A marriage certificate
for the Greek citizenship
By
Christos ILIOPOULOS*
2 January 2017
There are thousands of
people who have Greek parents or grandparents (even great grandparents), who
wish to obtain a Greek passport (Greek citizenship). The potential applicants
for the Greek citizenship were born in a country other than Greece, they have Greek
ancestors and seek advice on what documents they need to obtain, in order to
successfully apply for the citizenship of their ancestors.
The starting point is,
most of the times, the birth certificate of their closest ancestor who was born
in Greece. If we can locate and obtain a fresh certified copy of the birth
certificate of the Greek - born parent or grandparent from a municipality in
Greece, we may have done the most important step in the process. However, this
is not enough. We must also obtain the marriage certificate of that parent or
grandparent born in Greece, and then all birth and marriage certificates until
we reach the birth certificate of the present applicant.
So, does the marriage
certificate of my parent, or my grandparent, or even my own marriage
certificate have to have a specific content in order to be accepted by the
Greek administration? The answer is, yes. A marriage certificate which simply
states the name of the groom and the name of the bride, without indication of
the names of their parents, most likely will not do. Unless, we have official
info from other certificates, on the names of the parents of the groom and
bride. For example, if the marriage certificate states only the names of the
groom and bride, we may also need the birth certificate of the bride, which
must state her parents’ names, assuming we already have the birth certificate
of the groom, who is our Greek ancestor. This happens because the Greek
municipality will require full info on the names of the parents of the groom
and bride, in order to set up their complete family status page in their books,
irrespective of whether all of them are considered Greek citizens or not.
Another piece of
information which is required in a marriage certificate from another country so
that it is accepted by the Greek authorities, is the degree of marriage for the
bride and the groom. In other words, it must state if this recorded marriage
was a first or second etc. for either of the two persons who were married. This
type of info sometimes is stated with a mention that this marriage is a 1st or 2nd etc. for each of
the bride and groom. Another way to state it in the marriage certificate is the
mention that the bride is until this marriage “a spinster” (older certificates)
and the groom “a bachelor”.
In some marriage
certificates there is a point where a blank is filled out after the phrase
“previous marriages” and it may state “none”, or “one” or “two” etc. In
whatever official form it is stated, the Greek administration will require
official proof of the degree of marriage and if this info is not included in
the marriage certificate itself, it will have to be derived from another
official document, or an affidavit by either the groom or the bride or both.
This affidavit option, is the last resort for the applicant who wants to obtain
the Greek citizenship, if the related info can’t be found in any other official
document. The applicant will sign a simple affidavit at the Greek Consulate,
stating that the degree of marriage of this marriage was for the bride “first”
and for the groom “first” or whatever is the case.
If the degree of
marriage for the groom or bride who is the Greek ancestor was not a first, the
Greek administration will require that we first find the first marriage certificate,
then the divorce decree or court decision from the foreign country, then we
make a court hearing to recognize it in the Greek legal order and then we can
proceed with the finalization of the Greek citizenship. In simple words, if
your father is Greek and prior to his marriage to your mother, he had a
previous marriage and divorce, we must recognize this divorce decree in Greece
with a court petition. If your father is Greek and your non-Greek mother had a
prior divorce, we do not have to do this court case for the recognition of her
prior divorce. If your grandmother is your Greek ancestor and she had a prior
divorce, we have to recognize her prior divorce in Greece, while if the prior
divorce belongs to your non-Greek grandfather, we don’t’ have to do this
process.
A divorce decree or
court ruling after the marriage of your parents is not relevant and the Greek
administration will not make you do the court case in Greece to have it
recognized. In other words, a divorce of your parents after your birth is not a
problem, nor a delaying factor in the process of your Greek citizenship.
Another piece of
information which must be part of the marriage certificate is the clear
indication of the authority which solemnized the marriage, basically If this
authority is a civil one or an ecclesiastical one. If it can’t be fully proven
that the authority was ecclesiastical, the Greek administration will accept the
marriage as only civil. This is very important, since for the citizenship
process, we may need a certain type of marriage in order to be successful. If
you are above 18 y.o. and want to obtain the Greek citizenship based on your
Greek - born grandmother, her marriage to your non-Greek grandfather must be
proven civil and not religious - Greek Orthodox. On the contrary, if you are
basing your citizenship application on your Greek - born grandfather, his
marriage to your non-Greek grandmother must be proven religious - Greek
Orthodox (or whatever other denomination or religion your grandfather was a
follower of, Catholic, Protestant, or other religion, Jewish etc.).
*Christos ILIOPOULOS,
attorney at
the
Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M.
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