Getting married in Egypt

Hello! This forum is really informative and helpful! I have just one thing that I'm confused about with the whole process. I'm a female American and I have been in Cairo since June. I am planning on going to the MoJ in the next couple of weeks with my Egyptian fiancé to get married. I went to the Mogamma last week to renew my 3month tourist visa. While we were there we asked about the residency stamp but no one seemed to know what we were talking about. I have a valid 3 month tourist visa that will not expire until December. Do I still need the residency stamp? If so, can anyone tell me exactly where to get it in the Mogamma?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Ae3911a wrote:

Hello! This forum is really informative and helpful! I have just one thing that I'm confused about with the whole process. I'm a female American and I have been in Cairo since June. I am planning on going to the MoJ in the next couple of weeks with my Egyptian fiancé to get married. I went to the Mogamma last week to renew my 3month tourist visa. While we were there we asked about the residency stamp but no one seemed to know what we were talking about. I have a valid 3 month tourist visa that will not expire until December. Do I still need the residency stamp? If so, can anyone tell me exactly where to get it in the Mogamma?

Thanks in advance for any help!

touristic residence stamp.

Hi, I'm trying to find all the contact details for the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of External Affairs in Alexandria Egypt for marriage in Alex. I need their address, email, phone numbers.

I know about the Ministry of Justice for Midan Lazgouly, Cairo but Ineed the one in Alex.

And also to try and find their holiday dates for 2013 in case they might be closed.

Can anybody help with that? Would greatly appreciate ANY info thanks!

HI THERE,,,,they are closed from monday till saturday,,Good luck.

Thanks for the reply - so they are only open one day a week on Sunday?

Where are they located? Do you know their address please?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

No they are open daily but the next week is closed,,,normally they close sat and sunday!,,,i will check and let u know as soon as i find out about Alex office.

Hi, I really appreciate your help! Ah yes they would be closed for Eid El Adhar of course.

I know my Embassy there is in Roushdy, Alex but need to find out the office of marriage in Alex - I'm hoping these 2 places are near to each other.

I think they are in Saraya el hkanya,,,el mansheya,,,very close to el raml station,,,,G LUCK!!!!

gypsy amina wrote:

Hi, I really appreciate your help! Ah yes they would be closed for Eid El Adhar of course.

I know my Embassy there is in Roushdy, Alex but need to find out the office of marriage in Alex - I'm hoping these 2 places are near to each other.

Yes,,,,not far from Rousdy,,,yes closed for Eid el Adha...from next mond till sat!!!

My pleasure,,,,

getting married in Egypt is different from most countries

Every country has it's own rules!!!

ash_smy wrote:

I think they are in Saraya el hkanya,,,el mansheya,,,very close to el raml station,,,,G LUCK!!!!

Ah! Mahata t' Ramla yes I remember this place :)Thanks, but I'm
only making enquiries at this stage - as nothing is yes set in stone. So, thanks for the Good Luck anyway...

Hi All,

Does anyone know which government hospital in Cairo can issue the pre-marriage paperwork required so that we can be married ?
We travelled from Hurghada to Cairo today expecting to be married after running around last week in Cairo getting things stamped etc.  Instead we spent the whole day in Cairo being sent from one hospital to another, with each either telling us that they won't issue the paperwork for an Egyptian & non-Egyptian marriage, or telling us that because we don't live in that particular part of Cairo they won't issue it. 

El-Mounira Hospital is already mentioned in this forum and they will not provide this certificate anymore for Egyptian & non-Egyptian marriages and in fact they have a sign out the front of the hospital stating this.

We just need the paperwork, we don't even need the tests done because we don't want children so the tests are a waste of time anyway!  Does anyone know where to go ???

Thanks,

Angela

Hello guys......u r doing great job here.

I am Egyptian and planning to marry a lady from Moldova. The problem is that Moldova doesn't have an embassy in Egypt. Is it enough for her to get the documents from Moldova or they need to be attested in somewhere.

Hope i can get a reply soon cause it is a matter of one months left.

every country has it's own wedding traditions; i think Egypt do not have complex wedding traditions like India or Korea such this countries they have a unique  and complex wedding traditions.

Hi DrMohdus,

I don't know the answer to your question.  But have you checked with the Foreign Marriage Office at the Ministry of Justice in Lazoughly Square in Cairo ?  They would be able to tell you if a certificate issued in Moldova can be accepted since there is no embassy in Egypt. 

Looking at Google it seems that the Moldovian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey provides assistance for its citizens in Egypt.  Maybe also ask them ?  You can look up the details here; http://md.embassyinformation.com/list.php

Good luck.

i am from egypt  accountant hope to know more people????????????

@beboegypt - your post is a bit    here

Maximilien wrote:

@beboegypt - your post is a bit    here

Holidays season is definitely making you so generous, Maximilien

ok i wait

LMAO

Assalamualaykum!

can anyone help me?

