American guy wanting to get filipina gf bring back to USA by any means necessary

[Adventine 3,209]

9 minutes ago, MyK1Journey said:

To my understanding, even if we were both in the US at the time of the divorce, it would still affect my gf, in the sense that, if she ever were to want to remarry a filipino, she could not - as the philippines would not recognize the US divorce as a "real" divorce here in the philippines. She would have to spend years and many dollars in lawyers fees to get it recognized as a "Judicial Recognition of Foreign Divorce".

 

And that's the key part of my initial reply: "The question is, does your Utah marriage certificate need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) before the US embassy in Manila grants a spousal visa? This part is unclear to me and hopefully someone in the PH regional forum has experience. "

 

If the Utah marriage certificate does need to be registered with the PSA to get a spousal visa from the USA embassy in Manila, then yes, if you separate, she still needs to do the judicial recognition of foreign divorce before remarrying in the Philippines.

 

However, if the US embassy does not require the Utah marriage certificate to be registered with PSA to get the spousal visa... that opens up possibilities for both the American and Filipino spouses. if things go south, and if you both only have to get divorced in the US without needing to go through the PSA, maybe you can avoid the Judicial Recognition of Divorce entirely.

 

*** 

 

Side note on thinking about divorce scenarios before marriage: I'm a Filipina. I've seen many Filipino and Fil-Am relationships. I've seen marriages start off well, then after some years, one of the spouses becomes physically abusive. Usually, it's the man.

 

I believe in planning for worst case scenarios. Personally, of course I will do my best to make sure my marriage lasts. But I can't control the future and I can't control my spouse. If my spouse changes drastically, if our priorities change, and if it becomes irreconcilable. I want to have a backup plan. It isn't romantic to think about the possibility of divorce before marriage. But it's practical.

[MyK1Journey 2]

3 minutes ago, Adventine said:

 

And that's the key part of my initial reply: "The question is, does your Utah marriage certificate need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) before the US embassy in Manila grants a spousal visa? This part is unclear to me and hopefully someone in the PH regional forum has experience. "

 

If the Utah marriage certificate does need to be registered with the PSA to get a spousal visa from the USA embassy in Manila, then yes, if you separate, she still needs to do the judicial recognition of foreign divorce before remarrying in the Philippines.

 

However, if the US embassy does not require the Utah marriage certificate to be registered with PSA to get the spousal visa... that opens up possibilities for both the American and Filipino spouses. if things go south, and if you both only have to get divorced in the US without needing to go through the PSA, maybe you can avoid the Judicial Recognition of Divorce entirely.

 

*** 

 

Side note on thinking about divorce scenarios before marriage: I'm a Filipina. I've seen many Filipino and Fil-Am relationships. I've seen marriages start off well, then after some years, one of the spouses becomes physically abusive. Usually, it's the man.

 

I believe in planning for worst case scenarios. Personally, of course I will do my best to make sure my marriage lasts. But I can't control the future and I can't control my spouse. If my spouse changes drastically, if our priorities change, and if it becomes irreconcilable. I want to have a backup plan. It isn't romantic to think about the possibility of divorce before marriage. But it's practical.

hey, first of all, I just wanted to say a sincere thank you because your answers have been phenomenal... also, I completely share your point of view that "nobody can tell the future", its best to be real about it rather than lying to yourself. Ok, about what you are saying - I think I understand - if the utah zoom marriage DOES need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine statistics authority) before the US embassy in manila grants a spousal visa, then IF we divorce AND she wants to marry a new filipino, then she will have to do the judicial recognition of foreign divorce, which is a major pain to go through, if im understanding it all good... 

 

ok, so, how can we figure this out? should I call the US embassy in manila, tell my situation to them, and ask them if my gf could remarry a filipino without doing the judicial recognition of foreign divorce if we do divorce? thanks so much

[MyK1Journey 2]

20 minutes ago, Rocio0010 said:

There are. 

Read this guideline, it will tell you exactly what the requirements are and what you need to know/ present:

 

CR-1

thank you so much! reading this now

[Adventine 3,209]

10 minutes ago, MyK1Journey said:

hey, first of all, I just wanted to say a sincere thank you because your answers have been phenomenal... also, I completely share your point of view that "nobody can tell the future", its best to be real about it rather than lying to yourself. Ok, about what you are saying - I think I understand - if the utah zoom marriage DOES need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine statistics authority) before the US embassy in manila grants a spousal visa, then IF we divorce AND she wants to marry a new filipino, then she will have to do the judicial recognition of foreign divorce, which is a major pain to go through, if im understanding it all good... 

 

ok, so, how can we figure this out? should I call the US embassy in manila, tell my situation to them, and ask them if my gf could remarry a filipino without doing the judicial recognition of foreign divorce if we do divorce? thanks so much

 

Welcome, happy to help. 

 

I'm not sure they'd be able to answer that over a call. Hopefully some of the other PH veterans on VJ comes along with some info on that.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Adventine

[Corgent 93]

Maybe there is someone here who has made it through the CR1 process without reporting their marriage. But there are two requirements that come to mind which would be difficult to satisfy; the Embassy's requirement to supply a CEMAR at the time of the interview, and the CFO's requirement for a ROM/PSA marriage certificate.

