# Any advice on doing a civil wedding in Cebu City?



## samhoustonian (12 mo ago)

Hi guys. Hoping that once this situation clears up, I can finally go back to the Philippines and be with my fiancee and do a civil wedding. Has anyone done this in the past, and can offer any advice, things to avoid, tips and tricks, etc.? 

In particular, I'm wondering if anyone knows any services that can help me get around most of the Filipino nonsense they make you do before they'll let you get married, like, I'm told, planting a tree and taking a seminar course in family, etc. 

My fiancee has a friend whose boss (Japanese expat) married a local and was able to avoid all of this, but she's been unable to give us the exact details, or the name of the service they used. We're still waiting for more info on this, but if anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

TIA


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

So you are asking us if we know of any way of breaking the law.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Welcome to the forum SamHouston. I have never heard of any shortcuts other than I guess you'd be hiring some sort of attorney that specializes in marriages so you'd hire what's called an Accredited Entity on the Philippine Bureau of Immigration's main website, here's the link PBI Accredited agencies

Be very careful of what's called "Fixers" they do very little to fix anything and actually all the paperwork they have you fill out is incorrect and then you'll end up doing it yourself anyway and still pay these low-level uneducated scavengers, they prey on us Expats.

I started a "Useful Links For Expats" posting on this but it's still a work in progress, here's what I have so far on this subject and Fiance Marriage Visa Useful links thread

Bottom line is that you must make sure that she hasn't been married before or has kids.


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

M.C.A. said:


> Be very careful of what's called "Fixers" they do very little to fix anything and actually all the paperwork they have you fill out is incorrect and then you'll end up doing it yourself anyway and still pay these low-level uneducated scavengers, they prey on us Expats.


 Be careful concerning lawyers too  because - I dont know if by being scammers or incompetent - many Filipino lawyers offer "solutions" for foreigners concerning things as real estate and business, but these "solutiions" are ILLEGAL and have no chance to manage a proper control!!! (Ask me instead how to make such things legal  
But I dont know of any shortcuts concerning marriage, but it seemed rather smooth with a civil marriage anyway from what I saw at one of the biger Youtube chanels by expats, which I believe we arent allowed to refer to.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Lunkan said:


> Be careful concerning lawyers too  because - I dont know if by being scammers or incompetent - many Filipino lawyers offer "solutions" for foreigners concerning things as real estate and business, but these "solutiions" are ILLEGAL and have no chance to manage a proper control!!! (Ask me instead how to make such things legal
> But I dont know of any shortcuts concerning marriage, but it seemed rather smooth with a civil marriage anyway from what I saw at one of the biger Youtube chanels by expats, which I believe we arent allowed to refer to.


Well if the YouTube channel actually provides detailed helpful information with links then post it Lunkan, but if it's just hearsay by the Vlogger then it's not gonna help.


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

M.C.A. said:


> Well if the YouTube channel actually provides detailed helpful information with links then post it Lunkan, but if it's just hearsay by the Vlogger then it's not gonna help.


 ok. He did show his own wedding process, but he post so many and I dont have link to that wedding, As mostly I only have info stored in my head  but the chanel is found by search "TimK" inside youtube.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

Lunkan said:


> ok. He did show his own wedding process, but he post so many and I dont have link to that wedding, As mostly I only have info stored in my head  but the chanel is found by search "TimK" inside youtube.


Do you actually watch that guys stuff? His wife looked and acted like a 14 year old girl when they married and he has molded her into a money making machine for his own benefit!


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

magsasaja said:


> Do you actually watch that guys stuff? His wife looked and acted like a 14 year old girl when they married and he has molded her into a money making machine for his own benefit!


 I DID a year ago. The wife is older than her sister who I suppouse is 19 now. 
I believe the WIFE is the main pusher concerning money  by she has made him finance pig breeding. Thats a common dream among farm daughter Filipinas and she seem being entrepreneural which can be GOOD. 
(I aim a geting such wife  although some older.
Although I will not let my wife get a maid  but that depend of I dont want any outsiders inside my home (except planned separate part for such where kids can bring their friends when geting older.)


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## samhoustonian (12 mo ago)

Thanks guys and yes I actually saw that video as well by the vlogger. (Didn't they make them take a marriage seminar about sex, etc, while she was like 9 months pregnant?) Anyways, I'll look into this, but if anyone has more info, please provide it.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

samhoustonian said:


> Thanks guys and yes I actually saw that video as well by the vlogger. (Didn't they make them take a marriage seminar about sex, etc, while she was like 9 months pregnant?) Anyways, I'll look into this, but if anyone has more info, please provide it.


