# South African / French Marriage registration



## Phillipa Mauger (Jun 24, 2010)

Hi there, Can anyone help me please. I have tried everything, the french consulate keeps referring me to the french website and I dont speak french! My husband doesnt understand what the documents are that they want when he looks at the website either, so if someone could be so kind as to help me to sort out my dilema I would be grateful. Hubby abd I got married in June last year when my Fiance at the time got offered a job in Dubai, we didnt know at the time that we had to get permission from the french consulate in cape Town where we married or anything around get permission etc etc.... so ended up getting married and left for Dubai shortly after that. We now realise that this all had to be done to get a family book? What do we do now, we sitting in Dubai and cant take risks of sending all our original documents to southa africa, how can we get our marriage regsitered from Dubai. We have tried the french consulate here in Dubai for help and they are not helping at all! What are the exact documents that the french consulate in South Africa would need from us, please be precise as the website is so confusing! Do the docs need to be attested and by who? I was told that they would keep my original unabridged marriage certificate is this true? Do they need unabridged or normal marriage certificate? SOOOOOOOOO confused! The other issue is that we may be pregnant, now we sit without our marriage being regsitered and no family book, which means that we are not going to be able to apply for the baby's passport in order to get the visa in Dubai! Please help us we are desperate!

thanks
Phillipa


----------



## Guest (Jan 19, 2011)

Hi

Unfortunately I cannot help with info, but have you tried contacting the French embassy or consulate in South Africa instead of the one in Dubai?


----------



## Phillipa Mauger (Jun 24, 2010)

Yes they are so unhelpful!


----------



## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The French consulates have a reputation for being somewhat less than "user friendly."

Basically what you need is a certified copy of your marriage license. What that means exactly can vary from country to country, but in most cases it should work if you get an apostille'd copy of your marriage license/certificate. 

You need to take this, along with all your identity documents (national i.d., passport, etc.) and possibly a translation of the marriage certificate to the French consulate where you currently are living. The one big catch is that your husband will need to show his French carte d'identité. If he hasn't kept that up to date, he'll need to first go through the process to renew it. (Which involves producing his birth certificate and other paperwork to prove he really is French.)

Once the consulate have all this paperwork, it will take a while for them to issue the livret de famille because they have to send all the information back to France and get your husband's birth record updated to reflect the marriage.
Cheers,
Bev


----------

