Processing the Marriage License

With just more than 2 months to go, I found myself researching for the requirements and procedures of acquiring marriage license. In order for us to get married, we need to secure a marriage license first.

I initially thought that the marriage license only has a validity period of 3 months. Then when I was doing my research I found out that it is in fact valid for 120 days or 4 months. I was also lucky to find the needed requirements online. The only question left unanswered is how long is the wait for the marriage license to be released.

I asked a colleague at work to see how long she waited for the marriage license and she said it was 2 months. When I heard about this I totally panicked. Immediately, I was concerned about how long it might take for our marriage license to arrive. It scared me to think that there might be a possibility that our marriage might not be legal if we missed to acquire the license on time.

So instantly, I messaged my hubby that we needed to go to the local registrar's office to start processing our license or else all our preparations will go to waste.

Fortunately, after initially inquiring at our Local Registrar's office, we found out that it will only take 10 days from the date of application for the marriage license to be due for release. The license will be released on the 11th day.


Note: This post is applicable to couples who are processing their marriage license in Davao City. I do not know if the list of requirements that I will post here is also applicable to other cities.


Steps and procedure that me and hubby went through:

1. We went to Sanggunian building where the City Registrar's office is located. We inquired at the Marriage License Application section and asked for the list of requirements to acquire marriage license. The clerk asked how old we were and if we were both single then she checked the items that we needed to comply. (Note: the requirements will depend on your age and if you are widowed or annulled)

MARRIAGE LICENSE REQUIREMENTS (per Davao City Local Registrar's Office)

Requirements for Marriage Application
1. CENOMAR (NSO) – 26 years old & above
2. Pre-Marriage Counseling/Seminar – 25 years old & below
3. Two (2) copies each (either 1 of the four)
     a) Birth Certificate
     b) Baptismal Certificate
     c) Voter’s Affidavit
     d) School Records
4. If party/applicant is 18-20 years old, bring father to sign the Parental Consent
5. If 21-25 years old, bring father to sign the Parental Advice
6. Pay Two Hundred Fifty (250.00) pesos for Marriage Application Fee at the City Treasurer’s Office collector
7. Pay One Hundred Fifty (150.00) pesos for Marriage License
8. Valid I.D. of applicants and parents (photocopies)
9. Community Tax Certificate (cedula)

Requirements for Foreigner Applicants 
- Bring Legal Capacity to Marry from their respective Embassy/ Consulate in the Philippines
- Pay Two Hundred (200.00) pesos for Marriage Registration Fee at City Treasurer’s Office
- Photocopies of Passport

TIP: If you don't have Cedula yet, make sure to get one at your Barangay to save some time. The queue at the CTO collector is very long and it will take you an hour or more depending on how long the line is.


2. Since hubby and I already have a copy of our NSO birth certificates, we only needed NSO copy of our CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage). Very fortunately, there is a satellite office of the NSO inside the Sanggunian building. So we requested for one copy each. Processing takes 1 week.

COSTS:
CENOMAR - PhP245 (PhP195 + PhP50 processing fee)

A week after, we went back to Sanggunian Building to claim our  CENOMAR and photocopied it. (TIP: Make sure you already photocopied all the requirements before submitting to the clerk to save time).


3. We submitted all the requirements to the clerk for evaluation. Then she returned the requirements to us and handed us 2 copies of the Application for Marriage License Form. (below is a sample of what the from looks like. Form taken from Quezon City's website)

NOTE: LEFT SIDE is for the GROOM's info while RIGHT SIDE is for the BRIDE's info. You will need to fill up this form using BLACK ink. Write in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Together with the Application Form, the clerk also handed us the Order for Payment form which we needed to pay at the CTO collector.

Marriage License Fee - P150
Marriage Application Fee- P250

TIP: What we did to save time was, I told my soon-2b-husband to go ahead and pay for the fees while I fill up our forms. The queue where they release the cedula is the same queue where we paid for the fees. It took my soon-2b-husband an hour waiting in line.


4. We submitted all the requirements along with the filled up application form and receipt. Then we were referred to the Data Processing section for encoding. Then after a few minutes, we were given a copy of the Notice of Posting wherein our information were placed and our intention to get married. The notice will be posted at the entrance of the Local Registrar's office for 10 days. Our licensed will be due for release on the 11th day. Also on the form, the City Registrar noted the date when we can claim our license.

Now all we have to do is wait! :)

(Please refer to Davao City's Civil Registrars office's website at http://ccro.davaocity.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Application-for-Marriage-License-Flow-Chart-Marriage.pdf)