Marriage like a speed race - What papers you need to marry in Egypt?

Bismillahi Rahmanu Rahim

Knowing that many foreign girls are getting married more and more with men from Egypt, I decided myself to write about the entire story and steps of the marriage, all what you have to know and respect so that you marry without problems and without loosing time and money (both are precious, especially time).

My beloved husband and I we closed the marriage in Alexandria/ Egypt, because he is from Alex, so as you could noticed already, I am the foreign girl :D... or I was, coz now, after my husband's words: "I am a Madam"... me I prefer to say: "EX - MISS" it sounds more close to what I was before... Miss ;).

So here we start and I will start with documents for the foreign girl.

I must say to you from the beginning that as I saw, the rules from Alexandria are different than the rules in Cairo and you will see why :).

We started to prepare our papers with 2 weeks before my coming in Alexandria (me) and my husband with 3 weeks before my coming there... me from my hometown and my husband from his hometown too. 

First documents that I took were from the City Hall of my hometown: the International Birth Certificate and the Certificate of Celibacy - which was proving that I was not married before and I am free to marry, without any objection.

So I went to the office of Marital Status from the City Hall and I complete there 2 forms: 1 for the International Birth Certificate and the second for the Certificate of Celibacy. Also to obtain the International Birth Certificate you have to hand over the old one.

After this, I went to the office where you pay the taxes and I payed there 2 bills - 1 for each document I was about to take. 

Although, the usual term to get these documents is like 7 working days or even more, the officer from the Marital Status office was extremely kind and she helped me with these documents in just 1 hour!!!!! Allah bless her and give her rewards on Earth and in Jannah! This thing proves once again that people from the area I come are really WONDERFUL (P.S. this has nothing to do with me :P I am out from this topic; I speak only about the rest of the people there)!!!!

I must tell you girls and to you also guys, that I arrived in my hometown early in the morning with bags and all things coz I stayed like 5 days there with my parents at home (Easter time which I can t skip it at all!!!!!!); after I put my feet in my little hometown, I left my bags to my aunt office and I went to fix all documents that I was need and AlhamdulilAllah AlhamdulilAllah AlhamdulilAllah Allah helped me and I did it!

After I took my papers, I finally went home to my mama that she was waiting for me since hours to arrive home, not to mention my dad, that he was at work :).

Immediately after Easter passed, I went to the Treasury also in my hometown to pay a consular fee, that was necessary to obtain the legalization of my Celibacy Certificate from the Ministry of External Affairs. Why I had to pay it in my hometown? Because I had to pay this fee where I have my residency and even if I don t live anymore in my hometown, I didn t change my address (now I know why). I don't want even to imagine through what other girls from the capital were passing because of bureaucracy from big cities!

After I payed this fee, I was ready to come back to the capital to go with my Certificate of Celibacy to be legalized. I prepared here a "slim" file: the bill payed to the Treasury, the Certificate of Celibacy, copy after my ID, copy after the Certificate of Celibacy and I went to the Ministry of External Affairs.

There it is also a very nice lady which said to me: Congratulations because I had all the papers in order as it suppose to be and she legalized my Certificate of Celibacy in 10 minutes :). AlhamdulilAllah AlhamdulilAllah :).

I didn t legalize my International Birth Certificate because it is not necessary to do this!

With my papers done, my passport and my ID too with me, I was ready to leave in Egypt to get married :).

Let's pick an eye and see what my husband had to do in all this time :)... because he had a lot of things to do too :)

My husband did all his papers in Alexandria, without need to go to Cairo as I heard that it was requested to others from other cities and this was due to the fact that in Alexandria it is also a Ministry of Justice and Ministry of External Affairs too.

Necessary papers for the Egyptian citizen:

• Birth certificate (Milada)
• Record (fish basamat)
• Certificate of marital status (sura qaid fardy)

All have the stamp of RA Egipt Justice Ministry, Foreign Ministry RA Egipt.

I advise all the girls to speak with their fiances to go and to ask all details before starting the marriage steps - to go and to ask everything in the office of Ministry of Justice. My husband did this and he received a lot of help from there (all contrary to what it was before the revolution). 

So, my beloved husband is a real support for me and he was beside me in all the steps and he involved I can say in maximum level to help me and he really is my half!  My husband Karim went to the Ministry of Justice and he spoke with the officer from the marriage office and he went there not just once, but 3 times, to make sure everything will be all right and to make sure that he has all the dates exactly and also to make appointment for our marriage (which in the end was not necessary, because all we had to do was to go early in the morning in the day they were closing the marriages - you have to ask about the schedule of the Ministry of Justice too).

My husband note first time all the things on a paper and surprise:D. The officer asked him if I am a Muslim or not - which I am - so when he heard that I am a Muslim - he told to my husband that for me all I need to marry with him is my passport, my pictures (5 in number) and the Certificate of Muslimah from El Azhar (I will tell you about this certificate later). NOTE: the non Muslims girls do need their Certificate of celibacy and the International Birth certificate! 

The officer told him that because I am a Muslim I don't need no Certificate of Celibacy...  of course me I was saying to my husband: "NO WAY!! NO WAY!!! From my embassy they said that I need it and not just this the International Birth Certificate too! That officer from the Ministry of Justice don' t know what I need" (I will develop why I was SO SURE that I need all these papers and why I was freak out that the time will not be enough to close the marriage... the authorities from my country played a big role in this direction).

