If you got married abroad and one of you has German citizenship, you can have the marriage retroactively certified in Germany. The date of application
is decisive for German citizenship. Stateless persons, stateless foreigners, or
foreign refugees with habitual residence in Germany can also apply for retroactive certification of their marriage.
The marriage must have been concluded in accordance with the formal requirements applicable in the country where you were married. German law must not preclude the marriage.
You can also have your marriage retroactively registered if neither of you has German citizenship and you were married in Germany before an authorized representative of the government of the country to which one of you belongs.
The registry office of your place of residence or the place where you last lived or your usual place of residence is responsible for the subsequent registration.
If your usual place of residence is not in Germany, the Registry Office I in Berlin is responsible for the subsequent registration.

Subsequent registration is possible in the following cases:

• You were married abroad and one of you has German citizenship or is stateless, a foreign person without a home country, or a foreign refugee.
• You were married in Germany and neither of you had German citizenship at the time of the marriage. The marriage was performed by an authorized person of the government of the country to which one of you belongs.
• The date of application is decisive for German citizenship.
• The marriage must be legally valid and must not contravene German law.
• The following persons are eligible to apply:
  • The spouses
  • If both spouses are deceased, their parents and children

If you are applying in person at the registry office, the following steps are required:

• At least one of the spouses who has German citizenship must appear in person at the registry office and bring all the necessary documents with them.
• The registrar will check whether the marriage can be registered by a German registry office.
• If all requirements are met, the marriage can be entered in the marriage register.
• If necessary, the registry office will issue a marriage certificate after the registration has been completed.

If the marriage took place abroad, you can apply to the registry office in your home town to have the marriage subsequently recorded in the German marriage register.

• Objection
• Application for a court ruling

Depends on the individual case.

• Foreign marriage certificate or marriage license, if applicable with certification by the competent foreign authority (apostille) or legalization by the German diplomatic mission abroad
• Valid identity card, passport, or travel document
• Certified copies of birth certificates from the registry offices of the places of birth
  • If the spouses were born in Germany
• Birth certificates certified by the competent foreign authority (apostille) or legalized by the German diplomatic mission abroad
  • If the spouses were born abroad
• Translations of all documents in a foreign language by translators sworn in Germany
• If applicable, naturalization certificate or citizenship certificate
• Proof of the establishment and dissolution of all civil partnerships
  • Only required if one spouse has previously entered into a registered civil partnership
• Certified copy from the marriage register of the last previous marriage with a note of dissolution
  • Only required if one spouse has been married before. Alternatively, or in the case of a previous marriage abroad: proof of the conclusion and dissolution of all previous marriages. For example, marriage certificates, death certificates, all divorce decrees – complete and with a note from the court stating when the decree became final ("legal force note").
• If applicable, recognition of the foreign divorce by the president of the higher regional court
  • Only required if one spouse has been married before.
• Additional documents
  • Additional documents may be required in individual cases.

The fees are based on the guidelines of the federal states.

• Card payment (debit, credit, Visa, Mastercard, etc.)
• Mobile payments
• Cash payments are not possible!