Morocco Marriage Process
Last activity 08 November 2024 by Yasmin21
10420 Views
227 replies
Subscribe to the topic
Post new topic
Hi
Having used this forum for help with the marriage process in Morocco, I thought I would share my own experience to help anyone else who needs it. Sorry for the long post but I will try to be as detailed as possible as I know it was the super detailed posts on here that helped me the most.
Please note this is specific to getting married in Marrakech and may differ slightly in other cities.
I am a British citizen (male) and I got the following documents:
1) Birth Certificate
2) Basic DBS. Contrary to what some people say on the forum, for me a basic DBS was accepted and I did not need an ACRO certificate
3) Decree Absolute (divorce certificate which is only needed if you are divorced of course)
4) Company Letter confirming I am self employed and my job description and salary
5) Certificate of Incorporation (for my company which the translator said I would need as I was self-employed)
If you are not self-employed you will require 3 months pay slips also.
I did not need a certificate confirming I am Muslim, as the court was happy to accept that I am a Muslim from birth. But you will need this certificate if you need to convert to Islam or the court requests it even if you are already a Muslim.
Also you do not require a Certificate of No Impediment, as you will receive a similar document from the British Consulate (see below).
Documents must be dated within 3 months of your application to the court (not applicable to Birth Certificate or Decree Absolute)
In Morocco I needed to get the following documents:
1) Doctor’s certificate confirming good health. Any Dr can do this. It cost 200dhs for both me and my partner.
2) From the British Consulate two documents (an affirmation which has replaced the CNI and a certified copy of your passport). You will need to make an appointment in advance for the British Consulate online. You can select Rabat or Marrakech. Try to make this in advance as possible once you know the dates you want to travel. The appointments are hard to get so keep checking online everyday. I booked mine almost 12 weeks in advance! Cost for this is £75 and payable by debit/credit card.
3) Moroccan Criminal Record Certificate (you can order this online a few days before and get it delivered to the city you are getting married in).
All documents in English must be translated into Arabic by a court approved local translator. To save time you can contact them by email or WhatsApp before travelling to Morocco and send them the documents so they can make a start. By doing this you can save a day or two. I paid 1600dhs for all my documents to be translated. You can negotiate the price in advance. Happy to recommend the translator I used in Marrakech, just send me a DM.
My fiancé needed the following documents (female Moroccan fiancé):
1) Extract of Birth Certificate
2) Administrative Attestation of the fiancé
3) Criminal Record
4) Final Judgement of Divorce (if divorced)
5) Medical Certificate & Non pregnancy certificate
6) Certificate of Residence
7) Copy of National ID
You will both also need passport sized photos. We had 8 each taken. But only needed 4 each in the end.
We made the personal decision to use a lawyer to help us with the process. But I must stress you DO NOT need a lawyer, you can do the process yourselves if you wish too. I had work related reasons for wanting to use a lawyer to try and speed the process up if at all possible and for her to do as much of the running around at the court as possible and was happy to pay for this. With hindsight I can say using her made the court process stress free and I do believe it sped things up at the court, as there was another couple sat waiting and they were not making the same progress as we were making. Our lawyer was able to walk in and out of offices without having to wait in the queues outside each of the offices. I guess it’s a case of who you know. The lawyer won’t be able to help you with the police process but will be able to at the court. If you do decide you want to use a lawyer in Marrakech, I would highly recommend the one I used. If you want her details you can DM me.
Now the process we went through:
I arrived in Marrakech on Wednesday 4th May.
Thursday 5th May:
My partner and I went to the British Consulate for our appointment. You will need your passport and Decree Absolute if divorced. My fiancé needed her National ID. You will fill some forms out and walk away with the two documents mentioned above. These two documents must then be certified at the Foreign Office in Rabat or Agadir.
Went for Drs appointment to get certificates of good health and non pregnancy.
Friday 6th May:
Went to the translator to pick up the documents I had sent him in advance by email. Word of warning…get your fiancé to check the documents and spelling of everything to make sure there are no errors!
