Registration of Overseas Marriage (for Czech Citizens)

If a Czech citizen gets married abroad, they must register their marriage with the Czech authorities to have it recognised under Czech law.

Steps to Register:

  1. Obtain a certified copy of your Maltese marriage certificate.

  2. The Maltese marriage certificate must be issued in the multi-lingual version in Czech or be translated into Czech by a certified translator.

  3. You may also need to have the marriage certificate apostilled or legalized, depending on the country where the marriage occurred. The Czech Republic is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, which simplifies the legalization process with countries that are also signatories.

Submitting the Documents

After collecting the necessary documents, you must submit them to the Special Registrar’s Office in Brno (Zvláštní matrika v Brně), which handles the registration of marriages for Czech citizens abroad. This can either be done either:

  • directly in the Czech Republic or

  • via the Czech embassy in Rome or

  • via the Honorary Consulate in Malta, which will send your documents to the Embassy in Rome for processing.

Documents Required for Registration of a Foreign Marriage:

• The multi-lingual original marriage certificate or a certified translation of the standard certificate

• Proof of Czech citizenship, such as a valid Czech passport or ID card.

• Birth certificates of both parties.

• If applicable, documentation of any previous marriages (e.g., divorce decrees or death certificates).

Once the documents are processed, the registry will issue an official Czech marriage certificate, registering the marriage in the Czech system.

Fees and Timeline

The cost of registering a marriage varies depending on whether additional services, such as translation or legalization, are needed. The processing time can take several weeks or longer, depending on the complexity of the case.

How females obtain a new passport and ID Card.

In the case of female Czech citizens, once the registration of marriage is completed, they will obtain a Czech Marriage Certificate and their old passport and ID card will be cancelled.

They will need therefore to apply for a new Czech passport as well as a new Czech ID card in the Czech Republic. However, to travel to the Czech Republic, they will need an Emergency Passport issued by the Honorary Consul in Malta. Please follow the procedure for obtaining an emergency Czech passport.

While technically it is possible to apply for the new passport at the Embassy in Rome (however not the ID card), this procedure is not appropriate for Czech citizens living in Malta as they will not be able to travel back to Malta from Rome until their passport is received, which would be multiple weeks, because Emergency passports can only be issued to travel to the Czech Republic.

Preferred Format of Surname

In the application for the registration of a marriage a female Czech citizen can indicate their preferred format of their future surname to the Czech authorities. More details can be found here - Žádost o vystavení oddacího listu (sňatek se uskutečnil v Itálii) | Velvyslanectví České republiky v Římě (mzv.cz)