American marrying a Greek in Greece

[wka]

Originally Posted by soryps

Hmm interesting because I've read multiple places that you're allowed to travel to and from your home country. I should verify with the City Hall, but to be honest they're not even that knowledgeable themselves

There is often confusion on this point because amnesties have been called for entire years, leading people to believe that it is always possible. So it's a good idea to make sure before buying plane tickets.

[EriEli]

I'm in the middle of this process myself right now...thought I might shed some light by adding what my experience has been (especially during these crazy times). I was married in a politikos gamos less than a week ago and already have my blue paper. It was fairly painless (though i will say that my experience has been nothing like others have explained here - and I've spent the last 3 days standing in gov offices waiting and pushing to get a turn). The bright side has been that I've been successful and it's been fast. By tomorrow I will have my health insurance booklet and everything (my husband is superman - this is an important detail in this insane process - he doesn't get easily discouraged and always found a second way to get a document if we were told no by someone in one office - being creative is key here!)

Anyway, Today I grilled the woman who gave me my blue paper about travel restrictions (I have a friends wedding in Sweden to go to in june) and she swore up and down that I, as an American, will have zero problem traveling freely while I wait for my residence card. Not sure I should trust her word - but don't know who else to ask.

I'd be happy to share my exact experience and process in more detail for those interested - just say the word!

Good luck!

[wka]

Originally Posted by EriEli

I'm in the middle of this process myself right now...thought I might shed some light by adding what my experience has been (especially during these crazy times). I was married in a politikos gamos less than a week ago and already have my blue paper. It was fairly painless (though i will say that my experience has been nothing like others have explained here - and I've spent the last 3 days standing in gov offices waiting and pushing to get a turn). The bright side has been that I've been successful and it's been fast. By tomorrow I will have my health insurance booklet and everything (my husband is superman - this is an important detail in this insane process - he doesn't get easily discouraged and always found a second way to get a document if we were told no by someone in one office - being creative is key here!)

Anyway, Today I grilled the woman who gave me my blue paper about travel restrictions (I have a friends wedding in Sweden to go to in june) and she swore up and down that I, as an American, will have zero problem traveling freely while I wait for my residence card. Not sure I should trust her word - but don't know who else to ask.

I'd be happy to share my exact experience and process in more detail for those interested - just say the word!

Good luck!

It shouldn't take long to get the blue paper. In my case, it took one 40 minute visit to city hall. The reason that it sounds in my posts like it took longer is because I was under a different permit at the time. You can't apply for a new permit until the old one is 2 months from expiration so I just waited until that time to apply - but then it only took 40 minutes. It's not difficult to do.

My vivliario took longer because we lived on a very small island and it required my husband going to two other places, which meant finding ferries and getting hotels and time off work, so couldn't be done immediately, but I think it was done within 2 weeks. I'm not sure. Once he actually got to the right place, he got it the same day. So your one week sounds like a lot of time to me. But what matters is that you have it. Get an AMKA if they didn't give you one with the vivliario - it's completely useless without it. (They probably give it out at the same time now but when I got mine they didn't.)

[AmyB]

Has anyone been divorced and married a Greek citizen? How is the process different? I'm American and divorced. He is Greek and never been married. All this information here is overwhelming. I'm not sure where to start, I just know I'm tired of all the travel back and forth and the long periods of time without him. I'll be going back to the US, what paperwork do I need from the US?(just the US side). Is there a visa for someone planning to marry a Greek citizen?
Thanks,
AmyB

[wka]

I recall from when I did it that they wanted to see a final divorce decree (or whatever it's called) if divorced. I never understood how that could be acceptable since who's to say that you haven't remarried someone else in the interim - but they never say you should also have a document saying you're currently unmarried, at least not when I did it. Don't you have a piece of paper from when your divorce was finalized? You'll probably need to have it officially translated but I doubt you'd need anything further unless they've updated the law recently.

[SRuth]

I have to thank you, and all of those that have commented, on your wealth of information and your time commitment to this sharing of knowledge.

I am a non-EU (America) and I have followed your site (and the US embassy site of Athens) in applying for a marriage license and we have a date for the city hall of Alimos, Athens, Greece for October.

