Visa Approval in Phil with out of Country Divorce but no Phil Annulment

[Steven Shirley 0]

Hello VJers!

I has been a long time since i have been on the site. THANK YOU SOOOOO much! My fiancee (now legal wife of over a year!) and her boys are all here and we are doing well! God has blessed us sooo much. Without His help we would still be apart.

Here is a little I learned in the process. If your Phil fiancée has been married but not annulled in Phil, it is possible for her to receive a visa from the USE in Manila if she has a divorce from another country (such as Hong Kong) issuing divorces recognized by the US government. We did it. HOWEVER, expect the possibility of being denied initially. I contacted the Manila USE by phone some time prior to applying for the K1 and spoke with a women in the Immigrant Visa Unit. She looked up my question in her computer (I could hear her typing) and reported "I have good news! Since you are going to be marrying her in the US where her divorce is recognized, yes she can get her visa." Based on that info we filed and she went to the interview only to be denied. The interviewing officer decided to apply Phil law rather than US law therefore she was deemed "not free to marry". I contacted my state representative's office and they contacted the embassy. 21 nail biting days later we got the good news..approved!! (pending the submission of a couple of more docs.) We thought everything was fine then. IT WAS NOT! Once she had her visa she had to go to the CFO Seminar and get her CFO certificate / stamp. The CFO seminar site reviewed her documents and finding a marriage contract but no annulment they denied her. So she got the visa but could not leave the Phil without the CFO cert. It was then that God did his second HUGE miracle. Without God's direct intervention she would not be here.

So the short version is.....if you are leaving from Phil and have been married, get an annulment even if you have a recognized divorce in another country. You can get your visa but getting the CFO is in the control of the Phil NGO agencies and they follow Phil law. Also note: While at the CFO office, my fiancée, heard of a story where a Filipina got a divorce in another country and went from that country to the USA to marry. After several years in the US and having had multiple children with her American husband she went back to Phil for a visit. She was then required to have a CFO to leave....the CFO denied her certificate until she got an annulment. This is just rumor but maybe worth investigating further if your fiancée ever wants to go back to Phil and does not already have a CFO cert/stamp.

One final note. Over the course of our rather complicated and long journey to be together, I contacted an immigration attorney named Alex Halow http://www.k1fianceevisas.com/ who turned out to be honest and very helpful. While I never officially hired him, he answered a few questions and even returned my calls himself. If I ever need an immigration attorney there is no one else I would use. He was honest enough to note that as long as I could and was interested in handling the paperwork, there was no need to hire an attorney! In addition to being truly honest, he was clearly very knowledgeable and easy to talk to!

I had a previous experience with a firm called Holms and Lolly who inferred that they could/would fix errors in my fiancées Phil documents (BC and Passport) which we had no knowledge of how to do at the time. When, after my repeated asking about that, they (their paralegal, not the attorneys, after they got my money) finally told me that they did not deal with that at all (after i had already sent them $1500). We had to get all Phil docs corrected ourselves and they only handled the US immigration paperwork. They refused to give me even a partial refund even though I told them to cancel my file with them before it was ever sent to USCIS. I did the paperwork myself and have had no problems arising due to improperly filled out forms. To be fair, I do know another person who used them and felt they were treated well. For me, they all but blatantly lied and refused to do ANYTHING to correct the misunderstanding they encouraged me to believe to get my money.

May God greatly bless all your journeys of the heart as He has mine!

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

How did you get the CFO Certificate for her to leave the Philippines?

[Steven Shirley 0]

How did you get the CFO Certificate for her to leave the Philippines?

Sorry but I will not share that due to concerns of hurting some people who were very kind to us. Just know other people took a legal risk to help us. So my recomendation is to get an annulment or leave from another country to the US where the embassy and the country acknowledge the divorce....but investigate any consequences for her if she returns to Phil and then trys to leave again. I have only rumors as i note in my orginal post.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Sorry but I will not share that due to concerns of hurting some people who were very kind to us. Just know other people took a legal risk to help us.

