Remarrying with people from the Philippines
The method and procedures when remarrying people from the Philippines involve extremely difficult problems not found in other countries, and we receive an extremely high number of inquiries at our office.
In actual fact, the most common actual consultation is the question – “As a Japanese person wanting to remarry with Philippine national who has been married before, I do not know the procedures and method of remarrying, and it is not going well. What should I do?
I will now discuss the method and procedures for remarrying people from the Philippines.
Remarriage methods and procedures in the Philippines when it is two Japanese nationals remarrying
For example, if Japanese male A and Japanese female B marry in Japan and get divorced, if female B and male C marry, the female can get remarried 100 days after getting divorced.
This is because there was a civil code determining that the remarry prohibition period for females was six months or more, but in a Supreme Court judgment, it was determined that a remarry prohibition period of six months was too long, and currently this has been shortened to 100 days.
For this procedure, when Japanese people wish to remarry, they can submit documentation such as their family register and get remarried.
However, the method and procedure for Philippine nationals to remarry is greatly different to that for Japanese nationals.
What causes a particular obstacle within the remarriage procedures for people from the Philippines is “acquiring a Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage from the Philippine embassy or consulate”.
This Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage required for Philippine nationals to remarry is described below.
The “Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage” prepares conditions for foreign fiancées who are single (unmarried) and can get married under the law of the country where they have their nationality. This is a public document issued by the government.
The title and content of the Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage differs according to the country. Further, for countries for which the Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage is not issued, a method in which an “affidavit” etc. is issued and by declaring that they are unmarried and satisfy other conditions for marriage in that country, can be used in place of the Certificate of legal capacity. For example, as a Certificate of legal capacity is not issue in Pakistan or Bangladesh, by using an affidavit created and sworn in front of the consulate, this document can be used in place of a Certificate of legal capacity.
The Philippines is a country where the above-described Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage is issued, so when Philippine nationals wish to remarry in Japan, in principle they need to obtain the “Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage” as they did when marrying for the first time.
However, currently the Philippine consulate in Osaka, and the Philippine consulate in Tokyo, in Japan, do not issue Philippine nationals with a “Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage” even when the marry a Japanese national and divorce a Japanese national.
For this reason, the following kind of situation is happening here and there.
① Philippine nationals are taking their family registers, marriage certificates and Philippine passports to the city office or ward office in order to carry out remarriage proceedings.
② The reception at the City offices are telling the Philippine nationals that they require a ” Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage”, and that they cannot accept the marriage certificates of people without “Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage”.
③ After researching procedures for obtaining a Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage on the Internet, they received the information that they need to go to the Philippine embassy or consulate.
④ They went to the Osaka Philippine consulate or Tokyo Philippine consulate to carry out the procedures to issue the Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage.
⑤ They were told that as they had not carried out the procedures for Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage in the Philippines, they could not have the Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage issued.
⑥ I asked an acquaintance attorney and scrivener for support on the procedures for approval of remarriage.
⑦ As this was out of his specialty, and he did not understand about the Philippines, he had no idea of how to proceed. He stated that even if he was able to provide support for the remarriage approval proceedings, it would take a lot of cost and time, and he had no idea how to progress with a remarriage approval trial in the Philippines.
If this was just an ordinary person, they would have no way of knowing the remarriage proceedings with Philippine nationals and would not be able to find a resolution wherever they asked, and they would go around in circles. It is not surprising many people gave up halfway through.
So why are the divorce and remarriage proceedings with Philippine nationals so difficult and so energy-consuming?
To understand this, an understanding of the Philippine divorce system is essential, so we shall explain the system related to divorce proceedings in the Philippines before discussing remarriage, for which it is a precedent.
Divorce proceedings and divorce system in the Philippines
First, it is normal for there to be a divorce system in the world, so many people may be surprised to learn that when two Philippine nationals divorce, there is no divorce system in Philippine law. In Philippine Family Law, there is no provision for divorce between Philippine nationals.
However, it is not the case that once married, the marriage can never be resolved. In the Philippines, there are the systems of “revocation of marriage” and “invalidation of marriage” by which it is possible to resolve marriages.
