I-130 Recognition of Divorce

[Casaphia1025]

Hello I am new to this site and forgive me if this is posted in the wrong area .



We received a request for evidence for our marriage certificate . USICS found a discrepancy about my wife's status of single on the civil status of the certificate . They asked for an explanation of the discrepancy and I replied today . My reply was that the National Statistics Office had no record of the prior marriage or divorce of my wife . We presented all our documents including the foreign divorce decrees . That the local registrar with my wife's cenomar of single recorded her civil status on the marriage certificate . That we were issued a valid marriage certificate and married in the Philippines .

My wife never reported the first marriage or divorce . I had my wife visit with a lawyer and he said not to worry our marriage is valid . He also said if we wanted to correct the marriage certificate we would need to get the final decree recognized in the Philippines courts . It would take about 3 months to a year to complete and would cost 20,000 to 50,000 pesos . Hoping it won't have to come to that , but I am nervous about the interview . What if we receive a 221g requesting the corrected marriage certificate . That would be a hardship to have to wait until we completed the recognition . My wife is pregnant and we want to be together and praying that the letter of explanation will satisfy USCIS and we will be granted an approval soon . I'm thinking to begin the process now and have the decree recognized , but I do not have the money to do it . That seems to be the best thing to do and save a lot of time later .

Has anyone been through this or has any advice ?

Thanks

[rayb]

Your explanation of the problem is not very clear. I'm very familiar with Philippine civil documents and some of your problem description doesn't seem logical.

1. What discrepancy did USCIS identify with your marriage certificate?
2. Did your new wife have divorces in country(ies) outside of the Philippines?
3. If so, those divorces had to be accepted in the Philippines. IF she, a Philippine citizen, initiated the divorce(s), the divorces will not be recognized in the Philippines. If the divorces were initiated by foreigner(s), they have to be processed through a minor court review and accepted at the National Statistics (NSO) level.
4. On the other hand, if the prior marriage which resulted in a divorce was not registered in the Philippines, her "freedom to marry" in the Philippines is a legal quandary.

--Ray B

Hello I am new to this site and forgive me if this is posted in the wrong area .



We received a request for evidence for our marriage certificate . USICS found a discrepancy about my wife's status of single on the civil status of the certificate . They asked for an explanation of the discrepancy and I replied today . My reply was that the National Statistics Office had no record of the prior marriage or divorce of my wife . We presented all our documents including the foreign divorce decrees . That the local registrar with my wife's cenomar of single recorded her civil status on the marriage certificate . That we were issued a valid marriage certificate and married in the Philippines .

My wife never reported the first marriage or divorce . I had my wife visit with a lawyer and he said not to worry our marriage is valid . He also said if we wanted to correct the marriage certificate we would need to get the final decree recognized in the Philippines courts . It would take about 3 months to a year to complete and would cost 20,000 to 50,000 pesos . Hoping it won't have to come to that , but I am nervous about the interview . What if we receive a 221g requesting the corrected marriage certificate . That would be a hardship to have to wait until we completed the recognition . My wife is pregnant and we want to be together and praying that the letter of explanation will satisfy USCIS and we will be granted an approval soon . I'm thinking to begin the process now and have the decree recognized , but I do not have the money to do it . That seems to be the best thing to do and save a lot of time later .

Has anyone been through this or has any advice ?

Thanks

[Casaphia1025]

Your explanation of the problem is not very clear. I'm very familiar with Philippine civil documents and some of your problem description doesn't seem logical.

1. What discrepancy did USCIS identify with your marriage certificate?
2. Did your new wife have divorces in country(ies) outside of the Philippines?
3. If so, those divorces had to be accepted in the Philippines. IF she, a Philippine citizen, initiated the divorce(s), the divorces will not be recognized in the Philippines. If the divorces were initiated by foreigner(s), they have to be processed through a minor court review and accepted at the National Statistics (NSO) level.
4. On the other hand, if the prior marriage which resulted in a divorce was not registered in the Philippines, her "freedom to marry" in the Philippines is a legal quandary.

