Philippines related, seeking referral for a visa agency in Cebu City and/or the online agents

[Edward and Jaycel 1,063]

10 minutes ago, W199 said:

just be ready for the whole Barangay to stop by to take out some food. 

 

HAHAHA when I first went to the Philippines to meet Jaycel, her family threw me a big welcome party and I do believe the entire Barangay stopped by for some Lechon   

[Larry.in.HCMC 4]

Wow, I had read it was 2 to 3 months, 6 to 9 is QUITE a while.  May be one of those deals where they can speed it up with a special motivating factor.  We may have to consider that, assuming they make that offer.  Seems like they offer that "special process" on most everything over here.

 

I appreciate your help very much!

 

Larry and Jesa

[W199 382]

1 hour ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

Wow, I had read it was 2 to 3 months, 6 to 9 is QUITE a while.  May be one of those deals where they can speed it up with a special motivating factor.  We may have to consider that, assuming they make that offer.  Seems like they offer that "special process" on most everything over here.

 

I appreciate your help very much!

 

Larry and Jesa

Maybe if you get a letter from the Embassy saying you need the PSA urgently for a VISA, they might accelerate it.

 

Because for a PSA birth certificate (for a previosly unregisterd birth), the PSA said the same thing, to get a letter from the Philippines passport agency to speed it up, but the DFA passport agency said they don't issue letters ... still waiting 5+ months ... 

 

[spicynujac 54]

On 3/11/2025 at 10:27 AM, W199 said:

 

Just keep in mind if you get married in the Philippines, you will need the PSA marriage certificate to file for the CR1 spousal visa, and that can take upto 6-9 months to get after you get married.  If you do something like a Utah online wedding, that will be very fast. But it may come with other headaches down the line. But other people have not had a issue with it. 

 

If you are not in any rush, as in years, then a nice Phililppines weddings sounds like a good choice .. just be ready for the whole Barangay to stop by to take out some food. 

The Utah online marriage seems like the best option.  You can apply within a day or two of the marriage, as they email you a copy of the marriage certificate.  It's a legal marriage just as if two Americans marry each other in any American state.  I haven't heard of any difficulties with it, other than some brief confusion years ago when it was first announced, which was quickly clarified.

 

Even if you already are planning a PH wedding as your post hints at, I would probably do the Utah civil marriage, followed by a PH religious ceremony.  That's what we did, and it allows you to apply immediately, bypass some marriage regulations (Utah only wants your name and $50, much easier than my state or the PH), and lets you pass the time by planning a nice ceremony and celebration there.  Then you end up with the superior (and much cheaper) IR-1 visa (not to mention the peace of mind holding an immigrant visa over a non-immigrant K-1 visa with all the uncertainty in the US now).

 

The only thing out of the ordinary / more difficult than a "standard" visa if there is such a thing, is your past divorces.  You need additional documentation for each of them.  But otherwise, it shouldn't be hard to do on your own.  Most people here are DIYers.  I actually think a lawyer can slightly slow down the process, as they will not do things like file forms within 24 hours of eligibility as we did, as they have a backlog of clients and a review process, but it may give you peace of mind if you don't mind the additional expense.

[Larry.in.HCMC 4]

7 hours ago, spicynujac said:

The Utah online marriage seems like the best option.  You can apply within a day or two of the marriage, as they email you a copy of the marriage certificate. 

Hmmm, I had not considered that option, and especially do not understand why it then allows a different class of visa.  I will read about that visa more to see if I can deepen my understanding of this option.

 

One little bit of information I have, and it is anecdotal, as it is just a single case, I met a couple here in Cebu at the U.S. Consulate who had done the Utah marriage. The gentleman had some negative comments on the marriage.  He said the cost was more than he had wanted to fork out, but also he had to then jump through some extra hoops over here in order procure his long term visa for staying here (from the Phil govt).  I forget the exact details, but he was not a truly happy camper.  They had already acquired the visa for her for the U.S. and spent time over there.

 

Thanks so much for the suggestion, as we have not yet gone through the final step (the seminar they do here), we will consider this.

[Larry.in.HCMC 4]

8 hours ago, spicynujac said:

The Utah online marriage seems like the best option.  You can apply within a day or two of the marriage, as they email you a copy of the marriage certificate. 

