MARRIED IN CANADA, NOT REGISTERED IN THE PHILIPPINES, GOT DIVORCE, CAN I REMARRY?

[Genvir24]

Hello. In 2018 I met my then-Filipino citizen ex-husband, and we got married in CANADA. He sponsored me for PR. We had a marriage breakdown, and I divorced him four years later. He is already a Canadian Citizen, and I am waiting for my oath-taking (I had it rescheduled since I was out of the country). I did not register our marriage in the Philippines. Fast forward to 2023, and I filed a divorce; he is already a Canadian Citizen, and I am still waiting for mine. The divorce order will come out this month, hopefully. When I went home, I could request and get a CENOMAR from here. It means I am single. My questions are the following:

1) Can I get married in the Philippines without going through the foreign divorce recognition since I am single and got CENOMAR in the Philippines?

2) I need at least five years from when I got PR to sponsor my future spouse. Does my previous marriage affect my sponsorship at all?

Any insights or the same situation as mine please share

 

[Kaibigan]

...

1) Can I get married in the Philippines without going through the foreign divorce recognition since I am single and got CENOMAR in the Philippines?

2) I need at least five years from when I got PR to sponsor my future spouse. Does my previous marriage affect my sponsorship at all?

Any insights or the same situation as mine please share

1) You do not need foreign divorce recognition in the Phils, since your Canadian marriage was never registered with the PSA in the Phils. Unless you have a previous marriage registered with the PSA, you will have no difficulty getting a Cenomar. I can only see you wanting a Cenomar if you plan to marry in the Phils. It seems from your post that that is the plan. Again, walang problema.

2) The previous, legally dissolved, marriage won't count for much except with respect to the required 5-year gap between being sponsored and becoming a sponsor yourself. As long as the 5 years has passed, you will be okay. No need to be divorced for 5 years. The fact that the final divorce decree is not yet in hand should not be an issue but, of course, you must be divorced in order to start the sponsorship process.

You cannot be a sponsor if you are a PR living outside Canada. I am not sure where you live now or where you plan to live when seeking to be a sponsor.

 

[Xilikon]

As long as that previous marriage come with the corresponding divorce certificate to prove it's dissolved in Canada and that in the Philippines, you get CENOMAR which shows you are single (If you requested Cenomar and got an Advisory on marriage, you have a problem), then you are free to marry in the Philippines and be legal.

 

[Genvir24]

1) You do not need foreign divorce recognition in the Phils, since your Canadian marriage was never registered with the PSA in the Phils. Unless you have a previous marriage registered with the PSA, you will have no difficulty getting a Cenomar. I can only see you wanting a Cenomar if you plan to marry in the Phils. It seems from your post that that is the plan. Again, walang problema.

2) The previous, legally dissolved, marriage won't count for much except with respect to the required 5-year gap between being sponsored and becoming a sponsor yourself. As long as the 5 years has passed, you will be okay. No need to be divorced for 5 years. The fact that the final divorce decree is not yet in hand should not be an issue but, of course, you must be divorced in order to start the sponsorship process.

You cannot be a sponsor if you are a PR living outside Canada. I am not sure where you live now or where you plan to live when seeking to be a sponsor.

Thank you so much for your response Kaibigan! We are now looking forward to the divorce certificate and wedding preparations.

 

[Genvir24]

As long as that previous marriage come with the corresponding divorce certificate to prove it's dissolved in Canada and that in the Philippines, you get CENOMAR which shows you are single (If you requested Cenomar and got an Advisory on marriage, you have a problem), then you are free to marry in the Philippines and be legal.

Thank you for your response Xilikon. So I have to show both right, the CENOMAR and Divorce Certificate. Also, if I am a Canadian citizen living abroad, would I be able to sponsor my spouse? I have an online business like a work-from-home education consultancy business would that work?

 

[Kaibigan]

To marry in the Phils, all you will need is Cenomar. You will need the divorce certificate and PSA marriage certificate to include with the PR application to the IRCC.

If you are a Canadian citizen, you can be living abroad during the sponsorship process. You will be asked for evidence of intention to live in Canada once PR is granted.

 

[Genvir24]

To marry in the Phils, all you will need is Cenomar. You will need the divorce certificate and PSA marriage certificate to include with the PR application to the IRCC.

If you are a Canadian citizen, you can be living abroad during the sponsorship process. You will be asked for evidence of intention to live in Canada once PR is granted.

Hello Kaibigan! I’m messaging you back here due to the difficulties I have encountered in securing my Marriage License.

1) I got my citizenship August 8 and my divorce order August 2 and effective September 2 on the Divorce Certificate. I was able to secure all requirements including statement In lieu and cenomar etc. with divorce order and certificate.

