Marriage in Kuwait

''The information on this website on marrying is provided as a general guide and is based upon information provided to the FCO by the relevant local authorities. The information on this website is therefore only up to date and accurate to the extent that such authorities provide us with timely and accurate information. Accordingly the FCO does not guarantee that this information is accurate and will not be liable for any inaccuracies in this information. British nationals wishing to obtain information about marriage must also contact the relevant local authority to be sure of the requirements that they need in order for their ceremony to go ahead”

Advice on marriage in Kuwait can only be given by the Kuwaiti authorities or by a lawyer practising in Kuwait. However the following notes have been prepared to provide some general guidance for British Citizens based on experience which has been passed on to the Consulate. If you have any doubts about the validity of the marriage, it is best to check with a Lawyer.

Prior to performing any kind of ceremony, the Authorities require that you produce a document from this Embassy to the effect that you have not been previously married or that your previous marriage has been lawfully terminated. This is known as a “Certificate of No Impediment” (CNI).

To obtain the certificate, you are required to appear personally at the Consular Section of the Embassy and give your notice of Marriage (One notice for each). Before the Embassy may accept notification, the person must show that they have been resident in Kuwait for a minimum of 21 clear days. Once accepted, the notice of intent is then displayed on a public notice board in the Consular Section for a further 21 days. You will also be required to swear an Affidavit before a Consular Officer to the effect that you are not aware of any impediment to the marriage. Applicants who have been previously married will have to produce to the Embassy and to the Authorities the original death certificate or divorce decree absolute, as appropriate.

If at the end of the notice period there has been no objection to the proposed marriage, you will be issued with your CNI. Please note that a CNI issued in England or Wales, or Northern Ireland should be presented to the Embassy within 6 months of it being issued. Those issued in Scotland have a validity of three months only and must be presented to the Embassy within that time. The local Authorities will not accept a CNI that was issued by the Embassy more than 6 months before its presentation to them.

Please check the fees for posting of the notice, the Certificate of No Impediment and for the Affidavit, which should be paid in cash at the Consular Exchange rate in force at the time of the application.

Church wedding

1. It is possible to have a Christian marriage ceremony at one of the churches in Kuwait.  In general, marriages in St. Paul’s Church Ahmadi and the RC Church in Ahmadi are acceptable for the purpose of depositing marriages at the General Register Office.  Couples married in the Evangelical Church should then go through a civil ceremony at the Ministry of Justice.  It is the latter Ceremony, which should be deposited at the General Register’s Office.  If you have any doubts about the marriage validity please check with the priest.

For a Church Marriage Contract to be recognised by various local authorities, it would be necessary to have it certified by a Notary Public within the Ministry of Justice.  The Ministry of Justice is situated within the Ministries Complex, Block 15.  The Bride and Groom should go along with two male witnesses before the Notary Public.

Documents required:

• Certificate from church
• Civil Id’s of all persons present
• Passports
• Passport photocopies

Marriage contracts are authenticated on Sundays and Wednesdays between 8:00 and 11:00 am.

Civil ceremony - Ministry of Justice

2. Civil wedding ceremonies are performed in the Ministry of Justice, Block 15, Ground Floor, Ministries Complex. The Bride and Groom must go along accompanied by two male adult witnesses. The following instructions are to be taken into account in respect of Civil marriages and their confirmation.

Documents required:

• Civil Id’s of Bride, Groom, and witnesses
• Passports and photocopies
• CNI from the Embassy attested by the Consular section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The following steps should then be followed:

1. Go to the information Counter on the Ground Floor. You will be required to produce the relevant papers and then wait. In the mean time they will fill out the application form in Arabic for you.
2. Once the forms have been completed, you will be directed to the Typing Room where the draft of the contract will be typed in Arabic (KD. 2.00 per form).
3. You then return with the typed forms to the Counter. The typed details will be verified and confirmed.
4. Finally, you and the witnesses are directed to Room no 25 where you will register the marriage and write out the marriage contract.  The bride, groom witnesses and Judge will then sign the contract. (A fee of 3.000 KD is administered to stamp the marriage contract).

On completion of all this, the marriage is now legal within Kuwait. However if you wish to make use of your marriage Certificate outside of Kuwait, the following steps need to be followed.

3. The marriage certificate has to be translated and attested. Translations can be done at any certified translator’s. You then have to return to the Ministry of Justice to have the translation stamped (3rd floor) and then proceed to the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and get the document attested.

4. Finally, they must then be stamped by the respective Embassies of the parties concerned.

Muslim weddings

5. Muslim weddings are held at the Reggaie Courts, Reggaie – off the Fourth ring road.

Where the woman is a Muslim, only a religious marriage under Islamic law will be permitted, and the man must be a Muslim. Where the man is a Muslim only a religious marriage is permitted, and it is not normally obligatory for the woman to be a Muslim.

Deposit of foreign law marriage certificates in the UK

1. The Foreign Marriage Order 1970 makes provision for the transmission of foreign marriage certificates of British Citizens (together with certified translations into English, if necessary) to the Registrars General in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland, according to the part of the United Kingdom to which the British party concerned belongs.
2. Two points should be noted:

• The marriage will not be “registered” in the United Kingdom; the foreign marriage certificate will simply be deposited for record purposes only. This means the original copy of the marriage certificate, if sent, would not be returned to the applicant (see paragraph 3 below).
• There is no legal obligation to have a foreign marriage recorded in the United Kingdom, but you may take advantage of the facility to do so if you consider that it would serve some useful purpose to have the marriage recorded there. The validity (or otherwise) in English or Scottish law of marriage contracted in a foreign country is in no way affected by its having been (or not having been) thus recorded.

Please note that if you wish to have your local marriage certificate deposited with a Registrar-General in the United Kingdom, you should obtain a certified true copy of the certificate in addition to the original at the time of the marriage ceremony and present the documents to the Consular Section of the Embassy for transmission to the United Kingdom. (Please check the updated fee for this service).