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Challenges of Egyptian American Marriage
When I first thought about writing this article, I decided to help those Egyptians who plan to marry or got married already with Non-Egyptians in Egypt, specially Americans, and go through headaches suffering from being lost in the circle of papers and applications.
Also What makes me wrote this article is that I didn’t find similar articles talking about same subject and provide trusted information online, and when ever you search or ask someone for help you find nothing make you rest your soul and mind.
What I am sure about Foreigners Marriage is it’s not easy to do it, specially after the political situations in the Middle East. The first step by logic is to visit the marriage office at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, and there you will discover that the marriage office can’t help you to get married from American citizen unless you have an approve of the marriage from U.S. Embassy at Egypt, and also another resident type different from the tourist resident on the passport. and you will be shocked if you visit the US Embassy and listen to what they say, they will tell you that the U.S. government does not have legal authority to approve or object to the marriage of American citizens, and you can read about this at the U.S. Embassy website by the title ” Marriage In Egypt “, so.. now I think you understand what I mean!.. and its not logic at all that they as you at the marriage Office for a different type of resident on your partner passport, because simply how you can get it? You will find yourself in the middle of the gap between the U.S. Embassy and the marriage office at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice.
The way out of this
There is two ways out of this situation, the 1st is to hire a lawyer to deal with this problem at the Family Court and help your self to get marriage papers. And this will take like 3 menthes minimum and the cost will depend on how much your lawyer ask and can get from your pocket. Some of lawyers will ask from 2.000 up to 8.000 Egyptian pounds, and if you have a friend who is working as a lawyer it will be the best choice, because he can save lots of money from yours, and it will cost you around 350 Egyptian pounds only.
The 2nd way is to do it your self, simply by going to the Family Court in your area, and apply for marriage by providing 2 papers only, one of it is a valid marriage paper called ” Zawag Orfy ” paper. And it should has both photos and finger prints of the married couple, and signed by two witnesses. And the other paper is the request to the court, and this request called ” action approval of marriage relation ship ” and it can be provided by any of the partners, but for sure it would be better if the Egyptian partner apply it, because its much easier than involved in English applications and need to translate them in Arabic and getting approvals before providing them to the court, and definitely you will need a lawyer to help you with that. So try to keep a way from this headache.
Anyways.. You will find thousands of people who can help you to write down these two papers and print them if you don’t have a small printer attached to your computer to print them out, but remember to make some copies just in case you need them. After you Apply At the Family court, and after you file your they will give you a date to stand before the court, probably will be in the same month or next month, depending on the court roll, both partners should be there at that date in front of the Judge, this will help lost to make the case take a faster action, and the non-Egyptian partner will sign the papers in front of the judge. The judge will ask your partner a few smile questions about if he/she knew why he/she is here in the court, and if he/she did that by self motivation and not forced. And the person should say the truth and just answer the questions directly. Its not a big deal at all, its only a way to make the judge sure that everything is fine, and after that the judge will give you another date for judgment.
I extremely advice that you be ready with your translator too, just in case the judge doesn’t speak English, because most of judges in Egypt really don’t know anything about English, but of course not all of them.
The judgment date Notice that this date that judge gave to you in almost all cases will not be the date that the judge will sign your marriage papers, its not a must, because almost all cases are delayed for judgment in another date after the first date, it should be in the same or the next month, and you don’t have to show up at the court again because you applied and your partner signed, so.. it’s the judge turn to sign.
I am sure if you do it by your self, you will not spend more than 100 Egyptian pounds, and that means, it will take around 3 monthes to get your marriage papers in your hands, and your wide smile back again!
Plz, feel free to comment me about any other information you need to know. Or submit your experiences to share it with others who need help.
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55 Responses to “Challenges of Egyptian American Marriage”
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Thank you so much , You gave out so useful plenty information , I am so thankful to you .
