Getting married in Saudi Arabia

There is a good number of foreigners who got married here. Like me, 90% of my countrymate colleagues got married here.

Just like many other things, the procedures are damn simple if both from the couple are from the same country. However, some embassy paperwork must be done if they are from 2 different nationalities.

I'll be glad to help out anyone willing to get my assitant on direction/comprehending the complete procedure. Here is a post which I contributed to in details:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=119491

The knowledge area bleak to me is: How 2 non-muslims can get married in KSA?...I'm completely clueless. Can someone help?

I hear it is very difficult for a Saudi national to marry an expatriate (legally) - Is this true?

No it's not.
Yes, the regulations changed a lot. It's not easy now for expat ladies to get Saudi nationality on marrying a local. They remain expats. Is this  because of the regulations or is this intentional in most cases; I'm not sure at all.

Btw, what do mean by 'legally'??? Aren't marriages always legal?

As far as I know, if an Saudi national marries outside of KSA to an expat, it can cause legal issues (like not being recognized in KSA)
   
And... aside from the difficulties from the legal aspect- there is also the cultural aspect. Would love to hear some stories about mixed marriages

Have some time to go though this long one here:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=18191

I'm sure you won't for anymore

I have her on my Facebook lol I met her through that thread

hmmm....!

Well my opinion:
I'm pessimistic about only a few matters including this one; and I don't know why all bad examples always come to me

I can introduce you to a person who is married to 4 gals from Morroco simultaneously; and you know all 4 live together? Unimagineable (at least for me) polygamy example; right?

And let the other long long stories stay with me.....

Yes, there are some happy stories as well. I doubt very very few.

TheLegendLeads wrote:

The knowledge area bleak to me is: How 2 non-muslims can get married in KSA?...I'm completely clueless. Can someone help?

I know a lot of non-muslims getting married here in KSA...but the rites are done by an embassy consul, or those who has the legal capacity to do so (like pastors or priests)...the steps (license application, documents required, etc.) would be similar to our local procedures (Philippines) done via local embassy here as well.

Ceremonies would probably take place in some Isteraha, or any place preferred by the couples.

Assalam-0-Alaikum,

My name is Zoheb i am an indian and i am working in saudi arabia (madina),
i am planning to marry a pakistani girl here in saudi arabia,right now she is in pakistan with her family,they will come for umrah over here,can you tell me what are the procedure for marrying here and what all documentation needs to be done over here.
awaiting for your reply.

zaiibii wrote:

Assalam-0-Alaikum,

My name is Zoheb i am an indian and i am working in saudi arabia (madina),
i am planning to marry a pakistani girl here in saudi arabia,right now she is in pakistan with her family,they will come for umrah over here,can you tell me what are the procedure for marrying here and what all documentation needs to be done over here.
awaiting for your reply.

Go thro this, Might be helpful,

http://www.indianembassy.org.sa/Content … 38&PID=687

How can you say its not difficult?can you elaborate more.ill wait thanks and best regards....

TheLegendLeads wrote:

No it's not.
Yes, the regulations changed a lot. It's not easy now for expat ladies to get Saudi nationality on marrying a local. They remain expats. Is this  because of the regulations or is this intentional in most cases; I'm not sure at all.

Btw, what do mean by 'legally'??? Aren't marriages always legal?

I am a Pakistani national and under the process of getting married to a Saudi National. Its not difficult but yet too lenghty process, its been 6 months and still under process.....

As salamualykum. Should both have an iqama? I have been working here for 5 months now and just found out my company is on the red zone so they haven't issued my iqama. they only agveme a signed paper that it is in the process by my company. Will this be a hindrance with my marriage? Although I am a muslim I know it is easy also but I am worried about the papers and how long will it take to process. Please help me.

Aminah

TheLegendLeads wrote:

There is a good number of foreigners who got married here. Like me, 90% of my countrymate colleagues got married here.

Just like many other things, the procedures are damn simple if both from the couple are from the same country. However, some embassy paperwork must be done if they are from 2 different nationalities.

I'll be glad to help out anyone willing to get my assitant on direction/comprehending the complete procedure. Here is a post which I contributed to in details:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=119491

The knowledge area bleak to me is: How 2 non-muslims can get married in KSA?...I'm completely clueless. Can someone help?

