22 August, 2016

Marriage

Legal requirements for marriage in the Dominican Republic

UK or UK/Dominican couples require the following documents. All document must be legalised:

  1. Complete original full Birth Certificate or an official extract including parents´ names; and
  2. According to his/her situation:
    1. If never married: A Statutory Declaration, stamped by a notary or solicitor, declaring single marital status and eligibility to marry.
    2. If divorced: Decree Absolute and a Statutory Declaration, stamped by a notary or solicitor, declaring marital status and eligibility to marry.
    3. If widowed: Spouse’s Death Certificate, previous Marriage Certificate and a Statutory Declaration, stamped by a notary or solicitor, declaring marital status and eligibility to marry.
  3. If a name has been changed by Deed Poll or if the person has been adopted, proof of this must be presented.
  4. If the person is under 18 years old, parental consent is required in the form of an Affidavit stamped by a notary or solicitor,

NOTES

  • Statutory Declarations are to be declared per person (i.e. joint declarations are not accepted) and must include passport numbers, address and line of employment. A model Statutory Declaration can be downloaded from here.
  • Statutory Declarations are valid for a period of three months from the date of issue.
  • A divorced woman cannot remarry until 10 months after the divorce is finalized, unless her new husband is the same man she divorced.

Procedure for legalisation

Each original document (Document in English) must be legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

  1. Documents must first be sent to the Legalisations Office at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Please contact them for further information about the procedure.
  2. Documents must then be sent to the Consular Section of the Embassy for translation and certification.

Certifications and Translations

All documents must be translated into Spanish, either by a registered commercial translator or by the Embassy. They must also be certified as true copies of the original by the Embassy.

The fee for certification only is £40 per document and the fee for both translation and certification is £40 per document.

When submitting handwritten documents, please make sure they are clearly legible or include a note clarifying the difficult to read sections.

Please note that the fee for translations is separate from the cost of legalising original documents for marriage. Translations will be processed in seven (7) working days.

After the wedding

Once you get married and receive your marriage certificate (if possible, with the Apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic), then you must translate it back into English and send a copy to the Legalisation Department of the Foreign Office of the UK, so they can keep it there.