Certify and legalize

I don't really understand, I think maybe u need to have a look into your wording, certification is not legalising a document, it is simply confirmation from someone who knows you in whatever capacity and can sign the document/statement to be true to the best of their knowledge. Anyone can certify a document but that's completely different to legalising something. The British Embassy will give you the capacity to marry and a certified copy of your passport to prove ur nationality, they then need to be signed off at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs for them to be official, u will need to pay for the Embassy in cash (take the correct money) and the signing off you pay for in stamps, just ask and u will be directed to what u need. Hope this helps

Oh thank you for your reply!!! 
A friend told me about certify and ligalization, thats why i got mixed up information.
I dont know much about these kind of things , so it makes me confused 
So passport will be certified at embacy.  capacity to marry is a documents that they give at embacy and it doesnt need legalization at embacy too?
What about criminal records? it just need to be legalized in Ministry of Foreign Affairs rabat not at embacy too? and birth certificate?
Also we are confused about slip pay. do we need legalization from embacy too? as they need to be translated 
My friend really made me confused saying everything should be certified and legaliged at embacy and after legalized in Ministry of Foreign Affairs in rabat.

I am sorry for many questions!! I feel much stress and very confused .

thanks a lot!

I got married in Morocco on the 14th November this year and was completely clueless and I had to research everything to death so let me explain a few details and hopefully shed some light/give some tips for u. I have included a list of links at the bottom of the page for u.

As a UK National these are the documents u need and where u get them from. All must be originals or certified copies and I will explain next to each one. All must be dated no earlier than 3 months previous, so for example if you plan to wed on the 11th August then all documents must b dated no earlier than 11th May.


So in my personal experience, me and my husband had two weeks to get the whole process done from start to finish, and to be honest, when I say 2weeks, that's the total amount of time I had in the country. When it came down to it we actually had 8 working days 🙈🌪🤣. This was due to us deciding to book Friday flights, (sat&sun nothing gets done obvs and unbeknownst to us, the Monday was a national holiday in Morocco, couldn't have written it more of a farse at that point I swear!🤦‍♀️).

As a UK National these are absolutely essential, original documents required, if you make any copies make sure u get them certified:

(NB: Please understand what constitutes as a ‘certified copy' ((because I myself misunderstood this and it caused me massive stress trying to get it signed by a teacher/lawyer/dentist 🤦‍♀️))
This information is copied from the Gov.uk website 👇👇👇
Certifying a document: Certify a document as a true copy of the original by getting it signed and dated by a professional person, like a solicitor. When you apply for something like a bank account or mortgage, you may be asked to provide documents that are ‘certified' to be true copies of the original.
Who can certify a document - To certify documents, ask a professional person or someone well-respected in your community as ‘of good standing' like a:
bank or building society official
councillor
minister of religion
dentist
chartered accountant
solicitor or notary
teacher or lecturer

The person you ask shouldn't be:
related to you
living at the same address
in a relationship with you

PLEASE NOTE THE WORD ‘LIKE', basically to certify a document it just needs to be signed by an upstanding member of the community, someone that knows you but is not blood or marital relation to yourself/fiancé)


***UK POLICE RECORD CERTIFICATE *** - must be dated within 3 months
—-The certificate MUST be from ACRO as it is for immigration purposes, DBS/CRB or any other check will not be accepted
—-Processing takes 10 WORKING days from application to receipt.
PLEASE PLEASE be aware that the 10 WORKING days DO NOT INCLUDE the day you submit the application OR the day it is sent out, it is 10 days processing time.
—-Fee is £40 for the 10 day service (actually 12 working days if u count the day u submit and the day they post out),
Or £80 for processing in 2 working days, I think it's £6 per extra certificate ordered at the same time but I only needed one.

*** UK BIRTH CERTIFICATE ***
—-Must be FULL BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Obtained from the council office under which ur birth was registered and must be ordered at least 3 days prior to collection, or you can opt to have it posted.
(Pls do not go by what is stated on the gov website like I did and think u can walk in with all your details and they will just print one off for you to walk out with, you can't because it needs to be signed by a registrar.)
—-Mine was £19 for one and £10 extra for each subsequent ones ordered at the same time, check the relevant council website for details.
It's worth getting two because I needed them.

***STATEMENT OF RELIGION***
As a non-practicing Christian I just found this absolutely dumbfounding to be honest. I've never practiced or been part of a church or anything like that, but as u will know if u have done ur research, it is illegal to marry a person of Atheist belief under Islamic law. So I wrote a statement myself declaring I am of Christian faith and wish to keep my religion. It was all fine and in the end I didn't even need it but I would suggest rather than write it urself and have translated, get your fiancée to write in Arabic and u just sign it, saves u money that's needlessly spent.

