# Moving from UK to Germany with US Marriage Certificate



## Team Stephenson

Hey all,

My wife and I currently live in the UK, and I have a job lined up in Hamburg starting in November. The company have arranged for a relocation firm to aid us with the move, and we've hit our first hurdle.

My wife and I met online and we were married in the US in 2012. My wife moved to the UK, and has since been naturalized and is a British citizen. When I have sent our marriage certificate over to the relocation company, they have stated we need this to have an apostille applied, or to have an International marriage licence. Upon doing a little research our options look to be:

Mailing the State department in the US for the state we were married, and having the Apostille applied OR arranging for the UK Gov to create an international marriage licence based on a marriage overseas. However, I can't gleam from my online research if this is even something the UK Govt still does? It kind of looks like they stopped doing it in 2014? Does anyone have any experience with this? I feel like that option is probably the easier and quicker one.

Alternatively, does anyone have any experience sending letters overseas with pre-paid return slips in them from couriers? I can't wrap my head around the logistics of this, and even if this is feasible.

Thanks in advance for any assistance. 

Richard


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## Bevdeforges

Haven't got any experience with an "international marriage certificate" - but the apostille procedure to verify documents issued in other countries seems to be becoming more and more commonplace these days. Check the website for the state in which you were married in the US and they should have the procedure (and price) for obtaining an apostille.

As far as the international marriage certificate is concerned, there is a very good chance that if they are still issuing such things, it's likely they'll require an apostilled copy of your marriage certificate from the States.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Team Stephenson

Thanks, Bev. I've checked the state's website and I've got a price and process for the apostille procedure for them. I was trying to avoid doing it at all, but its sounding like I won't have much choice. I wish I'd known a week ago because my brother in law was visiting from the US and could have taken it back for me!

I think I will ship it to my in-laws and have them send it to the Department of State, then return it to me in the UK. The logistics of arranging a courier to collect it and ship it back to us directly look to be expensive and convoluted.

EDIT: The relocation company have also stated I will need the certificate translated in to German. Does anyone have any recommendations on companies I could use for this?


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## Tellus

certified translations f.i.
https://www.beglaubigte-uebersetzung.eu/en/


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## kaju

Team Stephenson said:


> Thanks, Bev. I've checked the state's website and I've got a price and process for the apostille procedure for them. I was trying to avoid doing it at all, but its sounding like I won't have much choice. I wish I'd known a week ago because my brother in law was visiting from the US and could have taken it back for me!
> 
> I think I will ship it to my in-laws and have them send it to the Department of State, then return it to me in the UK. The logistics of arranging a courier to collect it and ship it back to us directly look to be expensive and convoluted.
> 
> EDIT: The relocation company have also stated I will need the certificate translated in to German. Does anyone have any recommendations on companies I could use for this?


There are a bunch of places online. From what I can tell, it should generally be done by a German court-authorised sworn translator rather than by just a legal translator if it's for official use - there is a difference, and some German authorities will insist on that level of translation. 

We'll be moving to Germany within the next few months. I need to get a new full marriage certificate and new full birth certificate for my son, and get them both apostilled by Foreign Affairs here in Australia. Had my birth cert done already. Then they'll all need to be translated by a court-registered translator. (Except for my wife who was actually born in Germany - although our son is a German national - as well as being an Australian and British citizen), he still needs the apostilled Australian birth certificate, translated into German. 

We'll have to get translations done for our driving licenses plus a separate letter from our State DMV as licenses here don't have the date first issued on them. And translations of a few different insurance records as we'll try and get an insurer to accept our driving no-claims records. As pensioners, copies of regular income for us too.

Add to that all of the extensive reports for my extremely disabled son so he can get into the German system - again, the slightly more expensive court-recognised version as it will by used by German officialdom. 

We're probably looking at a few thousand euros all up. Still, once it's done... 

You could maybe have a look here for a general explanation: https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_find_a_legal_translator_or_an_interpreter-116-en.do


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## Bevdeforges

I think the idea of asking your in-laws to handle the apostile for you is a good one. Was going to suggest contacting family in the state - but many folks don't have anyone back in the state where they got married. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## Team Stephenson

Thanks everyone for your advice so far! I'll see how we get on. 

Richard


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## wadistance

You should be able to get an apostille from your local US consulate. I had this done for me in Berlin at the Aus embassy 


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## Bevdeforges

wadistance said:


> You should be able to get an apostille from your local US consulate. I had this done for me in Berlin at the Aus embassy
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The US consulates don't do apostilles - because generally speaking documents in the US are issued by the state (i.e. individual state, not the federal government) and an apostille has to be issued by the level of government that issued the original document). 
Cheers,
Bev


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## wadistance

Bevdeforges said:


> The US consulates don't do apostilles - because generally speaking documents in the US are issued by the state (i.e. individual state, not the federal government) and an apostille has to be issued by the level of government that issued the original document).
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bev




I did not know this. Thanks for the interesting information !


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