We now have the marriage certificate duly signed by us, the witnesses and the registrar of marriages, and has reported the same to the Philippine Consulate.
Are we now legally married?
In Hong Kong, yes.
In the Philippines, in three months.
In Germany, not until your husband has reported the marriage to his home city using your marriage certificate with an Apostille stamp.
You are done with the wedding vows and has reported your marriage to the Philippine Consulate General in Queensway, so it is just right to now bring your marriage certificate to the High Court located just beside the Queensway Government Offices where you signed the papers and received your formal appointment for the ceremony.
Here’s what you have to do as soon as you find your way to the High Court.
- Proceed to the Apostille Service Office, High Court Registry at Room LG115.
- In case you don’t want to wait for 2 more days to get the apostille and wishes to have it mailed to you instead, inform the “lady” at the Apostille Window. You will have to pay and additional amount. (For breakdown of expenses in Hong Kong, read our other post. Click click)
- Wait for the payment slip from the staff by the Apostille window. (Mein Mann call this old, grumpy woman, THE WITCH. Find out for yourself. 😀 )
- Bring the slip to the High Court Accounts Office at LG211 and get your official receipt.
- Go back to LG115 and present your receipt.
- Submit your document for Apostille and take note of the tracking number for your document and the email address of the office for follow-up (if you opt to have this sent to you by mail).
- And, oh… don’t be worried about not getting a piece of paper as a proof you left an important document for the Apostille stamp. Hong Kong delivers the service as expected. 😉 Mein Mann received our original marriage certificate with the Apostille exactly one week after we submitted it at the High Court Registry.
If you have specific inquiries about getting an Apostille for your document, you can send them an email at:
apostilleserviceenquiry@judiciary.gov.hk
or
enquiry@judiciary.gov.hk
If you are considering getting married in Hong Kong, you can check previous entries on the blog dedicated to answer queries on documents required to marry, the possible itinerary, and the budget you need to have it done.
Happy planning!
BECOMING DEUTSCH 
Sounds so hard and I have heard from other couples who faced the same difficulties. Seems that my wife and I were very lucky as she (from China) had studied and worked in Finland already for a few years. Due to this we could marry just like that in Finland and only needed some documents from China without notifying in Germany anything. Only when we moved here to Germany we needed to show the Finnish Wedding Certificate and that was it 🙂
Good for you both! But what we’ve done (HK route) is much easier than what other couples had to go through if they marry in the Philippines. It would take about 6 months for the German bf to get a copy of his certificate of eligibility to marry. It takes another six months (minimum) for the processing of the wife’s move to Germany.
Hi, I’d like to ask how many copies of the HK marriage contract were given to you? And was it given to you right after the wedding?
There was only 1 copy given right after the wedding. You can ask for a certified copy if you like, too. But you can get this 2 days later.
Hi Fraum, if we get married at the marriage registry office can we get the marriage certificate right after the wedding? I understand that this is one of the requirements we need to submit at the philippine consulate office. Also please enlighten me I am confused why we need to have the marriage certificate apostille.
Hi Ann! Yes.. you can get the Marriage Cert right away, so you can bring this directly to the PH consulate for reporting. The Apostille is for making the MC valid in countries like Germany. When you have this stamp, no further authentication is required when you use it for transactions in countries that are members of the Apostille Convention.
Thanks for the prompt response Fraum, your blog is indeed a great help.
You’re welcome! Happy planning. 🙂
I have additional question my Fiancee is filipino married to filipina and got divorced in Canada He can get married anywhere except here in the philippines but he is now a canadian citizen. Since we still need to report our marriage in PSA baka dun magka issue do you happen to know if where can I raise may inquiry.
Apologies, Ann… i think you need to consult a lawyer to ask about the recognition of divorce of former filipinos.
I have the same situation with my woman. You may have more information if we still need to report it to PSA after married in Hong Kong
hi Fraum! ilang days bago makuha ang apostille documents? kasi baka mgkulang yung days namin sa hongkong as we have to fly back to ph…
Hello Febbie! It takes 7 days.. but what we did was we requested to have it mailed to us as we were also running out of time. Took 5 days from submission to reach the German address. So, you can request for mailing.. don’t worry. 😉
ahh ok. akala ko 2days lang kaya inextend nmin yung stay sa hong kong para mkuha agad…wala bang express para mkuha with in two days kung d nmin imail ying apostille?
