On Jan 10, 2:29 am, "Mick Cant" <mrcycl....RemoveThis@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi is anyone able to tell me of a newsgroup that covers a Brit marrying a
> Filipna in the Philippines.
> Or anywhere else I can get help, Thanks Mick.
Check out Title I of the Family Code of the Philippines
http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno8533.htm
One common stumbling blocks for foreigners is: "Art. 21. When either
or both of the contracting parties are citizens of a foreign country,
it shall be necessary for them before a marriage license can be
obtained, to submit a certificate of legal capacity to contract
marriage, issued by their respective diplomatic or consular
officials." If you have been previously married, the British Embassy
will probably want to see documentation that the previous marriage has
been terminated (divorce papers, etc.) before issuing this
certificate.
Another common stumbling block for foreigners is: "Art. 17. The local
civil registrar shall prepare a notice which shall contain the full
names and residences of the applicants for a marriage license and
other data given in the applications. The notice shall be posted for
ten consecutive days on a bulletin board outside the office of the
local civil registrar located in a conspicuous place within the
building and accessible to the general public. This notice shall
request all persons having knowledge of any impediment to the marriage
to advise the local civil registrar thereof. The marriage license
shall be issued after the completion of the period of publication. "
There is room for interpretation about exactly what this requires but,
as a practical matter, it usually seems to mean that there is a
required ten day waiting period between the application by an RP
citizen for a marriage license and the issuance of that license.
I have sometimes (rarely) heard of problems arising out of "Art. 7.
Marriage may be solemnized by: ..." The list which follows that does
not include Municipal mayors. A previous Family code did aempower
mayors to perform marriages and, nonwithstanding the fact that the
current Family Code does not empower them to do so, many Municipal
mayors continue to perform mayors. I have heard of occasional cases
of this causing difficulties in obtaining a visa for the RP-citizen
spouse to travel to the home country of the foreign spouse -- with the
foreign embassy arging that the marriage is not legal and refusing to
process the visa. Article 35 provides a possible way around this:
"Art. 35. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning:
[...] (2) Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to
perform marriages unless such marriages were contracted with either or
both parties believing in good faith that the solemnizing officer had
the legal authority to do so;" (I'm not kidding -- that's what it
says) However, the difficulty, if it crops up, is usually with the
Consular section of a foreign embassy, and they can be pretty
arbitrary about their decisions regarding visa matters.
Hope that helps.
>> Stay informed about: Marrying in the Philippines 
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