--Ray B

1. Single status
2. Yes (USA)
3 Former husband filed

She was married on a K-1 visa and did not report the marriage to the Philippines consulate . She returned back the Philippines and when she found out he was granted a divorce she did not report the divorce either . Her cenomar remained single and that was the reason they put on line 7 of the marriage certificate single .

We were told by a lawyer we can petition to change the marriage certificate . What do you think our best course of action is ? I was thinking to wait until we get a response from the rfe . If we are approved to then file to petition the marriage certificate . I think this will be an issue with the CO at the interview and might issue a 221g to request a corrected marriage certificate .

[rayb]

What did you provide USCIS in response to the RFE?

You should get this past USCIS, but the Embassy can go either of three directions:

1. Accept the marriage as valid;
2. Request a change to the marriage cert (which might require getting the divorce recognized, as well as the marriage);
3. Decide that the marriage was not valid, because she had a preexisting marriage which was valid, and a subsequent divorce, which was not yet recognized in the Philippines (but could be).

Your second step will actually be the National Visa Center, to which original/certified civil documents must be submitted, which shouldn't have any hitches.

I handled two separate processes very much like this, and both got past the Embassy review okay.

--Ray B

1. Single status
2. Yes (USA)
3 Former husband filed

She was married on a K-1 visa and did not report the marriage to the Philippines consulate . She returned back the Philippines and when she found out he was granted a divorce she did not report the divorce either . Her cenomar remained single and that was the reason they put on line 7 of the marriage certificate single .

We were told by a lawyer we can petition to change the marriage certificate . What do you think our best course of action is ? I was thinking to wait until we get a response from the rfe . If we are approved to then file to petition the marriage certificate . I think this will be an issue with the CO at the interview and might issue a 221g to request a corrected marriage certificate .

[Casaphia1025]

What did you provide USCIS in response to the RFE?

You should get this past USCIS, but the Embassy can go either of three directions:

1. Accept the marriage as valid;
2. Request a change to the marriage cert (which might require getting the divorce recognized, as well as the marriage);
3. Decide that the marriage was not valid, because she had a preexisting marriage which was valid, and a subsequent divorce, which was not yet recognized in the Philippines (but could be).

Your second step will actually be the National Visa Center, to which original/certified civil documents must be submitted, which shouldn't have any hitches.

I handled two separate processes very much like this, and both got past the Embassy review okay.

--Ray B

I was pretty honest with the letter .I tried to keep it short , truthful and to the point . I hope this was a good response to what they were asking .

January 23 , 2014


U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
P.O. Box 82521
Lincoln , NE 68501-2521


RE: Request For Evidence
I-130 , Petition for Alien Relative

Subject: Marriage Certificate Discrepancy

Per the request of USCIS I would like to explain the discrepancy with our marriage certificate found during the review of the I-130 submitted on behalf of YYYY XX .

As noted in the RFE USCIS has noted both marriages and final decrees for myself and YYYY YYYY . I would like to clarify that it was YYYY ZZZ who initiated and was granted the divorce ending my wife's first marriage within the United States . Article 26 paragraph two " Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry , the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law . (As amended by Executive Order 227) . "

When we went to the local registrar to file for our marriage license my wife and I presented all our documents to the officer . Including our United States issued final decrees of divorce . The National Statistics Office had no record of my wife's first marriage and divorce . A Cenomar with the status of single in the Philippines was presented to the officer . My wife's civil status on the Philippines issued marriage certificate was recorded as single due to the Cenomar . My civil status on the Philippines issued marriage certificate was recorded as " Divorced " due to my final decree of divorce . We fulfilled all the requirements of the local registrar officer and was issued the license . We were legally married on YYYY YYYY X , Philippines . We completed the necessary requirements and were provided with a valid marriage certificate on YYYY YYYY

Enclosed is a complete listing of Family Code Article 26 .


Sincerely

YYYY YYYY

[rayb]

I think you handled the response with a very good explanation.

-Ray B

I was pretty honest with the letter .I tried to keep it short , truthful and to the point . I hope this was a good response to what they were asking .

