K1 Or Marriage Visa?

[rfhypnos]

I have been in process of applying for K-1 visa and have completed all the information required to file except for one document.  I was married to my first wife in Okinawa, Japan to a Japanese woman of course. We were married for 14 years and in that year when returning to Okinawa she died unexpectedly. I went to Okinawa and went through funeral process and brought her cremated remains back to the US, but never obtained a death certificate.  Getting a death certificate from Japan is no easy task.  The requirement is that you must know the family register/village and where the document is filed.  I have contacted an attorney in Okinawa who would gladly help me for $500, but he needs that family register.  Today I had our marriage certificate translated which does include the family registry but the translation is full of errors.   So now I plan to call the attorney and see if he would get the certificate if I sent him a copy of the marriage certificate.  I wonder why he did not tell me initially that he could get that information off the marriage certificate. 

My real dilemma around this issue is of course the never disappearing problem of some family members being closed minded about the age disparity issue.  I'm 68 and she is 42 the same age as my oldest daughter.  lol   Whatever!!!   And of course she and my other daughter have spoken to former in-laws back there in Japan telling them not to cooperate with me in getting this piece of information. 

So should I file the application with a letter of explanation that I cannot obtain the death certificate because family members are uncooperative?   Try paying the attorney the $500 and see if he can get it??? Or just wait and marry in the Philippines and avoid all this hassle and extra expense?

 

Rod

[jon1]

If your intention is to live in the Philippines why bring her to the US? It would be way easier to marry her in the Philippines than bring her to the US on a fiance' visa. You would need to bring your birth certificate, the death certificate of your former spouse and acquire an affidavit from the US Embassy swearing that you are eligible to Marry. 

 

If living in the Philippines turns out not to be conducive to you, you could apply for a spouse visa and after filing it takes 6-12 months you could bring her back to the US. One of your biggest delays in this would be obtaining an NSO copy of your marriage certificate (it took us 5+ months to get ours).

 

If you bring her to the US on a fiance' visa, she would have to stay 3 or 5 years (I can't remember which) to satisfy the residency requirement before she could visit the Philippines. To do so earlier would entail her having to restart the whole process over again. 

 

The last time that I researched the fiance/spouse visas it looked like the total cost was over $1000 (not counting a plane ticket). Once married, you could also apply for a US Tourist Visa ($170) for her which is good for 10 years (multiple entry/exit) if approved. 

[pokermike]

They have made things a little more difficult more forms to fill out. I submitted my K1 visa December of 2012 her interview was October 2014 , hopefully my wife will be joining me in a few weeks. We marreid in manilla on November 29,2012. so we have been waiting almpost two years.   Poke Mike

[earthdome]

Regardless of which type of visa you try to obtain you still need the death certificate. You also need it to get married in the Philippines to obtain the Certificate of No Marriage from the US Embassy. Sounds like you are in a tough spot and have to obtain that death certificate.

 

Shame that some of your family members are trying to block your desire to remarry. Good luck.

[Jack Peterson]

I seem to Remember some time ago we had a topic on a Japanese ( Filipino Born) Mindanao guy who used a Japanese Association in Manila that helped him get paperwork out of japan for a Passport.  As is happening here, the family in Japan did all they could to Stop this happening.

 

Maybe with a Little research on this you could find out about this Association. I believe the name and Address of the man that did it ( Arranged the paperwork) is in  the Thread somewhere. I believe it was JGF that started the Thread? it was about a Filipino man with a Japanese Father that was going to be charged with 70+ years Overstay.

Just a thought here and trying to help.

 

JP :tiphat:

[rfhypnos]

Just looked at my posting again and should have mentioned the Japanese wife was from 1972 to 1985 and that I was subsequently married twice to American women 1989-1991 with divorce and have the decree, also 1993 to 2013 and have the divorce decree.  It amazes me that a marriage that took place thirty two years ago and terminated 19 years ago with two subsequent marriages could be of that much interest to government authorities.   No one ever asked for the death certificate when I married the second or third wife.  Could it be that the US and Philippine governments are just trying to make things so detail oriented to justify their own existence or to discourage mixed culture marriages completely? 

[jon1]

In that case, I would just use the latest divorce decree as the first two marriages should not matter in my book. I do not understand why you would even have to mention the 1st two marriages as you wouldn't have been able to get married the third time if you didn't meet the criteria.

 

The Philippines will not ask for anything but about your current status. When you go to the US Embassy for an "Affidavit of Eligibility to Marry" (Not an Eligible to Marry Certificate which is no longer offered), you are doing nothing but swearing an oath, that you are eligible to be married. When I went they didn't even ask to see a copy of the Divorce Decree.

[Jack Peterson]

In that case, I would just use the latest divorce decree

I totally agree,

As With most things surely, Only your Current Status should be of any concern to Administrations.

 

 

JP :tiphat:

[MikeB]

If you're an American getting married in the Philippines the form you need is "Affidavit in Lieu of a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage".

[rfhypnos]

In filling out the form for K-1 they ask for documentation of termination of all marriages.  So what I am hearing here is that marrying in the Philippines does not require all decrees of divorce only the most recent and then swear to some affidavit???   And I don't need the death certificate in Manila?   If I was married to a foreign national initially, then USCIS has that record somewhere because the marriage was done in the then US Embassy in Naha, Okinawa.   I would love not having to pay some attorney $500 to get me a death certificate from the city of Nago in Okinawa.   

If this is all true, then I can come to visit for four months in December.  If all goes well marry in March and come back here to sell my house in US and move to Bohol.  I just thought it would be a nice experience for my fiancé to come here and spend a couple years to get her green card and then go back there in a few years to live.