I will just review my experience so far:

* I prepared my birth certificate with Apositlle stamp
* I enter Greece on a tourist visa
* In Athens I got my birth certificate translated (the guard at the translation department asked me to 'show my gold sticker'/ Apostille stamp before even going in to the translation offices (that was because it was close to closing time).
- I paid extra, and got my translation done in 3 days (only a 7 euro and so difference)
* I made an appointment at the embassy, and the next day I went there I did an affidavit of marriage the the US embassy in Athens (50 USD)
* Fiance collected his electrical bill, passport, ID, birth certificate
* We went and each got some sort of tax stamp cards to pay for our marriage license (Honestly, I dont know what this was, but we both needed it, i showed my fiance what we needed and we went to an office and got these stamps in less than a minute)
* Newspaper announcement, went to the KATHIMERINI office in athens, paid, and it was published the next day. Get TWO copies!!

(Sounds like a lot - as people have said- but if planned and appointments made, you only need 3 or 4 days)

Took all of this to city hall where he is born/resident. They were confused by my affidavit, they wanted something else. But according to my country's site (athens.usembassy. gov/marriage.html), that is what they give to meet the requirements of not currently being married, and with my fiance being a smooth operator (and all Greek government offices being a bit confused)

Filled out more paper work there, they photocopied things, and we were given a date for October (we were there end of August). We also never received an actual license because we are getting married at the city all that is issuing it to us.

OK, now this is where I need help (and it gets a bit confusing)

My fiance is a student at school in the UK, and that is where we are both living (I am also just on a tourist visa here too)

We will be flying back for the marriage, and I know we need to register our marriage in 40 days and I am trying to be as prepared as possible and also allow enough time to do everything, but my fiance will not be able to miss much school.

My main goal is for us to register our marriage, with in the 40 days, return to London, then go back to Greece to apply for 5 year Residence Permit with the Right to Work. And then I will stay there (and the USA since I can legally as of right now, waiting to here for the 2013 exiting and re-entering stipulations from the Ministry of Citizen Protection)

Questions:

o Can we register our marriage that day at Vital Statistics Office (Lixiarhio) of the city where performed?
• More in depth: Can we register immediately without having to follow all the steps outlined or is "certificate of familial status" (πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης) needed to register?
o How long is the time period between opening a oikogeneiaki merida (οικογενειακή μερίδα) (where fiance is a “dimotis” and have me added) receiving the "certificate of familial status" (πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης)
• Can we create and file for "certificate of familial status" the day we are married?
o If we can get our marriage certificates endorsed with an Apostille stamp at this place (Dimarxeio), or do you have information on how/where we can do that of a greek document to be used internationally (I only knew where to get my American documents endorsed)?


I hope my account was of help, but I am really drained and hoping to find some answers to these questions!

[wka]

Originally Posted by SRuth

o Can we register our marriage that day at Vital Statistics Office (Lixiarhio) of the city where performed?

Probably. Certainly the day after, which is when we did it.

• More in depth: Can we register immediately without having to follow all the steps outlined or is "certificate of familial status" (πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης) needed to register?

What steps are those? We just took our signed papers to the KEP and got the lixiarxiki praksi gamou the next morning and faxed it to the city hall where my husband is a dimotis for the oik/ki merida.

o How long is the time period between opening a oikogeneiaki merida (οικογενειακή μερίδα) (where fiance is a “dimotis” and have me added) receiving the "certificate of familial status" (πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης)

Immediately, as far as I know. As soon as you they put it in the computer they print it out for you and hand it to you / fax / mail it to you depending on the circumstances (in my experience).

• Can we create and file for "certificate of familial status" the day we are married?

Don't know, we did ours the next morning.

o If we can get our marriage certificates endorsed with an Apostille stamp at this place (Dimarxeio), or do you have information on how/where we can do that of a greek document to be used internationally (I only knew where to get my American documents endorsed)?

This one I can't answer. I haven't had to prove my marital status outside Greece so I haven't had to do this. If you figure it out, let us know how you do it.