Some women may say that they want to use the “revocation of marriage” or “invalidation of marriage” system to resolve the marriage history with their previous husbands right away! However, it is not simple to revoke or invalidate marriage in the Philippines. When Philippine nationals claim the revocation or invalidation of marriage they cannot just report it to the city office, and a trial for revocation or invalidation is required in the Philippines.
Therefore, to carry out the above-described procedures, you should be aware that it is necessary to hire a lawyer, and this involves huge costs and time.
Not only that, the reasons for which marriage can be revoked are limited to specific reasons.
These “specific reasons” are, for example, “the husband has an STD”, “it has been discovered that the husband is mentally unstable” and is thus limited to special cases where it is extremely difficult to carry on normal married life. So, for other than these extreme cases, it is not possible to revoke marriages with Philippine nationals.
Whereas these kind of tough conditions are placed on the revocation and invalidation of marriages between two Philippine nationals, when a foreign national wishes to remarry, there are different stipulations, and under Philippine Family Law, there are provisions stating that remarriage with a foreign national is possible.
This is the provision that states that “If Philippine nationals are married overseas, where a foreign national (*for example, a Japanese or Chinese person seen from the perspective of the Philippine national) is in a state where they can remarry, the Philippine national shall also be allowed to remarry”.
Based on this provision, previously if a Philippine national married with a Japanese national, a “divorce certificate” was issued at the Philippine consulate in Osaka or the Philippine embassy in Tokyo to allow them to marry the Japanese national, so where two Japanese nationals were married and became divorced, this “divorce certificate” was issued, and they could become remarried in Japan.
However, at some point, due to a change in policy in the Philippines, the Philippine embassy in Japan and the consulate no longer issued a “divorce certificate”. For this reason, following this, the above-described “divorce certificate” has not been issued.
In this way, as the divorce certificate was not issued at the Philippine consulate or embassy, there is currently no system at the Philippine consulate or Philippine embassy for directly recognizing divorce in Japan on the Philippine side.
Therefore, when Philippine nationals and Japanese nationals divorce in Japan, even if they remarry again in Japan, it is not sufficient to simply describe the intention to divorce on the divorce notification or family register in Japan, and it is necessary to request an attorney in the Philippines to obtain a Recognition of Foreign Divorce Decree from the Court.
In other words, unlike before, when Philippine nationals wish to carry out remarriage proceedings, in principle, they need to obtain a Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage, just as they needed for their first marriage, by conducting a trial at the court.
This trial is not simple either, and takes an extremely long period of time. You should consider that this will take at least one year. The trial can go on for much longer than this. The reason for this is that processing by the courts is extremely slow in the Philippines and there are not many attorneys who have detailed knowledge on divorce approval judgments.
Therefore, it can be said that the supply for processing on the court side is not keeping up with the demand for divorce approval judgments, and as this judgment is an extremely heavy burden on the individual, this has become a serious problem.
Is there really no way of remarrying without receiving a judgment from the divorce approval court in the Philippines?
As described above, currently the Philippine embassy and Philippine consulate are unable to issue a Certificate of legal capacity to conduct marriage to Philippine nationals who are unable to receive a divorce approval judgment in the Philippines.
In this way, it would seem, from a normal aspect, that it is impossible to remarry with a Philippine national unless a judgment is obtained from the Philippine divorce approval court.
Further, it must be questioned by people with Philippine fiancées who are unable to carry out remarriage procedures whether “there are no ways to get married with Philippine nationals without obtaining the judgment of the Philippine divorce approval court? If there is such a method, I would like to use that, even if it involves extra cost”
However, at or office we thought from the beginning the question of whether “there are no ways to get married with Philippine nationals without obtaining the judgment of the Philippine divorce approval court?” was a strange one.
The reason for this is that, if this were not possible, many people would clearly be greatly inconvenienced by this.
At this office, therefore, we asked ourselves “Are we not being bound by common sense and just giving up thinking that it is impossible?”, and decided to see if there was not some way of lightening the burden place on the requesting party, and thus ceaselessly investigated statutes and notifications both day and night, researching divorce procedures and remarriage procedures with Philippine nationals.
The result of this is that we discovered a method of carrying out remarriage procedures without using the divorce courts in the Philippines.
