Hello everyone!! No, today’s article is not about golf. I’m probably the worst golfer in history! Today’s article is a continuation on the process for my wife and I to move to the Philippines. We’ve gotten a lot accomplished in the last couple of months, but we’ve really been working on this for a while now. My planning to move to the Philippines started in 2009 when I visited there. It was such a beautiful place filled with fun, energetic, and nice people that I wanted to be a part of that after my retirement. Our plans were moved up about 10 years when I got hurt and was forced to retire. So, we’ve been trying to push our paperwork to the limit and get everything done in order to be able to come to Paradise Islands. (PI)
Wrong kind of follow through
We’re currently in the “hurry up and wait” phase of our paperwork. You see, we’ve been waiting for my wife’s ten year resident card to be approved. We sent this in last August, so I was curious of the status of that and if it not yet being finished would cause a problem for us in getting her citizenship. So, I placed a call to the USCIS phone number provided on our paperwork. The man I spoke to said that the paperwork was two months behind and would be approved in April. My next question to him, “Can we send in our paperwork to start citizenship since she meets all the qualification?”. His answer came after a few minutes of looking it up, or asking someone else. I don’t know which, all I know is I was on hold. When he came back he said that we COULD send in the paperwork, but that it wouldn’t be started until the ten year was approved. That was fine with me, as long as the paperwork would be accepted and there would be no problems.
Since we moved, I also tried to confirm that our address change had gone through so that our paperwork would come to the right house. He told me that the people that could look that up were gone as it was a holiday. President’s Day, how could I forget?!
So, I made yet another call to verify our address two days later. Only to find out that not only had our address change request NOT been made, but we were also misinformed of our ability to send in the paperwork for the citizenship for my wife. After talking with the woman on the phone, she ensured me that the address change would in fact go through this time, and told me about the citizenship paperwork. She said sending in the paperwork BEFORE the 10 year residency was approved COULD cause an even longer delay in our citizenship paperwork.
And for those of you wanting to move… make sure you don’t leave the district you were in before, because moving would cause another 90 day delay in processing. Thankfully, we didn’t even leave the state we were in, just moved a few miles away. But leaving from one state to another could potentially cause a HUGE problem with paperwork. Keep that in mind if you’re thinking of moving and are in a hurry to get your paperwork completed. An additional 90 days is a long time!
So, what’s left to do? A LOT! Apparently we need to register our marriage with the Philippines. When I checked into this it seems necessary in order for my wife to use her new last name in the Philippines, and also to renew her passport. One nice thing about the Philippines paperwork, it seems easier to do and is MUCH less expensive! Cost for this should be less than $40 including photos that are required of both me and my wife! Not bad. It’d be thousands of dollars and months of waiting if it were our government!
A word or two of advice from me… Follow through. Follow through on EVERYTHING you are trying to get done here in the U.S. You just never know when someone in the GOVERNMENT will drop the ball. The address change alone could have set us back a month or more! And please don’t get me started on the Department of Misinformation I seemed to have called about our other paperwork. How can two people, following what is supposed to be the same laws/policies/procedures, come up with two completely different answers? To be honest, I think I was being protected by the second person I spoke with. I got the impression that my paperwork might get lost or other mishandled if the other paperwork was not yet done. Could I send it in? Probably. But at the cost of time, and possibly more money.
Until next time, paalam, ingat and God bless!
At the time of this writing, I am 40 years old. I’ve been married to my Filipina wife since December 2009. She is from the Province of Pangasinan, Philippines. I was born and raised in the Metro Detroit area in Michigan. I’ve worked in many fields throughout my short career, mostly in Architecture, computers, and law enforcement. I’m medically retired from the U.S. Government due to a back injury and look forward to our move to the Philippines. My interests here were yard work, guns, and hanging out with friends. But because of my back injury, I’ve had to shorten what I can do to just hanging out with friends. Not a bad thing when you’re retired, right!? Also, I’m sure I’ll find some new interests when I get to the RP. We don’t yet know where we will be moving to exactly, but I expect it to be on the main island of Luzon. I look forward to moving there, getting healthier, and experiencing island life.
