STEP ONE: Filipino-French Wedding Procedure in the Philippines

Initial Step

It's very hard to live away from your loved one.  I've known my soon-to-be husband since over two years ago.  He is from France but is currently working in Martinique Island (French West Indies). We first met personally in 2010 and now we have finally decided to tie the knots this year God willing. 

We know that it is not going to be easy to get married to a foreigner.  It's not even nearly possible for us to get married in France so we decided to do it here in the Philippines because it's easier but it's not really that easy at all.

We have done the first step on our long vacation at the beginning of this year.  We both went to the French embassy which is located at:

16th Floor, Pacific Star Building

Corner Gil Puyat and Makati avenues

1200 Makati City

Thankfully we didn't have to wait for a long time.  We waited just a few minutes before my fiancé's name was called.  We met the lady in-charged for wedding procedures, Miss Audrey HUI BON HOA-CHAN.  She explained to us the wedding procedure.  She gave us some forms to fill-out, my fiancé's in French and mine in English. 

One of the most important requirements for a wedding with a foreigner is his/her Certificate of Legal Capacity to marry which will be issued by his/her embassy.  Miss Chan gave us the list of required documents to compile so that my fiancé will be issued with the said certificate.  She advised me to forward the documents personally to her at least three months before our planned wedding date. 

These are the following documents required for the Certificate of Legal Capacity to be issued:

For the French National:

1. A duly accomplished questionnaire from the embassy
2. A recent (less than 3 months) full text of Birth Certificate
3. Copy of National Identification card or Certificate of Nationality or Biometric passport
4. (If previously married, a court decision of divorce; if widow/er, a certified true copy of death certificate of spouse)
5. Proof of residency or copy of consular certificate if applicable

For the Filipino National:

1. A duly accomplished questionnaire from the embassy
2. Authenticated copy of the full text birth certificate (NSO and DFA)
3. Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) issued by NSO
4. Copy of CFO certificate (Commission on Filipino Overseas)
5. Proof of residency in the Philippines
6. Photocopy of 2 ID cards
7. (If previously married, mention of annulment decision on duly authenticated marriage certificate and certified true copy of judgment of marriage annulment; If widow/er, authenticated copy of death certificate of the spouse, Copy of birth certificate of illegitimate children duly authenticated.

My fiancé will compile his documents and I'll do the same for mine and then hopefully we can have everything flowing smoothly.

The rest of the procedures will be posted in the next posts.  If this topic interests you, feel free to follow.