[Reply to this Comment]
Yes, I must thank you so much for giving us a Ray of light..but dear sir..there are lots of questions that I need to ask you as i am going through this problem right now.. so do you mind contacting me via email? I would be grateful if you did..and again sir incase you were unable to contact me, then all I have to say is again thank you so much for the ray of light that you have given us both..
[Reply to this Comment]
To Mohamed Shawky : Thank you for your comment, this is why we have Blogs, just to help each other.
To Noha : I already send you my email, so you can email me when ever you want. And thank you for commenting.
To everybody : I will be happy to help in any possible way.
Good luck to all of you.
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I would like your email address because I have some questions about the court.
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Hisham,
Thank you very much for the information. I have other concerns that I would like to discuss with you. It does still entail marriage to an Egyptian man but I would like to know if there is something I can do here in America before coming to Egypt to marry that would help. I did not find your e-mail to send my request to you except by this blog. I would rather not post all my questions here. I am not sure how you would contact me except here as it does not publish my e-mail and for that I am thankful. I prefer my privacy also. I read that it is possible to overcome the paper from the embassy by getting copies notarized and translated here before coming to Egypt. It said I could get all my original documents copied, notarized and witnessed with the notary here and have them translated at an Egyptian Embassy here also. Is this valid with the Ministry of Justice for marriage, or will I still need to fight with the circle of confusion if I do this here first?
[Reply to this Comment]
Amy: you got an email from me.
Mary : you welcome at any time, I emailed you already with what I think. good luck.
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I am so glad I found your site and it offered so much help, but I have more questions if you don’t mind? First, I wonder as well is there anything I can do here in America to help this process before I come to Egypt? Also, is there a website to go to print these papers we need online? Final question.. I know i’m only allowed to stay 30 days in Egypt. I read where you can renew visa 3 times, but can’t find out where I would do this at. Would that make it a total of 4 months if I can renew Visa that i can stay? If not, how do I stay in Egypt n try to get this process took care of through the courts? It will be very costly to fly back and forth to USA. I would appreciate any advice n help you can give me as i’m at my wits end searching for information. :) Thank you so much for your advice.
Lisa
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Lisa :
- There is nothing you can do in America to before you come to Egypt.
- There is no such website that you can print papers you need; you have to make it your self or by lawyer help.
- You are allowed to stay in Egypt 30 days, but you can have permission for 6 months more by visiting Emigration Office in Cairo. this is enough time to get marry and have your marriage papers ready, and then you can visit the same Emigration Office in Cairo and show hem your marriage paper, they will give you 1 year permission or maybe more as you pay the yearly fees.
Good luck
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thank you.. i hope this will work easily.
please email me as you have with the others. i am sure i have the same questions.
thank you..i think i see light at end of the tunnel!
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Hi im fixin to go trought that things soon to i have some questions i realy would be happy if you would send me e-mail im sure u can help me.
You really helped me with ur blog.
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ellen & Sam : I have sent you my email address.
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Best thing is apply for fiance visa in USA, then bring your fiance to USA and marry legally in USA…
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Thanks so much i have heard nearly that if the american spouse converted to muslim she/he can get married simply and doesnt require affidavit from the US embassy tell me plez is that true or its just a gossip
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Franz : maybe you are right, but its not that simple.
Mohamed : If American suppose turned to be a Muslim it would make it easier, but you still have to go through all fight issues. Good luck.
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Dear brother ,
I would like to have your email address because I have some questions about the procedures needed to be accomplished after the court .
Thank you
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Ok Emad, You got my email now.
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Please could you send your email address to me again.. i never got it. i think my spam filter ate it! Sorry for you to do it twice!
THANK YOU in advance.
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To Ellen :Its ok, I send it again.
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I guess the problem is solved now… if you went to the US embassy’s website you’d find out that they Removed that statement that they had on their website declaring that the it’s not possible for them to issue that marriage affidavit that is required to complete marriage procedures at the ministry of justice and now you can find the marriage procedures in detail on the US embassy site… and this tells me that NOW the ministry of Justice accepts the notarized marriage affidavit that the embassy issues! can anyone confirm that? I don’t call embassies ’cause people there are MEAN.
the link of the marriage steps page: http://egypt.usembassy.gov/consular/acs12.htm
[Reply to this Comment]
Sam : Thank you so much for this information, I realy didn’t open the embassy website since long time back, thanks to you ..now I knew and everybody comes to this page will know wbaout this, but I am not quite sure of anything yet..
