As a general rule foreigners may only get married in Germany if they can provide a certificate of the domestic authority of his home state that there is no impediment to the marriage under the law of that state (section 1309 (1) of the German Civil Code - BGB).

However, since a number of countries do not issue such certificates of no impediment, or issue certificates that fail to satisfy the statutory requirements, citizens of such states require an exemption from the requirement to provide a certificate of no impediment as per section 1309 (2) of the German Civil Code - BGB. These decisions fall into the remit of the presidents of the Higher Regional Courts.

The application for an exemption itself should be submitted to the registry office clerk when applying for a marriage license. Accordingly, a couple engaged to be married should first contact the registry office where they live.

In order to help with the preparation of the application by the registry office, the Kölner Liste Online is used, which consists of:

  1. General information
    Procedures for an exemption from the requirement to provide a certificate of no impediment as per section 1309 (2) of the German Civil Code - BGB deutsche-flagge PDF-Dokument, öffnet neues Browserfenster / neuen Browser-Tab
    General note (as at: January 2017) (202 KB)
  2. Register of Countries deutsche-flagge
    (Information regarding the evidence that needs to be submitted for each country)