About Scott Fortune
Good article Scott. I am sure there are other readers there in the US that can benefit from your experiences. I know thaT YOU ARE EAGARTO GET ONTHE pLANE AND MAKE YOUR ADVENTURE START AND i WISH YOU ALL THE BEST
Good article Scott. I’m sure there are others there in the US that can benefit fromyour experiences in getting your wife’s citizenship established. I would be interested in finding out what your wife has to do once the paper work is complete. When I was in school in the 1950s we studied a little about that and I know that there used to be a test an immigrant had to take but I am not sure if that is still the case. Keep us informed about the process. I know you are eager to board that plane and get started on your adventure here and like you I had a long wait and a lot of planing to do before I could finally leave> But what seemed like the longest wait was the actual flight itself. For me it was a 27 hour trip with 4 different airplanes and very short lay overs, almost making connections seem impossible to make. I barely had time to disembark one aircraft, race to another gate or terminal and board another for the next leg of the trip.
I was also not very thrilled about Flying with a Korean Airline but as it turned out , They were much more helpful Comfortable And pleasant than ANY of the US airlines I have ever flown And I can honestly recommend Asianna Airlines!( I had two flights in the US to make an two with Asianna Air, and went from New York to Seoul S Korea then to Manila. I actually booked my flights 6 months prior to leaving but the actual flying seemed like it took years ! You might say I was very excited be on my way..
As for golf, I don’t know what your handicap is but mine is Absolutely no talent for the game!
Hey Joe!
My trip there in 2009 was 18.5 hours of air time(plus one hour of circling Japan, as they had a bird flu outbreak and we were delayed in landing). Then, a 5 hour drive to her aunt’s house where I stayed. I took a two hour nap, and was good to go. I was too excited to be there to sleep much. And I didn’t sleep a wink on the way there either. Too excited to meet my wife to be in person!
Don’t get me started on golf. I don’t know how people can possibly think it is relaxing! I lost 28 golf balls on one run of an 18 hole course! If there is water, they went right to it. And as for distance… I was told I was trying to hit it too hard. I thought that was the point… kill the ball and make it FLY! Apparently you need to become the ball and fly. I don’t know. It just stresses me out! Let me sit on a nice shaded porch and drink a lemonade with vodka, and I’ll relax.
Once she gets the 10 year green card how long will it take to process her citizenship? Sound’s like it may be some time before you move to the Philippines.
Nathan,
Unfortunately, I think you’re right. Which makes me very sad. Expected time for completion of the citizenship is currently a six month wait. So, with the ten year card two months out, that puts us eight months from completion of that, and another ten days or so to get her U.S. Passport. I hope to fly out of here the day after we get her ID! Ok, I know that will most likely not happen, but I want to fly out as soon as we can after that happens.
I sympathize with what you are going through. With all honesty the Canadian Government is not much better. It was 22 months from the time we sent my wife’s permanent resident application before she received it. We applied for her citizenship after 5 years in Canada waited around 10 months, application still pending. We went to the Philippines for a couple months and questions what was waiting for us when we returned home? Her notice to appear for her test, dated 2 weeks ago.
Sometime during the last winter season my wife had decided that Northern Canadian winters were no longer fun and it was time to move to the Philippines. We called Immigration to see about rescheduling her test but they accused her of not being a permanent resident. We had to fill out a form showing everyone she had left the country with proof. Forms filled out, photocopies of tickets and passports sent we waited another 6 months.
Once she received her citizenship she regained her Philippines citizenship as well as the kids dual. When then sent my 13a in to the Consulate in Vancouver and 10 days later my passport was back in my hands with the visa inside.
What I did not understand in the whole issue was other than the medical forms, no one else actually looked at any of the documentation in Manila. They just passed me an ACR card form, filled it out paid the fee and told to come back in a week.
To sum it all up the waiting sucks……
You best plan for the worst and pray for the best on the citizenship. I hope that your wife has studied up for the test. It took several trips for us. We had to drive 250 miles to a special location for fingerprints that were already on file from two other locations. Drive 220 miles to Philadelphia for the test. WAIT. Then another trip to Philadelphia for a group acceptance and ceremony.
Dave L.
My wife is a whiz at testing and memorization, so I think it’ll be no problem for her. Plus, she and a friend of hers are studying and quizzing each other as often as they get together. So, I hope that will help them both.
We don’t have to drive very far, only about 30 minutes or so. They put the immigration building in the seediest part of Detroit they could find. But, it is a nice new building, and it is secure. So, no issues there.
My wife and I both HATE southern Michigan winters, so I can only imagine how your wife feels about northern Candian winters.
I feel her pain, and I was born and raised here!!
