Cenomar disaster

[marklovetina 52]

Just want to share this:

Art. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35(1), (4), (5) and (6), 36, 37 and 38. (71a)

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall likewise have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (n) (as amended by E.O. No. 227, dated July 77, 1987)

but if the filipina is the one who initiated the divorce then, NO...

[marklovetina 52]

No, you are not doomed, but you are being scammed by the lawyer. When dealing with a Philippine lawyer, nothing should be mentioned that an American is involved or the lawyer's fee and other price tags shoot up a hundred folds.

If the divorce or dissolution of marriage was initiated by your fiancee's ex-husband, I suggest for your fiancée to immediately file a petition for the Judicial Recognition of Divorce Decree or Dissolution of Marriage with the court. It should only take 3-4 months and cost less than $1,000. Remember, your fiancée must not mention that she has an American fiancé.

In the meantime, if I were in your fiancee's shoes and my interview is scheduled, I would go ahead with my interview and appear with my CENOMAR (or in this case, CEMAR) and the decree for the dissolution of the first marriage. There is a possibility that the US Embassy will honor the dissolution and not ask for a Judicial Recognition anymore. Worst thing that can happen is for your fiancée to be put in AR while the embassy waits for the recognition.( weee, risky, , uhmm but if the X is the one who inititated the divorce yeah probably, but if ur fiancee then, its risky...)

[asianmom 0]

but if the filipina is the one who initiated the divorce then, NO...

First of all, no divorced here in Philippines, just annulment. If the Filipina is in other country and file a divorced there. The divorced then is not recognized here. That's what I have read.

[marklovetina 52]

First of all, no divorced here in Philippines, just annulment. If the Filipina is in other country and file a divorced there. The divorced then is not recognized here. That's what I have read.

correct!

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

This couple just pass the interview and CEMAR Annotated with Recognition of Foreign Divorce (not needed for K1 Visa Process). I asked my lawyer too and he said it is not necessary unless you want to get married here in Philippines and want to clear my marriage record in NSO. I hope this can help!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/240403-february-2010-filers-california-service-center/

And how will they get past the CFO? Answer is that they won't if NSO says they are still married.

[honey17 0]

Fixorred!

well.. my lawyer only took six months for my annullment.

[honey17 0]

She was married to an american and divorced in 1991, she has the dissolutionof marriage, but she still registered as married to the NSO. Told need a lawyer to correct that and will take 6 months to a year and cost as much as 5k dollars.

I do not have 5k dollars and i deploy in 10 months, also my 129 petition end date is Nov 2010. we are devistated at this......

if thats the case I dont think u'll be needing a lawyer.. u just need to go to NSO to fix it and need not to spend 5k.

[honey17 0]

if thats the case I dont think u need to spend 5k.. u have to find a trusted lawyer or might as well inquire in NSO.

[sparky952 3]

Ok this is the from the Manila Embassy:

This is in reply to your inquiry regarding the visa case of the referenced individual.

American citizens who would like to marry a foreign national in the United States should file a fiancé(e) (K1) visa petition (Form I-129F) with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of their fiancé(e). To qualify for K1 visa classification, the petitioner and beneficiary must be unmarried, or their previous marriages have ended through divorce, annulment or death.

There is no waiver of the legal termination of marriage requirement for K1 visa petition purposes. Under Philippine law, any marriage is considered to be valid until annulled, and neither party is free to remarry until they also obtain a separate judicial decree of nullity in addition to the annulment. The declaration of nullity is mandatory even in cases where the marriage appears to have been void from the beginning. Abandonment by one of the parties would not constitute a legal termination of a marriage.

Philippine law does not allow divorce. A Philippine citizen is considered married until the marriage is annulled under Philippine law or the other contracting party dies.

Philippine marriage annulments are generally granted by courts.

The annulment process entails (1) A court judgment granting the annulment; (2) A certificate of finality issued by the court after the judgment and; (3) Annotation by the National Statistics Office (NSO) of the marriage certificate.

***** Now we have filed the Petiton, but got an order from court today of summons for the ex husband through the foreign service at our expense (typical) Now how do we do this since no contact in 18 years no idea where he is.

[marklovetina 52]

its ok... if u know where are his parents then they can receive the summon... good luck on ur annulment process...

[Zen Den 18]

it would be best for your fiancee to do her medical/attend her interview w/her dissolution of marriage and bring but NOT show the cenomar (since she's been married before) unless she's asked and then mention that correction on her marriage cert is underway, then have your fiancee start process to correct her status asap. the sooner you start this, the sooner the issue will be resolved. have your fiancee ask at least 3 lawyers the possible total expenses and specific processes involved and as what others have said to not mention that she has an american fiance at present. good luck and god bless

[TinTin and Samby 11]

Hi.

