So you want to get married. Not only that, but you want to get married to a foreigner in Norway. Bring on the paperwork and office run-around!

Actually, it is not too bad at all if you know what to do and where to go. But sinse we got some different messages depending on the day we called, it took a little while and effort to figure everything out. And even then it was close to disaster!

We are from two different countries. I am from Norway and Eni is from Brazil. The reason why we wanted to get married in Norway is that there is less paperwork involved here than in Brazil. At least it seems so. As a service for anyone that might be in the same situation as us, here is the correct procedure!

First of all, Eni had to get two papers. She has been married before, so she had to get the divorce papers. And another paper that certify she is single. If she had not been married before, she would need to get a birth certificate.

Both of these documents need to be stamped by the foreign ministry in Brazil since Brazil is not a member of the Haag convention. In Norway this is called an "apostille stempel". It looks like a sticker that is put on the paper and stamped and signed. We did not know about this one until Eni arrived in Norway and it almost stopped the whole wedding. We would have to send the papers back to Brazil and they would have to send them back to Norway after processing. This whole procedure would have taken months! But we managed to get a signed statement by the office that made the papers and on the basis of this, the Brazilian ambassador in Norway signed and stamped the documents.

The next thing to do is to get the divorce papers ratified by the Norwegian government at an office called "Fylkesmannen". This can take up to 4 weeks and is good to do as early as possible. The Brazilian papers has to be translated into Norwegian and you need to submit a copy of both the original and the translation together with the form that has to be filled out. You can find the form here. The rest of the forms needed can be found here.

There is one more thing to think about if the Brazilian person has been married before. The division of the money and belongings. If the divorce took place more than two years ago, you only need to fill out a short form with no need for extra signatures. But if it is less than two years ago, you might need the signature of the former spouse.

You now have two Brazilian papers with translation in Norwegian, one paper that ratify the divorce and one paper that declare that all belongings has been divided. In addition you need the following papers:

Q-0150 - Declaration from bride and groom - Both has to fill out their own and sign it.
Q-0151 - Sponsorform - Brides maid and Best man - Both has to fill out this form and sign it.

The Brazilian person need to bring the passport that shows the stamp and how long you can stay. Bring all this to the "Folkeregister/Likningskontor". They will receive everything and process it. The processing can take two to three weeks depending on how much they have to do.

You will now get a paper that say that there it is no problem to get married. When the marriage is done, this paper goes back to the "Folkeregister/Likningskontor" and you will get a marriage license. This processing usually takes two to three days.

It is now time to get in touch with the Brazilian embassy in Norway. They have a guide to how things should be done. They will legalise the translated documents and then, upon returning to Brazil, the Brazilian person needs to go to an office to register the marriage there.

Still, it seems like there are less papers to deal with in Norway than Brazil.

We are now moving into the final stages of the preparation of the wedding. Everything seems to be on schedule so far.