This entry is part 28 of 31 in the series Marriage Legalities
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Documents from other countries

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This entry is part 28 of 31 in the series Marriage Legalities

I’ve posted before about the documents you need to provide to your celebrant before you can get married in Australia. In 40% of marriages in 2021 (the last year we have statistics for), one or both parties were born overseas. Many of their identity documents will therefore be from countries other than Australia. There are two potential issues with documents from other countries. If your documents were issued by a country other than Australia, have a read to see if there’s anything you need to do!

Documents in a language other than English

Luckily most people only need to present a passport to get married, as it covers both evidence of date and place of birth and evidence of identity. (Of the people who got married in 2021, only 18% of them were marrying for the second or more time. Most marrying people therefore didn’t need evidence of the end of their previous marriage.)

Passports are pretty much always either completely in English, or in multiple languages, English being one of them. The International Civil Aviation Organization currently recommends that passports should be issued in English, French, and Spanish, or in the national language of the issuing country plus either English, French, or Spanish. I’m yet to see a passport that doesn’t have the details recorded in English, although apparently Haitian passports are only in French and Haitian Creole.

However, any other documents from another country you may need to present (e.g. birth certificate, divorce certificate, etc) may not be written in English. They will therefore need to be translated before your celebrant can accept them. The Guidelines on the Marriage Act 1961 for Authorised Celebrants tell us that translators should be found through the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), and that they should be accredited at Level 3 or higher.

So if you have documents you need translating, please head over to the NAATI website to find an accredited translator.

Legitimacy of documents

Australian marriage celebrants are pretty knowledgeable about what Australian identity documents look like. What we’re not experts in is what documents from other countries look like. As per the Guidelines, If we have any concerns at all about whether the document you’ve presented to us is legitimate, we’re going to ask you to:

  • contact your country’s local embassy/consulate/high commission
  • show them your document
  • get written confirmation on their letterhead that that is indeed legitimate and appropriate evidence of the birth/divorce/whatever in that country
  • provide that written confirmation to us for our records.

Every celebrant will have a different threshold as to whether or not they require such additional evidence, so wait until you’re asked for it!

More information

Click here for a full overview of the legal requirements of marriage in Australia.

Read all the posts in my series about marriage legalities here.

Find all the posts in my series about Australian wedding ceremonies here.

If you’re a celebrant wanting help with all things celebrancy, come and join us at the Celebrant Institute!

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awesome wedding readingsYour Personal Penguin wedding reading
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Series Navigation<< Documents to provide to your celebrantShortening of the one month’s notice period >>