Norway - Get Married

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Procedure

1. Before you apply to get married, make sure that you have met the conditions stipulated in the Marriage Act. It is the National Registry (the Tax Office) that checks whether the conditions for marriage have been met. These checks are based on the parties' own declarations, the National Registry's information and other relevant documentation.
2. Applicants must complete all required forms: Declarations by the parties to the marriage, bridal declarations/declarations by sponsors. A link is provided under 'Documents to Use' section which you can use to download the forms.
3. Submit the required documents.
4. If the National Registry (tax office) finds that the conditions for marriage have been met, it will issue a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage. The official who is to perform the wedding ceremony must receive this certitificate before the wedding can take place.

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Required Documents

• Completed Declaration
• Other required documents:
  • Parental consent
  • A person who is resident abroad must bring with him/her a certificate of no impediment to marriage in order to get married in Norway.
  • Widowers/widows: Death certificate
  • For those who were previously married: Divorce decree

Office Locations & Contacts

Tax Offices

Phone: 800 80 000; for callers from abroad, please call +47 22 07 70 00.
For English menu, press 9.

Note: Calls placed to 800 80 000 from a landline inside Norway are free. From a mobile and for international calls, your own subscription rates apply.

Eligibility

• Age requirement: Parties must be at least 18 years old. If anyone under 18 years of age wants to get married, they must have the consent of the person or persons who have parental responsibility over them and of the County Governor. The County Governor may only give such consent when there are strong grounds for a marriage. The County Governor may not give his consent if the person wanting to get married is under 16 years of age. Anyone who marries someone under 16 years of age or is guilty of aiding and abetting in this may be punished by imprisonment for up to four years.
• Act voluntarily: The decision to get married must be voluntary. According to the General Penal Code, anyone who forces someone to get married may be sentenced to imprisonment for up to six years.
• Parties must not be closely related: Parties must not be siblings or relatives in a direct ascending or descending line (i.e. parents and children).
• Not already married: A person may not get married if he or she is already married or in a registered partnership. A person who gets married despite the fact that he or she is already married may be sentenced to imprisonment for up to four years. If the other spouse did not know about this fact, a prison sentence of up to six years may be imposed. Aiding and abetting is punished in the same way. Married persons who reside in Norway may be punished according to this provision if they enter into a new marriage abroad.
• Legally staying in Norway: Anyone getting married in Norway must be entitled to legally stay in the country. This issue is regulated by the legislation governing foreigners.
• Other requirements:
  • If any previous marriage or registered partnership has ended through divorce or death, the administration and division of the previous matrimonial property must have been started on or completed.
  • If either of the parties has been divorced in a foreign country, this divorce must usually be approved by the County Governor. This takes place pursuant to the Act relating to the recognition of foreign divorces and separations.
  • A person who is resident abroad must bring with him/her a certificate of no impediment to marriage in order to get married in Norway. This certificate states that, according to the laws of the country where the person resides, there is no impediment to him/her getting married in Norway.

Note: It is not against the law for cousins to get married but it is important to note that if the parents are related to each other there is an increased risk of having children who are ill or have congenital deformities and of stillbirths, deaths and children with reduced life expectancies.

Fees

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Validity

A Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage from the National Registry is valid for four months from the time it was issued.

Documents to Use

Declaration Forms

Sample Documents

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Processing Time

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Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

The marriage may be entered into in a church or civil ceremony.

• Church ceremony: The ceremony may be performed by a clergyman of the Church of Norway or a priest or minister of a registered religious community. If the wedding is to take place in a religious community, this community must be registered and licensed to perform wedding ceremonies. The Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs and County Governor have an overview of religious communities and belief communities that are licensed to conduct a wedding. Clergymen at some Norwegian Churches Abroad can also conduct church weddings. Persons wanting to get married can contact a person authorised to perform wedding ceremonies (civil or church) at the location where they want to get married.
• Civil Ceremony: The ceremony is usually conducted by a judge at a District Court. In addition, a civil ceremony may be held at some Norwegian foreign service missions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' country pages contain an overview of Norwegian foreign service missions that are authorised to perform wedding ceremonies.

Required Information

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e.g.
1. Date of Birth.
2. City or County of Birth.

Need for the Document

This procedure provides you information on how to get married in Norway.

Information which might help

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Other uses of the Document/Certificate

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e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Government of Norway - Website

Others

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