Hello
This may not be the first time for me to ask about this but I never got an answer. Sorry It is going to be long but I need to convey all the details ......
I am Egyptian, my wife is Ukrainian. We got legally married in Egypt about a year ago.
Egypt is - unfortunately - NOT a signatory to the apostille convention (also known as The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents)
Accordingly my government cannot provide an apostille of our marriage.
However, I have managed to notarize our marriage (original contract in Arabic) in the Egyptian ministry of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently had it translated to Ukrainian language via a translation office (authorized by the Ukrainian embassy in Cairo), and also notarized by the embassy (they stamped the translated contract).
Accordingly I was granted a one-year multiple-entry visit visa and since I have that contract I was exempted from the mandatory invitation requirement for Egyptian nationals and was also exempted from stating my income and proving my current work status. Anyways I do not plan (at least for now) to move to or live in Ukraine so such a visa is more than enough for me.
What is the problem now? Our marriage is not recognized in Ukraine by any means and my wife is still considered a single woman there !
No registration stamp in her Internal passport, no stamp of marriage on my International passport (like other Egyptians/Foreigners married to Ukrainians), and furthermore if we have children, they are according to Ukrainian law illegitimate !!
I asked in the embassy ..... They have no clue. Pulled every string I have and we had people in ZAGS to ask ...... They said we cannot get married now that we are already married. They cannot help us recognizing our marriage and I cannot with the current contract (after two years of marriage elapse) become a permanent resident.
I don't want a new marriage ..... I just want our marriage registered and/or recognized in Ukraine. For example in Egypt if we are married overseas we can bring a notarized contract here, stamp it from the other country's embassy and subsequently the Egyptian ministry of Foreign Affairs and finally get an Egyptian marriage contract (with the original marriage date) recognizing marriage.
What is the government body/authority responsible for such a thing?