2018
Business of the Year

Visa Guide:
How to move from the
Philippines to the U.S.

Find your visa

Boundless is your best bet at immigration success.

Get personalized support as you move from the Philippines to the U.S.

Marriage Green Card

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K-1 Fiancé Visa

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Boundless helped over 1,000 families from the Philippines last year. We've helped over 70,000 families in the last decade.

Here's how to apply for specific visas, contact the U.S. embassy in the Philippines, and more:

Basahin ito sa Tagalog

In this guide:

1. K-1 Fiancé Visa
2. Marriage-Based Green Cards
3. Immigrating with Children
4. U.S. Embassy Information
5. Boundless Philippines Office Locations
6. Special Considerations
7. Testimonials
8. Additional Resources

K-1 Fiancé Visa

General process

Looking to apply for a K-1 fiancé visa? The general K-1 visa process looks the same for Filipino applicants as it does for applicants from other countries. More information on K-1 wait times, costs, and requirements can be found in Boundless’ K-1 guide. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of K-1 costs and processing times:

Timeline for filipino applicants

Cost for filipino applicants

Marriage-Based Green Cards

General Process

If you and your partner are already married, or considering marriage soon, you may be thinking about applying for a marriage-based green card. Similar to the K-1 visa, the marriage-based green card process is standard for Filipino applicants. Wait times, costs, and requirements differ depending on where the Filipino spouse lives and whether the sponsoring spouse is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. More information can be found in Boundless’ marriage-based green card guide. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the costs and processing times for your specific situation:

Timeline for filipino applicants

Cost for filipino applicants

Which Visa is Right for Me?

Immigrating with Children

K-2 Visas

Looking to immigrate from the Philippines with your children? If you’re going the K-1 visa route, the K-2 visa may be a good option for your family. The K-2 visa can be used by the children of a K-1 fiancé visa holder to enter the United States and immigrate with their parent at the same time.

Boundless can help you include any unmarried children under the age of 21 on your K-1 fiancé visa application for no extra charge. Learn more about what we do to help.

IR-2 Child Visas

If you’re a U.S. citizen and your child is living in the Philippines, it may be possible to sponsor them for a green card through the IR-2 child visa process. More information on the process and requirements can be found in Boundless’ IR-2 guide.

Boundless can help you include your children on your green card application for just $450 per child. Check your family’s eligibility here.

U.S. Embassy Information

All immigrant visa applications in the Philippines are processed at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

U.S. Embassy in Manila

1201 Roxas Boulevard

Manila, Philippines 1000

Phone: (632) 5301-2000

The U.S. Embassy’s Visa Information and Appointment Service Center hotlines are (+632) 8548-8223 and (+632) 7792-8988. The call center is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Manila time) for inquiries and visa interview scheduling.

Boundless Philippines Office Locations

Boundless and our partner company RapidVisa have helped thousands of families from the Philippines — many of which we’ve helped in-person, since we’ve had established offices in both Manila and Cebu City for the last decade!

Our Manila office is located directly across the street from the U.S. embassy and our Cebu City office is conveniently located in the central business district. More information on our Philippines offices can be found here.

Our customer service teams in Manila and Cebu City also offer phone and live chat support in Tagalog and Visayan, 7 days a week.

Special Considerations

Travel Visa Options

Interested in traveling to the U.S. to visit family or to simply enjoy a vacation? For short-term travel in the U.S., Filipino citizens can apply for a B-1/B-2 travel visa. This tourist visa is a temporary, non-immigrant visa that allows people to travel to the U.S. for either business or tourism purposes. If you’re interested in traveling to the U.S., it’s important to understand the travel visa requirements and the application process overall. Check out our Philippines-specific travel visa guide for more information.

If you need more travel inspiration, we’ve even gathered a list of the top Filipino travel bloggers on social media today! Check out their blogs for helpful travel tips, how-to guides, and more.

For additional information on cost, wait time, and required documents for the B1/B2 Visitor Visa, Boundless can help. Learn more about how we guide you through the tourist visa process.

Joint Sponsor Exemption — K-1 Visa

It is important to note that not all K-1 visa applications allow for the use of joint sponsors. K-1 visa applicants specifically from the Philippines are unable to enlist joint sponsors for their applications. It is possible, however, to enlist joint sponsors for CR-1 and IR-1 spousal visa applications.

Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS)

All Filipino nationals immigrating to another country as fiancé(e)s or spouses of foreign nationals are required to attend the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) guidance and counseling session in order to secure the Guidance and Counseling Certificate (GCC). It is important to note that this is a requirement of the Philippines government, not the U.S. government.

The counseling session runs for a minimum of four hours and is meant to provide the applicant with adequate information regarding inter-marriage and migration, the cultural and social realities of living abroad, as well as available support networks for women in distress.

Applicants can attend the seminar at the CFO office in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Davao City, or Clark Pampanga. For more information on each location, see the CFO site.

More information on the CFO seminar can also be found on our partner company RapidVisa’s site.

Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR)

Filipino nationals applying for K-1 visas and spousal visas are required to submit a “Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR)” to prove they are legally able to marry their U.S. citizen sponsor (and therefore eligible to apply for the visa in question).

The CENOMAR must be issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and be printed on PSA security paper. Applicants can call the PSA directly at 632-737-1111 for more information, or visit their website. For spousal visa applicants, the sponsor (the U.S. citizen or green card holder) is also required to obtain a CENOMAR. This is to ensure the sponsor does not have a previous Philippines marriage that has not been resolved, and they too are legally able to marry their Filipino partner.

Philippines Marriage Certificate

For marriage green card applications where the marriage occurred in the Philippines, applicants are now required to provide an official marriage certificate issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) no longer accepts marriage certificates from the local civil registrar’s office. Please note that it can often take up to two or three months to obtain the PSA certified copy of the marriage certificate in some cases. A photocopy of the original PSA certified marriage certificate is generally accepted by USCIS.

Work Visa Options

If you’re interested in working in the U.S., there are several different work visa options to explore. Each work visa has specific eligibility requirements, application processes, and durations. Some work visas may allow for a path to permanent residence in the U.S., while others are intended for short-term purposes only. Boundless’ guide explores the different types of work visa options so you can determine which path may be the best for you.

Financial Considerations

Moving to the U.S. and navigating a different financial system can be a challenge. Boundless put together some helpful finance tips and resources for new immigrants in the U.S. in our financial guide.

Our financial guide provides information on establishing your financial footprint in the U.S., such as how to conduct banking services in the U.S. and how to build credit and obtain credit cards. You can also find helpful tips for filing taxes and obtaining health insurance coverage as a new immigrant.

Testimonials

“Boundless is amazing! It really helped me and my wife gather specific documents and have received proper guidance with it. Almost perfect! But I think there were times where it got a little bit delayed but no complaints!”

—Lawrence, Philippines

“Everything was very easy from the beginning to the end. What you’re doing is overdue: making a service like this available to everyone without having to pay thousands of dollars for an attorney.”