What are the required documents to marry in Morocco?

[Abbas 0]

I am planning to travel to Morocco this summer and wed my fiancée

God willing. Since many of you have gone through this, can you help? We are hoping to have our ‘aqd over there. What are some of the documents Moroccan authorities require for US citizens to have?

I heard that Moroccan Authorities require celibacy “of being Single” and birth certificates. Where can I obtain the celibacy certificate for example? Also how long should I alot to this process when I go to Morocco.

Many thanks guys

[myfellah 0]

I wish you the best of luck. My husband and I went the K-1, Fiance Visa route, so I can't help you with this. If someone can't help you with the celibacy certificate, I'll try and remember to ask Abdou, he should be home from work shortly. He did get this but they never looked at it and I don't think it is a required document for K-1. Have you been to Morocco before? I hope you have a wonderful wedding.

Doreen

[mary_motalib 0]

Hi I can tell you that when i married my husband it took us nearly two months to complete the process. They require more documents than what the website for the embassy says. We had to do alot of traveling to Rabat, Casablanca there was problem with the judge he didnt want to sign the papers for us to get married it seems the affidavit of eligibilty and nationality cause some confusion and we had to go to the the embassy a couple of times to verify this was the paper we had. It was in a small town but if you are getting married in a bigger city it should be ok.

[Meriem_DZ 37]

We are going through Algeria and Hachemi had to get the certificate you wrote about. It was a document stating he has never been married. He took two witnesses from his neighborhood to the public office to attest that he has never been married. The document was certified. It is required by the embassy. I also wanted to get married the first time I went to see Hachemi, but it was a long drawn out process because I was not Algerian. If you have time to stay and see it through to the end it would be nice, but I could not stay that long. It is why we went the K-1 route and I am glad we did.

Hope it helps,

Meriem

[iceyspots 0]

Algerian red tape sucks

[Abbas 0]

Thank guys. Yes, it seems too complicated. I will try to do whatever I can for the small time I have. If that does not work, then I would properly have to go through the K1 way.

[deeshla 0]

I am planning to travel to Morocco this summer and wed my fiancée

God willing. Since many of you have gone through this, can you help? We are hoping to have our ‘aqd over there. What are some of the documents Moroccan authorities require for US citizens to have?

I heard that Moroccan Authorities require celibacy “of being Single” and birth certificates. Where can I obtain the celibacy certificate for example? Also how long should I alot to this process when I go to Morocco.

Many thanks guys

I recently went through the process and I will share my experience.

First off, and most importantly, ignore the guide on the Casablanca consular website -- it is outdated.

The marriage certificate in Morocco is an Islamic one and so requires more than you might expect. To make it easier, I suggest doing the marriage in Casa or Rabat -- these people have seen mixed marriages and know how to help you. We married in Beni Mellal -- a mid-sized city. The officials were corrupt, clueless and harrassing. It took us about 3 months to get everything together and go through the maze of red tape and gathering inane stamps and signatures -- Moroccans love stamps! But we were both contending with full-time jobs. If you can, I suggest both of you taking time off and making the marriage your "job." If you are devoting yourselves full-time I think you can finish it in a few weeks to a month.

First thing - Go to the consular in Casa and get a "Affadavit of Eligibility to Marry." If you have been divorced before you will need to show proof of that. They will notarize the document there.

Then, have your fiance go to the local office where you will marry and compile a list of what they want (this will vary -- I swear -- on region). We had to compile the following:

1.) Original birth certificates

2.) Police record from the states, notarized

3.) Resident card and passport

4.) Statement of Religion (it is officially illegal for a Moroccan man to marry anyone but a "person of the book" - Muslim, Jewish or Christian (I just made a stament that I am a Christian and signed it, then legalized it)

5.) Police record for me from Department of Justice from Rabat

6.) Affadavit signed by Ministry of the Exterior and stamped

7.) Certificate of residence (I live in Morocco)

8.) Attestation of work from my job (again because I live here, if you do not work, shouldn't be a problem)

9.) Doctor's note (for both of us) saying free of communicable diseases

10.) Documents from local police stating we had the power to marry (this included that we were both virgins, I am not pregnant and we have commited no crimes, etc -- very humiliating but silly, too)

