(HOT TOPIC OF ALL TIME)
What I am about to emphasize here is based solely on my own experienced. My only intention here is to give full and honest reviews on both sides. You can drop your comments at the bottom of this page if there are things that I forgot to mention or you want your opinion to be heard. I am not siding on either; I will try to be neutral on my voice about why some Western Foreign men choose to marry a Filipina and why Filipina chose to marry western men. I have heard so many BS about Western men and Filipino women. Some can be true to either and most of this nasty feedback for both foreign men and Filipino women are just basically generalizing in whole.
You have heard and probably met and maybe you have some friends who are married to Filipina. You see them being a very happy couple. You heard how amazing their relationship is. You may have also heard how wonderful Filipina can be as a wife. They are very attractive, loving, loyal, sweet, cute, and responsible; overall they are one of the best wives a man can have. You as a Western man might have negative experiences with Western women, so you decided to give a Filipina woman a shot. But wait a minute; you need to do some research. Knowing Filipino culture can save you time and money in the long run. Do not rust in just because you are lonely or just because you fall in love with that cute little girl on the Internet that you just met who have told you that you are the most handsome man in the world and that she loves you so much. Do not fall for it.
You as an individual need to get to know this person well. There is so much stuff for you to learn about the culture of Filipino women. Filipinas indeed are very loving and loyal to their husband. Filipinas main focuses as a wife is to provide a happy life for her family. But take note, marrying one is not an easy task. For one thing, it is going to cost a few thousand dollars from the time you started communicating with her to the time you decide to bring her over to your country. If money is not a problem then you are one of the lucky ones. For those foreign men who are living paycheck to paycheck, know that it can be quite costly to bring her back to your country. If you feel marrying a Filipina is your best choice, then you have so many years to save up even before you can go and meet this girl in person. But if you think you have found that unique, lovely, sweet and honest Filipina woman, every penny that you spent is worth it.
MONEY SUBJECTS:
There are so many honest Filipina out there. Even in the middle of the crisis, they will not utter the words to their foreign men "I need money because....my little niece is sick, my brother has cancer, etc......" They survived before you came into their life, so why can't they survive now? Sure we all need money. But an honest and decent Filipina woman will not beg for help or demand money from their fiancée or spouse. This is very typical for those Filipina women who are highly respectable and virtues. If in any circumstances that some Filipino girls will beg you for money, you better run. A Filipino girl should never ask for money in the early of the relationship. After a while, if finances allow, then she may ask to have money sent home to the family. Meanwhile, if this occurs too soon in the relationship this may be a red flag that she is after your money more than your love.
If you are really serious about getting a Filipina wife and bring her over to your country, you should BE AWARE! Okay, let's fast forward. You have met your Filipina girl in person. You came back to your country and you continue on communicating with her. You finally said to yourself that she is the one. Before you even begin the petitioning process, here’s the list that I have compiled that might help you along the way.
You like the idea of having a Filipino wife but you don't want kids in the future.
Solution: You better make sure getting the Filipina to understand you and who can accept you for not having kids with her because if you don't say so beforehand this can leads to misunderstanding and worse yet divorce in the future. Better solution: Get the ones who have already kids who are unmarried.
Take note: It is very expensive to get an annulment in the Philippines. So do not ever get married there. This is for your benefit and hers in the future just in case your married does not last. That way, she does not have to go that expensive long drawn out annulment route and you don't end up spending a lot of money to annul your marriage in the Philippines.
You don't like the idea of her sending money every month to her family.
Solution: You better have a nice long talk with her making her understand that money is not growing on the tree where you can just pluck. If she really wanted to do this, make her understand that you two will have your own life and your own bills to pay first. Tell her about the mortgage because they don't have that in the Philippines or let me take it back. The majority of homeowners in the Philippines are mostly renters. To some who owns one are those who can afford. Tell her about your car payment, a student loan that you are still paying up to now, or child support. Make her understand that this is your first priority that you two need to pull your money together and take care of your household bills first before she can even send money to her family. Or she can work something on the side to help out both her primary family which is you (husband) and your future kids, then she can help out her immediate relative from the Philippines.
You don't like the idea that she might turn into American spoiled rotten if you bring her over.
Solution: If you are ready to retire, just stay in the Philippines and have a life there with your newly Filipina wife. It will be much better off there for her anyway. She will be close to her parents. Some Filipina will have to go through homesickness and culture shock being in another country.
You like the idea that someone like Filipino can do household like cooking, cleaning, etc. for you.
Stop there, you boy! Filipina is great in household chores but just because they came from a third world country it doesn't mean you can treat them like a slave wife. If you are thinking of this, better think twice. Filipina girls are very caring, neat, organized but you cannot take advantage of them. You as a husband should contribute 50/50 on household chores if you want her to contribute on finances to pay half of your household bills. It only serves rights for both of you. But if you can afford to have her not to work and just take care of the household chores then that's a different story. Even then still you as a husband should not expect to be serving all the time.
So You Still Want to Marry a Filipina and want to bring her over to US?
