Getting Married in the Philippines with a Foreigner

Love knows no color and no boundaries. Sometimes, the person who we choose to spend our whole life with may come from another race or country. Getting married in the Philippines with a foreigner is no longer an unusual thing and is already highly acceptable due to the Filipinos’ welcoming attitude towards other nationalities. The Philippine government and the Roman Catholic Church also do not impose any impediment to a Filipino marrying a person of another nationality.

However, there are some requirements for foreigners to get married in the Philippines. Most of these are simple documents that have to be prepared even by locals who want to get married, but some have to be specifically submitted by foreigners.

Requirements for Foreigners to Get Married in the Philippines

Here is a list of documents that will have to be prepared and submitted by foreigners who want to get married in the Philippines, with details on where and how to secure them. A word of caution though: the Philippine bureaucracy may be a little hard to navigate, so you have to be patient to make your dream wedding day happen.

Here is the checklist of getting married in the Philippines with a Foreigner:

Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry
Certificate of No Marriage Record
Photocopy of Passport
Marriage License
- Original Birth or Baptismal Certificates
- Certificate of Attendance in a Pre-Marriage Counseling Seminar
- Community Tax Certificate
- Barangay Clearance
- 2 1 x 1 Photos
- Application Form
Parental Consent or Advice

Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry

Among the most important requirements for foreigners who want to get married in the Philippines is the certificate or affidavit of legal capacity to marry. This is a document that proves that the foreigner has no legal impediment to get married to a Filipino citizen.

This can be obtained by a foreign individual from his or her embassy here in the Philippines. It is recommended that this be given priority by foreigners who want to tie the know with a Filipino citizen, since it is also required to be able to obtain a marriage license, and usually requires about a month to schedule.

Foreigners who will obtain their certificates of legal capacity to marry are sworn in and asked some questions before they are issued the document, to ensure that they are indeed legally allowed to get married here in the Philippines. It also has to be paid. The US Embassy in the Philippines, for instance, required a $50 fee for the affidavit.

Certificate of No Marriage Record

Another important document that a foreigner who wants to get married in the Philippines needs to prepare is the certificate of no marriage record. As the name suggests, this document serves as proof that a person has not contracted any marriage in the past. Both the bride and the groom need to secure this certificate of singleness from the National Statistics Office (NSO), no matter what their nationalities are.

To be able to obtain this document, a person who wants to get married needs to provide certain personal information to the NSO, including his or her complete name, parents’ name, date and place of birth, complete address and purpose of getting the certification. Getting this document may take a few hours. It is also recommended that processing this certification be prioritized because it is also a requirement for getting a marriage contract.

Photocopy of Passport

This is also another simple requirement that a foreigner who wants to get married in the Philippines needs to prepare. The passport photo page, Philippine visa and the page with the arrival stamp in the Philippines all need to be photocopied.

Marriage License

Needless to say, a marriage license is needed when getting married in the Philippines with a foreigner. The bride and the groom both have to go to the local civil registry where one of the parties is a resident. Be reminded that both of the contracting parties need to file separately a sworn application for the marriage license.

To be able to get a marriage license, the bride and the groom have to provide personal details to the local civil registry, including their complete names, place and date of birth, age, civil status, parents’ names and citizenship, among others.

They are also required to submit several documents to be able to obtain the marriage license. Among these are original birth or baptismal certificates of the parties, certificate of attendance in a pre-marriage counseling seminar, community tax certificate, barangay clearance, 2 1 x 1 photos and an application form. The marriage license is deemed valid for a period of 120 days.

Related Article: Unique Wedding Souvenir Philippines

Parental Consent or Advice

If either one of the parties getting married is aged between 18 and 25, he or she should get parental consent or advice. This requirement can be waived if the parents of the party who belongs to this age range will be attending the wedding.

After fulfilling these requirements, you are all set to choose a wedding date, and then say your “I do’s” before a court judge, mayor or a priest. Fulfilling for the requirements for foreigners to get married in the Philippines is not a difficult task. It just requires some time and patient to be able to make your dream wedding day happen.

Feature image credit: Alessandro Malatesta