Applying to get married in the Netherlands

Are you planning to get married? If you intend to get married, you must notify the municipality of this at least 2 weeks and not more than 1 year before the wedding.

There are certain requirements for marriage that everyone must meet:

you must be at least 18 years of age;
you cannot marry someone who is already married or in a civil partnership;
you cannot be related to one other, e.g. grandparent, grandchild, parent, child or sibling.

Are you getting married to a non-Dutch citizen in the Netherlands? Then different conditions apply.

If you intend to marry someone of the same sex, you can get married in the Netherlands in the presence of the civil registrar. This is called a civil marriage, and you are only legally married once you have had a civil ceremony. In addition, it is possible to have a religious ceremony in some churches, but not all churches allow it. Check first with the church where you want to have the ceremony. A church wedding can only take place after the civil ceremony.

If you are getting married outside the Netherlands and are not yet 18 years old, your marriage will only be recognised in the Netherlands once both spouses have reached 18 years of age.

This is how it works for you

Your (future) place of residence falls under:

Municipality of Montferland

Here is some information from your municipality.

Marriage

If you want to get married, you need to notify the municipality where you want to marry at least two weeks in advance, and preferably earlier. In the past, this was known as 'publishing the banns'. You can register your forthcoming marriage by making an appointment with the Public Affairs Department in Didam or online.

The following must be included in the notification:

The date of the marriage;
The wedding location;
The marriage officiant;
Your witnesses;
The marriage booklet;
The costs.

To be able to marry, you and your partner must:

Both be 18 years of age or older;
Be unmarried and not be in a registered partnership with someone else.

Difference between marriage and registered partnership

There are 3 differences between a marriage an a registered partnership:

When you marry, you say 'yes' to each other. This is not mandatory for a registered partnership.
A registered partnership can be ended without going to court, providing that you do not have minor children. If you are married, you always have to go to court to divorce.
There is no legal separation for registered partnerships, but this is an option for marriages.

Converting a registered partnership into a marriage

You can convert your registered partnership into a marriage. You must have a deed of conversion drawn up by the municipality to do this.

Free of charge marriage or registered partnership

You can get married free of charge on Tuesdays from 09.00 to 09.15. This is only an option if at least one of the partners is resident in the municipality of Montferland. You may not have any guests other than your witnesses at the marriage ceremony. The marriage ceremony is held at the town hall in Didam at the Public Affairs desk.

Special Civil Registrar

We will take into account your possible preference for the special civil registrar. However, this is not a guarantee or commitment. If this marriage officiant is not available, then we will schedule a fellow marriage officiant instead.

Your and your partner's valid proof of identity.
Copies of your witnesses' valid proof of identity;

In certain situations, you will need additional documents. For example, if you are not a Dutch national, or if you live/have lived abroad. Please get in touch with the Public Affairs Department on telephone number, (0316) 291 391.

You must register your forthcoming marriage in the municipality where you are going to marry. You can do this online.

You must do this at the latest 14 days before you are going to marry;
Let us know who the witnesses will be at the ceremony. These persons must be legal adults. You must have a minimum of 2 and maximum of 4 witnesses;
If you and your partner are already in a registered partnership with each other and want to convert this into a marriage, you must request a 'deed of conversion'.

Marriage to a non-Dutch national

If your partner is not of Dutch nationality, he or she must present a 'Statement of no marriage of convenience' (Verklaring geen schijnhuwelijk) in advance. With this document your partner states that they are not marrying you for a residence permit. The IND checks this statement.

You do not need this statement if you are: