Getting Married in Germany

Hello guys!

I am new here in this forum and hopefully someone could help me out.

I am a Filipino working in Sg and my boyfriend is German national. We are planning to get married to Germany prior getting married in the Phils (due to both parties unable to attend oversea event that we had to do it separately). We intend to get married civilly in Germany but since I work abroad and a foreigner, are unable to gather concise info of our reqts in order to do it.

I could ask the German Embassy but I would like to hear it first from those who has been to this same situation. Sometimes it is easier to understand when someone has to share their experience.

Thank you and hope to hear from anyone here!

There were several discussions of this topic (getting married in Germany as a foreigner) in the past, so you may want to search the forum and read them.
In my experience, the formalities in Germany are very difficult, time-consuming and costly. So I always recommend marrying elsewhere (Denmark, Las Vegas and Singapore make this very easy) and getting the marriage recognised by Germany later (which isn't too difficult).
You mention you want to marry in Germany AND in the Philippines? That is not legally possible - you can only marry once (unless you divorce inbetween ...). If you mean just a religious ceremony (which has no legal relevance), then it is o.k. as such "private parties" you can have as many times as you like (but they don't result in you being legally married).

Thank you for your inputs.

Marrying only in the Philippines for the ceremony since me and my family are catholic.

So, from a legal standpoint, that is an irrelevant private party, not a marriage.

Hello,

It´s difficult and you need a lot of documentation/paper. I suggest you go to the danish wedding island - Aeroe and get married there.It is a very nice place and the inhibitants are very friendly and easy-going.They welcome a lot of mixed couples from Germany (and other countries).

All the best//  AnnaStina

Thank you, AnnaStina! :)

Hi everyone...   I Just have some questions to clarify and hope you can help me. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am  now here in Germany as a student. Few months after I arrived here, I and my BF decided to marry. I was previously married in the Philippines with a Filipino citizen and I apply for a divorce when I was working in Hong Kong and I got my divorce decree in 2015. Considering that my divorce papers from Hong Kong allows me to re-marry abroad...  The problem is if I and my BF marry here in Germany- I am obliged to register my marriage to the Philippine Embassy here in Germany... and by this I will be in a conflict situation because Philippines does not recognized divorce. (Only annulment) and In my case I have not filed annulment yet. But I have plan to do it soon.

So my question is ... Is it really necessary to register my marriage to the Philippine Embassy in Germany If I marry here now? Or can I register it only later maybe after a year or two when I get my annulment papers from the Philippines? What are the consequences of late marriage registration?

Thank you... hoping so much to hear helpful advices from here.

Waff: There certainly is no requirement under German law to register your German marriage with any foreign authority.
Different from marriages, for which international treaties exist (signed by most countries), there are no binding rules for recognition of foreign divorces and it is legally possible to be  married in one country and divorced (or, after re-marriage, married to somebody else) in anther one. The formal word for this is "limping marriage".
Whether the Philippine authorities can penalize you for something (divorce) you did in a country where it is completely legal, I don't know. You better ask this in the Philippine forum, not here!

@ Beppi.... Thanks for the info..

Sounds complicated. I have a friend who has Canadian, Australian and German passports.  He married in Australia and about 10 years later got divorced there as well. Everything legal and allowed. Later he was living in Berlin and married a Polish woman in Poland. Yet the German authorities refused to recognize this marriage. The grounds given where that he needed an addition specific form from Australia that no longer existed, having been phased out a decade or two before. He fought about this situation with Germany officials for about 2 – 3 years when he gave up and followed business opportunities in the US and eventually Canada. The point of this story is that what sounds like a clear legal situation often isn't.

Another problem is that one could theoretically have gotten married multiple times in many countries, so a legally recognized divorce from one marriage is NOT a guarantee that one is single. Thus a country like Germany will usually REQUIRE a statement from your home country that you are eligible to marry. And if the Philippines doesn't recognize your divorce, then they will probably not issue this…

Thus it would require an exception from the norm, which will probably mean a lawyer and a lot of time, possibly a court case and a judicial decision.  I think Germany would recognize the right to divorce as a basic right (The Philippines and Vatican City are the only countries that don't) and hopefully accept the Hong Kong document as valid yet one might need to convince them that one is not married somewhere else in addition. And I don't know how one can document something as not existing other than a statement from the home country. Just claiming that one would never do such a thing is not proof. 

One would assume that your situation is not unique. But even a positive decision on another similar case doesn't set a binding precedent under German law. Thus it might be necessary for you to ask around and make sure you find a lawyer that is not only experienced in matters of marriage and divorce but specifically in such situations of a Filipino wanting to marry despite his home country not recognizing an otherwise in Germany accepted divorce document.

The other complication is if you ever decide to go back to the Philippines. Even if Germany allows you to marry again and recognizes it in Germany, it will almost certainly not be recognized in the Philippines.  What legal complications that might create for you, your new spouse, or any resulting children is an open question.