(Base only you petition her alone with no kids)
Here's the time frame and how much it cost you roughly from the time you petition her to the time she will set her foot on your country.
Immigration related Expenses: (Approximate only)Form I-129F= US$340Visa Fees when Approved= US$240 Saint Lukes Medical Exam for her= (approx.) = US $225 (may varies)
Miscellaneous Expenses:
Your round trip ticket to meet her (approx.) =$1500 plus pocket money (approx.) =$ 2000 minimum
Her Philippine passport= $60
If she is from Mindanao/Cebu South of Manila. Round trip ticket to manila for visa interview $ 150. (With chaperon double and even triple.)
Hotel and food =? Who knows! (Ask her to stay with family in Manila if they have that option)
Her one-way ticket to the US could cost you up to US $1000.
So Save up save up save up!
P.S.
Once she arrives in the US, your expenses for immigration-related does not stop there. You have to get married within 90 days. Then once that happens she will have to apply to register for permanent resident which could cost you a total of $1070. ($985 for that application plus $85 for bio-metrics.)
Please note that government fees can change at any time.
Apply for work/SS= Form I-765= $380
After two years/removal of conditional status= Form I-751= $590.
r Women: So You Want to Marry a Western Foreign Man?
FYI: Bring your
fiancee over to US is faster way. If you want to marry her in the Philippines this kind of visa can take from 1 to 2 year. So If you can't wait that long Fiancee Visa (K1) is faster.
So you are looking for love outside your country? And you have found him. Do you know him well? Does he promise you the world? Do you really think he is the person you think he is? Don't fall for it. Get to know him well. Like I said, both parties need to get to know each other well.
If that Western man said that he would come to the Philippines to meet you. Don't think that he will come here just for you. Only a few Foreigners would come and meet only one woman. Many Western men who go to the Philippines and will meet several Filipinas even before he will meet you. Some would tell you so and some would hide this from you. So do not get hurt or discourage. Do not be afraid to ask if he comes just for you or if he comes to meet a few. Being straight forward and getting an honest answer from these Foreigners will help you determine whether you want to meet a guy who wants to meet you but you are one of the few. I don't blame these Foreigners for doing such because they want the best of the best. They want to make sure that they will have the right woman because this Filipina woman that they are going to choose is going to be their lifetime partner.
Now, if he chooses you over his top 30s or so of the list, Kudos to you! Now, he promises he is going to bring you over to the United States. Just because you are now engaged with him, he is now responsible for you financially. I don't think so, lady! Unless he offered that he would support you financially by monthly while he is preparing for your immigration a document that’s perfectly fine. My suggestion: Please do not beg for money. Save your face and any other Filipina's face. As it is listed above, you see how much it is going to cost your future husband just to get all the immigration-related expenses just to bring you over. Not to mention, the miscellaneous expenses. Remember the quote "Money doesn't grow on the trees".
You Still Want to Marry a Western man?
You better ask your man if he ever laid his hand on his exes. I know it is a tough question but you would want to know what would be his reaction on this. If you are going to the United States to live with your man and marry him, you better gather all your family's contact address and as well as you give yours to them. So in many cases, when you need help you will have someone to run to. It is better safe than sorry. There are so many abuse cases here in America. There are tons of women who are being abused by their spouse/live-in partner. They can't leave due to kid’s situation or they have no family to run to. You do not want to be in this situation. Trust me it is ugly.
Your Man is Telling You that HE Doesn't Want Any more Kid because he has kid/s already from previous marriage.
If you are okay with it, be honest with yourself. Just because he loves you it is not going to change his mind in the future. Most of these Foreigners when they say NO it means NO and they mean it. If you are young and you think you deserve to have a kid/s then DO NOT waste your time and his time. Move on to the next candidate who would provide you to having a kid/s in the future. This is what is going to happen, he said so, and you said you are okay with it but deep down inside you want to change his mind in the future. Now you are married to him, now you are bugging him to give you a child he said NO. You know what is going to happen? This relationship is never going to work...D.I.V.O.R.C.E. is the result.
He Explained to you that once you get to America He will Not Let you get a job.
Really? If he is financially well off and he can provide you with whatever you need fine! But you are thinking, how you are going to send help to your family back home if he does not want you to work. Let him understand, that this is your culture. As a Filipino, we always have a golden heart. We always look back and try to help our parents as much as we can. Ask him, if it is okay to work part-time and that you would love to help him out paying your household bills as well as helping out your parents back home. Talk it out! But one thing you need to know. Not all foreign men are okay with Filipinas sending money to the Philippines. Especially, if you want to do so by monthly. Remember, you and your foreign man will have your own life. You will have bills to pay, food, car note, mortgage, etc. You have to understand that your household bills come first. Take note also, that if you just arrived all of that money your husband was spent on you on immigration-related expenses might come from a lender which in this case, from the evil Bank and he might still paying it back with high interest if he has a low credit score. So, take it easy when you just arrive. Study on how to deal on your finances situation. Do not think that your husband or husband to be would have an infinite cash flow. Nobody does!
Stay tuned...I will have more to say about this subject but for now, I got to stop. I will update this list soon. Please add any comments!