[Chancy 6,243]

12 hours ago, Corgent said:

Maybe there is someone here who has made it through the CR1 process without reporting their marriage.

 

That would be me, but I do not recommend it -- CFO without ROM is a major pain.  I had no issue getting my IR1 visa without ROM, but I think I only passed CFO because I was married in a traditional ceremony in the US, not via online wedding.  I know of another VJ member married abroad and whose wife got a spouse visa without having filed ROM.  But IIRC, they already got a CFO sticker after completing a different visa process before applying for spouse visa.

 

[Talako 789]

You would think CFO would ramp up their normal terror or harassment level up a notch or two in regards to online marriages. 

[RO_AH 1,662]

On 2/1/2022 at 5:17 AM, MyK1Journey said:

if the utah zoom marriage DOES need to be registered with the PSA (Philippine statistics authority) before the US embassy in manila grants a spousal visa

I think that the CR-1 would not be a problem but the CFO would.

 

If we are talking future scenarios though, if things did not work out and you divorced she would be living in USA and you would divorce in USE. If she met someone else and decided to remarry it would not be a problem unless it was to a Filipino in the Philippines. She would be free to marry anywhere else.

[Redro 4,611]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:27 PM, MyK1Journey said:

To my understanding, even if we were both in the US at the time of the divorce, it would still affect my gf, in the sense that, if she ever were to want to remarry a filipino, she could not - as the philippines would not recognize the US divorce as a "real" divorce here in the philippines. She would have to spend years and many dollars in lawyers fees to get it recognized as a "Judicial Recognition of Foreign Divorce".

I know you're not saying you are going to divorce your partner in the future. But, all this planning and concern sounds like you're looking to commit immigration fraud and you're only marrying the girlfriend and petitioning her so she can bring over her "real" boyfriend later. 

 

Get married, file ROM, petition her.. .and she can become a US citizen in a few years.

If you guys do divorce some years down the line do it in the US. Then she can petition her spouse on a K1 and they'll be able to get married over in the US. 

Maybe their marriage won't be recognized in the Philippines immediately but if this fictional future couple that isn't you and your wife really and truly love each other they'll figure it out and fight through all the red tape. 

 

 

[SalishSea 18,125]

On 2/1/2022 at 6:51 AM, Unlockable said:

Yep.

 

And use your self employment income to meet the financial requirements.

From income earned in the Philippines?

[SalishSea 18,125]

On 2/1/2022 at 6:54 AM, MyK1Journey said:

oh shoot, there are financial requirements? What if I dont meet them? Do you know if I can have a family member or somebody else act as a financial sponsor for my gf? thanks so much

You need to do quite a bit of research into this process if you want to be successful.  

[SalishSea 18,125]

On 2/1/2022 at 7:17 AM, MyK1Journey said:

ok, so, how can we figure this out? should I call the US embassy in manila, tell my situation to them, and ask them if my gf could remarry a filipino without doing the judicial recognition of foreign divorce if we do divorce? thanks so much

Giving legal advice (especially about another country's laws) is not within the scope of the US embassy.

[j&ana 378]

On 2/1/2022 at 7:27 AM, MyK1Journey said:

To my understanding, even if we were both in the US at the time of the divorce, it would still affect my gf, in the sense that, if she ever were to want to remarry a filipino, she could not - as the philippines would not recognize the US divorce as a "real" divorce here in the philippines. She would have to spend years and many dollars in lawyers fees to get it recognized as a "Judicial Recognition of Foreign Divorce".

if the foreigner spouse is the one asking for divorce, then the divorce will be recognized by the Philippines

from the family code of the Philippines

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (As amended by Executive Order 227)

[Redro 4,611]

20 minutes ago, j&ana said:

if the foreigner spouse is the one asking for divorce, then the divorce will be recognized by the Philippines

from the family code of the Philippines

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (As amended by Executive Order 227)

I'm thinking the law makes it sound more simple than it really is. 

@MyK1Journey's future wife will be able to divorce and remarry in another country. That isn't the issue. It seems like she wants the future hypothetical divorce recognized in the Philippines so she is able to remarry there. Just a very strange concern as OP and his gf haven't even married yet. 

 

[jg121783 3,921]

My advice (take it or leave it) is both of you should make sure you really want to get married then just do it in the Philippines and file for a CR1 visa. In my view (again feel free to disagree) marriage is a lifetime commitment. My wife and I got married in the Philippines and as I'm sure you know things are a lot cheaper there than they are here in the US? We spent a little over $1000 on our wedding and had over 100 people attend a wedding that would have likely cost over $10k here in the US. The other advantage was that my wife got to have a wedding with her family there which is a big deal. I would say getting married in the Philippines and filing for a CR1 visa is likely the easiest and quickest route for you for many reasons. I'm pretty sure no matter what route you go the marriage will eventually have to be reported to the Philippines government anyways if you and your wife ever want to visit her family after she comes to the US. Someone correct me if I am missing something here.