My daughter and her fiance were considering eloping in the Philippines. She is a US citizen and he is from AU. I have read the process of marriage in the PH is more involved than many other countries which I understand the reasoning. For non PH citizens, is the process simplified? Moreso, will they still require the 10-day wait period and the pre marital counselling? Â
Moreso, will they still require the 10-day wait period and the pre-marital counseling? Â
The answer is "maybe"...welcome to the Philippines 🙂
Technically, two foreigners getting married have the same requirements for getting their marriage license. You can cut some time off the process by starting your marriage license application before taking the counseling (sometimes referred to as a seminar). That way, the 10-day waiting period starts while you wait to take the class.Â
Now, I do know some foreigners who used a lawyer to skip pre-marriage counseling by paying a "rush" fee. While I can't vouch for this approach, the local civil registry (LCR) has a fair amount of autonomy.Â