First Step for marriage in the Philippines.
OBTAIN LEGAL CAPACITY TO MARRY DOCUMENT FROM
THE U.S. EMBASSY
IN MANILA
This is Important, because you won't be able
to be married unless you and your spouse
go to the Embassy and get this document. It
shows you and your spouse are free to marry.
My Wife, who was my Fiancé at the time
went to the Embassy on a weekday morning at about
10:00 a.m. I submitted my passport and
we were given a number and told to wait our turn.
About 3 hours later, we were called into a booth
where there was a consular on the other side of
the glass. He asked a few questions like how
we met, and how long we've known each other. He asked
to see letters we had written each other and
for phone bills that showed communication with
her. This is Important, because I saw couples
ahead of us turned away because they didn't
have enough documentation (photos, phone bills,
pictures, etc.) to establish their relationship.
After he read a couple of the letters she had
wrote to me, and looked at my phone bill, he gave me
a paper to take to the cashier and after I paid,
I'd be able to pick up our Legal Capacity to Marry
Document. The fee was $55.00. Finally we
passed that hurdle. Now we were ready to marry.
10 DAY WAITING PERIOD
After you receive the Legal Capacity Document
Go to the Town where you are to marry
and apply for a Marriage Certificate. The waiting
period is 10 days to receive this license
so be sure to plan your trip to leave plenty
of time in your schedule to do this. Some people
are lucky, and manage to waive this 10 day period,
but don't count on it. Have your Fiancé
check out what the requirements will be if your
going to have a religious wedding. The Catholic
Church has other requirements to fulfill if your
going to have a Catholic Wedding. Much of that
can be done while your waiting the 10 days.
AFTER MARRIAGE. FILE THE I-130
There is some great info on the Web on filing
your I-130, instead of giving a long description of
these requirements please check out the I-130
Immigration Help site page. You want to do this
immediately after marriage, because this is where
the waiting begins. Unfortunately It could take
up to a year or even longer if you live in a
state covered by the Texas INS service center. Ive
seen it take up to two years for people going
through Texas, but 18 months would be average
for those folks. PLEASE
NOTE, THIS WEB PAGE WAS WRITTEN IN EARLY 1999
AND REFLECTS HOW THE I-130 PROCESS WAS AT THE
TIME. SINCE THEN, I
UNDERSTAND THE TEXAS SERVICE CENTER HAS PICKED
UP. CHECK MY TIMELINE
ACCEPTANCE LINK BELOW TO SEE EXAMPLES OF OTHERS
WAITING TIMES.
Remember you need to file your I-130 to the processing
center to the Center that has
jurisdiction over your state. Check out my link
below for *Carl Shustermans
web site for information
on this.
THE CFO CLASS (Commission for Filipinos Overseas)
For marriages in the Philippines,
Your wife will need to attend this class before
she gets her Filipino Passport.
This can only be done in Manila and Cebu. Check
out my links for more info on this.
AFTER THE I-130 is approved
After approval, the petition will be sent
to the NVC
(National Visa Processing Center) in New Hampshire.
For those who are Married in the
Philippines, they will send you the I-864 Affidavit
of Support you will need to fill out and send
back. Be sure to include 3 years of your tax
returns, w-2's, letter from your employer stating
employment status. If you haven't held a job
for the last 3 years or make below the poverty
line, your I-864 will be rejected and you will
need to find a co-sponser. I know this is unfair
to many, but our govenment wants to make sure
your spouse won't become a public charge,
You are promising to be financially responsible
for your spouse until he/she becomes a U.S.
Citizen, or he/she completes 40 quarters of full
time employment (10 years).
IMPORTANT! Be Sure to be 100% and complete in
filling out these forms. Put a N/A in
boxes or lines that don't pertain to you or your
spouse. Haveing the NVC return your forms
will add months more to the process, because
they will place your case back at the bottom of the stack.
They will also send your spouse the OF-169 and
OF-230 part 1. I got these forms in advance
by downloading them from the NVC's
web page. I had them already filled out before INS had
our approval. Don't send them to the NVC until
you have a case# from them. Write your case #
at the top of every form you send them also!
For other countries the procedure is a little
different. The NVC only pre-screens packet 3
for certain countries with a high immigrant load.
Mexico, the Philippines and Domimican Republic
are 3 or them. After the NVC
processes your petition, they will send
the package to the embassy of the country your spouse is
from. They will send her her instructions of
what she needs for her interview and tell her
an interview date, In our case, my wife needs
to bring her birth cerificate, passport,
Police certificate (NBI for the Philippines)
2 photos and Marriage certificate.. Before the
interview, your spouse will need a complete physical
exam. The results of this exam will need to be
taken to the interview. In the Philippines, the
Medical exam is done at the St. Lukes Hospital
in Manila and cost $85. If all goes well,
your spouse will pass the interview, and after paying
the $365 in fees, your spouse is set for coming
to the United States.
Please
don't take my Web Page as Gospel, This is knowledge I've learned from going
through
this
myself from other sources on the net and correspondence with others who
have or have gone
through
this journey. To help guide you through all this, I've included links below
that have helped
me
a great deal.
THE LINKS.
My
other web page detailing the story of my wife and I and how we met.
Xnavman's
Web page
Newsgroup devoted to Marriage and Visa issues
(If you don't have a newsreader or
are unfamiliar with how to access them, interbulletin.com
provides and easy way to view
newsgroups over the web. just type in
"marriage based visa" in the search
window to be directed to that discussion group.
alt.visa.us.marriage-based
How Long will it take and where do I file the
I-130?
INS time estimation courtesy of Carl Shusterman,
Immigration attourney.
Immigration
Processing times
See a comparison of wait times from I-130 submittal
to interview date
at the Timeline for acceptance page.
Timeline
acceptance for I-130
The best I-130 site on the NET
The
I-130 Immigration Help-site
The Immigration and Naturalization Service
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/
The National Visa Processing Center. Where
your I-130 will go after INS approval
http://travel.state.gov/nvc.html
Immigration Visa Kit. I wanted to make
sure I had all the right forms to fill out
along with instructions on filling them out,
so I forked out the dough and paid this place
to send me the forms I needed along with a
booklet on filling out my I-130. Kind of
like an "Immigration guide for dummies" You
don't need this, but is helpful if you can spare
and extra $69. And No, I'm not getting
paid to mention them.
Do
it yourself immigration kit
Great Immigration info here from the law offices
of *Carl Shusterman.
Contains info on
where to file your I-130 and processing times.
IMMIGRATION:
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO IMMIGRATING TO THE U.S.
MAG-Anak (means family in Filipino). This is
a listserve dedicated to those who are who are
marrying in the Philippines. You will be able
to communicate with many others going
through the same thing. the Mag-anak
web page also provides a wealth of great information.
If you join the listserve, I recommend you
learn how to use folders and filters with your
e-mail because you will get lots of it
MAG-ANAK
The Jeff Hollis Page. Jeff Hollis has detailed
his experience of his marriage in the
Philippines. The best biography on the net
in the process of marrying a Filipina.
The
Official Home Page of Jeffrey Lee Hollis
Well Folks, Hopefully this info helps. I sure
enjoyed the help of the internet
in this long process of being back together
with the one I love. Feel free to
e-mail me with any questions you may have.
GOOD LUCK
Ed and
Marsha Peirce