*** CERTIFICATE OF NON-IMPEDIMENT/AFFIDAVIT ***
                      AND
***CERTIFIED COPY OF PASSPORT/CERTIFICATE OF        NATIONALITY ***
—-DO NOT listen to anyone else that tells you to get this from anywho or any place before u leave the UK, you can't. You get exactly what u need from the British Embassy in Rabat.
You need to book an appointment to go there in person. They only have public appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays and in peak times appointments can be fully booked as far as 4 weeks in advance so book this first.
—-U need to take your passport, ur fiancées ID Card/Passport and the fee, (the exact amount as they don't have facilities to give change) in Moroccan Dirham along to your appointment.
It's a taxi ride away from anywhere else u need to be and u will have to wait 2hours for ur documents. My advice is book the earliest slot and be prepared to sit and wait for a couple of hours, don't make the mistake we did and leave the embassy to go find a coffee shop or something for breakfast because there is NOTHING around lol.

You will then have to have these documents signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this will make them official.

***STATEMENT OF INCOME***
Exactly as it sounds. 3 months payslips should be fine and maybe a letter from your employer or job contract.
(Mine is slightly different and proved awkward in explanation as I'm a landlord and rental income from properties I own is my income, which did not translate very well in the room with the judge.)
You will be expected to show this and possibly explain some detail  to the judge in court as I did so be prepared.

***DO NOT LEAVE THE UK WITHOUT ANY ONE OF THESE DOCUMENTS, THERE IS NO WAY YOUR MARRIAGE WILL GO AHEAD WITHOUT THE ORIGINALS ***
(I kid you not, I had a 6am flight and was so massively obsessed about the documents that I arrived at the airport without my suitcase, only realised I'd not put it in the car when I got to the airport car park 🤣🙈🤦‍♀️ Not even joking, I flew to Morocco in the clothes I was wearing and that was it, not even a change of underwear ffs lol. The moral of my story being that u can buy clothes and ‘stuff', u can not get official documentation after leaving the UK. And the best part is I didn't even care because I was going to marry my amazing man, my absolute soulmate and it's all part of our story. )

I emailed scanned copies of all my documents ahead to be translated a week before to save time. Reputable translators will do this for u if you pay. BUT they will only sign off and hand over the translated documents once they have seen the originals.


So...we did everything we needed to do in Rabat in a day, just like this...

***British Embassy, appointment at 10am. 12pm walk out with Certificate of non-impediment (affidavit) and Certificate of Nationality (certified copy of your passport)

***Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get both Certificates stamped and legal. You take a ticket and sit and wait to be seen. You have to buy stamps as payment just ask and they will direct you where to buy

***Ministry of Justice to get ur Moroccan Criminal records check. Show your passport and fill in a short form and hand it in to the policeman sat at the desk. They give u a ticket and u return after 3pm to collect. Cost is 30DH again payment is in stamps.

***Then to the Translators Office to give them all originals and have anything else you need translated done, all translations must be in Arabic NOT French

Once u have all that ur done in Rabat and then you will go to wherever u are getting married to do the rest.

You will need a medical test, check with the Ladoul because we needed a medical including blood tests as that's the legal requirement where we got married. But in most places u can get away with a ‘Certificate of Good Health' which is nothing more than telling a local doctor you are in good health and him signing u a piece of paper, minimal cost.

My advice is get a good Ladoul with good contacts and if u want it done quickly then be prepared to dish out backhanders like they are going out of fashion. It's all about who and not what u know from this point on. My husband was amazing and dealt with all this without any thought or stress to me.
It is a lot of to and fro, strong coffees and gritted teeth at this point but just smile and nod and complain never lol. 

I hope this info is helpful to those who were absolutely clueless like I was and if I've missed anything just post under here and I will help where I can.

Just remember, through all the stress and pressure, this is YOUR STORY. Let every problem that arises bring u closer and make u stronger as a couple, and if we can do it in 8 days then it's possible for anyone, but you must BE ORGANISED and whatever you do, DONT FORGET UR DOCUMENTS, suitcase and all other belonging yes, documents and fiancé are necessities lol!! 🤣🙄🌪😎🤦‍♀️

Useful websites:

Just one piece of info that proved priceless for me and my husband is to use Google Chrome as your web browser as you can set it to your language so it will translate any website you visit into the language of your choice, ie any french language pages into English for you.