 

Looking at that CR 1 option, it indeed looks interesting, what I am not really understanding yet is why the Utah marriage enables that option, and why getting married in the Phils would disable the choice as well.  Here is what I found so far, which does not really answer that question: 

 

CR-1 Visa

• CR-1 visas are for spouses married to a U.S. citizen for less than two years.
• CR-1 visas are also known as “conditional resident” visas because the spouse must live in the United States for two years after entering the country before their permanent residency status is fully granted.
• If the spouse and U.S. citizen divorce within the two-year conditional period, the spouse will lose their green card status.

I will keep reading. I did also read that indeed this may speed up the process from the U.S. govt end.  I have been seeing pretty wild differences on expected wait times for the marriage certificate from the Phil govt.  Some sources say 2 - 3 months, others say up to 6 months.

[W199 382]

Larry,. no matter where or how you get married, you will need the same CR-1 visa for spouse to immigrate to the USA if you have been married for less than 2 years.  Its the same as a spousal visa

 

The only point about the Utah wedding is that it allows you to file for the CR-1 visa sooner after you get married,  because Utah will issue your marriage certificate immediately.  In the Philippines you will need to wait 3-9 months. This will delay everything.  If you are not in a rush, this is all a moot point.

 

For the case you mentioned in Cebu where the guy had to jump through additional hoops to stay in the Philippines. That is probably because he needed a Philippines PSA marriage certificate, so he had to apply for a ROM then a PSA certificate.    But if you don't plan to get a permanent residence visa in the Philipinnes then that doesn't apply to you.

 

But even with only the foreign marriage certificate (Utah), you still qualify for 1-year Balikbayan visa when you return and enter the Philippines with your Wife.

[Larry.in.HCMC 4]

15 minutes ago, W199 said:

For the case you mentioned in Cebu where the guy had to jump through additional hoops to stay in the Philippines. That is probably because he needed a Philippines PSA marriage certificate, so he had to apply for a ROM then a PSA certificate.    But if you don't plan to get a permanent residence visa in the Philipinnes then that doesn't apply to you.

That sounds correct, I think that is what the gentleman was implying.

 

ABOUT THIS NEXT PART:

The only point about the Utah wedding is that it allows you to file for the CR-1 visa sooner after you get married,  because Utah will issue your marriage certificate immediately.  In the Philippines you will need to wait 3-9 months. 

 

I did not realize it could take THAT long.  Looking at what I can find online, you can see 2 to 3 months, you can also see up to 6 months.  Your info is up to 9 months.  Seems to me, anything over 2 months is somewhat ridiculous, but I suppose if you compare it to our U.S. visa process, it is more or less the same kind of deal.

 

I would have two questions on this.  First, I wonder if having access to a connected person who is able to get some stuff to happen (or not happen) makes a difference.  Second, I wonder if one could get BOTH marriages, or would that just complicate things and instead of making it more certain, make it more confused.  Do people do the Utah online marriage remotely from other countries?  So that is actually legal, accepted and not frowned upon?

[W199 382]

2 hours ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

That sounds correct, I think that is what the gentleman was implying.

 

ABOUT THIS NEXT PART:

The only point about the Utah wedding is that it allows you to file for the CR-1 visa sooner after you get married,  because Utah will issue your marriage certificate immediately.  In the Philippines you will need to wait 3-9 months. 

 

I did not realize it could take THAT long.  Looking at what I can find online, you can see 2 to 3 months, you can also see up to 6 months.  Your info is up to 9 months.  Seems to me, anything over 2 months is somewhat ridiculous, but I suppose if you compare it to our U.S. visa process, it is more or less the same kind of deal.

 

I would have two questions on this.  First, I wonder if having access to a connected person who is able to get some stuff to happen (or not happen) makes a difference.  Second, I wonder if one could get BOTH marriages, or would that just complicate things and instead of making it more certain, make it more confused.  Do people do the Utah online marriage remotely from other countries?  So that is actually legal, accepted and not frowned upon?

The PSA wait time varies, somes it is faster, sometimes it is slower. I think right now it is on the slower side.  If you can provide a letter from an agency saying the certificate is urgent, then you might be able to speed it up. If you try to use a "fixer", it might work, but you are more likely to be scammed. 

 

Yes, the whole point of the Utah online wedding is that you don't need to be local in Utah to get it done, or even local in USA. You can and your fiance can both be in Cebu and get it done. Or you can be in USA, and she can be in Cebu and get it done.  You just need to meet in person after it is done. No, you can't get legally married while already married, even to the same spouse.  So no, you can't marry twice. But you can have a 2nd religious ceromony. 

