On the Blog: Destination Weddings & the legalities

Excerpt:

Following an increasing number of enquiries for Destination Weddings this year, we’ve put together a little guide to the legalities of getting married at some of the most popular destinations. As always, this is just our guide so it’s always best to check with the relevant embassy or consulate in case there are new loopholes!

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On the Blog: Destination Weddings & the legalities

Published: February 25 2019

Here are a few of our most popular destination requests for weddings abroad. Our main advice is that we recommend that you have done your research carefully and that you are totally clued up on the legalities. As always we are on hand to help you and it’s often really useful to liaise with a wedding planner, either based in the UK or at your chosen venue to make sure that the organisational stress is taken off you!

Cyprus - The Lowdown

• You must be resident in Cyprus for 3 working days (excluding the day of arrival and weekends) prior to your wedding if you apply for the Special Licence at the municipality where you wish to get married.
• You must be resident in Cyprus for 20 days with 15 clear days after you submit your Notice of Marriage if you don’t apply for the Special Licence. This gives you up to 3 months after you’ve submitted your application to marry.
• Required documents: Passport, birth certificate, passports of two witnesses, a sworn affidavit stating you can legally marry. You will also need a divorce certificate if you have been previously married and a death certificate if you have been widowed.

More helpful information: High Commission of Cyprus in the UK

Czech Republic - The Lowdown

• No residency requirements
• Intention to marry must be posted at least 21 days at your local registry office in the UK to receive your certificate of impediment, which will be issued in English and Czech.
• You must prove that you are an EU citizen by taking your passport to the Foreign Police Dept in Prague no longer than 7 days before sending your documents to the Matrika Office.
• Required documents must be presented to the Matrika Office in the Czech Republic: Passport, birth certificate, certificates of no impediment. You will also need a divorce certificate if you have been previously married and a death certificate if you have been widowed and a decree of absolute must be taken to the Legislation Department of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London to be legalised.

More helpful information: Czech Embassy

Dubai - The Lowdown

We recommend that you have the blessing in Dubai but get the legal paperwork out of the way at home. However if you are very keen to legally get married there:

• In order to legally wed in the UAE, you or your partner have to be residents there.
• You first port of call should be the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, in order to find out exactly what documents you will need. Legally, you are permitted to marry through a religious ceremony at a church or Sharia court, although be conscious of the fact that there are no civil marriages in the UAE at all.
• Assuming that you fit all of this criteria, you will then have to provide an affirmation or affidavit document that justifies the legal right for you and your partner to wed.
• Organise an appointment at your relevant embassy or consulate in the UAE. Before you arrive, make sure you have completed an ‘Affirmation for marriage’ (non-religious) or an ‘Affidavit for marriage (religious) that decrees that it is fine for you to marry your partner. This will be sent to you via email one you’ve booked the appointment.
• Required documents at the meeting: passport, birth certificate, passports of two witnesses, sworn affidavit, fee (approx. £50), UAE Medical Fitness certificate and blood test. These forms should be completed in English and your partner will need to complete his/her own form. You will also need a divorce certificate if you have been previously married and a death certificate if you have been widowed.
• The marriage affirmation or affidavit is then valid for 3 months once it’s approved, and you will probably have to get it professionally translated into Arabic, as well as getting the document legalised by the UAE authorities

Helpful sites: Embassy of the UAE

France - The Lowdown

We would typically recommend that you have your legal marriage ceremony in the UK and have a blessing/celebration afterwards in France since French bureaucracy is very complicated. However, if you really want to get married in France, it’s best to contact the French Consulate in the UK.

Greece - The Lowdown

We would typically recommend that you legally marry in the UK and then have a wedding blessing/celebration once you’re in Greece. However, if you really want to get married in Greece, it’s best to contact the Greek Embassy in the UK for a full briefing.

Italy - The Lowdown

We would typically recommend that you legally marry in the UK and then have a wedding blessing/celebration once you’re in Italy. However, if you really want to get married in Italy, it’s best to contact the Italian Embassy in the UK for a full briefing.

Mauritius - The Lowdown

Getting married in Mauritius is fairly straightforward, you just need to make sure you take the following steps. If you want to completely simplify the whole process, we would recommend talking to us about having a wedding planner to organise all the paperwork for you.

