Marriage Registration in Ukraine.

Registration of marriages

If are going to get married with a Ukrainian woman or man, then please accept my sincere congratulation. However, please take into account that some paper work must be done before the wedding party. In general the process is not difficult yet problems do happen. Let me share with you my experience that I’ve obtained in this field not because of a number of my unsuccessful marriages (thanks God) but due to my professional occupation.

The main normative act regulating marriage registration in Ukraine is the Order of the Ministry of Justice, No. 52/2 as of 18.10.2000, On Approval of the Rules of the State Registration of Acts of Civil Status in Ukraine.

The first step on the way for getting married is…yes love but speaking about formal proceedings I mean… submission of the mutual application by the fiancé and fiancée. This application is submitted to a special body of the state registration of acts of civil status. Those who are going to get married must have heard about ZAGS (in the Russian language) or RAGS (in the Ukrainian language). This ZAGS/RAGS is nothing else as this special state body. Hereinafter I will use “ZAGS” as it is more commonly used among both locals and foreigners. You can freely choose and submit the application to any ZAGS throughout Ukraine disregarding a place you and your fiancée/fiancé are registered at.

The general rule is that both of you should submit the application to ZAGS personally. However, if you or your sweetheart cannot personally submit the application, then the one who cannot do so should visit a notary office and notarize his/her signature on the application and issue a notarized power of attorney (POA) authorizing someone to submit the application on his/her behalf. Actually not only one but both of the applicants can sign the application in a notary office and submit it through their representatives. This can be done also abroad but this variant requires legalization of the notarized signature and POA, if otherwise is not determined by law.

By submitting the application Ukrainian citizens should provide their passports. Foreigners should provide, if otherwise is not determined by law, an identification document containing a check proving their legitimate stay in Ukraine. This could be a visa, temporary or permanent residency certificate or a last stamp affixed by the customs service.

Those who have been previously married should provide a document certifying termination of that marriage. Such a document could be a certificate of marriage termination, court decision, death certificate, etc. Documents issued outside of Ukraine should be legalized, if otherwise is not determined by law.

If the foreigner’s identification document does not contain information about his marital status, then he should provide a document certifying that he is not married now. In case the ID contains the marital status check, the document certifying the marital status should be provided for the period from the date of that check. Such a document should be issued by a relevant body of the foreigner’s country. So it is impossible to tell a foreigner where to get such a document. However, consulates often issue such documents too. As you may have guessed already, this document needs to be legalized, if otherwise is not determined by law. This document is valid for 6 months and is not returned by ZAGS.

All documents prepared in a foreign language should be translated into the Ukrainian language by a qualified translator and notarized. The translation could also be certified by a diplomatic office or consulate of Ukraine or of the foreigner’s country, by a ministry of foreign affairs or another authorized body. However, it is better to translate and notarize the documents in Ukraine because in all of the other cases you will need to legalize them.

After the application and other documents are submitted, you will agree on the date of marriage registration that under the general rule cannot be sooner than in one month from the date of your application. However, having a reasonable excuse you and your soon-to-be-spouse can ask for an urgent marriage registration. There is no exhaustive list of such reasonable excuses. It can be pregnancy, business trip to another country, illness, etc. However it is not enough to say you have a reasonable excuse. You will need to prove it. Pregnancy or illness can be proved by a health certificate, business trip can be proved by the employer’s letter, etc. A ZAGS is free to decide at its own discretion whether your excuse is reasonable enough.

Remember that marriage registration is carried out only in personal presence of both fiancé and fiancée. This cannot be done via representatives. If the fiancé or/and fiancée cannot be personally present at the ZAGS because of a reasonable excuse, then you can ask for the ceremony to be performed outside. Requirements to the “reasonable excuse” are the same as mentioned above.

Recognition of foreign marriages

When you get married outside of Ukraine your marriage is not automatically recognized by Ukraine. To do so you have to provide ZAGS with a translated and legalized, if necessary, official document certifying marriage registration by the relevant state.

Proof of marriage

The marriage record is entered in the passports or identification documents of the spouses. When a foreigner also has the permanent residency certificate, then the marriage record is entered in this certificate as well. When you get married in Ukraine information about your marriage is recorded into a special register. You can go to a ZAGS and get an extract from this register proving your registered marriage. However, when you get married abroad and legalize your marriage information, then you marriage is not always recorded to the register by default. To be sure your marriage is added to the register you better go to a ZAGS with your legalized marriage certificate and make sure your marriage is either already there or a ZAGS officer will add your marriage to the register. It is not obligatory to have your marriage in that register. But I would advice you have it there because in the future it may make your life easier.

A few tips

Actually this is all.  However having some experience in this matter I would also suggest doing the following before going to a ZAGS:

(i) make copies of all documents you need and try to get texts of those documents you do not have for now;

(ii) take all documentation and texts available and visit a consultant in a ZAGS of your choice; and

(iii) make sure that your ZAGS is happy with the documents you have or that you will obtain.

The above 3 steps will minimize your time and money expenses. I had experience when:

·         a fiancé provided his translated and legalized dissolution judgment that in fact was a kind of another judgment. So he had to get another document in court, to legalize and translate it and then urgently mail it to Ukraine.

·         ZAGS officials refused to accept the dissolution judgment because at their opinion (in fact they were wrong) the provided document was merely an application for divorce. The problem was solved simply by applying to another ZAGS.

·         a marital status certificate contained the fiancé’s name in Ukrainian language that differed from the same name in other documents provided to ZAGS. The fiancé had to translate and notarize some documents one more time to have all the documents correspond with each other.

·         a letter from the fiancé’s employer was not good enough to prove the urgency of marriage registration. The fiancé had to ask his employer to issue another letter, the text of which was agreed with ZAGS, then to urgently mail it to Ukraine, translate and notarize it.

·         instead of legalizing a foreign marriage certificate a Ukrainian consulate certified its translation into the Ukrainian language. The fiancé had to visit the Ukrainian consulate one more time to have the consulate correct its mistake.