Short answer. He can substitute an affidavit. Article 21 of the Family Code requires foreign citizens to submit a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage issued by their diplomatic or consular officials — but stateless persons or refugees may, in lieu of that certificate, submit an affidavit stating the circumstances showing their capacity to marry.
What the law says
Stateless persons or refugees from other countries shall, in lieu of the certificate of legal capacity herein required, submit an affidavit stating the circumstances showing such capacity to contract marriage.
Family Code, Article 21 — Foreign Nationals: Certificate of Legal Capacity. Read the full provision →
The rule your fiance cannot comply with
Article 21 begins with the requirement built for the ordinary foreigner: when either or both of the contracting parties are citizens of a foreign country, they must, before a marriage license can be obtained, submit a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage, issued by their respective diplomatic or consular officials. The logic is that a foreigner's freedom to marry is governed by his own country's law, so his own government vouches for it. That logic collapses for a refugee — the very state he fled is not one he can approach, and a stateless person has no government to certify anything at all.
The affidavit that takes the certificate's place
The article answers the problem in its second sentence: Stateless persons or refugees from other countries shall, in lieu of the certificate of legal capacity herein required, submit an affidavit stating the circumstances showing such capacity to contract marriage. This is not a discretionary accommodation but the rule itself — the law substitutes his own sworn statement for the certification his missing or unapproachable government cannot give. Your fiance therefore does not need to chase an embassy that does not exist for him; he needs to execute a truthful affidavit and present it where the marriage license is applied for.
What the affidavit must actually show
The affidavit must state the circumstances showing such capacity to contract marriage — the facts that establish he is free and qualified to marry. In practical terms that means identifying himself, his age, and his civil status, and narrating why no impediment exists: that he has never been married, or how any previous marriage ended. It should also state the facts that make him a refugee or stateless, since that status is what entitles him to use the affidavit route in the first place. Because it is a sworn statement, it must be accurate — a marriage built on a false affidavit invites exactly the kind of dispute the certificate requirement was meant to prevent.
Prepare the supporting papers
Expect the office receiving the license application to want more than bare assertions, so gather what corroborates the affidavit: any document recognising his refugee status, travel or identity documents he does hold, and any record bearing on his civil status. If a prior marriage was dissolved abroad, bring the papers that prove how, since capacity to marry rises or falls on that history. Where the facts are complicated — a missing spouse, an undocumented divorce, doubt about whether he counts as stateless — have a lawyer review the affidavit before it is sworn, because that document will carry the weight the consular certificate normally carries.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Grace J. Garcia, a.k.a. Grace J. Garcia-Recio, vs. Rederick A. Recio, G.R. No. 138322, October 2, 2001 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Honorio L. Carlos vs. Manuel T. Abelardo, G.R. No. 146504, April 9, 2002 — read the decision on LawPhil →