I got an email from a reader who wanted to ask a few questions and I decided to publish our exchange for the benefit of others who might be needing the same information.

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Dear CJ,

Here are my answers.

Your Q : My boyfriend has asked about the requirements for getting married but he doesn’t know if I am legally allowed to stay in Austria right away after getting married there.

- Upon legally getting married there (Austria), you are automatically allowed to stay there.

Your Q : Did you enter Austria via a tourist visa?

- I entered Austria using a “Visit” visa. Sorry, but I am not sure if it is equivalent to “Tourist”. You see, processing of “Tourist” visa to enter Austria is different from processing a “Visit” visa.

- With Tourist visa, the Austrian embassy would require YOU to prove that you are financially able to stay there and that you have the intention of exiting Austria before your tourist visa expires, meaning, they will ask for documents showing that you are financially stable, i.e. bank statements, business certificate, etc (whatever they think necessary) and that you have something to go back to like a job or a property or business. They will make sure that your intention is just to “tour” Austria.

- It is slightly different with the Visit visa because this Visa says you are invited by somebody (an Austrian citizen) and that somebody is fully responsible for you. In this case, the Austrian embassy will ask the one who invited you (not you) for documents and these documents are supposed to show that he/she is financially able to support your during the entire duration of your stay in Austria. He have to show this bank statements, job contract, etc. and he also have to pay for your insurance (a little bit less than 100€ if I remember right). The only thing that the Austrian Embassy will need from you is your passport and the filled-up visa application form.

Your Q : How long was your tourist visa valid for (if that is what you had) and did you state that you intended to marry when you applied for your visa?

- The first time I went to Austria, I got a Visit visa. It took us 3 months to process all. We were too slow to gather all the necessary documents but as soon as we submitted the documents to the Austrian Embassy, it took only 2 weeks to get my visa. If you can collect the required documents in a week, it means you’ll get your visa in 3 weeks time. Anyway, the visa I got for the first time is just for 15 days and on the 15th day, I exited Austria.

- We did the whole process again for the second time. We applied for another Visit visa that will last for 30 days. My husband had to submit all the documents (some are updated dox) again but it didn’t take us too long like the first time and we didn’t have any problem getting a second one (nor the first one). The Austrian embassy granted another visa to me and they know that we have the intention to get married. With in these 30 days in Austria, we got married. After the wedding, we applied for my Aufenhastitel (like a green card). It’s not difficult and it is fast.

Your Q : Were you allowed to stay in Austria while waiting for your “Austrian green card (I forgot what you called it)” or did you have to leave?

- I exited Austria before my 30 days visit visa ended because we needed to go back to China so I cannot say for sure if Austria will kick you out when your visa expires even if you are already married to an Austrian citizen (but I don’t think so). Processing of Aufenhaltstitel normally will take 2 weeks maximum. Upon getting married, postpone the honeymoon (hehe), process your Aufenhaltstitel first.

The most effective way when applying for a visa to Austria is to be honest and transparent. Don’t apply for a student visa or a tourist visa when what you really you intend is to get married there. If you plan to stay together there without getting married right away is another story and I am sorry if I cannot give you an advice for this.

Also, let your boyfriend be the one to communicate with the Austrian embassy. It’s much easier this way. Let him ask his embassy what he needs to do so he can take you there and marry you. This is the best way. I am sure that if the Austrian embassy will see sincerity of your intentions and that you are both capable, they will not deny you of an entry to Austria.

As for you, you have some documents to prepare for the wedding (granted that your BF will be the one to arrange the visa). If you will read my blog, Bizarremarriage.com, you’ll find that there is complete explanation on what documents you’ll need and what you’ll need these documents for. Make sure that you have these documents before you enter Austria.

I’ll give you a glimpse of how long we needed until we were finally married.

Feb 2008 – we got engaged (started wedding plans)
June 2008 – my first trip to Austria (meeting his family)
October – second trip to Austria (this time, we got married)

From Feb to August (6 months) we planned for the wedding. He concentrated on my visa and I collected the required documents for the wedding (my documents). It took me a long time because I needed to get these from the Philippines.

Given that you intend to marry on your first trip in Austria, these are the sets of documents you need to prepare:

- Documents for your visa ( for the love of God, ask your BF to process this for you… in this way, you can save you more time and effort)

- Documents for your wedding ( these are YOUR documents from the Philippines)

- Documents for your wedding (these are HIS documents, he can get in Austria … I don’t think it’s a lot)

After the wedding, you can immediately apply for the Aufenhaltstitel.

