By Lourdes Santos Tancinco
CALIFORNIA, United States—Renato married Juslyn in 1997 in a simple civil ceremony. They have two children, born in 1998 and 2000. In 2001, Renato visited the US and never returned. He subsequently married an American citizen, Mary Anne, who then filed a petition to make him a green card holder or permanent resident.
Renato had concealed his prior marriage in 1997, as well as the existence of his two minor children. In 2005, he was naturalized a US citizen, again concealing his prior marriage and children. Thereafter, he filed for the annulment of his first marriage in the Philippines.
Last year, Renato decided to file petitions with the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) to bring his children, now 10 and 12 years old, to the US.
Renato received a letter from the USCIS asking for additional information regarding the mother of the two children. He was asked to prove that his marriage to the mother of his children had been validly annulled. Since he did not annul his marriage prior to marrying again in the US, the petitions for the children were both denied.
The USCIS then forwarded Renato’s case for further investigation to determine whether he committed fraud in obtaining his immigrant visa.
Bigamous marriage
A subsequent marriage without annulling a prior marriage will definitely result in a bigamous arrangement. The USCIS would not have approved Renato’s application for permanent resident status had they known that his marriage to a US citizen was bigamous. While it may seem to be irrational to enter into a second marriage without first obtaining dissolution of the first marriage, cases of this kind are not uncommon.
A bigamous marriage is not looked upon with favor either in the Philippines or in the US. For some, the first marriage is actually intact and the second is but a marriage-for-convenience for immigration purposes. In other cases, the second marriage is a genuine husband and wife union. But when a prior marriage involving one of the parties is discovered, issues of trust and betrayal arise.
Since divorce is not allowed in the Philippines, what some migrant Filipinos do is obtain a divorce in the US and use this divorce decree to enter into a subsequent marriage. While foreign divorces are legally recognized in the jurisdiction where it was obtained, such divorce decrees are not recognized in the Philippines—unless the former Filipino national is a US citizen.
Children in dilemma
After remarrying and obtaining a US green card or US citizenship, the bigamous parent usually applies for an immigrant visa for the children. Concealment of the existence of a prior marriage and children in prior applications will most likely yield problems in the petitioning process.
Questions regarding the marriage of the parents of the children being petitioned will always arise. If the prior marriage was not validly annulled and this fact had been concealed, the petition for the children’s immigrant visa will not be granted because of “prior fraud.”
Although the children are not the ones who perpetrated the fraud, they suffer the effects of misrepresentation by the petitioning parent.
Criminal prosecution
No legitimate purpose will be served by misrepresenting the existence of a prior marriage and children in applying for immigrant benefits.
It is not true that the naturalization to a US citizen will resolve all prior fraud or misrepresentation.
A person who made false claims in his naturalization application is liable for criminal prosecution.
On the other hand, when a migrant, whether a US citizen or not, is able to obtain a valid divorce in his new place of residence abroad and has since remarried, the foreign divorce should be made valid in the Philippines. This will allow the divorced spouse left behind to also move on and remarry. In addition, the children’s future with regard to their support and custody, as well as their qualification to be petitioned by the migrant parent, will not be compromised.
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