Getting Married in the Philippines

MARRYING FILIPINA WOMEN

For FOREIGNERS who wish to marry Filipina, here are the step by step procedure:


Option 1:   If you plan to marry your Filipina Fiance in the Philippines, 
                    here's what you need to do:

• Ask your Filipina Fiance to request the following documents:   

                 For CERTIFIED SINGLE STATUS FILIPINA

                a.   Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) 
                                       - must be issued NOT LATER than 6 months
                                       - this can be requested at NSO
                b.   NSO Birth Certificate
                                       - this can be requested at NSO
                                       - if for instance the NSO Birth Certificate Copy issued to you has 
                                         NON READABLE entries or blurred letters, request a 
                                         Local Civil Registry copy of your Birth Certificate from the 
                                         Local Municipality where your birth is registered and attached this 
                                         to your NSO copy of Birth Certificate.
                c.  Affidavit of Parental Consent (if 18 to 24 years old)
                                       - This Affidavit is being executed by the parents and have this notarized 
                                         by a lawyer to prove that parents AGREE or IN FAVOR of the marriage.
                d. Affidavit of Parental Advice (if 25 years old and above)
                                       - This Affidavit is being executed by the parents to inform the 
                                         authorities that they are AWARE of the marriage.

Please take note that letters C and D is OPTIONAL.  This depends on the Local Civil Registry where your marriage will took place.  Some requires this while others do not but letters A and B is a MUST.

                FOR WIDOWED FILIPINA, this are the requirements:

                a.  NSO Birth Certificate
                                       - this can be requested at NSO
                                       - if for instance the NSO Birth Certificate Copy issued to you has 
                                         NON READABLE entries or blurred letters, request a 
                                         Local Civil Registry copy of your Birth Certificate from the 
                                         Local Municipality where your birth is registered and attached this 
                                         to your NSO copy of Birth Certificate.
                 b. NSO Marriage Certificate  (previous marriage)
                                      - this can be requested at NSO
                 c. NSO Death Certificate (of deceased husband)
                                      - this can be requested at NSO  
                 d. NSO Certificate of Marriage  (CEMAR)
                                     - this can be requested at NSO  
                                     - this will be a proof that you did not marry anyone since death of
                                       ex-husband and that you do not have other marriage recorded.

                 For ANNULED Filipina Fiance, this are the requirements:
                
                 a.  NSO Birth Certificate
                                       - this can be requested at NSO
                                       - if for instance the NSO Birth Certificate Copy issued to you has 
                                         NON READABLE entries or blurred letters, request a 
                                         Local Civil Registry copy of your Birth Certificate from the 
                                         Local Municipality where your birth is registered and attached this 
                                         to your NSO copy of Birth Certificate.
                 b. NSO Annotated Marriage Certificate  (previous marriage)
                                      - this can be requested at NSO
                 c. Annulment Papers
                                      - Certificate of Finality
                                      - Court Decision
                 d. NSO Certificate of Marriage  (CEMAR)
                                     - this can be requested at NSO  
                                     - this will be a proof that you do not have other marriage recorded.

NOTE: There are FOREIGN EMBASSIES that requires to submit including Filipino Fiance documents.  And some, requires to have ATTESTED OR AUTHENTICATED by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.  I would like to  site an example of my previous processing.

Situation 1:
I had a 24 years old Indonesian Lady who planned to marry a 27 years old Philippine born pure Chinese who lived here in the Philippines since his birth.  Upon submitting all the documents at the Indonesian Embassy, the Consul requires to have a personal interview/appearance for the future couple before releasing the Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage of the Indonesian Citizen Woman but they DID NOT REQUIRE documents to be attested by BOTH parties respective Foreign Ministries.

Situation 2:
I had this Dutch friend 26 years old man, born in Netherlands but took his college/university education in Sydney, Australia. They require to submit 2 Single Status Certification of this Dutch Man from Netherlands and Australia to prove he has no marriage record in both country and must be attested by each respective Foreign Ministry Department.  They did not require personal appearance but requested the Dutch man to call the Consul here in Makati.  They also requested to see the Original documents of the Filipina Fiance including her passport copy and everything must be authenticated by the DFA Manila before releasing the Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage by the Dutch applicant.

