How to legalize your wedding in Canada?

Lady_Di's thread got me thinking...

 

I got in touch with Quebec's Justice Dept. and it doesn't seem that complicated to get your wedding legalized once you get back from Mexico.

 

From what I gathered, you need to get your marriage liscence translated, fill a form, and voilà.

 

Plus, we don't get to change our last name here...

 

Am I wrong? I'm sure some Canadian brides on here could give me some advice?

I may not be the best to comment since I did my legal ceremony here in Alberta, but I think the biggest part of the headache isn't so much the process of HOW you get your marriage legalized here but the TIME it takes to get it all done. I had heard from other brides (both here on the forum and friends/family locally) that it can sometimes take at least a few months from the time you are married in Mexico before you even receive your official papers from their government. It's not like here where you receive a marriage statement that you can start using right away.

 

So if you consider that it might easily take three months to receive your papers from Mexico, then add on the time it takes to have them translated by someone who can legally do so (they have to be notorized or something, not just done by anyone you know who can speak/write in Spanish), and then submit your translated forms to our government and wait to receive your marriage certificate.... it can really add up!!

 

And if your company is anything like mine, we have to declare a new spouse for our benefits within a certain time frame, otherwise they can be rejected for coverage and there's just more difficulty getting them added after that deadline has passed. So in a case like that, waiting 3-5 months could cause additional headaches for us.

Thanks for your advice!!!!

It doesn't really matter to us how long it takes (I think...)...

My fiancé will be added to my company's insurance in the next few weeks as I can add him after living with him for 2 years (which we have, even longer, but haven't done the paper work yet)... so I guess it doesn't really matter. I can't see us needing our papers for anything rushed...

Because of the stories we have heard about couples not receiving their marriage license from the country that hosted their DW, we decided to have civil ceremony at city hall in Toronto the week after we get back (we don't want to have it before our Jamaican ceremony because we feel it makes out DW very anti-climactic).

We applied for an Ontario marriage license and went to the chapel to book our ceremony and were told that we can't be married twice. If we have a legal marriage in Jamaica, technically we can't have one in Ontario as well because we would have 2 wedding dates (a weak excuse, in my opinion). There was a judge there who didn't actually know the answer but said that in the recitation of legalities during the Ontario ceremony you are asked if there is a reason that you should not be married and apparently being married in another country is a reason that you shouldn't be married in Ontario. I was referred to the Registrar General's office to find out for sure.

I want to change my name and I need a valid marriage document. I don't know what we will get from Jamaica after our ceremony which is our reason for wanting an Ontario civil service. I was told by the Registrar General that weddings in Mexico, Jamaica, DR etc. are legally recognized in Canada as long as there is a license to validate them.

They don't make it easy.

I was told that I don't need to register or legalize my marriage in Ontario. If I am legally married in another country, I am legally married in the eyes of the Canadian government. All I did was present my marriage cert in order to change my name.

I had the same experience as Nicole. If you are legally married outside of Canada, your marriage is automatically recognized here. What you have to do is have your foreign marriage certificate translated into English and certified by a certified translator. I'm from Ontario and used a translator from The Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO), in particular:

 

Florinda Lages, ATIO Certified Translator, M.A., B.A.

Portuguese-English / Spanish-English / French-English

11 Rothsay Ave.

Toronto, ON M8Z 4L9

Tel.: 416-201-0390

Cell: 416-318-3792

 

Anyone at ATIO can do this for you and it only cost around $50. Here is the link to their site: ATIO - Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario - Directory Search

 

Some brides have been able to use their original, untranslated, marriage licence to change their name, but I couldn't. I started at the Ministry of Transportation to change my driver's licence and they refused to accept it. That's when I contacted ATIO.

 

Hope this helps - there are also other threads on this topic which go into further detail.

Oh thanks for posting that link Lucy! I still have to change my name on my passport and I have a feeling I won't be as lucky this time with the certificate in Spanish lol.

 

Oh nevermind, I just looked it up and I don't need my marriage certificate for my passport.

My problem is if a marriage certificate from Jamaica never arrives, then what do I present to change my name?

Hmmm good point JesseLyn. I was given my certificate in Mexico to bring home with me, so I didn't have to worry about that. If you aren't paying for them to translate it won't they just give it to you?

I'm getting married in Jamaica so our cert. will be in English but apparently it is going to be mailed to us up to 3 months after the ceremony. I have had friends who were married in DR and never received their marriage license after it was supposedly mailed. As a result she couldn't change her name because they don't have paperwork.

 

I emailed the Registrar General on Friday to ask about a civil service after our destination wedding and am waiting for a reply. I just can't wrap my head around why they wouldn't allow it.