Marrage certificate dates are not correct

[christracy 0]

Hi everyone

My wife Juliet and I were married june 3....we never waited the 10 days or had a license..we applied june 2 but the woman in charge said there was a way before I had to go home. Papers say license issued june 13...marriage certificate says we were married july 4. I was not in the Philippines july 4. Does this sound like a problem on my getting a visa for her? I have been advised that the marriage is valid..no matter what the paper says.Just fill out the question july 4 and hope for the best? Any insight would be appriciated.

Thanks

Chris

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Why not make July 4 your official day, since it matches the cert? Heck of a USA day to be married!

[Scott and Mhay 57]

yeah that will be a problem if you were not in the PI when your new date for marriage was. It will be pretty tough to fix this issue IMO. I am sure the USCIS or consulate will catch that when they review the petition. I would see if you can get the certificate date changed to a day that you were in the PI.

[DaveE111 10]

Let me get this straight. Is this what you are saying?

1. Married in the Philippines

2. Never really got a marriage license, (althougth the marriage documents says a license was issued June 13th).

3. Did not wait the ten days.

3. Got married on June 3rd and they post dated the marriage certificate to July 4th.

4. You were not even in the Phiippines on July 4th.

[christracy 0]

Thanks for reply

Exactly..at the time of ceromony we had no license..no ten day wait. I was told by official at local office that this happens often.I have no idea how to fix this or if it can be fixed.Any ideas?

[joyjohn 18]

Thanks for reply

Exactly..at the time of ceromony we had no license..no ten day wait. I was told by official at local office that this happens often.I have no idea how to fix this or if it can be fixed.Any ideas?

sauce marie....you better hope those "offical" at that local office can fix this, cause this isnt going to fly with uscis or nvc , ot the IO at manila embassy....how in the heck can you get married without all the proper papers and its offical??? i think down the road its more troble than you think, that someone at the local office, how many pesos did you pay them to get this done??

Edited July 8, 2011 by joyjohn

[DaveE111 10]

Since you never really got a license you probably never went to the US Embassy to get this I would assume. From the US Embassy Manila web site.

Any foreigner who wishes to marry in the Philippines is required by the Philippine Government to obtain from his/her Embassy a "Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage" before filing an application for a marriage license. This certification affirms that there are no legal impediments to the foreigner marrying a Filipino (i.e, that the foreigner is already married to someone else). Unlike the Philippines, the U.S. Government does not keep a central statistical registry for births, marriages and deaths and cannot verify this information. Instead, the Philippine Government accepts an "Affidavit in Lieu of a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage." Americans may execute this affidavit at the American Embassy in Manila or the U.S. Consular Agency in Cebu. Personal appearances of the American citizen applicant cannot be waived, but the fiance(e) need not be present. Philippine authorities will not accept any substitute document initiated in the United States.

Applicants may apply for the "Affidavit in Lieu of a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage" at the Embassy's American Citizen Services Branch by appointment only. There is a fee of $50.00 or its peso equivalent for the affidavit, payable in cash only.

I am not nearly cognizant enough of filipino law to even know if your marriage is legal. I do know however, that even if you managed to get through the US Embassy, this will hang over you for virtually forever.

[Armenia 18]

Given that you didn't have a marriage license when you got married and given what DaveE111 said (additional requirement for US citizens wishing to get married in the Philippines), I'd say your June 3 marriage is not valid. However, since you say you have a marriage contract (with the wrong dates), I assume you "paid" people. It could work if you were going to use that marriage contract in the Philippines only, However, since you are a US citizen intending to bring your wife to the US, it's more complicated. How will you get a pre-June 3 Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage from the US Embassy in Manila? Maybe the local office also has a "way" of getting around that (falsifying documents?) but the US Embassy would have no record that it issued you the certificate. Boom, you're caught lying. And down the road when problems could arise related to your marriage, people can always dig up your records to show that your June 3 marriage was not valid because you didn't have the required papers etc. before getting married.

IMO, it would be easier if you just go through the civil (I assume) marriage ceremony again but, this time, with all the requirements satisfied.

Edit - If you're going to do this, make sure that the local office (local civil registrar) has not forwarded your marriage contract to the NSO and that the local office removes your record from their files. The contract, after all, is not valid so it shouldn't be hard to get them to "destroy" your marriage record. If the NSO already has your marriage contract and has included it already in the national database, that is another problem.

Just out of curiosity, why did you get married without a marriage license? I mean, you can't do that in the US. Why would it be different in other countries? Even considering cultural differences, marriage is still usually a contract and would usually require paper work especialy when you're trying to cross international borders which means you have to satisfy two countries' requirements.

Read Executive Order No. 209 (The Family Code of the Philippines) - http://www.chanroble...DER%20NO.%20209

Chapter 3 - Void and voidable marriages

Art. 35 (3) - The following marriages shall be void from the beginning - Those solemnized without license, except those covered in the preceding Chapter (Marriages exempted from license requirement).

