# Marriage Procedure for Non-Muslims



## jjcanadian (Jan 12, 2011)

Hi all,

Does anyone here know the procedure for non-Muslims to get married in Dubai? My girlfriend is an Indian national, while I am a dual Canadian/Pakistani citizen. The Dubai courts only deal with Muslim unions.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## Nitro_From_Windsor (Sep 10, 2010)

jjcanadian said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Does anyone here know the procedure for non-Muslims to get married in Dubai? My girlfriend is an Indian national, while I am a dual Canadian/Pakistani citizen. The Dubai courts only deal with Muslim unions.
> 
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Hey JJ. Guess I am not the only Canadian looking at having a wedding in Dubai. I am East Indian Canadian and my Fiancee is Indian. We are getting married in December of this year in Dubai. Also, we are both Christian. So I have done quite a bit of research and was able to get a lot of info and will gladly share with you all that I know so that you don't have to go through a lot of the headaches. 

There are only a few non-muslim weddings that can happen here. For Hindu/Sikh weddings, you will have to have the wedding in the Indian Embassy. from what I have read, they have the facilities for that. The reception can of course, be anywhere.

Now for Christian weddings, you can have it pretty much anywhere. There are only a few people in Dubai that are authorized to conduct a Christian wedding. Catholic weddings can be done at St. Marys by the priest there. If you are non-Catholic, you have choices of doing your wedding either at church or at a different venue such as the beach. I am having my wedding (Non-Catholic) done at Christ Church in Jebel Ali.

Reception, like I said before, can happen pretty much at any hotel.

There is a bunch of paperwork for the marriage to be Legal in UAE, Canada and India. First you have to get the marriage certificate, which depends on what type of wedding it is (Christian/Hindu/Sikh etc.). After that, you have to get it translated to Arabic by court approved translator. Then you have to take it and get it notarized. Then its off to Ministry of Justice to get the certificate attested. After that, its off to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more attestation. After that, you have to go to both the Canadian and Indian embassies/Consulates to register the wedding in each of the respective countries.

Yea, that is a lot of running around and it will cost around AED 650 or so. Luckily for me, the people at the church I am getting married at will do it all (except for the going to the individual embassies part) for and extra fee which is fine by me.

Here is a link with some info: http://www.dubaifaqs.com/marriage-in-dubai.php

Let me know if you need any other info. I will definitely help much as I can. Have fun and good luck.


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## SFexpat (Aug 1, 2012)

*Glad to have come across this post*

Hi Nitro,

I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada looking to re-marry. My boyfriend is an Indian National currently living and working in the UAE for the last 4.5 years. We would like to know how we can arrange for the wedding to take place in Dubai sometime at the end of Oct 2012. 

I have a copy of my divorce certificate and my boyfriend has never been married before. 

Is there anything else that we need? And if the church will not mary us at this time can we get married in court for now and then get married in church once I get my annulment from the Roman Catholic church in the future? 

Any help in this matter is most appreciated. 

Thank you in advance,
Sam.


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## ibkiss (Feb 1, 2012)

Glad to have this thread here on EF ..... was informative indeed !!


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## Nitro_From_Windsor (Sep 10, 2010)

SFexpat said:


> Hi Nitro,
> 
> I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada looking to re-marry. My boyfriend is an Indian National currently living and working in the UAE for the last 4.5 years. We would like to know how we can arrange for the wedding to take place in Dubai sometime at the end of Oct 2012.
> 
> ...


Marriages outside church can only happen at the consulates I believe. You would have to contact the Canadian consulate in Dubai about it. You cannot get married at the court or city hall like back home. I know they conduct Hindu weddings at the Indian Embassy but if you were looking for a Roman Catholic wedding, I read somewhere that Catholic weddings can only be done in the Catholic church and not outside. Again, getting in touch with the church officials would be your best bet as you will be able to get the complete picture from them.


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## cesqureshi (Jul 31, 2015)

*muslim - christian marriage*

I have a serious relationship with a 31 years old single Pakistani man who had never been married and have no children too, he is a Muslim and I am a 44 years old Widow Filipino Christian. Can we be married in Dubai even if I remain to be a Christian? Please help us about this.


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