Philippines

Information on emigration from the Philippines to the U.S.

Consulates

The embassy is in Manila and there is a consulate in Cebu with limited services. The consular officer is John Domingo.

Entry

The following classes of aliens shall be excluded from entry into the Philippines:^[1]
1. Idiots or insane persons and persons who have been insane;
2. Persons afflicted with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, or epilepsy:
3. Persons who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude;
4. Prostitutes, or procurers, or persons coming for any immoral purposes;
5. Persons likely to become, public charge;
6. Paupers, vagrants, and beggars;
7. Persons who practice polygamy or who believe in or advocate the practice of polygamy;
8. Persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force and violence of the Government of the Philippines, or of constituted lawful authority, or who disbelieve in or are opposed to organized government, or who advocate the assault or assassination of public officials because of their office, or who advocate or teach principles, theories, or ideas contrary to the Constitution of the Philippines or advocate or teach the unlawful destruction of property, or who are members of or affiliated with any organization entertaining or teaching such doctrines;
9. Persons over fifteen years of age, physically capable of reading, who cannot read printed matter in ordinary use in any language selected by the alien, but this provision shall not apply to the grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, wife, husband or child of a Philippine citizen or of an alien lawfully resident in the Philippines;
10. Persons who are members of a family accompanying an excluded alien, unless in the opinion of the Commissioner of Immigration no hardship would result from their admission;
11. Persons accompanying an excluded person who is helpless from mental or physical disability or infancy, when the protection or guardianship of such accompanying person or persons is required by the excluded person, as shall be determined by the Commissioner of Immigration;
12. Children under fifteen years of age, unaccompanied by or not coming to a parent, except that any such children may be admitted in the discretion of the Commissioner of Immigration, if otherwise admissible;
13. Stowaways, except that any stowaway may be admitted in the discretion of the Commissioner of Immigration, if otherwise admissible;
14. Persons coming to perform unskilled manual labor in pursuance of a promise or offer of employment, express or implied, but this provision shall not apply to persons bearing passport visas authorized by Section Twenty of this Act;
15. Persons who have been excluded or deported from the Philippines, but this provision may be waived in the discretion of the Commissioner of Immigration: Provided, however, That the Commissioner of Immigration shall not exercise his discretion in favor of aliens excluded or deported on the ground of conviction for any crime involving moral turpitude or for any crime penalized under Sections Forty-Five and Forty-Six of this Act or on the ground of having engaged in hoarding, black-marketing or profiteering unless such aliens have previously resided in the Philippines immediately before his exclusion or deportation for a period of ten years or more or are married to native Filipino women;
16. Persons who have been removed from the Philippines at the expense of the Government of the Philippines, as indigent aliens, under the provisions of section forty-three of this Act, and who have not obtained the consent of the Board of Commissioners to apply for readmission; and
17. Persons not properly documented for admission as may be required under the provisions of this Act.

Some discussion of what is considered a crime of moral turpitude is contained in G.R. No. 180363.^[2] Registered sex offenders are generally excluded from the Philippines,^[3] and pursuant to programs such as Operation Angel Watch, ICE attempts to inform the Philippines of sex offenders travelling to the Philippines.

Miscellany

This is the link to the "Packet 4" in English and Tagalog, provided to beneficiaries with interviews scheduled at the Manila Embassy

NSO Marriage Certificates for interview SAMPLE

NSO Birth Certificates for interview SAMPLE

NSO CEMAR (Certificate of Marriage)or "Marriage Index" for interview SAMPLE

NSO CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage for K1 interview SAMPLE

CFO Guidance and Counseling attendance certificate (yellow) SAMPLE. You need this to get the next certificate.

CFO Guidance and Counseling certificate (green/gray) SAMPLE. You need this to get the stamp/sticker below.

CFO Stamp SAMPLE You need this before they'll allow you to board your flight and leave the country.

Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC) "Exit clearance" SAMPLE for US citizen children leaving Philippines for the first time...OR...get a Philippines passport for USC children so they'll be recognized as having dual US/Philippines citizenship. If they don't have a Philippines passport, you'll be charged 300php per month overstay charge from birth until the time they depart the country. The moral of this story is, "Get a Philippines passport for your child in addition to their US passport."

Direct consular filing

Only US citizens who are residents of the Philippines may file at the embassy. This means either you have a permanent residency visa for the RP that you can get after you marry a filipina or you have lived here for over 6 months and have ties to the Philippines such as owning a house, a long term lease, etc. They prefer you to be a permanent resident. If you are just coming for a couple months to visit/marry, you have to file by mail in the US. We had to show our leases and now have to mail them copies of the receipts for payment to prove I am residing here long term. Fpr more information on permanent residency, see [1].

• See also Procedures for US Immigrant Visa using Direct Consular Filing (DCF)

Marriage

The Philippine Government requires all foreigners to provide a "Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage" from his/her embassy before filing for a marriage license.

U.S. Consular Officers cannot make any official certification about the status or eligibility to marry of persons residing in the United States who propose to be married abroad, or about the laws of the United States or of any of the fifty States or Territories about eligibility for marriage or the solemnization of a marriage. Instead, the U.S. Embassy provides an Affidavit In Lieu of Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry. The affidavit is the only document the U.S. Embassy is able to provide. If the local registrar refuses to accept the affidavit, there is nothing that the U.S. Embassy in Manila can do. It is the applicant’s responsibility to verify directly with the local registrar their requirements.

In late 2011, the U.S. Embassy learned that the following local registrars had refused to accept the Affidavit In Lieu of Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry as a viable alternative to the Philippine document: Makati City, Quezon City, Davao City.^[4]

Visas

K-1 visa

USEM is difficult when it comes to accepting a co-sponsor with the K-1 but they do accept them. "Please be aware that joint sponsors in K nonimmigrant visa cases are not legally bound to address the financial needs of the applicant. The simple submission of a Form I-134 by a joint sponsor is, therefore, not always sufficiently credible to overcome the public charge provisions of the law. Petitioners in K visa cases should be able to demonstrate their ability to maintain an income at or above the prescribed federal poverty guidelines for their prospective household sizes."^[5] The IR-1/CR-1 route is the smarter route to go. "First, if there are other people in the SAME household as the petitioner who are making money, they can file an I-864a–a contract between them and the petitioner–agreeing to help support you. They’ll also need to send in their income tax returns as well. We’ll include their income with the petitioner’s. If it all adds up, then you’ve made it over the poverty line. "^[6]

References

External links

• http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/marrying-citizen-the-philippines-how-get-green-card-your-new-spouse.html
• http://blogs.usembassy.gov/philippines/
• http://manila.usembassy.gov/
• http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/filipino-immigrants-united-states-0
• wikipedia:Visa requirements for Filipino citizens
• wikipedia:Visa requirements for United States citizens