Getting married in Mauritius (as a foreigner)

Hi buddy,

Well are you planning to get married in here or Brazil? And do you know what are the things you should bring here if you want to get it done here? I didnt get it clear but i can write down here my experiences as i have been on the same road before.

If you want to get it done here;
Criminal record from your country and if you are now in any other countries more than six months, there too.

Some cash or bank statement showing that you got financial strength to stay at least a month with no support of anyone here. This amount can be at least 1500usd but better to have more.

Return ticket. And while onboard, you have fill out the immigration paper for MARRIAGE. And you got to mention address and phone numbers of your girlfriend here when you are at passport control. And you will have entry stamp for marriage on your passport. After you enter mauritius, you have to wait 7 days to get appointment day from civil status office for your marriage. And this 7 days waiting applies for your girlfriend too.

After seven days you can go to civil status office to make appointment.

You must have health report in here from a mauritian hospital. It can be private one. It will cost you around 3 or 4 thousand rupee.

If you are working somewhere currently, you must have employment certificate from your company.

Passport size pictures of course.

Birth certificate of yours but the oneshows your parents, brothers sister etc as well.

And if you were married before, divorce or death document for your exwife.

And for first step, this is all but you will have a lot to do afterwards.

Hope it helps.

Jio

Thanks a lot Jio, that was very helpful.   

The most critical part of the process and also the one that most people fail to mention is getting the green light from the Prime Minister's Office...this is to ensure you are not getting married for the papers...maybe you will have to provide additional items for the process...it can take weeks or even years in some cases

JadeZed wrote:

The most critical part of the process and also the one that most people fail to mention is getting the green light from the Prime Minister's Office...this is to ensure you are not getting married for the papers...maybe you will have to provide additional items for the process...it can take weeks or even years in some cases

I agree but prime minister office either approve or not your residency in here. But marriage process takes about 17 - 20 days. After you take your marriage paper, you go to passport and immigration office to complete your process. And yes it can really long time but after official marriage you can stay and work until you receive your residency docs. Since june, i have not received mine. But i can work and stay here, drive etc. So it takes so long as anythingelse in Mauritius but its okay.

JiotheTurk wrote:

JadeZed wrote:

The most critical part of the process and also the one that most people fail to mention is getting the green light from the Prime Minister's Office...this is to ensure you are not getting married for the papers...maybe you will have to provide additional items for the process...it can take weeks or even years in some cases

I agree but prime minister office either approve or not your residency in here. But marriage process takes about 17 - 20 days. After you take your marriage paper, you go to passport and immigration office to complete your process. And yes it can really long time but after official marriage you can stay and work until you receive your residency docs. Since june, i have not received mine. But i can work and stay here, drive etc. So it takes so long as anythingelse in Mauritius but its okay.

I'm not talking about work or residency but about the marriage itself; the procedure has always existed but not really enforced...now the government is tightening things up, and rightly so, regarding marriage involving a Mauritian and a non-Mauritian due to the increasing numbers of bogus unions.

MARRIAGE OF A NON CITIZEN TO A CITIZEN OF MAURITIUS
Documents to be produced at time of publication
NON CITIZEN
(a)  Passport.
(b)  Birth Certificate.
(c)  Divorce papers/Previous marriage certificate with annotation of divorce (If applicable)
(d)  Death and Marriage certificates (If applicable).
(e)  Certificate of character/morality from country of residence.
(f)  Work/Residence permit (applicable to expatriates).
(g)  Proof of financial means (Contract of employment or recent bank statement or recent salary slip).
(h)  Medical certificate attesting that applicant party does not suffer from any infectious or contagious disease (from a medical officer practicing in Mauritius).
(i)   Affidavit sworn before the Supreme Court of Mauritius against payment of Rs150 only.
(j)   “Certificat de capacité à marriage” for French national (form available at the French Embassy, St. Georges Street, Port-Louis).
·         The non citizen should have resided in Mauritius for a continuous period of seven (7) days immediately preceding the date of publication of marriage.
·         The publication of a proposed civil marriage between a non-citizen and a citizen of Mauritius is made only at the Central Civil Status Office in Port-Louis.
·         The non-citizen should be the holder of a valid marriage visa issued by the Immigration Office.
·         Civil Marriage between a non-citizen and a citizen shall take place at the Central Civil Status Office in Port-Louis after a minimum period of ten (10) days as from the date of publication.
·         Two witnesses are required to be present at time of the marriage ceremony.
MAURITIAN CITIZEN
(a)  Birth Certificate issued within the last three months.
(b)  National Identity Card.
(c)  Marriage certificate with annotation of divorce (if applicable).
(d)  Death and Marriage certificates (if applicable).
·         A woman willing to contract a second marriage before the expiry of 300 days since the dissolution of her first marriage by divorce or death must produce a medical certificate of non pregnancy.
·         Where any party cannot produce (a) and (b) above, he may instead produce an affidavit.
*All documents to be submitted in original copies duly authenticated and photocopies.

