Marriage in Morocco

[Miss smarty pants 84]

Ah....those people in the offices there have no sense of time whatsoever.

So here's the short version

Day 1....to US Consolate to get affidavit of eligibility and nationality AND notorized passport pages.

Then to Rabat to Foreign Ministry to get papers certified (15 minute wait)

Then to Ministry of Justice to get police certificate of no arrest in Morocco. They required a 10 dhm stamp which we had to

get somewhere else and then back for a 4 hour wait.

Day 2- to Fez. To take all paperwork originals to translator. Already he had copies but need to certify originals.

Then to doctor to get medical certificate. Then to lab to have blood drawn for pregnancy test (negative, of course).

Two hour wait. Then back to doctor with lab results.

Day 3- Pick up translations of all documents and take to courthouse. Made five copies. Required another state stamp Had to go somewhere

else to get it. Then back to courthouse. After 4 hour wait we were sent home to return the next day.

Day 4- Back to courthouse. Finally got paperwork to take to police and state department at 2 pm. Then to police station to take paperwork

and drop it off. Police interview scheduled for 4 pm. So to state de[artment while we wait. Drop off papers at state department.

Interview on the spot. Then back to police station where we waited until 10 pm for interview.

Interview done and paperwork with approval being mailed to court. Told to come back in 30 days to receive for authorization to marry.

None of this was easy. We had to find someone to help us at every stage. It was a very busy week. But in 30 days we pick up our papers and will be married. We were told we can not speed this up and they will not do it before 30 days more. Then.......our visa journey will begin again....... and inshallah we can be together in the US, where I have a nice home and good job.

We had a very nice engagement party this past weekend. Morocco surely does know how to celebrate a union of marriage. And my fiancee is the most wonderful man I've ever met. I knew it before (of course)but this past couple weeks we went through the busiest and most stressful situations and he is just absolutely amazing to me. He does everything for me that he can and I can't imagine my life without him anymore.

[SweetHome_Alabama 5]

You are so right!! This was exactly what we had to do too except go to Casa, back to his city and to Rabat TWICE and same ordeal at all these unorganized offices. Not to forget the traffic accident where my husband banged the King's family car their driver were driving so I had to take a taxi while he waited at the accident scene for hours...also the speeding ticket we got on the way and our tires were CHAINED when we had parked and we had to pay, but other drivers were parked in same area and no chains.....(They must have seen us get out of the car,lol)...what us women will go through for love.

We too had to wait for everything to be mailed and to get this APPROVAL letter! You are one step closer....Our journeys will soon be over. Im glad you enjoyed your party.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Lisa_Mohammed

[Happytobe 164]

Thanks for posting! We are planning to marry in January (maybe Feb with this info), so now I have a better idea of the time-frame needed for my visit there. I was planning only 5 weeks, but upon reading your post... I think I had better plan for 6 to be on the safer side of things. He lives in Casa, so we will be travelling from Casa to Rabat and back and forth...

And Congrats!

[Always+Forever 7]

Thank u sooo much for sharing this information...will be VERY helpful to many of the "tired of waiting" or "denied for no reason" Moroccan ppl We just started the waiting, so I can still hold out for a little while...I hope I'm not very patient though...lol Hoping contacting our congressman will help. I guess a question that I have been wondering about...if its in AP, that's different than being sent back for review right??? I thought I knew a lot about all of this stuff...guess not lol

Thanks again everybody who has been sharing all of their experience...makes this processes slightly more tolerable. But as I always say...if you can get through this process with your SO....you should be able to get through anything!!! Best of luck to all!! Inshallah for some quick approvals!!!!

Monica

[msheesha 548]

Thanks for posting! We are planning to marry in January (maybe Feb with this info), so now I have a better idea of the time-frame needed for my visit there. I was planning only 5 weeks, but upon reading your post... I think I had better plan for 6 to be on the safer side of things. He lives in Casa, so we will be travelling from Casa to Rabat and back and forth...

And Congrats!

My husband lives in Casa and we were married there. We were married within two weeks. Obviously, it's a shorter drive from Casa to Rabat than from Fes to Rabat. And, I'm not aware of the 30 day waiting period in Casa that they seem to have in Fes. From what I read most cities do things slightly differently. With the exception of a couple of hiccups - I didn't get both papers I needed at the consulate the first day, the day we went back was an American holiday & consulate was closed so we had one full day of lost time. Even with that and a couple of other things, we were married in two weeks in Casa.

