# Marrying in South Africa (visitor + resident who is not a citizen)



## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Me = Canadian
Partner = former South-African who became Canadian without keeping his South-African citizenship. He was granted resident status in 2020.
We live in Canada, but would like to get married with the family present while visiting SA in a couple of months.
What do we need to do? (no religious marriage,but a civid marriage)


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## a4xiaoxiami (May 17, 2018)

Is your partner's South African passport still valid? If so, he can travel back to SA with it. You can get into SA without applying for a visa as a visitor.

If your partner's passport is expired, see if he can renew it in Canada.

Or you both just simply travel with the Canadian passports.

You need to make an appointment with your local DHA office. Some offices can hold civil union solemnation, while others not. Bring the proof at your home country that your are not prohibited from getting married.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

No SA passport anymore, he lost his citizenship. But as Canadians, we don't need to get a visitor visa up front to enter SA. We are issued a temporary resident visa up on entry that allows us to stay up to 90 days. We are not staying that long.


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## oyingwenya (Dec 13, 2020)

Hi EVHB, l suggest you urgently get in touch with the Home Affairs office you intend to be married at via telephone to book for your wedding and be sure to get the name of the official assisting you for follow up reasons. You will be advised on the required documents and most importantly allocated a date and time slot. You will be surprised at how long the list is and be prepared to get dates as far as 3 months to a year away! This may be critucal in planning your trip. My partner and I got our marriage booked in June for a September date that was available. This was after visiting 3 local Home Affairs offices, one was fully booked for 2023! The other there was poor service and we left then got helped at the 3rd!

As a side note, anyone legally in the country and above legal age can be married in South Africa, however, some offices handle marriages of Citizen & Non-citizen and Non-citizen & Non-citizen better than others.

All the best as you prepare and good luck with your marriage 😁.


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