Hi there, this is very interesting. May I ask that someone explain what the purpose of this clause is?       

" A woman willing to contract a second marriage before the expiry of 300 days since the dissolution of her first marriage by divorce or death must produce a medical certificate of non pregnancy.
·         Where any party cannot produce (a) and (b) above, he may instead produce an affidavit.

It is obvious, isn't it?

Who is the father of the unborn child - the divorced one or the new hubby?
What about litigation on either part - one looking for custody or if something does not work  with the second husband , the wife goes back to her ex for child support?

And? Surely that it an issue to be resolved between two consenting adults? In any event, such a situation could arise between already married couples.

which part would you like to understand? 300 days is time roughly and beyond a human female would give birth to child or children. just to be sure who's child or children can it be, incase of death maybe there a will that has inheritance in the name of the child  alone itself, the mother cant misuse this opportunity as child is still minor..... there are many aspect that it can lead to legal issue later

thats due to litigations that arise, loads foreigners came fishing here n wanted to run with a jakpot!  so be careful

If you are a foreigner, when you arrive to Mauritius airport, you have to apply for a Wedding VISA. Otherwise they can decline the process.

please don't mislead people, there no such visa as marriage visa.

this May (2015) they stamped into my passport: marriage visa for 30 days and filled some declaration about the wedding at the SSR International airport. Before they put tourist visa for 90 days. But I don't need a visa upto 90 days to Mauritius because I am an EU citizen. And in Port Louis they were checking the visa. I just want to tell you guys, when you arrive to Mauritius, tell the officers that you would like to get married, because it costs a lot to travel again. Different maybe if both of you are foreigners or both of you are Mauritian, but if you are "mixed" Mauritian - non Mauritian, be careful. I mean we both are not living in Mauritius.

you entered on which visa? the second extension was which visa. so what if you are European? European passport are exempted of visa for 90 days.

you getting married to whom? a Mauritian national with residency abroad? or a EU passport holder?

septagon wrote:

please don't mislead people, there no such visa as marriage visa.

Then why it is REQUIRED  as per post #7 , the linked or highlighted sentence;
The non-citizen should be the holder of a valid marriage visa issued by the Immigration Office.
Upon arrival, you will need to declare to the immigration officers that you are here to get married for them to issue you with a marriage visa, otherwise you will get a tourist visa and this may create some problems.

IIRC, the visa is only for one month (need to verify).

It for foreign nationals who want to get married here.

septagon wrote:

It for foreign nationals who want to get married here.

Sorry it is a requirement for : MARRIAGE OF A NON CITIZEN TO A CITIZEN OF MAURITIUS !
Check the government site given in the link in post #7.

So, guys. So two persons get married. One is Mauritian, the other one is non-Mauritian (from anywhere). The Mauritian party doesn't need anything, just the ID card and a birth certificate less than 90 days. You can pick it up during one day. You have to know, where the birth was happened and which civil status office is. You just need a stamp needed from the local post office. The non-Mauritian party needed: 1. a copy of my passport with the stamp Marriage, 2. birth certificate, 3. proof of employment (a letter from my company saying how much is my salary, I am insured in my country, etc.) 4. proof of address in Mauritius, 5. good conduct certificate by the home country's police (clean record)

It is a very interesting question. If an EU citizen just go to Mauritius, have 90 days of stay. But by that visa, officially you can stay in the country for 30 days. And You hope it is enough to do all the process. It was not an extension. So just an advice: when somebody is planning a ceremony, the lengh of the stay must be min. 30 days (better for 35) in the island.

csifro wrote:

It is a very interesting question. If an EU citizen just go to Mauritius, have 90 days of stay. But by that visa, officially you can stay in the country for 30 days. And You hope it is enough to do all the process. It was not an extension. So just an advice: when somebody is planning a ceremony, the lengh of the stay must be min. 30 days (better for 35) in the island.

