Nathan Alden, Sr.

@hunny&me Who did you make the cashier's check out to? Do you know if the fee is still $25?

@hunny&me Can you post your Affidavit of Explanation, too? We're in the same situation because we performed a Utah County's Zoom wedding from the Philippines.

@hunny&me How did you calculate the return postage on the self-addressed stamped return envelope?

It's amusing (and not unexpected), but the DFA's description of what must be included in the Report of Marriage does not match the New York consulate's. The consulate wants multiple copies of everything, while the DFA only wants multiple Report of Marriage forms and passport photos. Note that I couldn't find a corresponding informational page on the San Francisco consulate's website. I misinterpreted. Disregard.

For anyone else looking at that cover letter, note that current DFA requirements indicate that five copies must be provided, not four.

@hunny&me Thank you so much for the example! This will prove extremely useful. Did the Filipino spouse fill it out first and then mail it to the US for completion and further mailing to the San Francisco consulate? In other words, is my logistics assumption in the OP correct?

As far as names go, Form I-130 is the least of my concerns. Far more onerous are the repercussions of changing one's name in the Philippines. For me, it's a matter of keeping the moving parts to a minimum, which is why we'll leave her name unchanged as of now.

Another question about my birth certificate: Apparently, I can order an apostille version. Is this what the consulate expects, or should I just get a regular certified copy?

I think I have a decent grasp on the Report of Marriage process at this point. However, I do have a few questions: Logistics I am proceeding assuming that my bride should fill out the completed forms in the Philippines, get her signature notarized there, then mail me the completed forms along with a certified copy of her birth certificate from the PSA, the five physical passport photos, and the CENOMAR. I then add my signature with notarization and send the completed packet to the consulate in San Francisco, which has jurisdiction over Utah County marriages. Notarization Will the Philippine government accept a form notarized twice, once by a foreign entity? Marriage License The instructions at the link above say "Marriage Contract / Certificate (original copy should be submitted to the DFA)." I am assuming they want an apostille version of the marriage license (in my case, a Utah County marriage license). Do I have to do anything to the apostille copy or do I just send it as-is? Birth Certificate I only have one copy of my birth certificate in my possession and I'd rather not go long periods of time without it. It looks like the Philippine government wants an "original copy," so I'll probably have to order a copy. Passports Will they accept photocopied print-outs of each page of my passport? Additional Documents The link above says "For applicants in the USA and Canada – kindly submit documents specified in a & b together with any of the following." However, I have neither a green card, nor a copy of a visa, nor a job contract or working permit. I'm assuming these are not needed in my case because I'm a US citizen rather than a Filipino living in the US.

My age gap is not so great--24 years--but I decided to go the marriage route because the K-1 path seems to involve too much of a chance to be discriminated against by the government agents involved on both sides. Having a marriage license is better "proof" than proving a relationship in other ways; it at least shows a level of seriousness and commitment, especially since marriages often come with photos of happy family members, a reception, etc. that give the impression of a bona fide relationship.

Lucky you. Neither my bank nor my Discover card allow that.

Thanks for the insistent advice, truly. I already determined that I can't add her as an authorized user of my credit card because the issuer requires a US SSN. I'll do what I can. 😊

Do you have a source for that? I believe you but I'm curious to learn more.

@spicynujac Thank you for the very informative post! Regarding the name thing, I'm hoping to hear from someone who did use a new married name on the I-130 before having any "proof" or other documentation that used that name, and then learning about their experiences afterward. It's just that without knowing the last thing I want to do is make a mistake on something as seemingly important as her name, only to be RFEd or outright rejected a year from now. That would be crushing. The hard part for me is not knowing where the names given on Form I-130 are used later in the pipeline. Are green cards issued in that name specifically? Other documents that we'd have to change later? It makes it tough to make an informed decision. I already have nearly all of Form I-130 filled out. I am just waiting on a couple of small things. Believe me: I can't wait to hit that submit button! I ran into a couple of issues with the way Utah County handles marriage license applications. The first is that their application page on their website lacked a middle name field for my spouse. I didn't think much of it at the time but I should've insisted that they update the application by hand immediately after submitting it and before the marriage ceremony. The second is that they ask for the state where my spouse was born, which, for many countries, makes no sense. I entered a value of "Province of Misamis Occidental" but later decided it should be listed as "Misamis Occidental" since a province in the Philippines is really the closest political division to a US state and "Province of" is not included in the legal name of a Philippine province. I also ordered an apostille copy of the marriage license today after having them correct those mistakes. All told, it cost me almost $60 to reorder things. Additionally, they have yet to provide me with a new digital PDF of the marriage license that contains the Titan Seal. The clerk has been responsive, though, and I imagine I'll get this soon enough. I figured out that I didn't need CENOMAR earlier today, luckily. Your advice is spot on! Thank you for the tax advice. I had wondered about that some time ago but put it in the back of my mind since it's not even close to tax filing season. I'll probably contact an accountant to get advice on this when the time comes.

