Getting Married to a Filipino in the Philippines. (Civil Marriage)

If you are thinking about getting married in the Philippines to a native Pinoy, expect many requirements and a lengthy process. Also ensure it is what you really want and not a fad you are going through. The reason being is that a divorce is very hard to obtain and very expensive, also you will be required to wait 7 years or more to be able to apply for one and may I add it is very much frowned upon.
Yes you could get a divorce in the country of which you live sooner, but in the eyes of the Filipino Government, you will still be married and they take adultery very seriously as well, it has been known to give a prison sentences for adultery.

I can not give any advice about RC weddings as I am atheist so a civil wedding was more the way to go for me and my wife.

If you are intending on having a civil wedding here are the steps you will be required to perform. Also note, if your partner you intend to marry is under the age of 25, he or she will be required for their parents permission at the time of application at the civil registry office!

Step 1:
Certificate of No Marriage or Certificate of no-impediment.

I found the best way to get a certificate of no-impediment is to apply through your own local registry office and not the UK embassy as applying through the UK embassy is very time consuming and costs more money. (about 48 days from the time of application to releasing and Php9360.00).
When you go to your registry office, ensure you have your future wife or husbands' full name and address and make sure everything is spelled correctly.

The registry office usually takes 21 days to process and once you have that, which would be delivered to your address, then you will have 4 months from the time you receive your certificate of no-impediment to get to the UK embassy to have it transferred over to the one recognised by the Philippine Government.

Your intended Filipino spouse will also need to have an NSO recognised birth certificate and certificate of no marriage.
He or she will need to apply at an NSO outlet at least 4 weeks prior to your trip to the Philippines to ensure they have it at hand.

Once you know roughly the date you will receive your certificate of no-impediment,you should contact the British Consulate via email, giving at least 2 weeks notice before your intended visit to the Philippines, but well within 4 months of receiving your certificate, after the 4 months is up, you will be require to obtain another certificate as they do not recognise the 6 months by UK law!
In your email to the British High Commission, include your name, address, telephone number and include 5 dates you would prefer to have your appointment.

Ensure your email is headed: Application for Certificate of Non-Impediment so they know what department you require.
Here is the link for sending the email.
Manila.ConsAppointment@fco.gov.uk

Again I can not state how important it is to ensure you attach the receipts to all of the certificates you get, including your Filipino spouse, including the correct spelling of names.

Documents required by the British consular for exchanging the UK CNI to the one recognised by the Filipino Government.

Your requirements:
A valid Passport with at least 6 months remaining
Birth Certificate
UK Certificate of no-impediment and or Decree Absolute with receipt of purchase and everything is spelled correctly.

Your Filipino Partners requirements:
A valid Passport with at least 6 months remaining
NSO Birth Certificate with receipt of purchase
NSO Certificate of No Marriage and or Decree Absolute with receipt of purchase.

The fee for transferring the UK CNI to the Officially recognised one is Php4680.00.
More information here: http://britishembassymanila.clickbook.net/sub/britishembassymanila#.UqnVbNIW0u4

Step 2:
Booking your 2 Seminars.

Now that both of you have Official Certificates of No Marriage, you both will need to go to the local D.S.D.W.D or The Department of Social Welfare and Development to help book your seminars.
The D.S.D.W.D are usually found within the confines of the local Municipal Hall.
These seminars are very important and both of you will not be granted authority to register to marry without them.
The first Seminar is "Family Planning"
Yes you have guessed it, back to basics and school. Sex Education all over again and forms of contraception available.
Once you have sat in for about 2 hours of family planning you will be given a certificate of attendance.
You will need to keep hold of this for later.

The second seminar is called "Family counselling"
As it states, The person giving the session will talk about things such as communication, importance of sharing amongst other things.
Again, you will be issued a certificate of attendance.

Step 3:
Registering for a Civil Marriage.