You  are correct :
1.As a tourist and being EU citizen , no visa requirement but you are allowed to stay 2*90 days in a calendar year as a visitor .
2. If you are coming in to get married to a Mauritian  , your passport is stamped with a MARRIAGE  notation which you will need to show  at the time of publication. Yes you will need to do everything within 30 days.(I  believe that , if the non-citizen decides afterwards to stay put , then he /she will have to apply for a spousal resident permit and since that 30 days may had elapsed , then the non-citizen may have to get out of the country and come back  again) .
3. If the tourist , during his/her  stay on the island  decides to get married to a local, that's when problems will arise because he/she does not have that MARRIAGE stamp and the authorities will ask a lot of questions

Also my experience, mention marriage at the airport and get a 30 days visa. They will ask you to fill out some paperwork before they let you enter the country. The rest should go smooth then. I understood that if this paperwork is missing they may object to your marriage, but I'm not sure if that actually ever happened.
Furthermore, prepare all your paperwork well. Stick to the list that you find on the government website. Visit the necessary offices/officers for help and advice (bring this list) if there are any unclear things, your partner can do this before your arrival.
Good luck!

if you are foreigner coming to marry Mauritian citizen you need to get marriage visa on the airport .Thats one of the requirements otherwise you won't be able to get married!!!

Well Mate first one has to be very careful in your condition of marriage as if you don't stipulate your condition of marriage automatically after a certain all you investment in Mauritius after marriage 50% will belong to your wife as I have know a lot of man marring with a local girl and after a few months they decided to go there own way and the guy lost virtually what ever investment he made so I would suggest you seek some legal advice

Well well.... at the registration they give you a "leaflet" about the two ways. At the wedding you have to decide officially and they put it in the motherbook. Two ways: 1. every thing goes into common during the marriage or 2. everything goes separately during the marriage..... It is the same process fortunately in every (developed) country. So in general, before you get married have an appointment with a lawyer.

Hello everyone,

Some off topic posts have been removed from this thread.

Thank you.

Mate I don't know the laws of your country but if she is a resedent in your country well that would depend on your laws but if you plan to settle in Mauritius as husband and wife you would need to apply for a resedence permit to stay in Mauritius and then go through the procedures to obtain a citizenship through the virtue if been married to a mauritian girl I think you should get a local mauritian lawyer to conduct this issue

Any idea as to why the topics have been removed madam

myhouse wrote:

Any idea as to why the topics have been removed madam

Sir please read the forum code of conduct
Thanks

and on another note... i am dating a mexican woman who has 2 children. what are the procedures so that we can get married?

I would recommend to go to the civilcenter and ask them. Each country have different requirements

Hello, me and my husbent (Mauritian) get merried in my home country (Montenegro) last year. Now  I am in Mauritius waiting for resident permit. I suggest you to contact ,with e-mail you can like i did, closest ambbasy of Mauritius and ask thsm what you need to do. They gonna explane you all thing proparly. Good luck

Return ticket? Really? Why if I want to stay in Mauritius with my husband. Is this obligatory?

For information if it is helpful to anyone: I recently came to Mauritius to live with my Mauritian husband and applied for residence.  Our daughter is with us.  We explained on entry at immigration that we had come to settle and my husband had his Mauritian passport with him. We were given 3 months visa and had to show return tickets.  We then went to Sterling House in Port Louis to submit all the documentation for my residence visa at the spouse section (they have a list of requirements - main thing is to make sure you have your marriage (if it took place outside Mauritius) and birth certificates apostilled in your home country as well as a good conduct certificate from home country (or other where you have lived) before coming to Mauritius as this is required.  Mauritian husband/wife also needs naturalisation certificate if they have taken any other nationality. You will need to complete the forms, show the originals and submit 2 copies of each required document (photocopying available on ground floor).  You will get a receipt and they said it will take up to 6 months for the residence visa to come through, but they put a note on the system to keep you legal when the 3 month visa expires and they said working is fine.  For our daughter (under 18), it is much easier as she is Mauritian and can apply directly for a Mauritian passport (ground floor Sterling House).  If over 18, they need to do the ID card first, then passport and it may involve the ok of the prime ministers office too (I'm not sure).  Sterling House were very informative when we phoned them from overseas to find info/requirements before coming, Embassy in our home country less well informed.

First it is not a residence visa but a residencl permit as a foreign spouse  since your husband is a Mauritian citizen.
http://dha.pmo.govmu.org/English/Mandat … -Visa.aspx

Second , for the spouse to acquire Mauritian citizenship , you need to live on the island for 4 years before applying to the Prime Minister office.
Information here:
http://dha.pmo.govmu.org/English/Mandat … NSHIP.aspx