Sunday 8th May:
Travelled to Rabat
Monday 9th May:
Picked up criminal record certificate from the Ministry of Justice and got the two documents from the British Consulate certified at the Foreign Office. When you go to the Foreign Office only you can go in. We started at 9am and were finished by 10am, so could a get an earlier train back to Marrakech. You can save a lot of time here by ordering your criminal records online at least a few days before. I sent the translator the 2 documents from the British consulate by WhatsApp to be translated which he would do by the next day. You may not need to get these translated as they are in french so they maybe accepted by the court without translation into Arabic, but I didn’t want to take the risk so got them done anyway.
We were back in Marrakech by 3pm!
Tuesday 10th May:
Collected final two translated documents from the translator.
Got 4 x photocopies of all our documents and went to get them certified as copies at a legislative office (your fiancé will know where to do this).
Met our lawyer and gave her the documents we had got and agreed to meet at the court the following day.
Wednesday 11th May:
Got to the court at 10am. Our lawyer asked us to sit in a waiting area. She proceeded to submit our documents to the relevant offices. She only called us when we were required to sign some papers. An hour or so later she called us to an office, where my fiancé was given 2 sealed envelopes. We were told to take one of these to my fiancés local police station and the other to her local district office and we were then to return to the court with the reports that we would be given in sealed envelopes.
We went straight to the police station and were asked to go into an office by the chief. He checked the envelope and asked for copies of all our documents and then asked my partner to come back the next day at 10am to collect the report that we needed to return to the court. No interview besides a couple of basic questions and we would collect and take the police report directly back to the court ourselves rather than having to wait for the police to send it directly back to the court themselves, which can take days by all accounts.
We then went to the district office with the 2nd sealed envelope and were asked to give copies of all our documents again. But here we didn’t get so lucky. The chief was not there. His secretary took my fiancés number and said she would call her once the report was ready to collect, which could take up to 48 hours.
Thursday 12th May:
Got the call in the afternoon that the report we were waiting for was ready to collect.
Friday 13th May:
Collected the 2nd report and returned to the court to meet our lawyer. We gave her both sealed envelopes which she submitted to the court. She told us we would now need have to wait a few days for the judge to approve the marriage and issue the certificate.
Monday 16th May:
Got a call from our lawyer that the judge had approved the marriage and she had collected our certificate for us and we could meet her later that day to collect it. Now we are free to get married and our wedding is in July.
From Day 1 when we had the British Consulate appointment to receiving our marriage approval it took 8 working days and we could have probably saved a day or two on this as well, if we had planned to travel to Rabat earlier.
If you are on a tight schedule, which I have read many people are due to the time they can off work, it can be done. You just need to know the most important thing you need to do is plan properly. Firstly send your documents to a translator in advance before arriving in Morocco. Secondly order your Moroccan criminal record certificate online. Third, plan your days so you can get as much done as possible once you arrive. The first couple of days once you arrive cram your days to get all the pre-court work done. If you plan your days meticulously then you can speed things up considerably.
This was our experience and things may differ for others.
One bit of advise I was given by the translator is that always have a plan B. Things don’t always go as smoothly and in Morocco as they would in your home country. You may experience delays and waiting but this is just part of the process.
Feel free to drop me a DM if you have any questions.
Regards
Jav
Like
9
34
Nice informative post. My experience was much the same (American). The differences were the police, we had interview (wife was allowed to translate) and at the end the judge…we were required to bring a translator (we brought a school teacher) and had to sit face to face with the judge. He asked if we both wanted the marriage, asked if we were sure, then approved it.
Also we did NOT need certified copies. We just used regular copies. I think we made like 5 files total.
We handled everything ourselves and it took a little less than 3 weeks.
Like
1
13
@jd221279
Hi can you DM me your translator details and lawyer details please?
Also l thought that there was a foreign affairs consulte in Marrakesh also? Does it have to be Rabat? As l have 7/8 working days l can do all this in.
Thanks.
Cathy
Like
1 13
@jd221279
Hi also does it have to be Rabat to get them certified as l thought this could also be done in Marrakesh?
Can you recommend place to stay in Rabat as l know they are funny about unmarried couples staying in same place.
Thanks
Like
1 34
7 or 8 days start to finish? That’s not enough time. Sure you can do your part…but the police, judgement center, and imam operate on their own time tables. 7 or 8 days just isn’t enough.