Edited July 8, 2011 by Armenia

[therese828 4]

Hi everyone

My wife Juliet and I were married june 3....we never waited the 10 days or had a license..we applied june 2 but the woman in charge said there was a way before I had to go home. Papers say license issued june 13...marriage certificate says we were married july 4. I was not in the Philippines july 4. Does this sound like a problem on my getting a visa for her? I have been advised that the marriage is valid..no matter what the paper says.Just fill out the question july 4 and hope for the best? Any insight would be appriciated.

Thanks

Chris

i may say...better let your wife go to the nso and let her ask for the marriage certificate/you will be lucky if the marriage has not been forwarded yet to the nso.

but you know,during my interview and while i was waiting for our visa packet...i was nervous bcoz on our visa application..all the forms i filled up...i forgot the jr on my father's name.but on my live birth the name of my father has a jr.

hehehe all i can say....may the god bless you on your visa application.\

good luck!!!

Edited July 8, 2011 by therese828

[christracy 0]

Thanks for replies

First off..I paid no one to do anything..I had obtained a legal capacity to marry from US embassy june 1..the people in the office thought they were doing us a favor by this...saving me a trip after the 10 days..I didnt think anything of it.

[joyjohn 18]

the people in the office thought they were doing us a favor by this

well as you can see now that wasn't a favor......any time you bend the rules even in the philippines it comes back to bite your butt....but your dates dont match the time you was there, problem #1, 10 day rule...problem#2.....you'll have to go back to them and one,get them to wavier the 10day rule, make your dates correspond with your time line being their, all this have to be done before it gets to the NSO., honestly.i see nothing but problems with this. I wish you good luck....

[christracy 0]

Hi again

I was assured by everyone that there was no problem or anything illeagle...and being my first marriage..I had no clue about necesary papers...I went by what the people in the office told me.We applied for license on june 2..I am well aware..at least now I am..of the laws and validity of our marriage..the certificate has been cleared and is in my wifes hands....guilty of ignorence...sure..just wondering if there is a way to fix this

[Scott and Mhay 57]

You should have done the research online...you did some research since you knew about the legal capacity to marry needed and you had to do that by appointment. I had my wife do some research at her municiple hall before I even arrived. She was going to start the marriage license before I got there, but they needed me present to start it. I wouldnt have had to wait the 10 days as they would have pushed it through faster, but I made plans to be there long enough for the 10 day waiting window since that is what my wife was told at the time.

Hopefully those officials will be able to fix the paperwork now. I bet they ask for a "donation" to fix it though or tell you it will cost to fix their mess up. The thing I dont get is without the marriage license, how did you sign it after the ceremony along with your wife and witnesses? Were all those signatures pre-signed?

Hopefully they didnt already forward it to the NSO...if they did, it will most likely be a decent amount of money to fix it.

Edited July 8, 2011 by Scott and Mhay

[DaveE111 10]

I think your biggest hurdle will be the US Embassy. They are very good and finding trivia, (ask me how I know). If they discover that you were not in country when your marriage supposedly took place you will probably get immediate denial. Take my word for it, they don't play when they find things like that.

I don't know how to fix it. As I see it, you are not legally married per the family code of the Philippines. "Art. 35 (3) - The following marriages shall be void from the beginning - Those solemnized without license, except those covered in the preceding Chapter (Marriages exempted from license requirement)." The problem with this is that sometimes you have to go through the court to get the documents corrected. I know this sounds silly but let me explain. My wife was married previously, she later found out that the man was already married. Although the family code of the Philippines (same article), says, "those bigamous marriages are null and void from the beginning", it took us a year, a lawyer, and a court case to get it through their legal system. Bottom line is that she was married, but not legally married, if that makes sense. It appears to be much the same situation you are in.

Question: Has your marriage already be recognized by NSO?

I would recommend spending some money and talking to a filipino lawyer, unless you really want to roll the dice with the US Embassy.

[joyjohn 18]

Hi again

I was assured by everyone that there was no problem or anything illeagle...and being my first marriage..I had no clue about necesary papers...I went by what the people in the office told me.We applied for license on june 2..I am well aware..at least now I am..of the laws and validity of our marriage..the certificate has been cleared and is in my wifes hands....guilty of ignorence...sure..just wondering if there is a way to fix this

Philippine law prescribes a ten-day waiting period from the filing of the application to the issuance of the marriage license. The license is valid for 120 days and may be used anywhere in the Philippines.

this is a part of the information in the legal capacity to contract marriage, u said they knew away around it, so they told you to brake the law, and since this is your first marriage u knew no better....so you didnt think you was brakin any laws.....you claim ignorence......well if you want this to work for immigration purposes.........go hire a good lawyer, and get this all fixed before filing any visa's......thats how to fix it