FILIPINA DIVORCED IN USA BUT NOT RECOGNIZED IN PH

[maryaaaaaaaaaaa 4]

Good day! 

 

I am a Filipina, was married and then divorced by my USC ex-husband in 2021. I have a certified true copy of our divorce decree from Indiana and did not file a recognition of foreign divorce in the Philippines.

My current fiancé is a US citizen too and we were approved for a K1 visa on 05/08/2024. Now I have a few questions about the next steps.

 

1. NBI

 

The NBI below is what I used for employment which reflects my complete maiden name and my ex-husband's surname.  Should I use the maiden or married name for AKA? One of the requirements is obtaining an NBI with AKA according to the travelstate.gov website.

Civil status - do I use married or divorced for obtaining a new NBI? I assume Married since we don't have a divorce in PH.

 

2. CFO - Will the CFO look for foreign recognition of divorce? I have read on forums from people with similar situations as mine and they were able to get a clearance and are now married in the US (they begged and luckily some officers are considerate).

 

3. Anyone here who had a similar situation and would kindly share your experience and insights on what to do/expect? 🙂

 

[TBoneTX 44,669]

Country-specific thread is moved from the K-1 Case Progress subforum to the Philippines regional forum.

[J.M. 206]

Did your previous marriage take place in the US or the Philippines?  If in the US, did you file a ROM?

[maryaaaaaaaaaaa 4]

Thanks for your response! The previous marriage took place in the Philippines 2012. Then my ex-husband filed a CR1 that was cancelled due to some marital issues on 2015/2016 something divorced on 2021. 

Edited May 17 by maryaaaaaaaaaaa
Dates

[J.M. 206]

It appears you will have to file for Recognition of Foreign Divorce to get your CEMAR annotated to show your divorce.  Anything that shows you are currently married will stop the K-1 process at the interview.  I do not have personal experience with this, so perhaps others will tell you something different.

 

Take a look at this thread covering the topic: 

 

[RO_AH 1,648]

1 hour ago, J.M. said:

Anything that shows you are currently married will stop the K-1 process at the interview. 

She stated that she has a certified copy of her divorce decree. The US Embassy recognizes that as not being married.

[top_secret 2,283]

The US will accept the divorce decree without it being recognized in the Philippines.  If the Philippines still considers you married then your NBI Clearances will stay as married.  US Embassy Manila is known to accept incorrect marital status on a NBI Clearance with concrete proof of why it incorrect.  IE, divorce decree. Your former husband's surname on your NBI Clearance seemingly completes the list of possible name combinations you may have, so if there are no corrections, annotations, or any other alternate names on any of your documents you shouldn't need an AKA. The embassies website is not quite clear on why an AKA might be required.  The example above seems fine as is.  The embassy will also accept your Advisory on Marriages incorrectly showing you as married in combination with the US divorce decree.  They know about that marriage but they still want to see that there are no other marriages they don't know about.  CFO might or might not give you a hard time about it.  But the worst they can do hassle you or make up some extra requirements.  In the end they still  have to let you go.

[maryaaaaaaaaaaa 4]

6 hours ago, top_secret said:

The US will accept the divorce decree without it being recognized in the Philippines.  If the Philippines still considers you married then your NBI Clearances will stay as married.  US Embassy Manila is known to accept incorrect marital status on a NBI Clearance with concrete proof of why it incorrect.  IE, divorce decree. Your former husband's surname on your NBI Clearance seemingly completes the list of possible name combinations you may have, so if there are no corrections, annotations, or any other alternate names on any of your documents you shouldn't need an AKA. The embassies website is not quite clear on why an AKA might be required.  The example above seems fine as is.  The embassy will also accept your Advisory on Marriages incorrectly showing you as married in combination with the US divorce decree.  They know about that marriage but they still want to see that there are no other marriages they don't know about.  CFO might or might not give you a hard time about it.  But the worst they can do hassle you or make up some extra requirements.  In the end they still  have to let you go.

This I could say the best response I got regarding my situation. Thank you so very much for taking the time shedding light on my inquiry. This made me feel much better and confident. 

