Quote:
Originally Posted by whitelilac
Hello,
Would you please tell me where one gets married; in the city hall or the prefecture? In our commune or the major city in that region?
Also, we are planning to get married in the winter sometime in November or December, do you think the city hall will be closed during these times since it's right around the holiday season?
And last question, once married, if I am n a tourist visa, will I still have the 3 months to stay and then return to apply for visa, or do I have to return right away. I should probably get married the first week I arrive in France, that way when we wait to get the marriage papers (if it's not handed already to us at the spot), I will have plenty time, not going over the 3 months legal time frame.
And as for translating /notarizing my foreign language documents/birth certificates/citizenship papers into French, will I be OK if I contact my local French Consulate in California and get a list of translator's who can do it for me. Will their French counterparts at the city hall accept this, or do they have their own set of translators they want me to use?
Thank you!
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You have to get married in the mairie of the town in which your fiancé is resident (since you are not resident in France). Your fiancé should contact the mairie to determine what dates and times are available in the time frame you're interested in. Some mairies have very full marriage schedules, especially around popular dates. You must book the date in advance.
You won't be able to get married the first week you are in France as you have to submit your dossier of paperwork at least 10 - 15 days before the ceremony, due to the requirement of posting the banns. (I'm tackling your next question here because it fits.) They have to post notice of your intention to marry for 10 days prior to the wedding - in theory so that anyone having knowledge of any reason why either of you can't marry can pipe up. (They don't do that as part of the ceremony in France.) Basically, they tack up a paper on the mairie bulletin board saying that you are scheduled to get married on such and such a date and that if anyone objects, they should go speak to the mairie.
There are also a couple of documents you'll need that you can't get in the US - like the certificat de coutume (which isn't always required but the mairie where I got married was a right PITA about it) and there is another document you'll have to get from the Consulate. (Forget what it's called, but they do them all the time. You do have to go in to the Consulate to get the document, IIRC.)
Have your fiancé ask at the local mairie if they'll accept notarized translations from the US. Each mairie has their own requirements and may ask for more or less than what the American Consulate lists in their paper on the subject. Be sure to get the local mairie's list of required documents for marriage with a foreigner - it's different than the list for two French people getting married. If they insist on a traduction assermenté, figure on it taking 3 to 5 days, a week if you use an online service.
Oh, and one thing to think about now - the mairie will probably require you to give the name and address of your witnesses as part of the paperwork. They then have to show proof of identity (a passport will do if you have someone coming from the US) in order to serve as witness at the ceremony. No grabbing someone off the street like they do in the movies!
Cheers,
Bev