Successfully married in Costa Rica. (Filipina/USC)

[top_secret 2,421]

Yes this belongs in the Philippines thread, as my fiancé/Wife is Filipina living in the Philippines.  It's the first time either one of us had ever been to Costa Rica.  Why Costa Rica?  Well it's on a very short list of countries that at this time will concurrently accept both US and Philippine travelers, and has extremely easy requirements for the marriage of non-resident foreigners. Plus Costa Rica is just a really awesome county for a honeymoon.

 

So in the midst of all this madness my fiancé/Wife and I managed to get married in Costa Rica 2 weeks ago.  So 2020 wasn't all bad .  Government offices in Costa Rica are shut for the holidays so I'm told it will likely be late January to get the official certified marriage certificate and then we will file an I-130 and hopefully 2021 (Ok, probably 2022😔) will be even better.  Scratch the K-1 idea, CR--1 will hopefully be a better choice for us.

 

If anyone is trying to pull off a marriage, to a Filipina or probably many other nationalities, in the middle of all of this chaos and facing challenges due to travel bans and such, Costa Rica is an easy and good choice.

[Adventine 3,196]

Congratulations on getting married and having an awesome story to go along with it!

[Mike E 11,739]

I'm curious what routing citizens of the Philippines take from Manilla to get to Costa Rica that doesn't involve a visa for a third country, like the USA.

[top_secret 2,421]

38 minutes ago, Mike E said:

I'm curious what routing citizens of the Philippines take from Manilla to get to Costa Rica that doesn't involve a visa for a third country, like the USA.

 

With the "new strain' coronavirus rapidly closing what options may exist, any route may be short lived.  But the way my wife actually went remains open at the moment.  She flew Manila--Istanbul--Panama on Turkish Airlines.  I flew LAX to Panama arriving abort 45 minutes ahead of her landing in Panama, so I was able to meet her at the gate when she got off the plane.  Then we continued together from Panama to San Jose Costa Rica on Copa Airlines.  With the caveat that although Panama allows Filipinos to transit without a visa, I couldn't get it booked on a single ticket and since Panama requires a visa for Filipino passports to clear immigration, the first airline 'could' balk at carrying a passenger without a visa if the transit is to a separate ticket and separate airline.   This was not an issue for my wife as Panama will also accept a Multiple Entry Visa from any G7 nation or South Korea as a substitute visa and my wife has Multiple Entry Visas for both Japan and South Korea.  A more visa friendly way though may be to instead fly Istanbul to Bogota Colombia on Turkish Airlines and then Bogota to San Jose Costa Rica on Avianca thus eliminating the whole visa question.  Alternately someone here was looking at Manila to Doha to Madrid to San Jose.  Which is fine visa wise but Spain is now on the Philippines no-Bueno list.  Honestly, Istanbul Turkey may still be a viable route this week, but who knows if it will be on the 'new strain" list next week.  Travel is challenging these days.

[Hank_ 9,174]

3 hours ago, top_secret said:

Yes this belongs in the Philippines thread, as my fiancé/Wife is Filipina living in the Philippines.  It's the first time either one of us had ever been to Costa Rica.  Why Costa Rica?  Well it's on a very short list of countries that at this time will concurrently accept both US and Philippine travelers, and has extremely easy requirements for the marriage of non-resident foreigners. Plus Costa Rica is just a really awesome county for a honeymoon.

 

So in the midst of all this madness my fiancé/Wife and I managed to get married in Costa Rica 2 weeks ago.  So 2020 wasn't all bad .  Government offices in Costa Rica are shut for the holidays so I'm told it will likely be late January to get the official certified marriage certificate and then we will file an I-130 and hopefully 2021 (Ok, probably 2022😔) will be even better.  Scratch the K-1 idea, CR--1 will hopefully be a better choice for us.

 

If anyone is trying to pull off a marriage, to a Filipina or probably many other nationalities, in the middle of all of this chaos and facing challenges due to travel bans and such, Costa Rica is an easy and good choice.

