Home I need to arrange… Marriage, Registered Partnership and Parenthood Marriage to a Foreign National

Marriage to a Foreign National

A citizen of the Czech Republic may enter into marriage with a foreign national in the Czech Republic through a civil or religious marriage. Civil marriage is performed by a public official (mayor, deputy mayor, councillor), while a religious wedding ceremony is officiated by a representative of a church or a religious organisation.

Marriage is contracted by the free and full consent of a man and a woman who intend to enter into marriage (fiancés), declaring that they are entering into marriage. The declaration of consent is made publicly and solemnly in the presence of two witnesses.

 

Things to Do before Entering into Marriage

At first, decide on the place and the approximate date of your wedding. If you want a civil marriage, contact the civil registry office that has jurisdiction over the administrative district of your wedding ceremony venue. Civil registry offices can be found at town (city) halls or city district offices. If you would like a religious marriage ceremony, contact a person authorised by a church or a religious organisation recognised by the state.

In Prague, the agenda of civil registry offices is performed by city district offices’ civil administrative departments – divisions of registers.

 

Civil Marriage

Arrive at the civil registry office early enough to allow you to get all paperwork done (for the required documents, see below). At the office, you will set the exact date of your wedding and learn all you need to know.

If one of the foreign national fiancés does not understand Czech, the civil registry office needs to be informed about that. In this case, it will be necessary to have the wedding ceremony interpreted by a court interpreter who will then sign the Protocol on Contracting Marriage.

 

Required documents

Before contracting marriage, the fiancés have to fill in the Questionnaire for Entering into Marriage. This form is available at the civil registry office and it can also be downloaded here. The first part of the form is filled in by the fiancés (with the help of a civil registry official), the second part is filled in by the civil registry official.

In addition, you must provide the following documents to prove your legal competence to enter into marriage:

  • The fiancé who has Czech citizenship submits:

1) Birth certificate (original or officially certified copy)

2) Czech identity card or a valid travel document (if the ID does not include information on personal status and the permanent residence address, it is also necessary to provide this information by submitting an extract from the Information System of Inhabitant Records).

3) Extracts from the Information System of Inhabitant Records on personal status and the permanent residence abroad or equivalent documents issued by the state in in which the fiancé(e) permanently resides (if issued by the foreign state).

4) Court final judgement of divorce of a previous marriage (if the fiancé(e) is divorced) or a death certificate of a deceased spouse, if the fiancé(e) is widowed.

 

  • The fiancé who is a foreign national submits:

1) Identification document

2) Birth certificate

3) Certificate of nationality (can be confirmed by a travel document)

4) Certificate of legal competence to enter into marriage, not older than 6 months on the day of the marriage.

 

The issuance of this Certificate is under the purview of your country of origin. Ask at your embassy if they can help and issue the document, or if you have to travel to your country of origin to get it.

 

5) Certificate of personal status and residence, if it is issued by the foreign country and if it is not a part of the certificate of legal competence to enter into marriage.

6) Death certificate of a deceased spouse, if the fiancé(e) is widowed.

7) Court final judgement of divorce of a previous marriage (if the fiancé(e) is divorced).

8) at latest on the day of marriage: Confirmation of legal residence in the Czech Republic issued by the Foreign Police of the CR not earlier than 7 working days before the marriage. This does not apply, if the fiancé(e) is a citizen of the European Union, a citizen of a contracting state to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, or their family member.

 

Submitted documents issued by foreign authorities must be officially authenticated, unless stipulated otherwise by an international agreement, and must be officially translated into the Czech language. The civil registry office may waive the requirement of authentication of documents if it constitutes an insurmountable obstacle.

 

Protocol on Contracting Marriage

Based on the documents listed above, you will fill in the Protocol on Contracting Marriage at the civil registry office together with the registry official. The Protocol includes names, surnames, and national identification numbers of witnesses. Foreigners state their date and place of birth instead of national identification numbers.

During the wedding ceremony, witnesses are required to prove their identity by an identification document (ID or passport).

 

Religious Marriage

A religious wedding ceremony can only be conducted by an authorised representative of a state-recognised church or religious organisation.

The documents that need to be submitted are the same as the documents required for civil marriage (see above).

