My wife can't update her name on her Philippine passport since we cannot do a Report of Marriage. Will she still be able to travel outside the US?

[realCG 3]

My wife and I got married through a self-uniting marriage. 

When I sent our Report of Marriage to the consulate to pre-assess the documents, they unfortunately said that the consulate does not acknowledge self-uniting marriage. I didn't know that, but I understand.

 

My wife wanted to update her PH passport to have her married name on it, so that it matches all her IDs, but one requirement to update her passport is the Report of Marriage which we unfortunely cannot do. 

 

My question now is, would she still be able to travel outside the US and back using her PH passport with her maiden name on it?

 

Also since there's no way to update/renew her ph passport, is the only thing to do now to get her married name on her passport is to get naturalized as a US citizen and get a US passport with her married name on it? 

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Edward and Jaycel 777]

5 minutes ago, realCG said:

My wife and I got married through a self-uniting marriage. 

 

Do you mean self-solemnized? Do you have a marriage certificate filed with a public authority (County Clerk/Recorder, Probate Court, etc.)?

[EatBulaga 407]

1 hour ago, realCG said:

My wife and I got married through a self-uniting marriage. 

When I sent our Report of Marriage to the consulate to pre-assess the documents, they unfortunately said that the consulate does not acknowledge self-uniting marriage. I didn't know that, but I understand.

 

My wife wanted to update her PH passport to have her married name on it, so that it matches all her IDs, but one requirement to update her passport is the Report of Marriage which we unfortunely cannot do. 

 

My question now is, would she still be able to travel outside the US and back using her PH passport with her maiden name on it?

 

Also since there's no way to update/renew her ph passport, is the only thing to do now to get her married name on her passport is to get naturalized as a US citizen and get a US passport with her married name on it? 

 

Thank you.

 

 

First, please fill out your Timeline. No one has any idea of where you are in the USCIS processing? CR1/IR1? EAD? Conditional green card? Etc.?

 

Second, did your foreign spouse gain marriage based status by "self-uniting marriage"? Which US state?

One of the closest to "self-uniting marriage" recognized by some states is common law marriage like Texas. Even Texas common law marriage can have a county clerk registry called declaration of informal marriage, which is a document/record that can be used for USCIS applications or maybe PH Report Of Marriage?

 

Third, foreigners can travel out of the country with passports in maiden name. What returning US Entry document does your foreign spouse have? If the US Entry document name is different from passport name, what document of registered marriage or name change document can link the two document names?

Edited February 11 by EatBulaga

[top_secret 2,545]

1 hour ago, realCG said:

My wife and I got married through a self-uniting marriage. 

I am not familiar with a "self-uniting marriage" but if, as it implies, it does not involve some kind of officiant who is legally authorized to perform marriages then I could see how it would run afoul of Philippine laws. "Presence of the solemnizing officer" is an absolute core requirement for any marriage to be considered valid by the Philippines. That was originally a sticking point on legality of Utah online marriages in the Philippines before they finally decided that an online virtual "presence" did satisfy the requirement.  I assume it must be recognized by the US since it seems your wife is here????

 

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1987/07/06/executive-order-no-209-s-1987/

Quote

THE FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

TITLE I

MARRIAGE
Chapter 1. Requisites of Marriage

 

Art. 2. No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present:(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female; and
(2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.

 

If that is the issue with the consulate(??), I am not sure how you go about fixing that????  In terms of the name issue.  It is not really a problem for traveling. People do it all the time. She should probably just use the name in her passport when purchasing airline tickets and then if she needs to show the green card as proof of the right to enter the US at either check-in immigration, show it and the passport with maiden name along with the marriage certificate to explain the difference.

[realCG 3]

2 hours ago, Edward and Jaycel said:

 

Do you mean self-solemnized? Do you have a marriage certificate filed with a public authority (County Clerk/Recorder, Probate Court, etc.)?

I'm guessing that's the same thing. 

We only have a marriage certificate stamped and sealed by a county clerk when we went to get it.

[realCG 3]

1 hour ago, EatBulaga said:

First, please fill out your Timeline. No one has any idea of where you are in the USCIS processing? CR1/IR1? EAD? Conditional green card? Etc.?