Very happy for the both of you.

 

And thanks for the great info regarding Costa Rica.   This is something to keep handy.   Thanks.

[Allovertheworld 355]

10 hours ago, top_secret said:

Yes this belongs in the Philippines thread, as my fiancé/Wife is Filipina living in the Philippines.  It's the first time either one of us had ever been to Costa Rica.  Why Costa Rica?  Well it's on a very short list of countries that at this time will concurrently accept both US and Philippine travelers, and has extremely easy requirements for the marriage of non-resident foreigners. Plus Costa Rica is just a really awesome county for a honeymoon.

 

So in the midst of all this madness my fiancé/Wife and I managed to get married in Costa Rica 2 weeks ago.  So 2020 wasn't all bad .  Government offices in Costa Rica are shut for the holidays so I'm told it will likely be late January to get the official certified marriage certificate and then we will file an I-130 and hopefully 2021 (Ok, probably 2022😔) will be even better.  Scratch the K-1 idea, CR--1 will hopefully be a better choice for us.

 

If anyone is trying to pull off a marriage, to a Filipina or probably many other nationalities, in the middle of all of this chaos and facing challenges due to travel bans and such, Costa Rica is an easy and good choice.

Tenacity at it's Best

 

You are alot like me, Give me the rules and I will find a way to get around it.

 

Congrats........

[Cody&Razely 134]

On 12/31/2020 at 7:02 PM, top_secret said:

Yes this belongs in the Philippines thread, as my fiancé/Wife is Filipina living in the Philippines.  It's the first time either one of us had ever been to Costa Rica.  Why Costa Rica?  Well it's on a very short list of countries that at this time will concurrently accept both US and Philippine travelers, and has extremely easy requirements for the marriage of non-resident foreigners. Plus Costa Rica is just a really awesome county for a honeymoon.

 

So in the midst of all this madness my fiancé/Wife and I managed to get married in Costa Rica 2 weeks ago.  So 2020 wasn't all bad .  Government offices in Costa Rica are shut for the holidays so I'm told it will likely be late January to get the official certified marriage certificate and then we will file an I-130 and hopefully 2021 (Ok, probably 2022😔) will be even better.  Scratch the K-1 idea, CR--1 will hopefully be a better choice for us.

 

If anyone is trying to pull off a marriage, to a Filipina or probably many other nationalities, in the middle of all of this chaos and facing challenges due to travel bans and such, Costa Rica is an easy and good choice.

Hey Congrats You guys!!!  Yeah, me and My fiancé have been hold up here in CR Since Nov. thus far. She went the MNL-DOH-MAD-SJO Route, not sure if there are any changes to it for PH Outbound but yes as stated inbound is now compared to "OMG, OMG, OMG WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!! YOU WILL SURELY KILL US ALL WITH THE NEW EBOLA COVID ARMAGEDDON STRAIN!!! BACK SATAN BACK!!!! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU, THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!!!!!!  INTO EXTREME 14 DAY Government Quarantine even with Negative Armageddon Ebola Certain Death Test. lol 

[top_secret 2,421]

On 1/2/2021 at 7:01 PM, Cody&Razely said:

me and My fiancé have been hold up here in CR Since Nov. thus far. She went the MNL-DOH-MAD-SJO Route

 

We really had a great time in CR.  Really a nice country and it clicked well with Philippine culture too.  Wish we could have spent more time but I still have to work for a living.   Since they clarified (I think) that simple transit is still ok that may still be the best route and still get regular quarantine.  Going back went pretty smoothly for the wife.  It took about 24 hours or the test result and she was free to go.  The result came in the evening so she spent a second night in quarantine hotel but once she had the result she was free to come and go from the quarantine hotel as a regular guest.

