Need Help, Birth in Philippines for GC holder

[lbounds 16]

My wife is currently a 10 year resident green card holder in the US where she has been living with me for the last 6 years. She wants to go have her baby back in the Philippines so she will have the support of her sisters and mom near the birth and also a while after to help her learn how to care for the baby. This will take a great deal of stress off her and this is what she wants.

I'm concerned about what immigration complications this may cause when our child is born in the Philippines. What process will we have to go through to get our baby back on the plane with us to the US afterwards?

Any tips on this? I have no idea on what difficulties if any we may have.

Thank you for any info

[medicalguy 11]

I don't see any problem given the fact that you are USC from what I can tell from the timeline. Just report the birth to the US embassy, and the child should be considered a US citizen at birth.

[BigDaddy28 228]

File CARBA. Get all documents to prove 5 years of presence in the US

[Ortolan 381]

I was a baby born outside of the U.S. in a European country to a U.S. citizen, therefore I am a U.S. citizen. Just register the birth with the U.S. consulate (Report of foreign birth). Here's a link specific to the Philippines, for more info: http://manila.usembassy.gov/service/citizenship/first-time-report-of-birth-abroad-application-process2.html

Edited February 7, 2016 by Ortolan

[Hank_ 9,174]

My wife is currently a 10 year resident green card holder in the US where she has been living with me for the last 6 years. She wants to go have her baby back in the Philippines so she will have the support of her sisters and mom near the birth and also a while after to help her learn how to care for the baby. This will take a great deal of stress off her and this is what she wants.

I'm concerned about what immigration complications this may cause when our child is born in the Philippines. What process will we have to go through to get our baby back on the plane with us to the US afterwards?

Any tips on this? I have no idea on what difficulties if any we may have.

Thank you for any info

No issues. As many have stated you will need to complete CRBA after the babies birth certificate is recorded. http://manila.usembassy.gov/service/citizenship.html

This is from another's experience:

CRBA experience:

It took a total of 43 days from his birth date to have the CRBA and US Passport in hand.

Step 1 Birth of the child. (Feb 3rd)

Step 2 Fill out birth certificate information at the hospital. (Feb 5th)

Step 3 The hospital transcribes the information onto an application for the birth certificate and forwards it to the civil registars office. I hand carried the transcribed application to Civil Registars office on (Feb 6th)

Step 4 Civil Register’s office checks it for mistakes, records it locally, and then forwards it to the NSO.

Step 5 The NSO then records the information submitted by the Civil Registars office and issues the NSO b/c. I went to the NSO and got his NSO b/c on (Feb 24th)

Step 6 Go to the U.S. embassy Manila website and make an appointment online. The first available CRBA appointment date for us was March 5th.

Step 7 Go to appointment and submit application for CRBA and US passport, NSO b/c, supporting documents (found in CRBA checklist on the website) and other requirements.

Step 8 We received my sons CRBA and US passport via Air 21 in Negros Oriental on March 17th.

I was in a hurry to get my sons US passport as soon as possible. So there was a few things I did to speed up the process. I was told at the hospital it would take up to 7 days to transcribe the information we provided for his b/c application. I explained I was in a big hurry to get the NSO b/c, so with a little charm I was allowed to pay for expedited services… at the hospital. I then hand carried his application to the Civil Registar’s office. The expedited services I paid for at the hospital put me in contact with the head person at the Civil Registar’s office which allowed me to get expedited ;) service again.

At the US embassy in Manila you go through 2 layers of security, then up to the second floor. When you go through security they give you receipt with a number on it. Once on the second floor you will see several windows and two rooms in the center. Wait for your number to be show up on the screens. Go to the window it prompts you to go to and there you submit all your paperwork, requirements, and supporting documents. This first trip to the window is to make sure you have everything required and that it is correct. The person at the first trip to the window is just a screener. He will tell you to go sit back down and then he takes your documents to an actual American consulate worker to review. Then you get called again to either a window or one of the rooms and they conduct an interview, or just ask you questions. You raise your right hand, swear the information is correct, and then they direct you to Air 21 desk to have your CRBA and passport mailed to you. Our actual interface with the consulate worker was less then 5 min. probably, it was real quick. Total time spent at the embassy 4 hours.

[Brassballs 47]

Good write up Hank. I wish I had your indexing skills.

BTW the kid may have some issues if he runs for president 40-50 years from now, a la Cruz! HaHa. But maybe by then the USSC will have sorted it all out.

[lbounds 16]

Thanks Hank and everyone for the response I really appreciate it. I have some reading and planning to do but I have a couple months to prepare

Thanks again.

[SennaBrigante 92]

I gave birth back home for the exact same reasons. I filed a CRBA for our daughter.

I don't know the exact dates but I'll just share the process we followed. It has changed already though (more on this later).

• Gave birth at St. Luke's QC. Hospital submitted the registration of live birth with the local civil registry on my behalf.
• Went to the civil registry to ask them to expedite the submission of the certificate to NSO (now PSA). QC LCR (local civil registry) doesn't do advanced endorsement and I had to wait for the batch submission.
• Made an online appointment for CRBA with USEM. Their slots were all filled up to September (I gave birth in March and husband hasn't seen the baby yet). I chanced upon a cancelled slot for May.
• Had to do more steps with NSO to get her birth certificate like ASAP. Was in one of their offices in QC almost everyday too. If I didn't do this, I wouldn't be able to get her birth certificate in time for our USEM appointment. It's one of the major requirements.
• Went to USEM for the appointment. A checker (or "examiner" as they call it) will inspect your documents and make sure that everything on the checklist is submitted. The examiners are basically the clerks that handle your case. While the CO does the interview and final decision (approved or not), the examiners are the ones who will receive the CRBA and passport and then forward to courier for delivery. If you want to inquire about the status of your case, they will be the ones answering your questions.
• Application fees are paid there at USEM. Your wife can also bring a companion with her to the interview. I took our nanny with us.
• Some applicants get required to take a DNA test if the CO has doubts on the paternity and/or maternity of the parents. Sometimes it's just the dad and baby, other times it's both parents and the baby. Given that you've been together for a while now, I doubt you'll be asked for one like, ever.

You have the option to apply for a PH passport for baby. If you prefer not to, you'll have to get an exit clearance for baby from the Bureau of Immigration. Get one weeks before your departure date. Baby won't be allowed to leave without this. You'll have to pay a magic amount (I say magic because nobody really understands how they compute the amount) depending on how old baby is. We got our daughter a PH passport to avoid this.

The procedure for applying for a CRBA has also changed. It's on USEM's website. Basically, you mail in the documents and requirements and they schedule your appointment and notify you through email.

There's a Facebook group for CRBA-related questions and discussion specifically for USEM. PM me if you want the deets. Good luck!

[Hank_ 9,174]

Do get both the U.S. passport and Philippine passport