Family Book

[aya*abouelnasr 0]

After Ibrahim and I got married in Jordan, we started a family book. What it is and what it is for are unknown to me. A record of the family, I persume. Anyone know how to go about completing it? Or know what it is used for? Any help would and will be welcome!

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

After Ibrahim and I got married in Jordan, we started a family book. What it is and what it is for are unknown to me. A record of the family, I persume. Anyone know how to go about completing it? Or know what it is used for? Any help would and will be welcome!

it enables your children to be registered.It also enables(in algeria) a divorce to take place in the country of the family book. For example, my baby will have to wait to be registered in Algeria because our marriage was in Tunisia, they would not let us do a family book there. I have to wait till the baby is born, then register it with the consulate and then there is some back way that I can do it.

I am not really sure why you need to be in his family book. If you have kids, yes , or you want Jordanian residency or to live there or save on visas ( which I am not sure you even need) If you guys are going to have a baby.. But I am really unsure why you need one. They are for marriage and divorce and baby registering. You dont really need one for anything stateside.

Ill give you an example, if you arent in the family book in Algeria, a divorce cannot commence there. A baby cannot be registered. Neither can a marriage

A family book in Algeria anyway, is the way they keep track of who is married to who and whos kid is whos and it also serves as a place where a divorce can be started. Without me in the family book in Algeria, Mohamed cannot divorce me there. And annulment is the only other option. But its kind of hard to say the marriage is not consumated when a baby is there .. Its just their rules . It s where they register marriages...

[Nasturtium 500]

Hey tammy! In Jordan a family book says the spouse (s) of the man who is married and ALL of his unmarried children. Once a child gets married they will be removed from the family book. It used to be like a family ID and a way to keep records, but now it's just a holdover of the precomputer age and not used for much other than brought with kids when they get married or if one of you dies, etc.

[polarbear 0]

Hey tammy! In Jordan a family book says the spouse (s) of the man who is married and ALL of his unmarried children. Once a child gets married they will be removed from the family book. It used to be like a family ID and a way to keep records, but now it's just a holdover of the precomputer age and not used for much other than brought with kids when they get married or if one of you dies, etc.

Kinda like a family bible? You know the one where they write in the front the births, marriages, divorces, ect?

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Hey tammy! In Jordan a family book says the spouse (s) of the man who is married and ALL of his unmarried children. Once a child gets married they will be removed from the family book. It used to be like a family ID and a way to keep records, but now it's just a holdover of the precomputer age and not used for much other than brought with kids when they get married or if one of you dies, etc.

Kinda like a family bible? You know the one where they write in the front the births, marriages, divorces, ect?

No . It looks more like a passport with a ton of pictures. Its used as documentation for a marriage along with a license. Its main purpose is if you have children and you need it also to obtain a divorce in Algeria and in Algerian courts. If your marriage IS NOT registered in Algeria, you cannot get divorced there. In Algeria, no one ever gets removed. They just stay there.

Interesting enough, in Tunisia, the books go back to the 11th century and you are forever and ever in this big set of books bound by the month. There is NO computer backup, its just a big set of books and each license has about 20 stamps from every department where it is legally recorded all over the place. Not only did I have to have permission to marry my husband from the USA ( which is really not permission), he had to have permission to marry me and that was actually a heck of a lot more drawn out. I actually had to get approval from the Algerian embassy in Washington, then sit there and keep faxing back my papers and copies of my passport to get permission to marry him. If you marry an Algerian in Europe or the USA, you do not have to do any of that. But since we were both in a foreign country, Tunisia, we both had to have permission to marry, not just me. It was very interesting what he had to go through to have permission to marry. His birth certificate had to be new. He had to have a police certificate, but I did not. Papers and papers and then medical exams and then more papers.