Im a filipina presently working in saudi arabia,my husband is an egyptian,we got married in victoria seychelles last november 2013 at present my husband is in egypt working in the government school.my question is,how he will register our marriage in EGYPT? and anyone knows if our marriage certificate will honor here in saudi arabia if i will apply for him a visiting visa?please help......

hai everyone....iam from indiaand i  have recently converted to muslim religion from hindhu and my age was 26.....i love a muslim girl in egypt(cairo), she is egyptian and also muslim by birth......now we want to get married (in egypt or in india,where ever it is possible)....i dont have the knowledge on this formalities, procedures and documents required for our marriage....so iam here to get some help from someone about these requirements....

1) what documents girl needed
2) what documents i need.
3)what is the procedure to follow after documentation..

hope i will get some valuable reply's for my questions

I am an American looking to get married in Egypt to and Egyptian citizen. I am going there and then coming back here until he will be able to come to US. I understand that i must go to US Embassy in Cairo on which i have an appointment set up. I have never been married before and i was under the impression that only if i were divorced i would need to provide documents concerning a divorce. Well someone i know today said i would have to provide documents saying i was single. I think this is ridiculous but i am wondering if its true. My name is the same now as it was on my birth certificate. Should this not prove i was was never married?. The person who told me this says it is a certificate of non- impediment. Is this something that the US Embassy in Cairo will ask for? If so does anyone know how long it takes in US to get this documentation? I have tried to contact the Embassy but no one ever picks up there. Also do i need to prove my religion? I am Christian and so is my fiance. Do  i need something notorized and what type of way to get it notorized? Also when me and my fiance go to Embassy does my fiance need to supply any documentation for them? I hear also that we have to do a pre marriage exam? Where do we go for this and what kind of tests do they do? And how long will it take if tests are done will the resluts come back? Please i hope someone can answer these questions for me. Thankyou!

Hi all..... This thread, which I stumbled upon by accident , has been an amazing help for me and put my mind at rest...... shokran, Thank you
I have just arrived in cairo from my home in sharm to marry my egyptian fiance..... I am English.  I'm all geared up to tackle the embassy in the morning and I think I have everything they need but I read on the website I need my change of name form from after my divorce.... I haven't read anything about that on here... Do I need it? I've been told I can offer money for them to 'overlook' small details?
One other thing please. .... which hospital shall we go to for the medical cert? I'm staying in an area called algiza.
Any help would be very appreciated as we have just informed our lawyer we won't be needing his assistance after all

Hi All,

An update to my previous posts that may help some others that are now asking.  I was married 2 weeks ago in the shitty foreign marriage office in Lazoughly Square, Cairo.  I am Australian and my husband is Egyptian (Muslim).
The process to be married in Egypt is as follows;

The foreigner needs to obtain a Certificate of No Impediment (for Marriage) from their Embassy in Cairo.  The Egyptian authorities will not accept the same certificate if it is issued in your home country (which common sense would tell you is more valuable then something the Embassy printed out, but anyway this is Egypt).  The Australian Embassy took 2 days to issue this (took 10 mins back in Australia, but again this is Egypt)
The Embassy also needs to give you a statement (like an affadavit or statutory declaration) with your particulars such as your full name, date of birth, religion (just say Christian, no one is going to check on this), your occupation, your income (I said nil because it's no one's business) etc.  Both the Certificate of No Impediment and this statement will be issued in Arabic.  Costs and times to issue vary from Embassy to Embassy.  I have not heard of anyone getting this same day though.  If you have been divorced, I believe your Embassy must also issue something that states this.  DebiWren, I imagine this would be the same for name changes if your passport name doesn't match the name on the documents from the Embassy.  If they are the same then don't worry about it.

You need to take the documents issued by your Embassy to be authenticated by the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Office.  This cost us 50 l.e. plus another 50 l.e. to a man standing outside the office to have it stamped quickly.

You need to obtain a "family stamp" (for marriage) from a post office for 50 l.e.  Your fiance should be able to get this without any issue.

The foreigner needs to have at least a touristic resident visa from the passport office stamped in their passport.  You cannot use the visa you obtain on arrival at Cairo airport.  This costs approx 100 l.e. and is issued for 1 year.

You both need to attend a government hospital and obtain certificates for both of you that state you are "fit for marriage" - Ie, can have babies (don't ask, this is Egypt).  This caused us a huge amount of trouble.  We live in Hurghada and when we went to Cairo for our second attempt to be married no hospital would give us this paperwork because we didn't live in Cairo.  We tried 4 hospitals around the Lazoughly Square area and no one would help us.  We eventually got these certificates from a hospital in Hurghada.  It cost 50 l.e. for my husband and 400 l.e. for me (because I'm white I'm rich, you see)  We paid an extra 50 l.e. to get the certificates same day.  We did not see a doctor, but it was a quiet day and the man we spoke to was helpful.  We had previously been to the same hospital and they did want to perform the tests, to which we refused.  If you can get them issued without seeing a doctor, this is better.  Trust me, you do not want anyone from a "hospital" in Egypt doing anything to you.  The qualification of "doctor" is no indication of medical knowledge here and many instruments, bed linen etc is not clean.

