Apostilled copies of marriage & birth certificates

I am wondering if there are any Americans that have married in the US and moved to Germany.

I am interested in knowing how many apostilled copies of your marriage license and birth certificate were needed.

I'll be moving in two weeks so I wanted to get things moving with this before I leave.

Any help is greatly appreciated! I'm looking forward to living in Munich and learning much more.

Thank you!

Are you you both American? Or American/German? The easiest thing to do is send the US consulate in Munich an email and ask them exactly what's needed. I got married here, so it's a bit different, but I did have to get an official copy of my birth certificate from the State of Nebraska- with Apostille. Then my Standesamt here wouldn't approve it because the official stamp from Nebraska wasn't "official enough" for them. Granted, I was living in a small village at the time and they didn't have a lot of experience with foreign documents... I guess.

@ Jenny L - Did the apostilled birth certificate need to be translated? We've just jumped through all the hoops to get copies of my birth certificate, previous marriage license and divorce decree (all apostilled). Now, I'm wondering if I can skip straight to the Standesamt and schedule the ceremony or if I need to have them all translated. I know, I should simply call or go by the Standesamt which I'll likely do when I am home on Friday (but I'm just curious).

There is already a wealth of information on getting married on this website, especially for Americans or Brits getting married in Germany. Almost everyone had to get a certified translation. However, this info doesn't help the original thread requester.

welcome to Munich
we got married here recently and everything (Birth certificate, previous marriage licence...) had to be apostilled and then translated by a certified translator (Thanks again Brian & Barb).
As you are already married that should be sorted.

The question is "needed for what"?

To bring copies just to make sure is not necessarily helping - as they usually have to be not more than 6 months old.
good first resource might be this

Thanks for your help everyone...

I am American my new husband is German. We were married in the US. He is already back in Munich and I will be moving there 13 Sept.

I was wanting to know if someone has been through this how many copies I should get and have 'apostilled' - how many copies did you need for things etc. (an approximation is fine!) I don't know how many places will accept a notarized marriage license or birth certificate and how many want it 'apostilled'. Of course it's better to be safe than sorry and I should bring quite a few but they also add up so I don't want to get 10 and not need that many.

I would rather get these things here in the US while I'm around then have to deal with trying to get them through an embassy. I want to have as much out of the way as I can because I know that the buerocracy will be kicking in once I'm in Germany!

In my experience, yes, everything needed to be translated by a certified translator.

Also, as far as the apostille goes-- they wanted apostilles on everything I turned in.

As I suggested before, you may want to send an email or call the consulate in Munich before you come over here, explain your situation to them and ask them what you should bring as far as paperwork goes. They should know.

Plain notarization probably isn't sufficient, especially from the U.S. (where the notary is a totally different animal to the notary in Germany/Europe). I'd advise that you get a few copies notarized and apostilled and a couple of spares just notarized because you can then always get family back in the U.S. to apostille them for you if needs be.

After having read pages and pages of info on marriage I thought I'd revive this particular thread. Perhaps there is someone out there who can give advice specifically on getting married to a German in the US in the state of CA (or US in general I guess). Some people in all the countless threads here say that the Marriage License needs to be apostilled there (in US) some people say apostilled here in Germany, some say it needs to be translated also, or not...basically I would like any input on how to make it legal and recognized here in Germany. As far as I am aware, one also has to wait for 4-6 weeks in CA to obtain a copy of the ML, so I suppose I physically cannot take it to get an apostille in the States as we will be back here by that time...
thank you!

Marriage apostilles come from the state where you were married. IIRC, you will need three or four copies, but get more copies just in case. I think we got Florida to send us six copies. This is not anything like having copies notarized. It is basically a statement from the state that says the marriage licence is valid. In other words, one bureaucratic office states that another bureaucratic office is properly bureaucratic enough to issue marriage certificates. Germany simply wants a confirmation that the marriage is valid.

Spot on, except to say that an apostille confirms all sorts of documents - not just marriage licenses. Generally the aposille confirms the signature or seal of an official person or body and is recognised in lots of countries all over the world (all of Europe) - it's granted and recognised under the auspices of the 1961 Hague Convention.

Wow. What an exciting post. I bet you're glad you just read that.

OK, I just got through this process myself (a whole three weeks ago). I've only needed one apostilled and translated copy of my marriage certificate, and that got me through both the permit and health insurance process. Check with the branch of the CA government that does the apostilles; it might be possible to do it by mail. If you can't, and can't get a copy of the ML before you come back to Germany, you can give someone in CA power of attorney to act on your behalf. But in my experience (NY and PA), you can usually do it by mail. Expect an extra fee, and you may have to go through an extra step (with yet another fee) before getting the Apostille.

I suggest getting the translation done on this side, regardless.

Oh, just remembered... we were able to avoid the extra wait for our ML by filing it in person instead of waiting for the officiant to mail it in and then get it by mail (we could do this because we were well acquainted with the officiant --my grandfather). They gave it to us (well, my mother, actually, who has my power of attorney) in person when we filed it. YMMV, though, this might not work outside of upstate NY.

great work folks! thank you for so many exciting posts! so, it is becoming more clear now, however, is there anything else we may need to get while we are in CA to bring here for the marriage to be concidered legal here? We just go to the statsamt or something with the apostilled (and translated) ML and that is it!? And then I can also get my permit extended, right?
Thanks so much, again

Send a PM to Gen. She married a German in California.

This is exactly what we had to bring to the KVR (for both anmeldung and permit stuff --note: I wasn't already living in Germany when we got married):

ML, apostille and certified translation
my passport
my husbands passport or personalausweis

This was for me (a US citizen) married to a german. And to change his status of record. Oh, to change tax classes you (if you have one, that is) and your husband need to have your tax card(s) with you. My husband had to go back for that.

I was actually surprised by how little time it took. Of course, we went first thing on a Monday morning!

My husband called the local KVR to find out exactly what we needed. Then we didn't believe that it was so little, so he called again, and got the same answer.

While this might not be totally on topic, what have you done about changing your name-- or are you?

As of now I have been booking round trip flights from the US so I always book flights out of the states and come to Munich, thus having a flight waiting to go back home.

All of this makes changing my name rather difficult, since travel regulations must match on the passport and ticket. US passports are no longer simply amended either, and if your passport is over a year old you will need to buy a new one.

I know that I am not the only person going through this. If and when we decide to have children the consulate here in Munich suggested we have the same last names for ease of travel. I have heard that if you are changing your name it is smarter to do so from the US, otherwise you have no option of taking your last name as your middle name etc. since Germans don't do this.

As of now I will go by my married name here and my maiden name in the states.

Any additional help is appreciated! I am sure I will need extra apostilles etc. for all of this!

Hi there,

I read the last post, and you should change your name in the states as well. If you have anything that is still over there, it is easier to have everything changed over than go half and half. As for the apostile if people need copies of it they will make them. The original is enough. I believe that it also cost extra to have more copies made. I have recently moved to the Stuttgart area with my husband who is a native German so I definatley know what you are going through. The process to get everything with the visa and permits here in Germany is not that long, but its the time that it takes for them to have it finished. lol. We have to go and pick up everything later. So if you havn't done it already. The American will have to leave his/her passport with the office. Little scary but it all works out in the end. Good luck.

In Munich this fall (november), I got the permit in my passport while I waited. If you're marrying in the states, the germans will go by whatever name the marriage papers say, IIRC.

Any australian out there that could tell me who issues the Apostille in Australia? Is it the Department of Foreign affairs and trade office?
thanks

Correct.

Over here what you need can really depend on who is working your case. Some care, some don't. The embassy will tell you one thing, the registration office another. I was married in Germany in June. I had two copies of my birth certificate on hand in case I needed them. I used one. Those things cost very little in the US. Bring six copies of each and you'll probably have enough for the rest of your lives.

Thanks!

I'm confused and the answer to my question is not here...

One of the documents I need to get married is my birth certifcate and a translated copy. I will have to contact the State of NY to get it and I CAN get it apostilled at this time for an extra charge. My question: If the birth certificate is apostilled, do I still need to get a translation? Or vice versa - do I need an apostille if I have it translated? What does it cost to get a birth certificate translated these days?

You need the birth certificate AND the Apostille to be translated. The Apostille just certifies that the official who signed the document is who they said they were.

(and congratulations, by the way!)

Thanks! But, I found out the the Birth Certificate only needs to be translated, not apostilled (thank God because that would be a lot of work).