⌛ Getting married in Dumaguete

My daughter - an English teacher from South Africa, living in Kaohsiung, Taiwan - is planing on getting married to her British fiancee, also an English teacher in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, during the last week of September 2011, in Cebu or Dumaguete.
Can anyone give me any information (where do we start? who do we contact?) so that I may help her to organise the wedding? My husband and I will be returning to Duma sometime in August 2011, but that will be too late to be of any help to her then.
They need to be married by someone from the British Embassy so that their marriage will be recognised in the UK.
Any info would be greatly appreciated

 

In September of 2011, will your daughter and/or her fiance have lived in some location in the Philippines for 6 months or more? If not, they cannot be married under Philippine law.

I would suggest you contact the British Embassy, they will have to be the ones who set the ground rules for any wedding they perform. Maybe some of the Brits can shed some light on this for you.

Larry

 

Thanks Larry. No, neither of them will be living in the Philippines at all. They just want to get married there and have their honeymoon there as my husband and I will be living in Dumaguete at that time.
I will tell her to contact the British Embassy in Cebu then. Don't suppose anyone knows if there is a British Embassy in Negros?
Many thanks and have a Blessed day
Elaine.

 

No British (or other) embassy in Negros, and no British embassy in Cebu either, only consulate.

 

There is a Consulate in Cebu, whether or not they can help you is debatable;

Philippines, Cebu, British Consulate

Larry

 

The British Embassy,
120 Upper McKinley Road,
McKinley Hill,
Taguig City 1634
Manila

Switchboard - ++63 (2) 858 2200

http://ukinthephilippines.fco.gov.uk

Postal address :
PO Box 2927
MCPO
Manila

 

Thanks everyone. I have forwarded the info to my daughter. Now we wait and see.

 

I am a little confused here. As long as the marriage was legal wherever they were married, would not the marriage be recognized by the UK? What kind of marriage laws do they have for Brits?

 

Hi Pedro. I am not sure why, but if they get married in Taiwan then the UK will not recognise their marriage! They just want to get married in the Philippines, and have picked Duma because my husband and I will be living there then. We live in South Africa now, and she has been in Taiwan for 17 years, so it makes the whole planning of the wedding in the Philippines a bit difficult! Hahaha. I have a friend in Duma, and I will ask her to find out for me what we can do once she goes online. She is American and her hubby is Philippine, so I am sure between us we will figure it out. Thank you for any information anyone can give me though.

 

Very similar to the marriage laws that the US has for American citizens. The hiccup happens when the marriage takes place in a country with which there are no official diplomatic relations. In general, marriages are recognised by the UK as valid and lawful if they take place in accordance with the laws of the country in which the marriage takes place. However, the UK does not recognise Taiwan (Formosa) as a country in its own right. The marriage of two Taiwanese citizens married in Taiwan would be recognised, but the marriage of a British national to another British national, or of a British national to any other foreign national, would not be recognised if the marriage took place in Taiwan and could not be lodged and recorded at the UK Registry.

The United States also does not recognise Taiwan as a country and has no formal diplomatic relations with it, along with Bhutan, Cuba, Iran and North Korea. Whilst the US generally recognises marriages world wide, it may well question the validity of a US citizens marriage if it took place in any of those five locations.

So it makes good sense for Dannys daughter and her intended British husband to marry outside of Taiwan. A favoured location for such marriages is Hong Kong as, up to now, it does not require a Certificate of No Impediment and is recognised by the UK.

~Should be as clear as mud now :D