Ah ha, so what you're saying is that you didn't find a legal way to obtain the CFO Certificate & Passport Sticker for her which only left "Other" options as is often the case in the Philippines. A little bit of crying and a lot of Pesos can go a long way towards solving interesting problems.

FWIW, I was just asking in an attempt to get that tidbit of info into the thread early so that it wouldn't become 12 pages of others asking.

It does create an interesting Catch-22 doesn't it?

[Steven Shirley 0]

Hum.....I confirm or deny NOTHING.....

[marklovetina 52]

hello steve!!, remember me..? hehehe i asked u b4 about the divorce in HK?.. well we changed our minds, and what i did is.. i filed an annulment here in PI, and one thing is that i don't have any idea how to get a divorce in HK, or where will i get an atty. once i got there in HK... honey told me there should be a pinay who experienced doin that divorce in HK to help me ... well good for u and hope she will not get any problem when she apply for her citizenship...

uhmmm well... nothing is impossible here in PI... CFO cert. is just a piece of paper... every legal paper can have a price... really sucks.. but that's the way it is here... that's how some of our gov't officials do it...

[gennyangel 3]

grease palm i should say :| or an insider job :| ?

but yes the very best thing to do is to have things done in the Phillipines.

[Adam & May 4]

We have been waiting for the court to rule on Recognition of Foreign Divorce (from Japan in 2006). Filed Jan 2009, last hearing was in Sept 2009. Still waiting on the judge's ruling.

Decided to attempt a tourist visa in Dec 2009 (we thought she might have a chance to qualify) to which the CO interviewer said no. However, the interviewer did tell her what Steve posted here. So we filed in Feb 2010.

Of course, now there may be a CFO wrinkle.

One can only hope the judge will finally rule prior to her packet getting to the USEM.

[Road 2 Peace Arch 0]

Also note: While at the CFO office, my fiancée, heard of a story where a Filipina got a divorce in another country and went from that country to the USA to marry. After several years in the US and having had multiple children with her American husband she went back to Phil for a visit. She was then required to have a CFO to leave....the CFO denied her certificate until she got an annulment. This is just rumor but maybe worth investigating further if your fiancée ever wants to go back to Phil and does not already have a CFO cert/stamp.

The rumor and story part of this we can do with out. I've never heard of this occurring nor, have I ever heard of such a far-fecthed "Story" and I've been in and out of the Phils since the year 2000. I could go on but this part of your post is off base. For example, she's already married, is not a Finacee and therefore doesnt require a CFO to leave after a visit. This "Story", if true, would mean she'd have at least a green card by this point ("...After several years in the US") if not already citizenship by the time she went back to the Phils for a visit.

Let's leave out the "my finacee heard of a story.." parts and stick to facts - its easier on all of us not to stir that pot.

[adiiann 163]

Just a wild guess....

It's because she couldn't get CFO stamp... did she went to Hong Kong? It is because HK doesn't need visa. Then from HK, she could have flight going to US. HK doesn't care about CFO. What they care about is the visa of her destination.

Maybe not HK, whatever country doesn't need visa.

It seems to be possible though.

[luckymom 0]

If you stayed in the US for quite a while and you have a green card already, when you visit the Philippines they will not ask of any CFO seminar. My friend traveled to the Phil. last 2009 2x was never asked about CFO. She's also divorced and get married here in the US. I don't know of other isolated cases.

[winelight 0]

I have a similar situation as Steven...and discussed this with him many months ago. As a result, my fiancee is now residing in Australia... and will be processed for her K-1 visa in Sydney. (Fiancee is Filipino with an Australian divorce). She would like to return to the Philippines to retrieve her daughter several months after we are married in the States, but the risk is too great that CFO will block her return.

The problem is that we want her daughter to be issued the K-2 in the Philippines...with a relative taking her out of the Philippines after the K-2 is approved. My question is...will her daughter have CFO problems leaving the Philippines with an approved K-2 visa considering that her mother is already in the States, re-married, and committing bigamy (according to Philippine law)? If there is any risk, we will have the child processed for the K-2 in Australia. I suspect CFO problems as CFO would never have allowed my fiancee to immigrate to the US if they were given the opportunity. Thank God for Steven enlightening us to the risks in this scenario.