 

For our next trip, since I taught both my wife and her daughter how to snow ski in Korea and Japan the last couple of winters, and they actually do pretty good.  Those destinations are obviously off limits now so we are tentatively scheming a ski trip to Serbia in February or March. Serbia is open to travelers and has ski resorts.   It will take tourist visas but Filipinas can get them by courier from the Serbian Embassy in Jakarta since there is no Serbian embassy in Manila.   I'm sure now that they are immediate family, Serbia will be an easy tourist visa with my family sponsorship.  If anything, COVID has expanded our travel horizons.  It hasn't separated us, just forced us to get creative.

[David Wade 0]

When you’ve married your Filipina fiancée/wife in Costa Rica, how long did it take for you to get a Philippines visa to travel to the Philippines to be with her?

[top_secret 2,421]

22 minutes ago, David Wade said:

When you’ve married your Filipina fiancée/wife in Costa Rica, how long did it take for you to get a Philippines visa to travel to the Philippines to be with her?

I still haven't been back to the Philippines since March 2020. It's the quarantine that is the biggest deterrent for me.  Flying half way around the world for a week or even a few days is not the slightest problem for me.  Loosing a week of my precious time quarantined in a hotel room is a huge problem.  There just went my vacation.

 

Being married to a Filipina, we 'could' have traveled back together and I would get in under Balikbayan privilege since, I think, March of this year.  Just requires proof of marriage and one live Philippine spouse on hand to pass immigration.  Theoretically the time limit to do that would be how soon you can get the marriage certificate.

 

It "looks" like 9a visas will become available to spouses again Aug 1.  That would allow entry without being accompanied by the spouse.  Proof of marriage to a Philippine spouse is key for both options.  The Utah online marriages theoretically may be an option for 9a visas although that remains to be tested.  I'm sure a number of folks will be testing that path soon.

 

Still no clear path into the Philippines by non-Filipinos without a family connection.

[John & Rose 7,239]

10 hours ago, top_secret said:

It "looks" like 9a visas will become available to spouses again Aug 1.  That would allow entry without being accompanied by the spouse.  Proof of marriage to a Philippine spouse is key for both options.  The Utah online marriages theoretically may be an option for 9a visas although that remains to be tested.  I'm sure a number of folks will be testing that path soon.

 

Still no clear path into the Philippines by non-Filipinos without a family connection.

I believe you do not need a visa when traveling with your wife.  After August 1 you can get a visa and should be able to travel without the filipino spouse.  Right now you need a visa to travel without her and they aren't issuing those.

[David Wade 0]

So after reading your post I’ve been very encouraged, we initially were thinking of meeting in Maldives but since it looks like we can marry in Costa Rica, what did your wife need to do in order to leave the Philippines? My fiancé has never traveled before, did your wife complete a CFO application and did you need to provide a lot of personal information or did she go as a tourist? and how difficult was that to get through outbound immigration?

[top_secret 2,421]

4 hours ago, David Wade said:

So after reading your post I’ve been very encouraged, we initially were thinking of meeting in Maldives but since it looks like we can marry in Costa Rica, what did your wife need to do in order to leave the Philippines? My fiancé has never traveled before, did your wife complete a CFO application and did you need to provide a lot of personal information or did she go as a tourist? and how difficult was that to get through outbound immigration?

For a very interesting read, Philippine Immigration has their policy about outbound interrogations and offloading available online.  Not that they even strictly follow their own policy.

 

https://immigration.gov.ph/images/ImmigrationLaw/2017_Feb/13_LML-M-03-A12_001.pdf

 

Costa Rica immigration is super easy, friendly and nice.  Philippine Exit immigration????  Not so much.

I was really impressed with Costa Rica and would recommend it.

 

My wife was a frequent traveler before all this current madness.  We recently counted and she has been to 23 countries.  She has or had tourist visas for Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, and Chile.  She exited Philippine immigration over a dozen times.  All trouble free.  So typically, just one look at her passport and a few basic questions is all she gets from Philippine Immigration and she is good to go.

