Dominican Republic Legal Marriage Information

You are urged to contact the Dominican Republic Services regarding any clarification or additional questions you may have. Please also confirm with the hotel you have chosen for your wedding if they require your birth certificates to be legalized or only translated is enough, and that your wedding date and details are confirmed.

YOUR WEDDING IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

You will need two witnesses holding valid passports who can be travelling with you or you can ask local hotel staff to witness your wedding.

The following documents are required to get married in the Dominican Republic. Note that legal transcripts of birth certificates, single status affidavits and divorce certificates need to be prepared in the country where the documents were issued.

• Original birth certificates. Send two photocopies.
• Valid and signed passports. Send two photocopies of the main page.
• Notarized Statutory Declarations of Single Status done according to the sample. Bring or send one original and one photocopy. Please see attached sample of a Statutory Declaration of Single Status.
• Divorce certificate or death certificate (if applicable). Send original or notarized photocopy and two simple photocopies. In both cases, a minimum waiting period of ten months applies before a woman can remarry.

The 3rd and 4th documents are translated and legalized by the Dominican Republic Consulate. The birth certificates have to be translated into Spanish as well.

Please note that your first, middle and last name must be the SAME in your passport and statutory declaration. If name is different on your birth certificate, please indicate that in point 1 of your declaration.

Fees: $100 US each legalization, $40 US each translation

Note: Some hotels in the Dominican Republic may charge legal fees for the authentication of documents legalized by Dominican Consulates abroad by the Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs.

Please note that some Canadian institutions require the Dominican Marriage Certificate to be translated and legalized by the Dominican Republic Consulate in Canada. Please contact Dominican Republic Services for further details.

A sample copy of the Statutory Declaration of Single Status is below, as provided by the Dominican Republic Services in Toronto.

STATUTORY DECLARATION OF SINGLE STATUS

(Please do not just fill in but retype the whole document)

CANADA ) IN THE MATTER OF:

Province of __________ ) the marriage between

) [full name of both parties as in passport]

)

I, [Full Name as in passport] of the City of __________, in the Province of ________ DO SOLEMNLY AND SINCERELY DECLARE THAT:

1. I am [full name as in passport], born as [name as it appears on Birth Certificate] on [date of birth] in [place of birth].

2. I am a Canadian citizen with passport No. _______ who resides at [full address].

3. I intend to marry [full name as in passport] in the [Hotel Name] in [City], Dominican Republic during the week of [week of marriage].

4. I am single and have never been married before. [if divorced, please put: I am divorced as per divorce certificate No. ________ as of {date of divorce}. During my previous marriage I was known as [name as it appears on divorce certificate]]. To the best of my knowledge and belief there is no legal impediment or other lawful cause to prevent me from getting married.

5. I am currently employed as a [occupation].

6. The names of my parents are _______________, Mother and ________________, Father.

AND, I make this Solemn Declaration conscientiously believing it to be true and knowing that it is of the same force and effect as if made under oath and by virtue of the Canada Evidence Act.

DECLARED before me at )

[City], Province of ________, ) _____________________

Canada, this __ of _______, 200_ ) [full name as in passport]

_______________________

As a Notary Public

Contact Information:

Embassy of the Dominican Republic in the United States:

1715 22nd Street

NW, Washington DC 20008

Phone: (202) 332-6280

web: http://www.domrep.org/

Dominican Republic Services - Toronto

2727 Steeles Ave. W., Ste. 301

Toronto, Ontario M3J 3G9

Phone: (416) 739-1237

Toll-Free: 1-866-535-7776

Fax: (416) 663-1973

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: Index

Dominican Republic General Consulate - Montreal

1470 Peel St. Suite 263

Montreal, P.Q. H3A 1T1

Phone: (514) 284 - 5455/6600

Fax: (514) 284 - 5511

Dominican Republic General Consulate - Toronto

347 Bay St. Suite 904

Toronto, Ontario M5H 2R7

Phone: (416) 369 - 0403/1602

Fax: (416) 369 - 1685

Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Canada

130 Albert Street, Suite 418

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4

Phone: 613-569-9893

Fax:: 613-569-8673

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: Embajada de La República Dominicana en Canadá | Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Canada | Ambassade de la République Dominicaine à Canada

Has anyone heard of WEDO for translating documents? They are apparently much less expensive than the embassy. I have heard conflicting stories that it is not legal, but have spoken to a few brides that have used this service and they state that it is 100% legal.

this is for legal weddings not symbolic ones right?

it is the legal ceremony

WEDO is a service that will do your paper work for you and they are legal AS LONG AS they get your documents legalized IN THE COUNTRY YOU LIVE. I think the confusion is in the fact that WEDO is American-based and so if they sent your documents to the D.R. consolate in America when your country of origin is in Canada, then your documents would not be valid for a marriage license in the D.R. As long as WE DO is sending your documents to the proper consulate for legalization (i.e. the consulate in the country you hold your citizenship; which I am sure they do), then there will be no problem.

I think the consulate legalizes while a lawyer (or notary public) notarizes. If you are lucky to live close enough to the D.R. consulate office that you could just walk it in, then you do not need the notarization (since they will see your documents themselves and know it is the real deal). If you are sending them to the consulate via mail, then you will have to get them notarized first and then send it to them for legalization.

SSNM,

Thank you for clearifying this up for me.

I actually am lucky enough to live close by to one, except they are charging the most out of all of canada ($560) WEDO is 300$ so I think I'll spend the extra $40 and nortarize the paper's first!

Thank you so much again.

No problem! Glad I can clarify