Marrying in Philippines

[CyberGlitch]

first I am not condoning, approving or doing this myself. It's more a legal question I'm curious to know how the laws would even apply. With my trip about to be booked for going there in May and staying for 6 weeks I've been looking into all the legalities for if we do hit it off in person and want to move forward. Then the below question I thought of and didn't even know how that would be handled.


Say you get married in the Philippines. What would happen if the other person moves back to their country, US, and not doing anything further with the marriage or bringing her to the US. Then strictly in the US would that person still be considered "single" and marry someone in the US?

[Ricardo1]

I am assuming that you're thinking of the difficulty of obtaining a divorce in the PI (assuming again - that your marriage didn't work out). 
I guess you would, ethically speaking, have to secure a divorce legally in the PI to be considered 'single' in the USA.  That would be the right thing to do IMHO. 
I would also say that before you marry someone in the PI or in USA (ie. marriage to a non-resident) that you would want to know them well, and be fairly confident of the potential for success of the marriage. 

[SkyNorth]

There is no such thing Divorce in PI's (it is an Annulment).  Obtaining an annulment in the Philippines is the only correct process to terminate a marriage.  Plus, you need to go to PI's 1-2 times for court.  There are sickness excuses that seem to be rare.
 
If the proceedings go smoothly, you're looking at 6 months but there is no guarantee. There are factors that need to be taken into consideration that could delay the procedure such as but not limited to court-sanctioned postponement of hearings, and justifiable absences of State Prosecutor, if any, and the reason for the annulment.
 
Please, understand this is just information and everthing is different from person to person and case to case.  You need advise from 2 atty's one US one PI's.  I am curious to what both may say.

[CyberGlitch]

No, not thinking divorce or anything really. Like I said more curious how the laws would apply between the 2 countries. I guess it comes down to does the US recognize a citizen marrying a women in another country and in her country, if she continues to live there.


I know all about the no divorce in Philippians or annulment and all that stuff.

[michaelb]

I guess it comes down to does the US recognize a citizen marrying a women in another country and in her country, if she continues to live there.

Sure the U.S. recognizes marriages performed in countries other than the U.S. What on earth gave you the idea that they don't? Where people live and whether they are married are two different issues. True, if a non-U.S. citizen marries a U.S. citizen it makes it much easier for the non-citizen to legally live in the US.......but just because the non-citizen doesn't live in the U.S. doesn't void or negate the marriage. 

[Ray]

 
Like michaelb said, if you are legally married over there, then you are legally married here, and you are NOT free to remarry back here just because you live here and she lives there.
 
 
Just to correct the record on divorce. You can not divorce in the Philippines, BUT, when a Filipino citizen is married to a foreigner, the foreigner may obtain a divorce in his/her own country and in that specific case, the Philippine government also considers the Filipino to be legally divorced, but only if the petitioner in the divorce is the foreign national.
 
 
If you were also asking about the legal requirements to marry over there, then you should read the information posted on the US Embassy Manila web site.
 
 
http://manila.usembassy.gov/marriage.html
 
 
6 weeks would be enough time to get married over there, but you have to prepare in advance of your trip to to make things go smoothly.
 
 
Ray