How Long Do You Have to be in Italy Before Getting Married?
How Long Do You Have to be in Italy Before Getting Married?
One thing that gives couples a lot of anxiety is the legal requirements that come with getting married in a foreign country. It’s only natural to be afraid of doing something wrong or not doing something that you were supposed to.
A good wedding planner – like us – will eliminate your stress and tell you step by step what you need to do to get legally married.
Let’s take a closer look at holding a dream wedding in Italy. Getting married in Italy requires some specific documents if you plan for it to be lawfully binding.
In Italy, Catholic marriages and marriages of a few other religions can obtain lawful validity during one sole event. It’s named MATRIMONIO CONCORDATARIO.
Both civil and religious documents have to be prepared well in advance.
The most common question we’re asked is: How long do you have to be in Italy before getting married?
The answer is normally 2 or 3 days. There are no residency requirements, but
depending on your nationality and place of your wedding, you might need be in Italy for at least ten days before it will be legal.
If you can be in the country once at least between 3 to 6 months before the wedding, you can prepare the documents then and subsequently show up only at the time of the wedding.
Both Catholic and civil weddings in Italy – unlike a lot of other countries in the world, have to be celebrated in commune in the town hall premises or an official church. There are a few cities that let lawfully binding civil marriage events occur in villas or castles that have special wedding papers.
You might wish to plan to have an individual, lawful binding ceremony in the local town hall and then a symbolic event with your guests at the place of the marriage reception, such as a villa castle or in another venue.
When it comes to getting the legal requirements taken care of there is no substitute for a good wedding planner. Unfortunately, selecting a poor planner can result in even more difficulty.
We urge you to be careful in who you select to handle this important area for you. It would be terrible to have a dream wedding planned and then not be able to follow through due to some paperwork errors. This type of mistake could also prove very costly due depending on the vendor and venue agreements you have.
Contact us to learn more about the different options and requirements for having a wedding in Italy as a foreigner. We can help you make sure that everything is done correctly and there are no unpleasant legal surprises.
Getting Married in Italy – The Couple
The couple will need to get a NULLA OSTA to be capable of performing a lawfully valid marriage in Italy. Different countries have different processes to release this paper to let you get married in Italy.
Again, to ensure your wedding is memorable for the right reasons and not the wrong ones, find a qualified wedding planner to guide you through the confusing and complex legal requirements.
As a general law, if a marriage in Italy is celebrated according to Italian laws, it’ll also be valid in your native state (given you can bring a NULLA OSTA or something similar).
The document may need to be ready before you come, sometimes while you’re here or after you’ve left depending on the nationality of each spouse. But in every case timing is vital.
General Laws for a Lawful Wedding in Italy
The main laws that need to be followed when getting married in Italy are:
? Both the groom and bride have to be either single, lawfully divorced or widowed.
? By rule, if a lady has been divorced less than 300-days before the new marriage day, a medical certificate of her pregnancy should be given to the local court.
? Groom and bride can’t be relatives’ to the 1st or 2nd degree: father-daughter,
Brother-sister or mother-son. Not even if the link was through adoption.
? With Catholic marriages, if one of the two has been wedded earlier with a Catholic
Celebration. It can’t be performed again. They can just have a civil lawfully binding marriage or a symbolic marriage ceremony. The single exception to this is if a correct certification was obtained from a Catholic church. This process is time-consuming and most times, unsuccessful. If this applies to you, we recommend you don’t plan a Catholic marriage until you have a correct certification with you. Instead plan either a symbolic or civil marriage.
If you need more information about these requirements or have other questions about getting married in Italy, contact us. We would be glad to provide you with more information.
Documentation for a Wedding in Italy
If none of you are Italian, bans are waived, and you only need the document issued by the consular of foreign officials in Italy.
The legalization is not demanded from the following countries (it might apply to a few others, please consider the following category as a reference, and contact us for further confirmation if your nationality is not listed): Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Argentina, Austria, Germany, Belgium, UK, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Greece, Norway, Holland, the San Marino Republic, Romania, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
Alternatively, you need the records of an able foreign official, confirmed by the
Italian Consulate or the delegation.
The identification shall attest that there are no impediments to the wedding. It also shall include the following info: name and surname, date and location of birth, nationality, residency, marital status, maternity, and paternity, (complete names of the parents), and birth papers.
A few countries will need other papers on top of the NULLA OSTA – like Australian and US citizens. Most of the nationalities will need the bride and groom to meet the consulate in person, so please plan your trip accordingly, a lot of the consulates are just in Milan and Rome.
Don’t worry, this may all sound more imposing than it really is. We can help you out with this entire list and send the paperwork to the correct officials to have your marriage registered in your home state, too.
All you’ve got to do is plan to be in the country for some days in advance… as we’ll be handling all of the issues and releasing you from any pre-wedding stress, you can this time as a splendid advanced honeymoon!