• At least 6 weeks before you travel to Mauritius (but we recommend doing it earlier), you will need to send copies of all of the documents listed below. These should all be sent to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Port Louis.
• In order to wed, you only have to have been in Mauritius for 1 day beforehand. This is so you can finalise and confirm all the paperwork with the Registrar in Port Louis. After that, the process is exactly the same as if you were marrying in your home country.
• You will also need at least two witnesses present to sign the appropriate forms. If it is just you and your partner at the wedding, your hotel can organise two witnesses for you if necessary. It is also important that you bear in mind that legally you can only marry from Monday – Friday, excluding public holidays.
• Required documents: Passport (and at least 2 photocopies of it), birth certificate (re-issued within 3 months of your wedding), passports of two witnesses, a sworn affidavit stating you can legally marry. You will also need a divorce certificate if you have been previously married and a death certificate if you have been widowed.
  

Mexico - The Lowdown

We would typically recommend that you legally marry in the UK and then have a wedding blessing/celebration once you’re in Mexico. However, if you really want to get married in Mexico, it’s best to contact the Mexican Embassy in the UK for a full briefing.

Spain - The Lowdown

The bureaucracy in Spain means it is logistically tricky to legally marry and we would advise it is best to avoid at all costs. For example you or your partner must be Catholic and one of you must have been living in Spain for 2 years. We would recommend that you have a post-legal marriage celebration.

The Caribbean - The Lowdown

It is fairly straightforward to legally marry in The Caribbean since there is no minimum length of stay on most of the islands. You will need to organise for a priest or a marriage officer to conduct the ceremony but this can also be taken care of by a wedding planner at your venue - indeed we would usually recommend that this is the easiest way to do it unless you already know someone.

Please note that if neither you nor your partner are residents of The Caribbean, you may be subject to a court licence fee as well as a Magistrate fee for the ceremony.

Required documents: Passports, birth certificate, return airline tickets, passports of two witnesses, the appropriate fee, a sworn affidavit stating you can legally marry. You will also need a divorce certificate if you have been previously married and a death certificate if you have been widowed.

The Maldives - The Lowdown

If you are not a resident of the Maldives, it is not actually possible for you to legally marry there. However, that does not mean that the Maldives does not make a fantastic
destination to renew your vows or to celebrate a symbolic wedding blessing. Therefore, if you formally marry in the UK, it can feel like a wedding when you
have the non-legal symbolic blessing on the beach in the Maldives.

The Seychelles - The Lowdown

It is fairly straightforward to legally marry in the Seychelles, though it is important to know that you have to have both a religious and civil ceremony for it to be rendered legal. There are certain rules you must follow to ensure that everything goes smoothly on the day.

• To organise the wedding, you need to contact the Civil Status Office on the island of Mahe at the minimum 11 days before your wedding. If you apply for a special marriage licence (more expensive), you can let the Civil Status Office know about your plans 2 days before. You will have to send them all the relevant documents (Required documents listed below).
• The actual wedding itself does not have to happen on the island of Mahe, but it will become more and more expensive the further your island of choice is away from Mahe.
• Any wedding which takes place at 5pm on a weekday or anytime on a weekend will be more expensive.
• So that you and your partner have enough time, we generally recommend contacting the officials in Mahe about 2 months beforehand to confirm all the details are in place. If in any doubt, contact them directly or your relevant embassy for the most recent advice.
• Required documents: Passports, birth certificate, the appropriate fee, a sworn affidavit stating you can legally marry. You will also need a divorce certificate if you have been previously married and a death certificate if you have been widowed.

Turkey - The Lowdown

In Turkey only civil ceremonies are legally recognised so if you are looking to have a religious ceremony then this must be done after a civil ceremony in order for it to be binding. You will need two witnesses but they cannot be family so be sure to take along some friends who will do the honour! You can hold the ceremony in either the offices of your country’s embassy or the Turkish marriage offices and, if you don’t speak Turkish, you will need an interpreter to translate.

• Your application must be made in person at the local marriage office, to complete necessary forms and provide the required documents.

• Once your application has been approved then this is valid for up to 6 months and you can get married from 48 hours following this.

• Required documents: Passports, birth certificates, 6 passport colour photos taken within a month, affidavit for marriage. Please note you may also be asked to present an accommodation document written by the hotel which states the duration of your stay and confirmation that you are staying there.

For more information or to speak to one of the team, please contact us on 0208 935 5779 or email us at info@gobespoketravel.com

*As mentioned above, this is just our guide so it’s always best to check with the relevant embassy or consulate in case there are new loopholes*