January 23 , 2014


U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
P.O. Box 82521
Lincoln , NE 68501-2521


RE: Request For Evidence
I-130 , Petition for Alien Relative

Subject: Marriage Certificate Discrepancy

Per the request of USCIS I would like to explain the discrepancy with our marriage certificate found during the review of the I-130 submitted on behalf of YYYY XX .

As noted in the RFE USCIS has noted both marriages and final decrees for myself and YYYY YYYY . I would like to clarify that it was YYYY ZZZ who initiated and was granted the divorce ending my wife's first marriage within the United States . Article 26 paragraph two " Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry , the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law . (As amended by Executive Order 227) . "

When we went to the local registrar to file for our marriage license my wife and I presented all our documents to the officer . Including our United States issued final decrees of divorce . The National Statistics Office had no record of my wife's first marriage and divorce . A Cenomar with the status of single in the Philippines was presented to the officer . My wife's civil status on the Philippines issued marriage certificate was recorded as single due to the Cenomar . My civil status on the Philippines issued marriage certificate was recorded as " Divorced " due to my final decree of divorce . We fulfilled all the requirements of the local registrar officer and was issued the license . We were legally married on YYYY YYYY X , Philippines . We completed the necessary requirements and were provided with a valid marriage certificate on YYYY YYYY

Enclosed is a complete listing of Family Code Article 26 .


Sincerely

YYYY YYYY

[Casaphia1025]

I think you handled the response with a very good explanation.

-Ray B

Thank you so much and that is really good to know . You seem to have a lot of knowledge and I have been praying for someone like yourself to respond . May I ask you those two other cases were like mine ? It is very encouraging to read about that . Also should we begin the process to recognize the divorce ? My way of thinking is this . If we do get a 221g at least we will be well into the process to complete the request of it . It will cost a lot and this was not planned , but we have to deal with it to have peace of mind at the very least . The lawyer mentioned something about a petition to change the certificate . Not sure if he meant the recognition or something else . Is there any other way to handle this other then the recognition ?

[rayb]

The irony here is that you meet all the U.S. requirements, but not the Philippine requirements. The only problem is that the marriage cert shows "single" for the young lady and your explanation to USCIS for the RFE should settle the issue with USCIS and the next step, NVC.

I think the attorney's advice, although well-intended, may get you into a quagmire, as changing the marriage certificate (requiring a court action, probably) will cost at least $500 (or more, mostly attorney fees), and that might raise the issue of recognition of the foreign divorce, for which attorneys over there are quoting the equivalent of $1,000 (US) or more.

I think the only thing that can go wrong will happen at the Embassy interview, but they are more tolerant of the idiocy of Philippine documents and will probably just gloss over the "single" status shown on the marriage cert.

If the Embassy asks for anything to be changed, they will give you up to a year to report the change, but I expect there won't be a problem there.

My experience with two similar situations were as follows

1. One Filipina simply failed to report her marriage and U.S. divorce and got a new K1 visa, though she did report a Philippine annulment. It came back to bite her in the rear, however, when she applied for Naturalization several years later and was denied because her earlier petition only reported one prior marriage. The Naturalization reviewer decided that the gal had obtained an immigration benefit (K1 visa) that might not have been approved had they known of her second marriage (and divorce).

2. The other gal discovered that she was effectively married to two different guys (I've forgotten the details, but wasn't her fault), but went ahead and got the first marriage terminated during the processing of her petition and after she had married the second guy. It was so mixed up, though not her fault (trust me on this one), that the Embassy interviewer made a joke about it and approved her visa.

-Ray B

Thank you so much and that is really good to know . You seem to have a lot of knowledge and I have been praying for someone like yourself to respond . May I ask you those two other cases were like mine ? It is very encouraging to read about that . Also should we begin the process to recognize the divorce ? My way of thinking is this . If we do get a 221g at least we will be well into the process to complete the request of it . It will cost a lot and this was not planned , but we have to deal with it to have peace of mind at the very least . The lawyer mentioned something about a petition to change the certificate . Not sure if he meant the recognition or something else . Is there any other way to handle this other then the recognition ?