I answered my own question regarding an apostilled copy of the Utah County marriage license: it needs to be ordered separately. This can be done here after the marriage license is registered.

You say that but on the online I-130 website, under the Additional Proof of Marriage section, the website says this: This text was specifically why I was focusing on comingling our finances in some provable way. I figured that comingled finances would be better evidence than just easily-forged WhatsApp messages and affidavits. Obviously, I'll be submitting all three types of evidence in the end.

Thanks for the correction. Thinking about it now, I knew that from my research before but for some reason it slipped my mind this time. The real blame lies with the consulates, of course.

Thank you so much @top_secret. To be clear, I did state in my post that I had begun the I-130 process already. In fact, it's nearly complete. There are a few items I'm waiting on but nothing major.

I was curious about how the NVC is faring over time at resolving its immigrant visa backlog. Using granular information provided on the US Department of State website, I created a spreadsheet and a chart that shows the trend: Asterisks indicate bad, missing, or incomplete data. This chart clearly shows that the NVC had been steadily improving what I call its "clearance rate," which is the rate at which visa interviews are scheduled compared to how many submissions are documentarily complete, at least until November 2023. Unfortunately, the data only goes back to mid-pandemic; I would have been very curious to see data from 2019 and earlier as I am guessing the clearance rate was much higher then. Despite the NVC website claiming "We are committed to resolving the immigrant visa backlog..." in reality they are barely making headway, especially in the period between October 2023 and May 2024 when the clearance rate has essentially remained unchanged. At a clearance rate of 12% and all else being equal (e.g., different visas not being treated differently, no special prioritization, etc.), this means the average immigrant visa takes more than eight months to process once reaching the documentarily complete status. This obviously is not the full picture as the USCIS itself has even worse processing times. Combined with consulate delays (e.g., Manila), it's no wonder overall process times are approaching two years. I've attached the LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet I used for the screenshot in case anyone is interested. nvc-immigrant-visa-backlog.zip

I've done additional reading regarding the name change, and it seems like anything more than a first name change is a long, drawn-out process in the Philippines that involves forced use of laywers and the Regional Trial Court. I've read the change can take anywhere from one to four months to complete. It seems to me like the most time-effective course of action is to leave her name unchanged so that it matches all of her existing and upcoming documents and then change it as part of her naturalization process in the US. Only then would the discrepancy become meaningful, and only when dealing with the Philippines (e.g., her passport would be in her old name).

She has only ever had one name: Mary Smyth Roberts (using my chosen pseudonym). The other names, which I labeled as such, are her mother's or biological father's. I was trying to communicate the source for each of the names because I am aware that the Philippines is ornery with regards to changing names and cultural expectations. There literally had to be a Supreme Court case there for women without their husband's family name to be treated fairly, if I understand the situation correctly.

I should clarify that I was referring to the CR1/IR1 process, not the overall experience.

Ah, I think my misunderstanding was that the I-129F is used to apply for a K-3 visa. If I choose not to apply for a K-3--and there doesn't seem to be much point given the extremely long timelines--then there would be no need to submit I-129F.

@EatBulaga I stated in my post that I've started the I-130 process, which is the CR1/IR1 process. I am already disregarding the I-129F until the I-130 reaches NOA1. As far as I am aware, I still must submit I-129F even for CR1/IR1. The Utah County marriage license does not list her new married name.

I agree; I wouldn't call my situation "complex" as much as the post itself is complex. I tried to roll a lot of questions into one post because of the interconnectedness of many of the questions. I think many people on VisaJourney can answer many of my questions given I've seen similar questions asked elsewhere. Yes, the overall process is the standard CR1/IR1 process, and I'm already following that as you can see. I'm close to being able to submit Form I-130. I posted this in the Philippines forum because of questions that lie outside the US immigration process, like her name change.