I would ask my readers to plz confirm!
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CAN U PLS SEND ME UR E-MAIL COZ I HAVE ALOT OF QUESTIONS AND NEED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS MARRIAGE I WILL WAIT UR REPLY AND THANK YOU AGAIN
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Amr : you got it.
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HI REALLLY THANK U SO MUCH ABOUT THIS INFORMATION IAM IN SAME SITUATION I HAVE MY FIANCE SHE IS AMERICAN CITIZEN AND SHE STAY NOW WITH ME IN MY HOME AND I GOT UR INFORMATION AND THANK U SO MUCCH BUT I NEED TO ASK U MORE THINGS CAN U SEND ME UR EMAIL MINE IS BRYAN_ADAMS_151@YAHOO.COM IAM FROM AGMI ALEXANDRIA PLS HELP ME COZ WE TRIEDD TO MARRY IN 2006 BUT TILL NOW WE STILL FIANCE PLS HELP REALLY I NeED UR HELP ………thanks so much
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Islam : I sent you my email.
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A lawyer who is specialized in Egyptian-foreigners marriages told me that they issue the marriage affidavit in the US. embassy NOW! please confirm!
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I wrote an article about this issue from about 2 weeks, someone told me that the problem is solved with the embassy, and the published some steps on the embassy website to follow, I put a link to this article in the article you was reading, but maybe you didn’t notice that.
Anyways, here is the link, its under the title:
Marriage in Egypt: American Embassy Problem Solved
URL: http://lifethinking.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/marriage-in-egypt-american-embassy-problem-solved/
Good luck,
[Reply to this Comment]
OFFICIALLY, the problem had been solved :) I’ve went to the Civil marriage registration office in the Ministry of Justice and I asked them whether or not the problem still persists and they’ve told me that the US embassy now issues the Marriage affidavits for Americans who want to marry to Egyptians! A-W-E-S-O-M-E
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hello your information so far sounds great. I would like to ask you some more questions sir if you would email me so that I could get your email I would greatly appreciate it..
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Sam : Thank you.
Tina : You got my email.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to provide this information. I would like to speak with you some more about this topic if you could email me. Thanks again.
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Alycia : I have send you my email.
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thank you very much for your great help but is there any way can i get married to my American fiance in a one month only here in Egypt?
and can we get married at the traditional marriage procedures of Egyptian marriage?
and thank you again for your help
[Reply to this Comment]
Mohamed: during the website of American Embassy in Cairo, this could be possible to marry in one month. But don’t forget that you need to translate it to English and this will take more than 1 week.
plz read the article on this URL : http://lifethinking.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/marriage-in-egypt-american-embassy-problem-solved/
If you are going through this plz confirm us about what happened with you.
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Hi there, i am going to egypt to marry my muslim fiance, i am christian. I am from canada. What documents do i need to take with me? what is the process in order to obtain a marriage license and getting married?
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Denise : I Think it’s the same requirements for every foreigner,
you will need your birth certificate, passport with another visa not tourist Visa ( witch they say: you can get it from Immigration Department – and I don’t know how! ) and also if you were married before you should bring your final Divorce certificate.. you will need the approval from your Embassy in Cairo witch is easy for you to get.
This is what I know.. but you should check information on your Canadian Embassy website in Cairo, here it’s:
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cairo/consul2-en.asp#freetomarry
Good luck.
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Dear Hisham,
I am Australian and read your article with interest. I am coming to Egypt to marry my Egyptian Fiancee. I asked my embassy for a “Certificate of No Impediment” but they will not give their approval for me to marry. I am single but my fiancee is already married and under Australian Law it isn’t possible to have more than one wife. This seems unfair as I know under Egyptian Law he can have up to 4 wives and we will be living in Egypt after all. Neither of us wants to live in Australia so we don’t need to register the marriage with the Australian Embassy. I can get a certificate to show I am single from the Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Do you know if this is enough? Do I have to get approval from my embassy if I can prove I am single?
