CERNOMAR 

Certificate of No Marriage Record
 

The Embassy does not accept CERNOMARS directly from applicants anymore.

A Certificate of No Marriage Record (CERNOMAR) is simply what its name implies. It is a certification issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) stating that a person has not contracted marriage. The NSO is the central repository of among others, marriage records in the Philippines. It receives copies of marriage certificates from local civil registrars pursuant to the duty of the person solemnizing the marriage to send the duplicate and triplicate copies of the marriage certificate not later than fifteen days after the marriage, to the local civil registrar of the place where the marriage was solemnized.

A CERNOMAR is not a requirement for marriage. It is only essential if you want to be certain that the civil status of the person you are marrying is still single and that he or she is unattached. This may be important since any marriage contracted while another one is still subsisting is considered as null and void under Article 35 (4) of the Family Code of the Philippines for being bigamous. Moreover, bigamy (the contracting of a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a judgment rendered in the proper proceedings) is also punishable as a crime under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code. So if you have doubts regarding the civil status of your future spouse, it might be a good idea to procure a CERNOMAR .

At times, a CERNOMAR may be required by certain parishes. It may also be required if your future spouse is applying for a fiancee visa in your behalf. Moreover, Philippine embassies may also require a CERNOMAR for Filipino nationals who wish to get married in a foreign country or in the Philippine Embassy within the foreign country.

The following are the information one needs to provide in securing a CERNOMAR :

1. Complete name of the person to be certified
2. Complete name of the father
3. Complete maiden name of the mother
4. Date of birth
5. Place of birth
6. Complete name and address of the requesting party
7. Number or copies needed
8. Purpose for the certification

You can now avail of a CERNOMAR through the internet. The e-Census (www.e-census.com.ph) is an online facility that allows you to submit requests for Certificates of No Marriage. According to its website, for local requests, the price for copy issuance for CERNOMAR (Singleness) fee per copy is PhP400.00, except if you opt to pay using credit card where your request will be considered as a foreign request and will be charged in US currency. The fees for local requests are inclusive of courier charges for destinations within the Philippines.