New style affirmation to marry from 1st March 2014

Unfortunately that isn't so simple. My fiancée doesn't have a passport yet and she's been told it'll take months to get one - something about getting listed on the electoral register.

Oh, I got a second email from Ms Booth and she has confirmed that the affidavit can't be done in Cebu - a trip to Manila is necessary.

Here's another interesting twist: I applied for a CNI in England before I left and it is currently sitting at a friend's house. I haven't asked him to send me it because I gather it is useless now - since the change of rules on the 1st March.

Interesting twist yes. The whole process has been full of them for some time. We found out the hard way too.

So it looks like a trip to Manila but looking on the positive side it will be well worth it. While you are there, if you are contemplating bringing your bride back to the UK, call in on VFS in Makati. We did that and found them very useful.

Jim.

When my wife and I decided to marry we didn't have a clue. I thought we could just get married and I could buy her a plane ticket and bring her back to the UK. Little did we know. We hadn't heard of FilBrit type forums for the obvious kind of reasons. Once we started to search for material on how to go about things it seemed to open our eyes to innumerable hurdles and masses of rules and regs that seemed to make no sense at all. We ended up using an agent to sort our wedding procedure out. My wife's uncle had found us a friend of his that worked in the civic hall in Cavite that appeared to go about sorting things out for us for what is just a few quid to you and me, except she couldn't find a way around the seminar requirement and our time limitation ( 2 weeks ). So we went with an agent that my wife's family knew, who for a fee, dealt with everything required to get through all of the hoops and gave us advice where appropriate on the UK embassy CNI requirement at the time. She knew exactly what we needed to do in the circumstance and arranged the wedding and local paperwork. On the back of her advice we visited the embassy in Manila and VFS and got the lowdown from them. I flew home and a couple of months later flew back and we married in a 2 week timeframe. Squeezed in a honeymoon too. It worked perfectly. I gladly paid the agent as she had been really helpful and sorted our problem out on the time constraint. I flew home again and we then progressed the spouse visa application.

What I am now coming around to saying is that you can get some good advice on a forum like this. But you can also get conflicting or bad advice. That isn't the fault of the site owner, Kuya, or most of the forum members who give the advice, but at the end of the day it is peoples opinion that you receive both good and bad.

Certainly, take all the advice you can muster from here, but do check outwith the forum, like you did with the new arrangements for marriage for example, as such matters are too important for you to follow up on bad advice. Now that I am a member of a FilBrit forum I always double check forum advice on these matters. Even Micawber's when he is around.

All she need do is get a Voters' ID card which is not a lengthy procedure but probably would require her to go to Bohol and apply there. Once she has that and providing she satisfies the other requirement, she should be able to get a Passport inside a month from the DFA in Cebu City.

Oh, that is not good news. Her mother, the previous Consul, was able to issue the old-style Cenomar in exchange for a CNI, as well as a range of other Consular services for British residents and visitors. Maybe the Embassy wants to take all the Consular services back to Manila and simply use Tamsin Booth as a local promoter for trade and commerce.

She says she's been told that nobody is being registered to vote until 6th May, and that registration is only available during May and June. Can this be true?

Jim

I have just checked with the "Oracle" (my wife!) and she assures me that the requirements for a Passport are fairly simple and straight-forward. In addition to freshly-taken Passport photos and a completed application form, your fiancée will require her NSO Birth Certificate (original + copy), NBI Clearance (original + copy) plus any Government-issued ID (original + copy).

If she intends to use a Voters' ID card as her Government ID, then she can obtain this at any city - in your case that'd be the City Halls in Tagbiliran, LapuX2, Mandaue or Cebu City (she will need extra photos). If any one of these offices has delayed registration, try the next on the list. My wife can not remember if she needed to prove residency locally so it would be advisable for you to accompany your fiancée with a copy of your Lease Contract and any other proof of address that you may have (bills for electric/landline/cable tv/post-paid cellphone etc).

Good luck!

Hi There! How did u get on without the CNI - I'm just applying for mine at the moment and I'm not sure whether I should continue the process and get oen anyway just in case...

I just got the affirmation from the embassy in Manila. They also gave me a letter stating it has been accepted for marriages in the Philippines but I didn't need to show the letter. I got married yesterday so all is well!

I should add I didn't even bother getting my CNI sent from England. So my advice would be don't bother with the CNI.

Thanks for the information - can you tell me more about what the process was? What to expect? You had to produce the affirmation yourself right, then show it when you get there where they stamp it or whatever? How did it happen? Did you still have to wait 10 days before the wedding could take place?

Sorry for all the questions!

It's ok. I just printed the affirmation and took it with my passport to the embassy and paid the fee. (I'd had to book an appointment on their website a couple of weeks earlier, but on the day I turned up an hour early and still got seen almost immediately.) They asked me to wait, then called me into a little room where I was asked to read a statement on a card with my right hand raised. The statement was just affirming that my affirmation was true I think. Then I was told to wait in reception a few more minutes before they handed me back my affirmation duly stamped. They also handed me a letter as I described. The process was pretty straightforward and painless, and they explained everything very clearly.

Yes, I still had to wait 10 days.

So how was the wedding - church or civil? When are you planning to bring your wife home?

It was held in a place of worship. I'm planning on staying in PH a few more months before we head back.

So you're going to stay there until the visa is processed ad head back together? Wish I could get time off work for that!!

H

Hey! If you're in Manila/Batangas mid to end of June we'll have to meet up for a beer!

I'm getting married.. My question is does my Fiance needs to go to registry office in england to give notice for our wedding here in the Philippines before he flew back here this August?. He will arrive August 18th and we have appointment to The British embassy August 20th.. Is that all we need to do or he still needs to give notice of the upcoming wedding to the local registry office in england few weeks before he leave there?.

In a word: no!

Further to other replies in this thread - and I know I've posted this before, and I know things may have moved on since I got married (nearly a year ago!!!! ) I got the CNI even though it wasn't necessary but I did need it - we got married out in the provinces and word hadn't filtered down to their register office that it wasn't needed, so although I only needed the affirmation at the embassy, at the local office who issued the wedding certificate they wanted the CNI, the impression I got was that they had never seen an affirmation before. So if you want to be super sure then get the CNI - its easier to get it now than find you need it when over there! Also note that from application to receiving the CNI there is a 3 week or 1 month delay, there is no way to get it any quicker, so apply sooner rather than later.

The affirmation is straight forward - just follow the template that is given on the website - can't remember where, I'm sure someone here knows...

This is the one....

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...the_Philippines_leaflet_as_of_30_JAN_2015.pdf

Thats the one John thanks - hows things there?