K1 - GOT MARRIED - 1-485 denied

[Zharren Young 32]

Yes and No...

For Immigration purposes the US does recognize foreign divorce for Filipinos.

Example of Yes:

Filipino living in Hong Kong, files for divorce in Hong Kong and receives it. Now they want to move to the US and marry a USC. They can as long as the whole process is outside of the Philippines (in Hong Kong for example). If they return to the Philippines with a US Immigrant (including K-Class) Visa in their passport then they will be required to obtain a CFO Clearance sticker which will not be issued because the PH Government doesn't acknowledge the divorce.

If they return to the Philippines at any time before obtaining US Citizenship then they run the risk of getting trapped in the Philippines for the same reason.

Example of No:

Filipino living in Hong Kong wants to get HK divorce and return to the Philippines to marry another Filipino. This won't happen because the Philippines doesn't acknowledge the divorce.

Another example of No:

Filipino living anywhere (in or our of the Philippines) wants to get HK divorce and immigrate from the Philippines to the US to marry a USC. This won't happen because the Philippines doesn't acknowledge the divorce and the Manila US Embassy will require they provide a CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) or a CEMAR showing all previous marriages are terminated but such a document doesn't exist.

I've seen at least 2 examples of the successful scenario on VJ in the last couple of years and on instance where the K-1 beneficiary returned the the Philippines after getting the K-1 and had to bribe someone at CFO to get the sticker and be able to leave the Philippines.

hmmmm....well i know someone who filed divorce in HK and was granted and yes got married there and they applied for CR1 but when it time for her interview she was asked to obtain a CENOMAR record to be sent directly by NSO to the US embassy in HK and since according to PI law she is still married in PI so she was denied and had to go to PI and file for annulment.

Its the same n Bahrain and Kuwait, those are middle east countries where divorced are obtained so easily. I just havent heard any pinoy who tried or was able to file a divorce from there. Unless you are married under the Islam ceremony. Another friend of mine is on a process of her annulment and before he did that i actually drove her to the Phil embassy to inquire any possible options she can do and they told her that the only way is file an annulment and the appearances will depends on her attorney and indeed she only had to appear once, just for the first hearing then the rest can be taken cared off even if shes back abroad.

So if filing divorce abroad can get thru and acceptable on a US embassy(dont worry about to PI, im sure most of them will be fine with it lol) then wow, theres a whole lot of pinoys abroad that sure would be happy about it knowing that there is a less expensive easier route.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

hmmmm....well i know someone who filed divorce in HK and was granted and yes got married there and they applied for CR1 but when it time for her interview she was asked to obtain a CENOMAR record to be sent directly by NSO to the US embassy in HK and since according to PI law she is still married in PI so she was denied and had to go to PI and file for annulment.

Its the same n Bahrain and Kuwait, those are middle east countries where divorced are obtained so easily. I just havent heard any pinoy who tried or was able to file a divorce from there. Unless you are married under the Islam ceremony. Another friend of mine is on a process of her annulment and before he did that i actually drove her to the Phil embassy to inquire any possible options she can do and they told her that the only way is file an annulment and the appearances will depends on her attorney and indeed she only had to appear once, just for the first hearing then the rest can be taken cared off even if shes back abroad.

So if filing divorce abroad can get thru and acceptable on a US embassy(dont worry about to PI, im sure most of them will be fine with it lol) then wow, theres a whole lot of pinoys abroad that sure would be happy about it knowing that there is a less expensive easier route.

The OP was living in Abu Dhabi since 1993, so she was obviously a permanent resident there. As far as the US consulate was concerned, she was immigrating from the UAE, and not the Philippines. The requirements the US consulate would apply would be the same as for any other citizen or permanent resident of the UAE. This is why they issued her a fiancee visa.

The people you're talking about were probably in Hong Kong on an extended non-immigrant visa, but were not permanent residents. Therefore, the US consulate treated them as if they were immigrating from the Philippines, even though they were temporarily residing in Hong Kong.

US consulates are required to make this distinction in order to discourage someone from moving temporarily to another country where they believe their chances of getting a visa to the US would be better - a tactic known as "consulate shopping".

[Zharren Young 32]

The OP was living in Abu Dhabi since 1993, so she was obviously a permanent resident there. As far as the US consulate was concerned, she was immigrating from the UAE, and not the Philippines. The requirements the US consulate would apply would be the same as for any other citizen or permanent resident of the UAE. This is why they issued her a fiancee visa.

