I’ve been ask several times for advise regarding marriage. I’ve exchanged emails with women whose boyfriends are Korean and are planning to get married. Let’s talk about the legal matters first. Let’s reserve the life of a married woman here in later posts.
Where are you getting married? Is it in the Philippines or in Korea? It doesn’t matter where you’re gonna get married, it’s important to plan ahead because the process takes time. First you’ll need to prepare the necessary documents. The following are based mainly on experience. It is recommended that you go to the relevant government offices for more information.
Getting married in the Philippines to a Korean. Apply for a marriage license. For the Filipina/o, you’ll need a birth certifcate issued by the NSO. If you’re 18-21, you’ll also need a Parents’ Consent or if you’re 21-25, a Parents’ Advice. Your Korean fiance needs to get a certificate of eligibility to contract marriage. He needs to go to the Korean Embassy in Makati and present his Korean Family Register and passport. There is a small service fee for this.
Apply for the marriage license in your city hall with the documents mentioned previously. You also have to attend a seminar for pre-marital counseling and family planning. Wait ten days before you can get your license. You can choose to have a church wedding, but that would include more paperwork. My husband and I chose not to have a church wedding since we have different religions (and I’m not too crazy about the Catholic wedding ceremony).
After getting married. Apply for a marriage certificate at the NSO (takes about two to three weeks during my time - two copies). Proceed to the Korean Embassy and apply for your visa. Both of you will have an interview with the consul. When we were there, we were told that interviews are only conducted on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. However, my husband had to fly back to Korea ASAP to start on a new job. (He quit his previous job because he needed time for us to get married.)
When you apply for a visa after marriage, you’ll only need an invitation from your husband, marriage certificate, application form (with photo) and your passport. After the interview, your husband can go back to Korea (if necessary).
While waiting for the NSO certificate, attend the Guidance and Counseling Requirement at the CFO (Commission on Filipinos Overseas).
After getting your NSO marriage certificate, send it to your husband and ask him to translate it to Korean. He should have it registered at his “Dong Samuso” or “District office”. He should send you the family register. When you receive the family register, bring this together with the NSO marriage certificate to the Korean Embassy.
It will take about three days for you to get the visa. You will receive the F-2-1 visa or the temporary resident Korean spouse visa. Now, you still can’t leave for Korea. You have to register at the CFO (again?!). Present your GCC (guidance and counseling certificate) and other requirements found on the link above. This is the only time when you can finally leave the Philippines.
Make sure to dress to impress when you come to Korea. I made the mistake of dressing comfortably (jeans, shirt, Keds and no makeup). Make a good first impression to your in-laws. Bring (expensive) gifts if you can. Before you come to Korea, make sure to bring with you NSO copies of your birth and marriage certificates. You’ll need them in the future 
Getting married in Korea. If you prefer to get married in Korea, you’ll need to prepare more documents. First, apply for a tourist visa so you can come here. Attend the Guidance and Counseling Requirement at the CFO (see link above).
Make sure you have the following documents before you leave (check with the DFA first or the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, as the following is just based on info from a friend who got married here):
- Birth certificate (NSO copy)
- CENOMAR (NSO certificate of no marriage - takes about two to three weeks)
- Parents’ Consent or Parents’ Advice
- CFO Guidance and Counseling Certificate (refer to the link above)
A friend had to present other documents when she got married here:
- Affidavit of Singleness (from the parents)
- Certificate of Singleness (from the barangay???)
Once here, apply for the Certificate of Single Status at the Philippine Embassy. Translate the document to Korean. Go to your fiance’s district office and apply for marriage there. You don’t need a ceremony at this point. Make sure that your name is added to the family register. (You’ll need this when you apply for a change on your visa). If your name is not there, you are not legally married and you won’t be able to apply for an F-2-1 visa!
There are two kinds of family register in Korea. The one where your name will appear (if you’re legally married) is called the 호적등본 “ho-jeok-deung-bon”. The other one is called 주민등본 “ju-min-deung-bon” but your name will not appear here until you get a Korean citizenship.
12 comments ↓
Thank you for this information. I am in a similar situation (although I’m pinoy and my GF is Korean) and I really appreciate your blog. Kamsahamnida!
hi King! wow, i’ve only met one pinoy here who’s married to a korean woman…
Yeah, I guess it happens more to Filipino women compared to men. I’ll let you know what happens later on. Thanks again!
thank you very much for this information. ive been studying hangeul since 2006, never imagined i’d meet a korean man who would court me and ask me to marry him once he became my bf… we are now working on our papers to get married. i asked him time and again if he’s really serious in getting married here in the philippines since we dont have divorce. and he just answered me he wants to get married here coz he doesnt believe in divorce… thank you very much again.. coz the information/requirements we got from the embassy are all in korean, haha… and my fiance’s english is still not polished so i had to look for other references…
btw ate, should he choose to wait for me so my future husband and i could travel together in going to korea, meron ka rin po ba ng instructions? thank you very much…
Hi! Just a clarification…did you have to wait for your NSO marriage certificate before going to the embassy for an interview? Because you mentioned that the certificate is a requirement for visa, but later on you also mentioned “After getting your NSO marriage certificate, send it to your husband and ask him to translate it to Korean.”, which means that the spouse had already gone back to Korea before the marriage certificate arrived. Can the interview be done without waiting for the marriage certificate to arrive?
