Administration

Whenever a South African marries a foreigner in South Africa, the couple needs to undergo an immigration marriage interview at home affairs. This is news to a lot of couples – some of whom have already planned full weddings, without being aware of this requirement. The result, unfortunately, is that sometimes such couples aren’t able to sort out the legal aspects of their marriage while in the country, and need to do this at a later stage. Some couples submit that they have no intention of living in South Africa and surely, do to this, they can forgo the immigration interview? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it doesn’t work that way.

Anticipating all the red tape, some couples handle the legal aspects of their marriage at home (or in the country they’re living in) where they have lots of time to tick all the right boxes. These couples reserve the ceremony and celebration for South Africa, avoiding the fuss of paperwork and home affairs appointments. Their focus: Vows and champagne. In our view, the day of the ceremony is the most special and memorable occasion and should be celebrated as your anniversary. Or – better yet – there’s no harm in having two dates to celebrate each year of your marriage.

Still, there are still a lot of couples that do not want to separate the legal signing of documents from their celebration and elopement. We completely understand this point of view, too. If this is how you feel, it’s best to plan a relatively long trip to South Africa in order to try get the immigration interview done prior to your elopement/wedding. This is because there can be quite a long lead time. If we hand in the documents to home affairs, they may only be able to give your an interview date in 2/3 weeks. There are worse things than a vacation or a pre-wedding honeymoon in South Africa, right?! This 2 to 3 weeks is an estimate. So much depends on home affairs’ diary at the time. Sometimes, you could get an interview in the same week you hand in the documents (this is unusual but does occasionally happen), and sometimes you may have to wait a whole month to get your interview date. We are aware that this uncertainty creates planning challenges but we want to lay it all out for you so that you can make informed decisions about the date of your wedding and the schedule of your trip.

At Elope Cape Town, we pride ourselves in creating the elopements and weddings that you’ve dreamed of, including – if you so wish – getting you legally hitched. Since we get this questions so regularly, we’ve taken the time to debunk some of the mysteries around the requirements of a South African marrying a foreigner in South Africa.

Documents

Let’s talk documents. To book an interview, you need the following documents:

• A letter from the marriage officer that will be handling the legal side of your marriage, confirming to home affairs that they will be performing the legal marriage of the partners

• A certified copy of the foreign partner’s passport

• A certified copy of the South African partner’s SA ID (please note, a driver’s license or passport will not suffice)

• A certified copy of the foreign partner’s entry stamp or visa into South Africa. This requirement is the one that causes a few headaches because you’ll only be able to hand in this document once the foreign partner is in the country. This is by design. Home Affairs only books interviews for couples once both of them are in the country.

• A certified copy of the foreign partner’s letter of non-impediment from their country’s embassy (this letter must be from the same country that their passport is issued by). Importantly, each country has their own equivalent of a letter of non-impediment. For example, a US citizen must make an appointment at the consulate to attest to an affidavit which is stamped by the embassy. For UK passport holders, they can attest to an affidavit at a police station (or in front of an alternative commissioner) and they need to print out the letter from the UK consulate website which confirms that the US does not issue letters of non-impediment. The foreign partner should research and determine how their particular country handles letters of non-impediment, and then follow the correct procedure to acquire the document. Letters of non-impediment should also not be older than 3 months, or risk being rejected by home affairs.

• If either partner has previously been married, a certified copy of the divorce decree (court stamped) must be provided.

• If any of the above documents, i.e. letter of non-impediment or divorce decree, are in a language other than English then these documents need to be translated by a certified translator.A certified version of the translation must be handed in.

Please note that you should not hand in any of the original documents to immigration for the purposes of booking your interview. The originals (such as the letter of non-impediment) need to be lodged with your marriage documents when your marriage officer hands in the paperwork after your ceremony and signing.

So you’ve got all your documents ready, now what? You need to go to home affairs and hand them to the immigration department (or have your marriage officer do this on your behalf). The letter from the marriage officer should include your contact details and an official will get hold of you to propose a date and time for your interview. Since these slots are in-demand, it’s best to accept the date and time, and re-arrange your schedule if needs be.

On the day of your interview, you’ll attend home affairs and be interviewed separately. Some home affairs now perform a written ‘test’. The point of the interview is to determine whether you are a genuine couple and not one of convenience – that is, not one ‘created’ for immigration/visa/citizenship purposes. Any legitimate couple has nothing to worry about. It’s near impossible to prepare for the interview. Our advice: Have confidence in your love and your relationship and don’t stress too much about the interview or questions, even if you don’t know all the answers. The point is not to catch you out if you don’t know your husband-to-be’s favorite meal – the point is to decipher if you’re a real couple, which you are, so breathe easy.

After the interview, the official should give you a verbal go-ahead to get married. They will also draft a report which will be sent to the required home affairs marriage department. This report is one of the documents the marriage officer must hand in or collect (or chase) when lodging the marriage at home affairs. Technically, you can get legally married on the day of your interview if you have received the go ahead.