Getting married in Mexico

ItŽs complicated, expensive, and they will probably cheat on you anyway so stay single is my advice.

I don't know about "They will probably cheat on you anyway".. Mexico has fallen in to the trends of the USA, Divorce rates have risen along with Female Liberation. That doesn't mean you can't find the right soul partner.
But getting back to Getting Married in Mexico... I got married during the Olympics in 1968 (my wife is Mexican, I'm an American) and we are still together... all mariages go through periods of good and bad times. That's why they say during the vows... "For better or for worse", you have to be flexible to weather the storms.
You can get a church marriage easily but to go through a Government Civil Ceremony is more complicated but necessary if you plan on doing things legally. like getting visas, passports, buying property, legalizing children, etc. all of which may seem old fashioned to some but can save you many headaches in the future.
When we got married I had to go to Mexico City and ask permission at Relations Exterior in Mexico City. This was about a  month after the massacre in Tlatelolco where Relations Exterior was located. To say the administration was uptight was putting it mildly. Anyway that took a couple of days and cost me about $50 dollars at the time, buses, hotels, etc., they gave me a date a month later that I could have the Civil Ceremony on.
Next we had to get blood tests at the health clinic, cost about ten bucks.
We went before a Judge who was so old he kept falling asleep but we finally got through it and the next day we had a church ceremony, my father in law paid for everything including the party afterwards where they had turkey and mole poblano. The American Director of the Latino Americano Hospital gave us a present of a hundred dollars which was more than enough back then for a 3 day honeymoon in Veracruz.
I presume the procedures are about the same now, though I've been told its a little easier.
I attended a wedding of two Americans last December, they were already married in a civil ceremony in the USA. So they just had a preacher give them their vows.
It took us a month of preparation to get things prepared for the wedding, Bridesmaids, wedding dress, flowers, the reception and food.  If one of the couples are Mexican you can usually expect help from the family and Padrinos (Godfathers) to help with many of the arrangements. Many of them contribute things like the rings, bible, veil, food, cake, and so forth

My husband and I are gathering documents to get married here in Mexico (he is Mexican; I am from USA).

We went to our local Registro Civil for assistance. The woman there who is in charge of all local birth/death/marriage records gave us a list of requirements. There is a new one called Proof Of No Impediment to marriage, and she asked us to get a document from the township we used to live in, in California, stating that neither of us were married there. And she wanted it Apostille! Searching the Internet, we could find no similar document.

We went to our lawyer, who had not heard of the requirement, but assures us that it is not necessary. He also assures us that the local clerk either has not read the requirement carefully, or is misinformed.

We'll keep you posted!

gubabbaboy wrote:

My husband and I are gathering documents to get married here in Mexico (he is Mexican; I am from USA).

We went to our local Registro Civil for assistance. The woman there who is in charge of all local birth/death/marriage records gave us a list of requirements. There is a new one called Proof Of No Impediment to marriage, and she asked us to get a document from the township we used to live in, in California, stating that neither of us were married there. And she wanted it Apostille! Searching the Internet, we could find no similar document.

We went to our lawyer, who had not heard of the requirement, but assures us that it is not necessary. He also assures us that the local clerk either has not read the requirement carefully, or is misinformed.

We'll keep you posted!

I feel there must be a rule or she is substituting the final degree of your last divorce which is required and you would need a Apostille copy of it. It may slow things down. I would try another civil registrar office. Sometimes you will have to try different things yourself instead of getting a lawyer involved. It is an easy thing to get married in Mexico you being a US citizen. The INM are very helpful also with their required forms and fees. No need for a lawyer, it is a cake walk. One step at a time.

Thanks for your response.
The registrar is the one we must use, according to other registrar civil officials. We live half-way between two larger towns, but we "belong" to one, and not the other. My husband was born right here, in our little rancho. We have no previous marriages, hence no divorce decrees.
We will probably stick with our lawyer, as he has helped us with property issues, and when he discusses marriage with us, at least, it really DOES sound easy, as you say.

I am planning to go to Mexico to marry my fiance soon. i find this interesting. My fiancé is Mexican and am African. I hope to get more information.

