After years spent establishing a career, making life long friends and forging a romantic relationship, many expats choose to tie the knot in the UAE instead of going back to their home country. Here we’ll explore what it takes to get married in the UAE, from paperwork to religion and more.
By Ashraf Vachhiat
February 24, 2022
For most people, getting married in their country of citizenship is a relatively simple process; a marriage license and/or a religious authority and its done! But if you’re an expat getting married in the UAE, the process becomes a little more complicated.
If it’s a Muslim man and woman are getting married in the UAE, you have two options on where that marriage can take place. You can either get married in a court in front of a judge, or you can have a “Ma’azoon” (the Islamic Sheikh) come to the wedding venue to complete the legal aspect.
Regardless of where you choose to get married, the conditions to be met beforehand remains the same:
As per our understanding, non-Muslim couples cannot get married in any courts in the UAE. Marriages can be completed in:
Those documents will most likely be issued in English, so for them to be considered legal documents in the UAE, they would have to be:
Some countries require that their citizens submit an intent to marry document up to two months prior to the date of marriage. Again, you should check with your embassy early on in the process to avoid any delays.
The other documents needed are some of the same as for Muslim marriages and are:
A mixed religion marriage, in UAE terms, is a marriage that happens between a non-Muslim woman and a Muslim man. The UAE is a Muslim country, and Islam does not allow for Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men. For a non-Muslim man to marry a Muslim woman, he would have to legally convert to Islam, and a certificate proving such will have to be provided at the time of marriage.
The last thing you want delaying the happiest day of your life is bureaucracy and paperwork! Make sure you find out everything you need in your specific case & you definitely want to get started on putting it all together as early as possible so your big day goes off without a hitch!
You can find information here at the UAE Government website and get in touch with us for the attestation & translation requirements here. Alternatively, feel free to give us a call on +971 (0)4 871 6718.
