OK. Starting the process of getting married.

[cheekee]

Now I'm back from Cebu and have the family blessing its time to start looking into how to get married in the phils.

So much info on here to find.

If anyone fancies posting any helpful info that would be great.

Looking at venues and there is a lovely area in mountain view which looks promising.

Looking at sometime in November hopefully.

[Terpe]

Here's some stuff I posted before....hope it will give you something to consider and help with your planning/schedule.

About getting married in Philippines as British Citizen, a good place to start is the latest information from the from the British Embassy here called Marriage in The Philippines

(Sorry cheekee but this link just isn't working...it's the correct link but something must be wrong at the Embassy side.....there was an update on the 12th.......here's the link to the page..https://www.gov.uk/government/public...he-philippines....keep an eye to it or contact the Embassy to fix it)


One of the key planning issues is getting to grips with a scheduled appointment booking at the British Embassy Consular Section in Manila which should be done through the Clickbook Consular Appointment site.
See this link for details of Online appointment system for Consular services

Do bear in mind that unless the Embassy implements a 'speed-up' strategy you'll need around 2 months advance notice for a booking....so don't leave it too late.
This appointment is needed to exchange the UK issued CNI for a Consular issued Philippine version.
If time is a constraint, you can appoint your Fiancee as representative to submit the UK CNI and also to collect the Philippine version.

Be informed 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 Philippine CNI that is given to you by the British Embassy also has a validity of 3 months. Means you need to apply for the marriage licence with that time frame.

The UK 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:-

Art. 17. The local civil registrar shall prepare a notice which shall contain the full names and residences of the applicants for a marriage
license and other data given in the applications. The notice shall be posted for ten consecutive days on a bulletin board outside the office of
the local civil registrar located in a conspicuous place within the building and accessible to the general public.
This notice shall request all persons having knowledge of any impediment to the marriage to advise the local civil registrar thereof.
The marriage license shall be issued after the completion of the period of publication.

So that 10 day waiting period must be adhered to.

Just for completeness it goes on to state:-

Art. 20. The license shall be valid in any part of the Philippines for a period of one hundred twenty days from the date of issue, and shall
be deemed automatically cancelled at the expiration of the said period if the contracting parties have not made use of it.
The expiry date shall be stamped in bold characters on the face of every license issued.

As I'm sure you may know by now, there are always 'local variations' in the Philippines.Always check.

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 if things go fairly smooth along the way, you should be able to visit the Philippines and get married within say a 20-30 day timeframe for comfort.

Most folks will agree 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'd 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 if this will be demanded)

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/Municiple Hall/City Hall. (or locality of where marriage will take place)
If you discover that you both need to attend the "Pre-Marriage Seminar" counselling sessions prior to being allowed to be married. Check when this can be done.

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

Take a look at this thread for information on fastracking the marriage certificate - Advance Endorsement Birth ,Marriage and Death Certificate

Hope this writing will give some useful food for thought.

[grahamw48]

Sorry to interject here Peter, but I'm a bit confused.

Because of the CENOMAR requirement, does that mean that I would not be able to marry again in the Philippines, as I have already been married there before, and there is no divorce recognised there (in the absence of an annulment) ?

I am divorced here in the UK...instigated by the ex, who is now a British citizen and has since re-married in Sweden.

[marksroomspain]

As far as I know Graham if it is a foreign divorce ie: outside the Philippines by either party then you are free to remarry in the Philippines.

I am sure Peter will clarify this...

[Terpe]

Sorry to interject here Peter, but I'm a bit confused.

Because of the CENOMAR requirement, does that mean that I would not be able to marry again in the Philippines, as I have already been married there before, and there is no divorce recognised there (in the absence of an annulment) ?

I am divorced here in the UK...instigated by the ex, who is now a British citizen and has since re-married in Sweden.

I'm not surprised you're confused about the CENOMAR issue Graham.
And I'm not going to be able to completely 'unconfuse' you either.

In terms of the paperwork required to get married in the Phils it's like this....

A CNI is required by law...no way around that and the authorities that issue a marriage licence must have it. Period.

A CENOMAR for the foreign party is not a legal requirement.......but many authorities these days are demanding it before they agree to issue a marriage licence.
Therein lies the confusion.....it all depends on local authorities, conditions and requirements etc etc as to whether or not a CENOMAR for the foreign party will be needed.

I always advise any Brits heading out to Phils to get married to secure their CENOMAR first as it just might save any potential delays when under time constraints, and is a low cost cost item.

Might be a idea to secure your own CENOMAR (online) just to discover whats recorded.

You are legally divorced and free to marry. Period.
Just comes down to paperwork. It's not a major issue to have your NSO records updated and corrected.

[grahamw48]

Thanks Peter...most helpful.

For others needing copies of certificates from the NSO (online), this appears to be the correct Phils govt. site, incidentally.
.
https://www.ecensus.com.ph/default.aspx

[Terpe]

Whoops.... sorry Graham forget to add that link. Good that you found it.

I recall someone ordered a CENOMAR recently and received it pretty fast.....maybe 2-3 weeks.