Wedding Seychelles – Legal Recognition in other countries
your beach wedding in the seychelles
Getting married in Seychelles
The Seychelles are not just a scenic paradise. The Seychelles also make it paradisiacally easy for those wishing to get married in Seychelles when it comes to the legal recognition of marriages concluded in the Seychelles in the couple’s home country!
If you want to get married in the Maldives , for example, you face a problem: a legally binding marriage in the Maldives is only possible if both parties to the marriage are devout Muslims. In the Maldives, Europeans can only celebrate a so-called “symbolic ceremony”. However, this does not mean that you are married! The symbolic marriage has no legal effect. How easy it is to get married in the beautiful Seychelles:
Regardless of whether you live in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France or any other country, your marriage in the Seychelles will be recognized in your country of residence without any problems or restrictions!
What do you need for a wedding in the Seychelles?
The bureaucratic effort is also negligible in the Seychelles. You only need to obtain two documents – namely numbers 1) and 3) below – before you can legally celebrate your wedding in the Seychelles. However, if one of you has already been married to someone else, you will also need numbers 2) and 4):
1) Your international birth certificates
You can obtain your birth certificates from the registry office in your place of birth. Example: You were born in Hamburg but now live in Munich. Then you must apply for the birth certificate at the registry office in Hamburg.
In most cases, you can apply for this document online. So you don’t have to travel to your birth registry office in person, you can simply order the document online. But be sure to note the following information:
It must be an international birth certificate. “International” means that all information on the certificate is also contained in English. A birth certificate on which everything is only written in German is not recognized in the Seychelles. It is therefore imperative that you point out that you need the international (English-language) version.
Important note: This document must not be older than six months at the time of your marriage! Example: If you want to get married in the Seychelles on 11.11.2024, the document may be issued on 12.05.2024 at the earliest! You should therefore apply for the document at the earliest six months before your wedding. To make sure that nobody snatches away your desired date in the Seychelles, I will be happy to reserve your desired wedding date and time well in advance at the Seychelles registry office. You are also welcome to do this 2-3 years in advance if you wish. This reservation is of course free of charge and non-binding.
2) The international certificate of no impediment to marriage
The so-called “certificate of no impediment to marriage” – which must also be written in English! – you only need if you were previously married and are now divorced. Please apply for this certificate at the registry office of your current place of residence. There are various regional names for this somewhat old-fashioned-sounding document, some of which seem even more old-fashioned – for example “certificate of marital status”, “certificate of unmarried status” or even “certificate of celibacy”. The Seychelles registry office uses the English term “Celibacy Certificate” or – more commonly – “Non-impediment Certificate”.
This document confirms that you are not already married to someone else at the same time and are therefore not practicing bigamy. Here too, the document must not be more than six months old on the day of your marriage. And once again the important note: It must be written in ENGLISH!
3) Copies of your passports
A copy of your passport. A copy of the page on which your photo is shown is sufficient, as this page contains all the necessary data. However, you should definitely check that your passport is still valid for at least six months on the day you wish to leave the Seychelles after your wedding. Example: You would like to get married on 11.11.2024, but only leave the Seychelles on 03.12.2024. In this case, your passport must be valid until at least 03.06.2024. If it is no longer valid for long enough, you must apply for a new passport in good time before your trip to the Seychelles. Please bear in mind that it may take several weeks before you receive your new passport.
4) The divorce decree
The divorce certificate is only required if one of you was previously married. If you are widowed and the previous marriage ended due to the death of the spouse, you will need the death certificate of the previous spouse instead or alternatively the “widow’s certificate”. This document will probably not be available in English. You must therefore have it translated into English in your home country by a translator who certifies the translation with his or her stamp and signature. You can find a translator like this in almost every city. Google is a great help here!
And that’s it with the necessary papers! If you have any more detailed questions, I will be happy to put you in touch with the Seychelles registry office. You can contact them at any time by e-mail in English or French. If one of you was born in a (non-European) country, the procedure may be slightly more complicated. But believe me: so far I have been able to get all nationalities “under the hood” in the Seychelles! 😍
All the necessary documents for your wedding in the Seychelles:
Here is a short version of the documents required for your wedding in the Seychelles:
- International birth certificate (no more than six months old on the date of marriage)
- International certificate of eligibility for marriage (“celibacy certificate”), if you have been married before
- Passport (valid for at least six months on departure from the Seychelles)
- If you were previously married, also the divorce certificate or, if applicable, the death certificate of the deceased partner (with English translation)
Oh yes – one more important note: Many websites state that the couple must arrive in the Seychelles at least three days before the planned wedding. This is not correct!
In general, you can still get married on the day of your arrival in the Seychelles, provided that you have submitted all the above-mentioned documents in advance of your trip and there have been no objections in this regard. However, I would highly recommend that you arrive in the Seychelles several days before the wedding. There are several reasons for this:
Firstly, you can settle in a little, get used to the minimal time difference (two or three hours to CET) and give your body a little time to get used to the change in climate. On the other hand, we can meet with the wedding organizer a few days before your wedding and discuss all the details of your dream wedding.
... But back to the documents:
As soon as you have all the papers together, send them by email to the local registrar in the Seychelles. She will then check everything for completeness and give you the “green light” within a few days, provided everything was complete and in order. She will also send you a one-page form (“Civil Marriage Registration Form”), which you must fill out by hand. In addition to your name, you will also be asked about your profession (if in doubt, ask Google for the correct English name of your profession), your religious affiliation (e.g. Catholic or Protestant or simply “no religious affiliation”), your address in the Seychelles (name of the hotel) and a few other things. You can either fill out this form in advance at home and send it to the registrar by e-mail – or we can fill it out together at our meeting with the wedding organizer on site. It is therefore completely sufficient if this document is filled out just a few days or even hours before the wedding.
The actual wedding ceremony in the Seychelles only takes about ten minutes and is held in English. I will be happy to send you the short English text (the so-called “wedding vows”), which you have to repeat to the registrar, in advance so that you can read it and even memorize it if you wish. Just don’t be afraid if you don’t really speak English. With a few basic English skills, you’ll get by just fine. If you don’t speak English at all, we recommend booking a translator on site. This booking – as well as any other extras you may wish for, such as booking a romantic wedding dinner on the beach under the stars – can be made directly through the wedding planner on site.
You will usually receive your apostille – the document that certifies that you got legally married in the Seychelles – directly to your hotel from the wedding organizer on the next working day after your wedding. He will also bring his cost breakdown with him. Payment to the organizer is therefore only to be made after the wedding (no deposit is required in advance) and is only possible in cash. It is up to you whether you pay with Seychelles rupees, which you can withdraw from a vending machine in the Seychelles, or with euro bills (which you cannot get in the Seychelles and would therefore have to bring with you from Europe). However, only cash payment is possible. Incidentally, euro cash is very popular in the Seychelles. The situation is different with the US dollar, which is not really common in the Seychelles.
But back to the apostille: If you change the island on which you got married shortly after the wedding and travel to the main island of Mahé or to Praslin, Silhouette or wherever else in the Seychelles, this is not a problem. The document will be forwarded to you free of charge within the Seychelles.
In the event that you leave the Seychelles directly after your wedding, I will be happy to take the document with me to Germany for you at the time of my return journey and then send it to you by post. You then take this document to the registry office in your place of residence and register the marriage in your home country.
Incidentally, as things stand (July 2024), same-sex couples cannot enter into a legally binding marriage in the Seychelles. However, it is not unlikely that this will change in the coming years.
