# For foregn people wanting to marry SA spouse



## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

Hi All,

I thought to share my experience with foreign couples who are wanting to get married in SA.

I am getting married to my fiancée who is a foreigner, and we heard about a Marriage Interview, so we went to a local DHA and after a few visits finally got to the interview with an Immigration officer.

They told us that there is no need for an affidavit from both our parents for a marriage registration, however, they DO need an affidavit from both our parents in order for them to issue us an interview report even though we are not under age.
This is not a legal requirement, but they need it to cover their tracks.

The interview officer did not give us any written report after our interview, instead, the report is given to the marriage officer at DHA. 
Our Marriage officiant is tasked with submitting our marriage documents to the same marriage officer at DHA, where all of our documents are supposed to meet...

This was our experience, its seems every person has a different experience.

Good luck to all prospective applicants :fingerscrossed:


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

Spiggles said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I thought to share my experience with foreign couples who are wanting to get married in SA.
> 
> ...


I have never heard that you need an affidavit from your parents for a?? Surely they can tell by your Passport for foreigner or ID for South African your age.
What if your parents are deceased?


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

2fargone said:


> I have never heard that you need an affidavit from your parents for a?? Surely they can tell by your Passport for foreigner or ID for South African your age.
> What if your parents are deceased?


We thought the same thing, and we were shocked to hear the request for an affidavit.
We and our marriage officer pointed out the obvious legal flaws with this request, but they were adamant that this was not a legal requirement but something to cover them in case of come backs down the line.
They said any relative or mutual friend was also acceptable:confused2:


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## capetonian101 (Jun 2, 2014)

My wife and I had our interview at the paarl office of DHA.the woman there made both of us feel like we are doing something wrong.My wife has been living in the UK for the last 12 year but is an Hungarian citizen.The officer couldn't understand why she have been living outside her country for so long....
Anyway that is long gone now 
for the last 5 months we have been struggling with DHA to get our unabridged marriages certificate.....they have lost our paper work 3 time already


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

capetonian101 said:


> My wife and I had our interview at the paarl office of DHA.the woman there made both of us feel like we are doing something wrong.My wife has been living in the UK for the last 12 year but is an Hungarian citizen.The officer couldn't understand why she have been living outside her country for so long....
> Anyway that is long gone now
> for the last 5 months we have been struggling with DHA to get our unabridged marriages certificate.....they have lost our paper work 3 time already


So sorry to hear that
My fiancée and I are also nervous because the interview officer did not give us any paper stating that we had an interview, and they will keep all the documents(Interview paper, copy of Letter of no impediment, copy of ID&Passport etc...) until our marriage officiant registers after our wedding...
How long did it take for your marriage to be registered?


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## Yb2014 (Aug 15, 2014)

Spiggles said:


> So sorry to hear that
> My fiancée and I are also nervous because the interview officer did not give us any paper stating that we had an interview, and they will keep all the documents(Interview paper, copy of Letter of no impediment, copy of ID&Passport etc...) until our marriage officiant registers after our wedding...
> How long did it take for your marriage to be registered?


Our marriage officer was told that it would be registered within 3 weeks. Nothing happened after 3 weeks so my husband went to the HA and found our documents at the bottom of a big pile of other stuff... The HA registered it on the spot then!

I know a friend who had her marriage registered on the day the marriage officer submitted her documents though so I think it really depends on the HA you deal with!


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

Yb2014 said:


> Our marriage officer was told that it would be registered within 3 weeks. Nothing happened after 3 weeks so my husband went to the HA and found our documents at the bottom of a big pile of other stuff... The HA registered it on the spot then!
> 
> I know a friend who had her marriage registered on the day the marriage officer submitted her documents though so I think it really depends on the HA you deal with!


So, the documents are not going to Pretoria head office to be registered?
We heard that for international marriage will be registered in Pretoria.


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## Yb2014 (Aug 15, 2014)

Spiggles said:


> So, the documents are not going to Pretoria head office to be registered?
> We heard that for international marriage will be registered in Pretoria.


Nope, for us, it was registered at the Randburg HA, and we could check the marital status online straightaway. The lady who registered our marriage gave my husband a printout from the population register too. My husband is a SA citizen, and I'm British.

Make sure the HA don't lose your documents though. We got given the interview report and kept the letter of no impediment until the date of marriage. Then we handed them over to the marriage officer so that he could take everything together to the HA.