[Happytobe 164]

My husband lives in Casa and we were married there. We were married within two weeks. Obviously, it's a shorter drive from Casa to Rabat than from Fes to Rabat. And, I'm not aware of the 30 day waiting period in Casa that they seem to have in Fes. From what I read most cities do things slightly differently. With the exception of a couple of hiccups - I didn't get both papers I needed at the consulate the first day, the day we went back was an American holiday & consulate was closed so we had one full day of lost time. Even with that and a couple of other things, we were married in two weeks in Casa.

Thanks for the info... I am soooo concerned about the time it will take to marry there. I have read postings from way back stating 5days to 2 months! But you are the first to write from Casa that I have read, so maybe my 5 weeks will be enough... I only have so many hours allotted for vacation to spread out. Thankfully my boss is willing to work with me on the 5 weeks, 6 might have killed her -lol.

Thanks again!

[msheesha 548]

Thanks for the info... I am soooo concerned about the time it will take to marry there. I have read postings from way back stating 5days to 2 months! But you are the first to write from Casa that I have read, so maybe my 5 weeks will be enough... I only have so many hours allotted for vacation to spread out. Thankfully my boss is willing to work with me on the 5 weeks, 6 might have killed her -lol.

Thanks again!

No problem! You're lucky to be able to get away for 5 weeks! Another thing I should mention - my husband did any of the stuff he could before I got there. I scanned and/or emailed and/or sent him any documents I could ahead of time, including my passport, birth certificate, letters from my job and bank, and criminal clearance. He had them translated before I got there, and once I got there with the originals all we had to do was show the translator the originals and pick up the translated copies. That probably shaved a couple of days off the process. If you want the contact info for the translator we used, who was very nice and professional, pm me.

I got there on a Wednesday and we were married two Monday's later - roughly 8 working days later. (not counting the one American holiday where the consulate was closed). Another thing we did - right from the airport we went to the consulate for their morning US citizen hours to get the papers from the consulate I needed. Make sure you get both things you need - certificate of eligibility to marry AND notarized copy of your passport. The guy at the consulate said I most likely wouldn't need the notarized copy of the passport, but we did and that delayed things another day b/c of going back to the consulate, etc.

On the first day, right from the consulate, we went right to the translator to show him the originals of the things we had sent ahead, and to get him to translate the paper/s from the consulate. It's a grueling way to start the trip there on the first day, but it's one of the things that got us married within 8 working days.

Good luck! When do you leave?

[Happytobe 164]

No problem! You're lucky to be able to get away for 5 weeks! Another thing I should mention - my husband did any of the stuff he could before I got there. I scanned and/or emailed and/or sent him any documents I could ahead of time, including my passport, birth certificate, letters from my job and bank, and criminal clearance. He had them translated before I got there, and once I got there with the originals all we had to do was show the translator the originals and pick up the translated copies. That probably shaved a couple of days off the process. If you want the contact info for the translator we used, who was very nice and professional, pm me.

I got there on a Wednesday and we were married two Monday's later - roughly 8 working days later. (not counting the one American holiday where the consulate was closed). Another thing we did - right from the airport we went to the consulate for their morning US citizen hours to get the papers from the consulate I needed. Make sure you get both things you need - certificate of eligibility to marry AND notarized copy of your passport. The guy at the consulate said I most likely wouldn't need the notarized copy of the passport, but we did and that delayed things another day b/c of going back to the consulate, etc.

On the first day, right from the consulate, we went right to the translator to show him the originals of the things we had sent ahead, and to get him to translate the paper/s from the consulate. It's a grueling way to start the trip there on the first day, but it's one of the things that got us married within 8 working days.

Good luck! When do you leave?

I haven't booked the flight yet, but I am looking to leave January 3rd arriving there the 4th - I live in Las Vegas so the 2nd is hard to get out on. Then I'll be coming back on February 10th or 11th (haven't decided yet) depends on the flights. I plan on booking closer to the dates - 3 months out as I usually do. Great tip on sending the papers in advance! I was contemplating that. How soon did you send them? Are the translations only good for a period of time? I haven't figured out yet how to PM a person yet...lol sorry I'm working on that. I do have a lot of questions, though... Thanks for your help, my fiance works 7 days a week and doesn't have much time to do any of the research, yet. He knows there's a lot of translating, but we don't know all of the papers that are required of me other than what is shown on the Consulate website - I know it also depends on the Adouhl(?). I told him to look at this thread, too....

Thanks again

[Golden Gate 530]

No problem! You're lucky to be able to get away for 5 weeks! Another thing I should mention - my husband did any of the stuff he could before I got there. I scanned and/or emailed and/or sent him any documents I could ahead of time, including my passport, birth certificate, letters from my job and bank,

What letter did you need from the bank? And can you tell me what papers did he need for himself in Morocco? Thanks for all the information. It is so helpful!