The UK Government website relating to UK and Morocco:
https://www.gov.uk/world/morocco

On getting married abroad:
https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad

British Embassy in Rabat:
https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/ … assy-rabat

The Consular fees the Embassy charge:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … sular-fees

List of Translators recommended by the Embassy:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … of-lawyers

UK Police records check:
https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx

The Public Service website for Morocco, this page gives all detail of what is needed for marriage there:
http://www.service-public.ma/en/web/gue … edure=5521

Nodandsmile4bb wrote:

I got married in Morocco on the 14th November this year and was completely clueless and I had to research everything to death so let me explain a few details and hopefully shed some light/give some tips for u. I have included a list of links at the bottom of the page for u.

As a UK National these are the documents u need and where u get them from. All must be originals or certified copies and I will explain next to each one. All must be dated no earlier than 3 months previous, so for example if you plan to wed on the 11th August then all documents must b dated no earlier than 11th May.


So in my personal experience, me and my husband had two weeks to get the whole process done from start to finish, and to be honest, when I say 2weeks, that's the total amount of time I had in the country. When it came down to it we actually had 8 working days 🙈🌪🤣. This was due to us deciding to book Friday flights, (sat&sun nothing gets done obvs and unbeknownst to us, the Monday was a national holiday in Morocco, couldn't have written it more of a farse at that point I swear!🤦‍♀️).

As a UK National these are absolutely essential, original documents required, if you make any copies make sure u get them certified:

(NB: Please understand what constitutes as a ‘certified copy' ((because I myself misunderstood this and it caused me massive stress trying to get it signed by a teacher/lawyer/dentist 🤦‍♀️))
This information is copied from the Gov.uk website 👇👇👇
Certifying a document: Certify a document as a true copy of the original by getting it signed and dated by a professional person, like a solicitor. When you apply for something like a bank account or mortgage, you may be asked to provide documents that are ‘certified' to be true copies of the original.
Who can certify a document - To certify documents, ask a professional person or someone well-respected in your community as ‘of good standing' like a:
bank or building society official
councillor
minister of religion
dentist
chartered accountant
solicitor or notary
teacher or lecturer

The person you ask shouldn't be:
related to you
living at the same address
in a relationship with you

PLEASE NOTE THE WORD ‘LIKE', basically to certify a document it just needs to be signed by an upstanding member of the community, someone that knows you but is not blood or marital relation to yourself/fiancé)


***UK POLICE RECORD CERTIFICATE *** - must be dated within 3 months
—-The certificate MUST be from ACRO as it is for immigration purposes, DBS/CRB or any other check will not be accepted
—-Processing takes 10 WORKING days from application to receipt.
PLEASE PLEASE be aware that the 10 WORKING days DO NOT INCLUDE the day you submit the application OR the day it is sent out, it is 10 days processing time.
—-Fee is £40 for the 10 day service (actually 12 working days if u count the day u submit and the day they post out),
Or £80 for processing in 2 working days, I think it's £6 per extra certificate ordered at the same time but I only needed one.

*** UK BIRTH CERTIFICATE ***
—-Must be FULL BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Obtained from the council office under which ur birth was registered and must be ordered at least 3 days prior to collection, or you can opt to have it posted.
(Pls do not go by what is stated on the gov website like I did and think u can walk in with all your details and they will just print one off for you to walk out with, you can't because it needs to be signed by a registrar.)
—-Mine was £19 for one and £10 extra for each subsequent ones ordered at the same time, check the relevant council website for details.
It's worth getting two because I needed them.

***STATEMENT OF RELIGION***
As a non-practicing Christian I just found this absolutely dumbfounding to be honest. I've never practiced or been part of a church or anything like that, but as u will know if u have done ur research, it is illegal to marry a person of Atheist belief under Islamic law. So I wrote a statement myself declaring I am of Christian faith and wish to keep my religion. It was all fine and in the end I didn't even need it but I would suggest rather than write it urself and have translated, get your fiancée to write in Arabic and u just sign it, saves u money that's needlessly spent.

*** CERTIFICATE OF NON-IMPEDIMENT/AFFIDAVIT ***
                      AND
***CERTIFIED COPY OF PASSPORT/CERTIFICATE OF        NATIONALITY ***
—-DO NOT listen to anyone else that tells you to get this from anywho or any place before u leave the UK, you can't. You get exactly what u need from the British Embassy in Rabat.
You need to book an appointment to go there in person. They only have public appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays and in peak times appointments can be fully booked as far as 4 weeks in advance so book this first.
—-U need to take your passport, ur fiancées ID Card/Passport and the fee, (the exact amount as they don't have facilities to give change) in Moroccan Dirham along to your appointment.
It's a taxi ride away from anywhere else u need to be and u will have to wait 2hours for ur documents. My advice is book the earliest slot and be prepared to sit and wait for a couple of hours, don't make the mistake we did and leave the embassy to go find a coffee shop or something for breakfast because there is NOTHING around lol.