Come in person to the civil registry office with jurisdiction over the place of your religious wedding ceremony and submit a written application for a certificate confirming that all the statutory conditions under the Czech Family Act have been met. You will then provide this certificate to the representative of your church or religious organisation. On the wedding day, this document must not be older than 3 months.

The church representative will deliver the Protocol on Contracting Marriage to the civil registry office within 3 working days after the wedding.

 

Foreign National’s Obligations after the Wedding

The civil registry office will issue your marriage certificate within 30 days (33 days if you had a religious ceremony).

Make sure that you keep your marriage certificate safe – it is an essential proof of your marital status.

Report the change of your personal status and the change of your surname (if any) to the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy (OAMP) of the Ministry of the Interior of the CR within 3 working days.

EU citizens and their family members report changes in marital status and name within 15 working days.

If you change your surname after the wedding, you must apply for a new passport at your home country embassy. It is probable that the embassy will require that you first provide an official translation of your marriage certificate in the language of your country of origin.

Submit the new passport at the OAMP. The OAMP will most probably issue a new residence permit for you.

 

Community Property of Spouses

In the Czech Republic, once a couple gets married, their property rights change to a special statutory regime of co-ownership of property and financial obligations. It is called community property of spouses. The community property of spouses includes everything acquired by one or both of the spouses during their marriage. Exceptions are, in particular, assets that serve the personal needs of one of the spouses and assets that were acquired as a gift or inheritance by only one of the spouses.

Spouses in the CR may agree on a matrimonial property regime different from the statutory one. The spouses may agree to expand or reduce the scope of the community property. Such agreement has to be drawn up in the form of an authentic instrument.

If one of the spouses performs business activities, it may be useful to reduce the scope of the community property of spouses and thus exempt the other spouse from the liability for any debts incurred by the business.

Property Settlement after Divorce

If you want to divorce and to settle your property in the Czech Republic, you must first verify whether the CR recognises marriages in the country in which your wedding ceremony took place. To be able to petition for divorce in the CR, the habitual residence of at least one the spouses has to be in the Czech Republic. Nationality and the habitual residence determine whether the property to be settled is regarded as the community property of spouses. If both the spouses are foreigners from the same state, the settlement of their property is governed by the law of this state. In all other cases (i.e. one of the spouses is Czech and the other one is a foreign national / both spouses are foreigners with different nationalities), Czech law applies, providing that one of the spouses or both have their habitual residence in the CR.

Are you not sure what procedure applies to the settlement of your property? Contact the Integration Centre Prague or an NGO for free legal consultancy.


 

Registered Partnership

Registered partnership is a permanent union of two persons of the same sex. It is contracted by a declaration of the two partners that they want to enter into a partnership. To be able to enter into registered partnership, both partners have to be over 18 years old and at least one of them has to be a Czech citizen. Registered partnership may not be contracted by relatives in the ascending line and siblings.

The declaration is made in the presence of a civil registry official. If one of the partners is a foreign national and does not understand Czech, it is necessary to provide interpreting by a court interpreter who will also sign the protocol. The presence of witnesses is not required.

Contact the civil registry office that has jurisdiction over the place of your permanent residence. A list of relevant civil registry offices can be found on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the CR.

The documents required are similar to those required for contracting marriage (see above):

  • Birth certificate, passport.
  • Certificate of legal competence to enter into registered partnership (not older than 6 months), if issued by the foreign state.
  • Certificate of personal status and residence, if issued by the foreign state.
  • Death certificate of a deceased spouse, judgement of divorce, or a judicial decision on cancellation of partnership, if applicable.
  • If your permanent residence is outside the CR, you also need to submit a Confirmation of legal residence in the Czech Republic issued by the Foreign Police of the CR not older than 7 working days. This confirmation is not required from EU citizens.
  • If you have been granted asylum or subsidiary protection, the competent civil registry office may waive the requirement of authentication of documents if it constitutes an insurmountable obstacle.

 

More information on entering into registered partnership in Czech is available on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the CR.

 

Useful links and contacts: 

 

 

Specific information including contacts can be found on websites of the individual Prague city districts, e.g. the Prague 4 City District or the Prague 8 City District.