My read of this reply from the USEM/Manila is that it is non-responsive to the facts in your situation. It seeems clear that they have confused or not understood the question you are asking.

1. You are not asking about any "waiver". You are asking for the specific process and required documentation in your specific scnario (ie, whether USEM requires Philippine issued "recognition" of USA based and issued, American pertitioned divorce. or whether such USA documentation is sufficient for the USEM process.

2. All of the information that they wrote regarding Annullment is immaterial, as your situation is not a case of Filipino - Filipino marriage.

If it were me, I would respond back to the USEM and (gently) clarify their misunderstanding of your question so that you can get a valid and responsive reply that will guide you.

Warm Regards,

Samby

Ok this is the from the Manila Embassy:

This is in reply to your inquiry regarding the visa case of the referenced individual.

American citizens who would like to marry a foreign national in the United States should file a fiancé(e) (K1) visa petition (Form I-129F) with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of their fiancé(e). To qualify for K1 visa classification, the petitioner and beneficiary must be unmarried, or their previous marriages have ended through divorce, annulment or death.

There is no waiver of the legal termination of marriage requirement for K1 visa petition purposes. Under Philippine law, any marriage is considered to be valid until annulled, and neither party is free to remarry until they also obtain a separate judicial decree of nullity in addition to the annulment. The declaration of nullity is mandatory even in cases where the marriage appears to have been void from the beginning. Abandonment by one of the parties would not constitute a legal termination of a marriage.

Philippine law does not allow divorce. A Philippine citizen is considered married until the marriage is annulled under Philippine law or the other contracting party dies.

Philippine marriage annulments are generally granted by courts.

The annulment process entails (1) A court judgment granting the annulment; (2) A certificate of finality issued by the court after the judgment and; (3) Annotation by the National Statistics Office (NSO) of the marriage certificate.

***** Now we have filed the Petiton, but got an order from court today of summons for the ex husband through the foreign service at our expense (typical) Now how do we do this since no contact in 18 years no idea where he is.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

I'll say this one more time...

Even if she passes the Embassy Interview she still needs to be able to leave the Philippines and for that she needs the CFO Sticker in her passport.

CFO will ask for her Cenomar as they do for all K-1 Visa holders. If she can't produce a Cenomar showing she is free to marry then she won't get the sticker.

No CFO Sticker means she won't be allowed to leave the country.

So, in short, what will happen at the Embassy is irrelevant as she won't be able to get on a plane to the US without that CFO sticker which she can't get without a Cenomar showing she's free to marry in the Philippines.

Ironically this wouldn't be a problem if she was currently in another country as an OFW an planned to fly direct to the US without going to the Philippines.

Now we have filed the Petiton, but got an order from court today of summons for the ex husband through the foreign service at our expense (typical) Now how do we do this since no contact in 18 years no idea where he is.

Send it to his last known address, that's really all you can do. If he fails to respond then he fails to respond and things will move forward.

[Zen Den 18]

I'll say this one more time...

Even if she passes the Embassy Interview she still needs to be able to leave the Philippines and for that she needs the CFO Sticker in her passport.

CFO will ask for her Cenomar as they do for all K-1 Visa holders. If she can't produce a Cenomar showing she is free to marry then she won't get the sticker.

No CFO Sticker means she won't be allowed to leave the country.

So, in short, what will happen at the Embassy is irrelevant as she won't be able to get on a plane to the US without that CFO sticker which she can't get without a Cenomar showing she's free to marry in the Philippines.

the CFO's requirement for you to get a sticker is your visa on your passport, not a cenomar http://www.cfo.gov.ph/

[rvince 0]

the CFO's requirement for you to get a sticker is your visa on your passport, not a cenomar http://www.cfo.gov.ph/

The process Sucks. It serves as only added head ache, to a already long suffering system.

My wife completed her interview, She was approved. But with a few conditions. She had her cenomar, but it expired. They told her that they will send her her visa using AIR21 service, after they receive her updated Cenomar. The whole process takes about 3 weeks. It doesnt make any sense. We are already married. The cenomar was valid to cover that time period of our Wedding. So the problem for us is, we cant get our sticker until they get the cenomar. The system is already difficult enough without the adding of this Cenomar/CFO sticker process. Now she must fly here and fly there and fly here and fly there again. Just let her come home to her husband na. We've suffered enough.