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Apply for subsequent certification of a marriage contracted by Germans abroad or with their participation
If you got married abroad and at least one of you has German citizenship, you can have the marriage subsequently certified in Germany.
The date of the application is decisive for the possession of German citizenship.
The marriage must have been validly concluded 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 authorised person of a government of the state to which one of you belongs.
You are entitled to apply:
- The spouses
- If both spouses are deceased, their parents and children
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 the registry office does not have jurisdiction, the registry office I in Berlin will notarise the marriage.
Responsible 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.
Details
Prerequisite
- You got married abroad and one of you is a German citizen. The date of the application is decisive for the possession of German citizenship.
- Or: You got married in Germany and neither of you had German citizenship at the time of the marriage. The marriage was performed by an authorised person of a government of the country to which one of you belongs.
- The marriage must be legally valid and must not contradict German law.
Procedure
-
Deadlines
There is no deadline.
Required documents
- Foreign marriage certificate, if necessary with certification by the competent foreign authority (apostille) or legalisation by the German diplomatic mission abroad
- Valid identity card, passport or travel document
- Certified copies of the birth registers from the registry offices of the places of birth
- If the spouses were born in Germany
- Birth certificates certified by the competent foreign authority (apostille) or legalisation by the German diplomatic mission abroad
- If the spouses were born abroad
- Translations of all documents in a foreign language by sworn translators in Germany
- Certificate of naturalisation 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
- Notarised copy from the marriage register of the last previous marriage with annotation 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 judgement became legally binding ("final judgement").
- 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
Costs
The fees are based on the regulations of the federal states.
- 110.00 EUR
- Notarisation or authentication of a declaration, consent or agreement to use a name on the basis of family law regulations: EUR 40.00
- Issuing a certificate of a change of name, if this is not issued in connection with the receipt of a declaration under name law: EUR 20.00
Note: Additional costs and fees may be incurred at the registry office or judicial authorities, for example for apostilles or an interpreter.
Processing time
Depending on the individual case.
Miscellaneous
none
Legal basis
- § 34 Eheschließungen im Ausland oder vor ermächtigten Personen im Inland
- § 9 Beurkundungsgrundlagen
- § 10 Auskunfts- und Nachweispflicht
Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch (EGBGB):
- Art. 11 Form von Rechtsgeschäften
- Art. 13 Eheschließung
- § 438 Echtheit ausländischer öffentlicher Urkunden
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: Innenministerium Baden-Württemberg, 17.04.2025
