Hi guys,
My fiancee and I have not seen each other since June 2019 due to the pandemic and with things not getting any better, we are thinking of getting married online and then applying for the 13A visa so i can finally go back to Cebu to be with my girl. Has anyone else gone through this route and what are your experiences of this particular road? Thank you all in advance for any answers that may help.

You've both got to "appear" before and be "in the presence" of the solemnizing officer.

https://www.chanrobles.com/executive...m#.YRGQ_YgzbmY

so I am surprised you are describing this as a route to get married here.

Nothing here is done online in the true sense, LTO stated that you could renew your license online, so logged on, went to the renew license online page and it gave a list of documents required and followed that with now take all the documents to your local LTO office.

I was a bit shocked when I read your post, then realised I had misread the officer's title.

Why don't you both meet in a Philippines green lane country, get married then both return to tbe Philippines, you as a balikbayan. Obviously first make sure tbe marriage is recognised in the Philippines, many are.

On You tube there's someone talking about officially organized online weddings in the US in a few states only and then about one website which claims to do such US/Phil Claiming one trail blazing couple got here through that....but saying nothing about the 13(a) visa.
May be good for some purposes, perhaps entering the country, but the 13(a) process? Such a recent innovation so I doubt it would be officially recognized, especially here. If the BI investigate and can find out it's a type of online US marriage they may see it as under cutting Philippine marriage requirements and refuse. Then re-marry here?

Hi,
We thought about that, but which are the "Green Lane" countries, as everything keeps changing and re-locking down,.

Google is your friend. You obviously need to pick a country where your lady can travel to visa free, again check google. Mainly Asean countries, Hong Kong springs to mind. Also don't tell immigration at the airport she is leaving to meet a fellow as they could prevent her leaving or require a CFO certificate. Relter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Thursday, July 29, 2021, approved and updated the list of considered “Green” countries/jurisdictions/territories.

These include Albania, American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cayman Islands, Chad, China, Comoros, Cote d’ Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Dominica, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Falkland Islands, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Hungary, Kosovo, Laos, Mali, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Montserrat, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Romania, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands), Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Singapore, Sint Eustatius, Slovakia, Taiwan and Togo.

Then once you have selected a country you must check to see if they allow foreign tourists into their country, Australia and New Zealand both have a ban on non nationals entering the country as tourists.

As far as I can tell from this link https://capturetheatlas.com/countries-open-for-tourism/ the only Asian country open to tourists without restrictions is Bangladesh.
Indeed. Unfortunately I don't think marrying in a third country is going to work for the OP.

"I was a bit shocked when I read your post, then realised I had misread the officer's title."

Me, too, dirty minds I guess!

But if they ever wanted to get serious about population control...

First the off not having read any of the replies yet to this post. You have to first be married in n a civil wedding. Secondly once you have done that. You have to get your marriage certificate approved from the Philippines’s embassy in the country you got married in. 3rd cos of Covid the only foreigner allowed to come to the Philippines are men or ladies married to a Filipina or Filipino. But you have to travel with your Philippines husband or Philippines wife or they will not let you into the country. 4th you have to have a good enough reason to come to the Philippines. 5th you have to get a temporary visa to allow you to come into the Philippines. So as soon as you get to the Philippines you need to pay for a 6 months tourist visa and then apply for the 13a visa. You need a hell of a lot of documents for the 13a visa. I no all this as I been dating my Filipina girlfriend off and on since 2017 she was in Manila I was in U.K. last year we were both on holiday in Phuket. We were planning to move to Cornwall together later in the year. But then the pandemic happened. So we stuck it out in Thailand but then then we ended up going back to U.K. for 3 months got married and moved out to Philippines end in of last year.
I very much doubt the Philippines will be opening its borders to tourists anytime soon. Anyhow good luck with your plans. In the meantime video chat is the best thing for you 2. Hope it all works out for you guys.