Leaving the country prior to citizenship CAN cause an issue here as well. They have guidelines for how much time you are “allowed” to leave the country before it begins to interfere with her status as a “permanent resident”. My friend’s wife is Chinese, and she travels back and forth for work, so it is difficult for them. They have to constantly make sure she is NOT gone too long, otherwise, her residency would be in question. passporrt stamps, and other papers are required to show that she is in-country long enough by the government standards.
My wife has been here since the day she flew here on December 24, 2009. She has not left, so that is going to help us… a little. As in, no extra paperwork.
I have checked into the visa for me to go there, and it seems very straight forward. I contacted the consulate in Chicago, and they were very helpful and considerate, and answered EVERY question I had in only a few minutes. Here, it would take months, if they could answer them at all.
I know I am showing my ignorance, but is there a difference between a 10 year residency and a green card? Also, what is the status of a spouse with a green card as it relates to various spousal benefits, e.g. Social Security widows benefits, etc?
I know it is an involved subject so just the highlights would be fine.
I guess it is because I never thought about that but since I would not rule out getting married if I found the right person, I am interested.
Thank you and good luck on the kafkaesque nightmare that is government bureaucratic maze.
LeRoy
LeRoy,
No, there is no difference. Growing up, I knew it as a green card. Something I think I picked up from the movies. But it is a permanent resident card. The first one you get is good for two years. It has restrictions. Once the two years is up, you apply for the removal of the restrictions, which gives you the ten year card. Once you have the ten year card, she can then apply for her citizenship. I think she would have been able to apply now if we didn’t run into paperwork problem earlier on. I didn’t include some tax papers, so they rejected our application before, and when we had to submit the tax papers, which set us back a couple of months to get the first card. So, technically, we could have applied for her citizenship at her three year anniversary of being married, but the paperwork was off due to my own neglect of having my tax forms included in our first set of paperwork to get her two year citizenship papers.
One error in the beginning can set you back months down the road… even years, I have heard.
Thanks for the updates Scott. I fully agree with you on follow up and more follow up on everything. It seems there is so much mis-information about so many things these days. Good luck to you as your preparations for the move continue.
There was an old theory I had in business that I used often… if you don’t get the answer you want from the first person you call, call again and again until someone answers the phone that has the answer you want. It got me a lot of business deals, and helped my success. I was much more patient back then.
Hi Scott. Just wondering, are you moving to your wife’s home Province of Pangasinan or elsewhere? You make a very good point in your article. Not only do we need the follow through, but it’s important to get a second opinion from homeland on a tricky or unusual situation. Hang in there!
Casey,
We are still debating where we will move, but I think Pangasinan or somewhere nearby. La Union, or maybe even Bataan, or Pampanga. I’ve seen so many houses and pieces of land online that I don’t want to make a hasty decision from 8000 miles away, so I’m waiting until we get there and look around before we decide. There’s a lot fo work to be done when we first get there… and lots of articles to write about that work.
Scott
I’ve been following your post, and am experiencing similar circumstances. My wife, from Pangasinan, and I have recently filed for her 10 year card, and did not have sufficient documentation to prove our relationship. We don’t have any children together, I never added her to the mortgage, or any other bills for that matter, so I had to get insurance, PoA and my will as backup documentation and send it all in to USCIS. And now we wait……Fortunately, I am looking at retirement in 3 years, so we aren’t in any hurry.
We have also encountered the marriage resgistration issue in PI. My wife returned home for Christmas, and when I booked her ticket, I used her maiden name. By the time she traveled, her name change had come through and her passport had been changed. The result was she traveled with 2 passports, marriage certificate, and the letter from USCIS that her name change was processed. With all the papers, she had no problems, but was nervous, all the way.
If you find any “special” places in Pangasinan, or La Union, let me know. We are looking in the same areas for a home.
Good Luck with the processing.
David,
Is your wife from that area? Where in Pangasinan? I’ve found numerous pieces of land for sale, but I am looking for something on a main road, as I would like for my wife to be able to have a business if she wants. The land I have found on main roads have an access road to the property, which doesn’t give her enough space for a building roadside. But, there are PLENTY of properties out there. Do you want land, or a house already built?
Since you’re in no hurry I will be looking at houses, land, etc when I get there and will be posting feedback on housing developments I’ve checked out, and the quality of construction. However, I can tell you that the quality of materials there is nothing like we have here as a standard… unless you have them make it for you! I’m looking to rent first, but there’s some areas that I think will be going up in value, and I might buy land right away… unlike things here in the U.S. it’s much harder to understand or find answers to questions when you’re 8,000 miles away from what it is you’re interested in.