[Casaphia1025]

The irony here is that you meet all the U.S. requirements, but not the Philippine requirements. The only problem is that the marriage cert shows "single" for the young lady and your explanation to USCIS for the RFE should settle the issue with USCIS and the next step, NVC.

I think the attorney's advice, although well-intended, may get you into a quagmire, as changing the marriage certificate (requiring a court action, probably) will cost at least $500 (or more, mostly attorney fees), and that might raise the issue of recognition of the foreign divorce, for which attorneys over there are quoting the equivalent of $1,000 (US) or more.

I think the only thing that can go wrong will happen at the Embassy interview, but they are more tolerant of the idiocy of Philippine documents and will probably just gloss over the "single" status shown on the marriage cert.

If the Embassy asks for anything to be changed, they will give you up to a year to report the change, but I expect there won't be a problem there.

My experience with two similar situations were as follows

1. One Filipina simply failed to report her marriage and U.S. divorce and got a new K1 visa, though she did report a Philippine annulment. It came back to bite her in the rear, however, when she applied for Naturalization several years later and was denied because her earlier petition only reported one prior marriage. The Naturalization reviewer decided that the gal had obtained an immigration benefit (K1 visa) that might not have been approved had they known of her second marriage (and divorce).

2. The other gal discovered that she was effectively married to two different guys (I've forgotten the details, but wasn't her fault), but went ahead and got the first marriage terminated during the processing of her petition and after she had married the second guy. It was so mixed up, though not her fault (trust me on this one), that the Embassy interviewer made a joke about it and approved her visa.

-Ray B

OK so if we make the decision to change the marriage certificate we would petition to do that , but the quagmire would be having to recognize the foreign divorce . costing us more attorney's fees . Couldn't we just have the lawyer file to get the foreign divorce decree recognized ? Then we would have a judicial ruling that the Philippine courts recognizes the foreign divorce decree . The National Statistics Office would have to accept that and make the necessary changes to the certificate . My concern is that my wife might face a penalty due to the fact she did not report the first marriage or divorce . Or worse they make the decision that our marriage is null and void .

Art. 11. Where a marriage license is required, each of the contracting parties shall file separately a sworn application for such license with the proper local civil registrar which shall specify the following:

(5) If previously married, how, when and where the previous marriage was dissolved or annulled;

Now we provided all our documents and on the marriage license application and the local registrar put N/A on the document for my wife's " if previously married " section . That Article states dissolved or annulled and not the word divorced . I would think that the word " None " would have been used had she never been married before . At the time I did not know really what was going on and just followed the instructions of the officer . Now that I think about it maybe it was they could not recognize the divorce and allow them to put it down on a Philippine document . In my section they simply put the town and date of my divorce , but did not write down the word itself where is should have been written .

Art. 13. In case either of the contracting parties has been previously married, the applicant shall be required to furnish, instead of the birth or baptismal certificate required in the last preceding article, the death certificate of the deceased spouse or the judicial decree of the absolute divorce, or the judicial decree of annulment or declaration of nullity of his or her previous marriage.

Now this one could be a problem for us as well . As I stated we did furnish the decree , but does that require for it to be recorded ? They did not make any copies of her decree . Mainly went with her Cenomar I think . Again perhaps it is the " no divorce in the Philippines " having an effect on how or what is written or recognized .

Articles 11 and 13 would fall into the area of the Family Code formal requisites . Would a problem with the validity of the marriage license about my wife's first divorce be an irregularity ? From what I read of the Code law that it will not affect the validity of the marriage . However she could be liable for it .

We are going to wait until we hear from USCIS and make our decision on what to do . Go ahead with the lawyer or just take our chances at the interview . Your previous cases have given us some hope . However I know each case is different and CO for that matter . My wife is pregnant and we have a lot to do for that alone . I only filed about 1 month ago and already we are close to an approval . I did not expedite and I think when we filed they were still giving attention to the Philippines due to the typhoon . Hoping to bring her here before the birth to avoid the CRBA . We will just have to take each day as it comes and deal with what we need to . Hopefully it will all work out .

Thanks again