Congratulations on your marriage, I hope you have a wonderful life together

[Baby Firefly]

Originally Posted by wka

I'm going to post another update. Anyone else in a similar situation (American marrying a Greek in Greece) will probably want to know WHAT NEXT!?!?! And since there is OH so much more lovely paperwork to file... here's the followup!

After we got married in April, we got a bunch of original marriage certificates (απόσπασμα ληξιαρχειακής πράξης γάμου). Get a bunch. You will go through them like mad.

The first thing we had to do was to open an oikogeneiaki merida (οικογενειακή μερίδα). The oikogeneiaki merida is basically a bureaucratic designation of family. Until my husband and I got married, he "belonged" (since birth) to the oikogeneiaki merida that included his parents and his younger (unmarried) brother. Now that we're married, he officially has left his parents'/brother's oikogeneiaki merida and has started his own, which now includes himself and me, and if we ever have children, they'll get stuck in there too until they get married. People are legally required to do this when they get married. So first step after getting your marriage certificates is to "open an oikogeneiaki merida." You do it in the place where you are a "dimotis" (or rather, where your Greek spouse is a dimotis), meaning, most likely where their parents' oikogeneiaki merida is also, or wherever they vote/file taxes/etc. For us, that was the city of Alexandroupoli. We live absolutely nowhere near Alexandroupoli, but that's where his parents live and where he pays taxes, and so that's where we opened ours.

He faxed our marriage certificate directly to the Alexandroupoli dimarxeio through our local KEP. The idea was for them to do the necessary paperwork and mail the "certificate of familial status" (πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης) which is the proof of having opened a new oikogeneiaki merida, to us.

Which, of course, they did, twelve days later. And, sadly, it showed that my husband was married to himself. This was not really what we had in mind. Very luckily for us, his mom was available to go to the mayor's office and berate them into changing it and then she mailed the papers to us herself. So we got them 2 days later, much faster, so no harm done really. But if she hadn't been able to do that, we would have bumped up against the deadline for filing other paperwork which I'll get to in a second.

So, just over 2 weeks after the wedding, we had several ORIGINALS (again, important) of the πιστοποιητικό οικογενειακής κατάστασης. You'll need these for various things so it's good to have them.

Next, as a foreigner living in Greece, I was obligated by law to file a "change in personal status" with the government. ALL foreigners are obligated to do this whenever you change marital status or even change your address. I don't believe everyone does it every time they move, but you're supposed to. For marriage, you definitely have to! So, for this, I needed:

- an original copy of our marriage certificate
- an original copy of our certificate of familial status
- a copy of my passport ID page that had been notarized by a lawyer (MUST be by a lawyer)
- a copy of my residence permit (in my case, the blue paper [βεβαίωση κατάθεσης αίτησης άδειας διαμονής] that shows that I've applied for a residence permit) that has been notarized (this does NOT have to be by a lawyer - KEP is fine for this one)
- some ID-size photographs

I gave all of this stuff to the Liksiarxeio in Athens and they kept all of it. Could I have gone with less and still been okay? Who knows. But they kept whatever I gave them. NOTE: You must do this within 30 DAYS of the wedding!! I got very nervous when our certificate of familial status was wrong and had to be redone, as things like that will NOT win you an extension. Luckily it was resolved by my husband's mother but if you're not so lucky... well just be aware that you need to get on this immediately as anything can happen. IF you miss the 30 day deadline there is a fine of several hundred euros!! (I'm not sure of the exact amount.)

When you submit this paperwork, at the same time they give you a little slip of paper with a stamp on it with your "protocol number." You must NEVER EVER lose this little slip of paper. Like all other pieces of paper the government gives you.

At the same time that all of this was happening, we were also getting me added to his health insurance. This is necessary because my travel health insurance that I bought in the US is horrible and doesn't actually pay claims, and anyway, you want to get on local insurance as soon as possible. As his wife, I am "under his protection" legally so I can be added to his insurance at no expense. It may be that different insurance programs in Greece work differently; his is the "Dimosio" so I really don't know about the others.

