Married Abroad: Is Your Marriage Valid in Germany?

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Is a marriage abroad valid in Germany?

Yes, if it passes two tests. A Danish wedding always passes the first. The second is about the two of you.

1. The ceremony. It only has to follow the rules of the country where you married — who performs it, whether witnesses are there, which certificate you get.¹ A civil wedding at a Danish town hall meets Danish rules. So for a Danish wedding, the ceremony is never the problem.

2. Were you both free to marry? This is checked for each of you separately, under the law of the country whose citizen you are.² For a German, that means German law. The questions are age, earlier marriages and close family ties. This is where things can go wrong, because some countries marry couples under their own rules only. If one of you was still married to someone else, the new marriage is not valid in Germany — no matter where the ceremony took place.

Germany adds two rules of its own. If one partner was under 16 on the wedding day, the marriage is void in Germany. If they were 16 or 17, it can be annulled.³ A same-sex marriage is judged by the law of the country that registered it. So a same-sex marriage from Denmark, the Netherlands or Spain counts as a marriage in Germany.⁴

There is no recognition procedure

Germany has no office that “recognizes” foreign marriages and no certificate that confirms it. Each authority — registration office, tax office, immigration office, registry office — decides for itself whenever your marriage matters for its own decision. The Federal Foreign Office says so plainly.⁵ In practice, your foreign marriage certificate is the proof. Sometimes you need a translation or an apostille with it.

After you return: what to change, in order

Which marriage certificate the authorities accept

From an EU country: public documents from one EU country are accepted in another without an apostille.⁶ On request, the issuing office adds a multilingual standard form. It works as a translation aid, so a Danish marriage certificate with the EU form usually needs no translation. Munich’s registration offices, for example, accept an “international” marriage certificate or a certificate with a German translation.

From outside the EU: expect to need an apostille or a legalization by the German embassy, plus a certified German translation. The apostille comes from countries that signed the Hague Apostille Convention; the others need the legalization. Berlin’s registry offices, for example, want translations by a translator sworn in Germany.

Keep several originals or certified copies. The registration office, the tax office and the immigration office may each want to see one.

Updating your marital status at the registration office

When you marry in Germany, the registry office reports the marriage to the registration office automatically. After a wedding abroad, nobody does that for you. Munich and Cologne tell residents they must have their marital status updated. The law itself only says you must cooperate when the office asks.⁷ Either way, the tax office gets your marital status from this register. So the visit is worth making soon after you come back.

Book an appointment at your Bürgeramt. Bring both passports and the marriage certificate — in Munich, an international certificate or the certificate with a German translation. The register then records your marital status, the date of the marriage and, for a marriage abroad, the country.⁷

Tax class after a wedding abroad

After a wedding in Germany, both spouses move to tax class IV automatically. After a wedding abroad, they don’t. The Bavarian tax administration states that the automatic change does not apply to marriages abroad.⁸ Take the marriage certificate to your tax office, or send it with the application via ELSTER.

• IV/IV is the standard for married couples who both live in Germany and don’t live apart for good — even if one of you earns nothing.⁹
• III/V needs an application by both of you.⁹ It suits couples with very different salaries. The partner in class V pays more payroll tax each month.
• IV/IV with factor splits the tax according to each partner’s share of the income.¹⁰
• Timing: a change in your favor applies from the first day of the month of the wedding. A switch you ask for applies from the following month. For the current year, your application must reach the tax office by 30 November.¹¹
• The year of the wedding: you can file a joint tax return for the whole year in which you married, even if the wedding was in December.¹²

A partner who lives outside Germany makes it harder. Classes III and IV need both spouses to be fully taxable in Germany. If you are an EU or EEA citizen and your spouse lives elsewhere in the EU or EEA, you can apply to have your spouse treated as fully taxable here.¹³ For a spouse living outside the EU, ask your tax office.

How the classes compare in euros: tax classes in Germany and the income tax calculator with the married setting.

Residence permit for a partner from outside the EU

The marriage is the basis of the spouse residence permit. But where you apply for it depends on how and where you married. After a wedding in Denmark, this is the point couples most often get wrong.

