Hi Good day to everyone here!
Me and my fiance would like to get married in Taiwan. He is a Puerto Rican (white collar job) and I’m a Filipina migrant (blue collar job), here in Taiwan.
Questions are:
1.What are the steps that we need to get married here (requirements and places to visit)
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After getting the requirements in both countries, what’s the next thing to do?
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After getting married, do we need to go back to our countries to file for spousal visa?
Hope someone can help us. Thank you so much.
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If your home countries allow registration of foreign marriages, then you’ll need to do that before applying for the spouse visa. This registration document from your home countries may also need to be notarized and or translated, but you’ll need to check. If your home country doesn’t allow registration of foreign marriages, then you can ignore this step.
In Taiwan, both of you will need to get certificates from your countries’ rep office here stating that you are free to marry. If your country doesn’t offer this certificate in Taiwan, then you may need to return to your home countries. I know US citizens can get it here easily, but not sure about Filipinos. These documents may also need to be notarized and translated, but again you should check.
If you have all the documents you need, and you are both already on residence ARCs then it should be easy to switch one of you to a spouse ARC without leaving Taiwan. It can also be possible on visitor visas under certain circumstances.
However, since you are both foreigners, the spouse ARC that one of you could get will not give open work rights, so if you plan to both continue working you may not wish to apply for the spouse ARC.
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Hello, thank you so much for your reply. I will discuss it to my fiance. Tbh I’m not sure if both countries need marriage registration. We have to find out about it.
Lots of countries don’t. Others here should know, maybe @GooseEgg knows about the Philippines
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Thank you so much. We’re planning to go to household registration office in Taipei and see if we can find a requirements that is suitable in our situation. If this can be one of the steps, we’ll do it ASAP. thank you 
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The U.S. does not need, nor require, you to register your marriage, once married in Taiwan. Your Taiwan marriage certificate is good. Know from personal experience.
You’re going to need a lot of documents from respective countries (criminal record, meaning lack thereof, and more), and all translated into Chinese and sent to respective TECO to get notarized.
The process will be a long and not fun one, but it’s doable. Too long ago for me to remember exact details. With luck, it may be somewhat easier now.
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No usual warning about the horror stories dealing with TECO Manila, Filipino authorities and Taiwanese authorities? Like 2020 : My journey towards getting Taiwanese Citizenship for myself and my infant daughter
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Congratulations on your engagement!
I suggest you email or use Facebook messenger to contact your nearest MECO (Taipei, Taichung, or Kaohsiung) and consult the ATN lawyer (Assistance To Nationals) advice to make sure you cover all the requirements from the Philippine side. I do not think there will be more than what has already been covered here, but it isn’t a great effort to send a message to double check.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, which handles all personal certifications like birth, marriage, and death:
Sec. 19. Marriages performed abroad. – All marriages performed outside of the Philippine Islands in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were performed and valid there as such, shall also be valid in these Islands.
So:
- You will need a CENOMAR – Certificate of No Marriage from the PSA. It might be faster to have it sent to a friend or relative in the Philippines who then couriers it here. Expect them to send it sooner than they say it will (in my experience getting my own marriage certificate and the birth certificate of my son, they suggest a Special Power of Attorney SPA is needed for the Philippine recipient to receive it but actually the courier never asks for it)
https://psa.gov.ph/civilregistration/requesting-civil-registry-document/cenomar
PSA Birth Certificates (and more) | Online Application | Worldwide Delivery!
- You should report the marriage to MECO. My parents were married in New York in the 60’s and discovered only a few years ago that they never filed it in the Philippines where they ultimately lived most of their lives. So, although not filing will not prevent you from doing anything important in life, there will be some government requirements (usually property related) where where the marriage certificate at PSA will be needed. It’s not cumbersome to report the marriage at MECO so you may as well do it
Fwiw my experiences with both MECO and PSA (psa serbilis website and service) have been overwhelmingly easy and good. The websites may look a little clunky, but the processing times and competency is very high, and almost all who I have encountered seem to understand where we are coming from and are experienced and kind.
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I don’t think this matter has to involve TECO Manila unless they plan to be there (say for the wedding or honeymoon) and only if they need to get Taiwan visa. In that case, then there may be horror stories.
I suggest getting all the marriage stuff done in Taiwan (including ARCs or work permits, etc) before visiting the Philippines so you can avoid having to deal with TECO Manila
This is good to know and so convenient for my other half. I will let him know about it. Thank you so much.
Oh wow this is so helpful because we really have no idea how to start the process. So firstly, I already ask one of my relatives to gather the documents needed, but I have to make the authorization first. For MECO, yeah I should do that so I won’t miss anything. Thank you so much for this. I’ll make a Note in every advises you’ve given me.
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Hi guys! Just to update about this. We already got married last January 11,2023. We followed every steps we got from here specially my husband side. And we got married without hassle.
Next step would be to apply dependent visa at the immigration office. We pray there won’t be any problem with the process thank you all for your help. Highly appreciated 
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Mazel tov! Thank you for the follow-up!
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