Marrying in Germany
The following papers are required from the Filipina bride when you
want to marry in Germany (all of them cannot be older than 6
month! The important date is not the date of the certification but the issue
date of the original document!):
Certification process: After you got the original documents, you have to legalize these papers from the DFA to get their legalization (the Red Ribbon!).
The three above mentioned documents typically are already available in case that a fiancée visa had been used. They have to be translated into German by a certified English-German Translator. A list of these translators typically is available in the "Standesamt", the German office for marriage. In case that you need a non legalized translation, forward your papers to me, and for a small fee I will do the translation for you. This might be helpful when the official translator does not know the terminology for these papers.
In addition the Filipina has to be registered in the German city hall (Meldebescheinigung). This usually takes a few minutes but is very important for the further procedure. Finally you need a copy of the passport (certified) of your Filipina.
The final paper required is the "Legal Capacity to marry" (not in all German marriage offices, check with the officer). This certificate is only available from the Philippine embassy in Berlin and the side office in Bonn. In order to get this you have to appear there together with your Filipina Bride. Check the above link.
The papers required for the German are:
All thePhilippine papers have to be authenticated! Typically these papers will then be submitted to the high court of justice (Oberlandesgericht, OLG) for legalization. The place where you are registered (Wohnort) decides which OLG will be asked for the approval. This can take up to six weeks. In addition they always request the legalization form the German Embassy in Manila, which will take around 3-6 month and will cost you 11250 Pesos). They are checking the police records for the the couple, i.e. verify that there is no criminal record for one of the two partners, and they issue the OK that the wedding can take place. Anyway, we never have heard that the result was not an OK for the upcoming wedding. But we know in one case that the "Standesamt" did not believe that some papers were correct, and this resulted in the request to the OLG that the papers had to be legalized in the Philippines. They never talked to the couple to give them a chance to clarify the doubts. When this happens, you are in trouble, as the embassy does not do any legalization anymore, (which the OLG know), so you have to contract a lawyer to verify and certify all your papers (this will be supported and arranged by the German Embassy in Manila, but will cost you 11250 Pesos).
Of course all these requirements should be checked with the Standesamt, rules are changing fast, and actually there are differences depending on the region within Germany.
So once you have all these papers, the translations, then you can marry the next day? Not quite, you need to organize a certified translator again who will translate all words from the officer into English. This is to ensure that your lady will understand clearly what she is signing now. (By the way, as the English of my translator was not quite up-to-date, I had to help out quite a lot. We had a lot of fun!).
New translation rules: Since lately it is in the power of the registering official, instead of requesting a certified translator, to take any person who is able to speak fluently German and English as a translator. This one has to identify himself (passport or id.card) and has to sign an affidavit that he will translate everything correctly according to his knowledge. For the affidavit please click here (German Text, of course)