July_

I am Filipina. My USC fiance and I plan to marry in Costa Rica in January.

He does not make taxable income due to health issue dating back over 20 years. He does have some work history for his father, but it was for nowhere near poverty level, and he was terminated last year as his father is preparing to retire.

He is supported by a trust his father set up for him which pays him $5500 monthly/66k year. He has slightly over 100k in cash/stocks. He qualifies to sponsor me financially on assets, but we realize with no taxable income they will likely not consider him suitable.

His father (73) has agreed to be a joint sponsor. He is self employed. His income is lower now as he winds his business down. He does receive ssdi of around $3000 per month. He has a few million in his portfolio stocks, funds, annuities.

A few questions about our situation

- Is his father's age an issue? Importantly, his father's entire estate is set up to transfer to my fiance (sole beneficiary) upon his death. We plan to get documentation of this fact for USEM. Additionally, our plan is to get documentation from his financial planner regarding his estate, broken down by assets considered liquid.

- Is my fiance still going to be considered financially responsible for me as the petitioner, or will it only be his father?

- If so, my fiance will prepare his tax return, print outs of his accounts, and proof of the trust deposits into his checking?

- If relevant, I did graduate college here in Philippines, and have employment history dating back to 2014.

We have already taken a look at the I-864, and while it is a bit intimidating, I think we can handle it, while asking some questions along the way.

My fiance working for a year to meet the poverty guideline is not realistic at this time. We don't see why we should have an issue considering he has assets himself, and his father is wealthy, but perhaps others have a different opinion. We don't have alternatives for a different joint sponsor.

3 hours ago, Palawan said:

For immigration purpose and the US Embassy in Manila his divorce decree will over ride any Phillippines rules regarding getting a CENOMAR.

 

What you are thinking is if both people were Philippines citizens and they wanted to marry in Philippines then you would have to get the divorce recognize, but since he is American there is no need.

This is what makes sense to us too, but we have been confused by reading different opinions.

It doesn’t make any sense to us why Philippine law would be involved in the CR1 process. 
 

13 minutes ago, hunny&me said:

Get married anywhere than Philippines.  (We did via Utah .. we called it Destination Wedding.. I went back to Philippines to marry my childhood classmate, we were together and the officiant is in Utah).  Processed CR1 all the way.

I am USC.  I have CEMAR, but I also have Divorce Decree.  So in US law, am free to marry.  CR1 approved, NVC processed, Visa acquired, CFO acquired - hubby is here (US) with me now.  On a separate processing, we filed for ROM.. and by CFO time, the ROM has not made it to PSA, but we just had to explained that to Counselor.  Hubby got his CFO in 4 days (rather than within a day) coz a supervisor needs to confirm our plea of ROM on PSA doc not yet available.  But we do have the registered ROM copy, and that is the one we submitted to CFO.  Hope this helps!

 

Just addition - the ROM/PSA is not needed in CR1 processing (USCIS, NVC nor USEM).  We only thought needing it for CFO, but you will hear from others that they did not file ROM at all.  I suggest filing (if you marry outside Philippines) just in case the CFO becomes strict with the process.  At least you can say, it is in process.    We now have PSA MC, but have no use for it yet.

We plan to marry outside Philippines. Are you a former Filipino? Was your first marriage in the Philippines? Do you have a divorce recognition in the Philippines? 
 

Our problem is that my fiancé was married in the Philippines. We cannot even file for a PSA until his divorce is recognized here.

We are just confused because many sources have told us a PSA Marriage Cert will be needed at the interview.

11 hours ago, Palawan said:

Why isn't he free to marry you today?

 

Why does he have to his divorce recognized by PSA?

He is. We can legally marry right now anywhere besides the Philippines. 

The PSA CEMAR is required by USEM at interview. If he is still married in Philippines, we cannot get a CEMAR for the CR1.

10 hours ago, Palawan said:

Your Fiance is free to marry

 

Either do the K1, do the Utah Online Marriage, or get married in Philippines

 

I would look at the first two options, Under Philippines law he is free to marry as well, he will just have to have                Affidavit of Legal Capacity to contract marriage notarized in the Philippines if you want to get married inside Philippines.  I would look at Utah Online Marriage since the US Embassy has to take a cosponsor for that one.

 

Message for U.S. Citizens: Change in Notarization Requirements for Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage, April 6, 2021 - U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (usembassy.gov)

 

The K1 is what we are looking at, but the financial requirement issues give us pause. 

He cannot get married in the Philippines, that requires a CENOMAR which he cannot provide as in the PSA he is still married. Even if CENOMAR is not required, we cannot have the ROM recognized by the PSA because in there he is already married. 

If we were going to do a Utah Marriage, it still has to be reported to PSA, which we cannot because he is considered married here. 

10 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

Condusing post

who is the USC?

he divorced in USA so is he USC as you talk about him supporting you

he has the assets so why a financial issue?

where do u live?   

Who had US residency?

The USC is my fiance. He lives in the US. I live in the Philippines.

The issue is that I read assets are not considered for K1. He has the income, but it is from a trust and non-taxable. Also, cosponsor in Manila is case by case basis. 

Thank you for the replies. 

My fiance is divorced (in the US) to his ex Filipina wife. His case for divorce recognition was not filed until last month. We are prepared for a 1.5-2.5 year process for the divorce to be recognized and PSA updated. 
 

We were planning to file for a CR1 visa, but this timeline is now much longer than we expected. We are aware that we cannot complete the CR1 process (NVC stage forward) without the PSA being updated. Correct? 

We are now considering filing for a K1. But we have issues with him meeting the financial requirement. 

He has chronic health problem for past two decades that prevent him from working. His father supports him through a living trust in his name that pays him $5500 monthly (66k yearly) he also has assets which slightly exceed the 3x requirement for the AOS. His father is willing to co-sponsor, but is close to retired, and main income is now social security. His father also has a very significant amount of assets/investments.

We keep reading that Manila will accept a joint sponsor on a case by case basis. It does not make sense to us why his income (non taxable as it is) cannot be considered sufficient, or his assets, when it is more than enough to support both of us. It is clear that he or his father can financially support me. 
 

The situation has us trapped in that we cannot file the CR1 because of rules for PSA being needed, but the K1 has question marks as well. The idea of sitting around and waiting on the court system here for two more years is heartbreaking to both of us.

Please do not judge him, or sarcastic replies. We have been through a lot like everyone with Covid, and we just want to be together. We have spent many months together in Philippines this year. He is mature and lives independently, he just is always in a lot of pain.