Certificate of No Impediment (Capacity to Marry) Translation for the Netherlands

The equivalent of the ongehuwdverklaring, and the gemeente

Marriages in the Netherlands are conducted before the gemeente, and the municipality expects a foreign national who is to marry to prove both marital status and capacity to marry; the Dutch counterparts are the declaration of not being married (ongehuwdverklaring) and the certificate of capacity to marry (verklaring van huwelijksbevoegdheid). The certificate of capacity to marry issued by the Turkish civil registry offices is submitted to meet that requirement; in translation, however, the Turkish document is not equated with a Dutch one, and the issuing authority (the civil registry office) and the identity of the document are carried across in their original form. It is from this translation that the gemeente reads who issued the certificate and on what date, and what the person’s marital status is.

Marital status can change, so the gemeente usually looks for a recently dated certificate; a copy obtained months earlier may not show where the person stands today, and a fresh one can be asked for. That is why the certificate and its translation are prepared close to the date of the marriage procedure, and why the interval between the translation and the apostille is kept in view.

The multilingual CIEC form and consistency of names

Türkiye is a party to the conventions of the International Commission on Civil Status (CIEC), which means the certificate of capacity to marry can be issued in a multilingual form displaying the standard fields in several languages; municipalities that accept it can work from that form without calling for a separate translation. Not every gemeente handles it in the same way, however, and some still want a translation of the monolingual copy. The safest step is to ask the gemeente you are applying to, in advance, whether the multilingual form is accepted. If it is not, the monolingual certificate is translated.

The certificate does not stand alone in a marriage file; it is read together with the passport, the birth certificate and, where needed, the civil registry extract. The given name, surname and birth details are expected to be identical across them, since a difference in the Latin-script spelling leads the gemeente to ask whether the two documents belong to the same person. A surname change following an earlier marriage is carried across exactly as it appears on the certificate.

In the Netherlands a marriage is usually preceded by a notification step (melding voorgenomen huwelijk, formerly known as ondertrouw), and the gemeente examines the documents submitted at that point; the step itself is no concern of the translation, but it shows that the file moves in a set order and to a set timetable. Preparing the certificate and its translation with a current date, in time for that notification, is important for precisely this reason. Where the marriage is also bound up with a residence or family reunification procedure, it should be borne in mind that the process before the IND may call for a separate set of documents; keeping the marriage file and the immigration file apart makes clear which document is to be translated consistently for which authority. Knowing from the start whether the gemeente or the IND is on the receiving end, together with a current certificate and a spelling of the name that matches the passport, is what allows the application to proceed without running into unexpected requests for documents. Where a surname has changed as a result of an earlier marriage, it is carried across as it appears on the certificate; and if the surname on the certificate differs from the one in the passport, the reason for the difference must be readable from the translation.

• Do not equate the Turkish certificate with an ongehuwdverklaring; carry the name of the issuing authority across in its original form.
• Ask the gemeente whether the multilingual form is accepted.
• Keep the spelling of the name identical to the passport and the birth certificate.

Certification: the apostille and Rbtv registration

As the certificate of capacity to marry originates with the civil registry, the apostille is obtained from the governor’s office or the district governor’s office; the courthouse is not the place to seek it. In the Netherlands the translator producing an official translation is expected to be entered in the register of sworn translators (Rbtv), and the registration number appears on the declaration page. The Turkish chain of sworn translator, notarisation and apostille is an option as well. The safest sequence is to obtain a current copy, complete the apostille and then translate the document with the apostille included. The Netherlands is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so confirm the current position from the official HCCH list. You can handle your marriage file through our single office in Ankara Kızılay, see the cost on our pricing page and request a quotation by uploading your document. This page is for general information; confirm the form and certification required with the gemeente you will apply to.