Hello, newbie here, looking for advice on a number of issues..:)

Hello there, I am James from the UK. I have been in a relationship with a lovely lady from the Philippines for 4 years odd. At the start we we conversing online, videocalls every day, with my taking vacations to visit her every 6 months. About 12 months ago I paid for and she brought a house, out in Quezon, and I have been living with her since June. She is married, and has 4 children by her husband. She and her husband haven't been together for 5 years odd, although their kids live with us. Things were going very well for us, until my wife fell pregnant. Now that the news has got back to her husband, he is threatening us with filing a complaint of adultery against us, unless she goes back to him, with the kids.. My wife had mentioned something about this law when we first met, but she said it was unlikely that he would do such a thing. I was stupid enough to not look into this as a real possibility.

Now, I am looking for advice, firstly on getting my unborn child a UK passport.. He is to be born the end of July 2017, God willing. Does the fact that she is married to another guy make this process any more difficult? Any advice relating to steps I must take would be gratefully appreciated. Any ideas on how long this process takes would be appreciated too, as we need to do it as fast as possible.

Secondly, as neither of us fancy spending 6 odd years in a Philippines jail, we are planning on making a move to the UK.. AT first we felt that a 6 month visitor visa would be quickest and easiest option, just to get us both out the country, then make moves towards a residential visa after that. Obviously we can't go anywhere until our baby is born and the passport for him is received.. We are also planning on bringing her 5 year old son with us, leaving the older kids here in Quezon with her parents looking after them, until we are settled and sorted then we can look to bring them to the UK also.

SO basically a 'visa and UK passport' question.

Advanced thanks to all and any who can contribute.

Hello James and welcome

Given your circumstances, I'd strongly suggest you carry-out a risk assessment for yourself, your partner and her children. Her husband could very well use her adultery as a means of gouging large sums of money from you or resort to violence. I would say that it is unlikely he wants his wife and children back as he most probably has already replaced her; but, in his eyes, you have something that belongs to him.

You need a place of safety. That means you need to move not only to another city but to another island. Put distance between you and him.Given that your partner is pregnant, I'd suggest either Cebu City or Davao City. I've lived in both and the latter is much safer. Both have first class hospitals: Cebu Doctors Hospital, Perpetual Succour and Chong Hua in Cebu and Davao Doctors and Brokenshire in Davao. Both my sons were born in Davao Doctors and I have no hesitation in recommending the place. Either rent-out your house in Quezon or move family members in as care-takers. But don't tell them or anyone else where you are hiding.

Your partner needs to initiate her annulment: for her to move to another country, she needs to be single or married to you. This process could take a year or more. Use a trustworthy lawyer, I can give you a recommendation for one in Davao.

If your child is due in July, then your wife most likely became pregnant in October or November. The Immigration stamps in your Passport must prove that you were in the Philippines from September and, for the purposes of your unborn child's British Passport, you should not leave the country until after you have submitted the Passport application. The Passport Office is in the process of changing its requirements for photographs. These changes currently apply for all renewals but it is possible that you will submit electronic photos rather than printed ones. If printed ones are still required, you will need to find a professional (eg a Solicitor) based in the UK and who holds a British Passport who has known you for at least five(??) years to certify the child's photo. Your Solicitor can do this by you producing your child on camera during a Skype video call.

British Passport applications take at least six months and up to a year or more to process. You must obtain and retain all doctors' notes, scans, tests etc., relating to your partner's pregnancy as well as during her confinement and delivery. Extra Brownie points for including a photo of your wife and you being handed the baby post-partem. You will not be able to apply until you have the NSO Birth Certificate and this should accompany the hospital's (original) Certificate of Live Birth. It would help if you get the child's Philippine Passport and include that with the application (the Passport Office does accept a certified copy).

Given the financial requirement which, in your case, will be monumental plus the cost of the visa fees, the UK may not be an "ideal" destination, certainly initially. You may need to look at a destination in the EU and use it as a springboard into the UK via the "Surinderr Singh route".

probably easiest and cheaper if you have the husband bumped off.

Agree with Markham, but I think the person signing that the photo is a true likeness of your child must have known you for at least 2 years and not 5.

The process of annulment is a long one. It is also very expensive.