 

Second, did your foreign spouse gain marriage based status by "self-uniting marriage"? Which US state?

One of the closest to "self-uniting marriage" recognized by some states is common law marriage like Texas. Even Texas common law marriage can have a county clerk registry called declaration of informal marriage, which is a document/record that can be used for USCIS applications or maybe PH Report Of Marriage?

 

Third, foreigners can travel out of the country with passports in maiden name. What returning US Entry document does your foreign spouse have? If the US Entry document name is different from passport name, what document of registered marriage or name change document can link the two document names?

My apologies.

My wife got here last year thru K1 visa. She got her 2 year green card last year as well. 

 

We got our marriage certificate in Pennsylvania. We have no problem using our self-uniting marriage certificate elsewhere, it's only in the Philippines I think that they don't really recognize it as a marriage cert which I was unaware.

 

I'm guessing a marriage certificate would be sufficient proof to link my spouse's name when travelling outside the country?

[Edward and Jaycel 777]

I know the Philippine Consulate in San Francico allows self-solemnized marriages from Colorado as long as you have the marriage certificate apostilied by the Colorado Secretary of State. I'm surprised the NY Consulate doesn't provide for that. 

[J.M. 268]

4 hours ago, realCG said:

Also since there's no way to update/renew her ph passport, is the only thing to do now to get her married name on her passport is to get naturalized as a US citizen and get a US passport with her married name on it? 

She can renew her passport when required, it will just still be in her maiden name.  My ex renewed hers with no problems.  As far as the Philippines is concerned, she is still single, until you file a ROM.  I am surprised the consulate would not accept the Pennsylvania self-solemnized marriage certificate, especially since San Francisco specifically says self-solemnized is acceptable.  Different places, of course, but it seems like they would be consistent.  Houston Consulate (mine) does not mention it, but there are no states in its jurisdiction that allow it.

 

Traveling on her PH passport is not a problem, as long as she has a marriage certificate copy with her to justify the name difference between her green card and passport. 

[EatBulaga 407]

8 hours ago, realCG said:

My apologies.

My wife got here last year thru K1 visa. She got her 2 year green card last year as well. 

 

We got our marriage certificate in Pennsylvania. We have no problem using our self-uniting marriage certificate elsewhere, it's only in the Philippines I think that they don't really recognize it as a marriage cert which I was unaware.

 

I'm guessing a marriage certificate would be sufficient proof to link my spouse's name when travelling outside the country?

 

She can travel to PH with maiden name passport, and return to US with her green card and marriage certificate to link the name on the passport to the green card.

 

The flight ticket name needs to match the passport. 

 

If you want a PH ROM, then have another marriage in the PH with the proper paperwork. The marriage date will be different on the PH ROM from the Pennsylvania marriage certificate. 

Edited February 12 by EatBulaga

[realCG 3]

13 hours ago, top_secret said:

I am not familiar with a "self-uniting marriage" but if, as it implies, it does not involve some kind of officiant who is legally authorized to perform marriages then I could see how it would run afoul of Philippine laws. "Presence of the solemnizing officer" is an absolute core requirement for any marriage to be considered valid by the Philippines. That was originally a sticking point on legality of Utah online marriages in the Philippines before they finally decided that an online virtual "presence" did satisfy the requirement.  I assume it must be recognized by the US since it seems your wife is here????

 

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1987/07/06/executive-order-no-209-s-1987/

 

If that is the issue with the consulate(??), I am not sure how you go about fixing that????  In terms of the name issue.  It is not really a problem for traveling. People do it all the time. She should probably just use the name in her passport when purchasing airline tickets and then if she needs to show the green card as proof of the right to enter the US at either check-in immigration, show it and the passport with maiden name along with the marriage certificate to explain the difference.

As long as we can still use her passport with her maiden name on it to travel then that's enough for us. Thank you!

 

[realCG 3]

3 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

 

She can travel to PH with maiden name passport, and return to US with her green card and marriage certificate to link the name on the passport to the green card.

 

The flight ticket name needs to match the passport. 

 

If you want a PH ROM, then have another marriage in the PH with the proper paperwork. The marriage date will be different on the PH ROM from the Pennsylvania marriage certificate. 

Thank you very much! We were just scared that she might not be able to use it since she got different names. I appreciate your response!