Philippine Marriage License Requirements

[Tom and Milaren 0]

Hi - I'm new here and excited to join this Forum.

I am hoping to find someone with experience getting a marriage license in the Philippines. My fiance is 24 and has her parent's approval. We are having a civil ceremony. My fiance's mom says we will need to go to some type of class but she does not know the requirements. The US Embassy and Philippine Gvt sites do not mention anything but I found the following on a Philippine Bridal website:

"You and your husband-to-be will also be required by the civil registrar to attend a city-required family planning seminar. You can check your municipality for the schedule. Such seminars are usually given in the city hall. After the seminar, you will be given a certificate of attendance, which you will present when you claim your marriage license. "

Is this correct?

Thank you!

[Greenbaum 12,258]

Tom and Milaren, on 09 Oct 2014 - 12:14 PM, said:

Hi - I'm new here and excited to join this Forum.

I am hoping to find someone with experience getting a marriage license in the Philippines. My fiance is 24 and has her parent's approval. We are having a civil ceremony. My fiance's mom says we will need to go to some type of class but she does not know the requirements. The US Embassy and Philippine Gvt sites do not mention anything but I found the following on a Philippine Bridal website:

"You and your husband-to-be will also be required by the civil registrar to attend a city-required family planning seminar. You can check your municipality for the schedule. Such seminars are usually given in the city hall. After the seminar, you will be given a certificate of attendance, which you will present when you claim your marriage license. "

Is this correct?

Thank you!

She will be required to have her parents permission in writing. Use this form:

Those at least 21 but below 25 years of age are required to obtain parent's advice to the marriage. http://www.quezoncity.gov.ph/images/stories/downloadables/forms/parentadvice.pdf

Further information for requirements can be found here: http://manila.usembassy.gov/marriage.html

[Isabela 20]

I just got married Sept 20th in the Philippines. First you need to make a appointment at the American Embassy in Manila. You pay $50 and they give you a certificate to show your free to marry. This takes about a hour.

Next you apply in her local city office and pay a fee. In my case it was about 600 pesos I think. Next they wanted us to take a course on marriage. Luckily we had a connection and they waived just signed it off. The waiting period is a full 10 days.

Then you pick up your license and the next step for me was to go yo the church. In your case I'm sure someone will chime in on civil marriages.

Edited October 9, 2014 by GHG7F0

[JohnandMhay 13]

_{Married Aug 2nd. My wife is 26 (was 25) so no need for the class.}

_{For civil we had to schedule with the mayor for the ceremony. I was really shocked when there was no request for a handout for performing the ceremony.}

_{This was in Trece Martires (Cavite).}

[Hank_ 9,173]

_{Married Aug 2nd. My wife is 26 (was 25) so no need for the class.}

_{For civil we had to schedule with the mayor for the ceremony. I was really shocked when there was no request for a handout for performing the ceremony.}

_{This was in Trece Martires (Cavite).}

did you have to have a advice letter from parents?

Edited October 9, 2014 by Hank_

[Isabela 20]

My wife is 39 and they still required the class. Luckily she knew someone, so we didn't have up take it. They did want a donation.

[JohnandMhay 13]

did you have to have a advice letter from parents?

No Hank, I was pointing that out, have no knowledge of the class, but as to civil ceremony it was pretty painless to set up with the mayor.

[Hank_ 9,173]

No Hank, I was pointing that out, have no knowledge of the class, but as to civil ceremony it was pretty painless to set up with the mayor.

Your wife was 25 going on 26, his fiancee is only 24 they may nail her for that letter, but I believe the OP said he had it already.

[Tom and Milaren 0]

THANKS to everyone. Very helpful. My fiance works 7 days a work about 14 hours a day so I am trying to accomplish this. If it falls apart while we are in PI we go K1. I'm hoping that "special processing fees" if needed can clear any requirements I dont know about - such as the form (ty greenbaum).

[Brassballs 47]

We went through the process this past May. If memory serves me correctly and possibly not in totally correct order:

1. Schedule an appointment at USEM to get a 'Certificate of Capacity'. Basically a letter from the Embassy that states that you swore to them you don't have any other wives scattered around and you are free to marry. Took me about 3 hours and 7 queues (Filipino way) and $50. Goto US Embassy Manila to schedule. You'll need passport, divorce decree if applicable, and patience.

2. Take that to Local Civil Registrar (LCR). You'll need passport, COC. Future asawa will need CENOMAR (CErtificate of NO MArriage), birth certificate, and parental advice if she is under 25.

3. Attend a half+ day seminar sponsored by LCR. Need to call them to see how often seminars are given. In San Jose del Monte, seminar was bilingual so somewhat easy to follow even if you don't understand Tagalog. I was trying to think of a way to buy out of this requirement, but after it was finally over I found it very rewarding prior to marriage. Left us with a lot of 'food for thought'. I personally would recommend suffering through it. After paying some pesos (asawa took care of that so I don't remember the fees) You will get a marriage permit which eventually will become your marriage certificate on file at the LCR and eventually sent to the NSO (National Statistics Office) to become THE official document. Read it over line by line for any errors and get them corrected. Ours had to be typed manually 3 times to our satisfaction. No computer word processors in use here. Again Filipino way.

4.Supposed to be an 11 (I think) day cooling off period to wait before actually getting married. Like most things this can be modified for consideration. The pastor that conducted our rather large home civil ceremony was also the mayors buddy that conducted all the civil ceremonies in the mayor's office. Due prior arrangements having been made and my time constraints, our ceremony was actually conducted only 4 days later. The pastor however filed our final paperwork with his signature on the 11th day at the LCR.

5. Several days later you can pickup your copy for the LCR version of the marriage certificate. And a month or so later you can traverse the NSO queues and get the official copies which you will eventually need during the CR-1 application process.

Long answer to a short question, but hopefully it has helpful. It's a long process, but substantially shorter than a church wedding. Congratulations to you and your asawa.