Consular marriage
When both spouses are Italian citizens or one is Italian and the other is a foreign national, the marriage abroad can be celebrated before the competent Consular Authority.
Both spouses shall submit a specific request for celebrating a consular marriage to the relevant Consular Office. For further information, please contact the relevant Italian diplomatic or consular Mission (Per ulteriori informazioni contattate la Rappresentanza diplomatica o consolare italiana di interesse).
The celebration of marriage may be refused if it is contrary to local laws or if the spouses do not reside in the relevant consular district.
Once the request has been accepted, the couple shall proceed with the request for the posting of marriage banns, which is mandatory for Italian citizens who intend to marry before the Italian authorities.
The marriage banns shall be requested from the Civil Registrar of the place of residence of one of the spouses, the Municipality in Italy or the Italian consulate abroad, and are posted in the places of residence of both spouses, if different.
The request for the posting of marriage banns may be submitted in person or by special power of attorney drawn up on unstamped paper, accompanied by valid identity documents of both spouses. Citizens who are not members of the European Union and are not resident in Italy shall have their signatures authenticated.
Marriage banns shall remain posted on the Consular Register for at least eight days. You can marry after three days of the posting of the marriage banns and within the following 180 days.
Where to request marriage banns
In case of consular marriage:
- If both spouses (Italian or foreign) are resident in Italy, the marriage banns shall be posted by the Registrar of the Municipality where one of the spouses is resident. If they are resident in different municipalities, the Municipality that receives the request shall also ask the other Municipality to post the marriage banns. (Please note that if you are not resident in the consular district, the celebration of marriage may be refused).
- – If one of the spouses (Italian or foreign) is resident in Italy while the other (Italian citizen) is resident abroad, the marriage banns can be requested from the Municipality of residence in Italy or from the competent Italian Consulate The Office that receives the request shall also ask the other Office to do it, and the marriage banns shall be posted in both places of residence.
- – If the Italian spouse is resident in Italy, while the other spouse (a foreign national) is resident abroad, the marriage banns shall be requested from the Italian Municipality of residence of the spouse and published there.
- -If both spouses (Italian) are resident abroad, the marriage banns shall be requested and published at the Italian consulate responsible for their place of residence.
In case of marriage in Italy:
- The Italian spouses resident abroad shall request the posting of banns from the Italian consulate responsible for their place of residence. If they reside in different consular districts, the consulate that receives the request shall also ask the other consulate to post the marriage banns.
In case of marriage before the foreign local authorities:
- Italian citizens who marry in a foreign country are not subject to marriage banns, unless expressly required by the local authority of the country where the marriage is to be celebrated.
Marriage of foreign nationals
In accordance with Article 116 of the Civil Code, in order to marry, foreign citizens shall provide a “certificate of no impediment to marry”, with which the competent Authorities of the country of which they are citizens attest to the lack of impediments to marry.
Alternatively, citizens of countries that have ratified the Munich Convention of September 5, 1980 may provide a “certificate of legal capacity to marry”. The certificates issued on the basis of this Convention are exempt from legalisation or any equivalent formality in the territory of each State party.
The States that have signed and ratified this Convention and issue the “certificate of legal capacity to marry” are the following: Austria, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldavia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey. It should be noted that the aforementioned Convention cannot currently be applied to Belgium, which, although being a signatory country, has not yet ratified it.
Marriage before foreign Authorities
Italian citizens who marry abroad before local Authorities, are not subject to marriage banns, unless required by foreign laws and regulations.
For marriages in one of the countries that are party to the 1980 Munich Convention, a “certificate of legal capacity to marry” will be required. This certificate is exempt from legalisation and translation and will be issued by the Municipality of residence in Italy or, if residing abroad, by the diplomatic-consular Mission responsible for the place of residence.
The following countries have ratified the Monaco Convention: Austria, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. Please note that the Convention cannot currently be applied to Belgium, which, although a signatory country, has not yet ratified it.
In some countries that are not signatories to the Munich Convention, the local Authorities where the marriage is celebrated may require a certificate of no impediment to marry. This certificate will be issued by the Italian diplomatic-consular Mission in the territorial jurisdiction of which the marriage is celebrated, even if you are resident in Italy or in another foreign jurisdiction.
The diplomatic-consular Mission may issue the requested document only on the basis of the positive outcome of the checks, after having automatically acquired the documents required by law and those deemed necessary to prove the non-existence of impediments to marry.
Registration of the marriage certificate
For a marriage celebrated abroad to be valid in Italy, it shall be registered with the competent Italian Municipality.
The original marriage certificate issued by the foreign Civil Registrar’s Office, duly legalised and translated (see the section Translation and Legalisation of Documents) (sezione Traduzione e Legalizzazione dei documenti), shall be submitted, by the parties concerned, to the Diplomatic-Consular Mission, which shall transmit it to Italy for registration in the civil status register of the competent Municipality.
Alternatively, you may submit the certificate, duly legalised and translated, directly to the Italian Municipality.
Certificates issued by countries that have acceded to the 1976 Vienna Convention on the Issue of Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status Records are exempt from legalisation and translation. The countries that have ratified the Convention are Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. It should be noted that the Convention cannot currently be applied to Greece, which, although being a signatory country, has not yet ratified it.