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

Yb2014 said:


> Nope, for us, it was registered at the Randburg HA, and we could check the marital status online straightaway. The lady who registered our marriage gave my husband a printout from the population register too. My husband is a SA citizen, and I'm British.
> 
> Make sure the HA don't lose your documents though. We got given the interview report and kept the letter of no impediment until the date of marriage. Then we handed them over to the marriage officer so that he could take everything together to the HA.


Well, that's actually a good news that they register a marriage locally. 
The interview officer did not give us a report and told us that he will give it to a marriage officer from whom our officiant can collect upon registration. He did not even give us a answer whether we passed the interview or not, saying only our officiant can know.
My fiance has the original letter of no impediment, so it should be fine.


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## j0ty (Apr 23, 2014)

Hi,

my experience was slightly different although we also had our marriage interview done at HA Paarl office. My husband (SA citizen) called 3 times to confirm the interview with a male officer and repeated asked if we could book a date on the same day to marry us there. He said there was no need.

In April 2014, I flew in from Singapore for 14 days to arrange all marriage and wedding stuff (for June 2014) so that I could apply for a TRV in Singapore embassy office. We arrived early morning but the male officer was not at his desk! Not only that, we were told we cannot get marry on that day because they were fully booked for the month!! Totally frustrated and angry, one of his colleagues helped us out. She gave us a contact to a marriage officer who used to work in the HA who agreed to marry us, after which the HA officer would conduct a marriage interview with us. Next day, we drove up to Wellington to get married.

We have been married for 6 months now, still have no idea how to get the unabridged marriage certificate, can someone enlighten me? Or how to check if our marriage is registered in the system?


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## capetonian101 (Jun 2, 2014)

j0ty said:


> Hi,
> 
> my experience was slightly different although we also had our marriage interview done at HA Paarl office. My husband (SA citizen) called 3 times to confirm the interview with a male officer and repeated asked if we could book a date on the same day to marry us there. He said there was no need.
> 
> ...


You would need to go into the DHA office and fill a form in.Just ask at the help for the form for an unabridged certificate make sure to ask for you receipt as proof of payment.then the long wait starts.it took the DHA 5months to issue ours.
Good luck


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

capetonian101 said:


> You would need to go into the DHA office and fill a form in.Just ask at the help for the form for an unabridged certificate make sure to ask for you receipt as proof of payment.then the long wait starts.it took the DHA 5months to issue ours.
> Good luck


Hi Capetonian101,

Did you get any SMS when you submitted an application form for an unabridged certificate ?


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## capetonian101 (Jun 2, 2014)

Spiggles said:


> Hi Capetonian101,
> 
> Did you get any SMS when you submitted an application form for an unabridged certificate ?


Nope nothing at all.
Speak to MIss Alexsander at the paarl office se is the right person there and knows what is going on.The rest of the workers there is useless.


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

capetonian101 said:


> Nope nothing at all.
> Speak to MIss Alexsander at the paarl office se is the right person there and knows what is going on.The rest of the workers there is useless.


Hi capetonian101,

Thanks for your reply.
So how were you informed that your certificate was ready?
We were told that we will get SMS, but so far no SMS.


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## capetonian101 (Jun 2, 2014)

Spiggles said:


> Hi capetonian101,
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> So how were you informed that your certificate was ready?
> We were told that we will get SMS, but so far no SMS.


We hassled them on a weekly basis because we got very annoyed after 2 months of waiting.We needed to register the marriage with my wife home country embassy and couldn't do anything without the unabridged certificate.


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

capetonian101 said:


> We hassled them on a weekly basis because we got very annoyed after 2 months of waiting.We needed to register the marriage with my wife home country embassy and couldn't do anything without the unabridged certificate.


I see,I guess we will also need to visit the DHA then.
I heard it can take up to 6 months...


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

My own marriage certificate took 8 months, although that was some years ago.


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

LegalMan said:


> My own marriage certificate took 8 months, although that was some years ago.


Hi LegalMan,

That's a long time to wait!
Were you informed by an SMS or did you need to visit DHA to check weekly/monthly ?


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Spiggles said:


> Hi LegalMan,
> 
> That's a long time to wait!
> Were you informed by an SMS or did you need to visit DHA to check weekly/monthly ?


Back in those days I wasn't in immigration and visa services and did this through the marriage official. Perhaps he was the delay - who knows.


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