Marriage with a foreigner in Moldova – general information.

The provisions of the family law of the Republic of Moldova are applied to foreign citizens and stateless persons to the same extent as to citizens of the country.
Thus, in field of family relationships, foreign citizens and stateless persons residing in Moldova, have the same rights and obligations as the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.

Definition of Marriage in Moldova.

Marriage registration is the procedure of drawing on the marriage act by the civil status body, basis on marriage declaration, respecting the conditions and terms settled by the legislature.
Thus, the marriage is a free union consented between a man and a woman, contracted according to law in order to start a family and governed by mandatory rules of law.
The principal law governing marriage in Moldova is the Family Code of Republic of Moldova effective as of 26 October, 2000.

 

Marriageable age.

Moldovan legislation stipulates that the minimum marriage age is 18 years, but for solid reasons, marriage may be approved with the reduction of the marriage age, but not more than two years.

The consent.

For conclusion of the marriage is necessary mutually, uncorrupted, expressed personally and unconditionally consent of the men and women who marry.

Health status.

Persons who wish to marry are obliged to inform each other about their health status, they are also subject to a compulsory medical examination free of charge.

Impediments to marriage.

Marriage is not allowed between:
• persons of which at least one is already married;
• relatives in a straight line until the fourth grade, including brothers and sisters, including those who have a common parent;
• an adopter and an adopted child;
• an adopted and relatives of the adopter in a straight line up to the Second degree, inclusive;
• curator and minor person under its curatorship, during the curatorship;
• persons of which at least one was deprived of legal capacity;;
• people sentenced to imprisonment in the period when both serving their sentence;
• persons of the same sex.

What documents are needed to marry a foreigner in Moldova?

Foreign citizens residing outside the territory of the Republic of Moldova may marry in Moldova in accordance with the legislation of the country, if they have the right to marry in accordance with the legislation of the state of which they are citizens.
The civil status authority to which the application for marriage is submitted requires from future spouses to provide the following documents:

Identity documents (passport) ;

Birth certificate ;

A document on the dissolution or termination of a previous marriage (if applicable).

 

Marriage with a foreign citizen can be concluded only if, in addition to the above documents, a certificate of matrimonial legal capacity is presented. Certificate must be issued by the competent authority of the state of which the person is a citizen, and should confirm that the basic conditions required by the legislation of Moldova for marriage are met.
If the legislation of the country of origin of the foreign citizen does not provide for the issuance of a certificate of matrimonial capacity (regarding the absence of obstacles to the conclusion of the marriage), the interested persons have the right to present documents confirming the provisions of the family law of the corresponding country. At the same time, the foreigner can also contribute in another way to prove the content of the applicable laws in his country of origin, or he can submit a declaration on his behalf, under his own responsibility (authenticated by a notary), declaring the absence of obstacles to the conclusion of the marriage.

If such a declaration was drawn up abroad, in a foreign language, it must be translated into Romanian and duly authenticated.
A copy of the foreigner’s passport must also be attached to the documents listed above, including the page where the visa for the Republic of Moldova is applied, or in the case of countries with which the Republic of Moldova has a visa-free regime, the stamp of the border police, applied when entering the country. If the future spouses want to get married in an emergency, they must present supporting documents justifying the emergency.

If a foreign citizen has been married for 3 years to a citizen of the Republic of Moldova and has lived legally and continuously in the country for the last 3 years, the foreigner can be granted Moldovan citizenship based on his request.
You can learn more about obtaining Moldovan citizenship through marriage in a separate article.