URGENT - Do I need a valid Marriage License from Philippines?

[EricInLA]

I am a US citizen born and raised and living in US, have a Filipino fiance living in Philippines. Have set marriage date for June 28 in the Philippines by a judge. Due to travel timing difficulties we were not able to apply for a marriage license together. She went to local registrar's office and was told that would not be a problem, she could apply for license by herself, which she did. A couple of weeks later she received a call from registrar saying there will be a problem when she applies for visa to immigrate to US because license was applied for when I was not in Philippines. We have met all other requirements (properly recorded certificate of nullity of her previous marriage with NSO, affidavit of legal capacity to marry from US embassy in Manila for me). Plus, we have a terrific relationship, very fun, loving, and mutual, and I have made 8 trips to visit her in the last 2 years, so plenty of documentation, pictures, travel docs, skype call logs, etc.

Question - how important is the marriage license for the petition process? Is the info we are being told by the registrar true or are they just trying to get money out of us? Does the embassy/USCIS/NVC look at marriage license date and compare to my passport travel dates? Is the marriage license the controlling document or is the marriage certificate the controlling document? In other words, if we have a valid marriage certificate signed by the judge performing the ceremony and we were both present at our wedding, is the marriage license important?

Thanks much for any info you can provide!

[inadmissible]

You were both present for the marriage? No problem.

[rayb]

The Philippines has a mandatory 10-day waiting requirement after marriage license before the marriage ceremony can occur. Normally, both parties must be present in the Philippines to obtain the marriage license, and proof of eligibility to marry (Embassy Affidavit of Capacity, CENOMAR from both) should be presented when getting the marriage license.

But if you succeed in marrying and obtaining a Local Registrar version of the marriage certificate without both being present when the marriage license was obtained, you are okay. Neither USCIS nor the Embassy has any interest in presence of both parties when the marriage license was obtained.

The warning you received from the Local Registrar about not being present at the marriage license issue was well-intended, but not a big deal, IF YOU SUCCEED IN GETTING A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE AFTER THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY.

As an aside....though the Local Registrar version of the marriage certificate has been okay to use when submitting the spousal petition, at least one USCIS processing center (Nebraska) is now insisting on a copy of the NSO (Natioal Statistics Office) marriage certificate, which take longer to obtain after a marriage. The NSO version, original copy, must also be used with the National Visa Center processing after the petition has been approved by USCIS.

--Ray B

I am a US citizen born and raised and living in US, have a Filipino fiance living in Philippines. Have set marriage date for June 28 in the Philippines by a judge. Due to travel timing difficulties we were not able to apply for a marriage license together. She went to local registrar's office and was told that would not be a problem, she could apply for license by herself, which she did. A couple of weeks later she received a call from registrar saying there will be a problem when she applies for visa to immigrate to US because license was applied for when I was not in Philippines. We have met all other requirements (properly recorded certificate of nullity of her previous marriage with NSO, affidavit of legal capacity to marry from US embassy in Manila for me). Plus, we have a terrific relationship, very fun, loving, and mutual, and I have made 8 trips to visit her in the last 2 years, so plenty of documentation, pictures, travel docs, skype call logs, etc.

Question - how important is the marriage license for the petition process? Is the info we are being told by the registrar true or are they just trying to get money out of us? Does the embassy/USCIS/NVC look at marriage license date and compare to my passport travel dates? Is the marriage license the controlling document or is the marriage certificate the controlling document? In other words, if we have a valid marriage certificate signed by the judge performing the ceremony and we were both present at our wedding, is the marriage license important?

Thanks much for any info you can provide!

[EricInLA]

Thanks Ray B!

Greatly appreciate the info, what you say makes logical sense. In my reading and research I found nothing that says we need to furnish the marriage license to the USCIS, only the marriage certificate. As you suggested, we will get it registered with the NSO so we have an official registered copy if needed. Do you know if there would be any problem at the NSO if I wasn't present to apply for the marriage license? If so, that could be what the local registrar was referring to.

Thanks again,

EricInLA

[rayb]

I can't say if the husband's absence when applying for the marriage license will be a bar from the NSO releasing the national version of the marriage certificate. The NSO authentication is simply a procedure for them to get an official Local Registrar version of the birth certificate, adding an NSO emblem in upper left corner and copying onto counterfeit-proof colored paper. It take 2-3 months after marriage for the NSO to make their version of the marriage cert available.

If you are in L.A., what part of L.A. do you call home?

--Ray B

Greatly appreciate the info, what you say makes logical sense. In my reading and research I found nothing that says we need to furnish the marriage license to the USCIS, only the marriage certificate. As you suggested, we will get it registered with the NSO so we have an official registered copy if needed. Do you know if there would be any problem at the NSO if I wasn't present to apply for the marriage license? If so, that could be what the local registrar was referring to.

Thanks again,

EricInLA

[EricInLA]

Marriage License Prob continued - incorrect Birth Cert @ NSO

Hi again, my fiance in Philippines was able to get local registrar to give her marriage license without me there, so we thought everything was going to proceed smoothly. Now we have a new problem, she got her official birth certificate from the NSO and it's wrong, it shows her birth year as 1970, the correct year and the one she has used for everything her entire life is 1972. Our attorney in PI says we can redo the marriage license with 1970 and get her a new passport to match, and get some kind of affidavit to explain the error. I'm concerned that if we go that route then nothing else will match - all of her school records, training certifications, transcripts, medical records, baptism, etc. show 1972, and I don't know if USCIS will accept that affidavit. To me that raises bigger potential problems with USCIS, and then when she gets to US and applies for jobs. I think we need to redo the birth cert with NSO so everything has correct date.

Have you dealt with this before? It is unfathomable to me that you can have an incorrect birth cert for 42 years, but maybe that's common in the PI?