We tried to get the family book for Algeria endorsed in Tunisia and they refused to give us any kind of seal or endorsement because he was NOT a Tunisian citizen. And Now I am pregnant so when the baby is born, I actually have to register the baby with the Algerian embassy in Washington so eventually he can get a little passport and have his Algerian citizenship which entitles him to free healthcare for life and free University ( he already has his college at the 4 year level paid) but if he wanted to go back to Algeria and study, being registered will help him and he wont need a visa either like I do.

[♥JP♥ 5]

Hi Tammy,

Like Julianna said, its a record of the family in Jordan. Once a man gets married, he is removed from his parents book and starts a book of his own. Included will be his wife's name and all children they have together. In Jordan its a very important document and is needed to process any kind of paperwork. In your case, if you and Ibrahim have any children together and later on they would like to get a Jordanian ID or passport, they will need to show the family book in order to get that.

Since Ibrahim started the book when you got married in Jordan I don't think there is anything else you need to do unless you have a child. You will then need to register that child in the book. You can do this buy contacting the Jordanian embassy in the US or on your next visit to Jordan.

Also this is what would prevent you from leaving Jordan during a visit with your husband. He can show the airport the family book and they will not let you leave the country without his permission if he makes that request, even if you are a US citizen this rule applies to you.

If you have more questions, let me know!

JP

Edited January 29, 2008 by ♥JP♥

[In Gods Hands 0]

After Ibrahim and I got married in Jordan, we started a family book. What it is and what it is for are unknown to me. A record of the family, I persume. Anyone know how to go about completing it? Or know what it is used for? Any help would and will be welcome!

Hi Tammy,

Good to see you online. Ahmad felt so good about getting this little booklet. It made him feel even more independant and especially that it showed him and I as a family unit. He mentioned a little of what it was for (as mentioned by Julianna)..and if I remember correctly, he said this would prevent those who were within the military draft age for a period of time from going in. Ahmad is past this age in Jordan anyway. What did Ibrahim say about it?

Anyway.. I look at the copy (translated) I have of it here and gotta smile seeing me in there

[doodlebugg 10]

Is this just a Jordanian thing or do a lot of other MENA countries keep a family book?

[Nasturtium 500]

There are no pictures in a family book from Jordan.

Bridget-- I don't think Egyptians do a family book as my Egyptian (citizen) friend was asking me WTH one was

JP answered the question nicely.

Polarbear-- JP probably answered your question but in a way yes, and in a way no since it has stronger legal applications.

ETA-- By the way, it's not a book anymore-- it's a piece of paper. So if your husband has one with him (copy) it's going to be a computer print-out. I learned this when looking at my friend's.

Edited January 30, 2008 by julianna

[ya falaha! 0]

Egyptians don't have a family book but, like most other MENA countries, all the children and the wife (wives) are listed in the man's passport. My husband only just got his own passport before he traveled here.

[polarbear 0]

Egyptians don't have a family book but, like most other MENA countries, all the children and the wife (wives) are listed in the man's passport. My husband only just got his own passport before he traveled here.

My husband said that it wasn't done very often anymore. It used to be so that you only had to have 1 passport for the whole family, but it doesn't make sense if one or more of the family members wants to travel alone.... I don't know, so far as I know our marriage isn't even registered in Egypt anyway since we just did it here

[ya falaha! 0]

My husband's father has all the family on his passport (he's old school). Only two of his children have traveled outside of Egypt and have their own passport. He and my MIL have never been out of Egypt either.

Egyptians don't have a family book but, like most other MENA countries, all the children and the wife (wives) are listed in the man's passport. My husband only just got his own passport before he traveled here.

My husband said that it wasn't done very often anymore. It used to be so that you only had to have 1 passport for the whole family, but it doesn't make sense if one or more of the family members wants to travel alone.... I don't know, so far as I know our marriage isn't even registered in Egypt anyway since we just did it here

[jade2004 0]

I remember that in Moe's parents family book there were pics and I also remember having to take a passport pic when we went to have the family book started...but i don't remember anything else about it except that it looks like a passport....i wonder why the older people have pics in theirs, but not in ours???? hmmmm