This is crucial for us because we need to set the time line with my spouse-to-be’s workplace (and ask for leave if needed). She can only be here for 15 days without leave. And we’d really prefer not asking for leave if possible. Can the part of the procedure which requires her presence be accomplished during this time (marriage license waiting period + actual marriage + embassy interview).
@king >> we didn’t have to wait for the NSO certificate when i applied for the visa at the embassy… you’ll only need to show the marriage certificate issued by the city civil registrar… after the visa application, we were interviewed by the consul, then i was asked to go back to the embassy after receiving the NSO certificate and my husband’s family registry with name in it… 15 days is enough, the first thing she must do is to go to the korean embassy and apply for her certificate of eligibility to contract marriage… then go to your city hall and apply for a marriage license… it’s also best to schedule your wedding that time… we got married right after getting the license! after getting your marriage certificate, proceed to the embassy and apply for the visa…
Thank you so much, Betchay-si! Your experience and information is so helpful, as usual. More power to this awesome and informative blog!
hello! i’ve recently been introduced to your blog and i must say,they’re quite “malaman”. ;-p since migrating in korea 2yrs ago,i’ve become what koreans term as “wangta”. i can’t make friends here since i do not speak korean. my korean isn’t any better than when i left the philippines,much to the consternation of my parents-in law. >.,< it’s not because of the lack of effort in my part,since i really want to learn the language,but my husband’s work doesn’t allow him any spare time to take me to the korean classes provided by the korean gov’t for foreign brides (i previously attended one in gildong but had to stop because of my pregnancy) and he’s too tired when he comes home to teach me hangul. since he could converse fairly well in english,i guess he didn’t find the need for me to speak his tongue,so to speak. i know most words(i learned from children’s books! haaaay! T_T )and my comprehension of the language is relatively ok—but that’s it! i could understand most things being said to me,but i couldn’t express myself in korean! aaaaah!!!
so your blog is a nice way for me to finally be able to express myself and my concerns AGAIN! ;-p i feel like i’m part of the world again when i read your entries,esp. since i could relate to almost everything that you’ve written. i am in the same situation after all! ;-p
anyway,since i’ve stayed here for the required 2years,i was able to secure a re-entry permit when i applied for it this month. but i left the philippines on a tourist visa since i didn’t have the time to secure a cfo certificate and the consul of the korean government in our country adviced us to just enter korea on the said visa and just ammend it into an f21 visa once i’m already in korea—w/c we did. the problem is now that i’m planning to go on a short trip—and by short,i mean SUPER SHORT!! as in,we leave on a friday night,arrive in the philippines on saturday mignight,come back to korea monday midnight! whew! talk about just makin yourself tired! not to mention dizzy! ;-p — the cfo officials still want me to secure a cfo guidance and counselling certificate PLUS the 2-DAY orientation seminar for korean spouses/fiancees!!
are you aware of any way for me to get around the orientation seminar (since it is of no use to me! i mean,what’s a 2-day seminar compared to the 2 years i’ve stayed in here?! i just can’t understand the reason why they want me to take it,and i’ve already BEGGED them for me to just present them any documents they might require and have the Guidance and Counselling,even if THAT too,i find is just a waste of time! there is a NEED for me to come home asap and i don’t want to waste the few days i’ve got hanging around in some gov’t office if i could!)
aaah! thanks for hanging this long! ;-p it shows how much i thirst for someone to converse with,doesn’t it? ;-p
hi tey! it’s not that difficult to befriend a korean but i sometimes feel they’re just using me to practice their english
i’m not sure if there’s a workaround since if you tell them you’ve attended and yet you don’t have the migrant sticker, they will definitely suspect you… maybe a ninoy aquino would help? sorry, i really don’t know
thanks. that’s also what my husband said—on both accounts! ;-p i’ve been told by one woman in here that havinme around makes a good practice for her english! whew! talk about brutal honesty! haaay! and my friends back home also said they might just be askin for you-know-what from us that’s why they’re so adamant i come! it’s just so frustrating coz i’ve checked their website and it was clearly written in there taht there ARE people exempted from the seminar/gc under certain circumstances.
thanks anyway. btw,my husband was shocked when he saw my 1st comment. he said it’s almost as long as your blog! hahaha! ;-p i told him,”well,your wife’s madaldal! i can’t help myself!”
good luck to you guys! I envy most of you coz you are already married to your fiances but for me, I’m still waiting for the right time when my fiance’s parents will allow him to marry me. Haaay!
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