Guide to civil ceremonies

Below are instructions on how to obtain a civil marriage in Armenia if you or your fiancé(e) is an Armenian national and the other is a foreigner. This guide is written assuming the reader is the foreigner and the fiancé(e) is an Armenian national.

Please note that if your fiancé(e) is a dual citizen of Armenia and another country (the author’s wife is a dual citizen of Armenia and Iran) then certain offices will treat her/him as either an Armenian citizen or as a foreign citizen. Differences are noted below.

This guide was written in October 2015.

Step 1: Obtain your Freedom to Wed document from your Embassy

Required documents vary with each embassy:

• American embassy requires one’s passport and a form available online or at the embassy
• Canadian embassy requires one’s passport and a form available at the embassy
• Iranian embassy requires a set of documents including a form available at the embassy.
  • Iranian passport
  • A photocopy of Iranian passport
  • Birth Certificate (شناسنامه)
  • A photocopy of the Birth Certificate
  • A portrait photo

The Armenian Government requires evidence from your government that you’re free to marry. Your embassy can provide that evidence. Each embassy has its own process to provide the evidence. Below are what the American, Canadian and Iranian embassies require.

American Embassy

The US Embassy offers “marriage notarial services” a.k.a. the Freedom to Wed document. You’ll need to schedule an appointment online. You should be able to get an appointment as early as the next day as the US citizen counselor services tend to not be busy.

Ideally you should download the form from online and come with the top half filled in. The form is in both English and Armenian and you’ll need to fill out both versions in their respective languages. If you can’t write Armenian, ask your fiancé(e). Do not sign the form until you’re before an embassy officer.

Arrive at the embassy about 10 minutes before your scheduled time (any sooner and they’ll make you wait outside). No one but you will be allowed in. Once you’re inside the counselor services building, go to the left for citizen services. If you did not print out the form ahead of time, they will give it to you. If you did not fill out the form beforehand and are not proficient in Armenian (like the author), you can walk over to visa services and awkwardly ask Hayastantsis sitting there “kenerek, khosum ek angleren?” to find someone that can fill out the Armenian version for you. Give the completed form to counselor services and pay the fee of (as of September 2015) $50 at the cashier. Counselor services will confirm that the English and Armenian versions are accurate translations of each other and provide a notarial stamp within 5-10 minutes.

Canadian Embassy

Canada doesn’t have a formal embassy in Yerevan but does have a Honourary consulate. An internet search would suggest applying to the Canadian embassy in Moscow for the Freedom to Wed document, but in reality the Honourary consulate can easily handle it. The Honourary consulate is located on the second floor of the Piazza Grande business center at 10 Vazgen Sargsyan Street (near Republic Square) and closes at 1pm.

The clerk at the consulate is accustomed to these requests and will print an official document hereby declaring that you are not currently married in Canada and are free to marry. You’ll pay a fee of approximately 20,000 AMD and the consulate will sign and stamp the form. Since the consulate is just down the street from the Foreign Ministry, it is possible to do both in a single day.

Iranian Embassy

You should personally go to the embassy. No other person can do that for you.

When you enter the consulate section of the embassy, ask for “گواهی تجرد”. You will be given a form to fill out and will be asked for the documents listed above. You will have to pay nine euros, which you should transfer to the embassy’s account through Mellat Bank in Yerevan. The certificate takes one day to be ready.

Step 2: Have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stamp your Freedom to Wed evidence

Required documents:

• Passport of foreigner fiancé(e)
• Passport of Armenian fiancé(e)
• Copies of each passport
• Freedom to Wed documents from your embassy

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must approve the accuracy of the Freedom to Wed documents. Note that if your fiancé(e) is a dual citizen s/he will need to provide a Freedom to Wed document as well.

The Ministry is located on Republic Square, across from the Marriot Hotel [THIS IS NO LONGER TRUE, The Ministry is now located at: 3 Vazgen Sargsyan street, Government House N 2. Ignore all the location information in this paragraph]. Marriage services occur through the entrance on Amiryan Street. Its hours are 10-12, and it’s closed on weekends and Wednesday. Try to not go on Monday or Thursday morning as there will be a big crowd. When the doors open, go immediately to the pay machine. Alternatively, one can pay in the Vivacell across the street. The fee is 5000 AMD for each stamp and 200 AMD to pay at Vivacell. So the total is 5200 AMD if only you have a Freedom to Wed document or 10200 AMD if both you and your fiancé(e) have Freedom to Wed documents. Keep the payment receipt.

Get in the line on the left to give your documents. When you enter the room, they’ll give you another form to fill out that simply states what documents you provided and has some straight-forwards fields to fill out (e.g. your and your fiancé(e)’s names). Processing the form will take 2-3 days but if you ask them nicely, they may do it in one day. Picking up the notarized documents is straight forward and doesn’t involve any more fees or steps. Just make sure when you go to the Ministry to pick up your documents, you stand in the line on the right side.

Step 3: Register at the Ministry of Justice

Required documents:

• Passport of foreigner fiancé(e)
• Passport of Armenian fiancé(e)
• Copies of each passport
• Notarized translations of all non-Armenian passports
• A copy of each translation of all non-Armenian passports
• Freedom to Wed documents from one’s embassy, with stamp from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• A copy of all Freedom to Wed documents

The Ministry of Justice must register your request to marry. The Ministry is located at 41a Halabyan St. The marriage office hours are 10-12pm and 3-4pm M-F.

When entering the Ministry, go to the window on the right. Tell the guard that you’re going to get married and s/he will give you a slip to go to the 12th floor. On the 12th floor, go to E. Alebyan’s office and speak to her. She is an assertive woman who will tell you bluntly what you need. At this stage you basically need to bring a copy of everything. Bring all passports and all official documents. You’ll also need to bring a notarized translation of any non-Armenian passport and a copy of those translations. The nearest copy place to the Ministry is 150 meters away on Abelian St., so it’s really annoying if you don’t have this already. Dual citizen fiancé(e)s will be treated as foreigners and will need to provide all the documents that you have to.

When all your papers are in order, Alebyan will ask you to pick a date. On that date, you’ll pick up stamped and approved documents from the Ministry, take them to the registry and have the ceremony. Note that the approval the Ministry of Justice provided is just valid for that one day you picked. It means you have to go to the registry office on that day.

If you both are considered foreigners, processing requires at least 10 days. An extra fee can be paid to accelerate the process (this site repeats the information provided by the Ministry):

• 2 working days – 150,000 AMD
• 5 working days – 120,000 AMD
• 7 working days – 90,000 AMD

If your fiancé(e) is not a dual citizen, then you should be able to process your documents in less time with no fee.

Step 4: Go to the Registration office and have the Ceremony

Required documents:

• Passport of foreigner fiancé(e)
• Passport of Armenian fiancé(e)
• Copy of the Armenian passport

On your selected day, go to the Ministry of Justice in the morning to pick up your documents from Alebyan’s office. You’ll be told which registration office to go to, usually the district registry office of where the Armenian citizen is registered (գրանցված) a.k.a. the registry closest to your listed address.

Go to the registry and schedule the ceremony for later that day. You’ll need to make a photocopy of the primary passport (likely the Armenian’s) and pay 1000 dram.

Arrive at your ceremony with two witnesses and any entourage or photographers you’d like to have. Bring 3000 dram to pay for the printed booklet. Take a breath, walk in, enjoy the wedding music, say “ayo” at the right times and you’re married! Shnorhavor!