For that one, I don't know all the details because he did it himself but suffice it to say it was a horrible headache that took days of traveling around between THREE different islands and tons of stamps and signatures in various offices but within only a few weeks, I have my vivliario ygeias and syntagologio, which are how insurance claims are paid in Greece. For this he needed a bunch of photos of me as well as our certificate of familial status. I gave him copies of my passport and res. permit and I have no idea if he used them. Just be prepared for a huge huge headache. It doesn't cost anything (except in his case, multiple hotels and ferries), and he got the whole thing done in a very short time.

So where do I stand now?

I have obtained a marriage license in Athens, been legally married in a civil ceremony on a Greek island, opened an oikogeneiaki merida in the city where my husband is a citizen, made an official change of personal status with the government in Athens, and been added to my husband's public health insurance policy. Separately from that, on May 12, I took the state Greek language proficiency exam (level 4) and the certificate from this will be added to my file for work privileges and eventual citizenship application.

Still to do is to apply for my residence permit on the basis of being the spouse of an EU citizen. This is a 5 year residence permit that will give me the right to live in, work in, and travel freely into and out of Greece for the next 5 years. I cannot apply for this until TWO MONTHS before the EXPIRATION of my previous residence permit.

My previous residence permit application (applied in September) has not been approved yet - but in any case, I can't apply until two months before it expires, which will be in July. So between now and July, there's nothing more I can or have to do.

When July rolls around, I will need to produce:

- certificate of familial status
- copy of my passport ID page AND residence permit page (notarized by a lawyer)
- my vivliario ygeias
- copy of my husband's state ID (notarized by a notary public/KEP)
- 4 passport photos
- filled out application for a residence permit

I think that's all - and there's no fee to apply. I will of course post more as the process evolves.

I really do hope that someone out there finds this useful. I don't know if all of this is detailed anywhere online - I've looked and never found it anywhere.

Hello! Can you tell me more about the change in status? My husband and I were married a few weeks ago and I don't think we did this part. A couple weeks ago I called and asked the American Embassy if I needed to file anything with them, they said NO. Only if we move back to the states we will need to file our marriage then.

[Baby Firefly]

Originally Posted by wka

I recall from when I did it that they wanted to see a final divorce decree (or whatever it's called) if divorced. I never understood how that could be acceptable since who's to say that you haven't remarried someone else in the interim - but they never say you should also have a document saying you're currently unmarried, at least not when I did it. Don't you have a piece of paper from when your divorce was finalized? You'll probably need to have it officially translated but I doubt you'd need anything further unless they've updated the law recently.

I realize this is an older post, but just went through this so I can tell you what they asked for. Yes, the Original Stamped divorce decree and this needs the Apostille stamp. I also went to my city's Court house office and asked for a paper verifying that I have not applied for a marriage license or been remarried. I think that was about $5.00. Both the divorce decree and court house paper had to be translated to Greek. If you have children/custody involved in your divorce decree, and its possible to have these translated in USA by the Greek Embassy I would highly recommend this. My situation with this and the translator in Athens was an absolute nightmare.
PS Thank you WKA for your original post on your experience getting married in Greece. This was the most helpful information on the web. It helped me tremendously!

[SRuth]

Originally Posted by wka

Don't know, we did ours the next morning.
This one I can't answer. I haven't had to prove my marital status outside Greece so I haven't had to do this. If you figure it out, let us know how you do it.
)

Well... I am married! We were fortunate enough to have great support from his mother, and she lives in Athens (which made the entire process that much easier- and quicker!)

We were married yesterday, and as far as all the paper work goes for 'declaring our marriage' in the 40 day time period, it is already done. And the copies of the documents are already handed in to the translation department at Foreign Affairs with the HAGS/apostille stamp and being translated in to English, so we can start our permit for London (where my husband is a student and where we live

But the one question I couldn't find on the internet, a question on this forum, and that took a dozen phone calls from his mom to find out: Where can we get these documents stamped with HAGS/apostille authentication/stamp for international use.

Well you can do it for free, and fairly quickly in person if you are able to get to the Decentralized Administration office: Katechaki avenue 56, floor2

Now we can have our marriage count in other countries and have our marriage documents valid for our move