Documentation required to get married in Poland

Hey all, I am Irish guy getting married next year to my Polish girlfriend. I am Irish, Catholic, never married, she is Polish, Catholic, never married. I have read some confusing information regarding documentation and other requirements to allow us have a church wedding - anyone here give me some details?

What I remember from my marriage 5 years ago (but we had a civil ceremony) :
- Certificate proving that you are not married
- Certificate that you have no criminal record (although from this I am not sure)
- Certified copy of your birth certificate

Everything translated into Polish of course by a certified translator

And the church will most likely also require
- Baptismal certificate
- Certificate that you did First and Holy Communion

I know from friends that your local parish in your home town has to issue these and that the church uses documents in Latin for that = no translation necessary

May 3, 09, 20:58 - Thread attached on merging:
Documentation required to get married in Poland

Hi there. I'm English and live in the UK, and my fiance is Polish. We're due to get married in Poland in August 2009, but we're having serious trouble finding out exactly what documentation I need. I'm in the process of applying for a Certificate of No Impediment from my local register office to prove I'm not already married, however we're unclear whether this document HAS to be taken to the British Embassy in Warsaw (which is nowhere near my girlfriend's home town), or if the certificate can be legalised by the UK Foreign Consulate Office and then translated by a Polish sworn translator.

(I'm not Catholic, but I have been baptised and will be getting my baptism certificate and birth certificate translated anyway.)

Has anybody recently been through the process of getting married in Poland, and is anybody able to advise me what to do? I could really do without a trip to Warsaw, but will go if necessary.

I am getting married in July and the only documents required as far as I am concerned are a document of no impedement (Processed no more than 3 months before the wedding and translated by a sworn translator into Polish), Birth certificate (Translated into Polish) and Passport - the registry office told my Fiancee that I must attend there with her and these documents prior to the wedding with a sworn translator present - as far as im aware there is no need to go to the Ebassy in Warsaw (I am going only to the local registry office in Malbork - My fiancee's home town). I shall be doing this 3 weeks before the wedding - as for the wedding itself the registry office have told her as long as the minister is happy then I do not need a sworn translator present at the actual ceremony (It is my fiancee's pastor and he is fine with that - we are both Pentecostal Christian).

Hope that helps :D
All the information was obtained from the local registry office in Malbork so they better not be wrong ;-p

I remember having to sign a letter saying I was free to marry (for the church) and then get my mother and sister to go and sign such a letter as well. Obviously cos I'm not catholic so I'm not trustworthy enough!

My wife had to attend marriage classes (on her own, as I was out of the country).

I'd suggest contacting Irish embassy in Poland and see if they can help you with the paperwork.

Thanks for help. My fiance and I were just going off the website "UK in Poland" which is set up by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. It states the following:

"If you are British Citizens who have lived in Poland for less than 21 days than you should contact your local Registry Office in the U.K. or, if living overseas, contact the nearest British Embassy and apply there for a Certificate of No Impediment to marriage.

This certificate should be then presented to this office (British Embassy in Warsaw) together with:

your British passport;

evidence of the termination of a previous marriage for both partners i.e. divorce decree absolute or death certificate (if applicable) of former spouse;

Personal Details form (106 KB)

fee No 32 payable in cash at the time of application

The Certificate in English and in Polish will be issued within 1 to 2 working days.

You are requested to apply for the Certificate of no Impediment in person."

So that kind of scared us a bit!

I think I will have to speak to the Embassy and get my fiance to speak to her registry office again.

My own experience in UK was a nightmare, because I was living in Scotland but born in England, so my documents had to go between two sets of admin (Scottish and English) and also 2 Polish embassies/consulates.

When I mentioned it to British Embassy in Warsaw they said if I'd gone to them then they'd have been able to do it all and by-pass the hassle.

I've been told by a Polish sworn translator that I don't have to go to the Embassy in Warsaw, but I do have to get the Certificate of No Impediment legalised by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The FCO will basically stamp the certificate with an apostille (official stamp), which I have to get translated along with everything else.

Has anyone else had to get this done?

Your best bet is to contact the registry office you will be using in Poland and ask them exactly what documentation they will want to see. It is quite common in Poland for different offices, and even different people in the same office, to interpret regulations in different way. So what is acceptable in Malbork may well not be acceptable in Tczew (to pick two random examples).

Harry is right!! My friend got married in a different part of Poland and needed a sworn translator at the registry office with him 3 weeks prior to the wedding and at the actual wedding!! - I have checked and double checked and triple checked (getting my fiance to go back to the registry office and say are you sure? are you sure sure?are you sure sure sure? ;-p) because in Malbork they don't even require I have a translator at the registry office as long as I have the documents (document of no impedement, birth certificate (translated) and my passport) and the minister is happy to marry us without a translator then all is ok - which I couldn't understand considering my friend needed to have one!! very weird :S

As for the document meerkat as far as I am aware you get it from your local registry office and get it translated by a sworn translator who stamp it to state its translated correctly and all above board :p thats what I have done and my friend did and they were ok hope that helps!! it is all very confussing!!!!!

Hi all,
i am 25 years old male and i am from Pakistan.My girlfriend is from poland,and we want to get married through embassy coz i cannot go to poland this year nor she can come to Pakistan.

anybody can tell me what my girlfriend can do in this situation?? she should contact to pakistani embassy in warsaw??

Thanks

Hi to you all.
I am married to my lovely Polish wife and have the experience first hand. We got married here in Poland and have been living and working here for over a year now.

We are both Catholic but decided to go for the civil to avoid all the bureaucracy in this country which can be very annoying to say the least. But of coz we are planning to have a wedding in Church in the near future.

Right first of all there are 16 Woiwodships or Provinces in Poland all ran by different people with different mentalities who have different ways of interpreting the law as regards to marriage of Polish citizens to foreigners.

The requirements of getting married to a Polish National as a foreigner here in Poland are only three documents translated into the Polish language.

1 -:Full Birthcertificate with all your parents names (the british short version or any other country short version not acceptable at all)
2-:Letter of No Impedement(some of the Woiwodships will ask that the letter states that u have been given permission to get married in Poland to your Future Wife and her name to be included. Don't ask me why, but again some Woiwodships can ignore the last part)

3-: I D document with your foto it can be a national I.D or Passport.

Your Documents dont need to be legalized or anything like that just produce the originals together with the translation.
(Pliz note the law does not state that documents will have to be translated by a sworn in translator although they will all tell you that it has to be a sworn in translator) How do i know? Simple my Yanky friend got married here as well he confronted them and asked to be shown where it said that in the Polish law but of coz they could'nt.

Best Wishes to all of you who are getting Married Soon and remember its never easy to get married outside your country of origin its difficult everywhere.

To those who might want to ask me anything on getting Married in Poland u are more than welcome.......

Americans cannot get a document of no impediment so we have to apply at our fiance's regional court with:

Official Birth Certificate
Copy of Passport
Document from Embassy stating they will not issue Document of No Impediment

and it all translated into Polish by a certified translator

When the appointment is set (3-4 months later if lucky) you will need a sworn translator to accompany you before the judge. After he makes his decision it is legal after a certain period and you can register. 1 month from registration until you can marry. I have heard of it taking 18 months before (this information came from a Minister of the polish government) so don't hold your breath.