Getting Married in Dubai Courts (Part II)

In the Dubai Courts, Sharia Section Court, the following documents are required:

1. Original Passport + Passport copies of bride, groom and the bride’s father
2. Original Passport + Passport copies of Two (2) witnesses
3. Health Certificate from accredited hospital
4. In case the father of the bride will not attend the wedding, a representative has to be there. For this, a letter of consent for marriage from the bride’s father is additionally required.
5. If the bride is Muslim and her father is not, a No Objection of Marriage Certificate from the Philippine Embassy/Consulate is required.

The very first thing I did was to secure my father’s consent (form here). Our Emirati friend trooped over to the Shariah section to procure a format of the consent. After filling up all the details (In Arabic) I emailed the same form to my Dad. Of course he refused to sign since he didn’t understand a single thing. I explained that it is nothing great, just a note stating that he has no objection of me getting married to my hubby and that my cousin will act as my guardian in his behalf. It would have been required to submit the same papers with English translation to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – Manila for Red Ribbon (attestation). Only then would the UAE Embassy stamp its seal for the final attestation (for PHP1700). However the UAE Ambassador is a very kind man and we asked for assistance from a mentor who knew him well. (READ: ALERT!!!! RED TAPE!!!!) The UAE Ambassador patiently asked my Dad if he knew what the document says and only smiled in amusement when my Dad didn’t recognize my cousin’s name – to which I got a tongue lashing from Mom who was embarrassed. Damn us Filipinos for having a pet name/nick name that is so detached from our baptismal names J

Once I got hold of the attested documents, I had once again sent it for attestation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UAE) (for AED150), and finally for attestation at the Philippine Embassy. They refused to attest since my document does not have a Red Ribbon. After a few minutes of verbal battle, the clerk finally agreed to have it “Noted & Seen” by the Embassy (for AED 100 and next day pick up).

We learned of the Health Certificate a little late, only we I prodded and nagged my fiancé to visit the courts to make sure that our documents are all okay. We were instructed to go to a government hospital and ask for medical exams specifically for marriage. Most hospitals follow a 3-day urgent / 5-day normal processing. We went to the --- Hospital in Deira which promised us a next day result at AED250 for both of us. The hospital was bare and opened at 4 in the afternoon. We spent the free time we had by having lunch – mehndi special in a small cafeteria beside a Lebanese shisha shop. By the time we went back to the hospital there is already a small queue. We patiently waited in line, received greetings of mabruk from the doctors and wrapped up our blood test and chest x-ray in no more than 20 minutes. Since all is written in Arabic I have no idea exactly what blood tests they took. What matters was that stamp in red ink “FIT”. I presume those were tests to ensure we don’t have HIV and we do not carry genes of Sickle-Cell Anemia – a hereditary disorder common in the Gulf.

After having all documents and our witnesses ready we went to the Courts where we were “entertained” by a court clerk who was so determined in making our lives a living hell. He didn’t bother masking his disdain to my hubby because he belongs to a different Islamic sect. Our Emirati friend who was a champion of verbal battles, threats and menacing looks and who is in the same sect as the clerk demanded to show my father’s authorization letter to the Sheik to determine whether it is enough or not. After losing the campaign he grudgingly asked us to pay AED100 for the document. I gritted my teeth when I realized that the verbal sparring took more time than the actual “wedding ceremony”

We waited for half an hour for the Judge to finish his marriages and sign our original certificates and promptly left for Bahrain after a day. That was a mistake. In order for the document to be valid in our home countries, we had to attest the document at the Ministry of Justice and once again at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Being out of UAE, I spent a fortune bribing my friend to finish the attestations so we can register accordingly in Bahrain.

All said and done, my say is that getting married is a very costly affair. =)

Photos: Father's consent form, the form attested.

Getting Married in Dubai Courts (Part I)

My fiancé and I have decided to tie the knot after 3 years of being together. The decision itself is a giant leap for both of us. You see we have different religious beliefs. I am a Filipina and he is of GCC Arab descent. We were both unwilling to give up each other’s faith that early on the relationship we told each other that we cannot marry. We would simply enjoy the relationship and see what the future hold for us. At the end of it all for whatever circumstances, we ended up with the decision to get married.

I had no idea that preparing for marriage documents in Dubai equates to a major headache. I am told in fact to be so lucky that I was able to put all documents together in about 4 months. I had a Slovak colleague who had initiated the prep 2 years ago. By all luck, she is still not past the official translations and attestations. She moved to Singapore with her beau even before she could finalize her papers in UAE.

I am having a UAE residence status and he is a GCC national. For the lack of online reference, it had become frustrating for my part to prepare the documents. We are both career-strapped individuals and we simply do not have the luxury of time to run around Dubai for requirements. One thing I learned in UAE is that you can never get proper official information by browsing the internet if you don’t understand Arabic text and just by simply calling up. You have to be physically there to get the info right. Even then, it can likewise be exasperating that your best bet is to bring with you a local to do the talking. My quest for acquiring the right information has been so frustrating that I made several mental notes to blog on this. Maybe I can be of assistance to someone in the future.

Even in the court we had to bring our Emirati friend to work as a wasta (a different story in another time). We chanced upon a civil servant who lets his sectarian interest mix with that of his professional duties. We were tormented with thousands of questions, demands and arguments that we took three times longer than normal to finish our registration. We were all more relieved than happy when we got over the “contract signing”. A ceremony less than 10 minutes with less than 2 minutes participation of the bride is worthy only called as such, and not as a “marriage ceremony”. On different thought, this would actually be appealing to hardened souls who cringe at all the sappy ever-lasting vows.

Dubai Courts – Marriage Section: +971-4-3347777.

Part II (requirements)