Marriage in Morocco.

My experience on marrying a moroccan national.

10/11/2015

Salaam brothers and sisters inshaallah i will help those in confusion in regards to marrying a Moroccan national.

One must attain things...finance, good organisational skills, and last of all patience.

Inshaallah as we go through the steps that i went through, you will understand why you need these three.


I took about £1500 (excluding mahar and walima etc) to spend for taxi fees (40DH/ £3 back and forth) and in general eating etc although i stayed at fiance house i still needed the money. Train to rabat is around 180DH/£8 RETURN  FIRST CLASS for 2 people. We went there twice once for embassy and once for rings etc. You won't need that much tbh i got this with me as we was buying many things. Max you will spend including all documents i would say £500

Connection in Morocco is helpful as it makes the process faster and less stressful, my fiancé uncle had a few friends in the court and police force so that made things slightly easy.

The Moroccan consulate website in London is rubbish and there system is not updated as off 12/11/2015.

While i was in UK The documents needed are:

Updated birth certificate £11**
ACRO police certificate £45**
3 months pay slip
Letter from employment**

One thing i was told i would need and at the end i found out i did not need it was NO IMPEDIMENT AND SHAHADAH CERTIFICATE+, This is because the law changed and they don't need a "no impediment" as of march 2014.

+Shahadah certificate was not needed because i had a muslim name.

If you have a typical bengali/Pakistan name like "mitu miah or pyare khan" these ridiculous names will get you into problems you will need a shahadah cert or go to adool and get a certificate in morocco. Probably end up paying money too. Even if you have a Muslim name find out from the court just in case.

Also if you a NON MUSLIM. Sorry I can't help as other non muslims did marry but i think they had to go to adool and testify they was muslim with 15 photos of themselves. You need to research on that.


**Best thing is scan those documents to your fiancé before you fly out and get her to get them translated. It cost around 250DH SO £15/20 per document. Trust me this saves a long time! Most likely a Days job. Make sure you do this!!

Translate:
Letter from employment.
Criminal record.
Birth certificate.
Capacity to marry (you'll get that from rabat embassy)


You need to prepare these documents and they all need to be dated within 3 months! So for example if your flying out in November 10th you will need all documents dated from September 10th onwards, Also police record can take 3/4 weeks so start on that first....

Your fiancé also needs to get a
Same load of documents too from
Her local authorities she can get them all in 2 days. Also she will need a pregnancy test certificate. She needs to go to the family court and get a list that will tell you everything you need. Make sure you both get the right documents one mistake and it can delay the whole process.

Ok go to the Uk gov website and book a appointment with the British embassy rabat. Also book the earliest possible as you will need to go to 2 more other places same day. So like 9am.

I flew out on a Sunday evening and started running around Monday onwards....

MONDAY
I exchanged money gave 200DH to get my medical certificate from the clinic. Also she should get her medical certificate aswell and  Collected my translated documents.

Got the train to rabat Monday evening as my interview at the embassy was at 9am we stayed at her aunties house so was lucky. Roads in rabat are busy so get a taxi Atleast 30 mins before interview takes a While to get there depending where your staying.

TUESDAY
9am
At the embassy you will have to take your passport and your fiancé passport and give them 1400DH/£100 you will sign a few forms and swear a affidavit. They will give you two forms

    1.    Certified copy of passport (certificate of nationality)
    2.    Capacity to marry (affidavit) this is also a single certificate.
10am
This interview takes 30 mins so once thats done go straight to the ministry of affairs and they will legalise those two documents. 40DH each. Queue is long but be patient and send your fiancé as those idiots don't speak English you will have to wait outside. Give her the money and your I.D (passport)

11.10am
Then go to the criminal justice (full of moody idiots) give a copy of your passport they will issue you with a clean record to show your clear in Morocco also they might say come back in 4 hours etc i waited 4.5 hours.

3.30pm-5.30pm
We got the train at 3.30pm back to her town and went straight to the translation office and got the 2 documents from british embassy translated (certificate or nationality and affidavit). But waited till Wednesday to collect it. Tbh we was told only to translate the capacity to marry and not the certificate of nationality. So again you need to refer to the list and find out what needs to be translated.

WEDNESDAY.
Collected the rest of the translated document and Went to court waited 3 hours in the heat and submitted the forms as long as the person in the court is happy with the forms she will open a case and you must go to the police for the interview. The court will
Make 5 copies of each document and make 5 files one for adool and one for police and other 3 for the court. That took the whole day.

THURSDAY
Went police for the interview they asked random stupid question like "do i own a house" they make it like they gonna pay my bills, he didn't ask much as her uncle knew someone in a high position,

I'm telling you arabs in general are so arrogant hell i mean for god sake its AFRICA! not exactly heaven on earth!

We had a issue because my fiancé had lived and studied at another city so that delayed the process as the files got sent there but we had a connection in that town as her uncle was in the police force so was lucky Alhamdullilah.

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY.

No news.

MONDAY FOLLOWING WEEK.

We was told the files arrived back into town and was waiting on confirmation for when it arrives back at court this is more or less the final process, inshaallah today i will find out if i have been given the permission, basically this is the whole process nothing left for me to wait for just this and inshallah i can book the nikkah on a specific date.