*Everything was legalized with stamps and we made multiple copies (everyone you encounter will want a legalized copy)

We took all these papers to a local marriage judge -- he grilled us about our relationship -- why do we want to marry, have we slept together, how much money do we make, etc. We grinned and bore it, saying everything he wanted to hear. After this, there was a lot of waiting (a week) while the papers were passed around the courts. The important thing is to get the judge to sign off on them so you can take everything to an ADOUL (a traditional Moroccan notary/judge responsible for actually writing the marriage certificate). You will be issued something called a "mixed marriage certificate." All these stages incur various (small) fees and don't forget you might feel a need to bribe every once in a while -- everything here runs on bribes.

With the new Mudawanna women have many more rights concerning marriage. You do not need a male relative to give you away. My certificate states that I gave myself away. The ADOUL will ask you if you received a dowry and how much it was (another Islamic code) - we just made up a number. You might want to discuss this with your spouse beforehand -- something must be written for a dowry.

You will need:

1.) Patience

2.) Good-heeled walking shoes

3.) sense of humor

My husband and I joke that as insane as the process was -- it must be a way to weed out the marriage light-weights and non-compatibles as it is just an endurance test for couples. It was very stressful for us, but in the end, it made us stronger. ("Honey, remember when the judge asked me if I was a virgin and I almost lost it?")

If you are planning on a direct file -- getting married here makes things a lot faster.

GOOD LUCK!

[Sofiyya 1,687]

1.) Original birth certificates

2.) Police record from the states, notarized

3.) Resident card and passport

4.) Statement of Religion (it is officially illegal for a Moroccan man to marry anyone but a "person of the book" - Muslim, Jewish or Christian (I just made a stament that I am a Christian and signed it, then legalized it)

5.) Police record for me from Department of Justice from Rabat

6.) Affadavit signed by Ministry of the Exterior and stamped

7.) Certificate of residence (I live in Morocco)

8.) Attestation of work from my job (again because I live here, if you do not work, shouldn't be a problem)

9.) Doctor's note (for both of us) saying free of communicable diseases

10.) Documents from local police stating we had the power to marry (this included that we were both virgins, I am not pregnant and we have commited no crimes, etc -- very humiliating but silly, too)

*Everything was legalized with stamps and we made multiple copies (everyone you encounter will want a legalized copy)

We married last year in Sale. It took two weeks because the substitute judge (the regulars were attending a judges convention) refused to believe I was not already married. He yelled at us and held things up, so at the last minute, we hired a lawyer for $200. In two days, he was able to get us thru the police check quickly, and convinced the judge that the Affidavit of Eligibility to Marry from the US Consulate was adequate evidence that I wasn't lying. Worth every penny! I have heard times to accomplish the feat of marriage varying from two days to several months. It is faster in the big city. It's faster with a good lawyer and/or good friends with great connections. We had those too.

We got a copy of the list of required documents at the Sale court. Ask your fiancee to pick one up before you come so you can both be ahead of the game. I strongly recommend that you take more than one copy of everything with you; take at least 3 originals of everything.

Do wear very comfy shoes, be prepared to walk your butt off, spend a lot of time at court waiting in queue (or something like it), find out where the legal certifying office is ahead of time because you'll be there many times. If you don't have a car, taxis and buses are cheap, but it adds up. There is a block of time between 12 pm and 2:30 pm when nearly everything closes for lunch, so try to start early out everyday. Also, you will have to have translations done into Arabic and/or French. Make sure you use only a court certified translator; saves you time.

Since you are a man, you MUST have a certificate of conversion or some verified proof of Muslimness from a legitimate source in your home country. I'm not sure what that is, but I, born a Muslim, was advised not to tell the judge I'm Muslim because it would hold things up for quite a while until they were convinced that I was knowledgable enough about Islam not to be lying about it. I wasn't asked for a Statement of Religion, but, assuming you're a man, no way you can get around this requirement.

I brought police records from the FBI and my home state. They liked that. I also took medical records, but they still require you to get a clean bill of health from a local clinic. The doctor just looked at my records and signed me off. They also asked about my work, but didn't ask for proof other than my last W2 and tax return, which I brought with me.

