Written on : October 30, 2007
This is for Filipinos (Pinays) who are planning to get marry in EU countries specifically, Austria. This is an extensive explanation about what documents you need in order to be able to get married to your European guy. Like I said, this is specifically about getting married to an Austrian but since EU countries have pretty much the same pre-marriage document requirements, those of you who are about to marry somebody from other EU countries can also refer to this.
Ok, so first things first. Do you have a passport? If not, go get one. Do you have a visa to go there already? If not, you have to worry about that first before you worry about pre-wedding documents but if it’s not a problem for you to go there and it’s just the wedding you have to think of then this guideline is for you.
Pre-wedding documents: these are the documents you need to have with you before you fly to Austria. I will explain later where you need them.
1. Birth Certificate: This should be from the NSO only and not the one from the Local Civil Registrar. After getting it from the NSO, you submit it to the DFA for authentication then afterwards, you should also submit this to the Austrian Embassy in Manila for verification.
2. Certificate of Singleness / Certificate of NO Marriage / CENOMAR: Like the Birth Certificate, it should be from the NSO only and it should follow the same steps.
3. NBI Clearance.
If you are in the Philippines, you can personally apply for these documents to the offices I mentioned. However, if you are outside the country you may authorize somebody to do it for you. The first two documents should be no problem; your authorized person only needs an authorization letter from you. Your NBI however, will be a bit more complicated. To apply for this, you should go to the nearest Philippine Embassy and tell them that you would like to apply for an NBI clearance. They will assist you. They will get your fingerprints and you ask you fill up an NBI clearance application form. After you have given them your standard passport photo and paid them some fee. They will notarize your NBI application form and give it to you. The next step would be to send this along with your authorization letter to the person you authorized in the Philippines.
Those are the first three documents you need and those are the guidelines on how to obtain them. Please note that it is important that these documents are not older than 6 months.
Let’s go to the next step. Say you are already in Austria. Before you can apply for a marriage license, you first need to report to the Philippine Embassy in Vienna. What will you do there? Apply for the Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. What is this? This document basically says that nobody can stop you from getting married because you are legally capable to do it. What do you need to get this? You need to show the embassy your Birth Certificate and your CENOMAR plus a certain fee and you get your Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. They will return your original Birth Certificate but they will keep your CENOMAR.
After that you can then go the Rathaus (Local Municipal Hall in Austria) and have your self registered. Tell them where you are currently staying at in Austria—register your address. What do you need for this? Nothing just the signature of the owner of the place you are staying at. If it’s your guy then it should be easy. They will then give you this document which says that you are registered with the police and that you are staying in the address you gave them.
With this document along with your Birth Certificate and your Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage, you can then proceed to apply for your Marriage License. Once they approve this (why will they not?), then you are ready to get married.
Where do you need your NBI? You will need this after you are married. If you want to be allowed to stay in Austria, you have to present your NBI and your Marriage Certificate before they will give you a residence permit.
That’s all. But before you surf away from this page, please note that I only mentioned the documents that you, as the Filipina, need. The required documents from your guy is of course another story. Also please note that I wrote this article based on my experience so please don’t take this as a legal advice.
Hope this article helps. Best wishes!
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OMG, your blog is a God-send for me!!!
I am also Pinay, with an Austrian boyfriend. I actually just came back from Vienna 3 days ago. I’m now in the US on a working visa.
My boyfriend and I are figuring out the best way to be together and how to get married. In our situation, me moving to Austria seems to be best.
My boyfriend and I have had a hard time getting information on the whole process of getting married and having me stay there. We both don’t want to be apart anymore after we get married, and it seems that you and your husband was successful with this. Is it possible for me to get in touch with you, or my boyfriend to get in touch with you to ask how you did it?
BTW, I like your blog and all topics you wrote about (esp about the “tampo” part)…. I think I’ll let my boyfriend read them too so he can understand us Pinays better. Kudos to you!
Dear Vienna,
I kept reading your blog to make me feel good but seems like i am so weak. I have austrian fiance who lives in switzerland & where also trying to find out what is the best way to do to get married. if i go to switzrland,do you think its possible to get married even if i am on visit visa?please help,im crying every night because of this & i feel bad for my fiance because his also frusrated with the whole processing. can you give me your email so we can talk?thank you vienna for this blog which is very helpful,,,
@ Lamielle,
take heart and know that you are not the first person who went through such complicated situation.
regarding your question about whether it is possible to get married even if your only on a visit visa, well, i am honestly NOT sure. I was also on a visit visa when i got married (2nd visit visa) but Switzerland is not part of the EU…so I don’t know if they have similar or the same marriage processing like in Austria.
But please also take note that it is not enough that you are in Europe to get married. There are also some papers from Philippines that you need to get hold of and these papers must go through several offices to check and prove their validity.
please continue reading bizarremarriage.com to learn more about it.
Hi Vienna,thank you so much for the reply, that makes me feel better.Just last night me & my fiance are discussing about it & whats the best thing to do. I told him about your case. Our problem is that I live & work in dubai & he lives in switzerland, We already start processing the papers but we have problem about his certificate of no impediment to marry because they don’t want to release him till i submit all my documents which is Birth certificate(Red ribbon) did you also expereince this? the thing is even if its with red ribbon his embassy in manila still doesn’t believe. this is what makes us feel really bad that is why we are thinking of getting married in switzerland & process the papers at the same time when we are there.Please tell me what is the best thing to do in our case.should we get married in switzerland or in philippines?thank you vienna