You will both need 5 passport sized photographs each.

Your fiance needs to bring his national i.d.

You will need to bring 2 men to act as witnesses.  We had friends come with us, but I have heard of people paying men off the street for 50 or 100 l.e.

In addition to the above you will need as much patience as you can muster.  The office where you get married in Lazoughly Square is an absolute shit hole.  We waited 3 hours before signing our marriage contract (oh, and by signing I mean putting your thumb print over your photograph stuck to the contract - this is Egypt) and then we were told to come back tomorrow to get the marriage certificate.  When we explained that we couldn't come back tomorrow because we lived in Hurghada and we were flying home that evening, no one cared.  The people you deal with are public servants in a 3rd World Country.  You have to keep remembering that.  We had to get a friend to collect our marriage certificate for us.  Oh, I should just say, it's not a marriage certificate anyway.  It's just a stamped copy of the marriage contract.  The women processing our contract decided she didn't like my fiance and she initially refused to process our marriage.  My fiance had to speak to her superior just to get her to do her job.  For us, the day we got married was nothing to be celebrated or to be happy about.  We were both tired, frustrated and incredibly angry by time we left the Lazoughly Square office.  It took us 3 trips from Hurghada to Cairo before we were able to be married because of delays with paperwork and the refusal of hospitals to give us the required certificates.  The day we were married was a relief that we didn't have to go back to Cairo and deal with the nonsense we had put up with to date.  I really hope no one else has the same problems we did.  We found that the officials we dealt with tried everything they could to delay our marriage and we suspect this is because I am a foreigner and my husband is Egyptian.  The government of Egypt certainly tries very hard to make it as difficult as possible for foreigners to marry their citizens.

The US Embassy has the same information as I've outlined above;
http://egypt.usembassy.gov/consular/acs12.html

The Lazoughly Office took another 150 l.e. to marry us.  On top of the costs I've mentioned it cost us a small fortune in bribes to get people to do their jobs on top of the costs for us to travel back and forward between Hurghada and Cairo.

We are planning to leave Egypt as soon as possible.  We are constantly harrassed by local police asking to see our marriage papers because they don't believe we're married.  When we showed our papers last week at Hurghada airport the security guard gave us a look like we forged them.  We are both completely over the harrassment and discriminated we are subjected to everytime we go out here in Hurghada.  Perhaps it is different in other parts of the country.

All I can say to those of you wanting to marry your Egyptian spouse is good luck.  You are certainly going to need it.

Angela

Oh, just a thought.  You will also need to check with your Embassy about recognition of the marriage and if you need to do anything further to have it recognised in your own country.  According to the American Embassy link I posted above, US citizens require more stamps and back and forth to have the marriage recognised.  The Australian government recognises our marriage automatically and I don't need to do a thing.  So, best to check with your Embassy since each country has their own regulations.

Post office stamp, residency stamp, shahada cert.... done. Easy as pie. A good mornings work although I do feel like I have done a workout lol. Only thing I overlooked is needing an appointment at embassy... which I made online... on my phone right outside the place.... so Tuesday it is..... hopefully in time for the Wednesday handout! Inshaàllah.
That means a day off tomorrow:) might go and have a look at the pyramids then..... It would be rude not to whilst in cairo, right?

Thanx for the heads up Angela all my docs are in my maiden name so if necessary I'll try and blag it. Sorry u had a hard time in cairo but at least now you have ur husband and ur papers have a happy marriage.
I totally agree with u about cairo ppl though. The sooner im back in sharm the better

What is this health certificate some of you are talking about !!!

I have not heard about it ...

HI Elimay,

To be married in Egypt you need to produce a certificate from a Government (not a private) hospital to state that you "are fit for marriage"  ie, can have babies (even if you don't want them).  This is required for all marriages in Egypt, not just ones between a foreigner and an Egyptian.  My sister-in-law and her future husband need to get them when they get married in a few months time as well and they are both Muslim Egyptians.  The certificates  are supposed to be issued at no cost, but like everything here, once they see a foreigner the price just increased to whatever the person you speak to wants.

My experience was that sometimes the hospital wants to conduct the tests (sperm counts, ultrasounds, blood tests and God know what else) and other times they just give you the certificates after you give them the money - it depends who you talk to on the day.  You need to provide a passport photo of each person which is attached to each certificate - 1 for you and 1 for your fiance.