The people you're talking about were probably in Hong Kong on an extended non-immigrant visa, but were not permanent residents. Therefore, the US consulate treated them as if they were immigrating from the Philippines, even though they were temporarily residing in Hong Kong.

US consulates are required to make this distinction in order to discourage someone from moving temporarily to another country where they believe their chances of getting a visa to the US would be better - a tactic known as "consulate shopping".

hmmm...i agree! still not sure though with the UAE permanent residency. in the middle east when you have a 2 year working visa they call that permanent resident. that is renewable depending on your job contract. there is no way obtaining citizenship to be considered as one of them unless you were married to an arab citizen. also, the applicants i knew from HK lived there for 15 years while the one in bahrain lived there for 20. that what makes me wonder

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

hmmm...i agree! still not sure though with the UAE permanent residency. in the middle east when you have a 2 year working visa they call that permanent resident. that is renewable depending on your job contract. there is no way obtaining citizenship to be considered as one of them unless you were married to an arab citizen. also, the applicants i knew from HK lived there for 15 years while the one in bahrain lived there for 20. that what makes me wonder

Consular officers discretion, then. The point is that the OP did get a K1 visa without needing to get a CENOMAR. Strictly speaking, there are no provisions in US law that require a divorce to be recognizable throughout the world in order for either USCIS or a consular officer to consider them free to marry. If the divorce is recognized in the country where it was granted then both USCIS and a US consulate will usually consider the divorce to be valid. The fact that the US consulate in Manila requires a CENOMAR is a concession the US makes to the Philippine government, since it is one of only two countries in the world that does not recognize divorce.

[fatty01 0]

Right, regarding the UAE residency. I only got a working visa there. I've been working there from 1993 until the move to US in 2010. When the application of K1 visa was submitted by my husband, I was there in UAE, and I think in the application you have to write the address where you are of residence on the last 6 months if I remember it correctly, so Abu Dhabi was written and I was given an appointment in AUH, and my son, even though he was in Philippines, he was still asked to go to AUH for the interview. During the interview, they were mainly concerned in establishing whether the relationship between me and my fiance(that time) was existing. We were already living together from 2004. We both met each other's family, etc. Actually, there was only one question asked during the interview, why get married in US?

Anyway, tomorrow I got an appointment with the lawyer. I'm still hoping that something can be done without having to do a divorce again and get married again. Just imagine the expenses we had for the wedding; can our relatives come again for another wedding? My husband even joked about it, "next time, if we need to get married again, there will only be me and you."

Thanks again guys for all your comments and discussions. As soon as I learn something from the lawyer, I'll post it here so that if there are some people out there who's on the same boat as I am, will know what can be done (keeping my fingers crossed).

[Zharren Young 32]

Right, regarding the UAE residency. I only got a working visa there. I've been working there from 1993 until the move to US in 2010. When the application of K1 visa was submitted by my husband, I was there in UAE, and I think in the application you have to write the address where you are of residence on the last 6 months if I remember it correctly, so Abu Dhabi was written and I was given an appointment in AUH, and my son, even though he was in Philippines, he was still asked to go to AUH for the interview. During the interview, they were mainly concerned in establishing whether the relationship between me and my fiance(that time) was existing. We were already living together from 2004. We both met each other's family, etc. Actually, there was only one question asked during the interview, why get married in US?

Anyway, tomorrow I got an appointment with the lawyer. I'm still hoping that something can be done without having to do a divorce again and get married again. Just imagine the expenses we had for the wedding; can our relatives come again for another wedding? My husband even joked about it, "next time, if we need to get married again, there will only be me and you."

Thanks again guys for all your comments and discussions. As soon as I learn something from the lawyer, I'll post it here so that if there are some people out there who's on the same boat as I am, will know what can be done (keeping my fingers crossed).

yep best of luck. i hope oyu get thru it. and yes i am very much interested with your result as one of my best friends is in the same limbo. shes into filing her annulment but stopped it coz the effin lawyer screwed her up ugh. oh well. good luck again

[fatty01 0]

I remembered that I did say I will post the outcome of my case here. It's been so long but I'm happy to tell everyone here that we finally got our green card, my son and I. Immigration finally accepted my divorce from Guam. Almost 5 years before they approved it but at last we got it. If there's someone who's having the same issue as mine, my only advice is hire a very good lawyer.

[TBoneTX 45,469]

That's great news!

Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness in returning with the update. It gives everybody closure (us, and you).