About getting married in US… we’ll that’s something I cannot help you with. I don’t know if it is easier for you to get a visa and get married in Austria or get married in the US and get a visa to Austria.

Either way, you still have to go through the Austrian Embassy, you will still have to submit documents.

I hope I answered all your questions. If you have more, please read my blog… maybe the answer is there but if not, you may email me again.

Regards,
Vienna Lopez

_____________________________________________________________
Von: CJ
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 10. April 2008 11:39
An: Vienna Lopez
Betreff: Re: Bizarre Marriage

Hi there Vienna! My boyfriend and I are wanting to get married, but we also don’t want to be apart anymore after we tie the knot. So initially, we planned on me applying for a student visa to Austria to get permission to stay in there for a few years. This will then buy us time to get married and process my residency papers as his wife while staying together. But as time has passed, we are more eager to get married and the process for securing admittance to the University of Vienna is very tricky in my situation right now (since I am in the US but still a Filipino citizen). My BF has asked about the requirements for getting married but he doesn’t know if I am legally allowed to stay in Austria right away after getting married there. Did you enter Austria via a tourist visa? Can you give me a timeline of events like when and how did you apply for a marriage license, when did you arrive in Vienna, how long after that did you get married? How long was your tourist visa valid for (if that is what you had) and did you state that you intended to marry when you applied for your visa? Were you allowed to stay in Austria while waiting for your “Austrian green card (I forgot what you called it)” or did you have to leave? I have a lot of questions, I know, but I hope you can patiently give me your advice.

My BF and I are also considering getting married here in the US and then bringing me over to Austria….. but we don’t know exactly how long this will take and how long we will be apart before I can come follow him. So we are hoping that if it is possible for me to stay in Austria after we get married there, this will be the solution.

Thank you very much for responding to my message in your blog! Hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,
CJ
___________________________________________________________
On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 8:58 PM,
Vienna Lopez wrote:

Hello CJ,

Thanks for visiting my blog.

So tell me, how can I be of help?

Vienna
____________________________________________________________
Von: CJ
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 10. April 2008 08:45
An: Vienna Lopez
Betreff: Bizarre Marriage
CJ wrote:
Hi there! I sent you a comment on your blog about
requirements for getting married to a european guy. I hope we can get in touch as I am in a similar situation and would like to “follow in your footsteps” as you seem to have been successful. My name is Joy, and my Austrian boyfriend. Hope I will hear from you soon!

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.

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!

Written on : August 20, 2007

So finally, you and your European partner decided to get married–a romantic wedding in an old historic place somewhere in Europe. Well I have not so much say on the topic unless your partner is an Austrian and you are a Filipina and you are planning to get married in Austria. I can warn you–it’s not easy! If you are planning on getting married there or anywhere for that matter, you have to go through several legal hoops. So be wise. Check the Austrian Embassy months before your targeted wedding day. A lot of people would prefer a professional agency to arrange the pre-wedding requirements but here are some guidelines if you want to do it yourself.

Documents that you will need:
1. Birth Certificate
2.Certificate of Singleness/Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR)
3.Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage

That’s all.

But of course, the processing is long. You have to get your Birth Certificate from NSO ONLY! No birth certificates from the Local Civil Registrar please! It must be from the NSO. Nowhere else. And it shouldn’t be more than 6 months old. It’s the same with the CENOMAR. They must be all from NSO. After NSO, your documents must go through the DFA office in Manila. Nowhere else. Your document might take some time in this office so be very sure that you have this luxury. I am recommending this to you, and all the others who needed to get their documents authenticated by DFA, please process your documents early and be patient. It could take days so be sure that you have plenty of time to wait. Those who are rushing are more likely to be asked to pay under the table money. Please don’t put yourself in this situation. Stop the red tape! It’s a shameful thing. After getting your documents authenticated by the DFA office, it’s then time to bring these to the Austrian Embassy for further checking. And this is would take several weeks. So again, be sure that your wedding date is not tomorrow otherwise you will be in a very deep ****.

Also take note of the following: The Austrian Embassy in Manila only releases and accepts documents on Fridays. From 1:00pm to 3:00pm only. No other days and no other time. Don’t ask me why, it’s the way it is! After you have your documents from the Austrian Embassy, it’s then time to bring it to a Translator because your documents need to be translated from English to German. We did this final step in Austria because we don’t know anybody in the Philippines who is legally capable to translate such documents.

So that’s all what you’ll need. The required documents for your Austrian partner, is of course another story which I will be covering in my next topic. I hope that this help you somehow. Ciao!