CNI Affidavit

[grate-britte]

1) CNI appointment with nearest UK registry office, fee 30pounds. Designate a time and place for the wedding. The CNI is posted to you after 22 days (=21 clear days). The CNI goes out of date after 3 months.

2) British Embassy in Manila can convert this to a local equivalent after wait of 1/2 hour, fee about 50pounds in php equivalent. This document is on British Embassy letterhead and signed by the Consul and is recognised by the Philippines administration and is velid a further 3 months. Note: They ask for fiancee's CENOMAR now (and her passport, although they did recognise that passport not 100% necessary). The CENOMAR is the Philippines certificate of no marriage. So it is not so easy now to just pass through and have it 'converted' on the way to the wedding. Birth certificates of both parties seem required at all stages.

3) Proceed to marriage registration. This is normally done at the fiancee's local registry office. You then have to wait 11 days before you can get married. You can't avoid this because you can't register until you go there with ALL the paperwork and sign the registration. I don't think there is a fee for this, or it is very small. After the wedding you will get the local Certificate of Marriage which IS acceptable for spouse visa application purposes. The NSO (Nat Statistics Office) stationery certificate will follow in about 1 month but is not essential for visa application.

4) I have added 1 day to the official numbers of days because they work in "clear days" which is one day more.

5) I think my info is good because I just did it all last month.

A wedding can be beautifully done in the Philippines and very moving and I think hugely appreciated by the wife as well as the hub.

After the wedding there is the meticulous visa application and the agonizing wait!

Hope this is useful. It is up to date anyway.

I think the Brits are carrying off about 3 Filipino brides a day according to Home Office statistics, but it doesn't seem to make a dent in the population!

Same procedures apply females marrying Filipinos although this is less common.

[PeterB]

1) CNI appointment with nearest UK registry office, fee 30pounds. Designate a time and place for the wedding. The CNI is posted to you after 22 days (=21 clear days).

I didn't specify a date, and the location was relatively vague (Asuncion, Davao del Norte, Philippines).

Also, you can arrange to collect the CNI, rather than having it posted.

They ask for fiancee's CENOMAR now (and her passport, although they did recognise that passport not 100% necessary).

I had Ruby's passport with me, but not CENOMAR. Perhaps this is a new requirement since January?

The NSO (Nat Statistics Office) stationery certificate will follow in about 1 month but is not essential for visa application.

The NSO copy of the marriage certificate is essential for the Philippines visa application. It can take a year, or more, before NSO is able to issue the marriage certificate on their stationery. If you need it in a hurry (about 1 month minimum), you should ask your local registry office/local NSO for 'electronic endorsement'.