K1 / US Citizenship Interference

[marrs 0]

Ok. This is a little complicated. Lets start with the facts:

Me: US Citizen from Father with Certificate of Birth Abroad/Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Germany) Original Document Lost. My Mother does have a copy.

My daughter: 2 years old. No Passport. With her Mom in the Philippines. My name is on her Birth Certificate.

Actions: Filed for K1/K2 Visa 12/27/2007

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Ok so I filed for K1/K2. I included my daughter's name so she will be able to get the K2 and come with her mom.

Now we want Aeisha(daughter) to become a US Citizen.

If I go ahead and start the process, would it interfere with the K1/K2?

It would be pretty difficult to do her citizenship(register her at the embassy/Report of birth) for the following reasons:

Aeisha was born out of wed-lock (of course she was, since we were not married at the time and the U.S does not recognize marriage in the Philippines anyway!!!And if we do marry in PI, I cant use the K1/K2!its silly!)

So she has to be legitimized first.

Then, I do not have the original of my own Report of Birth Abroad. Which is required to prove I am a US Citizen, (despite having had a passport since I was young,served in the Army,am attending a US college, being a registered Voter and being a FLorida Resident, and oh yea I just filed for K1 which can only be done IF YOU ARE A US CITIZEN!! Very Very Silly!)

So I would have to request a new Consular Report of Birth Abroad(CRBA) from Munich,Germany. No Idea how long that will take!

Then, they may require a DNA test. Which doesnt happen overnight and costs around $500.

The 2 questions I have:

1. So FOR EXAMPLE I get this all done within a month or so, would it interfere with K1/K2 since she is a US Citizen from that point on?

2. If I wait for my daughter and fiance to come to the US on a K1/K2 and get married...That would legitimize Aeisha and make her a US Citizen. Wouldnt it?

Any help is much appreciated! Thanx and Happy New Year!

[Marine9000 0]

I will not proclaim to be an expert on these matters but I can dispel a few of the misunderstanding/assumptions that you have presented in regards to marriage in the Philippines and the Consular Report of Birth Abroad in the Philippines.

The US has, does and continues to recognize the marriage of US citizens and Filipinos. I personally was married in a civil ceremony in Negros Oriental in February 2007. As long as you meet the local requirements (which may vary somewhat depending on locale and personal religion) and have the US Embassy Legal Capacity to Marry Form, which the local registrar's office shoudl ask for, you can be married anywhere in the country and have it recognized by the US (as long as you meet all the legal requirements to be married, etc.) That is technically the purpose of the capacity to marry form, but it is based on your sworn statements and information so could theoretical not be legal if you lied.

You are eligible to marry her in the PI and apply for a K3 or IR1/CR1 visa and bring her that way or wait and bring her via K1 and marry in the US. THere are pros and cons to all ways and you need to determine what is best for you both and your situation.

Regarding getting your daughter Aeisha reported and registered via the embassy the first step is to start the process of collecting documents. The attachment to this reply is the first page of the package that the Embassy will provide you via FEDEX which details many of the requriements. Further internet search can of course fully flesh the details out.

For your convenience the U.S. Embassy has partnered with FEDEX to provide basic information, forms and pick-up/delivery services. Applicants may avail themselves of this service for a nominal fee by calling the Fedex Call Center Exclusive Hotline: (63) (2) 879-4747, 7:30am - 4:30 pm, Mon-Fri, except American and Philippine holidays. Completed applications may also be mailed directly to the American Citizen Services Section, Attn: Passport /Citizenship, U.S. Embassy Manila, 1201 Roxas Boulevard, Ermita 1000, Manila, Philippines.

I do know for a fact (I did this myself and we just completed my daughters CRBA and passport application in Decemeber at the USEM) that you can submit the whole process using your passport only without your CRBA. The only downside to this is you would need to be with out a passport while it is processing (they may allow you to submit an expired US passport with a notarized copy of your current one but that is strictly my opinion and may nto work). The whole thing took me approximately 4 weeks from the time I mailed my documents (including passport) until they were returned to my wife alogn with our daughter's passport.

That said... we were not married at the time of conception. We married at about 7 months. I am liste don the birth certificate. When my wife went to the interview for our daughter's claim they required out marriage certificate and evidence of relationship and support prior to my daughter's birth. In our case it was difficult as we shared a house with other expats so didn't have a lease in our names our joint assets, etc as we hadn't married yet. I also lacked much in the way of financial documents to show as I was living in the PI at the time so didn't need to do wire transfers, chat online, etc as I was there. We presented a few photos from our various times together as well as a few bank statements from the 8th month (when I returned to the US) until about 6 moths of age showing my support of them financially and our relationship in the fashion of phone records (very limited) and IM conversation logs (turn on the archive feature as it is a great proof of relationship/communication feature) I didn't print the whole log, just screen captures showing all the dates we talked, nto the actual transcripts themselves.

The prescreener and consular officer both asked my wife several questions about our relationship and timelines, but she was able to answer everything just fine as there was nothing to hide.

As far as the DNA test, well that is unfortunately at the discretion of the consular officer reviewing your application if they don tfeel your documentation and information supports your claim to paternity.

I can tell you that regardless of what rote of visa you take for your wife to be, getting your daughter recognized now as a citizen makes the whole process much easier. Then the issue is not with her, but your wife/wife-to-be only. I would personally recommend this and believe that it will make it easier for your wife when she comes through the POE eventually with child in hand.

I do not believe (OPINION ONLY) that Aeshia would gain US citizenship by accompanying her mother and you two marrying later. I am not an expert on this aspect and am not sure where to look so will leave it at that.

