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JUDICIAL RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN DIVORCE - Part 2

9/28/2025

Congratulations to Ms. Jennifer Manalo for her successful UK Visit Visa application.

In our previous ECO-Friendly blog, Judicial Recognition of Foreign Divorce, we discussed how marriages celebrated in the Philippines can be subjected to divorce by foreign courts even if divorce is not permitted under Philippine laws.

In the same article, ECO-Friendly also pointed out that as long as the foreign divorce is established by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) as valid after a Petition for Judicial Recognition of the Foreign Divorce is heard and resolved, the divorce made outside the country will be recognized in the Philippines and both parties to the former marriage shall now be allowed to remarry even here in the Philippines.

In the case that was mentioned in the blog, Beth asked one of our ECO-Friendly consultants whether the foreign divorce of her partner who was a former Filipino can be held valid even if the Petition for Judicial Recognition thereof was still pending in the RTC.

According to Beth, they could not wait for the decision of the RTC because the minimum income requirement for the UK Fiancée Visa was set to be increased in May 2024 which was only a few months away. From the then MIR of GBP18,600, the new MIR was scheduled to be increased to GBP29,000 by May 2025.

Although the law on foreign divorce mandates that it be judicially recognized by the RTC in order for the former spouses to be permitted to remarry in the Philippines, this is with respect to the Filipino spouse left behind here in the Philippines. This means that the foreign spouse does not need to comply with this provision and if he was validly divorced in a foreign country, UK laws shall legally consider this divorce and he may remarry anytime anywhere in the UK.

Thus, once the divorce decree is issued by the Thai court, the British divorcee shall be allowed under British law to remarry in the UK even if he was a former citizen of the Philippines.

The only issue, under this scenario, where the foreign divorce needs to be judicially recognized in the Philippines is if there are properties involved which are situated in the Philippines. Under this situation, the foreign divorce needs to be established as valid so that the properties of the former spouses when they were still married can be subject to settlement by the Philippine courts.

Under the case of Beth and Mark, there were no Philippine properties involved in the previous marriage so there was no problem with the fact that they did not wait for the court to rule on the Petition for Judicial Recognition of the Foreign Divorce.

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JUDICIAL RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN DIVORCE

9/8/2025

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Adeline Fae Aznar visits the Cotswolds. Enjoy your vacation ate Adeline!

There are only two places left in the entire planet Earth where divorce is not allowed… the Vatican and the Philippines.

The Vatican is where the pope resides and where the whole catholic faith is based and domiciled. Priests, nuns, religious members, lay employees and a mix of clergies live here and this would probably explain why divorce is not permitted.

In the Philippines, we were colonized by Spain for 300 years and although the country has been free from the Spanish priests and missionaries that controlled us since the 1500s until the late 1800s, their frailocracia or friarocracy is still strongly felt and essentially a part of the Philippine society. Worth pointing out is that on July 1981, our former colonizer, Spain herself has legalized divorce.

Many believe that this Christianization played a big part in the inclusion of a constitutional provision enjoining the state to protect the sanctity of marriage as an inviolable social institution. This plus the solid will of majority of the Filipino people and legislators to block any move to allow divorce are the main reasons why divorce cannot and will not be allowed in the country for several more years to come.

Majority of the Filipino people do not also seem to think that a divorce law should be the priority of the country as of now, especially with the public outrage concerning the corruption in the flood control projects and other more important issues hounding the country.

FOREIGN DIVORCE MAY BE RECOGNIZED BY PHILIPPINE SC

However, in a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, it ruled that spouses whose marriage was celebrated in the Philippines and who later filed for a divorce in a foreign country may effectively have their foreign divorce judicially recognized in the Philippines.

Judicial recognition here means that the party filing the petition with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) is required to prove that the divorce decree was validly issued by the foreign court. Therefore aside from the actual authenticated copy of the divorce decree, the actual authenticated copy of the foreign divorce law itself which was in force in the country at the time of the divorce must be reviewed by the RTC, as well as proof of the actual foreign citizenship of at least one of the spouses at the time of divorce.

Once the court duly recognizes the foreign divorce, the parties can remarry even in the Philippines.

Congratulations on our successful application for a UK Visit Visa Adeline. Fiancee Visa naman next!

