Question on marrying in pi

[Louis and Aya 17]

Was just wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of where I can get information on what I have to do to if I want to her married in pi and want to start with my soon to be wife there?

I don't need advice on "i should get married in usa" or anything like that. We are still deciding what we want to do, I just need to see what I need to do if I go the pi route.

Thank you all.

[GaryKO 49]

Was just wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of where I can get information on what I have to do to if I want to her married in pi and want to start with my soon to be wife there?

I don't need advice on "i should get married in usa" or anything like that. We are still deciding what we want to do, I just need to see what I need to do if I go the pi route.

Thank you all.

http://manila.usembassy.gov/marriage.html

[Louis and Aya 17]

Thank you. So there are no special requirements other than that?

Does anyone know how it works when it comes to marrying there and the usc getting an extended visa etc?

thank you.

[Hank_ 9,174]

If you marry in the Phils your K-1 visa process is toast and its a "do over" as IR/CRI-1 spouse visa... which means go back to GO do not pass FREE PARKING.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

[020871 2]

Hi,

Visit this site for the requirements. It is helpful as me and my husband married in PI before he petitioned. Wedding Requirements

But in our case, my husband did not wait for 10 days for the application. When he arrived in PI, the next day we went to Manila US Embassy for the Legal Capacity (just don't remember if we got it the same day), after getting the the Legal Capacity, 2 days after we got married .

[ChrisB0707 4]

Not sure if you know but it takes longer for a visa if you get married in the Philippines.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Not sure if you know but it takes longer for a visa if you get married in the Philippines.

Not really, they time frame for K-1 & IR/CR-1 are very close now a days.

[Artisan 138]

Hi,

Visit this site for the requirements. It is helpful as me and my husband married in PI before he petitioned. Wedding Requirements

But in our case, my husband did not wait for 10 days for the application. When he arrived in PI, the next day we went to Manila US Embassy for the Legal Capacity (just don't remember if we got it the same day), after getting the the Legal Capacity, 2 days after we got married .

Someone must have paid some heavy bribes in that case. Manila City Hall is especially harsh these days in enforcing the 10 day waiting period before you can pick up the license.

If you are planning on a civil marriage in the Philippines you need to make sure you plan enough time. You can do it in the 21 days a tourist visa allows, but it's not much trouble to spend the extra money to apply for a visa extension. Just visit the Bureau of Immigration when you get a chance before your 21 day visa expires and pay P3030 for an additional 38 days.

If however you are planning on a Catholic wedding you will need a LOT more paperwork. You will need Baptismal certificates for you and your fiance, a dispensation from the Bishop if you are not Catholic, and you will have to wait at least three weeks AFTER you have acquired the marriage license for the posting of the banns (you can get married on the fourth week after the banns are posted).

As others have said, once you marry your K-1 application is immediately null and void. You will have to start all over with a CR-1 visa application. The time to complete a CR-1 usually takes around the same time as a K-1.

[Tintin and Mike 127]

You're already half-way the process, why you want to start all over now? If you dismiss K1 and go for CR1 route it's not ever a guarantee that by the time they get to your case that you won't encounter any issue.

Well whatever the case maybe, good luck!

[JnRnH 0]

Just go to the philippine consul in your area and apply for visa extension its only $30 when I went there for 2.5 months.

Someone must have paid some heavy bribes in that case. Manila City Hall is especially harsh these days in enforcing the 10 day waiting period before you can pick up the license.

If you are planning on a civil marriage in the Philippines you need to make sure you plan enough time. You can do it in the 21 days a tourist visa allows, but it's not much trouble to spend the extra money to apply for a visa extension. Just visit the Bureau of Immigration when you get a chance before your 21 day visa expires and pay P3030 for an additional 38 days.

If however you are planning on a Catholic wedding you will need a LOT more paperwork. You will need Baptismal certificates for you and your fiance, a dispensation from the Bishop if you are not Catholic, and you will have to wait at least three weeks AFTER you have acquired the marriage license for the posting of the banns (you can get married on the fourth week after the banns are posted).

As others have said, once you marry your K-1 application is immediately null and void. You will have to start all over with a CR-1 visa application. The time to complete a CR-1 usually takes around the same time as a K-1.

[GaryKO 49]

Someone must have paid some heavy bribes in that case. Manila City Hall is especially harsh these days in enforcing the 10 day waiting period before you can pick up the license.

If you are planning on a civil marriage in the Philippines you need to make sure you plan enough time. You can do it in the 21 days a tourist visa allows, but it's not much trouble to spend the extra money to apply for a visa extension. Just visit the Bureau of Immigration when you get a chance before your 21 day visa expires and pay P3030 for an additional 38 days.