You will then have to have these documents signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this will make them official.

***STATEMENT OF INCOME***
Exactly as it sounds. 3 months payslips should be fine and maybe a letter from your employer or job contract.
(Mine is slightly different and proved awkward in explanation as I'm a landlord and rental income from properties I own is my income, which did not translate very well in the room with the judge.)
You will be expected to show this and possibly explain some detail  to the judge in court as I did so be prepared.

***DO NOT LEAVE THE UK WITHOUT ANY ONE OF THESE DOCUMENTS, THERE IS NO WAY YOUR MARRIAGE WILL GO AHEAD WITHOUT THE ORIGINALS ***
(I kid you not, I had a 6am flight and was so massively obsessed about the documents that I arrived at the airport without my suitcase, only realised I'd not put it in the car when I got to the airport car park 🤣🙈🤦‍♀️ Not even joking, I flew to Morocco in the clothes I was wearing and that was it, not even a change of underwear ffs lol. The moral of my story being that u can buy clothes and ‘stuff', u can not get official documentation after leaving the UK. And the best part is I didn't even care because I was going to marry my amazing man, my absolute soulmate and it's all part of our story. )

I emailed scanned copies of all my documents ahead to be translated a week before to save time. Reputable translators will do this for u if you pay. BUT they will only sign off and hand over the translated documents once they have seen the originals.


So...we did everything we needed to do in Rabat in a day, just like this...

***British Embassy, appointment at 10am. 12pm walk out with Certificate of non-impediment (affidavit) and Certificate of Nationality (certified copy of your passport)

***Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get both Certificates stamped and legal. You take a ticket and sit and wait to be seen. You have to buy stamps as payment just ask and they will direct you where to buy

***Ministry of Justice to get ur Moroccan Criminal records check. Show your passport and fill in a short form and hand it in to the policeman sat at the desk. They give u a ticket and u return after 3pm to collect. Cost is 30DH again payment is in stamps.

***Then to the Translators Office to give them all originals and have anything else you need translated done, all translations must be in Arabic NOT French

Once u have all that ur done in Rabat and then you will go to wherever u are getting married to do the rest.

You will need a medical test, check with the Ladoul because we needed a medical including blood tests as that's the legal requirement where we got married. But in most places u can get away with a ‘Certificate of Good Health' which is nothing more than telling a local doctor you are in good health and him signing u a piece of paper, minimal cost.

My advice is get a good Ladoul with good contacts and if u want it done quickly then be prepared to dish out backhanders like they are going out of fashion. It's all about who and not what u know from this point on. My husband was amazing and dealt with all this without any thought or stress to me.
It is a lot of to and fro, strong coffees and gritted teeth at this point but just smile and nod and complain never lol. 

I hope this info is helpful to those who were absolutely clueless like I was and if I've missed anything just post under here and I will help where I can.

Just remember, through all the stress and pressure, this is YOUR STORY. Let every problem that arises bring u closer and make u stronger as a couple, and if we can do it in 8 days then it's possible for anyone, but you must BE ORGANISED and whatever you do, DONT FORGET UR DOCUMENTS, suitcase and all other belonging yes, documents and fiancé are necessities lol!! 🤣🙄🌪😎🤦‍♀️

Useful websites:

Just one piece of info that proved priceless for me and my husband is to use Google Chrome as your web browser as you can set it to your language so it will translate any website you visit into the language of your choice, ie any french language pages into English for you.

The UK Government website relating to UK and Morocco:
https://www.gov.uk/world/morocco

On getting married abroad:
https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad

British Embassy in Rabat:
https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/ … assy-rabat

The Consular fees the Embassy charge:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … sular-fees

List of Translators recommended by the Embassy:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … of-lawyers

UK Police records check:
https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx

The Public Service website for Morocco, this page gives all detail of what is needed for marriage there:
http://www.service-public.ma/en/web/gue … edure=5521

congratulation for ur marriage!! i wish you lot of happiness 
Thank you a lot for sharing with me    it's a big help

my fiancé is japanese, but i think process will be almost same.

I just have a doubt.   you said you got birth certificate in your country, so it is translated into arabic in morocco.
but in morocco we can not find any japanese to arabic translator, so we asked japanese embacy in rabat and they said they can give birth certificate in french. so after we just translate into arabic
but i wonder if it's ok this way for the court.
I went to court to ask them many things, but their reply is not so clear. i feel like they also doesnt know.