Regards,

Lisa

[msheesha 548]

I haven't booked the flight yet, but I am looking to leave January 3rd arriving there the 4th - I live in Las Vegas so the 2nd is hard to get out on. Then I'll be coming back on February 10th or 11th (haven't decided yet) depends on the flights. I plan on booking closer to the dates - 3 months out as I usually do. Great tip on sending the papers in advance! I was contemplating that. How soon did you send them? Are the translations only good for a period of time? I haven't figured out yet how to PM a person yet...lol sorry I'm working on that. I do have a lot of questions, though... Thanks for your help, my fiance works 7 days a week and doesn't have much time to do any of the research, yet. He knows there's a lot of translating, but we don't know all of the papers that are required of me other than what is shown on the Consulate website - I know it also depends on the Adouhl(?). I told him to look at this thread, too....

Thanks again

We were denied the K1 at the end of one month, and married by the end of the next month. So, I don't know about expiration dates for paperwork because we were married quickly. I had my criminal clearance ready because I always need a current one for my job.

I'm not sure what you mean about something depending on the adoul. What would depend on the adoul? In our situation, the adoul only provided us with my certificate of religion, and then registered our marriage once we got the paperwork from the court saying we were married. The court/s (there are two courts we had to go to - a small one and a large one) seemed to decide what we needed, and the police can also require additional information, if they choose.

As I remember it, I didn't need anything other than what was listed on the consulate website. I think though, that I checked the American consulate in Casa website AND the Moroccan consulate in NY website, and made sure I had everything on BOTH lists. If my memory serves me correctly (and it may not!!) the certificate of religion wasn't on the American consulate in Casa website but was on the Moroccan consulate in NY website. So, my memory is that I checked both and made sure I had everything that both websites said.

[SweetHome_Alabama 5]

We had to furnish an English translator as well! It had to be someone "OTHER" than him or me of course...In Eljadida they made sure I was aware of what I was signing and also if I understood I could have provisions list in the marriage deed, etc and if the DOWRY was agreed upon. We had to find our own Arabic/English translator and we also had to find two Abdous on our own...they did not furnish them. You may want to check with his city on this as well so you can be prepared. That alone cost us a day of running around and waiting on the Abdous' schedules and going back and forth to offices.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Lisa_Mohammed

[msheesha 548]

We had to furnish an English translator as well! It had to be someone "OTHER" than him or me of course...In Eljadida they made sure I was aware of what I was signing and also if I understood I could have provisions list in the marriage deed, etc and if the DOWRY was agreed upon. We had to find our own Arabic/English translator and we also had to find two Abdous on our own...they did not furnish them. You may want to check with his city on this as well so you can be prepared. That alone cost us a day of running around and waiting on the Abdous' schedules and going back and forth to offices.

The adoul we used another adoul as the 2nd witness who spoke English. He made sure of all of the things you mentioned above. But, you're right, if we han't used the adoul who used a 2nd witness adoul who spoke English, I don't know if they would have made us find our own.

I tried to post a reply before about the bank statement question - that was just overkill on my part. I didn't want anything to go wrong, and I think I had it anyway leftover from affadavit of support paperwork, so I took it alon.

For those who are planning to get married there, I highly recommend your fiance doing some research/legwork in advance of you getting there. My husband found out in advance all of the papers he needed, where we had to go, what we had to do, etc. He chose an adoul and translator in advance as well, and as I mentioned, had some of my paperwork translated before I got there. That all made it smoother.

[Happytobe 164]

On behalf of us who are in the planning stages.... THANK YOU! to all of those who have ventured this path. And Congrats! (belated of course)

[Golden Gate 530]

Appreciate very much all the information you have all provided. Thank you.

-Lisa

[moroccan love 0]

Thank you all for the information. I have found it depends on the city and how organized you can be on the timeline, but then again, everything is ever changing there too. We are praying for a two week turn around. IF not, then I will have to leave and return and that is going to be costly.

In Casa, did you already have the copy made of your passport or did they do it?

Is the stamp needed more than just in Rabat?

Did anyone else have to have an Arabic to English translation?

I already have the paper who receive in Casa, although it doesn't take anytime. Is it true your time is spent in Rabat and waiting for the courts in the city you will be married?

I am hoping we can do this in October or November so I am trying to get it all together.

Exactly what needs to be translated? I have heard everything and then I heard only some things.

THANK YOU AGAIN