British man Marrying Polish Woman in POLAND

Hi,

Me and my fiance are looking to get married next year or the year after depending on whether we can book the church, the wedding reception and the band etc.

As she is the polish one shes doing as much as she can to find out what we (Or what I will need) to be able to get married in poland.

Could anyone advise on the things I will need.
Have read a lot of threads on marriage in poland on this site however some of them are quite old and i dont know if the rules/laws have changed over there regarding what paperwork/documents i need.

I am currently a Christian however will be converting to a Catholic as i believe this makes the process alot easier with the churches over there.

Any information would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jon
x

My wife and I got married in the U.S. and just registered it in Poland, so it's different, I know. But make sure all your documents are good, and that the names on everything match.

Hey Jon,

Drop me a PM with your email if you like - I did this whole milarky a couple of years ago, so I should be able to remember what's required.

hi,

I understand when English people are getting married in poland they need:

Passport
Birth certificate and translated birth certificate
Certificate of No Impediment also translated
Notice of marriage form

I was wondering if this is required when booking the Preist and the church or only around the time of the wedding?

And if documents are needed to book the Priest and church what are they?

Would realy appreciate the help as i am very confused.

Thanks
Jon

You can book the wedding with no documents, but all documents have to be submitted before the wedding, you partner should speak to the priest in the church where you want to get married as they all say different things :)

Have you considered that you need to have pre marriage classes which includes (for me) 6 hours of pre-marriage counselling?

Indeed, and it's also quite possible that the priest will demand additional (non-compulsory in the eyes of the church, but compulsory in his eyes) paperwork/requirements.

Don't get the certificate of no impediment until you have a fixed date sorted at the church (those certificates have a limited lifespan, I think they are valid for three months but other people will know better than I do).

hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Yeh I have been reading a lot of people saying about the pre marriage classes.
This may sound so stupid.
But what is this about?

Thanks.
Jon

For sure.... every priest we spoke to wanted some kind of different document... Once we went to the "head" priest for the area he clarified how simple the whole process is! But give yourself lots of time in case of any problems!


I heard three months...

The classes are about how to bring up a family..... the churches ideas on marriage..... natural contraception and other joyful topics..

Also,

As i am a christian would i need to show any sort of certificate stating that i have been christened?

Thanks
Jon

I guess so! Next week we're going to have this appointment with the priest so i don't know yet :D

You will need several green documents 13.5 X 7cm bearing the likeness of Władisław II Jagiełło.

Yep, usually no more than 6 months old.


The same priest that married us did the pre-marriage classes, so you can imagine that they were actually quite good fun :D

The stuff on "natural contraception" was a great laugh, it was done in one class by this psycho guy. I gave up listening after he started ranting about Stalin, Lenin and Mickiewicz :/

LUCKY! your priest was epic.... so jealous!

Hi Caveman,

I find myself in the same situation as Jon, except I'm Catholic. I wonder if you would mind sending me the same information regarding documentation needed for getting married in Poland to my Polish fiancee.

Jon, it sounds like you might be a couple of steps in front of me, so any information you have and willing to share would be greatly recieved! :-p

Good luck with your plans!!

Sorry I haven't supplied any advice for your original question Jon, but feel free to ask anything moving forward and if I can help or share any details, I'll be happy to.

Thanks guys

Tom

I got married in Poland last year, so happy to give some details on experience, DM me

Thanks

Some of the documents required are: Full birth certificate with both parents' names including mother's maiden,( first ask them if they will retain your original)

Passport or ID, letter of no impediment which is less than 6 months old and the baptismal certificate or letter if you were baptised in the RCC.

Those are the most important as far as I know.
Ps, there are 16 Wojewoids (Provinces) in Poland and they all differ depending on how they interpret the law.

Good luck!

Did you know Catholics are already Christians??? And with all the bullshit in the Church, I wouldn't bother becoming certified

The conversion hassle will negate any advantage by converting.

Hi,
I am getting married in Poland in July and I have my confirmation, baptism and birth cert since before Christmas. Do these have a 'time limit' on them? Or can I get these issued at any time? I thought it was just the certificate of no impediment that had a 'time limit' on them. Also, are they sent straight from my church to the Polish church? I was told they do, however, I was also told everything needs to be translated so how can this be done if they are gone straight from an Irish church to a Polish church? Just a bit confused about exactly what is needed and how soon before the wedding I can organise this.

Thank you to any response or help you can give.

First congrats.