If you want, check out this website https://www.ayosdito.ph It has a listing for all kinds of things for sale there, including land, and/or houses. Even some rentals. This will give you an idea. I check it out just about every day. It’s where I have found MOST of the listings for sale.
hope you are keeping your stress under control Scott. yes i love reading the ayoskito ads and have found some interesting things i wanna check out when I get there. I dont know what kind of business your wife is interested in but it seems those skinny strips of commercial land along the roadways would fit a shipping container quite well and they can be configured for all kinds of uses. they are cheap to buy and very durable. might wanna check that out. enjoying the updates but not the realism of the preparations we will be facing when the time comes.
Shipping containers is a very cool thing to use for many purposes. They’re being used in the Philippines, and other countries for that matter, for all sorts of purposes, inlcuding businesses. But, the land I was looking at only had enough road rights of way for a driveway, and no place for a shipping container.
I’m actually considering building a house with them, but don’t know if it will be cost effective once I factor in moving them, and paying welders to cut everything. Plus, since it is a new method of construction, not many people know how to build using them.
But, I’m not ruling it out until I get there.
And Scott, never trust the person you spoke over the phone at USCIS. Unfortunately, you’ll have to do your own research and read their own forms for accurate processing information.
I had been following your journey and it’s good to hear some updates from you. Good luck!
Anah,
You’re right. I don’t know who to trust. Who is right, and who is wrong? I simply don’t know. But, I’d rather wait to be sure, because I cannot find anything in their policies regarding whether or not the person applying for citizenship must also be a ten year card holder. Only that she be a permanent resident. Which my wife is, just with restrictions. I think not risking it is best. $800 for paperwork processing doesn’t sound like alot, but it’s the cost of a new sidecar for us.
As long as we’re gone before the snow flies again here, I’m pretty happy… for now. 
Reading your posts makes me realize how fortunate I was. Our small town of Sayre, PA has an office with a State Representative, Tina Picket. THEY HAVE STAFF and THEY HAVE PULL. Any questions, forms, phone numbers, are taken care of instantly and no monkey business. You just walk in off the street and no charge for their help and undivided attention. Perhaps you should check with your congressman to see if your area has anything similar?
God Bless
That’s a good idea David! My Congressman has been in office since before time began… almost. LOL! He was able to get me into the Whitehouse once on short notice, so I think maybe, just maybe he can pull some strings for me on this. Good idea indeed!!! Thanks!
Tough situation. I’m betting you didn’t miss that snow based on today’s weather. You’ll be there soon just gotta keep on keeping on.
Mark,
We didn’t get any snow today, but I know there’s more in the future. Though, the long term weather forecast is showing a lot more days in the low 50′s, which is a sure sign of spring coming. I can’t wait for the heat!
Until such time, the fireplace will burn on!
Philippines paperwork easier to do? I think you might change your mind on that statement once you’ve been here.
For example, for my wife to get her passport changed to her married name she had to stand in line all day at DFA and was told she had to attend a meeting to get a certificate from CFO before they would release it. They agreed after some negotiation to process the updated passport, but it could not be released without the CFO certificate.
The required CFO meetings to get the certificate are only held in Manila and Cebu (we live in Davao). She had to fly to Cebu to get this. They required a certified copy of every conceivable document you could imagine – birth certificates, marriage license, death certificate, divorce decrees, etc. Some of these were already being held for the passport, so we had to order new ones. Mind you, she was only getting her name changed to reflect her married name on the marriage license. All these documents were also presented at the time of marriage.
Additionally, only after getting the updated passport released (1 month) can she request a certified true copy of it for our tax purposes. That will take another day at the DFA, and they will not release it the same day, you must come back for it.
Since she works, she had/needs to take time off for each of these days. So the time and expense has been quite a burden already. We aren’t done yet.
Randy,
You’re right. I should at the very least, rephrase. Everything to do HERE with the Philippines seems easy enough. I have been told that I can get most of my stuff done here for the Philippines. And since I would be more comfortable doing it here, I think that is what we will do. besides, it will mean we can go to Chicago, closer than driving to Manila from where we will be living. I have a friend that lives in Chicago, which will mean a free stay with him. And, they have a large Filipino community, so we can go shopping and eat at some filipino restaurants too. Kind of like going to the Philippines, but not. Ok, it’s nothing like it, but hey, a guy can dream. But, I’m not doing that until it’s warm, because it’s even colder there than where I live.
Brother I hear ya.
