When a foreigner crosses cultures just to acquire a Filipina bride, he has to go through numerous hassles, like complying with mountains of paperwork, spending hundreds of dollars and waiting for a long time before he can finally take his Filipina bride to his country. Processing the requirements for a fiancee or spouse visa takes time and the length of the waiting time depends on where you live.



You can either apply for a fiancee visa (K1 Fiancee Via) or a spouse visa (IR-1) for your Filipina bride, but you still have to comply with several requirements. There are many specialized lawyers that can help you with this. The law requires that you and your Filipina girlfriend must have been legally free to marry and if your girlfriend is granted a fiancee visa, you have to marry her within 90 days after arrival in your own country.

You may need to show documents to prove your relationship with your Filipina girlfriend so keep track of those emails you exchanged with each other, letters, photos, plane tickets and any other proof that you have a relationship going on.

To obtain a spouse visa for your Filipina bride, first of all you must get married so you can petition your Filipina wife to migrate to your own country. If you get married in the Philippines, you must comply with all the requirements of applying a marriage certificate and getting married whether in the church or civil ceremony.

You must not forget to bring important documents if you want to get married in the Philippines, like your US passport, an Affidavit from the US Embassy, a divorce decree or spouse's death certificate if you were previously married, proof that you have informed your parents if you are 22 to 24, or proof of parental consent if you are 18 to 21 years old. These are needed in filing for a marriage license. Your marriage must be authentic and valid under the Philippine laws, and only then can you file a petition to get a visa for your Filipina wife.

Here is a brief run on the procedures of acquiring a spouse visa. After you return to your own country, you should file a petition with the nearest office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) where your place of residence is covered. The INS will in turn send the papers to your Filipina bride for her to comply. You and your Filipina bride must return all required forms to the National Visa Center, who will in turn forward all of the documents to the US Embassy, including your Affidavit of Support.

Your Filipina bride will then have to wait for an interview with the consular officer in your Embassy who will determine if she will be issued a visa or not. If you join bride tours, they will take care of all the visa processing and immigration procedures but if you came on your own, you and your Filipina fiance will have to do the petitioning or applying of her visa.