What do I need to take into account if I want to marry a foreign citizen in the Netherlands?

Options for marriage or civil partnership in the Netherlands

You can marry or form a civil partnership in the Netherlands in the following situations:

You live in the Netherlands and your partner lives outside the Netherlands

Citizenship	Personal declaration* required	Residence permit needed	Permitted to marry or form a civil partnership in the Netherlands
You are Dutch and your partner is not	Yes, for your partner living outside the Netherlands	No, your partner lives outside the Netherlands	Yes
Neither you nor your partner is Dutch	Yes, for both of you	Yes, for the person who lives in the Netherlands**	Yes

You and your partner both live in the Netherlands

Citizenship	Personal declaration* required	Residence permit required	Permitted to marry or form a civil partnership in the Netherlands
One of you is not Dutch	Yes, for the partner who is not Dutch	Yes, for the partner who is not Dutch**	Yes
Neither you nor your partner is Dutch	Yes, for both of you	Yes, for both of you**	Yes

You and your partner both live outside the Netherlands

Citizenship	Personal declaration* required	Residence permit required	Permitted to marry or form a civil partnership in the Netherlands
One of you is not Dutch	Yes, for the partner who is not Dutch	No	Yes
Neither you nor your partner is Dutch			No

* Declaration for non-Dutch citizens.
** You do not need a residence permit if you are a citizen of a Member State of the European Union (EU) or of the European Economic Area (EEA).

Residence permit needed

If you need a valid residence permit, contact the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).

Declaration for non-Dutch citizens

If you or your partner are not Dutch and you wish to marry or form a civil partnership, you will need to complete a personal declaration. You can fill in and sign this declaration when you notify the municipality of your intention to marry or form a civil partnership.

The IND will check your residence status and the Aliens Police will conduct an investigation to ensure the relationship is genuine and rule out a sham marriage or sham civil partnership. These checks are carried out when a couple intends to marry or form a civil partnership for the purpose of obtaining a residence permit for the non-Dutch partner.

Marriage and dual citizenship

If you or your partner holds citizenship in another country in addition to citizenship of the Netherlands, you will need to meet the requirements prescribed by Dutch law for marrying or forming a civil partnership. If you meet these requirements you can marry or form a civil partnership, even if the country of the non-Dutch partner(s) does not permit it. You should take into account that you might have difficulty having the marriage recognised outside the Netherlands.

Certificate of unmarried status

If you have lived outside the Netherlands, the ambtenaar van de burgerlijke stand (Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships)  may ask you to submit documents they need to draw up a civil status record. They may also ask you for proof that you have not already entered into a marriage or formed a civil partnership outside the Netherlands.

You can apply for the certificate of unmarried status in the last place you lived outside the Netherlands. In most cases you will need to have the document legalised before you can use it in the Netherlands.