Assuming you are American (please put some info on your profile), you will most likely come into Casa, so stop at the consulate there and get yoor certificate of eligibility and register that you're in the country. PLEASE find out when the holidays are, and what dates the consulate and courts will be closed. You don't want to show up only to be told to come back later. When all the paperwork is approved by the court, you will go to the adoul to set the mahr and the conditions in the nikah document, sign it, and they will register it. Altho that makes you legal, the marriage is not really official until the court verifies it. Then, in a few days, they send u a copy of the registered certificate.

And, yes, there will be bribes. I didn't want to know about them and I don't, but I'm sure someone was greasing some palms, except for that judge.

Take lots of nice pictures, you'll need them for proof later on. Insha'allah, you will do well!

If I can think of anything else, I'll add it.

Edited June 26, 2006 by szsz

[honeyblonde 0]

I would recommend that you consider the K1. Just look at the timelines on here and decide from there. Unless you can do a direct consular filing, the marriage visas in Morocco take a very long time and the approval rate seems to be much lower for them than the K1.

Abdel and I were going to marry there but I found VJ first and am really glad I did. We would probably still be apart if we had gone that route.

just my two cents.

[deeshla 0]

I would recommend that you consider the K1. Just look at the timelines on here and decide from there. Unless you can do a direct consular filing, the marriage visas in Morocco take a very long time and the approval rate seems to be much lower for them than the K1.

Abdel and I were going to marry there but I found VJ first and am really glad I did. We would probably still be apart if we had gone that route.

just my two cents.

Actually, you can do DCF in Casablanca. It is extremely fast. The marriage process can take a while but as I said above I think it can be done in a month, if you devote yourselves to it entirely. DCF takes 1-2 months. For us it looks like it will only take a month from petition filed to visa.

[honeyblonde 0]

You can still do DCF in Morroco without having to meet a 6 month residency requirement? That is good information if it is true.

[zenaelarabi 0]

I would very much like to know more about the DCF.....

[deeshla 0]

I would very much like to know more about the DCF.....

You can do the DCF in Casablanca -- I am not sure what the residency requirement is. In general, you can become a resident in Morocco after 3 months and with some sort of documentation -- volunteer, employment attestation, etc. I was asked a few times how long I have lived in Morocco (I have been living here for almost 3 years) but no one ever mentioned a 6 month requirement. You can find scant info on the consular website: http://www.usembassy.ma/Services/Consular/ and email the staff directly for more information.

Having said that, I have a met a few women who have seemingly flown into Morocco for a few weeks and are now in the process of marrying their Moroccan and then, presumably, doing DCF to go back to the states. I am not sure how that works or even if it WILL work, but that is what they are doing.

[tatedaoudi 0]

Hi there.

Becoming a resident in Morocco isnt the easiest thing in the world. I became a resident when I worked in Casablanca as a teacher. However it took a really long time for all the paperwork from my employer to reach the officals then for them to issue me a residency card. It was actually about 9 months after I started working that I was a resident. I also worked for an American School that had affiliation with the Dar America and Im thinking that we the employees there had an easier time getting the residency card than others.

I had one friend who was married in morocco and filed directly to the consulate. It took about a year for everything to get done.

Thats my bit of info...im sure others have different experiences..

good luck,

sarah

[deeshla 0]

Hi there.

Becoming a resident in Morocco isnt the easiest thing in the world. I became a resident when I worked in Casablanca as a teacher. However it took a really long time for all the paperwork from my employer to reach the officals then for them to issue me a residency card. It was actually about 9 months after I started working that I was a resident. I also worked for an American School that had affiliation with the Dar America and Im thinking that we the employees there had an easier time getting the residency card than others.

I had one friend who was married in morocco and filed directly to the consulate. It took about a year for everything to get done.

Thats my bit of info...im sure others have different experiences..

good luck,

sarah

Things are a bit faster now I think. The first time I became a resident and got my card the actual getting-of-the-card process took 10 months, but I had the receipt from the police and this was enough to certify as "resident." I think it is true that depending on your work situation, times vary -- my work (also as a teacher) was speedy with paperwork and the new carte de sejour was issued in a matter of weeks.

The actual DCF time is super fast. Everyone I know who has done it has not waited more than 2 months. As I said, mine is taking about a month - they try to get it done before you want to travel. The people at the consular have been very nice and personable.