2) when I apply for marriage license here, they asked for my judicial recognition and informing me why I don’t have a record of marriage with PSA to which I told I did not registered and that both of us are Canadian citizens when the divorce took effect.

now I am scared that we can’t secure a marriage license as I should have registered our marriage. It doesn’t make sense going back registering my previous marriage when we are now divorce.
Can you please enlighten me with this po? Any recommendations what to do?
thank you.

 

[Genvir24]

As long as that previous marriage come with the corresponding divorce certificate to prove it's dissolved in Canada and that in the Philippines, you get CENOMAR which shows you are single (If you requested Cenomar and got an Advisory on marriage, you have a problem), then you are free to marry in the Philippines and be legal.

Hello Xilikon! I’m messaging you back here due to the difficulties I have encountered in securing my Marriage License.

1) I got my citizenship August 8 and my divorce order August 2 and effective September 2 on the Divorce Certificate. I was able to secure all requirements including statement In lieu and cenomar etc. with divorce order and certificate.

2) when I apply for marriage license here, they asked for my judicial recognition and informing me why I don’t have a record of marriage with PSA to which I told I did not registered and that both of us are Canadian citizens when the divorce took effect.

now I am scared that we can’t secure a marriage license as I should have registered our marriage. It doesn’t make sense going back registering my previous marriage when we are now divorce.
Can you please enlighten me with this po? Any recommendations what to do?
thank you.

 

[Kaibigan]

Hello Kaibigan! I’m messaging you back here due to the difficulties I have encountered in securing my Marriage License.

1) I got my citizenship August 8 and my divorce order August 2 and effective September 2 on the Divorce Certificate. I was able to secure all requirements including statement In lieu and cenomar etc. with divorce order and certificate.

2) when I apply for marriage license here, they asked for my judicial recognition and informing me why I don’t have a record of marriage with PSA to which I told I did not registered and that both of us are Canadian citizens when the divorce took effect.

now I am scared that we can’t secure a marriage license as I should have registered our marriage. It doesn’t make sense going back registering my previous marriage when we are now divorce.
Can you please enlighten me with this po? Any recommendations what to do?
thank you.

@Xilikon might have greater expertise here than I, and it seems your situation has become unexpectedly complicated.

How is it that the local marriage license issuing authority asked for your judicial recognition? If you turned up with a cenomar, how did they even know about a previous marriage? Were you asked if you were married before, even though you had already had handed over a cenomar? Seems a bit strange.

I don't know why the issuer would care about a previous foreign marriage. So far as I am aware, there is no Phils law requiring ALL marriages to be registered with PSA. I am aware of some Filipino marriages that have never been registered.

Anyway, from what you have said, the issuer asked about judicial recognition and why no PSA record and you explained. You have not told us what was the response to that. Did the issuer say there was a problem? Did they refuse a license? Did they say there is more you must do?

If the going gets too difficult with that issuer, go to the next town and start fresh. Tender your cenomars and say nothing about previous foreign marriages, etc. It's not really the issuer's job to grill you about previous marriages. You should not have to produce more, but might be asked for a certificate of attendance in pre-marriage counselling seminar. Some issuers might require a barangay certification, or balk at issuing to someone not local, but you can usually find a user-friendly issuer. I know of cases when couples shopped around until they found someone accommodating. In short, not all issuers are hard-nosed.

 

[Genvir24]

@Xilikon might have greater expertise here than I, and it seems your situation has become unexpectedly complicated.

How is it that the local marriage license issuing authority asked for your judicial recognition? If you turned up with a cenomar, how did they even know about a previous marriage? Were you asked if you were married before, even though you had already had handed over a cenomar? Seems a bit strange.

I don't know why the issuer would care about a previous foreign marriage. So far as I am aware, there is no Phils law requiring ALL marriages to be registered with PSA. I am aware of some Filipino marriages that have never been registered.

Anyway, from what you have said, the issuer asked about judicial recognition and why no PSA record and you explained. You have not told us what was the response to that. Did the issuer say there was a problem? Did they refuse a license? Did they say there is more you must do?

If the going gets too difficult with that issuer, go to the next town and start fresh. Tender your cenomars and say nothing about previous foreign marriages, etc. It's not really the issuer's job to grill you about previous marriages. You should not have to produce more, but might be asked for a certificate of attendance in pre-marriage counselling seminar. Some issuers might require a barangay certification, or balk at issuing to someone not local, but you can usually find a user-friendly issuer. I know of cases when couples shopped around until they found someone accommodating. In short, not all issuers are hard-nosed.

hello @Kaibigan thank you for your response.
What happened is that i have to declare i am a divorcee on the statutory declaration to secure the statement in lieu of no impediment marriage abroad /legal capacity. The options were single and never married and divorce/annulled; thus I have to attached my divorce certificate and order and that’s how they know I got divorced.