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@Sarah
Thank you for commenting, I suggest you call the Australian Embassy in Egypt , actually I can not say yes or no, because I don’t have enough experience with the Australian Embassy in Egypt, but I am sure that you have to provide the marriage office in Egypt with the Embassy Approval “Letter”, I suggest you come to Egypt, and ask the Embassy here for the approval, if not then you will have to go by family court if there is no other way. There is always a salvation and a way to do things in Egypt!
I have just checked the website, and it seem that there is no information about marriage issue published on the website.
This is the contact information for the Australian Embassy in Cairo, give them a call or email them:
http://www.dfat.gov.au/missions/countries/eg.html
Good luck!
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i am in a big trouble coz i have been married for 1.5 year to an american citizen and i am an egyptian muslim physician wearing hijab and till now i did not receive my visa .. you know i feel i will go to lose my marriage coz of that big distance between us
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the american ebassy in egypt has received my packet but it failed to be delivered coz my address as they told me was unreachable by DHL???!!!!!!??? everytime i email them and says the same comment we will send by DHL after giving them my detailed address .. anyway till now i did not receive the packet to get my visa to travel to my soulmate who i really miss him
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@Mona
If this address you have now is giving you problem, plz try to change it next time, I think you better use your work address. Good luck
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hi hisham
how are you?
i’m farouk egyptian single male
i meet with my american fiance 1 year ago
she visited only once, at last march we had alot of emails, letters, chat converstaions, …etc…
she applied for k1 visa “fiance visa” and our document was accepted at uscis
the problem is timing
her lawyer who do all the stuff about this visa said it will takes between 3-6 months
but offcial we site of uscis said it will takes between 12-15 months and now they work on cases delivered at 17.january.2008
we applied at jun
i’m so confused about how long it really takes
cause my life is pending right now
hop u can help by any information
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@Farouk
Hello Farouk, everything is getting more harder these days, and this is why I think you have to wait until the Embassy send to you my friend! I am really sorry that I can not give you any more information about this issue. Good luck!
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u r right man it’s working now as i saw 2 ppl (4 pax:)) did it last march and july,good luck
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That’s great.. Thanks!
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Hisham, concgradulations on your blog. I feal much better now because I can see that there are a lot of people in my situation, and all this thanks to you! Actually I am Greek and i want to marry an Egyptian man. I have alredy spoken with the Greek Consult in Cairo i don’t think i will have the above mentioned problems with the papers for the marriage, actually i hope I don’t! What i would like to know is the procedure and what does a marriege between a Muslim man mean for a Christian Greek woman. What are the laws? Can you give me some information about this? If you can, please e-mail me.
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@ Elen, thanks for your comment.. you got an email from me.
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i really need help, im an U.S. born citizen with Iranian background!!! me and my boyfriend whom is Egyptian want to get married in U.A.E. how does this work ?! IM SO CONFUSED, i hear that since my dad is Iranian my husband to be, will get in trouble in Egypt!!! but im U.S born citizen and his marrying me not my DAD? can you plz help ..?
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@ sadaf – unfortunately I am not familiar with the law at UAE, but my knowledge telling me that you can marry everywhere in this world, and there is no problem will happen for you or for your husband, I mean what’s wrong with the marriage from Iranian?
Don’t be confused about what you are going to do specially if you love that person, so you better think positive and try to forget about silly ideas.
Good luck!
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thank you for this article,i have many friend who married with foreigner too
they have many problem also about their document .
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hi hisham,
i will travel in march to visit my bethrothed and we will begin plans for our marriage. i am an american woman and we hope for him to one day obtain a greencard to enable us both to travel more freely. can you advise if it would be better to marry in the us or egypt?
thanks!
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