# Us citizen wants to marry french citizen



## lesmotsvides (Aug 20, 2011)

Hello everyone,

I am a US citizen born and raised, and my fiance is French citizen, born and raised.
I know the process of what it takes to get married in France since we both went through it last year, but got cold feet and I returned to the USA.

We both realized it was a mistake and want to get married when he comes to the USA in October of this year. However, He does not plan to stay in the USA longer than the 90 days allowed without a visa. He plan to come visit me just so we can get married and then return to France. We're gettign married this way so it's easier for me to stay longer, eventually havign dual citizenship in France and find more legitimate work.

I live in Northern NJ, just outside of NYC.
Has anyone been in this situation before? Can someone let me know the process, documents, etc...or link me to some sites where I can find out all of the info?

Thank you so much!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

It's actually pretty simple. Go to your local town hall to find out the requirements to get married while he's in town. (Much simpler than the French process.) 

Then, once the marriage has taken place and you have registered it with the local authorities, you need to apply for a "certified" copy of your marriage license. Usually, this means you have to get an apostille, which is a certification that is done by the state to verify your marriage license. http://photos.state.gov/libraries/france/5/acs/paris-usapostille.pdf is one of the best write-ups I've seen of what an apostille is and how to get one. (From the US consulate in Paris.)

Once you have the certified copy of your marriage certificate, you can then go to the French consulate and request your livret de famille (which is the French marriage certificate). This can take some time, as the fact of the marriage of a French citizen (i.e. your new husband) must be recorded in France on his birth record at the mairie for the town in which he was born. (It would probably be easiest if he were still around when you go to apply for the livret de famille. You'll need copies of his French carte d'identité among other things.)

Once you have your livret de famille, you can then apply for your French spouse visa (which is as close to automatic as it gets and should only take a couple days - maybe a week at maximum). 

And then you can move to France.

Full instructions (though not for the livret de famille) are here (in French): Visas pour les conjoints de ressortissants français et de l'Union européenne - Consulat général de France à New York
Cheers,
Bev


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