I have read success stories posts from other people with the same situation as mine however wasn’t able to get a concrete explanation how they did it (NBI stuff) due to the post being outdated.

 

I was so worried about getting a 221g so I got the same NBI above and another with my married name as an AKA (thankfully staff was kind enough to give without 221g letter from USEM). Is it okay? In case consul didn’t like the other 😅

[top_secret 2,283]

1 hour ago, maryaaaaaaaaaaa said:

I have read success stories posts from other people with the same situation as mine however wasn’t able to get a concrete explanation how they did it (NBI stuff) due to the post being outdated.

 

I was so worried about getting a 221g so I got the same NBI above and another with my married name as an AKA (thankfully staff was kind enough to give without 221g letter from USEM). Is it okay? In case consul didn’t like the other 😅

 

 

On NBI Clearances the embassy is very strict about all possible name combinations being covered.  They are not strict about marital status on the NBI Clearance since they rely on different documents to determine that.  Your former husband's surname should suffice for including your former married name.  Having it as an AKA is double extra good above and beyond what you need but certainly can't hurt.

[Mar12 0]

On 5/17/2024 at 8:00 AM, maryaaaaaaaaaaa said:

Good day! 

 

I am a Filipina, was married and then divorced by my USC ex-husband in 2021. I have a certified true copy of our divorce decree from Indiana and did not file a recognition of foreign divorce in the Philippines.

My current fiancé is a US citizen too and we were approved for a K1 visa on 05/08/2024. Now I have a few questions about the next steps.

 

1. NBI

 

The NBI below is what I used for employment which reflects my complete maiden name and my ex-husband's surname.  Should I use the maiden or married name for AKA? One of the requirements is obtaining an NBI with AKA according to the travelstate.gov website.

Civil status - do I use married or divorced for obtaining a new NBI? I assume Married since we don't have a divorce in PH.

 

2. CFO - Will the CFO look for foreign recognition of divorce? I have read on forums from people with similar situations as mine and they were able to get a clearance and are now married in the US (they begged and luckily some officers are considerate).

 

3. Anyone here who had a similar situation and would kindly share your experience and insights on what to do/expect? 🙂

 

Ii also have the same problem with you. I just want to be honest answering the NBI online registration . I am divorced in other country but still not file a recognition in Philippines as well. NBI online registration there are choices in your status, I choose Divorced since i am divorced here in Europe. I’m just being true to my answer. I’m still on the process of getting the NBI. I’m still waiting at this point. How are you doing? 

[top_secret 2,283]

On 8/13/2024 at 1:52 AM, Mar12 said:

Ii also have the same problem with you. I just want to be honest answering the NBI online registration . I am divorced in other country but still not file a recognition in Philippines as well. NBI online registration there are choices in your status, I choose Divorced since i am divorced here in Europe. I’m just being true to my answer. I’m still on the process of getting the NBI. I’m still waiting at this point. How are you doing? 

 

With a European divorce degree that is accepted by the US, Philippine recognition of the divorce is not necessary.  For your NBI Clearance, the Embassy will accept it as either married or single, but they will be strict that you former husbands surname is listed.  Either your NBI Clearance must incorrectly list you as still married and include your former husbands name.  Or, it could list you as single, but you must still have you former husbands surname listed as an AKA.  The strict part is that your former husbands surname must be listed somehow.  Marital status is determined by different documents.

 

As far as NBI is concerned, you will probably have different results with different offices.  Some may just let you put any AKA you say with no justification at all.  Some may be strict, want to see documents with the AKA, don't accept the divorce as a reason for an AKA, and list you as still married with your husbands.  Luckily the Embassy understands this.

[maryaaaaaaaaaaa 4]

On 8/12/2024 at 2:52 PM, Mar12 said:

Ii also have the same problem with you. I just want to be honest answering the NBI online registration . I am divorced in other country but still not file a recognition in Philippines as well. NBI online registration there are choices in your status, I choose Divorced since i am divorced here in Europe. I’m just being true to my answer. I’m still on the process of getting the NBI. I’m still waiting at this point. How are you doing? 

I was able to obtain 2 NBI. The renewal of the one I posted and one with my FULL MAIDEN NAME as an AKA .