First time, the officer forgot to tell my husband that I also need a medical certificate that proves I am ready for marriage and nothing forbids me to marry (which is not a bad thing to do it at all) and this is also need for the future husband too. What the husband needs more beside the papers I said before? Oh yes: 5 pictures also and a stamp for marriage that he has to buy it - this will be used on the marriage contract that remains to the Ministry of Justice.

Believe me: GO AND ASK before starting to do something! and dont forget to take a notebook with you so that you write all to be able to read it later again!

P.S.: I got tired of typing :)))))))))))))))  

After my husband took his papers already stamped from the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of External Affairs, he took the papers in Cairo to the translator from there, to translate it from Arabic, for my Embassy. He did all the steps before I come, so that we save time, which is very precious in delicate moments like marriage issue.

And here it is... the day of my coming arrived and the last steps of marriage too :). I arrived in Cairo Friday by night and in the morning in Alexandria (very important: on Saturday we went to the office for foreigners in Alexandria to take my visa for residency which is absolutely necessary for marriage; we took it in 10 - 15 minutes with no head aches and no costs)  already on Sunday we came back again in Cairo with our brother Ahmed. All 3 we went to the Azhar for foreigners in Cairo - because that is the only institution from Egypt who gives the Muslim certificates to the foreigners. In Alexandria it is el Azhar too, but it is not authorized to give these documents.

You will see again how much Allah helped us in all the steps and HE was there with us to give us a lift to cross the obstacles! AlhamdulilAllah, praised be to Allah!

We reached el Azhar early in the morning and you have to know that el Azhar for the foreigners it is a little up than the general Azhar. We reach there and the sheik received us and I tell you I was not the only one there to get the Muslim Certificate (speaking about this - I was already Muslim from my country and I have a Certificate from the Mosque Mohammed II too, so our road there was just to complete the marriage steps) (I will speak about the experience from el Azhar in another topic, but I assure you it was MAGICAL, like in a fairy dream).

We took the Muslimah Certificate in the same day - although it suppose to be over a week (which can cause you delays and change all your schedule), but Allah opened and soften the heart of the sheik and they made all the formalities for me too and signed the papers so I can take the certificate in the same day. For el Azhar I need it 2 witnesses (which I had - my husband and our brother Ahmed), 2 pictures and my passport; the witnesses also need it their ID to be written there their details. 

I received from el Azhar 2 Muslim Certificates: one in Arabic and one in English :), Masha Allah I was so happy and my husband too, like it was the first time I was saying el Shahadda :).

We return to Alexandria on the same day - just for the night and not even that complete, because we left again Monday to my Embassy where I had an appointment (I did this appointment by e mail and phone too with 2 weeks before) to take there my International Birth Certificate and Certificate of Celibacy, my husband's Certificate of Celibacy too (translated from Arabic) (although I said to you that the officer from the Ministry of Justice said to my husband that I don t need all these papers because I am a Muslim; but also when I was calling to my Embassy and when I was sending e-mails to the Consul - the answer was: "Yes you need all those documents" - not to mention that the Consul said to me that the time I give to all the formalities it is too short, because we have to do many steps (but our authorities should update from time to time because things might change and could be differences between Cairo and Alexandria - as we saw; besides of this, the fees they ask are extremely high for 3 stamps on some papers that are already authenticated by much more high authorities than the Embassy).

ADVICE: Prepare yourself from before wt 1000$ for all the marriage steps for both husbands!

So we went to the Embassy and I gave them the papers, I payed an emergency fee so that all be done in 48 h... so that in the end I take these papers after we married :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))... because none asked about these in Ministry of Justice :).

We came back to Alexandria and in the next day we went to do our medical check - and here again SUBHANALLAH the doctors gave to us the certificates in the same day :) (my husband fixed all with calm and diplomacy and he crossed all the obstacles and he never lost his hope in Allah and he was always encouraging me and I felt him close so close to my heart and to my soul).


Let's have a revision now:


ME: passport with residency visa, 5 pics, Certificate of Muslimah from el Azhar in Cairo, medical certificate

My husband: ID, 5 pics, Birth certificate, stamp for marriage, medical certificate (just in case we took with us his passport too- but they didn t ask for this).

AND YOU NEED TOO A TRANSLATOR FOR YOU - IT MUST BE A TRANSLATOR FOR A LANGUAGE THAT YOU KNOW AND THE TRANSLATOR MUST BE AUTHORIZED (this means that on his ID he/ she will have written there that it is TRANSLATOR).

WE WENT TO GET MARRIED early in the morning in the Ministry of Justice (I advise you all to go there before 10:00 - we were there with mama and baba and our bro Ahmed around 8:30 and we left at 13:00, even that we were the first couple they attended from the all 3 that went there to marry that day - but we had so many papers to write there - my husband, baba and Ahmed as also the officer from the marriage office were keep writing to our contract marriages - 5 copies and all had to be the same :D ).

ALHAMDULILALLAH we married and we are grateful to Allah and to all people that helped us so much! Hope I didn t forget something - in any case - if I did... I will come back and complete... :) I ll ask my husband to read it once too so that we make sure I wrote here all the necessary details.