Hi all I am new here I am in a relationship with my beatiful fillipina girl we started to do online dating through facebook and whats app we are engagged and yes like everyone say befor you can bring here to uk you need to proove you have met in person. She is in singapore at the mo working and i went over from uk to meet her we had a wounderfull time when I cam back home we both are in tears everynight due to can not stand been apart so my girl decided to leave her job and we both have agreed to go to phil at the end of the month the only problem we have is she is still married tey have agreed to a seperration but how do we stand by living together and she wants to start on a legal sepperation and her annulment
What does her husband think of this? There are men in Filipino jails who thought things would be easy. In truth, annulment is a very expensive affair. If the husband is co-operative, it's not so bad (but still expensive). If the husband does object, or if he sniffs an opportunity to make some money from you before agreeing, he can make life extremely difficult for you both, and extremely expensive. You need to get advice from some of the guys on here who know much, much more than I do about all this before you make any rash decisions. You could end up in jail, or dead.
Another hot potato.... I would not recommend sharing a bedroom with the lady unless she is well divorced or at least a few hundred miles away from her husband...
her ex-husband is 5 hours away from her house he is still living in the first house which she had built
The sensible thing for her to do was finalize her annulment before quitting her job (please tell me she hasnt tendered her resignation already). Normal annulment in ph lasts on average 2 yrs and its expensive and that means 2 years of no income for her. If she has a job in SG, it would be easier for her to get a tourist visa and visit you here in the uk (applying for tourist visa independently etc) and see you in between the 2 years. Then after you get the annulment, we dont know what the new rules required by home office requirements for settlement visa is.
hi yes she has quit her job the employers was making it so hard for us to have contact we arrange for us to spend time in singapore then they change their mind and say she can not have time off
if they are under 18 you might want to factor that in to your relationship--if it comes to the stage of your g/f applying to settle in the UK. as regards annulment...plan on £3000 in fees and bungs--and 2-3 years. its essential that NO ONE knows about you untill she gets it---or the costs will go up. especially her husband--he may well want his slice of your pie.
her to children are under 18 the oldest calls me daddy already but they are living with him I think he has been told about me but not said anything to his daughter i am friends with some of his family members on fb and her daughter my main concern is the my gf owns 3 houses in phil one hich is wat her ex is living in and she bought one last year and another this year she is concerned that he might want to claim them how do we go about protecting her houses from him
her ex is sitting on a goldmine ! i know nothing about fili proprty law--maybe someone else can jump in here.
another thought is--her connection with singapore. can she file for divorce from there ? my wife divorced her ex from in the UK when she was here on a student visa. i was advised to go to HK and marry her there--then she apply for settlement in the UK with me--as UKVI would HAVE to regard her UK divorce as genuine. but we decided to get annulment to simplify her life in the filis before she applied. but hers was simple compared to yours.
Something is not right here. You say your girlfriend has not spoken with her husband - the father of her two children - for 11 years and yet these children live with him in one of her houses? And you think he knows about you??? I hope you have very deep pockets and earn a lot of money: you will need both. Your girlfriend risks being arrested and tried for adultery as do you if either of you go to the Philippines. Her husband can use the threat of arrest and prosecution to exact a very high price for her freedom - which would almost certainly include the three houses she owns plus any other assets she has. As the children live with him, he has parental control and can refuse to give consent for them to travel outside the country: they could be held as hostages for a huge payout, possibly a life pension. Given what you say, I think you'll be lucky if the total bill for your girlfriend's freedom does not exceed Php 1 million - about £15k - plus an ongoing monthly payment. The above represents a pessimistic view but is one that you should plan for. Anything less than that should be considered a bonus.
I suggest, as others have mentioned, that you tread carefully. If you visit her in the Philippines you could wind up being arrested for adultery if her husband has a mind to file complaint. You would be foolish to attempt to live together in that situation. You could easily be blackmailed. Likewise, when her husband discovers why she wants an annulment, and secrets are not well-kept in the Philippines, then he is likely to demand a large sum for his cooperation. You will be unable to proceed with any settlement visa application without an annulment. As others have mentioned, you will need plenty of time and deep pockets to resolve the situation. You also need to factor in the cost of the visa applications that you will need. I suspect that you will need more than fifteen thousand pounds when all is said and done.
And in answer to @bigmac's proposal - I would suggest not. She remains legally married in the Philippines regardless of whether she files for, and obtains a divorce in singapore, because that divorce would not be recognised in the Philippines. She would therefore be unable to provide a CENOMAR which would be required, should she attempt to file for a settlement visa whilst in the Philippines. If she intends to file for visa eleswhere, the question then becomes which court has jurisdiction over the matter. If she was a permanent resident of singapore and intended to live there, then a singaporean divorce would be considered to have jurisdiction. However, if she merely visited singapore in order to shop for a divorce, that court would not be considered to have jurisdiction and consequently she would remain married in the Philippines and so would be unable to legally remarry. I feel that an annulment is the most sensible option.
