Get to know requirements for a UK citizen getting married in Italy

Besides Planners, we have been legal consultants for the Italian foreign offices! This experience allowed us to gain deep expertise in foreign affairs.

If you are getting married in Italy there are two ways to have your documents witnessed in order to obtain your Certificate of No Impediment or the so-called Nulla Osta.

1) You can come to the Consular Section of the British Embassy in Rome, where your Notice of Marriage and your Affirmation/Affidavit will be witnessed and your Notice of Marriage displayed for 7 clear days before the Nulla Osta is issued. If you come to the Embassy you do not also need to approach an Italian Notary Public.

If you would prefer not to come to the British Embassy in Rome, you can arrange to see a Notary Public based in Italy to have your Notice of Marriage and your Affirmation/Affidavit witnessed, using the Vera di Firma procedure.
Once you have done this, your Notice of Marriage, your Affirmation/Affidavit and all of the other documents listed in the checklist below should be posted to the British Embassy in Rome, at the address on the next page, so that the Notice of Marriage can be displayed publicly, in the Embassy, for 7 clear days before we issue the Nulla Osta.

What you need to do is outlined in the checklist boxes below. 

If you decide to follow the Italian Notary process, the following important information is very important. 

• You must have been in Italy for at least the 3 clear days immediately preceding your appointment with the Notary. When you submit all your documents to the Embassy for the Nulla Osta to be issued Consular staff will check the documents including the evidence (see item 8 in the checklist below) that you met the residency rules by being in Italy 3 days before your appointment.

• In addition to the fee which the Notary will charge, you will be charged the Consular fees for this service – £50 for displaying the Notice of Marriage (Fee 10), £50 for issuing the Nulla Osta (Fee 11) and £8 for courier fees within Italy if you wish to have your document couriered to you. The cost may vary if the document is couriered to another country.

• If you use a Notary you will still have to complete the other forms in this pack, as well as the Notice of Marriage and the Affirmation/Affidavit, and you should follow the instructions below very carefully to ensure that all your documents are correct before sending them to the Embassy. 
  
  Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that your documents are correct. If the Notice of Marriage and/or the Affirmation/Affidavit witnessed by the Notary contain any errors you will need to contact the Notary again and arrange for these to be corrected. The Notary may make an additional charge for this remedial work. 

It is open to any UK citizen, wishing to get married in Italy, to make an appointment at the British Embassy if they would prefer to do so, without using a Notary.

2) The second option is the one most popular for those who won’t travel to Italy till the day their wedding takes place.
In this scenario, obtaining a certificate of no impediment (CNI) and a statutory declaration is necessary.
Your partner must also obtain these documents if she/he is British.
To obtain a CNI, you shall schedule an appointment with your local register office and give notice of your intended marriage.
If you live in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, or Guernsey, reach out to your local register office to know the specific process.
You will need to carry certain documents to your appointment.
The notice of marriage will be displayed in the register office for 28 days.

You can collect your CNI after this period if no objections are raised.

A CNI issued in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland does not expire, but CNIs issued in Scotland are valid for only 3 months.

We advise to contact your local register office to determine the validity of a CNI if you reside in the Isle of Man, Jersey, or Guernsey.

Anyway, as per Italian law, a CNI is valid for 6 months.
In addition to a CNI, you must provide information through a statutory declaration.

This declaration must be signed before a solicitor or public notary in the UK, and a fee will be charged. Standard templates in English and Italian are available for download.

After obtaining a CNI and statutory declaration, they must be legalized (certified as genuine) by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.

A certified translation of your CNI is also necessary and must be done by a certified translator that your wedding planner in Italy will locate.

If any supporting documents, such as a decree absolute, are not in English or Italian, they, too, must be legalized and translated. Translation fees will be applied.
If the name on any of your documents does not match your birth certificate, you must provide evidence of the name change, such as a marriage certificate or deed poll, to the Italian marriage authorities. Failure to do so may result in the authorities denying the marriage.

Who will be your Counselors and Planners?

Due to our experience in law firms and the foreign offices of the Italian public administration, we gained significant expertise in Consular affairs, and we are trained to solve the most complicated procedure such as:

1) Nulla osta process, legalization procedure, Court hearings for the refusal of the town hall when there documents missing , legal translation, apostille procedure, emergency procedure for legalization.

2) Same-sex couples that want to celebrate a civil union in Italy as in their country the union is forbidden;

3) Couples that come from countries where divorce is not allowed;

4) Italians living abroad registered at AIRE that need to recover their document to start the marriage banns in the Italian Consulate;

5) Assistance with people that come from countries that do not release the nulla osta;

6) American and Australian couples who needs assistance with “atto notorio” in an Italian Court or the Italian Consulate in the USA or Australia.

7) People with refugee status who have requested asylum in Italy.