Getting Married in Greece: CNI and Documents You Need

A local certificate of no impediment issued by the British Embassy or a consulate in Greece. The FCDO issues the version accepted in Greece in one of two ways.

• You live in the UK: get a UK CNI from your register office, then exchange it for a local CNI at an appointment in Greece.
• You live in Greece or elsewhere abroad: apply by post with an FCDO notice and affirmation signed before a notary in Greece.

If you are forming a civil partnership in Greece rather than marrying, the FCDO says you do not need a CNI. We checked this route on 24 September 2026.

1. Book an appointment to give notice at your UK register office and say you need a CNI to marry abroad.
2. Within three months of receiving the UK CNI, apply online and pay £50 (non-refundable).
3. Follow the booking instructions you are sent and choose an appointment at a British embassy or consulate in Greece at least 7 days after you applied. If you apply on a Wednesday, book after the following Tuesday.
4. Bring your UK CNI to the appointment to exchange it.

The local CNI carries the same issue date as your UK CNI, and Greek authorities accept it for six months. The FCDO service needs a valid British passport.

Apply by post. The FCDO’s by-post service is for British nationals who live outside the UK, and the process is:

1. Download the notice and affirmation and fill them in, but do not sign them.
2. Book a notary in Greece. If you do not live in Greece, you must have been there for 3 whole days before the appointment, counting from the day after you arrive.
3. Sign the notice and affirmation in front of the notary, who notarises them.
4. Apply online and pay £100: £50 for receiving notice (non-refundable) and £50 for issuing the CNI. Post your documents to the embassy in Greece.
5. Your notice is displayed for 7 days. If nobody raises a legal objection, the CNI is issued, and you collect it from the British Embassy Athens or arrange a prepaid courier.

If you live in the UK and have travelled to Greece without a UK CNI, the FCDO does not send you to this route. It says to ask the person conducting your ceremony or the relevant local authority what you should do.

A marriage licence, issued by the municipality, and each one publishes its own list. The Municipality of Athens, for example, asks foreign residents of the city for:

• a certificate of no impediment, officially authenticated and translated into Greek;
• a birth certificate from their home country, authenticated and translated into Greek;
• a marriage announcement in a daily Athens newspaper;
• a copy of their passport or residence documents, and proof of address.

Athens issues the licence seven days after it has checked the documents, and the licence is valid for six months. Visitors marrying elsewhere should ask the municipality where the ceremony will take place for its list and its translation rules.

Bring proof that the earlier marriage ended: a decree absolute or final order, an annulment certificate, or your late spouse’s death certificate. For a CNI by post, the FCDO wants the original UK death certificate, because a copy would breach copyright, and the original or a certified copy of a paper divorce document. If your divorce was outside the UK, you may be asked to show that you or your ex-partner were a national of, or lived in, that country at the time.

Not for the CNI, if you follow the FCDO route: you take your UK CNI to a British embassy or consulate in Greece, which issues the local one. The FCDO adds that you may need other documents legalised or translated. Municipalities may also want the local CNI itself authenticated and translated into Greek: Athens asks for a certificate of no impediment “officially authenticated and translated into Greek”, and Heraklion asks residents for a certificate of no impediment from their consulate in Greece, translated into Greek and certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, except for states party to a Council of Europe convention that it names. Both also ask for foreign birth certificates to be authenticated and translated. Ask the municipality whether that certification step applies to a British consular CNI, and which of your UK documents need an apostille.

An e-Apostille is only for a PDF that a UK notary or solicitor has signed electronically. Birth, death, marriage and other General Register Office certificates cannot have one, so they need the paper service. Ask the authority abroad whether it accepts an e-Apostille before you choose it.

From the register office or registrar where you live: the process and fee depend on whether you live in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Tell them when you book that the certificate is for a marriage abroad.

• The names on your UK CNI should match your passports, including middle names, the FCDO says. If you have changed your name, update your passport before you give notice.
• Bring proof that any earlier marriage ended. England and Wales issue a final order or decree absolute; Scotland a divorce certificate or “extract”; Northern Ireland a decree absolute or final conditional order.
• You cannot get a CNI while you are still in a civil partnership. Convert a UK same-sex civil partnership into a marriage, or end it, first.

Yes, if it was lawful in Greece and would be allowed under UK law, GOV.UK says. The marriage is registered in Greece, not in the UK: no UK register office or British embassy will register it or issue a UK certificate, so keep the local certificate safe. GOV.UK suggests a translation if you will use it outside Greece. If you want a UK marriage certificate, you can have the legal ceremony in the UK and a commitment ceremony abroad.

Taking your spouse’s surname afterwards? Ask each UK organisation what evidence it accepts for a marriage abroad; our guide to changing your name after an overseas marriage explains what to check.

Planning elsewhere? See our guides for Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Malta, or the freedom to marry declaration overview.