BTW RayB, I am in Long Beach, where are you?

I can't say if the husband's absence when applying for the marriage license will be a bar from the NSO releasing the national version of the marriage certificate. The NSO authentication is simply a procedure for them to get an official Local Registrar version of the birth certificate, adding an NSO emblem in upper left corner and copying onto counterfeit-proof colored paper. It take 2-3 months after marriage for the NSO to make their version of the marriage cert available.

If you are in L.A., what part of L.A. do you call home?

--Ray B

[inadmissible]

How does it make sense to have an accurate document reissued with inaccurate information, just to match a different inaccurate record?

[rayb]

Eric,

If the new NSO birth cert has an incorrect birth year of 1970, and her real birth year is 1972, the only document that needs to be corrected is the NSO birth cert with the incorrect birth year. Also, if she already has a passport with the correct birth year of 1972, what proof of birth did she use to get that passport/ Normally, an NSO birth cert would have been required.

As an aside, how do you and your gal know which birth year, 1970 or 1972 is correct?

From what you are saying, assuming the NSO birth cert has the incorrect birth year, and the attorney is suggesting changing the passport and the marriage license to match the NSO incorrect year of 1972, his advice seems to be **** backwards.

--Rray B

Hi again, my fiance in Philippines was able to get local registrar to give her marriage license without me there, so we thought everything was going to proceed smoothly. Now we have a new problem, she got her official birth certificate from the NSO and it's wrong, it shows her birth year as 1970, the correct year and the one she has used for everything her entire life is 1972. Our attorney in PI says we can redo the marriage license with 1970 and get her a new passport to match, and get some kind of affidavit to explain the error. I'm concerned that if we go that route then nothing else will match - all of her school records, training certifications, transcripts, medical records, baptism, etc. show 1972, and I don't know if USCIS will accept that affidavit. To me that raises bigger potential problems with USCIS, and then when she gets to US and applies for jobs. I think we need to redo the birth cert with NSO so everything has correct date.

Have you dealt with this before? It is unfathomable to me that you can have an incorrect birth cert for 42 years, but maybe that's common in the PI?

BTW RayB, I am in Long Beach, where are you?

[rayb]

I don't think Eric is getting an accurate picture of the problem.

The first question I would ask is whether 1972 or 1970 is the correct birth year.

So far, Eric has been told by his gal that the most recent NSO birth cert has an inccorrect birth year, and the attorney is suggesting every other document except the birth cert be changed to reflect the birth cert incorrect year.

--Ray B

How does it make sense to have an accurate document reissued with inaccurate information, just to match a different inaccurate record?

[EricInLA]

Philippines Incorrect Birth Cert Year

RE: birth date, her mother is telling her 1972 is accurate. I agree with you, it seems like the NSO birth cert needs to be corrected. How did she get passport? According to my fiance, things were much looser in the Philippines when her passport was issued.

Could she go back to hospital where she was born to get their version of the birth cert to verify date? Does the NSO maintain a copy of the original birth cert from the hospital, or do they just have what somebody typed or wrote into their records at the time? I'm still trying to understand how this happened, searching for plausible explanations since I don't want to doubt my fiance.

Thanks again

I don't think Eric is getting an accurate picture of the problem.

The first question I would ask is whether 1972 or 1970 is the correct birth year.

So far, Eric has been told by his gal that the most recent NSO birth cert has an inccorrect birth year, and the attorney is suggesting every other document except the birth cert be changed to reflect the birth cert incorrect year.

--Ray B

[rayb]

The NSO birth certs are usually photocopies of the Local Registrar versions, transferred to counterfeit proof paper and given an NSO seal in upper left corner.

The Local Registrar versions are often started at the hospital, but not necessarily. In the Philippines, there are many home births with midwife assistance, and this makes for lots of errors from birth through Local Registrar registration.

Frankly, it doesn't really matter whether 70 or 72 is the correct year, as the Embassy will accept whatever is on the birth cert as "truth." But the passport must reflect the same year.

The passport would not have been issued without some birth cert, maybe local version. So something happened between the completion of the local version and the NSO finalized version.

My advice would still remain at getting the NSO version changed, to match the passport.

--Ray B

RE: birth date, her mother is telling her 1972 is accurate. I agree with you, it seems like the NSO birth cert needs to be corrected. How did she get passport? According to my fiance, things were much looser in the Philippines when her passport was issued.

Could she go back to hospital where she was born to get their version of the birth cert to verify date? Does the NSO maintain a copy of the original birth cert from the hospital, or do they just have what somebody typed or wrote into their records at the time? I'm still trying to understand how this happened, searching for plausible explanations since I don't want to doubt my fiance.

Thanks again

[EricInLA]

Thanks Ray

Ok, thanks for the additional info and continued advice. I agree with you, don't want to change passport. I think attorney there was recommending changing marriage license to NSO birth year just that we could go ahead with our planned marriage on 6/28 but I agree with you that can cause too many problems down the road. Still baffling to me how this happened, but understand better now.

Thanks again Ray, you have been invaluable.

Eric

The NSO birth certs are usually photocopies of the Local Registrar versions, transferred to counterfeit proof paper and given an NSO seal in upper left corner.

The Local Registrar versions are often started at the hospital, but not necessarily. In the Philippines, there are many home births with midwife assistance, and this makes for lots of errors from birth through Local Registrar registration.

Frankly, it doesn't really matter whether 70 or 72 is the correct year, as the Embassy will accept whatever is on the birth cert as "truth." But the passport must reflect the same year.

The passport would not have been issued without some birth cert, maybe local version. So something happened between the completion of the local version and the NSO finalized version.

My advice would still remain at getting the NSO version changed, to match the passport.

--Ray B