The general rule: a spouse permit requires entry on the right visa — the national visa for family reunion, applied for at a German embassy. A Schengen visa for a short visit is not that visa.¹⁴ There is an exception: if the right to the permit arose after you entered Germany, you can apply inside Germany.¹⁵

Married in Denmark during a short stay: Germany’s Federal Administrative Court ruled on exactly this case in 2011. A Russian citizen entered on a Schengen visa, married a German on the Danish island of Bornholm and returned to Germany the same day. The court said the right to the permit arises with the wedding, and what counts is the last entry into Germany. The couple had married before that last entry, so the exception did not apply. She had to go through the visa procedure from abroad.¹⁶ Having to live apart while the visa is processed is not, on its own, a reason to skip the procedure, the court added.¹⁶

Married in Germany during a legal short stay: here the right arises after entry. In that case, the same court said, the permit can be applied for in Germany.¹⁶ The other conditions still apply. Most spouses need simple German (level A1) — spouses of Germans too.¹⁷

Be honest about why you travel: in a second judgment, from 2010, the court held that writing “visit” on a Schengen visa application while planning to marry and stay is false information. That rules out applying from inside Germany.¹⁸

The exception by nationality: citizens of Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States can enter Germany without a visa and apply for a residence permit there. They have to apply within 90 days of entry.¹⁹

Spouses of other EU citizens living in Germany follow EU free movement rules instead and get a residence card. A short trip to Denmark to marry does not give the non-EU spouse of a German those EU rights, the court held.¹⁸

Before you book a wedding abroad, ask your local immigration office which route applies to you. The requirements and documents for the permit itself: spouse visa for Germany.

Health insurance after the wedding

If one of you is a member of a public health insurance fund, the other can be insured there free of charge. This is called family insurance. The conditions: your partner lives in Germany, isn’t insured through a job of their own, isn’t mainly self-employed and earns no more than €565 a month. For income from a mini job, the limit is €603 a month.²⁰ Tell the fund about the marriage and send the certificate.

Private health insurance has no family insurance: each spouse needs a policy of their own. The options for couples and children: family health insurance in Germany.

Your surname after a wedding abroad

Since 1 May 2025, your surname follows German law if you live in Germany. A partner with another nationality can choose the law of their home country instead.²¹ Whatever name the foreign marriage certificate shows, a shared married name in German documents exists only once you declare it at a German registry office.

• Where: the registry office that recorded your marriage in Germany. Without a German record, the registry office where you live.²²
• No deadline: you can choose a married name at any time during the marriage. But you can’t undo it.²³
• New since May 2025: a double name made of both surnames can be the married name for both of you, with or without a hyphen.²⁴ Couples who already had a married name before May 2025 may choose again.²¹
• Cost: the declaration must be certified. Fees as of October 2026: €30 in Munich, €25 in Berlin, €21 in Cologne, plus about €12 for a certificate of the new name.
• No obligation: nobody has to change their name after marrying.

The German record of the marriage (Nachbeurkundung)

If at least one of you is German, you can have your marriage abroad entered in the German marriage register.²² Stateless people and recognized refugees who live in Germany can apply too. A couple of two other foreign nationals cannot. Either spouse may apply — the non-German one too.

It is optional, and there is no deadline. What you get: a German marriage certificate that every German authority accepts without translation or apostille, and a fixed record of your names. You apply at the registry office where you live. Germans living abroad apply at the registry office of their last German address, otherwise at Standesamt I in Berlin.²²

Expect to bring the foreign marriage certificate, both birth certificates, passports and proof that any earlier marriage ended. Where needed, add certified translations and apostilles. Berlin’s list is typical.

Joint account and insurance

Neither a joint account nor shared insurance comes with the marriage certificate, but most couples set them up in the first months. A joint account in both names pays the rent and shared bills without transfers back and forth.

bunq Joint Bank Account

Monthly fee

€3.99

ATM fees

Foreign transactions

0%

Flexible app-based banking with multiple subaccounts for shared expenses.

Good for international couples who prefer digital money management.

Many useful features are only included in paid plans.

Apply now

Commerzbank Joint Bank Account

Monthly fee

€4.90

ATM fees

Foreign transactions

0%

Branch bank with in-person support for questions or documents.

Large German banking network with good cash access.

The joint account is more expensive than many online-only banks.

Apply now

More joint accounts and how they compare: joint bank accounts in Germany. One personal liability insurance policy can cover both of you; the plans available in English: liability insurance in Germany.

Part of getting married in Germany. Marrying elsewhere: marrying in Denmark · married in Las Vegas. Next: after-the-wedding checklist.

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