For a divorce to be recognised, you must submit the divorce judgment and a special certificate issued by a court or authority of the Member State in which the divorce was obtained. This certificate must take a specific form (see Articles 37 and 39 in conjunction with Annex 1 of the EU Regulation). You may need to have the documents translated into the language of the country where the wedding will take place. You may also need to legalize the documents in Canada and/or have them stamped by a consular officer in the country where you are going to get married. Authentication proves that the signature and seal on the document are genuine. It is often necessary to apostille or legalize documents before marriage. We do not keep foreign marriage certificates. If you got married abroad, contact the embassy or consulate of the country where the marriage took place to obtain a certified copy of your foreign marriage certificate. More and more Canadian citizens are involved in marriages or fraud abroad. Canadians have been blackmailed by foreign in-laws, involved in cyber-romance scams, or tricked into sponsoring a spouse who rushes in after arriving in Canada. If this is the case for you, you will need to hire a lawyer with experience in matrimonial law. Representatives of the nearest Canadian government office abroad can provide a list of legal representatives in that country.

Information on obtaining these foreign documents can be found on the websites of German missions abroad. If you cannot find the required information online, please contact the German mission abroad in the country concerned directly. In addition, many German couples want to get married on vacation, often abroad. However, if the lights of Las Vegas, the romance of Venice or the tropical palm trees of a beach on an island in the South Seas provide an unforgettable backdrop, it must be remembered that marriage is above all a legally binding contract that has many consequences and additional requirements must be fulfilled if the ceremony is celebrated abroad. Here is some information about weddings from the U.S. Department of State (travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/while-abroad/marriage-abroad.html). The competent ministry is the Ministry of Justice of the country in which one of the spouses has his or her habitual residence. If neither party is domiciled in Germany, but a new marriage is to be concluded there, the authorities of the federal state in which the marriage is concluded are competent. If neither party is domiciled in Germany and the new marriage is to be concluded abroad, the Ministry of Justice of the Senate in Berlin is responsible. For example, if you have a same-sex marriage certificate issued in one EU country, the authorities of another EU country where you can present the marriage cannot require an apostille stamp for your certificate, but are not obliged to recognise the marriage if the same-sex marriage is not legally recognised in that country.

If you need a local lawyer abroad to get in touch with your lawyer, the German missions abroad or the helpline of the Federal Foreign Office will be happy to send you a list of lawyers on request. In principle, a marriage contracted abroad is considered valid in Germany if the legal provisions governing the marriage of that foreign state have been complied with. In addition, the bride and groom must meet all legal requirements for marriage under the laws of their home country (e.g., they must be single, over a minimum age, and must not be too closely related). The State Department issued marriage certificates abroad when a U.S. consular officer attended the marriage ceremony of U.S. citizens performed abroad. We ceased publication of this document on November 9, 1989. You can obtain a copy of this document by making a request to our office. The marriage application must first be submitted to the civil registry office of the district in Germany where one of the couples lives. If neither couple is domiciled in Germany, the application must be submitted to the registry office where the marriage is to take place. The question of which law the German court should apply at the divorce hearing (German or foreign law) is governed by the provisions of European/German private international law (see above “Related legal issues”).

If the divorce is obtained abroad, the foreign court applies the private international law of its country to determine which law is applicable in the divorce proceedings. The European Courts will apply EU Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation. Foreign marriage certificates are often not recognized by national authorities or courts until their authenticity or probative value has been established in separate proceedings. To this end, a number of international standard operating procedures have been developed. For more information, see “International recognition/legalization of documents”. Officials at the nearest Canadian government office abroad can provide you with a list of local lawyers, shelters and social services (if any) that can help. We can provide services if you need help returning to Canada, if you are concerned about fair treatment under the laws of a country, or if you need help in a foreign country. If you are getting married abroad and want to know if your marriage is recognized in the United States and what documents may be required, contact the Attorney General`s office in your state of residence in the United States.

In some countries, a husband can legally impose travel restrictions on his wife and children and prevent them from returning to Canada. Local laws may also allow her to keep the woman`s passport and property, even if both are divorced. A foreign marriage certificate proves that a marriage was contracted abroad. If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident planning to marry abroad, local authorities may request documents such as: There is no special procedure or authority with exclusive authority to recognize marriages contracted abroad. The question of whether a marriage is valid is therefore always only a preliminary question in the context of other administrative acts (e.g. change of name, application for the opening of a family register with a national register, change of entry on the tax form, etc.). This question referred for a preliminary ruling must be decided by the competent authority at its discretion. Added a new foreign marriage certificate application form. You cannot get married at a Canadian embassy or consulate abroad. Canadian consular officials do not perform wedding ceremonies and are not required to attend your wedding. Although same-sex marriages are legal in Canada, they are not recognized in many countries.

Civil partnerships between persons of the same sex are more widely recognized. For country-specific information, read our travel advice, contact the embassy, high commission or consulate of the destination country in Canada, or visit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and bisexual Canadians abroad. Tamas, a Polish citizen, marries Marie, a Belgian citizen, in Belgium. Before the marriage can proceed, Tamas must submit her birth certificate to the Belgian authorities. Tamas does not need an apostille stamp to prove that his birth certificate is authentic, nor does he need a certified translation of his birth certificate. Instead, he can simply request a standard multilingual form from the Polish authorities and present it with his birth certificate as a translation aid. A marriage search letter is issued by the marriage registration office in the province or territory where you live. This document confirms whether you have registered a marriage or not.

In some countries, you may need to present a certified marriage search letter before you can get married. Follow the steps to authenticate your document. However, the recognition of the judicial power of the Land by the Land offices is limited to the dissolution of the matrimonial bond. Other provisions of the foreign judgment on related matters (maintenance claims, pension regulations, property issues) are not affected by the decision of the Land judicial offices.