Certificates RSA can make the process of obtaining your unabridged and abridged marriage certificate South Africa faster and less of a headache.
The BI-30 is the form you were issued by the registrar or priest. It carries your signatures along with those of the priest or registrar and the witnesses at the wedding. Clear, legible BI-30 copies keep the unabridged marriage certificate process moving. No BI-30? We can still assist you.
Lead times are an indication only. Certificates RSA does not guarantee them and does not accept responsibility for any loss due to delays in issue of certificates or certificates issued with faulty information.
Read on for more about marriage certificates, or contact us.
A marriage certificate is an official document issued by a governmental authority showing that the couple listed have a legally recognised relationship.
The certificate states the names of the couple, when and where they were married, who married them, and the witnesses present.
When you get married, the marriage officer, two witnesses and the couple must sign the marriage register. The marriage officer then issues the couple a handwritten certificate (BI-27) free of charge.
The marriage officer submits the marriage register to the nearest office of the DHA, where the marriage details are recorded in the National Population Register (NPR).
For international visas such as a UK Settlement, Ancestry or Spouse Visa, foreign immigration departments want an unabridged marriage certificate, not the handwritten abridged version. The unabridged certificate carries the full biographical details of both spouses and confirms the marriage is valid under South African law. Most foreign countries also want the certificate apostilled or authenticated. If you are moving to a Hague Convention country, you will need an Apostille stamp attached to your certificate by DIRCO or the High Court before foreign visa officials will accept it.
Lost your original marriage certificate, or is it damaged? You can apply for a replacement from the Department of Home Affairs, issued as an unabridged marriage certificate. You will need a completed application form, a copy of your South African ID or passport, and a copy of your original handwritten marriage register (the BI-30 form) if you have it. If you do not, Certificates RSA can still handle the application by retrieving your record straight from the Home Affairs archives, so your replacement is not held up.
Applying for an unabridged marriage certificate directly through the Department of Home Affairs can take several months to a year because of backlogs and archive retrieval problems. That is a real problem when you have travel, visa or immigration deadlines. Certificates RSA cuts this down by submitting your application directly to Home Affairs headquarters in Pretoria and following up daily. Our standard service takes roughly 4 to 6 weeks; our urgent expedited service, 2 to 3 weeks.
An abridged certificate carries the basic details of the spouses and the date of marriage. An unabridged certificate carries fuller biographical details, including the witnesses, and is the version needed for international visa and legal purposes.
The BI-30 is the original marriage register signed at your wedding. A copy speeds things up considerably because it carries the exact reference number and registry details. We can still assist if you do not have it.
Yes. Once we retrieve your certificate from Home Affairs, we can courier it to you anywhere in the world with secure express couriers like DHL.
An official marriage certificate does not expire. Foreign authorities or embassies may, however, ask that the copy you submit was issued within the last 6 or 12 months.
Yes. We can assist with registering foreign marriages at the Department of Home Affairs so your marital status is correctly updated in the South African National Population Register.
Please note that from time to time the CRC and HA experiences backlogs and turnaround times listed on our website cannot be guaranteed. Loadshedding is putting a lot of pressure on the system and affecting applications and turnaround times. Kindly take this into consideration when making travelling plans or have deadlines.