CAN A FILIPINO DIVORCEE MARRY ABROAD WITHOUT RECOGNITION?

From the preceding explanation of judicial recognition, it is very clear that if a marriage celebrated in the Philippines was dissolved by divorce in a foreign country, and a petition for judicial recognition was filed and subsequently approved by the RTC, the former spouses can now be allowed remarry in the Philippines.

But what if the parties to the foreign divorce want to remarry abroad? Do they need to undergo the required judicial recognition if they will not remarry in the Philippines and instead schedule their next wedding in another country?

Say for example a former Filipino (now a British citizen) wants to marry his current Filipina girlfriend. The problem is he used to be married to another Filipina and their marriage was celebrated in the Philippines. They later filed for a divorce in another country but it was not judicially recognized in the Philippines. Now the former Filipino and his new partner want to marry in the UK.

ISSUE: WHETHER OR NOT A FILIPINO COUPLE WHO WAS MARRIED IN THE PHILIPPINES AND WHO LATER OBTAINED A FOREIGN DIVORCE MAY BE ALLOWED TO REMARRY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY IF THEIR DIVORCE WAS NOT JUDICIALLY RECOGNIZED IN THE PHILIPPINES

ACTUAL FACTS FROM ECO-FRIENDLY FILES

A lady applicant from Batangas City, Philippines went to our office for initial consultation asking whether she can file for a UK Fiancée Visa even if her British boyfriend’s divorce abroad from his former marriage in the Philippines had not yet been recognized by the RTC.

The boyfriend (whom we shall call Mark) used to be a Filipino citizen and now a British citizen after continuously residing in the UK for five (5) years. According to our client Beth (not her real name), she met Mark in an online dating site and they instantly hit it off. After a few months of messaging, he visited her in the Philippines and they became sweethearts.

In fairness to Mark, he revealed early in their relationship that he was previously married to a Filipina woman and their marriage was celebrated in the Philippines. However, after a few years of living together as husband and wife in Thailand, the marriage deteriorated and they filed for a divorce. A divorce decree was subsequently issued by the Thai court.

Beth’s question: “WILL A UK FIANCÉE VISA APPLICATION FILED IN THE PHILIPPINES BE SUCCESSFUL, IF THE FOREIGN DIVORCE OF MARK HAS NOT BEEN JUDICIALLY RECOGIZED BY THE PHILIPPINE COURTS?”

Their ultimate goal, of course, in filing for a UK Fiancée Visa is so that they can marry each other in the UK. So it is imperative that they first determine whether British law would allow them to marry given the circumstances. For if UK law will not recognize Mark’s divorce, then they cannot be allowed to marry in the UK. What then is the use of filing for a UK Fiancée Visa if they cannot be allowed to marry in the UK?

Take note that in the case at bar, a Petition for Judicial Recognition of Mark’s foreign divorce with his first Filipina wife had already been filed in the Batangas City-RTC but was taking too long. Beth and Mark was keen on waiting for the court’s decision however long it would take the RTC to resolve, but while they were waiting, the Home Office made a very important announcement pertaining to the financial requirement for UK settlement visa applications.

While the petition for judicial recognition was pending in court, the UKVI issued a new rule increasing the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) which was then GBP18,600 to GBP29,000 effective May 2024.

The MIR is one of the most essential requirements when applying for a UK settlement visa like a UK Fiancée Visa or UK Spouse Visa. It is one of the best guaranties that both the sponsor and the applicant for the UK settlement visa will not resort to public funds by requiring the parties to earn at least GBP18.600. At least this was the MIR at the time they filed the petition in court.

However, during the pendency of the hearing, the UKVI announced a hike in the MIR from GBP18,600 to GBP29,000.

Since there was no sign that the RTC will approve the petition before the May 2024 deadline, Beth became apprehensive that they will not be able to comply with the financial requirement after the new MIR takes effect because her partner’s annual income was below GBP29,000!

Can her application for the UK Fiancée Visa be successful therefore, if the foreign divorce of her British partner to the latter’s Filipino wife is not judicially recognized by the Philippine court?

To be continued…

Adeline Fae with her boyfriend David taking a pose at the Cotswolds. Have fun you two!

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