Getting Married in Malta: Documents British Couples Need

Because UK law does not allow one. Article 14 of the Consular Marriages and Marriages under Foreign Law (No. 2) Order 2014 lets a register office in England and Wales issue a certificate of no impediment only for a country that is not in Schedule 3 to the British Nationality Act 1981, and Malta is on that list of Commonwealth countries. The FCDO’s information note confirms that no CNI can be issued for a marriage in a Commonwealth country.

The UK has no central register of marital status either, the FCDO notes, so no UK office issues the kind of “free status certificate” Malta asks other nationalities for. Malta’s registry deals with that case directly: where a country does not issue one, it asks for an affidavit by a third party. We checked Malta’s requirements on 24 September 2026.

Two forms signed by both of you, your birth certificates and identity documents, and proof of free status, which for most UK residents means a third-party affidavit. The registry’s requirements for couples living abroad set it out:

The registry calls these lists indicative and keeps the original documents. Couples living abroad are asked to email the Marriage Registry Section (pubreg.marriage.identita@gov.mt) for guidance on forms RZ1 and RZ2 and to confirm what they need.

Applicants living in Scotland, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Wight or the Isle of Man, according to the registry’s requirements for couples living abroad. It does not say what those applicants should send if a CNI cannot be issued for Malta, so ask the Marriage Registry before you book.

• Isle of Wight. The island is in England. Article 14 of the 2014 Order lets a register office in England and Wales issue a certificate of no impediment only for a country not listed in Schedule 3 to the British Nationality Act 1981, and Malta is listed, so your register office cannot issue one for Malta. Email the Marriage Registry, say where you live, and ask what it will accept instead.
• Scotland. mygov.scot says a Scottish registrar can issue a certificate of no impediment for a marriage in England, Wales or Northern Ireland; its guidance on marrying outside the UK does not mention one. The FCDO’s note says the 2014 Order, under which no certificate of no impediment is issued for a Commonwealth country such as Malta, applies to local register offices in the UK. Ask your registrar what it can issue for a marriage in Malta, and tell the Marriage Registry what you can get.
• Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Ask your island’s registrar what it can issue for Malta, and confirm with the Marriage Registry that it will accept it.

Anyone over 18 who knows you well, usually a family member, the registry says. The affidavit should confirm that you have never married, or have not remarried since your spouse died, since your divorce or since an annulment.

The registry wants original documents and says certificates must come from a competent authority. Its document policy also requires public documents from outside the EU to be apostilled or legalised. Ask the registry how the affidavit should be sworn and certified in the UK before anyone signs it.

Our single status PDF is written in your own voice (“I am single…”), so it is not a third-party affidavit. If the registry confirms that a UK statutory declaration made by the third party is acceptable, that person would make it before a solicitor, notary or commissioner for oaths, or in Scotland before a notary public or Justice of the Peace.

Between three months and six weeks before the wedding. The registry accepts documents no earlier than three months and no later than six weeks before the date, and rejects late applications. You can marry once six weeks have passed since you submitted them.

• Forms RZ1 and RZ2, free status certificates, CNIs and third-party affidavits are valid for three months from the date they are endorsed or issued, and must still be valid on the wedding day.
• A paper apostille can take up to 25 working days, so build that into the time between signing and posting.
• The registry suggests emailing about four months before the wedding.
• Arrive one to two working days early to meet the registrar with your original passports.

Religious marriages cost €51.30 in a Catholic church when either or both of you live abroad, and €102.60 for other denominations. On the UK side, a solicitor in England and Wales may charge £5 per person to witness a declaration, plus £2 per exhibit; notaries set their own fees; and each FCDO apostille is £45 (paper) or £35 (e-Apostille, where eligible).

• You must both be 18 or over; nobody under 18 can marry in Malta.
• A civil ceremony is held in Maltese or English only; an interpreter may translate.
• Weekday civil marriages take place between 14:15 and 19:00, and weekend and public-holiday ones between 09:00 and 19:00. There are none on Good Friday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
• Each of you needs at least one witness, and at most two, aged 18 or over.
• Separation does not end a marriage: only annulment, divorce or death does.
• If either of you holds, or is entitled to, another nationality, the registry says your capacity to marry must be established for both nationalities. Ask it what it wants from the other country.

For some documents. Malta’s policy on foreign public documents says public documents issued outside the EU must be apostilled or fully legalised, and its marriage pages ask for birth certificates to be apostilled unless they come from an EU country. Ask the Marriage Registry which of your other documents, such as the third-party affidavit and form RZ2, 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.

Possibly what your registrar can issue, and also where you find a witness and what your divorce paperwork is called. The FCDO says the 2014 Order does not allow a certificate of no impediment for a marriage in a Commonwealth country such as Malta, and that the Order applies to British High Commissions and local register offices in the UK. Its register-office route, in article 14, is for residents of England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own marriage law: mygov.scot says a Scottish registrar can issue a certificate of no impediment for a marriage elsewhere in the UK, but for a marriage outside the UK it says only to follow that country’s rules, and nidirect says Northern Ireland residents who need a document showing they are free to marry apply on form GRO 446. Ask your registrar what it can issue for Malta before you order anything else. The other differences are:

• Finding a solicitor or notary. GOV.UK’s legalisation guide points to the Faculty Office and the Law Society for England and Wales, the Law Society of Scotland, and the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
• Proof a marriage ended. England and Wales issue a final order or decree absolute. In Scotland you get a divorce certificate or “extract”, and in Northern Ireland a decree absolute or final conditional order.

Malta’s registry asks applicants living in Scotland for a certificate of no impediment, as it does for applicants on the Isle of Wight, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man; see “Who does Malta ask for a certificate of no impediment?” above. It lists no separate rule for Northern Ireland.

Yes, if it was lawful in Malta and would be allowed under UK law, GOV.UK says. The marriage is registered in Malta, 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 Malta. If you want a UK marriage certificate, you can have the legal ceremony in the UK and a commitment ceremony abroad.

Malta’s Public Registry issues marriage certificates with a multilingual standard form in all official EU languages, and you can order copies online.

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, Greece, Spain, Italy, or the freedom to marry declaration overview.