I should say, that this only became a recent requirement.  Not sure exactly when, but I think in the last 5 years ?

Thank you for the info ..I had never heard about it before ...I was just curious as to what it was all about ...Thank you .

Thanks for help Angela... we are married now and i became familiar with the whole procedure in Egypt, if anyone needs help they can send me on      [email protected]

Hi Angela,

Thank you so much for the detailed information and congratulations. Your experience sounds crazy enough to write a book or a movie about!

Just a question. I am American and I will be getting married to my fiance in a few weeks. We already have the embassy appointment to go in and fill out the no objection affidavit, etc.

Based on your several trips back and forth to Cairo, do you think this can all be done in two or three days? This is assuming the civil servants arent jerks.

Did you get your touristic residency stamp on the spot? Was it on the first floor of the mugamma (right as you walk in) as someone had mentioned in an earlier post?

I'm hoping that in theory, I can get the touristic residency stamp in the morning and then go straight to the embassy for the appointment in the afternoon. And then do the MOFA and MOJ stuff the next day. But who knows.

You also said you had to wait one day to get your marriage certificate. Is this "standard" (I know, its egypt) or was it because the public servants were being difficult? I had read in other places it could take ten days to get. Its hard to tell why things take so long. Also, I had read someone got a temporary certificate while they waited for the official one. How many did you receive of the official?

Thanks so much again for your help and sorry for all the questions!

Update..... how lucky am I...... just went the embassy and got my declaration there and then..... yey..... that's another tick on the list...... off to the ministry of foreign affairs Now.... A day early. Hah... I might even b married tomorrow ..... woop

Hi Smelserjl,

Have you asked your Embassy how long it will take them to issue their documents ?  The Australian embassy took 2 days, DebiWren has just posted that she got her's same day from the UK (?) Embassy.  I don't know how long the US Embassy takes to issue docs.

About the touristic residency stamp.  I got mine issued in the Passport Control office in Hurghada.  It was issued same day after about 2 hours.  Perhaps someone else can confirm if it is at the Mugamma ?

Regarding time to issue your marriage paperwork at the Foreign Marriage Office.  We waited 3 hours before we were allowed to even sign ours.  The people we dealt with were extremely difficult and the woman processing ours called my fiance stupid twice and told him that she wasn't going to process our marriage.  I have heard of other couples that were not able to get their paperwork same day and had to come back.  I think if you get there at 9 or 10am you may get it done same day, but like everything here - it depends.  Don't go on a Thurs, nothing will be processed.
I think a few years ago they used to take 2 weeks to issue, but now it is the next day or same day if you are lucky.
There is no such thing as a temporary certificate.  You're doing well to get anything in writing in this country, so no one is going to give you something "temporarily official".
Try not to be disappointed when you realise there is no marriage certificate - I know I was.  They just give you a stamped copy of your marriage contract that has your photo and thumbprint on.  They won't even let you "sign" it, you have to print your name.
Because we had to catch our plane back to Hurghada a friend who was a witness for us picked up our contracts the next day.  This cost us more money in bribes because we weren't picking it up ourselves.

I think if you have a huge amount of patience, deep pockets and a lot of luck you could get it all done in 3 days.  Don't forget you need certificates from a government hospital as well.

Good luck.

Hi Debiwren,

You certainly have luck on your side.  I'm glad you didn't have the problems we did.  Can you post back and let everyone how you go with the rest of the steps ?

Angela

Got my declaration stamped.....

Smelserjl. .. yes go to the mogamma and it's on the first floor... The stairs are on ur right as u go in. It's quite a busy place but we were told counter number 42 and we were about 2nd in line and got the stamp no problem. A few ppl did push in front of us but I only ever allow 2 b4 I start staring and shaking my head at them lol
I arrived early for my app at the British embassy today loaded down with photocopies and photos etc and they saw us straight away. We filled in a form and paid the money, waited 5 mins for somebody to type it up, they didn't even take my photocopies he took his own.... said we would need them later, which we did. then I signed it and he stamped it and gave it to me.... I was expecting to get it tomorrow or the following Wednesday.  That was such a bonus.
We then went to the ministry of foreign affairs, again a busy place. We took a number and waited our turn.... 15 mins wait then we went to the counter and got our stamp.
I'm back in the flat now, drinking tea.
We definitely do have luck on our side. And I'm so glad I didn't use a lawyer..... that's £400 I don't need to find
I was dreading all this after reading your post, Angela, I wasn't looking forward to cairo in general... its 2 busy for me. The best thing about all this for me is hopefully now I'm ahead of schedule I can leave cairo sooner than planned lol. Ironically, im heading to Alex from here to attend a proper egyptian wedding of my husbands cousin.
..... I can guaraNee it'll b a better knees up than my handshake wedding lol .
Good luck smelserjl. ... anything I can do 2 help.... just say the word.