# attesting wedding certificates



## etait81 (Mar 27, 2011)

Hi all,

We are moving over in August for the start of the new school year. I have got my professional certificates attested and was wondering if it was necessary to get our wedding certificate done too.

We got married in St Lucia so the solicitor is unable to certify it. If I need to get it done, does anyone know how to get a foreign wedding certificate attested.

Thanks in advance.


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## wandabug (Apr 22, 2010)

Solicitors do not need to certify marriage certificates anyway as the are already a legal doc.
Contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes for advice.


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## Chris78 (Dec 14, 2010)

etait81 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We are moving over in August for the start of the new school year. I have got my professional certificates attested and was wondering if it was necessary to get our wedding certificate done too.
> 
> ...


I have just moved over here in the last month and we had a bit of nightmare with this (now resolved).

You definately do need to get the wedding certificate attested to get your spouse Visa. We are both UK citizens who got married in Cyprus, so looks like similar situation to yourself.

The nightmare bit was getting the right advice, however once you have that the actual process is relatively straightforward. This is what we had to do, hopefully it helps.....

Get the wedding certificate apostilled by Ministry of Foreign affairs in country of issue (we had to send ours to Cyprus who were very good). Once you have that you need to send it to the St Lucia consulate \ embassy in UK for them to attest. Then you need to take to the embassy of issuing country in UAE - We had to go to Cyprus embassy in Abu Dhabi.

The FCO in Milton Keynes are of no use to you as they can not attest a document issues outwith the UAE, and in my experience they couldnt offer any decent advice on what we needed to do. 

I would contact the ST Lucia embassy in UK as first port of call, however im fairly certain that the process you need to follow will be similar to the one we had to do.

Hope you get it sorted soon as i know from experience its a weight on your mind until it's done.


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## *spellbound* (Apr 26, 2011)

etait81 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We are moving over in August for the start of the new school year. I have got my professional certificates attested and was wondering if it was necessary to get our wedding certificate done too.
> 
> ...


Hi there,

I'm in the same position as you with this situation. We're hoping to be in Dubai by early September and as we got married in Antigua need to sort out our certificate too. 

So far we have had it apostilled by the Antiguan embassy. The FCO don't need to deal with it as we were married in a commonwealth country. (Although UAE embassy have said the FCO will need to see it?) My husband has asked the advice of his relocation officer for the company he is moving too so perhaps this is an option for yourselves?? 
We're still waiting for a reply but I'm hoping all we need to do now is send it to the UAE embassy.

Fingers crossed it will be this simple and you get yours sorted quickly too!

Regards
Kerry


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## Kdoyle (Jun 28, 2012)

Chris78 said:


> I have just moved over here in the last month and we had a bit of nightmare with this (now resolved).
> 
> You definately do need to get the wedding certificate attested to get your spouse Visa. We are both UK citizens who got married in Cyprus, so looks like similar situation to yourself.
> 
> ...


Thank goodness I have found this link.

Can you talk me through exactly what you did because I am getting no where fast either.

We are a UK couple who were married i cyprus, relocating to Dubai!

Many thanks


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## AislingYates (Mar 14, 2013)

Hi etait81,

Could you please let me know how you went about attesting your St Lucia wedding certificate please? 
We are living in Dubai and the uk won't stamp it for us?

Thanks in advance




etait81 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> We are moving over in August for the start of the new school year. I have got my professional certificates attested and was wondering if it was necessary to get our wedding certificate done too.
> 
> ...


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## etait81 (Mar 27, 2011)

Ours was already attested in St Lucia after all, just needed to get confirmation of the ministers signature and then send to the FCO in Milton Keynes.


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## Ozysanj (Feb 3, 2013)

Chris78 said:


> Get the wedding certificate apostilled by Ministry of Foreign affairs in country of issue (we had to send ours to Cyprus who were very good). Once you have that you need to send it to the St Lucia consulate \ embassy in UK for them to attest. Then you need to take to the embassy of issuing country in UAE - We had to go to Cyprus embassy in Abu Dhabi.
> .


Hi Chris
Firstly,thanks for sharing
Secondly,me and hubby got married in Turkey.But I am a Turkish citizen do you think I still need to do the second step?can I just take it to Turkish MoFA and Turkish embassy in UAE and skip the UK part?or do you think or happen to know I still need to do it as hubby is Brit.
Many thanks


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## AislingYates (Mar 14, 2013)

Are you sure? Fco refused ours saying they don't attest foreign documents. We are so confused and unsure what to do. The UAE embassy here are saying we need to send it to the nearest UAE embassy to st lucia then back to the UAE embassy in the uk.
It's such a mess and is taking so long 





etait81 said:


> Ours was already attested in St Lucia after all, just needed to get confirmation of the ministers signature and then send to the FCO in Milton Keynes.