Yes that seminar is a requirement, think yourself lucky, if you marry in a church you get 2 seminars. Never heard of the tree planting but you are required to be in the Philippines for 10 days before the wedding, not shore if that's 10 straight days or working days.


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## samhoustonian (12 mo ago)

Gary D said:


> Yes that seminar is a requirement, think yourself lucky, if you marry in a church you get 2 seminars. Never heard of the tree planting but you are required to be in the Philippines for 10 days before the wedding, not shore if that's 10 straight days or working days.


We'll be getting married in Cebu City and my fiancee says planting a tree is a criteria. I know, weirdest thing I've ever heard, but /shrug.


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## samhoustonian (12 mo ago)

Gary D said:


> So you are asking us if we know of any way of breaking the law.


I absolutely don't mean to break any laws but apparently my fiancee's friend's boss was able to skip this, so we wouldn't mind taking advantage of it either. Could just be a "pay an additional fee" thing but that's why I asked, in case anyone had done it previously.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

samhoustonian said:


> I absolutely don't mean to break any laws but apparently my fiancee's friend's boss was able to skip this, so we wouldn't mind taking advantage of it either. Could just be a "pay an additional fee" thing but that's why I asked, in case anyone had done it previously.


If anyone does find out how to do this, please post it and I'll also add it to our useful links section.

From what I remember being stationed 10 years on Guam the Japanese tourist would pay large for a night out drinking and friends, so I'm thinking that the Japanese boss probably paid large to have someone do all the leg work. Is it possible to contact him and find out?


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## samhoustonian (12 mo ago)

M.C.A. said:


> If anyone does find out how to do this, please post it and I'll also add it to our useful links section.
> 
> From what I remember being stationed 10 years on Guam the Japanese tourist would pay large for a night out drinking and friends, so I'm thinking that the Japanese boss probably paid large to have someone do all the leg work. Is it possible to contact him and find out?


My fiancee is currently attempting this via her friend, so I'll update this when I find out anything from her.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

samhoustonian said:


> My fiancee is currently attempting this via her friend, so I'll update this when I find out anything from her.


Still sounds like an illegal get around to me. Just because some do it doesn't make it legal. Anyway whats the problem witht sitting in a room for an hour. When we had ours they even did it in english for my benifit.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

Gary D said:


> Anyway whats the problem witht sitting in a room for an hour. When we had ours they even did it in english for my benifit.


That’s always been my theory as well. They can actually be quite amusing if you can see the funny side. 
We did our sex eduction thingy in 1998 and at the time we already had kids together. Most of the females attending the class were already pregnant, so them telling us about abstinence was funny.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Amounts to simply 'checking all the requirements'. When my wife & I got married(Catholic Church in the states) we had to attend "family planning" classes even though I had a vasectomy in 1978 and she had a hysterectomy in 1984.

As to tree planting. Has something to do with global warming. The wifes nephew just got married and they paid a fee for someone else to plant a tree for them. They had to attend the family planning even though she was very much pregnant as she delivered the following week.

Fred


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

We won't be able to post anything illegal but if it's legal then please post how to get around the burdensome requirements, mainly it will come down to documents needed through several agencies. But these requirements are there for a reason because some of our fellow Expats end up with baggage and then a very hard time living in the Philippines or they can't live in the Philippines with the proper Visa because the spouse was previously married or had children, remember there's no divorce in the Philippines and good luck getting an annulment also.

Another issue was the spouse was married and then the Expat had also purchased a house and was going to use that for his next option an SRRV but we can't own homes so he couldn't use that for his SRRV so the troubles can spiral.


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## ragbone13 (Jun 17, 2015)

When I married my fiancée in April of 2006 (in San Pedro Laguna) I needed to be in country for 14 days and needed a document showing that I was divorced here. Don't know if the rules are still the same.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

ragbone13 said:


> When I married my fiancée in April of 2006 (in San Pedro Laguna) I needed to be in country for 14 days and needed a document showing that I was divorced here. Don't know if the rules are still the same.


I don't think anything has changed. It's a ten business day waiting period between filing the application and the issuance of the licence to marry. You need to be in- country to file the application and I believe its your decree absolute they need to see.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

samhoustonian

Has anyone done this in the past, and can offer any advice, things to avoid, tips and tricks, etc.?

YEAH DON'T GET MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

art


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## KatanaDV20 (Mar 27, 2020)

The tip about making 1000% sure she really is single and has no offspring is a solid one.

I dont like ceremony and church affairs and neither do I wanna deal with huge family gatherings (gf feels the same thank goodness).

I think if I wanted to marry I'd fly us out and tie the knot in Singapore or Thailand in a quiet registry office or something.


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