HomeSecuring Your Union: Marriage Certificate Attestation for Saudi Arabia

The attestation of marriage certificates is beneficial in many ways, such as:

• Legal Recognition The attestation ensures that your marriage certificate is legally recognized by Saudi authorities. This might be important in various legal and other administrative aspects.
• Visa Applications: Enables family visa applications and residence permits for spouses who wish to legally reside together in Saudi Arabia.
• Personal Validation: Verifies the genuineness of your marriage, which might be required for several spouse-related/other entitlements.
• Accessibility to Benefits: Allows access to spouse-related benefits, insurance, and other entitlements granted by the employer/ Academy.
• The smooth running of court cases: This will be very helpful in any legal proceedings requiring evidence of marriage, like proving inheritance or custody of children.

Proof Documents Required for Marriage Certificate Attestation in Saudi Arabia 

Certain supporting documents are normally required to be presented at the time of commencement of the marriage certificate attestation for Saudi Arabia. They are as follows:

• Original Marriage Certificate
• Copies of Passports: Copies of the husband’s and wife’s passports are required for ID verification
• Photographs: passport-size photos of the husband and wife
• Residence Proof
• Authorisation Letter

Marriage Certificate Attestation Process

• Public Notary Attestation: The document has to be further attested by a public notary in the country where it was issued.
• Home Department/Regional Authentication Centre Attestation: The document will, at this stage, be re-attested by the Home Department or the Regional Authentication Centre in the State from where the document has been issued.
• Saudi Arabian Embassy Attestation: The document attested by the MEA will be sent to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the country of its issue for re-attestation, verifying that it is recognized in Saudi Arabia.
• MOFA attestation in Saudi Arabia: When the document reaches Saudi Arabia, it will have to be attested by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This can be submitted online.
• Apostille Attestation: Apostille attestation may replace Embassy attestation for countries that are part of the Hague Apostille Convention 1961, under which the process to verify the document for international use will get easy. The procedure is completed at regional, state, and MEA levels; all this helps speed up the process of the entire attestation.

Attestation procedure based on the Country of Origin of the issue 

Marriage certificates that undergo apostille are as below:

UK Marriage Certificates 

The UK marriage certificate has a streamlined Apostille attestation procedure since it is a signatory to the Hague Convention. To verify the document’s legitimacy, you must first get an attestation from a licensed solicitor. The marriage certificate is next submitted to have an Apostille stamp issued, which is the last step in approving the document for use.

Indian Marriage Certificates

Indian marriage certificates go through multiple steps of authentication to get acceptance in Saudi Arabia. The certificate needs to be first notarized by any Indian notary public. Following the notarization, the State Home Department [SHD] of the state wherein the marriage was registered is required to attest to the document. The attested document by SHD is required to be finally authenticated by MEA. Since Saudi Arabia and India are both signatories to the Hague Convention, apostille attestation is used in place of embassy attestation. The process is streamlined by using an apostille to stamp the documents as the last step. 

USA Marriage Certificates

The certificate should first be attested by a notary public. This will then be certified by the Secretary of State of the issuing state, such as the Secretary of State of Washington DC. It will then be authenticated by the US Department of State. Apostille attestation takes the role of consulate attestation because Saudi Arabia and the United States of America are both signatories to the Hague Convention. The last step in streamlining the procedure is to apostille the documents.

Australia Marriage Certificates
Australian marriage certificates will have to undergo various attestations to be valid in Saudi Arabia. First, it has to be notarized by an Australian notary public. After that, the notary-public-notarized certificate has to be attested by the DFAT.  Apostille attestation is used instead of embassy attestation because Saudi Arabia and Australia are both signatories to the Hague Convention. The last step, which is to stamp the documents with an apostille, expedites the procedure.

Canadian Marriage Certificates

Canadian marriage certificates are subject to apostille authentication because Saudi Arabia and Canada are signatories to the Hague Convention. The last stage of this procedure is an apostille from the Official Document Service (ODS) for attestation, preceded by notarization.

Turkey Marriage Certificates 

A marriage certificate issued in Turkey needs to undergo several attestation procedures to be recognized in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. First, the certificate should be translated into Arabic and notarized. The final step is apostille attestation.

French Marriage Certificates 

The French marriage certificates attested at a couple of levels only have validity in Saudi Arabia. First, it has to be by the French notary public, and BACA-PRLO-B-LEg certification is the two processes involved in the apostille attestation of a French marriage certificate in Saudi Arabia.

Marriage certificates that undergo the embassy attestation method are as below:

Malaysian Marriage Certificate

To be valid in Saudi Arabia, a Malaysian marriage certificate has to be attested by various religious and governmental authorities in Malaysia. First of all, any concerned State Religious Department has to attest to it. The document has to be attested by the MoFA of Malaysia in the next turn. Finally, this has to be attested by the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Malaysia.

Qatar and Kuwait Marriage Certificate

The marriage certificate must first be verified by the MOFA of the nation that issued it. Subsequently, the document is delivered to the relevant Saudi Arabian embassy for ultimate attestation, guaranteeing its legal recognition in the Kingdom.