 

Her first overseas trip some years ago was with me and we both got sent for a secondary exit immigration interview that took like 20 minutes with a seemingly pretty friendly and polite female immigration officer.  They took copies of all my ID, business card, employment details, US address etc., etc. and I had to sign some strangely worded release form that made it sound like she was a child and I was taking parental responsibility for her or something.  In normal times would she have made it traveling alone on that first trip????  It's hard to say.  I'd say maybe 50/50 odds she would have been offloaded if I wasn’t there with her.  Since that time, it has mostly been trouble-free for her, except one time departing alone from Clark to Singapore they sent her to secondary and asked to look at the messages in her phone, which she let them. My wife concluded they suspected her of seeking overseas work illegally. The first time she departed with her minor daughter they were both sent to a secondary interview but that went pretty smoothly for them.

 

During the Rona panic, she has left the Philippines three times.

 

In August 2020 she was sent to secondary for like an hour where they were mainly trying to figure out if it was even legal for her or any other Filipino to leave as a tourist during the outbound non-essential travel ban.  We were prepared for that, had all the relevant IATF resolutions lined up to make a very solid legal case that her travel was permitted and after all kinds of phone calls to various agencies they let her go. (and then Mexico deported her for no reason at all on arrival and we went to Brazil instead).  Traveling in August 2020 was difficult.

 

In December 2020, departing to Costa Rica, she got the usual easy time from the first officer and was exit stamped no secondary.  However, they had a second immigration rechecking passports between immigration and security for some reason and he challenged her because she didn’t have a CFO. Then he took her passport and went and got the first officer and dragged her back and accuse that officer of like dereliction of duty or something for stamping my wife’s passport when she had no CFO.  The first officer was arguing that she had verified all my wife’s details, traveling as a tourist, with round trip plane ticket and good travel history there was no need for CFO, it was correct that she stamped her passport.  That argument between the two officers got escalated to the big boss immigration officer and he sided with the officer who had exit stamped my wife’s passport, handed my wife back her passport and said she was good to go, so she got out of there.  The dispute was mainly between Immigration officers, my wife was just an observer, but there was some drama about the CFO for the first time.

 

For our trip to Peru a couple of months ago the sent her to secondary where she got like a 1 1/2 hour hostile interrogation from a very ill-tempered and possibly not entirely stable female Immigration officer.  That officer touched on CFO but basically went after anything and everything she could think of.  My wife did make her flight but feels just barely.  Any girl who comes up against that particular officer on a first trip probably doesn’t stand a chance.

 

Our assessment is they have massively ramped up the difficulty level departing the country particularly so far in 2021.  It’s a rough time to be a Filipina looking to make a first trip overseas.  Must likely as there are large number of Filipinas trying to make first trips to visit overseas boyfriends who previously would have instead visited them in the Philippines.  Whereas in the past CFO was strictly a requirement for immigrants and OFW's I have heard numerous accounts of them applying that as a requirement for tourists.  All done in a very random and inconsistent way.  It's like a game of chance for them to try and travel.

 

 

[RO_AH 1,659]

7 hours ago, David Wade said:

So after reading your post I’ve been very encouraged, we initially were thinking of meeting in Maldives but since it looks like we can marry in Costa Rica, what did your wife need to do in order to leave the Philippines? My fiancé has never traveled before, did your wife complete a CFO application and did you need to provide a lot of personal information or did she go as a tourist? and how difficult was that to get through outbound immigration?

If your plan is to get married, you really should consider a online Utah wedding. For the reasons @top_secret mentioned above I doubt someone with no travel experience will make it out even if they meet all of the requirements.

[John & Rose 7,239]

On 7/24/2021 at 12:48 AM, David Wade said:

When you’ve married your Filipina fiancée/wife in Costa Rica, how long did it take for you to get a Philippines visa to travel to the Philippines to be with her?

The US spouse doesn't need a Philippine visa if traveling with the Filipino spouse.  They will start reissues the 9a Visa on August 1.  Right now the US spouse not traveling with the Filipino spouse needs the 9a but none have been issued for months.