Unfortunately walang express for Apostille kaya we had it mailed nalang.
Hello Fraum,
thank you for your blog its helping us a lot. I have one question regarding the processing of the papers. Does my gf needs to bring many original copies of the NSO and CENOMAR or it is enough only one original and the rest just normal photocopy? Since for the marriage in HK, for the report in Phil. embassy they all require these documents… it is not specified if we get them back after we submit them.
Hello Mike! Great to know it has been helpful. One original and a number of photocopies is good to go for the documents. Even the Philippine Consulate returns the originals after checking.
Hello Fraum, ask ko Lang okay lang ba na photocopy lang ma-provide para sa Cenomar then Birth certificate is original NSO, I got that before they changed it to PSA (2018)? Thanks
Hi… your CENOMAR should not be older than 6 months. For birth cert… i believe it doesn’t matter if it is an old copy in SECPA.
Hello Fraum,
The original MC is what we submitted to Apostille in HK to be mailed at my husband’s address in Germany. So mine is just Certified True Copy only from Cotton Tree. Is this OK? Not sure if I need to have it apostilled as well. Which MC is needed by German Embassy MNL?
I had my wedding on 1st week of April and on list of requirements for FRV, they need CENOMAR. My cenomar will expire on May. So if I get one, it will be married now because of our marriage in HK. Correct?
Hi there! GE Manila needs the copy of your ROM from PSA for FRV application. It should take 2 to 3 months for this to be available from the date of reporting in PH consulate in HK. Perhaps what you mean is CEMAR?
Hi Fraum, I have another question.
Is it okay if yung Certified True Copy ang ipa apostille namin or needed ang original?
I am not sure… but i think it is okay.
Hi again Ms Fraum,
My termin is in July. Is it necessary for my hubby to report the marriage in Standesamt?
I believe so because you have to apply for FRV.
Hi Fraum! I hope you don’t mind I have a few questions. Wishing you could help.
1. If they’re releasing only 1 Marriage Certificate, does that mean we’re leaving this marriage cert to the Apostille Service Office? Then they stamp this and mail to my partner’s address? Does that mean I’m going home without the marriage cert?
2. If the embassy no longer accepts ROM, that means I need to wait for 3 more months before I could apply for Family Reunion Visa?
3. Is there a problem if my A1 Certificate is already more than 6 months old by the time I apply for the Reunion Visa?
4. How soon can I ask for an appointment with the embassy if I have to wait 3 months for the PSA?
5. Can you help enlighten me how you changed your name as they said Germans have no middle name? To avoid difficulties, our name should of course match the ones in the passport and the record in Germany. Please advise how you went about this subject.
Thanks in advance!
Hi there!! To answer your questions..
1. Yes. You will leave it there and they will have it mailed. It took 5 days only for our MC to arrive in DE. You won’t be needing it in the Philippines, anyway.
2. Yes.. as the original ROM isn’t accepted anymore, you have to wait until the same ROM in SECPA from PSA becomes available. And that would take about 3 months.
3. I did not get through this A1 thing (EU citizens’ privilege) but it is good for up to a year.
4. You can even ask before you fly to HK! 😉
5. I have not changed my passport yet.
All the best!
Hi Fraum! Did you get an appointment before going to the High Court for Apostille Stamp? Or did you just went there, are there queues? Been reading your blog and it is very helpful 🙂
Hey! Good to know it has been of help. 🙂 There is no need for.an appointment, and in our case, we were the only client.
Got married last month, thanks to your blog it became one of our guides to DIY our marriage in HK. We were able to get our Apostille stamped MC and copies on the same day. The certified true copies were submitted a day before releasing. We just emailed them that we are travelling the next day.
Congratulations!! Thanks for the update. 🙂
Hi Fraum! Thank you so much for this blog! It has been our bible throughout this process! My fiancé lives in Dublin, IE and not anymore in Germany. Does he still have to report to his hometown Standesamt or can he just report in the German Embassy in Ireland?
Hi Marionne! Great to know it has been helpful. He doesn’t need to report the marriage to the German Embassy.. just make sure it has an apostille stamp so it will be recognized in DE at anytime in the future. 🙂