Some of your documents have a 90 day time period on them, your confirmation, baptism certs should be dated from the day your priest gave them to you, if they aren't the Polish authorities will not accept them, they must be stamped/dated....and the date cannot be longer than 90 days before the wedding.

You will need to get them all, translated by a 'sworn translator' before sending them. Getting them translated by your Polish buddy/missus won't be good enough. Call a few translation services in Ireland and they'll be able to sort you out for a small fee, it needs to be a sworn translator because they must stamp it with the stamp they received when they finished their education.......or something like that....Polish bureaucracy loves things that are stamped! :D

The Church won't send them, you must send them, it's your wedding after all.

Photocopy every single thing and send them either by registered post or courier.
You should send everything approx 2months before the wedding.......but you may need to book the church up to a year in advance (depending if it's in a rural or urban area)

You also need a 'letter of freedom' from your local priest, it's a document that says you're not already married, this also must be dated no longer than 90 days before the wedding. If your priest is being a prat, you can also get it from your solicitor, I found this thread on a crappy forum that might help: mrs2be.ie/wedding-forum/wedding-discussion/topic5781.html but just search, 'where to get a letter of freedom' and you'll be grand.....

Do you live in Ireland or in Poland? If you live in Poland, this involves going to the embassy in Warsaw and getting a document signed by an embassy representative, but in Ireland it's far easier.

g'luck

Are you sure that the Polish church will accept a letter from a church in Ireland as a certificate of no impediment? I'd be very surprised if a Polish registrar did.

An important point to note is that the sworn translation must be dated no more than 90 days before the date you want to use it. Yes I know that your birth certificate was issued a couple of days after you were born and hasn't changed since then, but the sworn translation must be dated no more than 90 days before the date you want to use it. Yes that does mean you sometimes need to get a document which hasn't changed translated again because you only have a translation of it which is more than 90 days old; T.I.P.

AFAIK the Chuch will accept it....but as usual, it depends on the priest. Personally, since I live here, I had to go to Warsaw, fill out a document and get it signed by an representative of the ambassador.

Then I had to attend a 20 minute interview in my local Urząd office to confirm that we were not cousins, or adopted siblings, and of sound body and mind.....a strange 20 minutes.

I did some more digging re: Letter of Freedom...... Civil Letter of Freedom, Certificate de Coutume or a Nulla Osta....ok, so the first 2 are the same, they are civil documents saying you are not married, the Nulla Osta, that's what the priest gives you...however, as Harry points out, it's not technically a legal document, and it's only a document that is used in the Church.

However, when getting married in a Polish Catholic Church, then you are also 'state' married, so it should be enough.....however, it may not....if not then you need the 'Civil Letter of Freedom'

Ireland, under normal circumstances, does not issue such documents........why have a document to prove that someone isn't married? The precedence is to have a document that proves that someone is married :D

Anyway Slan, here's what you need to do:


from [citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/getting_married/getting_married_abroad.html].

So, you either call the embassy in Warsaw if you live here, or get in touch with the Department of Foreign Affairs if you're living back in Ireland :)

Yes, and that's the reason I feel that a simple letter from a church in Ireland wouldn't cut the mustard.

Although I could well be completely wrong there, given that I've never been married (in Poland or anywhere else) or Catholic (despite the best efforts of first the monks and then the nuns who oversaw parts of my education).

Better to play is safe and get the document that the Depart of Foreign Affairs gives.

The thread relates to my current situation but it's still relatively unclear on the whole process. I'm due to get married to my polish fiancee April 2017. The whole situation is a nightmare to be honest.

We visited the priest last Aug who provisionally booked the day (good)

Visited the local registry office in Poland today after reading the direct.gov website info which says it's up to local authorities on what they want/except from non polish nationals. Left with more questions than answers as they had no idea (bad)

Does anybody have any recent experience regarding the whole process?

Those issues are very closely regulated by Polish family and administrative law. It will be necessary for you to submit a certificate of no impediments from the Polish USC where you live. Other documents will also be necessary in fact.

It's a piece of cake.

Go to the USC no less than 3 months before the wedding. Produce a valid Certificate of No Impediment from either your local UK registry office or the British Embassy (should be no more than 6 months old) along with a sworn translation of your birth certificate and a copy of your passport. Relax. The priest will deal with the paperwork from then on. The sworn translation might be optional - ask the USC directly.

Thank you.

My issue is answers from the USC. They won't tell me exactly what I need, ie legalised, translated etc

As we're due to get married 21/4/17 I was thinking about going with documents you suggested November time. So does the CIN have to be valid within 6 months of presenting or 6 months of marriage?

Do you have any example of translators to use?

Thanks again