Service Finder
Applying for subsequent certification of a marriage concluded abroad
Service Description
If you got married abroad and one of you has German citizenship, you can have the marriage certified in Germany.
The date of the application is decisive for the possession of German citizenship.
Stateless persons, homeless foreigners or foreign refugees with habitual residence in Germany can also submit an application for subsequent certification of the marriage.
The marriage must be concluded in accordance with the formal requirements applicable in the country in which you got married. German law must not stand in the way of the marriage.
You can also have your marriage subsequently certified if you both do not have German citizenship and were married in Germany before an authorized person of a government of the state to which one of you belongs.
The registry office of your place of residence or the place where you last lived or the place of your habitual residence is responsible for the subsequent certification.
If your habitual residence is not in Germany, the registry office I in Berlin is responsible for the subsequent certification.
Process flow
Please contact the registry office responsible for you. If this office offers an online service for the subsequent certification of marriages, you can submit your application or documents via this service.
If you apply in person, the following steps are required:
- At least one of the spouses who is a German citizen must appear in person at the registry office and bring all the necessary documents with them.
- The registrar will check whether it is possible to have the marriage certified by a German registry office.
- If all requirements are met, the marriage can be entered in the marriage register.
- If required, the registry office will issue a marriage certificate once the marriage has been entered in the register.
Competent authority
- If you are resident in Germany, the registry office of the place where you have or last had your residence or where you have your habitual abode is responsible.
- Otherwise, the registry office I in Berlin is responsible.
Requirements
Subsequent certification is possible in the following cases:
- You got married abroad and one of you has German citizenship or is stateless, a homeless foreign national or a foreign refugee.
- You got married in Germany and neither of you had German citizenship at the time of the marriage. The marriage was performed by an authorized person of a government of the country to which one of you belongs.
- The date of the application is decisive for the possession of German citizenship.
- The marriage must be legally valid and must not contradict German law.
- Eligible applicants are
- The spouses
- If both spouses are deceased, their parents and children
Which documents are required?
- Foreign marriage certificate, if necessary with certification by the competent foreign authority (apostille) or legalization by the German diplomatic mission abroad
- Valid identity card, passport or travel document
- If the spouses were born in Germany:
- Certified copies of the birth registers from the registry offices of the places of birth
- For births of the spouses abroad:
- Birth certificates with certifications by the competent foreign authority (apostille) or legalization by the German diplomatic mission abroad
- As a rule, translations of all documents in a foreign language by sworn translators in Germany
- Certificate of naturalization or certificate of citizenship, if applicable
- Proof of the establishment and dissolution of all civil partnerships
- Only required if one spouse has already established a registered civil partnership
- Certified copy from the marriage register of the last previous marriage with a note of dissolution
- Only required if one spouse has been married before. Alternatively or in the case of previous marriages abroad: Proof of the conclusion and dissolution of all previous marriages. For example, marriage certificates, death certificates, all divorce decrees - complete and with a note from the court stating when the judgment became legally binding ("final judgment").
- If applicable, recognition of the foreign divorce by the President of the Higher Regional Court
- Only required if one spouse has already been married.
- Further documents
- Further documents may be required in individual cases
What are the fees?
Fee: 100,00 EURPayment in advance: no
Legal basis
- § Section 34 of the Civil Status Act (PStG)
- § Section 9 of the Civil Status Act (PStG)
- § Section 10 of the Civil Status Act (PStG)
- § Section 11 Introductory Act to the German Civil Code (EGBGB)
- § Section 13 Introductory Act to the German Civil Code (EGBGB)
- § Section 438 of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO)
Applications / forms
- Application for a court decision
What else should I know?
If the marriage took place abroad, you can apply to the registry office in your home town for the marriage to be subsequently recorded in the German marriage register.
Author
The text was automatically translated based on the German content.
Technically approved by
Thuringian Ministry of the Interior and Municipal Affairs
Professionally released on
13.11.2024
Source: Zuständigkeitsfinder Thüringen (Linie6Plus)
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