Good luck and I hope everything goes well.

get an annulment--? on what grounds exactly ? the usual is mental incapacity--which in most cases involves co-operation or collusion with the defendant. which in this case is likely to carry a high price tag. a million pp ive read somewhere.

Desertion and concubinage.

on the husbands part i meant.

Only a husband can commit concubinage which, under the Penal Code, is the male equivalent offence to adultery.

Concubinage is a crime that is committed by the husband. But, and I could be wrong, the husband has to be caught in the scandalous act.

I remember stories of husbands being presumed dead if they hadn't been heard from for 7 years. This allowed previously married Filipinas to marry on grounds of being a widow.

For clarification

Concubinage is committed by a married man who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual intercourse with a woman not his wife under scandalous circumstances or shall cohabit with her in any other place.

oh--i now see this is in fact 2 threads.

Hello James and welcome

Given your circumstances, I'd strongly suggest you carry-out a risk assessment for yourself, your partner and her children. Her husband could very well use her adultery as a means of gouging large sums of money from you or resort to violence. I would say that it is unlikely he wants his wife and children back as he most probably has already replaced her; but, in his eyes, you have something that belongs to him.
Hi Markham, please excuse my late reply. What you say here may be the case, I am recieving the info I have about him through my partner, I have nothing to do with her husband, have never even met him. However, from what I am told, he has had girlfriends since his separation from his wife but currently is single.. Either way the situation is much the same for me!

You need a place of safety. That means you need to move not only to another city but to another island. Put distance between you and him.Given that your partner is pregnant, I'd suggest either Cebu City or Davao City. I've lived in both and the latter is much safer. Both have first class hospitals: Cebu Doctors Hospital, Perpetual Succour and Chong Hua in Cebu and Davao Doctors and Brokenshire in Davao. Both my sons were born in Davao Doctors and I have no hesitation in recommending the place. Either rent-out your house in Quezon or move family members in as care-takers. But don't tell them or anyone else where you are hiding.
This sounds like the best plan, should a move to the UK prove impossible. It would be inconvenient in many ways, but less of a problem than 7 years in jail.. But would be a last resort after the UK option falls through.

Your partner needs to initiate her annulment: for her to move to another country, she needs to be single or married to you. This process could take a year or more. Use a trustworthy lawyer, I can give you a recommendation for one in Davao.
I have done some research on this issue, and as far as I can tell, it seems to me that an annulment is only possible if her husband consents to sign the papers. As I am told, this is not something he will do at the present time. Is my understanding the same as yours?

If your child is due in July, then your wife most likely became pregnant in October or November. The Immigration stamps in your Passport must prove that you were in the Philippines from September and, for the purposes of your unborn child's British Passport, you should not leave the country until after you have submitted the Passport application. The Passport Office is in the process of changing its requirements for photographs. These changes currently apply for all renewals but it is possible that you will submit electronic photos rather than printed ones. If printed ones are still required, you will need to find a professional (eg a Solicitor) based in the UK and who holds a British Passport who has known you for at least five(??) years to certify the child's photo. Your Solicitor can do this by you producing your child on camera during a Skype video call.
I have been in the Philippines since June 2016, with the exception of an 8 week period, January to March 2017. I had planned another visit to the UK in August, to get some professional legal advise regarding my issues. I have never had a solicitor before and therefor do not know one who has known me for 5 years. In your opinion, would it be easier to get my baby a Philippines passport, and have him and my partner come over to the UK on a Visitors Visa (an easier process so I am led to believe). I could then apply for the UK passport from the UK..

British Passport applications take at least six months and up to a year or more to process. You must obtain and retain all doctors' notes, scans, tests etc., relating to your partner's pregnancy as well as during her confinement and delivery. Extra Brownie points for including a photo of your wife and you being handed the baby post-partem. You will not be able to apply until you have the NSO Birth Certificate and this should accompany the hospital's (original) Certificate of Live Birth. It would help if you get the child's Philippine Passport and include that with the application (the Passport Office does accept a certified copy).
We have ultrasounds and doctors notes etc.. And I cannot see why we would not be able to get a picture of us having the baby handed to us after delivery, or have the other necessary documents as you suggest.

