I very much require information regarding documentation needed for when I visit the Philippines. The reason for my visit is to marry my fiancé in her native country. When I visit the UK Embassy in the Philippines I would appreciate having the correct paperwork plus which are also required by the Philippine Government with me and not delaying my wedding any further. My wedding date is for 10th August and I shall be in the country as from 26th July. Thank you for your help Dave ps it is a civil wedding
Wow.. Two weeks is cutting it fine. I doubt it can be done, I have a friend who got married in 3 weeks some time ago in Manila - and that was pushing it. You will need to have a place booked at the British Embassy the very day you arrive to get your British certificate of no impediment translated into a Philippine CENOMAR. Make sure your mahal takes her CENOMAR with her along with you to the embassy as well. Take both of your birth certificates and passports as well.. They will give you the CENOMAR on that same day. Once you have the CENOMAR go to the city hall of where ever it is you intend to marry and apply for a marriage licence with the CENOMAR(s), passports and birth certificates. They will explain the timescales and the local things you need to do in order to qualify for the licence (I had to plant trees), they will give you a date when you will get the licence and try and get married on that date or the day after (those 2 weeks aint much). ** amended ** Before I stated you could get married in 2 weeks. Having since spoken with my friend who got married in just under 3 weeks, she seemed to think it was very unlikely. The problem is the waiting period for the marriage licence - I am pretty sure it is 2 weeks. It could still be possible but you would have to do everything in such a timely manner... I would recommend giving yourself another week in the Philippines!
Hello Dave, welcome to the forum. Here's some useful general information about Overseas Marriages and some British Embassy information about Marriage in The Philippines Here is some information about How to apply for a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) Note that from 1 February 2013, there's a new system to book an appointment at the Consular Section in Manila which should be done through the Clickbook Consular Appointment site. See this link Online appointment system for Consular services Remember that for Philippines the UK CNI has only 3 months validity, so plan out carefully what needs to be done and when. It's a good idea to make a project plan from wedding day backwards so you can line it all up. The local CNI that is given to you by the British Embassy also has a validity of 3 months. The CNI is available from your local registry office. It takes 22 days from time of application. It's 21 days for the 'bans'. You need to present the UK CNI to the British Embassy in the Philippines to be issued a Philippine version called a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry. This certificate is needed for the application of a marriage license. Incidently many folks are now been reporting that a lot of authorities are now asking that the foreign partner also secures their own CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) from Philippine NSO (National Statistics Office) in order to process the marriage licence. You would be well advised to include this contingency as well. The CNI is a Certificate of no impediment (sometimes called Legal Capacity to Marry) and provides evidence to officially authorised people that the marriage will be recognised as a valid marriage in both Philippines and the country of the foreign spouse. A valid CNI is required by Philippine law. A CENOMAR ( Certificate of No Marriage Record) is available from the National Statistics Office (NSO) and is simply what its name implies. It is a certification issued by the NSO stating that a person has not contracted any marriage within the Philippines. In connection with the Marriage Licence the Executive Order No.209 (The Family Code of the Philippines) States:- Just for completeness it goes on to state:- As I'm sure you know, there are always 'local variations' in the Philippines. After all, if the licence is not issued until after 11,12 or 13 days then it still complies with the legal requirement provided it has been posted continuously for a minimum 10 consecutive days. Best advice is to always check locally when it actually WILL be issued Generally, with good organisation, and things go fairly smooth along the way, you should have no problems getting married within a 20-30 day timeframe. I'm sure there are some folks who will say you can achieve it in only 14 days. In my opinion that can only be achieved if you are very lucky, the organisation is really slick or if you use an agent who just might be able to find ways and means for some workarounds. Most folks will tell you that 21 days is enough time, and I think on balance that's a reasonable time without major problems, but not much time left for honeymoon. I suggest you always check the latest information for paperwork needed etc but in principle to apply for the Marriage License you should consider having the following:- Your birth certificate Your passport Your C.N.I. Your NSO CENOMAR Your Divorce decree asbsolute (if applicable) Certificate of 'Pre-Marriage Seminar' (if needed, please check well beforehand) Her N.S.O. birth certificate (This should be fresh from NSO on latest type of security paper. Check) Her Passport (or other appropriate ID) Her Barangay clearance (if needed, please check well beforehand) Her community tax certificate (often called Cedula) Her postal I.D. Address Her cenomar Her Parents signed advice form (if under 25 years age) Her Parents I.D. Apply for the Marriage License in your fiancée's home town at the registry office. (or locality of where marriage will take place) You might also be requested to attend the "Pre-Marriage Seminar" counselling sessions prior to being allowed to be married. Check and ask when you apply for the marriage license After you apply for the license there is a mandatory 10 day waiting period while the marriage bans are published By the way just be sure that you have authorised copies of the Marriage Certificate after the wedding or that you request fast-tracking /Expediting for NSO copies. Quite a few get into a long waiting time for the marriage certificate needed for a visa application. Worth thinking about Hope that helps
I guees that if I tried to get married nowadays with what I have done it with in 2007, I wouldn't have any success at all......... And we did it in less than a fortnight...........:wave:
We did it in just over 2 weeks in 2011. It was cutting it fine though. Not a lot of margin for a cockup of any kind. All our ducks had to be lined up in a row beforehand.
One of difficulties that those going out to the Philippines to get married is actually getting permission from their employer for say 3 weeks leave. I've known quite a few people do it in '2 bites of the cherry' so to speak. Yes it does cost a significant amount more but can help with timing and stress levels etc. In practical terms, it can be quite tricky to even set a firm wedding date when there are such major timing issues. The marriage licence has a validity of 120 days which may be considered a good cut-off point for a two-stage approach. Food for thought anyway.
If your lady is under 25 a point to note is that her parents will need valid i,d. you should make sure they visit their local city hall and verify that what they have is acceptable this also brings up the question do they also live with your intended? I have a sticky up here somewhere on the marriage licence ect from feb 2011 and my experience you might like to read it
In our case I only really had just over 2 weeks of my outstanding vacation left. As I had used the rest of it up on an earlier trip to the Philippines.
It seems to me that it also depends if a future wife lives in the province where things tend to work a little slower than the larger towns or cities...
