Issue collecting Marriage Certificate from Oman

[Rusal 8]

I figured I would post here because I'm not sure where else to turn at the moment. I'm a U.S. citizen who got married last month in Oman to my wife who is a Bangladeshi foreigner (under a Residence visa). We are trying to collect the marriage certificate from the authorities in Oman but they keep asking for some kind of a support letter from the U.S. Embassy that acknowledges the marriage or indicates that they have no objection with the marriage that took place. Essentially they want the U.S. embassy to request for the release the marriage certificate on my behalf. I don't understand why we are being requested for this, but I talked to the embassy and they asked me to send an email with the details. I sent an email to them explaining our situation, and the response I got from them is "We cannot issue such letter from the Consulate". They didn't provide any explanation nor any possible solution. So I'm not sure what to do now. Our marriage contract was signed on our wedding day by Omani officiants, along with the proper witness signatures and everything. I don't know what these formalities are, but at this point I am not even sure if we are considered legally married at all. Has anyone had to deal with something like this?

[SteveInBostonI130 3,434]

If it is like some other countries, they are probably looking for a letter or statement from the US embassy that you are legally free to marry.

[SteveInBostonI130 3,434]

It seems you need a sworn affidavit stating you are free to marry and probably notarized at the US embassy.   The embassy itselt does not certify that you are legally free to marry, but they should be able to notarize your statement.

[Rusal 8]

23 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

It seems you need a sworn affidavit stating you are free to marry and probably notarized at the US embassy.   The embassy itselt does not certify that you are legally free to marry, but they should be able to notarize your statement.

Getting a sworn affidavit notarized at the embassy probably means that I have to be physically present, right? If so, that would be really difficult at the moment since I'm back in the U.S. and Oman has some pretty intense COVID-19 quarantine procedures and rules. I'm wondering whether it is possible to get the affidavit notarized from within the US somehow and then send it over to my wife in Oman. 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Rusal

[HKS 169]

1 hour ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

If it is like some other countries, they are probably looking for a letter or statement from the US embassy that you are legally free to marry.

I agree that this is what they are looking for. We got married in a third country in the  Middle East. We both had to go to our country’s Embassies for proof that we were free to marry. The reason for this is that there are many countries that allow more than one spouse. America only recognizes one legal marriage. 

was your marriage registered with the Oman government?  The ‘contract’ is usually different than the government register. Hopefully, someone from Oman can confirm this. 

[Rusal 8]

7 minutes ago, HKS said:

I agree that this is what they are looking for. We got married in a third country in the  Middle East. We both had to go to our country’s Embassies for proof that we were free to marry. The reason for this is that there are many countries that allow more than one spouse. America only recognizes one legal marriage. 

was your marriage registered with the Oman government?  The ‘contract’ is usually different than the government register. Hopefully, someone from Oman can confirm this. 

That is what I am unclear about as well, my father-in-law has been getting the appropriate stamps on the contract necessary for us to be able to obtain the certificate. So I don't know if that actually means it is registered with government yet or not. I think that it gets registered at the moment the Marriage certificate is officially released, but I am not sure.

 

Also, how did you obtain the proof that you were free to marry? Did you draft some affidavit or did you obtain something from the embassy?

[HKS 169]

Just now, Rusal said:

That is what I am unclear about as well, my father-in-law has been getting the appropriate stamps on the contract necessary for us to be able to obtain the certificate. So I don't know if that actually means it is registered with government yet or not. I think that it gets registered at the moment the Marriage certificate is officially released, but I am not sure.

 

Also, how did you obtain the proof that you were free to marry? Did you draft some affidavit or did you obtain something from the embassy?

Each of our Embassies required certain documents. You would have to contact the embassy to find out exactly what u need. . Stuff like birth certificate, passport, divorce papers if you have been previously married, I think a form they gave me to fill out to distinguish me from someone else that may have similar name (parents names, place of birth, alias, etc), ss card, drivers license, etc. I had to bring a stack of documents. The embassy took the documents, went into some database on a computer and researched a bunch of stuff. They then called me back to window, asked me a bunch of questions about my fiancé, why we were in third country, if I am entering into the marriage willingly, am I being trafficked, do I need help, am I telling the truth, where are we going to get married, etc. They made me swear an oath that this was my statement and sign a document that they prepared and notarized. I can’t remember how much it cost, but it wasnt much. Maybe $50. 
Im not sure how easy it would be to get now that most Embassies are not providing notary services due to COVID. And yes I had to do it in person. 
I had to take that document to the registry and take an oath with my spouse and sign a huge oversized ornate book with our pictures attached. We got the legal documents a few days later. 
 

I have no idea if this is something that can be done after the fact in Oman. We were not allowed to marry without this document 

[Rusal 8]

8 minutes ago, HKS said:

Each of our Embassies required certain documents. You would have to contact the embassy to find out exactly what u need. . Stuff like birth certificate, passport, divorce papers if you have been previously married, I think a form they gave me to fill out to distinguish me from someone else that may have similar name (parents names, place of birth, alias, etc), ss card, drivers license, etc. I had to bring a stack of documents. The embassy took the documents, went into some database on a computer and researched a bunch of stuff. They then called me back to window, asked me a bunch of questions about my fiancé, why we were in third country, if I am entering into the marriage willingly, am I being trafficked, do I need help, am I telling the truth, where are we going to get married, etc. They made me swear an oath that this was my statement and sign a document that they prepared and notarized. I can’t remember how much it cost, but it wasnt much. Maybe $50. 
Im not sure how easy it would be to get now that most Embassies are not providing notary services due to COVID. And yes I had to do it in person. 
I had to take that document to the registry and take an oath with my spouse and sign a huge oversized ornate book with our pictures attached. We got the legal documents a few days later. 
 

I have no idea if this is something that can be done after the fact in Oman. We were not allowed to marry without this document 

Oh wow. I had no idea of these formalities. When I called the embassy two days ago, they didn't even mention anything like this at all. All they did was ask me to send them an email with what I am looking for. Sigh...