If this method can be used, then, depending on the case, it may be possible to remarry without going via the courts in exceptional cases, thus enabling a large amount of time and money to be saved.
Using this method, it is possible to move from a situation where it is almost impossible to remarry with somebody from the Philippines to one where the hurdles for remarriage have been greatly lowered.
We are constantly receiving consultations from people at our office who are worried about remarriage procedures with Philippine nationals and how to do this. Those people who need to get married as early as possible, and are having trouble with procedures and method for remarrying Philippine nationals, should first contact us by the email below.
→See here for inquiries related to the procedures and method of remarrying with Philippine nationals.
Q&A on frequently asked questions（※reference）
The above-described method is a method that is legal under Japanese law, and as it is a method that can be used with peace of mind by many people, until now we have had no cases where particular trouble has occurred due to using this method. However, as it uses hidden(?) techniques, there may be some people who are anxious about this when they make a request. In order for them to be able to make the request with peace of mind, we have prepared a Q&A to answer your questions before making a request, so please refer to this in regard to the request.
Q.If we use this method can we say 100% that we can get married to a Japanese national with a marriage history?
A.It is difficult to say 100% in any situation. However, for those people who our office judged can get remarried, then as long as there are falsehoods or mistakes the content of the application for the person concerned, this is a reliable method for which 100% have been remarried so far.
Q.Is there a guarantee that money shall be returned if we cannot remarry?
A.For those people who are very worried, it is possible to attach a guarantee of payment under certain conditions. However, this shall be charged at a rate of 50,000 yen (exclusive of tax).
If you carry out the procedures in line with the instructions of the office, this is legal under Japanese law and you will be able to remarry at a probability of virtually 100%.
Therefore, even if you use the repayment guarantee system, there is a high possibility that this expenses shall be a waste of money, so we certainly do not recommend it.
Q.Are you doing a free consultation service?
A.We are sorry, but we are unable to offer a free consultation in relation to this matter. However, in regard to the possibility of remarrying with a Philippine national, we do provide a free diagnosis in advance, so please inquire by telephone or email.
Q.Normally, what are the approximate fees?
A.Normally this service will be provided at 98,000 yen (inclusive of tax). As an image, this will be approximately 1/10 or 1/20 of the expense and time required if you take out court proceedings.
Q.If it is possible to remarry without going through the courts in the Philippines, I would definitely like to use your company’s service. However, I am concerned whether there are any disadvantages.
A.Many people will feel that there is a huge advantage in being able to avoid going through a trial in the Philippines. Depending on the person, however, there are cases where you may feel at a disadvantage. However, if there are cases when we believe you may feel at a disadvantage, we shall definitely explain this to you at the initial hearing. In extremely rare cases, after hearing the situation at the hearing, you may come to the view that the demerits outweigh the merits, and in such cases, we shall not recommend using the service, and the request rejected. However, these procedures apply to many people and all of those for whom we have received requests so far have been able to successfully complete the remarriage procedure, so please have peace of mind on this point.
Q.I am a Philippine national living in Ehime prefecture. Can I make a request?
A.At our office, we are supporting this work across the whole country, so you can make a request wherever you live in Japan.
Q.I am not particularly wanting to rush into remarriage although I am thinking of carrying out the procedures sometime in the future. If we make a request, can we get remarried at any time in the future?
A.That is not the case. It is possible now, but if the laws or notifications change, it may be impossible to carry out procedures from that time. If you are unable to carry out these procedures, you will be forced to use a lot of expense and time on the trial in the Philippines.
Q.I would like to request your support in the remarriage proceedings with a Philippine national, but what is the flow of the proceedings?
A.The general flow is normally as described below.
(1) Inquiry from the customer be email or telephone
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(2) Respond whether this applies to customer or not
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(3) Application and payment from the customer
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(4) Instruction from our office on the necessary documents
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(5) Send necessary documents to our office
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(6) Necessary documents checked at our office and documents created
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(7) Send necessary documents and manuals etc. from our office
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(8) Complete marriage procedures
Our Services
Support services for remarrying with people from the Philippines
→98,000yen
We provide support services for remarrying with people from the Philippines.
And 99% cases are successful.
If you’d like to remarry Japanese national without judical recognition of foreign divorce,please contact us.
