The Philippines is, along with Vatican City, the only country in the world without a civil divorce law. When a Philippine marriage breaks down, the only legal route to dissolve it is annulment or a declaration of nullity before a Philippine court. If one spouse wants to remarry in Spain afterwards, Spain's Civil Registry doesn't accept "we're separated" or "we're divorced in practice" — it needs full documentary proof that the previous marriage was legally dissolved.
This guide explains what that process produces and which documents need translating to get married in Spain.
Why the Philippines uses annulment instead of divorce
Annulment relies on grounds defined by law — the most common being psychological incapacity (Article 36 of the Family Code), which requires an expert report from a psychologist or psychiatrist. The process goes through court, with notice to the other spouse, an evidence phase and, in many cases, involvement of the state prosecutor (Office of the Solicitor General) to verify there's no collusion between the parties. It's a long procedure — typically two to five years.
What the process produces
- Court Decree of Annulment / Declaration of Nullity from the Philippine court.
- Certificate of Finality — proves the decision is no longer subject to appeal.
- Certificate of Registration of the decision with the relevant civil registry.
- Annotated Marriage Certificate (PSA) — the version of the marriage certificate with the annulment noted in the margin. This is the key document Spain's Civil Registry asks for: without the annotation, the Philippine marriage certificate still shows as "current".
What Spain's Civil Registry requires to remarry
To register a new marriage in Spain, the Civil Registry officer requires proof of capacity to marry — that is, that there is no undissolved prior bond. With a Philippine annulment in the applicant's history, that means providing:
- The annotated PSA marriage certificate showing the annulment.
- The annulment decree and its Certificate of Finality.
- In some cases, an updated civil status certificate (Certificate of No Marriage Record, CENOMAR) issued after the annotation, confirming the person currently shows as single for the purposes of a new marriage.
All these documents, apostilled, get translated by a sworn translator and submitted with the pre-marriage file at the Civil Registry or before the notary handling it.
The apostille
The Philippines has been part of the Hague Convention since 2019: the court decision is apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and PSA certificates (annotated marriage certificate, CENOMAR) carry an e-Apostille since March 2026, requestable directly together with the certificate itself through PSAHelpline.
Common mistakes
- Submitting the marriage certificate without the annotation. If the annulment isn't annotated on the PSA record, Spain's Civil Registry treats the marriage as still current.
- Not requesting the Certificate of Finality. Without it, there's no proof the decision is final.
- Confusing annulment with divorce in the translation. These are distinct legal concepts; a sworn translator experienced with Philippine law keeps the exact terminology (annulment ≠ divorce) so the Civil Registry doesn't reject the file over a conceptual mismatch.
- An outdated CENOMAR. It must be requested after the annulment annotation is already on the PSA record, not before.
Related pages
- Getting married in Spain: Filipino citizens
- Philippine NBI Clearance: apostille and sworn translation
- Inheriting from the Philippines in Spain
- Sworn translation in Madrid · Sworn translation in Barcelona
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