All documents after translation and legalization must be sent to the registry office or priest four weeks before your wedding day. You should contact the local authorities of the country where you want to get married to find out the procedures to follow to ensure that the marriage is legal in the country in question. It may also be helpful to speak to the British embassy in the country in question to compare the information you have received. You can hold a ceremony for a civil partnership in Greece, which is completely legal in Greece and the UK. Your marriage or civil partnership will be recognised in the UK if both of the following conditions are met: It is also important to have proof of marriage, which is usually the original marriage certificate. If the marriage certificate is not in English, a certified translation of the marriage certificate must be obtained. Once the wedding ceremony is performed, the couple has 40 days to register the marriage with the local vital statistics office/vital statistics office (known as Lixiarhio). This applies to civil and religious ceremonies. A marriage can be registered either by the bride or by a third party, provided they are in possession of a notarized “power of attorney” authorizing them to do so. After registration, the marriage certificate is issued within three days and can be collected from the registrar or sent to the couple. Marriages that are not registered with Lixiarhio are not legally valid. However, remember that you must have your marriage certificate translated from Greek into English as soon as it is received, otherwise the marriage will not be legal, whether you have a religious or civil ceremony, if you have not already done so. This article outlines the requirements for UK citizens wishing to marry in Greece, the documents and procedures required, and tips on how to obtain translations or legalizations if necessary.
If you are considering same-sex marriage, be aware that same-sex marriages cannot be contracted in Greece. However, you can still hold a registered same-sex civil partnership ceremony in a Greek town hall, as there is a change in the law in Greece in December 2015 that allows it. Civil partnerships between people of the same sex are now as legally recognised in Greece as they are in the UK. Any document to be presented to the Greek authorities must be legalised for use abroad. This process is known as an apostille and is carried out by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Each document is checked and then “stamped” by the BKartA by affixing an apostille document to the back of the document and finally sealed. Requirements may vary slightly in each region or island, so couples are advised to seek specific advice on where they want to get married. Non-residents are free to marry in Greece, but if one of the people resides in Greece (but is not a citizen), they must have a valid “residence permit” to marry there. Civil and religious marriages are legally recognized in Greece, and foreigners can choose to marry in a civil or religious ceremony, or both.
The legal age of marriage in Greece is 18 for both men and women, but it is possible for young couples to marry with a court decision. Note: U.S. citizens may be able to avoid the need for a Greek marriage license if they have a valid marriage certificate issued by their home state in the United States, provided it does not explicitly state that the license is only valid in one or more specific U.S. states. Alternatively, it may be possible to have the license amended to include Greece as one of the places where the wedding can take place. The affidavit is a legal document confirming that the information in the ID you hold is true. If you receive your ID in the UK before going to your wedding (the preferred option), you should get an affidavit by making an appointment with a lawyer who will sign and stamp your statement. If a couple goes through a wedding ceremony abroad and then lives together as husband and wife, the marriage is considered legal in the UK. However, this presumption may be rebutted if there is sufficient evidence that the marriage is not legal. For foreign marriages to be recognised as legal in the UK, the following conditions must be met: Greece is the most popular destination in Europe for British couples getting married. This should be one of the happiest times of their lives, and yet many come into conflict with strict personal document requirements and often only learn that they cannot marry as planned because they do not have the necessary documents with the right degree of legalization to be used in Greece. Given the multicultural society in which we live, it is becoming more and more common to see clients who have married abroad.
One of the first considerations in such situations is whether the marriage is recognised in the UK. Once the documents have been translated, the signature of the official translator must be certified. Until 1 January 2014, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office offered a service for filing foreign marriage certificates with the United Kingdom`s General Register Office. However, this service has since been discontinued. With this in mind, no action is required to register a foreign marriage in the UK. It is therefore important that the parties to the marriage take steps to keep their original marriage certificate in a safe place, as obtaining a certified copy of the marriage certificate at a later date may not be an easy task. If you are planning your own Aegean adventure or have always dreamed of being a Greek goddess on your wedding day, you need to know some legal requirements. The entire legal marriage process in Greece can take several weeks, so many couples use the services of a local wedding planner who can usually begin the application process by submitting some or all of the documents on your behalf. NOTE: The information in this article does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Couples should always seek the advice of their own embassy to request accurate and up-to-date information about the requirements of legal marriage in Greece. These requirements may vary depending on your personal situation. The priest who performed the marriage will issue the official certificate and pass it on to the priest of your local parish in the UK, where it will then be forwarded to you.
If you need to present a document stating that you can marry freely, you must complete a “Application Form for Notification of Marriage – GRO 446” to apply for a “Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry” (Certificate of Non-Disability). Couples must publish a marriage announcement in one of the local Greek-language newspapers at least eight days before applying for a marriage certificate. Their names must be written phonetically in Greek and not in Latin letters. In small towns where there are no local newspapers, a notice should instead be posted at City Hall or the municipal office. You should take enough time to organize your documents, especially if you send them by mail. Also, remember to allow time for your wedding to be posted at your local church or city hall before your wedding day. The fee for this search is £7 for each five-year period (or part thereof), starting in the year in which the applicant reached the age of 16 (the legal age of marriage under UK law). In very rare cases, the United Kingdom will not recognise a foreign marriage for reasons of public order; how a party was fraudulent. If the notice of marriage form has been submitted, the certificate of “legal capacity to marry” will be issued after at least 28 days. If you are a British citizen and entering into a marriage or civil partnership abroad, you may need certain documents from the UK government, such as a Certificate of Prohibition (CNI).
Greece is a relatively easy country to travel to or from the UK, and arranging a wedding there, which is accepted when you return home, is also quite easy with only minimal paperwork.