Do you need to apostille a Certificate of No Impediment for Marriage?

Are you planning to get married in a foreign country this summer? Have you been asked to obtain an apostille on a Certificate of No Impediment for Marriage? This type of document is commonly knows as a Single Status Affidavit.  You can write one yourself or obtain one from the local County Clerk’s office.

Note: You will most likely be asked to obtain an apostille on your birth certificate and FBI background check.  We can help you with these documents too.

The most popular countries we can apostille or legalize a Certificate of No Impediment for Marriage are for: Vietnam, Cuba, Columbia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Greece, Germany,  Philippines, Armenia and more.  From our experience, if you are planning to get married in a foreign country, you will be asked to obtain an apostille on your birth certificate, Single Status Affidavit, and an FBI background check.

We can apostille a single status affidavit issued from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia (Washington DC), and the U.S. Federal Government.  The U.S. Embassy or Consulate located in a foreign country can also issue a single status affidavit (See sample below).  For countries who are non-members of the Hague Apostille Convention, we can also process your certificate of no impediment for marriage through the U.S. Department of State and the Embassy or Consulate office.

Certifying and legalizing documents for countries who are not members of the Hague Apostille Convention is a multi-step process. Embassy and Consulate Legalization Services

This document may also be referred to as:

• Single Status Affidavit
• No Record of Marriage
• Certificate of Freedom to Marry
• Certificate of No Record – Marriage
• Affidavit of Single Status
• Affidavit of Marriageability
• Certificate of No Public Record
• Eligibility to Marry
• Affidavit of Civil Status

Here is an example of a Certificate of No Impediment for Marriage (AKA: single status affidavit):

The first step is to contact the local County Clerk’s office to request a document that states you are currently not married (AKA: Single Status Affidavit).  Some County Clerk offices may refer to this document as a “no record of marriage” instead of a “single status” (see list above of the different names).  Most all County Clerk offices can provide you this document so please be sure to speak to a supervisor/manager if you are told otherwise.  A document issued from the County Clerk’s office does not require notarization.

If the County Clerk is unable to assist you and you are in the United States, you can use the sample above to write your own Certificate of No Impediment for Marriage (AKA: single status affidavit).  Basically, you are writing a sworn statement stating that you are currently not married to another person in the United States.  Be sure to have this document signed and notarized before you mail it in to our office. You should also check with the people requesting your single status if they will accept a sworn affidavit directly from you.

If you are outside of the United States, the local US Embassy or US Consulate office should be able to assist you in completing this document.  Because you will be visiting a U.S. Federal Government office and having your document signed and notarized by a US Federal notary public, this document can then only be apostilled through our Washington DC apostille office.  Please note that U.S. Embassy and U.S. Consulate offices located outside of the United States are by appointment only and the U.S. Federal notary needs to be on site.

Here is an example of a Single Status Affidavit / Affidavit of Civil Status issued from a U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate General:

Please Note: We can only help you with documents originating from or notarized within the United States and for another country. If your single status affidavit is originating from another country, you will need to contact the correct competent authority to assist you in that country.

What US State are your documents from?

Obtaining an apostille can be complicated. Don’t leave this process to untrained employees or non-professionals who do not fully understand the apostille process and the unique requirements of certain countries. Your paperwork could be rejected costing you time and money. Don’t let this happen to you!

Our staff is available Monday-Saturday from 9am to 6pm to answer your questions and provide you easy to follow-step-by-step instructions.  Please call us at 1-800-850-3441.

Click on the download image to your left to get started. Our apostille service is fast, convenient, and saves you time and money.