So what would be easier? Marriage question

[Jollygoodfellow]

14 hours ago, BrettGC said:

Add to that a certificate of no impediment obtained (basically stating you're not married to anyone else in your country of origin) from your embassy in PI once you're in the country and not before, proving residence in the city you wish to get married in

Things must have changed.. I got my certificate on no marriage in Australia and brought it with me. Neither my pending wife or I lived in Cebu city where we were married.

[BrettGC]

52 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Things must have changed.. I got my certificate on no marriage in Australia and brought it with me. Neither my pending wife or I lived in Cebu city where we were married.

It has changed, I tried to use the one obtained in Australia and they refused it.  

[graham59]

(Though I doubt it will be necessary for the O.P.) I got married in the Phils in 2015, and very easy and straightforward.

For some countries (such as the UK) you now get a document from your embassy stating that you're free to marry, rather than bringing the document from your home country. It's really not a big deal IMO. 

[KC813]

15 hours ago, Gustav said:

So my wife and I have been married in the US for 4 years but it is still not registered in the Philippines. We were debating what would be the easier route - file the paperwork with the consulate or when we go back to Philippines, just get married then.

Any thoughts on what would be easier? Would it be legal for us to get married in the Philippines?

And yes, I'm aware about the current laws in the Philippines about divorce. :)

Gustav-

Unless you have lots of extra time when in the Philippines and enjoy being bureaucratically shuffled around, it is usually easier to register the marriage at one of the seven Philippine Consulates in the States.

BrettGC put you on the right track, but the instructions you will find on the consulate’s website with jurisdiction over your residence will be more specific to U.S. marriages.

The list of consulates and their jurisdiction is at https://philippineembassy-dc.org/consulate-finder/.

Find the correct consulate’s website to download the registration form and their local instructions.  The process does get slightly more complicated if you or your spouse had a prior marriage, but it’s just paperwork!

In practice, most Filipinos that get married in the U.S. never get around to registering their marriage unless they are going to change their name on the Philippine passport.  But there really is no reason not to do the registration.

Since you have only been married 4 years, I am guessing your wife is still a U.S. Permanent Resident, so don’t confuse the marriage registration forms with the ‘reacquiring citizenship’ paperwork.  That is a whole different ballgame.

[Gustav]

Thanks. Now it makes more sense to me.

[Huggybearman]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:54 PM, graham59 said:

(Though I doubt it will be necessary for the O.P.) I got married in the Phils in 2015, and very easy and straightforward.

For some countries (such as the UK) you now get a document from your embassy stating that you're free to marry, rather than bringing the document from your home country. It's really not a big deal IMO. 

True. However the document I got from the British Embassy in Manila had an additional rubber stamp on it saying ‘The veracity of the information contained in this document cannot be authenticated’. Or words very similar. That turned out to be very unhelpful as the judge who was going to conduct the wedding picked up on it and refused to conduct the service. That was the day before we were due to get married. We had an almighty scramble to rearrange the wedding. Fortunately sister-in-law is good friends with the Mayor who kindly stepped in at the last minute to officiate!

Edited March 23, 2022 by Huggybearman

[Shol]

55 minutes ago, Huggybearman said:

True. However the document I got from the British Embassy in Manila had an additional rubber stamp on it saying ‘The veracity of the information contained in this document cannot be authenticated’. Or words very similar. That turned out to be very unhelpful as the judge who was going to conduct the wedding picked up on it and refused to conduct the service. That was the day before we were due to get married. We had an almighty scramble to rearrange the wedding. Fortunately sister-in-law is good friends with the Mayor who kindly stepped in at the last minute to officiate!

Please take note of this experience because mine was similar as the document I was given from the embassy was rejected by two judges/courts simply because of the wording and it wasn't the "exact" one they were expecting.  

The third court/judge finally accepted it when I showed them email trail from my embassy telling me that was the "ONLY" document that would be coming or available so I was able to get married.'

This was very frustrating when it all went down since we were doing everything the right way.  Folks will need to be assertive and make sure that they won't have issues so this is a great thread to plan ahead for that scenario.

[graham59]

I was issued with a covering letter from the embassy, explaining their new procedures to the local Registrar.

I guess our Mayor wasn't quite as moronic as some.  

Obviously I  had other documentary evidence to hand...such as my divorce certificate. 

[Jollygoodfellow]

5 hours ago, Huggybearman said:

The veracity of the information contained in this document cannot be authenticated’.

So really it's a waste of paper and time. Its like saying, maybe he is free to marry and maybe he is not.

[Shol]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

So really it's a waste of paper and time. Its like saying, maybe he is free to marry and maybe he is not.

I wouldn't say it's "waste of paper" though it needs to be backed up.   If it was a waste of paper I would never have been able to get married lol.

The right diplomacy / politics go a long way here even if it's really nonsense/insanity....