How Soon Can You File After Married?

[coa24 69]

Currently I live in the Philippines and will be married to a Filipina in the Philippines in August. We also plan file in August or September. Is that okay? 

[NateAndJessica 200]

33 minutes ago, coa24 said:

Currently I live in the Philippines and will be married to a Filipina in the Philippines in August. We also plan file in August or September. Is that okay? 

yeah its fine as long as your married.

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by NateAndJessica

[ItsSunny2Day 17]

Congrats on the upcoming marriage, and the fact that you qualify to fast track the entire immigration process with DCF.

[coa24 69]

Thanks everyone  

[deafguy72 99]

10 hours ago, coa24 said:

Currently I live in the Philippines and will be married to a Filipina in the Philippines in August. We also plan file in August or September. Is that okay? 

After your marriage to a Filipina wife, you would need to have LCR ( Local Civil Registration ) marriage certificate report to PSA to have marriage on record in their system. It will take a while so filing probably need to happen around after Sept afterwards. Good luck

[Arkitekt-GS 19]

If your plan is to submit quickly after marriage, I might suggest getting married in Hong Kong, even just a civil ceremony to start with.

 

The process is quite easy and fast...you can apply from abroad and then show up 2-3 days before the ceremony for a documents check (it was approx 5 weeks from mailing our application to being married). The ceremony is about 4 minutes, but at least it’s official! Then you can run to the Philippines consulate and file a record of marriage for processing overnight...which that plus the HK marriage certificate are accepted by US embassy for the petition (saves waiting 3-6months as I’ve heard for the PSA contract from Philippines).

 

You could even go in the next day to pick up the record of marriage and get either a passport amendment (1-day) or a new passport (2 months) based on the record of marriage. This allows your wife to start getting valid IDs, SSS, NBI, etc updated into her married name without waiting for the PSA certified marriage license. The embassy sends the record of marriage to Manila every 1-2 months and then you can get a psa copy if you need it at a later date. 

 

Probably more info than you wanted, but may be the only way to have the info you need to submit quickly after marriage, since a PSA certificate is required for marriages that occur in the Philippines. 

[Bruce98674 0]

On 5/14/2018 at 10:27 AM, coa24 said:

Currently I live in the Philippines and will be married to a Filipina in the Philippines in August. We also plan file in August or September. Is that okay? 

You can file the same day you get married but you will waste $535 filing fee. Your biggest hurdle is getting a PSA marriage certificate. I was married April 16th 2018. Last Thursday the 7th  of June, Manila told my wife not to expect the marriage certificate for at least another 2 months. Now I'm wishing I had filed a fiance petition instead of getting married. 

[coa24 69]

Out of curiosity,why do you have to wait for the psa copy if you have acop already? Is it because all 4 copies (including your personal copy) has to be certified?

[Arkitekt-GS 19]

37 minutes ago, coa24 said:

Out of curiosity,why do you have to wait for the psa copy if you have acop already? Is it because all 4 copies (including your personal copy) has to be certified?

Basically any legal / civil document in the Philippines has to go through the NSO/PSA process to be certified / authenticated and printed on security paper. As I understand it, it’s due to issues in the past with fraudulent documents being generated. 

 

The US accordingly requires the authenticated documents on security paper to be submitted with petition and won’t accept the marriage license just issued by the local civil registrar. That’s why we went the Hong Kong route, because documents issued by HK government are valid and accepted world wide, so we were able to submit the petition with just that document and we only had approx three months to complete the process so we didn’t want to wait for PSA. 

[coa24 69]

Thank you for the clarification. It would be nice to go the Hong Kong route, but family is very important. We will just wait. Besides the marriage certificate and passport photos, wha are other documents needed to process? Does hse still need NBI clearance? Other documents?

[BlueDevil1442 23]

Yes, wait for the PSA marriage certificate. You can expedite that PSA certificate by going to and requesting it it directly from the municipality than from PSA itself. Also, you must have lived in the Philippines for more than 6 months before filing DCF there. Have you been there for more than 6 Months?

 

These webpages are very helpful:

 

Spouse Visa DCF Philippines  

 

Spouse Visa DCF Philippines USCIS Phase 

 

Spouse Visa DCF Philippines Embassy Phase

Edited July 5, 2018 by BlueDevil1442

[coa24 69]

25 minutes ago, BlueDevil1442 said:

Yes, wait for the PSA marriage certificate. You can expedite that PSA certificate by going to and requesting it it directly from the municipality than from PSA itself. Also, you must have lived in the Philippines for more than 6 months before filing DCF there. Have you been there for more than 6 Months?

 

These webpages are very helpful:

 

Spouse Visa DCF Philippines  

 

Spouse Visa DCF Philippines USCIS Phase 

 

Spouse Visa DCF Philippines Embassy Phase

Thanks for the advice. I have been in the Philippines for 1 year and 6 months. Will be married in August.

[bellashay 14]

Yes I agree with BlueDevil1442. After you get married make sure you get it expedited at your local city hall. We received our PSA marriage certificate after 6 weeks following our wedding.  

[coa24 69]

Just now, bellashay said:

Yes I agree with BlueDevil1442. After you get married make sure you get it expedited at your local city hall. We received our PSA marriage certificate after 6 weeks following our wedding.  

Are you talking about where you file for the marriage licence? So after you turn in the marriage certificate at the city hall, at same time request PSA marriage certificate, correct?

[bellashay 14]

2 hours ago, coa24 said:

Are you talking about where you file for the marriage licence? So after you turn in the marriage certificate at the city hall, at same time request PSA marriage certificate, correct?

Yes. When we filed for a marriage license, the clerk at the city hall pretty much handled everything. We "hired" the reverend who officiated our wedding from the city hall so they processed everything for us. They filed the paperwork to PSA on our behalf- for an extra fee of course  

Edited July 5, 2018 by bellashay