Nigerian CR-1 Marriage Certificate Requirement

[emekus94 1,125]

My Nigerian friends

@dwheels76 and all others with advice-

 

A friend is about to get married next month. He is an American citizen- going to Nigeria to get married.

Question: He is getting married in the catholic church. He wants to know if the marriage certificate he is getting from the catholic church suffices to file for his wife when he returns to the States. Or would he have to go to the court in Ikoyi and get a marriage certificate there.

Is his Catholic marriage certificate recognized for immigration? (I recall something saying no-- but I personally didn't do the CR-1 route and wouldn't want to give bad advice).

 

Thanks!

[Verrou 1,962]

Catholic marriage doesn’t mean it’s legal if it’s not together with civil marriage. 

[randy32 165]

For the church to give you a valid certificate, it has to be a "registered place of marriage" (not sure if I get the phrase correct). Lots of small churches are not.

If it is, then a certificate issued there will also be registered with the registry at the state where the marriage takes place.

 

If the church is not a "registered place of marriage" then he can do a civil wedding at the registry closest to where he is. He does not have to go to Ikoyi

 

[emekus94 1,125]

27 minutes ago, Misscloud said:

Catholic marriage doesn’t mean it’s legal if it’s not together with civil marriage. 

 

22 minutes ago, randy32 said:

For the church to give you a valid certificate, it has to be a "registered place of marriage" (not sure if I get the phrase correct). Lots of small churches are not.

If it is, then a certificate issued there will also be registered with the registry at the state where the marriage takes place.

 

If the church is not a "registered place of marriage" then he can do a civil wedding at the registry closest to where he is. He does not have to go to Ikoyi

 

Thank you both for replying.

Let me clarify a bit-
the Catholic Church will issue him a valid certificate that is legal in Nigeria. It also will be registered with the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The concern is that with Nigeria being a high fraud country, he's not sure if he also needs  a civil marriage for immigration purposes
but in the country, his Catholic marriage certificate will grant him all the rights of marriage as that certificate will be registered 

[Boiler 45,467]

Is this his first visit?

[emekus94 1,125]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Is this his first visit?

No
This will be his second visit

They have been dating since 2018
He was supposed to visit in 2020 before his residency began but COVID happened so here he is. He's got a tight schedule with residency so hence the urgency in my question
Because he's worried that if he also needs to make a stop at Ikoyi, he needs to figure out how to do it with his only 2 weeks visit time

[Troy B 223]

refer to Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country for Nigeria for the exact requirements for Nigeria.

[powerpuff 6,697]

~ Moved from IR1/CR1 Progress Reports to Regional discussion Africa: Sub Saharan as the question is specific to Nigerian marriage certificates  ~

[randy32 165]

16 hours ago, emekus94 said:

 

Thank you both for replying.

Let me clarify a bit-
the Catholic Church will issue him a valid certificate that is legal in Nigeria. It also will be registered with the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The concern is that with Nigeria being a high fraud country, he's not sure if he also needs  a civil marriage for immigration purposes
but in the country, his Catholic marriage certificate will grant him all the rights of marriage as that certificate will be registered 

 

Simply put, if the church as in local church is not registered, then the certificate will not be valid.

This is info the local church will have. It does not have to do with the "Catholic Church". Fraud does not have anything to do with this. That's just the way their system is setup.

 

In Nigeria, they have several marriage ceremonies that can be performed.

The most important is the traditional, I don't know of anyone getting a certificate after this one but even the church considers this one important

Then you have the white (church), this can fulfill but church and civil if done in a church or by a pastor who belongs to a church that is a "registered place of marriage"

Finally civil, this is usually the least expensive, can be done with less fanfare, usually at the court, also this is done by those who don't want to do the white and want to get a marriage certificate.

 

If your friend is getting married to a Nigerian, I think that you should let him/her have their spouse deal with this in Nigeria because it is easier and less complicated than it is beginning to feel here.

[emekus94 1,125]

16 hours ago, Troy B said:

refer to Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country for Nigeria for the exact requirements for Nigeria.

Thank you