Marrying a Filipina

Written on : November 16, 2007

I have to clarify it first—I am not advertising or promoting Filipino/non-Filipino marriages. Also note that I am not a lawyer, these are just from my personal opinions are not supposed to be taken as legal advices.

I just would like to help those who are in Filipino/non-Filipino relationship. If you are planning to marry your Filipina girlfriend but don’t know where to start with the documentation, here are some pointers for you. If you are planning to marry your Filipino girlfriend in the Philippines, these are the documents you need:

Affidavit of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage: You can request this from your embassy in Manila. If your embassy does not give such document, you can get an Affidavit in Lieu of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. Both documents are basically saying that there are no legal impediments to the marriage but before your embassy gives you this affidavit, you must first present some/all of the following (depends from which country you are from):

-Proof of Citizenship

– Proof of Termination of Previous Marriages (if you are divorced or widower)

– Parent’s Consent (if you are under 21 years old)

Once you have your affidavit of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage or the Affidavit in Lieu of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage from your embassy and once your girlfriend has the same from the Philippine National Statistics Office, you can then proceed to the Local Civil Registrar to apply for the Marriage License. Note that you also have to present the following to the Local Civil Registrar.

- Death Certificate or Divorce Decree which shows the termination of any previous marriage (if you are divorced or widower)

– Birth, Baptismal, and Residency Certificate of your Filipina girlfriend

– Parental consent or advice, if either (or both parties are) party is under age.

You have to wait at least 10 days before the Local Civil Registrar will issue your Marriage License. The Marriage License have 120 days before it expires and this marriage license can be used anywhere in the Philippines.

Sounds pretty simple but this could take time so process the documents early on. Best wishes.

Tagged as: documents for getting married, getting married in Europe, marriage, relationship, Wedding Documents