Registration of a foreign marriage and divorce in the Slovak registry

We are happy to assist you with the recognition of a marriage and divorce registered in England.

A marriage in England is recognized through the Special Registry Office. In the case of divorce proceedings, it is important to know when the divorce decree was issued and when the proceedings were initiated.

Here are the answers to your questions:

1) What documents need to be submitted for the registration of an English marriage and subsequent divorce in the Slovak registry?

For the registration of a marriage at the Special Registry Office, the following documents are required: a completed form – registration of marriage, identity documents of both spouses, agreement on a common surname and the surname of common children (with officially certified signatures), if one of the spouses was previously married: divorce decree / death certificate, if desired, a request for registration of the wife’s surname without the Slovak feminine suffix “-ová” (with an officially certified signature).

For the registration of the divorce, the following documents are required: application, divorce decree with a clause of finality, identity documents, a copy of the marriage certificate.

All foreign documents must be officially verified – apostilled – and officially translated.

According to the information provided by the Special Registry Office, for the registration of an English divorce, it is necessary to send the apostilled original divorce decree to the Special Registry Office.

If you are submitting a certified copy, make sure the apostille is not placed on the notary’s signature but on the judge’s signature or the court stamp. Otherwise, the Special Registry Office will return the submission.

2) How must the documents be translated into Slovak?

The documents must be translated by a sworn translator listed in the Register of Translators of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic.

3) Administrative fees?

The fee for registering a marriage is €15, and the fee for registering a divorce and issuing a marriage certificate with a divorce annotation is €7.

4) Is a personal appointment at the consulate necessary, or is it possible to submit the application by mail/online?

The marriage registration must be submitted in person at the embassy or registry office, as it must be signed in front of an official. The application for the registration of a divorce can be sent by post together with the attachments to the address of the Special Registry Office.

5) How long does the process of registering a marriage and divorce take?

The legal time limit is 90 days from the delivery of the application to the Special Registry Office; however, applications are typically processed in about 1.5 months.

6) Is there a way to expedite this process, and if so, what are the conditions for faster processing? (Note: I do not have permanent residence in Slovakia)

There are no general legal options for expedited processing. However, submitting the application at the registry office in the place of your last residence in Slovakia is faster compared to submission at the embassy, as embassies require more time to deliver the documents to the Special Registry Office. The legal time limit begins from the date of delivery to the registry office.

If you are interested in our services, please do not hesitate to contact us at recepcia@akmv.sk or by phone at +421 915 046 749.

If you used your husband’s surname in England (e.g. on your driver’s license, etc.), then you were officially registered under his surname, which is why the English court also states your married name in the divorce decree. The Slovak Special Registry Office will take into account the fact that you used your husband’s surname in England — especially because this surname is stated in the divorce documents. The Special Registry Office will also record this name in the marriage certificate. /Source: min.sk/

Answers to Your Questions:

Required documents

(this is a general list and may vary depending on the specifics of the case):

All foreign documents must be apostilled. All foreign documents must be officially translated into Slovak by a translator listed in the Register of Translators of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic.

Fees

The application for marriage registration must be submitted in person.
We will send you a price offer for our services by email.

Processing times:

If you are interested, we can also arrange official translations and apostilles for you.

Since Slovakia joined the European Union, a divorce issued in an EU member state is recognized in Slovakia, provided the judgment is final and officially translated. The only exception among the member states is Denmark, whose divorce judgments must be recognized by the Regional Court in Bratislava.

Hello,

According to the position of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, Department of Registries (which also manages the Special Registry), which was provided to us, option c) is selected during the registration — in this case, the feminine form will be Novák-Lars-Horák. The foreign spouse’s surname is not altered in any way.

If your husband has the surname Novák-Lars recorded in his passport, you may also take his surname in that exact form. If you wish to keep your current surname Horák, it should, after marriage, appear as either Novák-Lars Horák or Horák Novák-Lars.

A marriage concluded abroad must be registered with the Special Registry Office, which is managed by the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic.

If you need assistance, feel free to contact us at office@akmv.sk or by phone at +421 915 046 749.

Submitting the application

In the case of recognizing a marriage with a foreign national, you must submit an application for the registration of the marriage in the Special Registry Office. If you have permanent residence in Slovakia, you submit the application at the relevant registry office, i.e., the one with jurisdiction over your place of permanent residence.

Section 23(1) of the Act on Registries: “Birth, marriage, and death of citizens of the Slovak Republic that occurred in:

are recorded in the Special Registry Office.”

Section 23(2) “The registration under paragraph 1 shall be carried out on the basis of a written application; the application must be accompanied by documents under paragraph 4, necessary for registration in the Special Registry.”

Section 23(3) “The application under paragraph 2 shall be submitted at:

Attachments to the application for recognition of a marriage concluded abroad

Marriage certificate

The original or a notarized copy must be submitted, bound together with its official translation into Slovak (the translation must be done by a translator registered in the List of Experts, Interpreters, and Translators maintained by the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic).As a foreign public document, the marriage certificate must have higher authentication for it to be recognized by Slovak government and municipal authorities — this means superlegalization or apostille. (In this case, superlegalization is required, since Nigeria is not a party to the Hague Convention.) Procedure for superlegalization of a Nigerian marriage certificate: “If the country issuing the document is not a member of the Hague Convention, the document must first be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the issuing country (Nigeria), and then superlegalized by the Slovak diplomatic mission (embassy) operating in that country, or by another embassy accredited for Nigeria.”

Time Limit: no later than three months from the date the application is delivered.

Hello,

It is indeed possible to send a marriage registration application for a Slovak citizen living abroad electronically to the relevant Slovak diplomatic mission via the e-service “Submitting applications for registration of civil status events abroad – registration of marriage,” accessible through the slovensko.sk portal. However, it should be mentioned that the applicant still needs to book an in-person appointment to complete the application process at the diplomatic (consular) office. Alternatively, the application can be submitted in person by an authorized representative, who must present a written power of attorney when submitting the application.

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

In the case of a marriage concluded abroad and if you wish to obtain a Slovak marriage certificate, the law does not set any deadline by which you must report this marriage to the registry office. The law also does not specify any time limit for requesting the registration of the marriage in the special registry.

The application for registering a marriage concluded abroad can be submitted at:

For more information, including procedure, required documents, fees, and other relevant details, please refer to our article.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us via email at recepcia@akmv.sk or by phone at +421 915 046 749.