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

[TravellingNomad 12]

same here about the rumor about the visiting back and requiring CFO to return. if you went back to visit...why require a CFO cert and sticker to return to the country you came from? doesn't make sense.

[pixie77 2]

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.

Above is not true. I went to CFO yesterday to register my daughter. They asked me if I am a green card holder and that's it they didn't tell me to register or anything like that. I am divorced in the US and have not filed for an annulment here.

[Pinay Wife 47]

Hi Tahoma,

It matters where the Filipino citizen got married.

Our annulment laws are complicated, as you will see below:

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, Philippines has no choice but to recognize the divorce. Philippine courts have NO JURISDICTION over the US marriage because Filipino citizen married under US laws. Only US courts can dissolve a US marriage. There is no basis for filing an annulment in the PI because the Philippines has no jurisdiction. No Philippine court will hear the case. In this regard, Filipino citizen can marry either in the PI or the US, as long as the US divorce is final. As far as the Philippines is concerned, if its citizen married in the US, then US laws apply. Since divorce is legal in the US, then the Philippines has to recognize US laws even if the party involved is a Filipino citizen.

2) If the Filipino citizen gets married in the Philippines, and then gets divorced in the US, and it was the Filipino citizen who initiated divorce, it will not be recognized in the PI. However, if the Filipino citizen has naturalized at time of filing/granting of divorce, then the divorce will be recognized in the PI. If petitioner, on the other hand, was Filipino citizen at time of filing, and then has become a US citizen by the time divorce was granted, divorce will not be recognized.

3) If Filipino citizen gets married in the Philippines, and then gets divorced in the US, and the US spouse initiated divorce, the Filipino spouse needs to file a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce Decree if she wants to marry in the PI again. Judicial Recognition not required if re-marrying in another country.