This means, it's not the same procedure in every embassy, for further clarifications about this since I cannot post everything at the same time, post a comment in this article if you have questions to ask.  Just let me know your exact status (i.e Citizenship, Age, Marital Status if divorced, annulled, widow or certified single and I will try my best to give you an accurate information by asking your embassy here in the Philippines )

Once this documents are ready and you plan to marry the Filipino Fiance here in the Philippines, this are the documents that a FOREIGN FIANCE must prepare:
              
                 For CERTIFIED Single Foreign Fiance
                 a.  Single Status Certificate
                                   - this will prove  that you don have any marriage recorded in your country
                                     and this document must be stamped or attested by the Ministry of 
                                     Foreign Affairs in your country of Birth.
                                   - supposing you were born in i.e. Canada and live there until you turned 
                                    18 years old and migrated to Australia on your 19th age, you are required
                                     to request this Single Status Certificate from BOTH countries and have it 
                                    attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in each respective country.          
                 b.  Birth Certificate
                                  - you may acquire this from the Civil Registry Department of the country/city
                                    where you are born and must also be attested by the Ministry of Foreign  
                                    Affairs in your country of birth.
                 c.  Photocopy of Passport
                 d.  Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage
                                  - Once letters A, B and C requirements has been ready, present all of it 
                                     to your Embassy here in the Philippines and submit all that documents 
                                     and tell them you are applying for Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. 
                                  - From there you can acquire this LEGAL CAPACITY TO CONTRACT
                                    MARRIAGE.


                 For WIDOWED Foreign Fiance, this will be your requirements:

                 a.  Birth Certificate
                                  - you may acquire this from the Civil Registry Department of the country/city
                                    where you are born and must also be attested by the Ministry of Foreign  
                                    Affairs in your country of birth.
                 b. Death Certificate (of deceased wife/husband)
                                  - you may acquire this from the Civil Registry Department of the country/city
                                    where your husband/wife died and must also be attested by the 
                                    Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your wife/husband's country of death.

                 c. Photocopy of Passport 
                 d.  Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage
                                  - Once letters A, B and C requirements has been ready, present all of it 
                                     to your Embassy here in the Philippines and submit all that documents 
                                     and tell them you are applying for Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. 
                                  - From there you can acquire this LEGAL CAPACITY TO CONTRACT
                                    MARRIAGE.
 
                                                    For DIVORCED Foreign Fiance, this are the requirements:
                
                a.  Birth Certificate
                                  - you may acquire this from the Civil Registry Department of the country/city
                                    where you are born and must also be attested by the Ministry of Foreign  
                                    Affairs in your country of birth.
                 b. Divorced Decree (of deceased wife/husband)
                                  - must be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the trial 
                                    took place.                
                 c. Photocopy of Passport
                 d.  Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage
                                  - Once letters A, B and C requirements has been ready, present all of it 
                                     to your Embassy here in the Philippines and submit all that documents 
                                     and tell them you are applying for Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. 
                                  - From there you can acquire this LEGAL CAPACITY TO CONTRACT
                                    MARRIAGE.

All the documents have been ready and you are wondering what to do next, here are the guidelines or steps to take for the Marriage Application.

1. Go to the Local Civil Registry where your marriage will took place and tell them you are applying for a MARRIAGE LICENSE.
2. The Civil Registration Staff/Officer will give you an APPLICATION FORM.  This form will be signed by BOTH parties, future husband and wife.  Make sure all spellings you put in there are correct, otherwise neglecting to double check the details might lead you into trouble once the marriage is done and you are already applying for spouse visa.
3. All documents will be taken from you and will be attached with this Application Form and then you will be asked to comeback after 10 business days from the date it was filed.
4. After 10 business days, a MARRIAGE LICENSE will be issued to you and you can then decide about the date and place of your marriage. 

 POINTERS

• You can have a Garden Wedding, Beach Wedding, Sunrise Wedding, Sunset Wedding, Church Wedding or Civil Wedding.
• You may also contact a solemnizing officer if you wish to have your wedding outdoor.  But be careful about this, look for a REGISTERED SOLEMNIZING OFFICER only.
• If your marriage took place in the province or outside National Capital Region, your NSO Marriage Certificate will appear in the NSO database within 6 months to 1 year.  Why?  there is an endorsement procedure to take.
• If marriage took place within National Capital Region, you will be able to get an NSO Copy Marriage Certificate 3 months after the marriage. 

For those planning to marry, I hope this information helps you.  Information posted  here is not just a research based, this is my actual experience in 5 years of processing documents.

I would appreciate if you can post a comment whatever concerns you have in mind from reading this article.  I sincerely thank you for taking time reading my blog and I hope you got what you needed.  I could make more improvements by posting more articles regarding procedures of documents processing and those with questions by commenting will be prioritized.

Happy Reading Everyone!  I greatly appreciate your visit to my page. There will be more to come.