[spicynujac 54]

On 3/12/2025 at 10:55 PM, Larry.in.HCMC said:

 

I will keep reading. I did also read that indeed this may speed up the process from the U.S. govt end.  I have been seeing pretty wild differences on expected wait times for the marriage certificate from the Phil govt.  Some sources say 2 - 3 months, others say up to 6 months.

 

The VAST majority of your time in this process is simply waiting months and months for anyone at US Immigration to even touch your application.

And while I haven't heard of US staffing cuts, most federal agencies are currently being trimmed, so this could be even worse going forward.

 

The marital visa process is the same regardless of where and how you marry. 

BUT the Utah marriage allows you to file your paperwork (US Form I-130) IMMEDIATELY (they email you a copy of the marriage certificate) instead of waiting weeks or months before you get the Philippine certificate in hand.  Of course, you could also go to any country, say, Taiwan or Japan or even the USA, and marry there and you would be in the same immigration situation.  But the thing about the Utah marriage is it's so fast and easy, (only requirements are provide a witness, state everyone's name and pay $50).

 

 

You could 

On 3/10/2025 at 4:15 AM, Larry.in.HCMC said:

 it might be faster to use an agency and I would expect they would have the most accurate answers to the important questions relating to immigration. 

 

Among my disappointments, one of their flaws was the agent we spoke to said they really focus on getting the beneficiary ready for the interview. That is not what our great need is, we need an expert on how to properly fill out the forms and get it filed.  This agency said WE fill out the forms and then they check for errors.  Instead, I want THEM to fill out the forms and then I check for THEIR errors.  

 

 

 

I'm not sure it will be any faster.  The reason to hire an agency would be because you can't or won't fill out the forms yourself.

My advice would be download the USCIS I-130 form, look it over, and see if that looks like something you could easily fill out yourself.

In my case, I've lived at the same address for a decade, never been married, and file all my taxes on time, so it was something I could fill out in about an hour.  Then you wait like a year and a government agent spends a few minutes looking at your forms and approves or rejects them.  But the key is getting in that paperwork ASAP to start the clock.

[Larry.in.HCMC 4]

 

25 minutes ago, spicynujac said:

I'm not sure it will be any faster.  The reason to hire an agency would be because you can't or won't fill out the forms yourself.

 

Thanks for your response spicynujac.  Yes, I do realize I could likely fill out the forms myself and do the filing.  However, I do have a few technical details and questions based on my past history, and especially the number of past divorces and filings means I have to use an addendum or something, which I want to make sure I am doing properly.  As some of these experienced specialists can help for less than a thousand dollars (I think about $600 is the number one poster mentioned), it just seems money well spent if it helps me avoid some very small error and subsequent delay.

 

I was delayed twice before for some ridiculous reasons and understand that even if you try your best to send in your honest details, they can find ways to delay you over something that a specialist might have known to watch out for.   I suspect they especially pull these delays for guys whose profiles they disapprove of on an emotional basis, rather than for any real legal reason.  I am guessing on this part, but it is human nature  to help those you like and not help those you do not like. 

[MainFrame 3]

17 hours ago, Larry.in.HCMC said:

 

 

Thanks for your response spicynujac.  Yes, I do realize I could likely fill out the forms myself and do the filing.  However, I do have a few technical details and questions based on my past history, and especially the number of past divorces and filings means I have to use an addendum or something, which I want to make sure I am doing properly.  As some of these experienced specialists can help for less than a thousand dollars (I think about $600 is the number one poster mentioned), it just seems money well spent if it helps me avoid some very small error and subsequent delay.

 

I was delayed twice before for some ridiculous reasons and understand that even if you try your best to send in your honest details, they can find ways to delay you over something that a specialist might have known to watch out for.   I suspect they especially pull these delays for guys whose profiles they disapprove of on an emotional basis, rather than for any real legal reason.  I am guessing on this part, but it is human nature  to help those you like and not help those you do not like. 

What are the ridiculous reasons?

[Larry.in.HCMC 4]

I answered those in a PM rather than clutter up the topic with details that do not necessarily relate to my current case.  Anyone who has time on their hands and is interested in this minutiae is welcome to PM me and I will burden him/her with my excessively long and boring explanation of my past delays.

Edited March 19 by Larry.in.HCMC