Overseas Marriage and American Citizens
Each US state has its own laws and regulations relating to marriage, however none has any problem with the recognition of a valid overseas marriage certificate.
You do not need to take any steps in your home state to ensure the validity of your marriage, either before or after it has taken place. In fact there are none you can take.
Requirements for a Foreign Marriage
These are set by the country where the marriage takes place, not in your home state or in the USA. The validity or otherwise of a marriage in another country is entirely dependent on your meeting any requirements that apply in that country.
These requirements vary from country to country and are dealt with in detail in our destination guides.
Countries Whose Marriages are Recognised
If you get married legally in a country which appears onthis list, your marriage will be legally valid in the United States, provided that the marriage would also have been legal had it taken place in the state in the USA in which you are resident.
Certificate of No Impediment
All foreign countries require a couple applying for a marriage licence or for permission to marry to produce a certificate stating that they are free to marry. This may be called called a "Certificate of No Impediment", a "Certificate of Freedom to Marry", a "Certificate de Coutume" or a "Certificate of Nulla Osta" or some other such name.
The USA has no procedure for officially issuing such a certificate. All other countries are aware of this and will instead accept a sworn affidavit testifying to your freedom to marry.
You can acquire this affidavit in three ways:
- A sworn statement can be made before a consular official at the embassy or consular office (in the United States) of the country where you will marry
- A sworn statement can be made at the American embassy or consulate in the country in which the marriage will occur.
- An affidavit prepared by a lawyer licensed in the USA and/or in the country where you will marry verifying that all documents related to your marital status have been examined and that you are free to marry.
It is usually necessary for both parties to the marriage to attend when such a statement is being made.
In most cases any of these will suffice, but some countries have additional requirements relating to this affidavit, or specify the way in which it must be made. If this is the case we will mention it on the Civil Marriage page in the Destination Guide.
Laws, Treaties and Conventions
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed in 1996, defined marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife". The purpose of the act was to ensure no state is obliged to recognise a marriage which would not have been lawful had it taken place within the state.
While primarily the act referred to same sex marriages, the general principle applies that no state is obliged to recognise a marriage it would not have sanctioned.
The recognition of foreign marriages is automatic in the case of countries which have signed the Hague Convention on the Celebration and Recognition of the Validity of Marriages (1978). Although the USA is not a signatory to this convention, it does recognise marriage certificates issued by any country which is a signatory to the Hague Convention.