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

We were married in Australia and living in UK. After numerous phone calls and getting nowhere we finally received sound advice from Oz embassy in UAE! 
The process for us was to have it attested in country married in then to Govt Office and UAE embassy in Oz. we didn't require producing it to UAE in UK as all steps had been done in country of marriage. 
I did the easy option and sent it to an apostille company who organised everything for me and couriered it back from Oz in 7 days from when they received the certificate. It costs more than doing it yourself but was hassle free and peace f mind that all steps in the process were followed. Needless to say its all fine on our recent arrival.
Also did thus for our child's UK birth certificate and my degree certificates. 
Good luck!


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

AislingYates said:


> Are you sure? Fco refused ours saying they don't attest foreign documents. We are so confused and unsure what to do. The UAE embassy here are saying we need to send it to the nearest UAE embassy to st lucia then back to the UAE embassy in the uk.
> It's such a mess and is taking so long


You are right FCO won't attest foreign documents as it needs to be done from country of origin. 
It feels like a mess and nightmare but it will be done.


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## Desert_Fever (Apr 13, 2013)

Moving from US - Does this need to be done only for Spouse Visa or Also for children? Meaning do we need to get birth certifications attested/authenticated?


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

Yes we had to have our sons UK birth certificate attested for sponsorship by husband. I didn't need my own birth certificate attested, only our marriage certificate.


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## Desert_Fever (Apr 13, 2013)

Thanks a lot. Now that's new information. I am surprised their passports which usually mention place of birth was not enough of an authentication on that birth requirement. Need to plan time and expenses on that..


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

Yes, lots of little bits and pieces I discovered too! Although I did the cheat way and organised a company to do it all for me in UK and Aus and everything was back in 2 weeks hassle free! You may want to look at any degree certificates that need to be attested too either for your role or your wife if she chooses to work too?


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

Desert_Fever said:


> Thanks a lot. Now that's new information. I am surprised their passports which usually mention place of birth was not enough of an authentication on that birth requirement. Need to plan time and expenses on that..


It is worth contacting your US embassy in your country too as they will be able to guide you in grey areas you're not so sure about!


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## gobarca (Apr 9, 2013)

Desert_Fever said:


> Thanks a lot. Now that's new information. I am surprised their passports which usually mention place of birth was not enough of an authentication on that birth requirement. Need to plan time and expenses on that..


Nope, going through the same, my son was born in Canada and still have to do his birth certificate attestation by the UAE embassy.
Regardless of where the kids were born, birth certificates have to be attested.
I know, it is a headache, but their country, their rules.


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## Sincy1 (Jan 7, 2015)

BBmover said:


> We were married in Australia and living in UK. After numerous phone calls and getting nowhere we finally received sound advice from Oz embassy in UAE!
> The process for us was to have it attested in country married in then to Govt Office and UAE embassy in Oz. we didn't require producing it to UAE in UK as all steps had been done in country of marriage.
> I did the easy option and sent it to an apostille company who organised everything for me and couriered it back from Oz in 7 days from when they received the certificate. It costs more than doing it yourself but was hassle free and peace f mind that all steps in the process were followed. Needless to say its all fine on our recent arrival.
> Also did thus for our child's UK birth certificate and my degree certificates.
> Good luck!


We are moving to Dubai, having got married in Mauritius, which company did you use?


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

We used a company in Australia as married there. No idea for Mauritius. 
Try google for attestation companies who deal with Mauritius?
For UK documents we used Vital Certificates.


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## Desert_Fever (Apr 13, 2013)

Call the local UAE embassy and ask them for suggestions


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## Val_TX (Mar 16, 2012)

Desert_Fever said:


> Moving from US - Does this need to be done only for Spouse Visa or Also for children? Meaning do we need to get birth certifications attested/authenticated?


Ask the company you will be working for. I used Sam's Passport in Houston to have my diploma attested - it was funny to see it signed by Hilary Rpdham Clinton. It cost a lot, about $500, but I couldn't have done it myself. I went to UVa, I sent them the diploma copy, and they did everything else.


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## Jon_C (8 mo ago)

Chris78 said:


> I have just moved over here in the last month and we had a bit of nightmare with this (now resolved).
> 
> You definately do need to get the wedding certificate attested to get your spouse Visa. We are both UK citizens who got married in Cyprus, so looks like similar situation to yourself.
> 
> ...


Hi, I realise this is a very out of date thread, but have just come across your above advise as I am in a very similar predicamet. My wife and I got married in Cyprus, we are from the UK, now live in Bahrain and need our wedding certificate apostilled by the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign affairs. If you see this message is there any way you could share the details of the process you went through? Did you have to take the certificate to Cyprus?

Many thanks,
Jon


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