Hi Everybody,

I'm looking for some help regarding getting married in Switzerland As a Brit living in Switzerland, the local civil office said I would need the following documents: birth certificate and certificate of no impediment to marriage.

The birth certificate i can get online via the registry office, but I am having problems with the certificate of no impediment to marriage. I can't get it from the UK as I would have to stay there for 9 days before apply at a registry office.

I contacted the British Embassy and they advised me that they do not issue the document anymore and that there is an agreement between CH & UK and as such it is not needed. As such I called the local civil office and they said they still require it!

As such I am a bit stuck and not sure how to proceed ... Can anyone help?

Thanks

Hi SwissRich

I am currently trying to get the paperwork together as a British National in Switzerland and am coming across the same problem.

What did you end up doing?

Thanks

When I got married here, the Zivilstandsamt accepted a form from my Gemeinde that basically says I live here (I can’t remember what it was called) instead of the Cert of no Impediment. The cert of no impediment seemed to be for non-residents.

Edit: It was a Wohnsitzbestätigung that I needed instead of the Cert of no impediment.

Get it in writing: From the Swiss civil register office what exact document they want/accept. Talke this to the consulate/embassy. From the UK consulate/embassy request a written statement why they can not issue what was requested (it should include a reference to said agreement). Than show this paper to the Swiss civil registrar.

Or you try your luck with this generic affidavit that there is no hinderance that you can get married:
https://assets.publishing.service.go...idavit2012.pdf

I got married in 1982 and had to swear on the bible at the British consulate that I‘d never been married. They then issued me with a paper for the Gemeinde.

25 years ago we gave up on the Swiss bureaucracy and married in the UK. Even as two non-residents that was a doddle.

I married my late wife while on vacation in the US, she Swiss/Canadian, me US. They looked at her Swiss divorce papers (in German), and asked what they said, and were happy.

Upon return to CH, for the Swiss, I was married, but she wasn't! Plus, they wanted to take away her Swiss citizenship!

Same thing had happened to a friend's sister when she married a German in Germany, so he knew what to do. Took 6 months and CHF 35, but in the end it was sorted!

Tom

When we were looking into it and struggling with the certificate of no impediment... I found the easiest place in Europe to get married was Gibraltar.... they make it very easy for non-residents, an option if you are really struggling. That said plenty of British people resident in Switzerland get married here, I didn’t need the cert of no impediment (2013).

I had to do more or less the same at the Irish Embassy back in 1990, although there was no oath, they just took my word for it.

Me too. I was living in Munich at the time (also 1982) and did all this at the British consulate. I remember the consul handing me the certificate and a bill and commenting that "swearing had a price".

Worked for John and Yoko.

Tom