Georgia does not ask foreign couples for a certificate of no impediment, a single status certificate or a sworn statement that you are free to marry. Freedom to marry is settled at the Public Service Hall itself, where you sign the application and the registrar explains the legal bars. Here is what Georgia checks instead, what to bring if you were married before, and when your home country or a Georgian partner still needs one.
Quick summary
- Georgia's official list has no certificate of no impediment, single status certificate, certificate of freedom to marry or affidavit of single status on it, whatever your nationality.
- The official list is a joint application, passports, proof of lawful stay, 2 adult witnesses with ID, and proof that any earlier marriage ended.
- If you were married before, you bring the divorce certificate or decree, or the former spouse's death certificate, apostilled or legalized where it was issued, with a notarized Georgian translation.
- Your home country may still want proof you were free to marry when you register the marriage there, and only a certificate issued before the wedding shows you as single.
- A Georgian citizen marrying abroad gets a Georgian certificate of no impediment for GEL 40, GEL 65 or GEL 95, depending on how fast it is needed.
On this page
Do You Need a Certificate of No Impediment to Marry in Georgia?
No. A certificate of no impediment is not among the documents a Georgian registration needs, and neither is any version of it under another name: a single status certificate, a certificate of freedom to marry, an affidavit of single status or a letter from your embassy. The rule is the same for every nationality.
The official list of documents (opens in a new tab) from the Public Service Development Agency is short. You sign a joint application at the office and show your passports, proof that each foreign partner is in Georgia legally, the IDs of 2 adult witnesses, and proof that any earlier marriage ended.
| Document | What it shows | Needed in Georgia |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate of no impediment | No legal bar stops you marrying | No |
| Single status certificate | You are not married on the date it is issued | No |
| Certificate of freedom to marry | You are free to marry | No |
| Affidavit of single status | Your own sworn statement that you are single | No |
| Divorce certificate or decree | An earlier marriage ended in divorce | Yes, if you were divorced |
| Former spouse's death certificate | An earlier marriage ended with your spouse's death | Yes, if you were widowed |
Because nothing has to be ordered from home for a first marriage, getting married in Georgia as a foreigner can be planned around your flights rather than around a registry back home. You can apply and register on the same day.
From our Tbilisi team
If you already hold a certificate of no impediment, keep it for home rather than for Tbilisi. It is not on the list, so we leave it out of a first-marriage application, and there is no reason to pay for an apostille and a Georgian translation of it.
What Georgia Checks Instead of a Certificate of No Impediment
The check happens on the day, in the room. Before registering you, the registrar explains the legal bars to marriage, and then you, your partner and both witnesses read the marriage record and sign it personally.
The bars are few, and only one of them ever calls for a document from home: proof that an earlier marriage ended.
| Bar | Who it stops | What answers it |
|---|---|---|
| Age | Anyone under 18, with no court or parental exception | The date of birth in your passport |
| An existing marriage | Anyone still married to someone else | Nothing if you never married; otherwise the divorce or death certificate |
| Close family | Direct ancestors and descendants, such as a parent and child, and brothers and sisters, half siblings included | The application you both sign |
| Adoption | An adoptive parent and the child they adopted | The application you both sign |
| Same sex | Two men or two women | Your passports |
One more rule sits behind the list. Under Georgia's Law on Private International Law, each partner's capacity to marry is governed by the law of their own country. Georgia does not ask for a certificate from home to prove it, so knowing where you stand under your own law is your job, not the registrar's.
From our Tbilisi team
We suggest reading the bars together in English before the day. The registrar explains them in Georgian just before you sign, so knowing them first means you sign a record you already understand.
If You Were Married Before: Bring the Divorce Decree
If either of you was married before, Georgia wants proof that the marriage ended, not proof that you are single today. That means the divorce certificate or decree, or your former spouse's death certificate.
Like any foreign document other than a passport, it needs an apostille or legalization from the country that issued it and a notarized Georgian translation. A notary in Tbilisi certifies a translator's signature for GEL 6 on a one-page document, plus GEL 5 to register the act, before VAT. A divorce registered in Georgia needs no paper at all, because the agency already holds the record.
A single status certificate does not stand in for the decree. The registry's list names the document that ended the marriage, so a divorced partner who arrives with a single status certificate alone has not met it, however recent the certificate is.
A single status certificate is not a divorce decree
Only the country that issued a divorce decree can apostille or legalize it, so a partner who brings a single status certificate in its place cannot put things right in Tbilisi. The application cannot go ahead until the stamped decree arrives, and on a short trip that usually means booking the wedding again.
When Your Home Country Still Wants Proof of Single Status
What happens after the wedding is up to the country where you use the certificate, and that is where proof of single status can come back. The UK, for example, recognizes a foreign marriage if it was lawful where it took place and would be allowed under UK law, so your freedom to marry still counts there even though no one in Tbilisi asked for paper. Some countries also enter a foreign marriage in their own civil records and may ask each spouse for proof of single status when they do.
Ask your home registry before you book
- Whether you must register a marriage that took place in Georgia, or whether it is optional
- Whether they want proof that each of you was free to marry, and in what form
- Whether that proof has to be dated before the wedding
- Whether they accept an apostille or need embassy legalization of the Georgian certificate
- Which translation of the Georgian certificate they accept
Order anything your home country wants before you fly. A single status certificate reports your status on the day it is issued, so one requested after the wedding in Tbilisi shows you as married.
If One of You Is Georgian
A Georgian citizen who marries in Georgia needs no certificate of no impediment either. The ID card covers identity, and a divorce registered in Georgia is already on the agency's records.
The Georgian certificate of no impediment (opens in a new tab) is for the opposite trip. The Public Service Development Agency issues it to Georgian citizens, and to people with stateless status in Georgia, who want to marry abroad. They apply at any Public Service Hall or agency office, or online, with an ID document and, if they were married before, proof that the marriage ended.
Georgian certificate of no impediment
- Ready on the 5th working day
- GEL 40
- Ready on the 2nd working day
- GEL 65
- Ready the same day
- GEL 95
- Apostille, if the country of the wedding asks for one
- GEL 30 to 150
Fees set by the Public Service Development Agency. Legalization for a country outside the Apostille Convention costs the same as an apostille, and that country's embassy fee comes on top.