If however you are planning on a Catholic wedding you will need a LOT more paperwork. You will need Baptismal certificates for you and your fiance, a dispensation from the Bishop if you are not Catholic, and you will have to wait at least three weeks AFTER you have acquired the marriage license for the posting of the banns (you can get married on the fourth week after the banns are posted).

As others have said, once you marry your K-1 application is immediately null and void. You will have to start all over with a CR-1 visa application. The time to complete a CR-1 usually takes around the same time as a K-1.

If your in Manila/Cebu I guess your forced to go by the rules, but little towns where everyone knows everyone, and if your going to have a civil marriage, most times they will bend the rules, they also know that sometimes its hard to do everything on time. So they may be willing to post date the marriage license. Say you get marriage license get married the same week, and then they post date the license to fit the waiting time line......and it's really 11 days not 10.....Its 10 days after you get your license. The day you get the license don't count in the 10 days.

[Grant PDX 183]

I know of others who were able to short cut the 10 day wait, but doing something under the table. They married, secured the visa and have been together for 1 to 10 years. However I would always be concerned about getting "caught". What happens if it does get questioned and gets undone. I'm not sure it's happened, and it's only speculation, but I'd hate to be the one that did get caught, just so I could shortcut the process by a few days.

[Artisan 138]

If your in Manila/Cebu I guess your forced to go by the rules, but little towns where everyone knows everyone, and if your going to have a civil marriage, most times they will bend the rules, they also know that sometimes its hard to do everything on time. So they may be willing to post date the marriage license. Say you get marriage license get married the same week, and then they post date the license to fit the waiting time line......and it's really 11 days not 10.....Its 10 days after you get your license. The day you get the license don't count in the 10 days.

I know of others who were able to short cut the 10 day wait, but doing something under the table. They married, secured the visa and have been together for 1 to 10 years. However I would always be concerned about getting "caught". What happens if it does get questioned and gets undone. I'm not sure it's happened, and it's only speculation, but I'd hate to be the one that did get caught, just so I could shortcut the process by a few days.

Precisely the problem with skipping the queue with bribes or favors. I found in my experience that once you are outside Manila it is even worse because they EXPECT you as a kano to pay heavy bribes to bypass the standard procedures. One thing they warn you about now at the US Embassy when you apply for your Affidavit of Freedom to Marry is that the Embassy is receiving a significant number of reports that many municipalities are not accepting the Affidavit as evidence and in effect are blocking local women from marrying US Citizens. An acquaintance of mine encountered this problem and decided a significant bribe was better than going back to Manila for a wedding.

The other problem with getting official documents back-dated is that if the dates don't match up to travel documents you could end up facing a lot of questions during the interview. I doubt anyone wants to admit bribing a government official during their interview.

[GaryKO 49]

Precisely the problem with skipping the queue with bribes or favors. I found in my experience that once you are outside Manila it is even worse because they EXPECT you as a kano to pay heavy bribes to bypass the standard procedures. One thing they warn you about now at the US Embassy when you apply for your Affidavit of Freedom to Marry is that the Embassy is receiving a significant number of reports that many municipalities are not accepting the Affidavit as evidence and in effect are blocking local women from marrying US Citizens. An acquaintance of mine encountered this problem and decided a significant bribe was better than going back to Manila for a wedding.

The other problem with getting official documents back-dated is that if the dates don't match up to travel documents you could end up facing a lot of questions during the interview. I doubt anyone wants to admit bribing a government official during their interview.

No bribes involved, we just asked the right people if it was possible to get married a few days before the 10 day waiting period was over. Of course the wedding date on the marriage license would need to show you still in the Philippines.

[Artisan 138]

No bribes involved, we just asked the right people if it was possible to get married a few days before the 10 day waiting period was over. Of course the wedding date on the marriage license would need to show you still in the Philippines.

The Embassy consuls also know that you can't pick up your marriage license until the 11th day after your application. If your travel documents show you were not even in the country at that time you should have applied someone could cause a lot of trouble for you. It sounds like you found a rare spot of luck in a country rife with corruption in the civil offices and no one called you out on it. You are the first person I have heard of that didn't use bribes or favors and successfully bypassed the queue. I do wonder though about how you 'asked the right people'. Did your fiance or someone in her family know someone in the municipality that used their influence to bypass the waiting time? That's the type of favors and nepotism I am talking about as well. Using anything, whether it is money, charm, or influence to bypass the daily bureaucracy is what makes any sort of reform in the Philippines so difficult. Everyone seems to overlook it and expect people to break the rules just to get anything done.

I am curious, did you also manage to bypass the mandatory Family Planning seminar required to apply for the marriage license as well?