Like
1 13
@Mrmonk7663
The post above stated it took them 8 days. So we are going to try anyway. I’m a nurse and only get certain time off work.
Like
2 34
My point is that some timeframes are out of your hands. If it doesn’t work because you run out of time you will have to do it all over again. Mine took about 15 days….and most of that was waiting for police and judgement to do their thing, despite us calling and pushing them daily. InshaAllah you will get it done.
Like
1
Actually once you have done the police interview process then technically you don’t need to be in the country as the fiancé can collect the final document permission letter from the court after which you can then scythe marriage ceremony.
So 8 days from submitting the application is sufficient time. Maybe less if you plan it correctly. Hope this info helps
Regards
Arif
Like
2@stokesy1403 rabat trio can be done in less than day if you time it correctly. So you would not need to stay
Transolator if your staying in marrakech then transolator there is better and you can email everything in advance to them before you arrive to save on time frame.
Local documents can be done before you arrive and medical can be done same day so you just have to plan it all correctly in order to not waste time.
Like
1 34
My fiancé was NOT ALLOWED to collect documents and the judge REQUIRED that both of us were present WITH an English Translator in order to approve marriage. Again 8 days will be very hard to do unless court, judge and police are all good extremely efficient. Every single city in Morocco has slightly different requirements and time frames despite it being a formalized process.
Like
1@Mrmonk7663
Our experience in Marrekech is the opposite, however like you said each city is different and varies on a daily bases.
Regardless to say the people who have recently got married in Morocco via our services have not had such difficulties but anything is possible and can vary based on the city.
Wishing everyone the best of luck and always happy to help and advise where we can.
Regards
Arif
Like
34
I hope I am wrong and it’s super fast for this person. I just want them prepared haha. InshaAllah khair.
Like
@Vakil
100% agree with Arif. Depending on your attention to detail in your planning then it can 100% be done in 7/8 working days. The first 2 days you arrive in Morocco are critical to getting it done in this timeframe. Sure you need everything to work in your favour, but if you have your documents in order when you submit the file, turn up at the court super early so you are first in the queue and then get to the police station the same day, then you have given yourself every chance of getting your marriage approval certificate back within 7/8 working days.
Like
1 13
Hi can anyone tell me where l can get certificate of residence as contacted HMRC but they have just said they won’t send me one for marriage. Can anyone tell me where they got there one from if from UK please?
Also my Moroccan police check what do l need in order for my fiancé to collect it on my behalf?
Like
1@stokesy1403
You don’t need a certificate of residence. Where did you read that you need this? The British Consulate will provide you a Certificate of Nationality.
Also you will need to collect your criminal records certificate in Morocco yourself. They will need to see your passport when you do so.
Like
1
@Vakil what’s maximum time it takes to get police to approve for certificate of marriage?
Like
1
42
There is no maximum time of how things will be done. Marrakesh, Casa and Rabat are usually a bit faster with the marriage procedure but you need to be there every day to check and make pressure. People here don’t work quickly, they don’t care.
We got married in the south and it was a nightmare. In total it took us several months because our file which was sent to the police was lost somewhere on the way, nobody wanted to work, they all wanted some extra money, which my husband refused to pay. All our German/Moroccan papers were correct, translated, legalised. None of us married before or some other complications.
It even took 10 days until the judge finally gave his signature so that we could go to the Adoul to get married. And since we also had to work in between in Morocco, we couldn’t go and pressure them every day. In front of us a big line with other very angry couples.
At the end we went to a special office inside the court to complain and it was just one call and everything went quickly. We wish we would knew that before 😂
And @stokesy1403, I also needed that certificate of residence from Germany and the one here in Morocco. Same with my husband. It always depends on city and judge. Everyone has different experiences with their marriages. Even though there should be the same way to follow, it’s not that case.
Like
1no maximum time the police can give approval for the certificate of marriage really so therefore can you make complaints to the police, how long do you wait until you make official complaint? 3month 4, month surely this is unacceptable on their part and might they put you further back in the waiting line if you keep putting pressure on them to hurry things up
Like
@jd221279
Hi, hope you are well? I am trying to get some information for my brother although your post is very detailed which is very helpful.
Would it be possible for you to send me a some links for the translator and the link to apply for the criminal record?