The Local registrar told me that “ you shouldn’t be able to get a CENOMAR since both of you were Filipino when you got married and the marriage should have been reported “ . I get it what they mean but I wasn’t aware that it has to be registered and really, there’s no point in registering it now since we’re both foreigners only annulment can dissolve our marriage if we’re crazy enough to register our previous marriage.

It has been over three days now and my case was raised to the regional PSA office. LCR insisted there should be judicial recognition to which I explained that won’t be applicable to me. They even told me I can only get marry 9 months after divorce as I might be pregnant and the child belongs to the ex spouse which is ridiculous since we’re 3 years separated even before the divorce took place!

They did not refuse me a marriage license as the case was forwarded to their “legal team and higher ups”. I was told that I can only get a marriage license of my hometown or my fiancé’s hometown.
I’m on the waiting period but I have asked lawyers around and they insisted since I have a CENOMAR and there’s no record here in the Philippines judicial recognition is not applicable as the citizenship matters when the divorce took effect.

I hope my answer gives you more idea or picture of the scenario . I really appreciate your response

 

[Kaibigan]

hello @Kaibigan thank you for your response.
What happened is that i have to declare i am a divorcee on the statutory declaration to secure the statement in lieu of no impediment marriage abroad /legal capacity. The options were single and never married and divorce/annulled; thus I have to attached my divorce certificate and order and that’s how they know I got divorced.

The Local registrar told me that “ you shouldn’t be able to get a CENOMAR since both of you were Filipino when you got married and the marriage should have been reported “ . I get it what they mean but I wasn’t aware that it has to be registered and really, there’s no point in registering it now since we’re both foreigners only annulment can dissolve our marriage if we’re crazy enough to register our previous marriage.

It has been over three days now and my case was raised to the regional PSA office. LCR insisted there should be judicial recognition to which I explained that won’t be applicable to me. They even told me I can only get marry 9 months after divorce as I might be pregnant and the child belongs to the ex spouse which is ridiculous since we’re 3 years separated even before the divorce took place!

They did not refuse me a marriage license as the case was forwarded to their “legal team and higher ups”. I was told that I can only get a marriage license of my hometown or my fiancé’s hometown.
I’m on the waiting period but I have asked lawyers around and they insisted since I have a CENOMAR and there’s no record here in the Philippines judicial recognition is not applicable as the citizenship matters when the divorce took effect.

I hope my answer gives you more idea or picture of the scenario . I really appreciate your response

Sayang you ended up with a license issuer who asked for a statement in lieu. I was not asked for that when I got married in Iloilo in 2022. I have friends married in other parts of the Phils who were never asked.

What is concerning right now is that your case was raised to the regional PSA office. You are on their radar and maybe not easy now to get a license. Did they take away your cenomar? Might not be possible to go to any PSA office for a new one and, even if you get or have one, if you go to register your marriage with the PSA, you'll be flagged in their computer and you won't get a PSA certificate, after maybe a few months of waiting. Starting to look a bit messy.

Is there any particular reason why you need/want to be married in Phils? You can go to another country, marry, and get marriage certificate to support PR application. That's might be best option if too many roadblocks put in your way in the Phils.

 

[Xilikon]

@Kaibigan My expertise doesn't apply here because it was me who is divorced as a foreigner so there is no PSA, which is normal. When I filled and signed the affidavit, I showed the divorce certificate to the local public notary, which was fine. My wife was married previously but her husband died so we have a death certificate to prove her marriage was dissolved upon his death. We don't get a CENOMAR but an advisory of marriage which lists both the first marriage with his dead husband and our marriage. I got asked for the statement in lieu but took advantage of a special memorandum during the pandemic.

The fact that both are Filipinos who married overseas and are not registered with PSA makes things more complicated indeed. I agree with @Kaibigan to find a way to marry abroad and register that new marriage in the Philippines, circumventing the roadblocks of acquiring a marriage licence.

 

[Xilikon]

I backtracked and I saw what I kinda knew would happen if they learned you are in the process of divorce while not having any marriage registered in PSA. It's complicated indeed and with the famous Filipino bureaucracy, it would take a long time.

 

[Kaibigan]

The fact that both are Filipinos who married overseas and are not registered with PSA makes things more complicated indeed. I agree with @Kaibigan to find a way to marry abroad and register that new marriage in the Philippines, circumventing the roadblocks of acquiring a marriage licence.

Agree with your post, except getting married abroad might not guarantee registration of the new marriage in the Phils, if the PSA has red-flagged this couple and won't allow it unless a judicial recognition has been obtained (as silly as that sounds). It will depend on what, if anything, is placed under their names at the PSA. One way to test, I suppose, would be to go to a PSA office and apply for a cenomar. If they give it, that would suggest nothing negative has been placed on their record (or lack of record) with the PSA.

But then, I am left to ask: Is there any need to register with PSA? The IRCC will accept a marriage certificate from just about anywhere if they are satisfied that the laws of that country were followed.