Given the financial requirement which, in your case, will be monumental plus the cost of the visa fees, the UK may not be an "ideal" destination, certainly initially. You may need to look at a destination in the EU and use it as a springboard into the UK via the "Surinderr Singh route.
Thank you for this info, I have no idea what this entails but I shall certainly look into it.

Thank you so much for the time and effort you have made in replying to me in such a detailed manner. I am sorry somehow your post slipped through my net originally. I am very grateful for any and all info and opinions I can get at this stressful time in my life. I owe you one.

In that case, your situation is more dangerous as it will be much more difficult to mitigate against her adultery by citing her husband's alleged concubinage. Proving his wrong-doing may not be possible.

Put any thoughts of moving to the UK with your partner and your (unborn) child in the short to medium term firmly out of your mind. It isn't going to happen.

Yes he will need to sign documents and you may have to wait until seven clear years from the date of his last contact with his wife and/or children before she can seek an annulment on the basis of presumed death. Even if he does agree - and usually a few million would clinch it, he could still object to his children relocating abroad. His permission would need to be sought regardless.

In your case I think Visitors Visa for the UK would be denied and in any event you can not convert a Visitors Visa to one that grants a right to settlement: they can only be applied for in the Philippines. All Passport applications are now nominally made in the UK but in the case of children born abroad, detailed checks will be made by Home Office staff attached to the British Embassy. And, by the way, your child would not be issued with temporary travel documents: these are only issued to British citizens in an emergency and are only valid for a single one way journey to the UK; they are not issued to someone who has never held a Passport and whose citizenship has to be established.

I don't think the husband has to sign any papers, but could be wrong.

From memory of reading posts on various forums, There must be no collusion between the parties, so I think her going and asking him to sign forms may indicate collusion.

I read some stories elsewhere, including one that said her husband did not respond to the petition but the annulment proceeded anyway.

I would be inclined to speak to your MP.

@jayson . the more i read of your story--the more i think you need to get the husband on your side. its all about money.
all his friends will have told him what to demand--so its up to your negotiating skills. thats if you intend to live over in the filis.

find out as much as you can about him. does he work ? what sort of money will he be earning. is --say--a million pp ( > £16,000 ) likely to buy him ?
that may sound a lot--but its comparatively cheap compared to the cost of visas for your partner--and her kids--for UK 5 year settlement .

for what its worth--my wife got an annulment from her ex---with his full co-operation and collusion. that cost me £2000.

( incidentally--she had already filed for a divorce in the UK while she was here on a student visa beforehand. 5 years separation with consent )

i dont know how she got her ex on her side--but i suspect their jointly owned house and farm got thrown in to the deal.

absolutely--LOL

Did the process take a long time?

One other thing about adultery. I believe that only the husband can file a civil case. But, he must file against his wife AND her paramour.

What does he know about you? Your name? If you are out of the country, he would (I guess) have less of a case because he cannot file a case against his wife only.

What would happen if, say, his wife claimed that the child could have any number of fathers? Would he then face costs on proving it "hey buster, it's one of these 49 men so you need to do some DNA testing.

What if the child was conceived outside the Philippines, for example? Any case of adultery would then have happened outside the country's jurisdiction.

Also, is there any place he can check to see if a case has been filed against him?

Why do u feel a 6month visitor visa would be rejected? I felt that 6months in the safety of the UK would be a good start just to make plans for our next move, without any threat of police turning up at the house with arrest warrents!

From what my wife tells me, and this may be wrong, I never met the man, but she says it is more about him wanting his wife back, he keeps telling her he loves her etc.. and he wants a second chance. She says she has moved on, and I believe her, He was not a nice person to live with by all accounts.. But without getting too personal... His 4 kids live with us and they see him whenever he requests (within school holidays etc). I also support all 4 of their private education. He knows his wife is a good mother and how much it would hurt the kids if she wasn't around. He has a job but cannot really afford to support 4 kids on his own, and def could not give them a private education, or the lifestyle they are accustomed too... My only real hope is that he recognises the hurt he will be doing to his kids if he does go through with this, and that stops him.. He has made numerous other threats in the past, regarding other things, and has seen none of them through...

Another thought comes to mind, what if we paid him off, we wouldn't have any guarantees that he would cooperate after he receives payment..