US Citizen filing for K-1 visa for a Filipina.

[Zanby 1]

Hell all...

I am a US citizen who currently is retired and is staying in the Philippines with my Fiipina gf.

I an going back to the US and will apply for a K-1 visa for my Filipina gf.

My question is ...

Should I be residing in the US while the application is being processed OR can I just submit the K-1 application and head back to the Philippine again?
I could go back to the US when it's needed though.

When she gets the K-1 approved, I could go back with her to the US and just do what it needs so she get the US Citizenship then head back to the Philippine.

What I need is an easier marriage and also make her a US citizen.

Thank you folks!

Zanby.

[TabeaK 517]

You can be in the Phillipines, but you have to establish domicile in the US for the visa/AOS.

She will have to reside in the states for a minimum of 3 years (+ processing time) after you become married before she gets eligible to file for ciititzenship.

[VOL 425]

If you are staying or living in Philippines you can do a DCF and it takes about one month. You must marry her first and then do DCF

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

[Hank_ 9,174]

I do agree the IR/CR-1 (DCF) would be the easiest and quickest. Marry in the Philippines, then once you have your NSO marriage certificate do the spousal visa IR/CR-1 Direct Consulate Filing

[Zanby 1]

First, thanks all for the quick and unexpected replies!

Second, I have to rethink this now. It makes sense though that two people who don't reside in the US may get married with one being American so, the DCF is the procedure which I now have to investigate.

It also makes sense to get married before applying for the US Citizenship but I heard and my gf said so too that getting married in the Philippines is very hard, lengthy and too much paper work. Which may be why rich people here get married in a non Philippine country!

I am resigning now to the fact that we should get married beforehand but which country? Do you guys recommend any?

Thanks again!

Zanby.

[VOL 425]

It also makes sense to get married before applying for the US Citizenship but I heard and my gf said so too that getting married in the Philippines is very hard, lengthy and too much paper work. Which may be why rich people here get married in a non Philippine country!

Never heard that it was very hard or lengthy to get married in Philippines. I have had a few friends who got married there.

If she thinks getting married in Philippines is hard, you will have 10 times cost and lengthy wait doing a K1 visa

The main negative about getting married in Philippines is she will never be able to marry again in her home country, unless she meets a lot of hurdles in case of divorce.

[j&ana 363]

It is not that hard to get married in the Philippines. I got married to my wife there in a small province in Bohol.I have to travel there to get married. I was there for about 30 days. So it is not hard or lengthy or a lot of paperwork. There are some requirements but if you research you will see that it is not hard at all. I have never heard of any girl from there saying it was hard to get married in the Philippines. That would make me question why she will say that.

It is harder to end the marriage there as there is no divorce and someone will most likely have to get an annulment there, but if you are going to live in the USA that will not matter

Edited April 26, 2015 by j&ana

[j&ana 363]

You also mention citizenship. I am not real familiar with the process for citizenship. I know she has to be in the USA for a while .I think it is 3 years but I could be wrong

it is 3 years as it already mention in a post

Edited April 26, 2015 by j&ana

[toga 1]

You are exactly right, 3 years based upon marriage. Otherwise I believe it is 5 years

[Zanby 1]

It is not that hard to get married in the Philippines. I got married to my wife there in a small province in Bohol.I have to travel there to get married. I was there for about 30 days. So it is not hard or lengthy or a lot of paperwork. There are some requirements but if you research you will see that it is not hard at all. I have never heard of any girl from there saying it was hard to get married in the Philippines. That would make me question why she will say that.

It is harder to end the marriage there as there is no divorce and someone will most likely have to get an annulment there, but if you are going to live in the USA that will not matter

Actually, she was thinking the Church route.

As you might know, there are two ways to get married here in the Philippines. One is the civil route which is very short (10 days?) and much less demanding but most Filipinos do the other way which is via Church. In that case it's a pain in the butt coz the couple would have to go through a myriad of requirements and time.

As for getting her citizenship, actually, it's not needed. However, it would nice to just visit the US with her from time to time.

I am thinking now of going the DCF way. What forms should I fill out? Do any of you guys have an idea of documents the US Embassy would need from me?

I sent them an email (2 days ago) and still waiting on their reply. Do you know of a way to provide for birth certificate other than the DOB document they MIGHT as for?

Thank you,

Zanby.

[j&ana 363]

There are members on here that have gotten married thru the catholic church over there .Yes the church has its requirement but it is still not that hard. If you are both Catholics it should not be hard at all. You mention getting married in another country. I am sure the catholic church in any other country will have requirements. So it is not getting married in the Philippines that is hard for you it is getting married thru the catholic church that is making it harder.

However If you are going to do a DCF you will need to get married. you will need to book an appointment online with the US embassy to get "Affidavit in Lieu of a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. You can do it in Manila or Cebu, you will only need your passport to get the Affidavit. Then you can apply for the marriage license,. You will have to wait ten days for the marriage license, no matter which way you choose to get married.

As for as the DCF process itself here are a couple of links that should help you with that

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

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/82-direct-consular-filing-dcf-general-discussion/

Edited April 27, 2015 by j&ana

[j&ana 363]

She can not get the visa and then go back to the Philippines to live and come back with you to the USA to visit when you want to . To do that she will need to get American citizenship

You and her can live in USA and both go to the Philippines to visit when you want to

Edited April 27, 2015 by j&ana

[j&ana 363]

I really do not know where you get your info from but most Filipinas marrying a foreigner will marry thru the civil route.

Now if a Philippine citizen marry another Philippines citizen there and they are both Catholics they will probably marry in the church more often

Besides knowing my wife from

there. My sister in law is also from there she has been in the USA since 2006, her and her Filipina friends here say the same thing That a Filipina marrying a foreigner will most likely do a civil marriage

Edited April 27, 2015 by j&ana

[j&ana 363]

I will still question why she will say it is hard to get married there.

There is no divorce there. A lot of Filipinas think if they marry there they can never get divorce which is why they want to get marry in the states.

however if they get married there, they can get divorce in the USA

[Zanby 1]

Thank you all for the advice!

As far as living back in the US I don't think we will ever do so.We will just go for tourism reasons

As for why those rich people get married not in the Philippines, I guess it's related to the lack of divorce. Also, getting married in a church will require a ton of docs plus may be feeding some mouths

It looks like I'd have to get married first (Civil) then book an appt with the US Embassy and go from there...

Before I book the appt, don't I need anything for the Criminal record from the US or may be the NBI here? Any birth certificate or is just the passport enough?

Many thanks,

Zanby.