If an American is planning to get married to a citizen of the Philippines, a major requirement that must be produced is a Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR). This is a document from the Philippines government certifying that an individual is single. It cross-reference any recorded marriages of verified citizens against records of divorces, showing that a person could be legally married without committing bigamy.
CENOMAR are produced by the Philippines’ National Record Office. An American marrying a Filipina or Filipino must take care that they are doing so legally because doing so is a very sensitive issue in the Philippines. Philippine legislators have introduced legislation that requires a foreigner who intends to marry a citizen of the Philippines to prove they have both “moral” and financial capabilities. In 1990, the Anti-Mail Order Bride Law was passed in the Philippines to outlaw so-called marriage catalogs, where Filipino women would be offered for marriage proposals, similar to those that had been used for Eastern European brides-to-be in catalogs targeted at US men.
Related Articles:
- Philippine Customers: Order your CENOMAR online
- Can a Filipina Get a Divorce in Hong Kong for CENOMAR?
- Can I Get Married in the USA if I Separated in Philippines?
- Converting to Islam to “Legally” Divorce in the Philippines
- CFO Seminar Philippines
- The Definitive Guide to Getting Married in the Philippines