Getting married in Cambodia

Hi anavrin1004 and welcome to Expat.com!

Browsing through the different threads of the forum might help you.

Harmonie.

Not that I know of. Especially for foreigners it's a long and expensive process. You have to get your certificates from your embassy, then apply for a marriage license from the local Sangkat office, and they require medical checks etc. The process shouldn't cost anything but at every step people wanted paying off. And then when it comes to the final stages they can just say no. It's much easier to get married in Thailand.

Hi samantha,

we are also going to thailand next month.
any idea on how is the process in having a quick hustle free marriage in thailand??

Hope you could help.

I myself will be beginning the process of marrying my Khmer fiancée of 2 years soon, the below information is up to date, I am not sure of the exact prices for everything yet as information is hard to obtain here, but from friends who have married here I understand that it is not cheap and could end up costing a couple thousand dollars (without the wedding). Some people have a local wedding ceremony, but don't go through the legal process (many over 50's seem to be doing this due to the age restriction on foreigners marrying a Khmer woman).   Legal Require­ments for Get­ting Mar­ried in Cambodia
Allot­ted time:

Allow at least 31–52 days from arrival in Cam­bo­dia to wed­ding date to process paper­work (21 days of res­i­dency, 10 days before a wed­ding cer­e­mony can pro­ceed and an addi­tional 3 weeks to post Inten­tion to Marry, unless a Cer­tifi­cate of No Imped­i­ment has been obtained pre­vi­ously in your home coun­try). We rec­om­mend giv­ing your­self more time due to prepa­ra­tion, week­ends, hol­i­days or unex­pected delays.



Nec­es­sary legal documents:

Please note that all doc­u­ments must be sub­mit­ted in Cam­bo­dian (Khmer) or Eng­lish. Con­tact the Embassy in your home coun­try or your Embassy in Cam­bo­dia for an autho­rized trans­la­tor.  If your doc­u­ments are trans­lated, be pre­pared to sub­mit the orig­i­nal copies in your native lan­guage for ver­i­fi­ca­tion as well as the trans­lated version.
•Cer­ti­fied copy of birth certificates
•Valid Pass­ports and cer­ti­fied copies (obtained from your Embassy in Cam­bo­dia or the Cam­bo­dian Embassy in your res­i­dent country)
•Visas and photocopies
•Cer­tifi­cate of No Impediment*/Affidavit of Sin­gle Status
•Affi­davit of Mar­riage (sworn at the Civil Reg­istry Office in Cam­bo­dia before the Con­sol or Vice-Consol)
•Crim­i­nal Records
•Cer­tifi­cate on Pro­fes­sion (show­ing monthly income)
•Divorce or death cer­tifi­cates, if applicable
•Med­ical Cer­tifi­cate from Cal­mette Hos­pi­tal in Phnom Penh
•Mar­riage Appli­ca­tion Form (a sim­i­lar form exists for two for­eign­ers apply­ing for mar­riage in Cam­bo­dia): A writ­ten request for mar­riage appli­ca­tions must be sent to the Min­istry of For­eign Affairs. You will need to know the area or province that you plan to marry. The appli­ca­tion lists sup­port­ing doc­u­ments that must be attached to the appli­ca­tion. Some of these doc­u­ments may need to be legal­ized at the couple's Embassy in Cam­bo­dia or prior to leav­ing at the Cam­bo­dian Embassy in your res­i­dent coun­try. Upon approval of the bride and groom's appli­ca­tion, the appli­ca­tion must then be sub­mit­ted to the Civil Registrar.

Legal require­ments to get mar­ried:
•Cer­e­mony (Civil/Religious)

Civil and reli­gious wed­dings are legally rec­og­nized wed­dings pre­formed in Cam­bo­dia. The cer­e­mony is pre­formed in Cam­bo­dian. If either party does not speak Cam­bo­dian,
an inter­preter should be hired.
•Age and Relation

The bride must be at least 18 years of age. The groom must be at least 20 years of age. They can­not be related by blood, mar­riage or adoption.

Note: Non-Cambodian Male Cit­i­zens plan­ning to marry a Cam­bo­dian woman must be no older than 50 years of age, with a monthly income that gen­er­ates a min­i­mum of USD $2,500.
•Wit­nesses

Two wit­nesses over 18 years of age must be present for the cer­e­mony and pro­vide their passports.
•Reg­istry

Both par­ties must stay within the dis­trict of their Embassy or Con­sulate in Cam­bo­dia for 21 days prior to fil­ing a Notice of Inten­tion to Marry. We rec­om­mend mak­ing an appoint­ment in advance with the Con­sol or Vice-Consol, to be assured that you can deliver, in per­son, your oath of inten­tion to marry upon the com­ple­tion of your 21 day res­i­dency (this does not include the day you arrived).



Note: Take all paper­work and pho­to­copies of each to your Embassy and Civil Reg­istry Office in Cambodia.

At least 10 days prior to the wed­ding and 21 full days since your arrival in Cam­bo­dia, you will need to file your Notice of Inten­tion to Marry with the Civil Reg­istry Office. You will need to know where you will marry and who you plan to use as your mar­riage offi­cer. Here, you will also com­plete and sign an Affi­davit of Mar­riage.



Finally the Notice of Inten­tion to Marry will be posted, at the Con­sulate, for 3 weeks. Pend­ing objec­tions, your Embassy can pro­vide you with a Let­ter of No Imped­i­ment to Mar­riage. Bride and groom will show pass­ports and/or divorce or death certificates.

British Cit­i­zens can shorten their wait­ing period by apply­ing for a Super­in­ten­dent Cer­tifi­cate of No Imped­i­ment prior to leav­ing for Cam­bo­dia. You would apply at the Reg­is­trar in your res­i­dent dis­trict of the United Kingdom.

Mar­riage certificate:
•Wed­dings must be reg­is­tered with the Civil Reg­istry Office in order to be rec­og­nized. Offi­cers can come to your wed­ding to sign doc­u­men­ta­tion. The new­ly­weds will give their thumbprints to reg­is­ter and receive their Mar­riage Certificate.
•Mar­riage Cer­tifi­cates are issued from the Cheif of Com­mune, from the region in which the wed­ding cer­e­mony takes place.

*A Cer­tifi­cate of No Imped­i­ment, is also known as a Sin­gle Sta­tus Affi­davit, Sin­gle Sta­tus Statu­tory Dec­la­ra­tion, Cer­tifi­cate of No Record,  a Cer­tifi­cate of Legal Capac­ity to Con­tract Mar­riage, Cer­tifi­cate of Nulla Osta or a Cer­tifi­cate de cou­tume (plus an MP2A form).



Note: This infor­ma­tion can change at any given moment.

Cambodia Marriage Registrar's Office
Phnom Penh Capital Hall
# 69, Preah Monivong Blvd., Sangkat Srah
Chak, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh

Cambodia
Tel/Fax:  +855 23 430 681   +855 23 430 681