Im filipina working in Saudi Arabia.I have American fiancee who also working in Saudi Arabia. We are planning to get married here before going to take vacation in Philippines by November. We are planning to get married here by August. I just want to ask, where can we get married, in Philippine Embassy? how? what are the requirements needed?Thank you very much.

Myra

I am getting married in saudi arabia, im not saudi and my future wife is not saudi.. a friend told me i have to go to the court to register my self and the girl im going to marry before nikah then the court gives a paper giving permission to go ahead with the nikah. i just want to know if this is true, and how long does this procedure take?

yours faithfully

talib1

Im planning to get married with my syrian fiancee and im a filipino. ..can u help me what are the procedures and my problem is im not a Muslim...is it possible for us to get married in saudi?

rubie28 wrote:

Im planning to get married with my syrian fiancee and im a filipino. ..can u help me what are the procedures and my problem is im not a Muslim...is it possible for us to get married in saudi?

Check with your embassy and they can arrange for marriage for you.

HI
[moderated]

Arc.khan wrote:

HI
How r u hope u will be fine.I am architect presently work in Saudi Arabia. I want to married in Saudi Arabia with any cast of Muslims gilrs.if you are interested me please contact me via email.

Expat-Blog is not a matrimonial site. Please set hopes

Ehtesham wrote:

I am a Pakistani national and under the process of getting married to a Saudi National. Its not difficult but yet too lenghty process, its been 6 months and still under process.....

Congratulations Ehtesham!......

rubie28 wrote:

Im planning to get married with my syrian fiancee and im a filipino. ..can u help me what are the procedures and my problem is im not a Muslim...is it possible for us to get married in saudi?

Yes, go to the embassy and they will give you the details, you just need the proof of your singel-ness in NSO paper, and they have to post your pictures and details for about 10 days before you could set a date of marriage.

After the wedding,
1. make sure to have your marriage certificate translated,
2. the translation authenticated by the embassy
3. then by chamber of commerce,
4. and then by the ministry of foreign affairs saudi.

can saudi woman marry with non saudi esp. indian or pakistani, can some one share experience, is it long going one or unsuccessfull, as after marriage the bride has to live with her husband, of course has to go pakistan or india in case job moves there. please share some experiences if you hear such, would be really helpful for everyone.

hi , im a filipina but im currently working in saudi arabia . i have a yemini boyfriend who wants to marry me here.my question is.. is it true that we have to go to philippine embassy to process our papers? and is it true that its leagal and valid in my country? pls i need your response ..

chryzamina wrote:

hi , im a filipina but im currently working in saudi arabia . i have a yemini boyfriend who wants to marry me here.my question is.. is it true that we have to go to philippine embassy to process our papers? and is it true that its leagal and valid in my country? pls i need your response ..

i can only share what you need for the philippine embassy,  of course, your marriage is legal if you do it at our embassy,.

well, yes, you have to go to the philippine embassy and present your NSO certificate of Singleness / the certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR), 

they would then process your papers and post it for 10 days, if no one goes against your planned wedding, then you can select the date of wedding, to be held in the embassy.

i don't know what they would require for having a foreign husband, their embassy would probably require a separate set of papers.

getting married at the philippine embassy is as good as getting married in the philippines, your marriage will take about 8 months for complete registration with out government, after such time, you may request a copy of your marriage certificate from NSO that is printed in the Official NSO paper.

during the wedding, you will sign 4 original marriage certificates, 3 copies will go to the embassy, 1 will be your copy, as official as it can be, for you to keep

but you need to photocopy it, and have the photocopy authenticated and translated at the embassy, and then get
chamber of commerce stamp on the translation and stamp with ministry of interior, around 30 riyals each stamp... and you're good to present it everywhere in the Kingdom!

congratulations!

i was too excited to reply to your post, didn't realize i already posted the process before, hahaha...

Hi there,,

Where can I get the CENOMAR?

TheLegendLeads wrote:

The knowledge area bleak to me is: How 2 non-muslims can get married in KSA?...I'm completely clueless. Can someone help?

I'm a Filipina and my husband is American. We both worked in Riyadh last year and decided to get married. We went to Bahrain to have our civil wedding there under the Ministry of Justice.

Embassies are not allowed/ do not to conduct wedding ceremony if the parties are from different countries

and... Ministry of Justice in Saudi also do not allow non-muslims to get married there... at least one must convert.

