Fathers status....can anyone please try to explain and help me...

[~dana~ 0]

my parents are divorced here in the US. my dad lives in the philippines (never been here). Since there is no divorce in the Philippines and I filed the petition for my father here in the US, I wrote divorced as his status. I am so confused about this divorce here and no divorce there thing. Can anyone please explain this to me. Why can't I put on his status "married" since he is a resident of the Philippines?.....I would appreciate it if anyone could help me clear this thing.....

[DEDixon 39]

my parents are divorced here in the US. my dad lives in the philippines (never been here). Since there is no divorce in the Philippines and I filed the petition for my father here in the US, I wrote divorced as his status. I am so confused about this divorce here and no divorce there thing. Can anyone please explain this to me. Why can't I put on his status "married" since he is a resident of the Philippines?.....I would appreciate it if anyone could help me clear this thing.....

If your mom divorced your dad in the US then he is divorced. You can view both annulment and divorce as the same thing. Annulment, the term, comes from the Catholic Church and is simply a better word for what is really a divorce. I've heard that annulment in the eyes of the Church means that the marriage never took place.

If someone was marriage in the RP, comes to the US, gets a divorce, has a divorce decree, that decree can be used to do whatever necessary to legally define oneself as single even in the RP. Now, with that said, the Catholic Church in the RP would not allow someone with a divorce decree from the US to marry in a Catholic Church in the RP unless the Church grants an annulment. Give a generous donation to the Church and you get your annulment.

Your father is divorced and it is okay to define him as such for immigration purposes.

Edited January 16, 2009 by DEDixon

[aaron2020 11,651]

my parents are divorced here in the US. my dad lives in the philippines (never been here). Since there is no divorce in the Philippines and I filed the petition for my father here in the US, I wrote divorced as his status. I am so confused about this divorce here and no divorce there thing. Can anyone please explain this to me. Why can't I put on his status "married" since he is a resident of the Philippines?.....I would appreciate it if anyone could help me clear this thing.....

If your mom divorced your dad in the US then he is divorced. You can view both annulment and divorce as the same thing. Annulment, the term, comes from the Catholic Church and is simply a better word for what is really a divorce. I've heard that annulment in the eyes of the Church means that the marriage never took place.

If someone was marriage in the RP, comes to the US, gets a divorce, has a divorce decree, that decree can be used to do whatever necessary to legally define oneself as single even in the RP. Now, with that said, the Catholic Church in the RP would not allow someone with a divorce decree from the US to marry in a Catholic Church in the RP unless the Church grants an annulment. Give a generous donation to the Church and you get your annulment.

Your father is divorced and it is okay to define him as such for immigration purposes.

True. USCIS is going to care what a US court determines your father's status to be over what the Philippines court decides especially in light of the fact that your father got a divorce in a US court.

[~dana~ 0]

thanks guys! at least i have an idea now about the divorce thing.