Same-sex marriage

In Ireland, to get married you have to notify the register office in the place where the wedding is planned about 3 months in advance. But this can also be done by phone, so you do not have to travel to Ireland for it.

You must visit the office in person at least 5 days before the wedding to provide all the required documents. They include:

• passports (international or national)
• birth certificates
• a declaration of intent regarding the type of ceremony planned, which may be civil, religious, or spiritual
• notification of the planned date and venue of the wedding
• the names and dates of birth of the two witnesses who will be present at the wedding
• for those who have been married before – documents on the divorce or the death of a spouse.

All documents must carry an apostille. Once the documents are accepted, the wedding date will be confirmed and a marriage registration form will be issued, which must be signed by the witnesses and by the person conducting the ceremony.

The standard administrative fee is 200 euros, and a marriage certificate or a copy of it costs 20 euros. But the venue of the ceremony may charge an additional fee, so this is worth finding out in advance.

Note also that although Ireland is part of the EU, the visa-free regime does not apply to it, so if you are planning to marry in this country you also need to factor in the need to obtain a visa.

To get married in Iceland you have to send copies of your documents to the Icelandic civil registry 3 weeks before the planned wedding date, which can be done by fax or by email. The original documents must be provided no later than 5 days before the wedding – in person at the office or also by mail.
The list of documents:

• a notice of marriage (a form that can be downloaded and filled in)
• passports
• birth certificates
• certificates of marital status or a document confirming that there is no impediment to the marriage
• in the case of a divorce or the death of a former spouse there must be a document confirming this, as well as confirming that the former spouses’ property has been finally divided.

The civil wedding ceremony usually takes place in Reykjavik. The administrative fee for it is 10000 Icelandic kronur (72.5 euros at the time of writing). If you wish to hold it elsewhere, you must notify the district commissioner.

The notice of marriage form also requires the signatures and personal details of two witnesses, although their presence at the wedding itself is not mandatory.

To get married in Malta, you have to send the required documents to the marriage registry of Valletta or Gozo, depending on where exactly the wedding ceremony is planned. This must be done no earlier than 3 months before the planned wedding date, but no later than 3 weeks.

The documents include:

• passports
• birth certificates
• a request for the publication of banns on form RZ1, which must be downloaded and filled in
• a declaration on oath on form RZ2
• certificates of free status, that is, documents confirming that the couple are not currently married
• those who have already been married before need documents confirming the divorce or the death of a spouse.

All documents must be translated into English or Maltese and carry an apostille. Two witnesses over 18 years of age must be present at the ceremony, and their documents must also be provided.

After arriving in Malta and before the wedding ceremony you have to come to the marriage registry office to present your original passports.

The information online about the administrative fees for getting married is somewhat contradictory, so it is worth clarifying it with the registry officials when submitting the documents. According to this source, the fee is 69.88 euros if the ceremony is held directly at the marriage registry office and can reach 93.17 if the wedding is somewhere else. Obtaining a marriage certificate costs 9.95 euros, and a copy of an extract from it costs 2.50 euros.

In Norway the documents for getting married must be submitted to the tax administration. They include:

• declarations from each partner stating that there is no impediment to a marriage between them (they can be filled in online or downloaded to be completed by hand at this link)
• statements from witnesses, one person on each side (also filled in online or by hand at this link), while their presence at the wedding itself is not mandatory
• passports, birth certificates, or other identity documents containing name and age – original documents or copies certified by a Norwegian government body are required
• a certificate of no impediment to marriage in Norway, which must be translated into Norwegian or into English, Danish, or Swedish
• documents confirming that your stay in Norway is legal (a visa, a passport with an entry stamp).

All documents issued outside Norway must carry an apostille.

Processing of the documents by the administration takes 5-6 weeks. Based on the outcome, it mails a certificate confirming that the couple meet the conditions for marriage. This certificate is valid for 4 months, within which the wedding must take place.

With the certificate in hand, you can apply to the local administration of the region where the wedding is planned, or directly to the local court, which must grant permission to marry in Norway within two weeks. And only after that can you travel for the ceremony itself. Soon after it, the tax administration will mail the marriage certificate.

Norway has no state-level fees for getting married, but the price of holding the ceremony may vary depending on the specific location. For example, at the Oslo city administration foreign nationals can marry free of charge on Wednesdays and Fridays, or for 1700 Norwegian kroner (approximately 170 euros) on Saturdays.

In Portugal, to obtain permission to marry you have to submit documents to the civil registry office in the place where the wedding is planned. A list of the offices can be found here. Unfortunately, the option to submit documents online is available only to citizens of Portugal and Brazil. Citizens of other countries have to do it in person or through an authorized representative.

The required documents:

• passports and permission to stay in Portugal (for example, a visa or an entry stamp); not required if the couple act through a representative
• certified copies of birth certificates, translated into Portuguese, issued within the last 6 months (or 3, if the wedding is planned in the Azores)
• for divorced people – a certified copy of the divorce certificate with the same requirements
• in the case of a former spouse’s death – a certified copy of the death certificate with the same requirements
• a certificate of no impediment to marriage.

