Getting married or registering a civil partnership abroad: Information based on your answers

Marriage in Italy

Before you start

Contact the local town hall (‘comune’) where you want to get married to find out about local marriage laws, including what documents you and your partner will need.

If you’re a woman, you must wait 300 days after divorcing or the death of your husband before remarrying.

Prove you’re free to get married

You need to prove you’re legally allowed to get married by getting a ‘Nulla Osta’.

Your partner will also need a Nulla Osta if they’re British. If they’re not, the documents they need might be different.

Get a Nulla Osta

You’ll need to get a Nulla Osta if you’re in Italy.

To get a Nulla Osta, make an appointment at the British Embassy in Rome to give notice of your marriage. Your partner does not have to come with you if they are not a British citizen applying for their own Nulla Osta.

If you cannot get to the embassy, download the Nulla Osta application pack, fill in the affirmation and notice of marriage and sign them in front of an Italian notary using the ‘vera di firma’ procedure. You’ll have to pay a fee. Send the signed documents and supporting documents to the embassy.

British Embassy Rome
Via XX Settembre 80/a
00187 Rome
Italy

You need to be in Italy for 3 full days immediately before you give notice. You can then give notice either at the embassy or by signing the forms in front of an Italian notary. This means if you arrive on Monday you cannot give notice until Friday.

It costs £50 to give notice and £50 for the Nulla Osta. You can pay by card. If you want to pay in cash you need to pay in the local currency.

You’ll need to bring:

your passport
a copy of your partner’s passport
notice of marriage and affirmation or affidavit for marriage forms from the Nulla Osta application pack - you can fill in (but not sign) these in advance
a residency certificate issued by your local town hall (comune) in the last 3 months (if you’re a resident in Italy)
proof that you’ve been in Italy for at least the 3 full days before giving notice (if you’re not a resident) - for example a boarding pass or a hotel receipt

You must bring a residency certificate if you’re using an Italian address on your notice of marriage.

If you’ve been married or in a civil partnership before

You’ll need to take documents to prove the end of any previous marriages or civil partnerships. Depending on how it ended, this will be:

your decree absolute or final order (this could be a printed PDF and covering email from the court)
your annulment certificate
your civil partnership dissolution
your partner’s death certificate and marriage certificate

You can provide copies of a divorce decree or death certificate instead of originals. They’ll need to be certified by a notary public or solicitor in the country where the divorce took place or the death was registered.

If your divorce, civil partnership dissolution or annulment took place outside the UK, you’ll also need evidence that you or your former partner lived in or were a national of that country at the time of the divorce.

The British embassy will display your notice of marriage publicly for 7 full days. This means if the embassy gets your notice on Monday (in person or by post), it will be displayed until the following Tuesday. If nobody registers an objection, your Nulla Osta should be ready within 2 weeks of giving your notice. You can collect it in person or have it delivered by post.

You don’t need to stay in the country while your notice is displayed.

If you’ve changed your name

If your name on any of your documents doesn’t appear exactly as it does on your birth certificate, you’ll need to give the local marriage authorities evidence of your name change (for example, a marriage certificate or deed poll). If you don’t, the authorities may refuse to allow the marriage to go ahead.

Get your documents translated and legalised

You don’t need to get a Nulla Osta legalised or translated.

You need to get your supporting documents (for example, a decree absolute) legalised and translated if they’re not in English or Italian.

You’ll be charged fees for translating your documents.

Get married

You’ll need to give your Nulla Osta to the person who’s going to marry you. This will be:

a priest if you’re having a religious ceremony
a registrar at the town hall (comune) if you’re having a civil ceremony

After you get married

Your marriage will be recognised in the UK if:

you follow the correct process according to the law in Italy
it would be allowed under UK law

You won’t need to register your marriage in the UK.

If you need extra copies of your marriage certificate, you can apply for them at the local comune.

If your partner isn’t a British citizen, they can apply for British citizenship once they’ve lived in the UK for 3 years.