Much appreciated, you can contact me directly on either my email address,***
Moderated by Cheryl 2 years ago
Reason : No contact details on the forum please.
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct
Reason : No contact details on the forum please.
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct
Like
1@Nozroul Uddin
Hi. See below answers:
Do i need the certificate of impediment from here? From the registry office. ?
- not needed
And all my documents i just need them apostilled right. Do i apostille only the originals. And not the copies. Do i have to legalize the copies here in uk too.?
- you do not need to have documents appostilled in the UK (I had the done but it was not needed). But you will need to get the two documents you get form the British Consulate certified in by the Foreign Office in Morocco. Once you get to Morocco you will need to make photocopies of all your documents and these need to be certified. Your partner will know the local office where this is done.
And lastly,
You know the appoitments on rabat embassy. Which one shall i book. The online appointment and i pay by direct debit affirmation of martial status or book the face to face one and pay in person:
- you book the appointment for marriage which I believe is under oaths and affirmations. You will pay on the day.
Like
1@Nozroul Uddin
It means that all documents will have a date they were made/produced/issued. That date must be within 3 months of the date you make the marriage application at the court.
Like
1
12
@jd221279 Can you please DM me contact details of the translator you used?
I am (male) going next month for the very same reason so might as well use a recommended translator.
Thanks in advance.
Like
1@jd221279 Could you please provide me with website to optain the police record online from Rabat, and the phone number from the translator. I really apreviate it.
Thanks your for you help.
Like
1
58
@crisneli1396
Like
Hello everyone,
Emma22i and NotBrandonSaad, could you please post your message again?
Thank you,
Cheryl
Expat.com team
Like
1Hello jd221279,
Kindly note that information should be shared on the forum so that everyone can benefit from it.
Cheers,
Cheryl
Expat.com team
Like
1
1
Hello everyone,
Emma22i and NotBrandonSaad, could you please post your message again?
Thank you,
Cheryl
Expat.com team
-@Cheryl
*****
Moderated by Mickael 2 years ago
Reason : Do not publish your public data here. You can do it in private message.
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct
Reason : Do not publish your public data here. You can do it in private message.
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct
Like
58
@crisneli1396
The website is here > casierjudiciaire.justice.gov.ma
Like
1@Cheryl
Hi. I thought it was against the forum rules to exchange details or post contact details/names on the public forum. But if it’s not then happy to post them.
Like
Hello Jd221279,
Indeed posting contact details on the public forum is not allowed, specially personal contact details. They should be sent through private message.
have a nice day,
Bhavna
Like
@jd221279 hello another question please
1-Do we need to translate the payslips as well ?
2-Do we have to get the copies of documents legalised?
Thank u in advance
Like
1@jd221279 hello did you guys needed to translate the 3 months payslips to Arabic as well ?
Like
1
38
@jd221279
Good Evening.
please can you provide me a DM with details for translator and lawyer…
Like
1 53
Do the wage slips and the letter from the employers need to be stamped.
3 months wageslips?
Thanks
Like
1Articles to help you in your expat project in Morocco
Getting married in MoroccoIf you want to get married in Morocco, there are different steps and a variety of procedures to follow. These can ...
Choosing your neighbourhood in MarrakechMarrakech comprises five leading neighborhoods, namely Medina, Mellah, Gueliz, Hivernage and Chrifia. Each of them ...
Casablanca neighbourhoodsStretching over 220 km², Casablanca is more than twice the size of Paris. Like all historical cities and ...
Making phone calls in MoroccoDuring your stay in Morocco, you will certainly wish to keep in touch with friends and family. To do so, you can ...
Opening a bank account in MoroccoOpening a bank account in Morocco is relatively easy. The language barrier could be an obstacle if you do not ...
Getting around MarrakechIn Marrakech, there are many means of traveling inside the city and outside, whether for work or leisure. Each of ...
Getting around CasablancaMoving around in Casablanca is a day-to-day challenge. However, the city has a fairly developed ...
Driving in MoroccoYou can drive with an international driver's license in Morocco for a period of one year as from your date of ...
Find more topics on the Morocco forum
Open a bank account that suits you
Discover the best international banks to manage your money securely.