You also have to state the date, time, and place where the wedding ceremony is planned, and its format: civil or religious, as well as the property regime: whether property becomes fully or partly joint, or remains the separate property of each spouse.

The documents may take up to 4 weeks to process, and once permission is granted the marriage must take place within 6 months. There used to be a requirement (which can still be seen on some websites) for at least one of the spouses to stay in Portugal for a minimum of 30 days before the wedding, but it was recently abolished.

Registering the marriage costs 120 euros – or more if the ceremony is planned for a weekend and has to be preceded by a prenuptial agreement. The marriage certificate can then be ordered online, and depending on the type it will cost 10 or 20 euros.

In Australia both religious and civil marriages may be solemnized by people specially registered to conduct wedding ceremonies. So you need to choose such a person in advance from the lists, in order to arrange everything with them afterwards.

The documents have to be sent to the person who will conduct the ceremony:

• the notice of intended marriage form (this and other marriage-related forms are available on this page)
• birth certificates
• passports
• documents on the divorce or the death of a spouse, for those who have been married before.

The documents must be translated into English by a translator registered in Australia. They (at least the notice form) must be provided no later than one month before the wedding, and no earlier than 18 months. The ceremony itself, however, can be held even on the same day the couple arrives in Australia.

Two witnesses must also be present at the wedding ceremony, and they have to sign the declaration of no legal impediment to the marriage and the marriage certificate.

As for the money you will have to pay for the wedding ceremony, the federal government does not set administrative fees, but individual states may regulate this separately and the people who conduct the ceremony may set the price of their services themselves. So this is worth finding out for the place where you would like to hold the wedding.

By the way, on the website of the Attorney-General of Australia you can find a short brochure on getting married in Australia, including in Ukrainian. That would make Australia additionally attractive for Ukrainians, were it not for the high cost of the trip and the need to obtain a visa.

Argentina has recently changed its legislation on marriage, so the information on the internet, including the information on official websites, looks contradictory. Either way, we can state that after the residence and length-of-stay conditions were abolished, marriage, including same-sex marriage, became available to foreigners.

The documents for registering a marriage have to be submitted 3 business days in advance. While Argentinians can do this online, foreigners have to submit them in person at the civil registry office. The documents include:

• passports
• birth certificates (according to some sources)
• documents on the divorce or the death of a spouse, if you have been married before
• identity documents of two witnesses, who must be residents of Argentina
• the marriage form (available at this link).

The documents must be translated into Spanish and legalized with an apostille. Also, if at least one person in the couple does not know Spanish, an official interpreter must be present at the ceremony.

There used to be a requirement for a mandatory medical examination for sexually transmitted diseases 7 days before the wedding. This requirement has now been abolished, but if they wish, the couple can undergo such an examination and include its results in the documents they submit.

If the documents are accepted, the couple receive a place in the queue. They can choose the state registry office, a private venue, or a landmark venue for the ceremony, but anything other than the first option will cost 8850 Argentine pesos (about 143 euros at the time of writing).

Finally, it should be noted that individual aspects of the procedure may differ in different provinces of Argentina (the one described above applies to Buenos Aires).

Note also that Ukraine has a visa-free regime with Argentina (stays of up to 90 days).

In Canada the conditions for getting married may differ somewhat between individual provinces, but the general procedure is similar. Let us look at it using the example of the province of Ontario.

To get married, you first have to obtain a license for it. For this, each future spouse must provide two government-issued identity documents, which may be an international or domestic passport or a birth certificate with a certified English translation. You also have to fill in the marriage license application form (the City of Toronto website makes it possible to do this online) and pay a fee, which may vary depending on the municipality (again, for Toronto the amount is 140 Canadian dollars, or about 95 euros).

For divorced people the procedure is more complicated: in addition to a document confirming the divorce, they have to fill in a statement of sole responsibility form, obtain a legal opinion stating that the divorce should be recognized in Canada, and send this together with the marriage license application to the ServiceOntario marriage office, where these documents may take up to 4 weeks to process.

In the end, all the documents have to be submitted in person at a city services office, where, if they are in order, the marriage license can be obtained in literally half an hour. It is valid for 90 days.

At this stage some provinces require the publication of banns, and a certain amount of time (20 days, for example) must pass between that and the wedding itself. Ontario, however, has no such requirement, so the ceremony can take place soon after the license is obtained (although it is better to arrange it in advance so that you do not have to wait). A civil ceremony may be conducted by a judge or a municipal official in the presence of two witnesses in a special wedding chamber, or elsewhere of your choosing (which entails additional costs).

After the wedding a record of the marriage ceremony is issued, and to obtain the marriage certificate you have to make a separate request once the marriage has been officially registered by the person who performed it. This can take several weeks, but since the certificate is sent by mail, you no longer have to be in Canada during that time.

In New Zealand, to get married you need to obtain a marriage license, which one person from the couple has to apply for. This can be done online or by filling in a paper form and mailing it to the address indicated on it. In the latter case the form will have to be collected before the wedding at the registry office in the place where it is planned. The form also includes a declaration of no legal impediment to the marriage, which must be signed by an authorized person (in Ukraine this can be a notary). One more option for those who do not mind spending at least a few days in New Zealand before the wedding is to fill in the declaration right there at the registry office.