Steven and Shirley...if you are reading this....many regards to you. I am expecting my fiancee Sept/Oct.

Edited June 8, 2011 by winelight

[Pinay Wife 47]

Just some clarifications:

1) If marriage was solemnized abroad, foreign divorce will be recognized in the Philippines (even if initiated by the Filipino citizen) after Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce Decree is granted.

2) If marriage was solemnized in the Philippines, foreign divorce will only be recognized if initiated by the foreign spouse, but will not be recognized if initiated by the Filipino citizen.

[Tahoma 2,291]

Just some clarifications:

1) If marriage was solemnized abroad, foreign divorce will be recognized in the Philippines (even if initiated by the Filipino citizen) after Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce Decree is granted.

2) If marriage was solemnized in the Philippines, foreign divorce will only be recognized if initiated by the foreign spouse, but will not be recognized if initiated by the Filipino citizen.

Hi PW...

A question about scenario 1)...

If the Filipino citizen gets married in the U.S., and then gets divorced in the U.S., and it was the Filipino citizen who initiated the divorce, does the Filipino citizen need to get an annulment in the Philippines in a case where the Filipino citizen has returned to the Philippines, is living there, and wants to remarry either in the Philippines or abroad?

The reason I ask is because I was under the impression that it didn't matter where the Filipino citizen got married. I was under the impression that what mattered was who initiated the divorce, the U.S. citizen or the Filipino citizen. I thought if the Filipino citizen initiated the divorce, they would need to get an annulment in the Philippines. Is my thinking wrong about this?

A question about scenario 2)...

This scenario is the one I thought applied in all cases, no matter where they got married. I thought the only thing that mattered is who initiated the divorce, the U.S. citizen or the Filipino citizen. In other words, no matter where the Filipino citizen got married, if the Filipino citizen is the one who initiated the divorce, the Filipino citizen would be required to get an annulment in the Philippines if the Filipino citizen was living in the Philippines and wanted to get remarried.

On the other side of the same coin, my thinking was that a Filipino citizen would be required to get a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce only if the U.S. citizen was the one who filed for the divorce...that it didn't matter where they got married. Is my thinking equally wrong?

[winelight 0]

Hi PW...

A question about scenario 1)...

If the Filipino citizen gets married in the U.S., and then gets divorced in the U.S., and it was the Filipino citizen who initiated the divorce, does the Filipino citizen need to get an annulment in the Philippines in a case where the Filipino citizen has returned to the Philippines, is living there, and wants to remarry either in the Philippines or abroad?

The reason I ask is because I was under the impression that it didn't matter where the Filipino citizen got married. I was under the impression that what mattered was who initiated the divorce, the U.S. citizen or the Filipino citizen. I thought if the Filipino citizen initiated the divorce, they would need to get an annulment in the Philippines. Is my thinking wrong about this?

A question about scenario 2)...

This scenario is the one I thought applied in all cases, no matter where they got married. I thought the only thing that mattered is who initiated the divorce, the U.S. citizen or the Filipino citizen. In other words, no matter where the Filipino citizen got married, if the Filipino citizen is the one who initiated the divorce, the Filipino citizen would be required to get an annulment in the Philippines if the Filipino citizen was living in the Philippines and wanted to get remarried.

On the other side of the same coin, my thinking was that a Filipino citizen would be required to get a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce only if the U.S. citizen was the one who filed for the divorce...that it didn't matter where they got married. Is my thinking equally wrong?

I have the same understanding as you Tahoma. Where the marriage is performed matters not. The ONLY case in which divorce is recognized in the Philippines for Filipino nationals is when the foreign spouse initiates the divorce. I also have the same understanding that a Philippine Court must recognize the foreign divorce BEFORE the divorce is accepted in the Philippines.

Apart from this, a Philippine annulment is required if you are residing in the Philippines. Now...if the divorced Filipino resides in any other country (except possibly Vatican City???), the divorce will be recognized regardless of who initiated it.

Edited June 9, 2011 by winelight