we want is to have her be able to come and live back home with me in the US the easiest and fastest way possible. The way I see it, there are two options:

1. The K1 route

This is the route I initially thought we were going to take, but I have since looked at these forums and seen that this route is taking YEARS longer than anticipated because of covid. brings me to the next route...

2. The CR1 route

From what I've been reading, this is actually the much faster option as of late because of the insane amount of backlogs the philippines has for K1 visas. Can anyone else confirm? I also know that it is cheaper than the K1 route. The only downside, is, (can somebondy please correct me if I'm wrong), if we do the CR1 route, we must get married first, and since we are both living together here in Manila, that would mean getting married through the Philippine marriage system, right? Well, that is a horrible problem for us, because lucky us, the Philippines is the only country on the face of the earth which does not allow divorce. We have spoken maturely about divorce and have decided that it could happen, since 50% of all marriages end in divorce in the US (and I'm sure 90%+ of them would SWEAR it wouldn't happen to them). So, basically, long story short, we want to get married in a way where we could get divorced EASILY if need be a decade or two from now. Is it possible to get married within the US marriage system (which would allow for easy divorce) while living HERE in the philippines? Does my question make sense?

Thanks all

Hello all, I am filling out form I-129F to bring my foreign gf here to get married and have some questions about section 4.a. This section asks us, the petitioners, to disclose ANY time I was EVER arrested, fined, charged, etc and then to provide the official court disposition/police report with the associated incident. Well my question is - how in the hell is somebody supposed to do this with very light misdemeanors that have happened well over a decade ago? About 15 years ago I had a few run ins with the law, as I'm sure so many young people do, and I have no idea how I would ever be able to provide court documents for them. Here are the details of my run-ins:

- First, I got caught for possession of weed at the age of 15. I did 6 months of probation and then got the case expunged.

-Then, I hopped over a NYC subway turnstile and to my surprise found myself right in front of a group of undercover police, who arrested me and took me to their police station, fingerprinted me, and then just straight up let me go (was so long ago I don't even remember if I even went to court or anything at all after they released me).

- A few years later, was drinking outside in public with my friends, the cop handcuffed all of us, put us in the back of his car, wrote us all tickets to pay a measly $25 fine, and then let us go. A week later, I went to the court and paid the fine. 

These are such small run-ins that I can't imagine they would pose significant threat to my K1 process. However, the massive headache is that the form requires you to actually FIND the court documents and/or police reports associated with them, get them notarized, and then include them in the form. I don't even remember which courts handled my cases for christs sake. Does anyone know how to best go about this?

Thanks so much for any replies