Whichever way you apply for the license, it has to be done no later than 3 days before the wedding, and no earlier than 3 months. You also have to decide on the type of ceremony and pay a fee. That is 150 dollars for the license itself and another 90 if the ceremony is planned at a registry office, or a different amount as agreed with the person who will conduct it, if a more personalized ceremony elsewhere is envisaged.

Two witnesses must be present at the wedding. If they do not understand English, an interpreter is required, who has to sign a declaration before the ceremony begins.

After the marriage a copy of the marriage particulars is issued. You can also order a marriage certificate online or directly at the registry office, which will cost 33 New Zealand dollars (about 19 euros at the time of writing).

Note that the government website does not list specific requirements for the personal documents you have to provide. In any case, citizens of Ukraine need a visa to visit New Zealand, which already presupposes having an international passport.

In Colombia civil marriages are performed by notaries, a list of whom can be found, for example, here. As a result, the specific conditions for getting married may differ depending on which notary handles it. Nevertheless, foreigners are usually required to provide the following documents:

• passports with visas and certified copies of them
• certified copies of birth certificates
• a completed application form stating the intention to marry, which can usually be obtained from the notary
• a document from each person in the couple stating that they are not currently married
• for those who have been married before – a document on the divorce or on the death of a spouse.

Importantly, all documents must be translated into Spanish by a certified translator and carry an apostille.

The wedding ceremony can usually take place as soon as 5 days after all the documents are submitted. The marriage certificate can be obtained within a few days after it. The money you will have to pay may again vary depending on the particular notary.

As for Mexico, keep in mind that although same-sex marriages are recognized throughout its territory, at present they can be entered into under the same procedure as different-sex ones only in some of the states (19 as of today). The country’s capital, Mexico City, is one of them. Individual requirements may also differ somewhat from state to state, so they are worth checking for the place where the wedding is planned.

You have to provide the following documents to the registry office:

• a marriage application form (it can be obtained and filled in directly at the office)
• passports with visas
• migration cards
• birth certificates
• for those who have been married before – a document on the divorce or on the death of a spouse
• medical certificates confirming the absence of infectious diseases (issued after blood tests and, in some states, a chest X-ray, which has to be done within 14 days before the planned wedding).

All documents must be translated into Spanish, notarized, and carry an apostille. The original documents do not have to be handed over.

Depending on the state, the ceremony can take place as soon as 30 minutes or a few days after the documents are accepted. Four witnesses have to be present at it, although in some states two may be enough.

The money for getting married can range from 30 US dollars to amounts an order of magnitude higher (some states may charge foreigners in particular significantly more), and the medical examinations also entail certain expenses. The cost may also rise considerably if you marry somewhere other than the registry office.

Once the ceremony is over you can receive the marriage certificate.

To get married in the Republic of South Africa you need to prepare the following documents:

• identity documents (the Department of Home Affairs website does not specify which documents exactly are required; various sources mention at least passports with visas, and some also birth certificates)
• for those who have been married before – documents on the divorce or the death of a spouse
• a declaration of the purpose of the marriage (form BI-31) and a letter of no impediment, that is, a document confirming that there is no record of the person currently being married.

The documents do not have to be sent in advance – they can be submitted right before the wedding at the place where it is planned.

The wedding can be held 24 hours or more after arriving in the country, in the presence of two witnesses who have to sign the marriage registration document. The ceremony has to take place in a church, a government building, or a private house with the doors open. The official part of it is free of charge.

At the end of the ceremony the spouses are issued abridged marriage certificates. Full certificates can be requested from the Department of Home Affairs by filling in form BI-130.

In the United States, where each state has its own separate legislation, the conditions for getting married differ from state to state, but same-sex marriage is currently available across the entire country one way or another.

The general approach, as in Canada, is that you first have to submit documents to obtain a marriage license. Some states also require the license to be obtained in the same county or city where the wedding is planned. As a rule, the documents have to be submitted in person at a vital statistics office or at a courthouse.

A wide range of identity documents is usually accepted, including a passport and a birth certificate, translated into English if necessary. Those who have been married before may also need a document on the divorce.

It is worth paying attention to the specifics of individual states:

• Mississippi requires parental consent under the age of 21 (usually this is under the age of 18), and several states require a birth certificate to be provided under the age of 21
• Montana may require a blood test before the wedding, although you can obtain a waiver so as not to take it
• obtaining a marriage license costs from 10 to 115 dollars in different states and counties
• the validity of the license ranges from 10 days (in Oklahoma) to unlimited
• some states set a waiting period between obtaining the license and the wedding ceremony, the longest of which is 6 days for Wisconsin.

A civil wedding ceremony is usually conducted by a judge or other government officials. Some states require the presence of two or, sometimes, one witness at the ceremony, while others do not impose such a requirement.

In some states the marriage certificate can be obtained immediately after the ceremony, but the usual practice is that afterwards you can order a copy of it, which will be sent by mail.