To register for a civil marriage you will usually go to the local registry office in the area of where your intended bride or groom live, the office is usually within the confines of the local Municipal Hall.
Please note:
To register for a civil marriage you both will need Certificates of No Marriage especially the one issued by the British Consulate and or your Decree Absolutes, Passports, Birth Certificates, Certificates of seminars (Family Planning and Family Counselling), also photo copies of all of the documents, if your Filipino spouse is under the age of 25 years, he or she will need to have both parents attending when filling out the 4 applications forms as you will need their written consent and for them to sign stating they have consented and given their advice on marriage to your intended spouse, His or her parents will also need proof of their ID.
Once you have filled out all 4 of the application forms you will hand them in and pay for the application and registration to take place.
Once that has been done you will be required to be interviewed by the registrar within the office, they will ask you simple questions such as, how you met, how long have you been in a relationship. Basically all of the normal questions most people ask you. They do this to ensure your relationship is real.
Once you have convinced the registrar you are real, they normally give you their blessing and then tell you how long it will take you to be in receipt of the Licence to marry. usually a couple of weeks. This is so they can put it up on public display and normally they can issue a notice in the public press. Again this is a formality and to see if someone objects.
You will be notified or given a date to go back and attend the office to pick up your licence to marry.
Again the Licence has a valid time scale. (120 days from issue)
If you do not have a person that can solomnise your wedding, please do not feel shy to ask the local registry office for help as they are more than willing to supply you with names and contact numbers of people who are registered and within the legal capacity to perform your wedding ceremony. If you already have one and they are willing to do that for you, all the better.

The next stage is of course where you are going to get married and when.

I hope this helps people out?
Please realise, some or all of what I have written can be different from others experiences. I was just placing here what I went through in the hope it helps others in their quest for a happy marriage.

Well done very similar to my experience Dave except I did my cni with the consul in cebu

http://www.british-filipino.com/showthread.php?2284-The-Marriage-Liscence&highlight=marriage+licence

Similar process for us. But we managed to get out of the 2 seminars.

You lucky so and so, mind you, all I did was turn up as it was all in Tagalog anyway, so I just slept through mine! :vhappy:

It's so much easier to get married in Hong Kong and, because DFA handles the registration, one can often get the NSO Marriage Certificate in around 6 weeks or so. Not that you may need it as I was reliably informed that the Hong Kong certificate is accepted at face value by UKBA - but you may need to check if this is still the case.

We only had a set amount of days so couldnt fit in the seminars. We fortunately found a viable way around that problem.

Whether civil or RC weddings, you can skip the 2 seminars and just do 1 seminar that is being recognized by the city. We did that and it was a whole day affair, didn't have to go through the government.

Our day version I rather enjoyed

Marriage Seminar
http://www.british-filipino.com/showthread.php?2221-The-Marriage-Seminar&highlight=

So this is what I missed out on

Interesting though.

That could be all covered in a DVD, methinks.

Viable way Me too

Me too - we had none of that nonsense to go through as we wed in HK. As for it being covered on a DVD, that would make such good sense that it would never happen. And don't forget, these people all get paid ... to put all that info on a DVD would see them jobless.

Incidentally, I was informed today that the CFO seminars are still being conducted by Nuns in Cebu whilst CFO personnel are now taking the seminars in Manila. My advice - even if you live in Cebu, go to Manila for the day: there it lasts no more than two hours and you'll have the rest of the day free for shopping or sight-seeing. In Cebu, it's an all-day affair with the prospect of having to return on another occasion if the Nuns aren't satisfied with your documentation.

Presumably its the way the state and church can compromise ish on family planning corse its a bit like bolting the stable door where we went and they didnt cover aids etc should be mandatory high school

Sorry buddy, I'd have to correct you on this.

The seminar would last 3 hours or so BUT the waiting time is forever. I arrived at the place around 630 or 7am and there were people who were there as early as 5am. After the seminar, it would be another hour or two to pay and claim your certificate. I was done by 2pm, have not had lunch and drained out to go shopping after that.

How recently? The CFO, in Manila at least, no longer uses the Nuns for their seminars and, according to press reports, they now last less than half a day. Different kettle of fish in Cebu, however.

^ Took my seminar earlier this year, February I think. You are correct that it is the CFO staff and not the nuns conducting it but the waiting time before, during, after is crazy.

Hello! How long does it take for UK Embassy in Manila to translate the CNI? Do we still need a CENOMAR from NSO once we have his CNI?

The CNI exchange has stopped now. It is a process now that involves a sworn affidavit. One or two of our members have done that recently.

See this thread.

http://www.british-filipino.com/ind...ry-from-1st-march-2014.8726/page-2#post-52632