Thanks for the info.. so this means if both parties are muslim but of different nationality we can get marry through ministry of justice? And please tell me what other formalities I need to do in the embassy so that our marriage will be registered in the Philippines. Again thanks.. I hope you can still reply here.

Yep! after that go to our Embassy have it authenticated and REGISTERED! I wasnt able to register it in our Embassy in Bahrain... I registered it here in the Philippines last July so I have to wait for 2 months for the processing... so that NSO will have a copy.

SO TELL THOSE PEOPLE IN OUR EMBASSY THAT YOU NEED THE AUTHENTICATION AND REGISTRATION!!! I'm not mad hahaha I just want you to make sure that our "VERY EFFICIENT" EMBASSY there will register it here then after 2 months or 1 month call the NSO office here in the Philippines request for your marriage certificate and if it's negative go again to our embassy there in Saudi and follow up it!

Don't follow my mistakes lol

I'm scared with the embassy thing hahhahaha. I mean on how they process papers. Let's just see what will happen next. Again, Thanks a lot!

Marrying a Saudi is not easy especially if the girl is Saudi in which case it will be practically impossible. People say "oh yes you can and it is allowed" but there are so many ifs and buts in it. Government goes out of the way to make sure non Saudi don't marry a Saudi.

Hi everyone!

I'm a South African currently working in Riyadh whilst my fiance (Chilean) is studying in Sweden. We are thinking about getting married here in Saudi (the legal side) so that she can come over and visit me for a few weeks and then after my contract we will do the official wedding.

Can anyone help me on this process and how it would work exactly? is there a fiance visa that I could bring her over on? How long does the paperwork process take etc.

Thanks so much for any help!

J

JohnnoL wrote:

Hi everyone!

I'm a South African currently working in Riyadh whilst my fiance (Chilean) is studying in Sweden. We are thinking about getting married here in Saudi (the legal side) so that she can come over and visit me for a few weeks and then after my contract we will do the official wedding.

Can anyone help me on this process and how it would work exactly? is there a fiance visa that I could bring her over on? How long does the paperwork process take etc.

Thanks so much for any help!

J

Not possible, you need to marry her and then get her as dependent either on visit or on permanent family visa. In order for the saudi embassy to process the visas , the need for a marriage certificate is a must.

HRGuru wrote:

JohnnoL wrote:

Hi everyone!

I'm a South African currently working in Riyadh whilst my fiance (Chilean) is studying in Sweden. We are thinking about getting married here in Saudi (the legal side) so that she can come over and visit me for a few weeks and then after my contract we will do the official wedding.

Can anyone help me on this process and how it would work exactly? is there a fiance visa that I could bring her over on? How long does the paperwork process take etc.

Thanks so much for any help!

J

Not possible, you need to marry her and then get her as dependent either on visit or on permanent family visa. In order for the saudi embassy to process the visas , the need for a marriage certificate is a must.

Ok thanks for clearing that up. Would it be possible to get married in Bahrain even though the both of us would be there as tourists and not residents?

Thanks!

John,
Scroll a bit up and see this: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 70#1471540

Mabella26 wrote:

TheLegendLeads wrote:

The knowledge area bleak to me is: How 2 non-muslims can get married in KSA?...I'm completely clueless. Can someone help?

I'm a Filipina and my husband is American. We both worked in Riyadh last year and decided to get married. We went to Bahrain to have our civil wedding there under the Ministry of Justice.

Embassies are not allowed/ do not to conduct wedding ceremony if the parties are from different countries

and... Ministry of Justice in Saudi also do not allow non-muslims to get married there... at least one must convert.

Hi there,

I'm South African and my fiance is Chilean, we are planning to go to Bahrain to get married, according to your blog, the ministry of justice can assist us with doing a Civil wedding? Also how long will it take to get the marriage certificate? As I am wanting to sponsor her a visit visa to come over to Saudi in December.

Appreciate your feedback!

J.

I will send you a msg here... just check your inbox... I will give you the number of the Attorney who can help you there. You can have the arabic marriage certificate on that day and the English translation the next day.

Then when you go back to Saudi go to Bahrain Embassy for the Authentication stamp... also go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs get the stamp too...

I am not sure how it goes to your country... if you still need to register it to your embassy then do it while you are in Bahrain... go to your Embassy in Bahrain and register it.