TIPID WAY TO OBTAIN NSO AND DFA RED RIBBON DOCUMENTS WHILE YOU ARE ABROAD

I am going to share to you how I got my DFA authenticated "RED RIBBON" NSO Birth Certificate and Certificate of No Marriage Record (CENOMAR) while I'm here in France the tipid way. 

If you are abroad, there is no need to spend more on DFA authentication express service online and go through the hassle of preparing a Philippine Embassy authenticated SPA (Special Power of Attorney) for their authorized representative.

The fastest and cheapest way to obtain these documents is to have one of your immediate family members in the Philippines request or process it on your behalf. They can be your parents, siblings, partner, or children. In my case, my authorized representative is my sister.

You just need to prepare two authorization letters, one for the Philippine Statistics Authority and one for the Department of Foreign Affairs. Below are the letter templates for your reference:

Pls click the image to enlarge

You must attach a photocopy of your valid ID (ex. passport data page) on each authorization letter. It is important that your authorize representative has valid government ID/s as well. 

I sent the original authorization letter to my sister by post, but I think scanned copy of the letter is also acceptable.

Once your authorized representative receive the authorization letters and your ID, they can immediately go to any NSO application centers (ex. SM Business Center or Census Serbilis Center) to request for your Birth Certificate and CENOMAR. 

My sister went to SM Business Service Center, she requested 3 copies of Birth Certificate (Php175*/copy) and 1 copy of CENOMAR (Php200*/copy). She paid the total of Php755* for all the documents. My sister collected the Birth Certificates in two days, but for CENOMAR she was only able to claim it one week after the application. 

After obtaining all the NSO documents, she went to DFA Office in Parañaque to have it authenticated. She opted for the 4-day processing which is Php100*/document. She paid a total of Php400* for the authentication of the 3 copies of Birth Certificate and 1 copy of CENOMAR.

She sent the documents here in France (from Manila) via DHL Express, the delivery fee was about Php2800* and I received the documents within three days.

Viola, that's how I got my red ribbon documents, rapid and tipid. I hope it helps.

*The fee is based on February/March 2018 rate

Related blog post: REQUIREMENTS FOR GETTING MARRIED IN FRANCE