So you've decided to take the plunge and marry that 21
year old Russian bride from the internet, good for you. Once you've confirmed that she is
indeed a she and not a 55-year-old Russian trucker, you’ll probably want to know
how you can make an honest woman out of her.
Seeing how I got married in 2014, I thought I’d share
my experience with you. The basic steps are as follows (this was what I
needed to do as a UK citizen, but the process is basically the same for all
countries).
PRE WEDDING DOCUMENT COLLECTING
This is what you need to do before you can breeze on down
to ZAGS (ZAGS is where people get married in Russia, it’s basically a registry
office).
1) If you are outside of Russia, you’ll need to get here
first: if you’re American, grab a tourist visa (that lasts 3 years), if you are
from the UK, try a 3-month business visa. You can find out about visas here. Get your vacation
planned ahead of time.
2) When on the ground, you will need to visit your
consulate, swear an oath, fill out a basic form and apply for a magical piece
of paper called a certificate of no impediment (CNI). This paper basically
confirms that you are eligible to marry – no current wife, not a rampant sex
offender etc etc.
3) Once you have applied, you will need to wait up to 25 days during which you have to remain in the country. (British embassy says the following: “To complete a Notice of Marriage applicants must reside in the consular district where the notice of the proposed marriage is to be given at least 21 clear days before giving notice. If a British National has a residency permit, issued by the local authorities then he does not need to physically remain in the consular district for the required period. If he does not hold a residency permit then he must be physically present for the full 21 days after his last arrival in Russia.”).
3) Once you have applied, you will need to wait up to 25 days during which you have to remain in the country. (British embassy says the following: “To complete a Notice of Marriage applicants must reside in the consular district where the notice of the proposed marriage is to be given at least 21 clear days before giving notice. If a British National has a residency permit, issued by the local authorities then he does not need to physically remain in the consular district for the required period. If he does not hold a residency permit then he must be physically present for the full 21 days after his last arrival in Russia.”).
NOTE: some embassies will require extra documents to issue the Certificate. For example, a French embassy requires a Birth Certificate of your future spouse and a testimony of the future spouse saying he/she sincerely wants to marry. All documents need to be translated in French and apostilled.
4) Once your CNI is ready, you have to collect it then get
it translated. This is done in any Russian translation/notarization place or
the consulate itself. The cert is valid for 3 months from date of issue.
The CNI kind of looks like this
5) Next you need to get the translated CNI legalized. You do
this at the Legalisation Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
in person, at I was recently told by a reader that the place to do the CNI is now: Shipilovskiy Proyezd, 27, Moskva, 115569. This costs about 350 rubles and you can collect the legalised
document in a couple of days. They have weird working hours and a super long
lunch though, so keep that in mind and check times in advance.
Once you've done that, you are ready for stage two – the
wedding. The above might seem overwhelming to some, but in reality, it’s all
very straightforward.
ZAGS
1) You can only get married as a foreign couple at ZAGS
number 4 which is located at 17 Butyrsky Ulitsa.
2) Before you can marry, you need to go there to set your wedding date and have all your documents checked. You'll need your
passport photo page translated and notarised. Make sure your future wife takes copies
of all her documents too (this will be her internal passport with her propiska.
The wedding date is usually set for a couple of weeks, but if for some reason, you need a quicker wedding date (for example she’s pregnant) it can easily be arranged. In my case, the wife actually needed to show a spravka saying she’s pregnant).
The wedding date is usually set for a couple of weeks, but if for some reason, you need a quicker wedding date (for example she’s pregnant) it can easily be arranged. In my case, the wife actually needed to show a spravka saying she’s pregnant).
This is where the marriage happens (although Zags 4 is a bit less jazzy)
3) You get married and get a cool-looking marriage
certificate.
AFTER MARRIAGE
If your goal is to bring your new, official wife back to
your home country, I'm not sure just how much good the Russian marriage cert
will be. I imagine a piece of toilet paper would hold more sway with the UK
government, but I can’t say for sure. Getting married in Russia will make it
fairly easy to get Russian residence though (and even easier if you have a
kid!).
Let me know your marriage experiences (or questions) in
the comment section, or alternatively if any of you have experience with
getting a bride back to your home country and fancy doing a blog post about it,
drop me a line at mclovejustice@gmail.com.






11 comments:
Out of curiosity, were you able to pick a date for the wedding or was this dictated by ZAGS?
Hi Keith, yes we were able to pick an earlier date because the wife was preg, but, when my friend was getting married, he just asked for an earlier date and it was fine
Thank for this tips! I met my bride 6 months ago on katedating and i will get married in April. That's why this information is very important for me. I think procedure in Ukraine and Russia are pretty similar, am i right ?
I'd imagine the process was probably similar and not too complicated
I guess I was misinformed, for the US all the information seems to state that I don't need to be in Russia for 25 days. According to everything my fiancee can do everything without me as long as she has the documents needed, including an apostilled certificate of no impediment from the US.
I'm confused. Done I get a CNI from Russia or in the UK before I fly out? It all seems so darn complicated! :(
the embassy applied for me, although in your case, perhaps you can apply. i'd call the consulate and confirm tho
What documents are required for Pakistani nationals to get marry in Russia .
I'm a Pakistani national and my girlfriend it Russian , we are hoping to marry in April, please do let me know what documents shall I submit ?
For Pakistan i don't know im afraid - best give the embassy a call and get the info from the source :)
What if it's opposite. I'm the American bride he is the Russian and I'm not going back to America. We are staying here getting pregnant and resuming life.
IT's easy to get married in Russia, enjoy yourself and married life in Moscow :)
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