Marriage abroad: legal subtleties for Ukrainians

Due to the war, millions of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes and seek safety abroad. Forced emigration has changed the lives of many, but even in difficult circumstances, people strive to keep in touch with their relatives and build new families. Marriage is not only a union of two hearts, but also an important legal act that defines the rights and obligations of spouses. Many questions arise for Ukrainians who have decided to get married abroad: how to properly formalize the marriage, what documents are needed, whether this marriage is recognized in Ukraine, and what legal consequences it will have.
Specialists of the “Repeshko and Partners” Bar Association comment on these issues, helping to navigate the legal aspects of such marriages, and explain how to ensure legal protection so that married life, despite all the challenges of war, is strong and harmonious.
Currently, more than 6 million Ukrainians are abroad. At the same time, the lives of citizens who have left go on – they get married, give birth, and die. The main question that arises in this case is how to properly formalize the legal action so that there are no questions and problems later, first of all, when returning to Ukraine. In this regard, it is necessary to treat marriage registration with the greatest caution. It should be noted that not all countries allow marriage between two foreigners.
Current Ukrainian legislation recognizes as valid marriages concluded by citizens of the country abroad, if they meet the requirements of the Family Code of Ukraine. But at the same time, it is absolutely necessary to legalize documents, unless otherwise stipulated by an international treaty signed by Ukraine. However, in order to avoid problems that may arise in the future, we recommend that marriages between citizens of Ukraine be concluded according to the following rules. Of course, if there is an opportunity to do it in Ukraine, then it makes sense. But not everyone and not always can return for some time from abroad due to the nature of work, study or conditions of stay in a specific foreign country.
According to the Law of Ukraine “On State Registration of Civil Status Acts”, the state registration of civil status acts of Ukrainian citizens living or temporarily staying abroad is carried out by diplomatic missions and consular institutions of Ukraine. The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine contains addresses and contact information of diplomatic missions and consular institutions of Ukraine abroad. Consular offices to look for – here diplomatic institutions – here.
On January 24, 2023, the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On ensuring the exercise of powers by foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine in the field of state registration of acts of civil status in conditions of martial law” was published, which determined that in conditions of martial law until the entry into force of the law on the regulation of relations with state registration of civil status acts by foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine determined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine: carry out state registration of civil status acts, make changes to civil status act records, renew and cancel them, re-issue certificates of state registration of civil status acts and issue extracts from the State Register of civil status acts of citizens (further – provision of services in the field of state registration of civil status acts) with the use of the said Register as the state registration of civil status acts carrying out its maintenance; provide services in the field of state registration of civil status acts to citizens of Ukraine regardless of their place of residence (stay).
So, to register a marriage abroad, Ukrainians need to provide the following documents:
- an application for marriage registration, which is filled out by each of the applicants personally in the presence of the consul;
- a statement confirming marital status on behalf of each of the future spouses (statement of marital status/no obstacles to marriage registration) certified by a diplomatic mission or consular institution of Ukraine;
- a passport of a citizen of Ukraine for traveling abroad (a foreign passport, in case of absence – a passport of a citizen of Ukraine is submitted (in case of submitting an ID card – a certificate of registration of the place of residence in Ukraine is submitted – an extract from the register of the territorial community);
- identification code (certificate on the assignment of the registration number of the taxpayer’s account card),
- birth certificate;
- a document confirming the legality of residence or stay in a foreign country (permanent residence permit, student visa, etc.)
- a document confirming the relationship to military service (being on the register/ not being on the register);
- if there is a previous marriage, you must provide documents confirming its termination (divorce certificate, death certificate of one of the spouses, a decision of the court of Ukraine or the conclusion of the civil status registration department that the marriage is invalid). In the event that the previous marriage was terminated abroad, the supporting documents can be a court decision on the dissolution of the marriage in the event that under the legislation of a given foreign state it is a final document, a divorce certificate, a death certificate of the second spouse or another document that provided for by the legislation of a foreign country and issued by a competent authority.
All documents, except applications, must be submitted in both originals and copies.
We would like to remind you that since January 2023, Ukrainian diplomatic institutions keep military records of Ukrainian citizens who are abroad. This applies not only to men. From October 1, 2023, mandatory military registration of women, citizens of Ukraine, with appropriate professional training (medical and pharmaceutical education) was introduced in Ukraine and abroad.
If a man or a woman or both cannot, due to valid reasons, personally submit an application for marriage registration to a diplomatic mission or consular institution, then this application can be submitted by their representatives according to a duly certified power of attorney. At the same time, the authenticity of the future spouses’ signatures on such an application is confirmed by a notary.
At the same time, a mandatory condition for marriage registration will be the provision of valid passport documents, but take care in advance to extend their validity.
As in Ukraine, marriage registration abroad is carried out by persons who have reached the age of 18. A marriage with a person under the age of 18 can be registered only if there is a corresponding court decision – granting permission to register a marriage. This permission is granted exclusively for the registration of a marriage with a specific person who also participates in the case, as well as the parents of a minor.
We have been repeatedly contacted by people who wanted to get married outside of Ukraine, with a request to help them get a certificate from the civil status registration department that the person is not married in Ukraine. This reference does not exist in nature! No department of the RACS in the country can issue the specified certificate. And therefore confirmation of this fact can only be a statement on behalf of a person certified by a diplomatic mission or consular institution of Ukraine, a notary public.
We do not rule out that in some countries there is a certificate or any other document that a person is not married, issued by the competent authorities, and therefore in the case that a citizen of Ukraine has divorced there, this document can be provided to him , but it must be legalized or apostilled, as is not otherwise stipulated by the international treaty.
Marriage registration takes place one month after the date of submission of the application by persons wishing to enter into marriage. The presence of the bride and groom at the time of marriage registration is mandatory. Marriage registration by proxy or through a representative is prohibited! The date of the marriage is agreed upon by the consul with the bride and groom.
In the presence of serious and exceptional circumstances and documents confirming this, on the basis of a joint application of the bride and groom, the consul can shorten the one-month period and register the marriage earlier. The documents that can be provided in such a case will be, for example, a medical certificate about the bride’s pregnancy, a certificate about the birth of a joint child.
A one-month deadline is necessary for the documents provided by the bride and groom to be checked. If before the date of marriage registration, the consul receives confirmed written information about the existence of an obstacle to the conclusion of the marriage, the registration will be postponed. The applicant, due to whose fault the marriage registration has been delayed, will be given no more than three months to provide evidence that the obstacles to marriage have been removed.
However, if the obstacles to the conclusion of the marriage identified by the consul are significant (for example, the groom is in another registered marriage), the consul refuses to register the marriage, and issues a corresponding written explanation. If in the future the presence of the mentioned obstacles will be denied, or they will be eliminated, the marriage will be registered on general grounds.
If, for valid reasons, the bride and groom cannot appear for marriage registration on the date of marriage appointed by the consul, a written request should be submitted and the registration postponed to another day (but not later than one year from the date of submission of the application).
If the persons who submitted the application did not appear for the marriage registration at the consular office within three months from the date of its submission and did not notify the reason for the non-appearance, the application becomes invalid.
As in Ukraine, when marrying abroad, brides and grooms have the right to:
- choose the surname of one of them as the joint surname of the spouses,
- hereinafter referred to as maiden names,
- add the surname of the second spouse to your surname.
The combination of more than two surnames is not allowed, unless otherwise follows from the custom of the national minority to which the bride and (or) the groom belong.
The choice of surname for spouses is an important point, because it depends on whether it is necessary to change many other documents – foreign passport, internal citizen’s passport, driver’s license, residence permit, and others. It’s not only time, alley and additional funds, which in some countries generally cost a small amount. So consider this moment.
So, if one of the spouses wants to change their last name during the marriage, then the passport documents – internal passport, ID card, foreign passport must be changed to the married name within a month. In the absence of a permit for permanent residence abroad, it is first necessary to exchange an internal passport, an ID card, and only then an international passport.
A consular fee is payable for marriage registration. For marriage registration in US dollars, it is 100 dollars, and in euros – 95.
It should be noted that not all diplomatic institutions of Ukraine have the right to register marriages, this should be clarified in a specific country. Yes, by 2023, this service was provided in Poland, Turkey, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
It is also necessary to remember that a marriage certificate issued by a consular institution of Ukraine, like other documents of consular institutions, is not subject to apostillation in accordance with Article 1 of the Convention of October 5, 1961.
Another argument in favor of marriage registration in foreign diplomatic services of Ukraine. After the marriage is registered, they hand over civil status records on paper to the Central Interregional Department of the Ministry of Justice (Kyiv) in accordance with the procedure specified by law. That is, in case of loss of the marriage certificate or the need to obtain an extract from the legal record, there will be no problems with this, because the entire archive is stored in Kyiv.