We still are not married, having discovered that we really MUST provide a proof of non-impediment to marriage (proof that neither of us are married). It is a silly requirement in my opinion because there would be a myriad of ways and places a person could be married. But I am dutifully getting a statement of a search of records in the county where I used to live. Then that must be apostille by the state where I used to live.
Our lawyer is asking some questions to see if we might be excused from this requirement. We have lived together for more than 25 years!!
Good luck on your information gathering, your move and your marriage!!
Gail

gubabbaboy wrote:

We still are not married, having discovered that we really MUST provide a proof of non-impediment to marriage (proof that neither of us are married). It is a silly requirement in my opinion because there would be a myriad of ways and places a person could be married. But I am dutifully getting a statement of a search of records in the county where I used to live. Then that must be apostille by the state where I used to live.
Our lawyer is asking some questions to see if we might be excused from this requirement. We have lived together for more than 25 years!!
Good luck on your information gathering, your move and your marriage!!
Gail

My present Mexican National wife was never married and they did not ask for this, but because I was divorced they asked for the final decree not translated, in apostille from my state. We have many things that are different than you so again it depends on the location you are in I would guess. Do not forget to take your Acta de Matrimonio to INM within 30 days to get a new form that gives you rights to be in Mexico and get registered with Seguro Popular/IMSS etc. and a CURP, if you don't already have one, even if you still are here on an FMM. When I took mine in the INM officer offered to do an FM2 right there. I already had completed an FM1. I declined and he said when you are ready come to this office as your file is here, good luck. Literally it was a cake walk for us.

Very interesting. And thanks for the tip!

Well, I am Mexican, I got married with an American 2 years ago so I do know how it is and believe me, it's not as complicated as some think, it's easy in some places, it takes you about 3 days to get all done, but you do have to get a kinda permission for the foreigner to marry the mexican and yeah it's a little bit more expensive than the marriage between two mexicans but it's not too much either. At the end of the day the ones cheating are the foreigners hahahaha and I can tell because he cheated on me and I've heard some other friends who married foreigners saying the same happened to them, so it's not a MEXICAN thing hahahaha men just can't keep their hands to themselves no matter where they are from lol

Wow, a lot of mixed responses here. I'm getting married here in mexico to my Mexican bride in two weeks.
So far the civil part seems to be a lot easier than the catholic part since i'm not. we do the blood test tomorrow. certainly no drive thru marriages here like in Vegas.

anyway, I think that marriage here seems to have a lot more hope. the divorce rates way lower than they are in the US. you can attribute that to the liberation of women, but it's also cultural. Italy is pretty liberal also but they have a very low divorce rate, maybe because of the catholic church.

my Saltillo, Mexico blog

I was hoping to travel to Leon Mexico during my Christmas vacation to marry my fiance who is Mexican. But now I am learning that all government offices there are closed from December 8 th until January 15 which would make it impossible for us to get married during my vacation time.  Does anyone know if this is really true? There must be other people who want to marry at this time of year. I am finding it hard to believe that we cannot get a marriage license during that time. Also how does one get a birth certificate translated with apostille?

Sagiia wrote:

I was hoping to travel to Leon Mexico during my Christmas vacation to marry my fiance who is Mexican. But now I am learning that all government offices there are closed from December 8 th until January 15 which would make it impossible for us to get married during my vacation time.  Does anyone know if this is really true? There must be other people who want to marry at this time of year. I am finding it hard to believe that we cannot get a marriage license during that time. Also how does one get a birth certificate translated with apostille?

The INM [Immigration] is closed for winter vacation. The INM no longer requires you to have a "Permission for a foreigner to marry a Mexican National" as of several months ago so you do not need that.

The local Registar Civil will be open most days around Christmas and they are the ones who marry you. They want a final divorce degree from your state apostilled and your original birth certificate. May or may not ask for an official translation in Spanish, which you get here, not in the US. The RC here does official translations for a small fee here, if they need one for their office, but did not ask for any.

The best way to do it is get their phone number and ask what they need and bring that with you.

They need about 10 days or less to get you married so plan ahead.

Not all govŽt. offices are closed for winter vacation. Actually usually only the INM and some federal and state health services administration offices have winter vacation and even the public health offices have a skeleton staff if it is a vital service.

Almost all the state and municipal offices are open, if not all.

DonŽt worry about that as INM is the one that is on vacation only and in reality from Dec. 18th to Jan.4th ,not Dec. 8th to Jan. 15th. They get 2 weeks winter vacation. Rumors abound when it comes to putting down the federal/state/municipal govŽt.s here. First thing to learn is donŽt believe everything people tell you, find out for yourself.

Muchas gracias Alleycat.  Hope is alive once again!  My fiance is double checking the dates with the Registro Civil today and also to make sure that I do not need to get the permission to marry a citizen.  I have never been married before so I hope that I do not run into the same problem as Gubababoy.  I can not imagine how to get anything that would prove I have never been married. Thank you againI hope I will be able to report good news by the end of this year.

Hi Gubababoy, just wondering if you are married yet?  Were you dealing with the Registro Civil de Leon? I am planning to marry there and hope that I do not run up against the same problem. Also, did you have to get the permiso for a foreigner to marry a national from the INM? Alley cat says it is no longer required but I want to verify that because I do not need any last minute surprises after I get there. Any advice you can offer will be much appreciated.
Gracias, Sagiia