How to Obtain Your Extended and/or Apostilled Marriage Certificate
If you’re reading this, you’re likely an international couple deciding to get married in the states and want to make sure your marriage paperwork is legally binding in your country. Depending on where you are geographically, you might hear that you need either an extended marriage certificate or an ‘apostilled’ marriage certificate to get everything in order. These two terms are used interchangeably in New York City but they are very different so read on for clarity.
What is an extended marriage certificate?
Basically, the extended certificate includes more information; from your parents’ names and countries of birth to your officiant’s name and title. It’s typically used in foreign jurisdictions for adoption, passport, and dual citizenship applications among other kinds of adulting.
So then what does apostille mean?
Apostille is a French word meaning certification. Essentially, it’s the completion of city, state, and federal seals on the certificate ensuring that it will be recognized as valid in your country. Under the Hague Convention, signatory countries have agreed to recognize public documents issued by other signatory countries if those public documents are authenticated by the attachment of an internationally recognized form of authentication known as an Apostille. All that means is that you’ll need “Seals of Approval” from our government to affirm that your marriage is LEGIT.
How do you get this extended/apostilled marriage certificate IN PERSON?
You can either go in person or request it by mail. If it’s time sensitive, we strongly recommend going in person within five days of your ceremony. It’ll take all of one day, some walking around, and lots of waiting. See below for the steps, which are specific to the Manhattan Marriage Bureau:
1. If you decide to submit your marriage license to the City Clerk yourself, let us know. You’ll need to make an appointment through Project Cupid and choose ‘Records Room (in-person)’ either the same day of your wedding or within 5 business days. Once you arrive, the City Clerk will automatically print the standard aka “short form” marriage certificate. You’ll need to request at least one copy of the “EXTENDED FORM” but you can get multiple and pay the necessary fees ($35 for first copy/$30 for additional copies). send you off to complete steps two and three.
2. Bring your “extended form” marriage certificate (which has the first signature and seal to the County Clerk’s Office) to 60 Centre Street, Room 141-B to authenticate the City Clerk’s hand signature. The fee is $3 payable by money order, credit, or debit card.
3. Bring the “extended form” marriage certificate with the authentication to the New York Department of State for the authentication of the County Clerk’s signature and the attachment of an “Apostille”. The Department of State is located at 123 William Street, 2nd Floor and the fee is $10, payable by check or money order ONLY.
**The state department is currently closed to in-person appts. Review instructions for in-person priority here. Otherwise, complete the final step via snail mail. **
How do you get this extended/apostilled marriage certificate VIA MAIL?
If there are no time constraints and you’ve decided that you’ll complete this process well after your NYC adventure, you’ll need to do the above process via mail. This will take an estimated 3 months. It’s called SNAIL MAIL for a reason, folks!
1. Mail your original “short form” marriage certificate in a pre-paid self-addressed envelope along with this form request and payment to:
ATTN: Record Room
City Clerk of New York
141 Worth Street
New York, NY 10013
Make sure to follow the instructions on the second page of the request form. You’ll need to request at least one copy of the “EXTENDED FORM” but you can get multiple and pay the necessary fees ($35 for first copy/$30 for additional copies).
TIP: Include tracking for peace of mind.
2. Once you receive the “extended form” marriage certificate, you’re going to have to send it with a $3 money order payable to the following NY County Clerk address:
New York County Clerk
60 Centre Street, Room 161
New York, NY 10007
They will then take 2-5 weeks to mail it back to you. TIP: Include tracking for peace of mind.
3. Once you receive the certified authorization of your marriage certificate, you will need to complete the Apostille Request form and attach the marriage certificate that the NY County Clerk returned to you. Include a pre-paid self-addressed envelope along with payment of $10 per document via credit card, check, or money order. You only need one document, but if you want extras for some reason, knock yourself out!
4. Mail the completed Apostille Request form, certified marriage certificate, a pre-paid self-addressed envelope, and payment to the following address:
New York Department of State
Division of Licensing Services
Apostille and Authentication Unit
P.O. Box 22001
Albany, NY 12201-2001
You’ll likely receive your extended aka apostilled marriage certificate within another 4-6 weeks.
Phew!!! Hope you found this apostille aka extended marriage certificate process informative and helpful. Happy Marriage, loves!
Before you get married in the states, find out from your employer, insurance company, and/or governing authorities to figure out what you legally need to make your NYC wedding too legit to quit. ;)