Just wanted to say I booked 2 weeks and Alhamdullilah due to connections the process was easier if you don't have connection then may allah make things easy on you as others without connection still got married within 2/3 weeks so don't worry allah is with you.

This is a experience from meknes....other cities requirements may vary.

The reason i wrote all this is because when I needed help i had no one, one brother was reluctant to help i mean he gave a few pointers and that was it other than that the brother would ignore my calls all I needed was 20 mins of his time. I made sincere dua to allah and it was allah who helped me sooo much. "Indeed allah is with the patient" (Quran)

Shykco wrote:

I'm telling you arabs in general are so arrogant hell i mean for god sake its AFRICA! not exactly heaven on earth!


Every country has such type of people. Even when I visit my home country, I get treated differently. This could be because I hold a nationality they desire (envy), or because they want to show me that just because I'm from the 'first-world', I shouldn't expect to be treated like a king. I don't come with that expectation, but unfortunately some Brits and those living in the West, DO come with that 'I'm better than you' attitude, and treat third-world countries and it's people with contempt, just because it's a 'shit-hole' compared to where they are from.

For instance, the way some French act in Morocco, one would think they are still ruling it. They insist on speaking French only. Don't bother to learn the language (I could be wrong). Imagine if Moroccans in France insisted on speaking Arabic or Darija only! Aren't they told (or forced) to integrate and all that. Some Westerners think they can do whatever they want in Morocco because of the passport they hold and/or money they bring with them. I don't blame the Moroccans. The way you got treated, which you felt was arrogant, maybe was the result of how others coming to the country treated them, and looked down on them. But to be honest, it does sometimes piss me off that I get treated differently than White Europeans. They look at me and think how the hell are you British?! Who gave you this passport??! As if I stole it from someone. My passport is sometimes investigated further in one of their offices and I'm kept behind. I get pissed off because it wouldn't happen if I was English. And they speak to me in Arabic, even when I introduce myself in English. The cheek. But still, it's a beautiful country to visit.

No where is exactly heaven on earth. I'm sure you have been treated worse here. I considered Morocco, as it's one of the few decent places left in the world that a Muslim can live in with dignity. Sure it might not have the same quality of life as England, but at least I don't have to be ashamed of who I am, and judged on my name and appearance. Everywhere has it's pro's and cons, and it depends on what you're after. Ask yourself how you get treated here. It's not exactly a lot better. People here smile at you, but behind your back, probably have a very different face. At least the Moroccans were honest with their feelings. Better than a fake smile.

I love and respect all people I was lucky to have open minded parents who taught me respect. I have travelled a lot of places and I have been treated well because I do the same back , like you I love Morocco the people the hospitality things that are missing from some so called better off countries

Sorry I didn't mean to say all Moroccans are arrogant as in married to one lol and we have to good the bad and ugly in all walks of life, although i did recieve good reception from the Moroccans while i was there, i saw a different side to the country when i went through the legal side.

While i was in court the lady asked me what my nationality was i said "british" she llasked if my parents was english i said no "pakistani", she said than your a pakistani national lol i told her that i was born in britian and have always lived there and hold a british passport, this actually caused problems for me because when i at the final stages of getting my marriage certificate complete the judge asked me why have you said your pakistani national when you hold a British passports...so i had to go back and get forms sorted out again.

the informaiton is very useful. Jazak Allahu Khairan! Ameen!

I didn't necessary disagree with what you said. I'm fully aware how Asians are generally treated in Arab countries (although Morocco isn't an Arab country but mixed). But for the sake of argument, lets consider it an Arab country. What I was trying to say is, compared to other Arab countries, the treatment isn't that bad. And even compared to your country, it's not that bad. Lets not forget, Pakistani's & other Asians from that region, can also have a terrible attitude towards others they consider beneath them, whether it's based on colour, sect, income, occupation, tribe, education level, family background and so on. Based on the number of marriage threads posted by people from various parts of the world on this forum, I'm pretty sure Moroccans are generally more accepting, and opened to the idea of marrying others who are different, whereas in an Asian family, there might be no chance of it (if certain boxes aren't ticked, and there is usually many!), and anyone entertaining the idea could get a good telling off if those in charge don't agree to it..or possibly hurt.

I've since traveled more, and so I've experienced more things than before. It made me realise that although Morocco isn't perfect, far from it, it's better than many other places, where there is real hostility towards those who are different. So you should compare it to other places. Also don't forget, even as British nationals, born and bred here, we are still reminded we are foreigners in the UK. Some forms asks you to tick your ethnic origin. Stating you're a British national isn't always enough. And if someone asks you where you're from, and you tell them the place in the UK you're born in, or lived most of your life, the next question is likely to be.."no, I mean, where are you originally from?". I suppose that's the same thing that woman asked you. I guess you got to be a white English/Scottish/Welsh to be considered truly British, and treated as one. Not that I'm complaining. It's understandable. And so wherever we go, don't expect to be treated as someone coming from the UK. The difference is, they will be scared to do anything to you, as Britain looks after it's citizens. It's the best country in the world.

XB23 thats wht i call figures &  facts, well done