hi. i am applying for my fiance in africa... but this question is for my friend. i swear.

she met and fell in love with a french man and wants to move there to get married. what kind of paperwork does she need to bring with her? she mentioned something about some sort of certificate showing she is legally able to get married? is there anything else?
do any americans here know where she can obtain this paper?

thanks in advance for your help!

SHe'll probably need to get that from the American Embassy in France, much like I had to get mine from the Consulate in Morocco when I married Atif back in 2004.


Mary K.

I put in paperwork to marry in France this summer (now I don't think that I need it, but here is what we did)

First of all to be married in France you need to go to "city hall" the mairie of the town where at least on of you resides. There you must set your date so the marriage 'bands' can be posted.

Once that is determined they will give you a little marriage booklet. In the booklet it spells out exactly what you need to marry their. The paperwork must be at the city hall ONE MONTH before the determined date.

The paper work we needed:

My birthcertificate with translation to French
His birth certificate (current and valid within 3 months--he is French and BC is only valid for 3 month period)
Copy of our divorce decrees (we were both divorced before)
My decree had to be translated to French
Copy of something to prove current permanent address for both
Copy for both--of prenuptial medical visit that was done in France (cost 20 euros)
Certificate that I was not married (my divorce decree was not enough to prove that I had not been married in the meantime)
for this document I talked to my state clerk of courts who did a search for marriages since the date of my divorce. This of course showed that I did not have any marriage and the form was sent to me within one week and for a cost of $25. This document was then translated to French.

For all documents that were translated to French, we had our translator notarize everything. We provided a statement that said she was competent to translate (she is a teacher of French like me)
We attached her teaching license and every single page was stamped by the notary. The French love their STAMPS!!

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need anything else.