Getting Married In South Africa - Part 1
Getting married under the best of circumstances can be a challenging and stressful time.
Being an immigrant from the US getting married to a South African citizen IN South Africa is a whole ‘nother level of stress that started even before I left the country.
Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork
The first thing I found out about was the paperwork I needed before I left. Not only did I have to have the certified and notarized copies, they also had to be apostilled. This is a process, typically done by your State’s government, that certifies that the certified and notarized copies of your documents are, in fact, legitimate certified certified notarized documents. Depending on your state, this can take weeks and cost quite a bit. If your state doesn’t offer an apostille service, then you have to go through the US State Department to get it done, and lord knows how long that would take.
Then there’s the “Letter of No Impediment”. This is a letter that certifies you can legally get married and that you’re truly single. Here’s the kicker… South Africa requires an LNI, yet the US does not provide such a document. The US Consulate says on their website “U.S. consular officers cannot make any official certification about a U.S. citizen’s marriage status or eligibility.”
So, the workaround is that you have to sign a sworn affidavit, have that notarized and apostilled. Oh, and don’t forget to get an official letter from the US Consulate stating they don’t issue LNIs. (More on this later in the post).
Trust me when I say the best thing is to get everything apostilled. Everything. This will eliminate a bunch of headaches and frustration down the road.
Department Of Home Affairs
Now comes the fun part, or parts actually, the visit to South African Department of Home Affairs to begin the process.
There are some very specific laws and rules regarding getting married in South Africa to a foreigner. The documentation list is pretty extensive, but perhaps the most important rule is that only authorized Marriage Officers are allowed to perform weddings. Through our experience with Love Is Not Tourism groups, we found an excellent Marriage Officer in Andred at IDoWeddings.co.za. He is not only going to do the wedding, but also take care of the registration with DHA.
Once we got the low down from Andred, Kim and I gathered all of our documents, made multiple copies, had them certified at the local Stellenbosch Police Station, and scheduled our trip to Home Affairs.
Our first trip to DHA was unsuccessful, to say the least. If there’s a place that makes an American long for the joy that is the DMV, it’s Home Affairs.
We arrived at DHA and, luckily for us, since we were headed to immigration we were able to avoid the line that was wrapped around the block. After waiting about 20 minutes we were let inside and escorted upstairs to immigration where we were introduced to the person that would be assisting us.
Welcome to Home Affairs
How can I not help you and make your experience miserable?
It was clear from the first interaction that we were dealing with someone who was, by 9:30am, already having a bad day. She took our paperwork, scanned through it and then asked the question that caused both of our stomachs to drop.
”Do you have the letter from the US Consulate that says the US doesn’t issue Letters of No Impediment?”
We both stared in disbelief.
We explained that the US doesn’t issue LNIs and that I had a signed, notarized, certified, apostilled single status affidavit given to us by our Marriage Officer. We told her that that document is what our Marriage Officer said we needed.
No dice.
She said “Nobody ever asks me what I need, and I need the letter from the US Consulate.”
She also let us know that the earliest appointments for marriage interviews were 2nd or 3rd week of October. This caused even more stress because my visa is only good for 90 days and that interview date would be a little more than a month from visa expiration.
So now we were looking at:
A rapidly approaching visa expiration deadline.
Having to figure out how to get to the US Consulate, which had been closed due to Covid and even though it was supposedly open had been cancelling appointments left and right.
Submit the documents and schedule the marriage interview.
Passing the interview and having DHA submit their report.
Get married.
Register the marriage with DHA.
Submit the paperwork for my Spousal visa.
….and getting that all done in about 7 weeks.
(More in Part 2)
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