The USCIS SUCKS!! This is of course based on my own experience. So my wife and I got married in the Philippines.. I am US Military and I hired an immigration attorney to help with everything since I was not about to tackle it alone, didn’t want any hickups along the way in the process. I started the paperwork in Jan 2012 (due to a deployment) and was told to expect between a 9-12 month turn around (possibly sooner due to my service) before she is stateside. Well it is now well over a year and she is still not here. The USCIS sat on the paperwork for over 7 month (which was not supposed to be more than 5 at the time) and they didn’t have the correct address. We (lawyer and I ) put in a greivance with the ohmbudsman (sp?) and mraculously the next day the process jumped from stage 2 to stage 4 (approval). This was the first issue, next it went to the State Dept. where it once again sat for over a month. We once again inquired and was immediately sent an email stating the need for more requirements. Now according to everything I have seen, these agencies are supposed to inform us when there is an issue, but we had to contact them each time beofre anything was done with our paperwork, it was literally just sitting somewhere doing nothing until WE called. Then when we got that cleared up they sent the letter of interview which was to be Jan 3, 2013 (this was in Dec 12) and with the holiday season it was a streach but I was going there for a visti in Dec and we went to St Lukes for the medical portion.. It took a week to get that done and then she was rescheduled for her interveiw due to some of the test results taking 6 weeks to return (a bit of info that would have been handy would it have been posted on the embassy website regarding the medical/visa process). So now her interview is tomorrow and hopefully it will all be cleared up. But I now hear of a fellow soldier whose wife (that I also know from the Phil) arrived this past Sunday after only a 3 months process and I wonder how is that possible? I though maybe it was on a fiancess visa but its not the case, they were also married in the PI as were we, and she is pregnant. I am waitng my wife still after 15 month
Mostly because the USCIS and State Dept personnel fail to do their job accurately and efficiently. Sitting on paperwork waiting for the sponsor to call and make a fuss. Piss poor!
Wow, and I thought I had it bad. Good luck on the interview!! I hope it all works out for you. I can tell you this, all this effort will be worth it when she is with you!! You might even look back and laugh… in about twenty years.
My first issue was whoever entered her information into the database entered it wrong. So, when I called the system to check a status I could not. When I called the “hotline” to check they told me I was not giving the correct birthday. I told them, “I’m giving the right one”. I had to fax her birth certificate to them to fix it, but by the time it was fixed, I had already received the news that we had moved on to the next phase. problem was fixed, but it comes down to the lowest factor… data entering. If it is done incorrectly, your paperwork is going to be screwed! What is sad, is I know that data entry is the lowest paid person, so why would they care if the stuff is wrong. Thankfully, I kept copies of EVERYTHING that was sent in, so I checked and knew I put in the right birthday on the paperwork.
Which is something I should note for everyone else… MAKE COPIES OF EVERYTHING before you send it in. You should have a separate file for yourself to fall back on to prove you did EVERYTHING correctly.
…should have had her come in through Mexico…..no paperwork and they won’t deport you and in less than 10 years she’ll be a citizen !!!
Brian,
You bring up some very important factors that I think so many of us U.S. men think about. Not about breaking the law and sneaking her in, but of the hard work, effort, and cost of bringing her here legally and honestly. Only to have someone sneak across the border and be given so much that we have to fight so hard to get!!!
Unlike so many, I like the Mexican people. They remind me a lot of Filipinos/Filipinas. After all, they were both conquered by Spain and under their control for a long time. Their struggle for a better life is the same too. It’s just hard knowing that just because of their location in relation to our borders, it is MUCh harder to get our wives and fiancees here, and the costs to do so are WAY higher!
And for someone that is “thrifty” like me, it hurts watching someone come here for free. LOL!
Scott: Actually both USCIS answers are correct. It depends upon which way your going on the application (3 years or 5 years). In your wife’s case which is a 3 year rule (3 years from the time she got her first Green Card) she can apply. When you did the Adjustment of Status to get her the 10 year card it frequently happens that the 10 year green card is not issued prior to submitting the N-400 for citizenship.
Trisha, my wife had to do that in 2012 and did get her citizenship in Sep 2012.
Dale,
Thanks for the information. It’s always good to hear from someone else that has done what we’re doing now. And I hope it helps someone else down the line.
Hi Scott,
Papaduck my fiancee before he planned to move here in the Philippines by 2014 but he changed his mind, he decided to move here by the end of july 2013. i was suprised for his decission, he really wanted to see all over the Philippines, according to him he enjoyed
the vacation here last october 2012. he excited to return here in the Philippines.