When I decided to get married to a moroccan girl, I started looking online for resources on the procedure of the Moroccan marriage. I was surprised at how complex the process is and how much documents were needed for this process. It can be overwhelming and I thought I should write an article with the process and my experience with it.
If you do decide to marry someone from Morocco and go through with the Moroccan marriage, I would suggest planning to stay for at least 3 weeks. I saw on the internet that some people say that they were able to get married in 2 weeks but for me it took 17 days and I was marrying in a small town. I heard in big cities like Casablanca and Marrakesh it may take longer.
Before you go to Morocco, ask your future spouse to go to the family court to ask them what is exactly needed. Although there are a few documents that are asked by all courts, there may be additional documents needed. For example in the town where I was married, they asked for 5 passport pictures and I read that most places asked for 4 pictures. Also in my town I did not need to have an interview with the police and there are some places where this is mandatory.
Once your future spouse gives you the information on what is needed you will have a clearer idea of what is needed. I will list the most common things needed. Remember all documents you are bringing with you have to be the original, they do not accept copies and they must be translated to Arabic. I had my documents translated to Arabic by a translator in Morocco. Your future spouse can help you to find a translator in their city.
Here are the documents that you will need to bring from your country before coming to Morocco, like I said earlier please consult with your future spouse to see if additional documents are required.
- Birth Certificate.
- A statement of your criminal record from the country you are residing in.
- Proof of Income.
- Divorce certificate
- Proof of religion.
- 4 pictures.
The birth certificate should be a long document containing information about yourself, your mother and father. In Canada we have a small birth certificate that looks like a card. This one is not accepted in Morocco.
The statement of your criminal record (or I should say lack thereof) is basically a document listing any criminal offences you have. To get this I went to my local police station. They actually told me that they outsourced this service to some other companies. They gave me a list of places that could help me. When I went to one of these places, they take my fingerprints and send my data to the RCMP. A week later I received the document in the mail. I’m not sure how this is done in different cities or even different countries but I suggest going to the local police station first. The reason I said lack thereof is because if you have any crimes on your record this may affect your ability to get married in Morocco.
Proof of Income – For most people you will need a letter of employment from the company you are currently working at and 2 recent pay-stubs. If you are self employed you can provide your latest tax assessment and the last 3 months of activity from you business bank account.
For those of you who are divorced you will need to provide the divorce certificate. For those of you who are widowed then you will need to provide a death certificate. For those who are neither then you don’t need to provide any of these two documents.
In Morocco muslim girls must marry muslim men. If you intend to marry a muslim woman then you must provide some sort of letter explaining your religion. You can obtain this letter from your Imam in your local mosque. The letter should be notarized by the Imam. For Moroccan men they are allowed to marry muslim, christian or Jewish women. If you are a woman you will need a letter that explains your faith, it should also be notarized.
The pictures should be passport size (35mm by 45mm), and should also follow the rules of taking a passport picture. Like I mentioned earlier you may need additional pictures as the rules are different from city to city.
Once these steps are completed you can now take the documents and travel to Morocco.
In Part 2, I will explain what documents you will need to obtain in Morocco and what to do after you have all gathered all the documents.