Elopement Cape Town

Eloping in Cape Town as foreigners

Spoilt for choice, Cape Town offers mountain vistas, expansive ocean views, the exquisite light of the Cederberg and Karoo, an abundance of beautiful wine farms and a few little-known gems (which we may or may not disclose).
If you’re reading this post, you probably don’t need much convincing about Cape Town and all it has to offer as an elopement decision.  What you can’t quite figure out is what documentation you require to make that dream a reality. Look no further. Google has not led you astray.
There is so much misinformation online … Some frequently asked questions: Do you have to notify home affairs 3 to 6 months in advance of your wedding? Do you need an interview at home affairs before getting married? What certificate will you require to register your marriage in your home country (or country of choice). This blog intends to address some of these quandaries. Let’s get started but before we do, we thought we’d share a few photographs in case any of you still need a little nudge when it comes to choosing to travel to Cape Town to elope.
Beach elopement on secluded secret beach
Right off the bat, let’s dispel a common misconception: You don’t have to forewarn Home Affairs about your intention to get married in the country, nor do you need an interview at home affairs.
Now that that is out of the way, let’s breakdown what documentation you need to make it official, and what documentation you’ll need to prove/register your marriage overseas.

A certified copy of each partner’s passport (that is, the photo page of your passport). Our marriage officer can certify these for you or you can do so prior to arriving in the country – your choice entirely.

A certified copy of your entry stamp into the country (obviously this is only available once you arrive in South Africa. It’s as simple as photocopying your entry stamp into the country from each of your passports and having our marriage officer certify the pages).

A letter of non-impediment from the country linked to the passport each partner is traveling on.

Note that letters of non-impediment vary from country to country (as to what they provide to confirm your are single/divorced and able to get legally married). This is perhaps the most important document you need to focus on because it requires some lead time and, occasionally, some research into your particular country’s process.

For example, Germany issues a ‘classic’ letter of non-impediment – this is a letter stating there is no legal impediment to your marriage and that you are single. The German letter of non-impediment contains a few translations and so the below regarding a certified translation is not applicable. fThe same goes for the Dutch letter of non-impediment. If both of you are German citizens then the authorities will only issue one letter for both of you. This suffices.

Another and different example of fulfilling the letter of non-impediment presents itself when both or one of the partners is from the UK. The UK does not issue letters of non-impediment. Instead, they have a standard letter confirming this fact (this letter can be printed from the embassy website, or we can print it for you). In addition to this standard letter, you will need to attest to an affidavit declaring that “you are single/divorce/windowed and that there is no legal impediment to your proposed marriage to [insert full details of your partner]”. In South Africa, it is very easy to attest to such an affidavit as you can do so at any police station. You simply use the standard affidavit template and write out the above sentence, including your particulars and that of your partner. Overseas, it is not as simple and yet, still simple enough: You’ll need an attorney/notary to certify the affidavit. It’s up to you whether you want to wait until arriving in South Africa to do the affidavit at the police station/attorneys office or whether you’d rather have everything lined up beforehand.

Every country has their own particular letter of non-impediment (or lack there of) and associated process to acquire it (or the alternative). It is best for you to research and consult directly with the embassy/authorities and get information about the letter/certificate firsthand as rules/procedures can change. Importantly, you want to attain your letter of non-impediment or equivalent no more than 3 months before your expected wedding date (as letters of non-impediment have an expiry).

If applicable, a copy of your divorce decree/settlement agreement, stamped by the court or death certificate. Some individuals argue that surely their divorce decree proves the same as a letter of non-impediment would and thus don’t they only need a divorce decree. The short answer: No. Our home affairs wants both.

If any of the above documentation is in a language other than English and does not contain a translation within the document, then you need to get a certified translator to translate the documents and you need to bring the original certified translated documents with you to South Africa.

Although an ante-nuptial contract is not mandatory to register your marriage, it is something you should be aware of. In South Africa, the default position is that you will be married in community of property if you do not sign an ante nuptial (prenup) agreement. You will need to consult with an attorney as to your legal position but this is an important item to tick off your to-do list. If you do choose to sign an ante nuptial contract, you need to do so prior to the date of your legal marriage. While we do not need to see your actual contract, we do need a letter from your notary confirming that you have signed such a contract because it is one of the documents that we need to hand in (if this is something you decide to do).

Once in Cape Town, you will sign the registry and associated documents (including another affidavit that all non-foreigners getting married in South Africa need to attest to) but you don’t have to worry about this, as this part will be done by your marriage officer (once you’ve sent them all the required information).

On the day of your wedding, you need 3 ID size color photographs of each partner.

Let’s take a deep breath (breathe?) after all that admin talk and while you inhale, we’ll show you some more photographs of epic Cape Town and some of our favorite couples. We’ll then move on to what you need after your special day to ensure your marriage is recognised at home (or wherever you plan to live).

Elopement on the top of Table Mountain

On the day of your elopement, you will be given a handwritten abridged marriage certificate as well as a duplicate original of the registry you’ve signed. While this is proof of your marriage in South Africa, most foreign countries require the unabridged marriage certificate in order for you to register your marriage. There are exceptions to this rule (the UK seems to be one but it’s best, again, to confirm this with a visa consultant or your embassy). It is a good idea to get the unabridged certificate anyway as it is the ‘full version’ certificate. While you could apply for an unabridged at a South African home affairs for R100, the issue is that it could take 2/3 years for you to get that certificate back (this is not an exaggeration). Since you’ve eloped, you most likely won’t be in the country to collect it. We advise our couples to use a service to apply for the unabridged (which are only issued out of Pretoria) and to collect it for you and to courier it to you. For the record, we advise our local couples to do the same when requiring an unabridged certificate.
In addition to the unabridged marriage certificate, some countries (for example France, Australia – and most/all countries that are members of the Apostil Convention) require that the certificate be apostilled to prove it’s authentication. That is, these countries will not accept the ‘bare’ unabridged certificate as proof of your marriage – they require an extra authentication in the form of an apostil stamp. In South Africa, this is done at DIRCO. The same service/company that applies for your unabridged certificate can collect the certificate from home affairs and then send it to DIRCO for the apostil, and then finally courier it to you so that you can register your marriage in your respective country of choice.
let’s move on to timings. Even though using a company, as described above, fast-tracks the process – the process isn’t exactly fast. There are huge backlogs at home affairs. You can expect to wait up to 5/6 months for an unabridged certificate and an additional 2 months for the apostil. While these estimates are conservative, we’d rather manage expectations and give you the worse-case scenario than promise you a shorter timeline and not deliver on it.
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