You should be able to complete this entire process in approximately 6 weeks in my opinion. The main reason for the delay is that it will require you to basically fill out the passport form and a few others which must be notarized and sent to the PI. All the other forms you can find via the internet. You then need to send these to your significant other. She will call the FEDEX number above and get the package delivered (think it is between 300-400 pesos, but don't quote me on it). Once she receives all the forms you send her she replaces the ones in the package with the same completed and notarized ones you sent her and the NSO security paper issued birth certificate and calls them to pick the package up and deliver it back to the embassy. That is what the fee covers.

The embassy will then contact your SO after receipt and schedule an interview which will require Aeshia to be present. If all goes fine at the interview they will tell her then and she will be sent the passport via Courier in a few weeks after that. The only thing needed for her after that is to get her Exit Clearance before departing PI. THis is covered in the papers they send you with the passport so don't sweat it yet.

Total cost: Approximately $300 for us (postage from US, fees to embassy, hotel and transportation[ferry from Bataan] in transportation), possibly more depending where they are at.

Hope this all helps,

Neil

You can order the NSO certificates required for everything online and have them delivered to your SO in the PI. This is the cheapest route P300 per copy as opposed to like $20 per copy if you do it via credit card from the US. I have used it multiple times for my wife and daughters birth certifcate and our marriage certificate. The site will give yo uthe details, but you do the submission online and then she will go to a local bank (listed on the site) and make a payment based on what you order and they will be delivered to her. I think turnaround for us is about 2 weeks to Bataan.

https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Secure/frmIndex.asp

CRBAPAssport.zip

Edited January 2, 2008 by Marine9000

[Mike and Elisa 0]

What I'm going to say assumes you have spent time living in the US and have met the US residency requirements. If you can show that you have lived within the US for at least five years of your life, then you've met the requirements. The five years do not have to be continuous. If not, there are other exceptions you can use to meet the requirements. I won't go into those here.

You are a US citizen and if you have met the US residency requirements, then your daughter is AUTOMATICALLY a US citizen the day she is born, provided, you can prove paternity and you agree to support the child. If you were married to the girl's mother, these last two things would not be required. As long as you meet these requirements, it is just a matter of getting the US citizenship that your daugeter already has to be recognized by the US government. There is no need for naturalization.

The process that Marnie did a very good job of describing is to get your daughter's US citizenship RECOGNIZED. It is not the process to actually get that citizenship. She is already a US citizen.

If you decide to marry in the US, you will need a K1 visa for your fiancee. If you decide to marry in Phils, you will need a K3 visa for your wife. As a citizen, you daughter does not require a K2 visa, she requires a US passport.

[marrs 0]

OK,FIRST OF ALL THANX FOR ALL THE HELP EVERYBODY!

After a lot of research I finally called Manila Embassy and was lucky 4 a change! The lady was friendly and had a personal desire to help out and answer my questions. Very refreshing, compared to previous calls I made.

Anyway, I was told that I do not need my CRBA as proof of citizenship

IF MY PASSPORT HAS BEEN ISSUED B4 MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTH AND IS VALID AT LEAST ANOTHER 5 YEARS!

I pointed out that this is NOT on their website! I actually directed her to the said page and had her read it aloud!he he!

She said "Oh" and immediately went to her supervisor to verify. Done. So I do not need to provide my CRBA.I always had a passport my entire life so Im good on that. The only thing I didnt like was that she said I should send in my passport. Dont know y certified copies dont do the trick here! I may call again about that!

Then I asked about the issue of US Citizenship interfering with K2. I was told that there would not be any problem because 2 different departments handle them. (of corse). So I pressed a little more and she explained that

IN CASE MY DAUGHTER GETS HER CITIZENSHIP PRIOR TO THE K1/K2 APPROVAL, MY FIANCE NEEDS TO BRING NOTARIZED COPIES OF AEISHA'S PASSPORT (mite as well bring the passport and notarize them at the embassy) TO HER INTERVIEW. THOSE WILL BE ATTACHED TO THE PETITION AND THEREFORE THE K2 BECOMES IRRELEVANT.

I called up Dawn(Fiance) and she ordered the package from Fedex immediately(PHP 250). It came the next day. I was able to find all the documents online so if any1 wants to know whats in the package, let me know or ask Dawn. --> her ScreenName on VJ is "bluemist".

Marine9000/Neil your post was insightful and super helpful. Thnx a million!

Mike and Elisa yes you are correct that she is a US Citizen automatically, just like I was when I was born.

And yet, if I dont complete the process..there is no proof of it. Thank u for pointing that out. It is very important to be aware of that fact. I tried to explain that to more than 1 person in the past and they did not quite get it! Knowing that little fact solidifies one's position when arguing the case - any case! Catch my drift??

To every1 who uses the info from my threads: Be aware that I do not swear on everything said in here. I am not an official or lawyer so take what you read here and verify it before you utilize it!

I will update here on our progress!

Thanx again for all the help!

[Marine9000 0]

Glad it is all working out for you so far. The whole process is extremely easy and fast, at least was in our case.

I apologize in that I jsut reread my post and realize that I didn't tell you to contact me if you needed the rest of the fedex package or any help. I have the whole thing scanned as I wasn't sure what it entailed initially and had her order it and then scan and email it to me.

If you need any assistance or have questions feel free to fire away and I will try to help. Te forum here is a great place. I would also recommend checking out the MAG-ANAK yahoo group. It is US-Fil couples and deals primarily with immigration and other topics of interest to Fil-Am couples. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAG-ANAK/ There are some very experienced folks who are extremely willign to help with immigration matters and have the experience with PI situation specifically to really help.

Not sure if the plug violates the ToS here, so I guess I will find out by trying.

Neil