Getting Married in Kumanovo, Macedonia

Let me start with a little background information.  I am an American Citizen getting married to a Macedonian citizen in Kumanovo, Macedonia.  I warn who ever reads this, that getting married in this country, is not as easy.  I will explain my journey, as best I can, so that others can learn from my mistakes.



I first came to the Republic of Macedonia, in June 2010, with the expectation of being married within six months.  I understood that my temporary visa was only for 3 months, but was relieved to find out from the Police in Kumanovo, that I was allowed to stay for 6 months without any problem.  Well, that was incorrect information, and upon consulting with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, I soon found out that I had overstayed my temporary visa, thus violating the law, and needed to exit the country immediately or face charges.  I was devastated and upon their advice, my only option was leave the country and wait six months before I returned.  In November 2010, I did that, and returned to the US without a job or place to live, thank God for my family.  I returned to Macedonia in June 2011, only to find out, that I could have come back three months earlier because they changed the law to allow a foreigner to leave the country and return the same day, to reset the three month visa for three additional months. I wasn't surprised. 

Before my return to Macedonia, I did as much research as possible, so that I didn't make anymore mistakes and determined to get married, as soon as possible, upon my arrival, in order to avoid any further issues.  My first step was to review the US Embassy's Website and obtain all of the required documentation.  Let me say this, the US Embassy's website does not contain the most accurate information, and they do not claim that they do.  But I will talk more about that later on.
Documentation Needed:
1. Birth Certificate (issued within the last 6 months);
2. Passport
3. Sworn Statement for free marital status including a statement that no impediments exist to the marriage.
4. Widowed: Original or certified copy of death certificate of former spouse(s)
5. Divorced: Original final decree or a certified copy. A certified translation of all documents may be required.
6. Minor: A statement executed by a parent or legal guardian and signed by a notary public giving consent in accordance with the laws of the individual state of residence in the U.S., is required.
Source: US Embassy's Website

Regarding the birth certificate, it states not older than 6 months, which I interpreted that to mean I had a total of 6 months, but instead, after 5 total months, less than six, or they will not accept the document.  Oh yeah, and the US Embassy can't help you in obtaining an additional copy, if you lose the original or it expires past the five month mark.

Now let me explain the Sworn Statement for Free Marital Status.  This document is BS.  Macedonia requires that I provide documentation to prove that I am not married and free to marry.  The United States cannot provide any documentation that would show I haven't been married.  But they can accept a payment for $50 and write the following statement,
     
"The Federal Government of the United States of America does not keep a central records of marriages.  No proof of single status beyond the sworn statement of an individual is available from the US Government sources.  A US citizen can marry anyone he/she wants to, as long as he or she is free to marry (see sworn statement below).
       Before me, xxx-name, Consul of the United States of America at Skopje, Macedonia, duly commissioned and qualified, personally appeared the United States citizen xxx-me, who being duly sworn deposes and says as follows: 
     I, (my name), was born in, (city, state). I am a US citizen and bearer of a US passport, etc.  I have never been married before, and hence am free to marry xxx-name of to be spouse, to whom I am not related by blood or otherwise. And further deponent sayeth not.


I just don't understand how government officials would accept a document that says the US Government does not keep records of marriage.  But because I swore, everything is okay.  Why didn't they just take my word when I made the appointment.  Oh yeah, a stamp and signature is much more official, I'm sorry to have questioned that.

After I obtained the Sworn Statement, I had to have everything translated into Macedonian, and have it Notarized.  Easy enough, we found a place and dropped it off at 10 am, it was completed by 3 pm for a cost of 1,200 DEN.  ($25)

So that was pretty much my US Citizen part, or so I thought, until the appointment with the Inspector for Marriage.  Yeah, my marriage must be approved by the Inspector for Marriage before a civil ceremony can be scheduled.  Which by the way, is the only legally accepted form of marriage.  If you get married in a Church, the government doesn't recognize your marriage, so you have to have a second wedding or in my case a third because of different religions, but I don't want to get into that. And I don't intend on a third, two is complicated enough.

First, we had to go the Ministry of Marriage to make sure we have all the required documentation.  But before we could go there, we had to obtain a post card sized document, called a "carton", and go to the Post Office.  I know this sounds strange, but, we had to go to the Post Office and pay for the Administration charges for processing wedding paperwork.  While there we found a nice retired gentleman, who enjoys spending his days hanging out at the Post Office, waiting to help people fill out forms.  No, I'm just kidding, he does it for money and yes we paid him 50 DEN because me and my fiance are lazy and I don't know what the heck that form was asking, I barely speak Macedonian, reading is an even larger obstacle.  But the nice gentleman did know how to fill in the form, and in 15 minutes, we were ready to pay for whatever that document requested, for the marriage. Which turned out to be, 280 DEN for the wedding documentation to be placed in a folded envelope with our names nicely typed on the front of it.  Specifically, 65 DEN for the folder and 215 DEN for the administration fee for someone to manually write our names, where we were born, and schooling on a form, called "Statistical Sheet for Marriage".  Then place it, along with all the other documents in the folder, and manually type the same information.

At this point, we believed to be ready for the Inspector for Marriage, or so we thought.  We went to his office only to find out that he only works on Friday.  We were very disappointed because it was only Tuesday.  But we made an appointment for Friday at 9:30 am, today's date, and were very hopeful.  Before we left the office, a gentlemen that worked in the Inspector's Office office warned us that the Inspector may request documentation to prove that I do not have any Criminal charges pending against me.  We were caught off guard by that one.  This was not listed on the US Embassy's Website.  How could I possibly prove that??  We left the office, returned home, and I researched any way to obtain a Criminal Record, in the event that me may request it.  I did discover that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) can provide your FBI Identification Record, which contains: fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests. In some instances, it also includes information taken from fingerprints submitted in connection with federal employment, naturalization, or military service. The identification record includes the name of the agency or institution that submitted the fingerprints to the FBI. For criminal offenses, the identification record includes the date of arrest or the date the individual was received by the agency submitting the fingerprints, the arrest charge(s), and the arrest disposition(s) if known. 

However, it could likely take several months to get this information and my birth certificate would surely be expired by that time, and I would have to come back to the US to get a new one.  So, I was hoping he wouldn't ask for this.

The day of the appointment, today at 9:30 am, we arrived promptly on time, only to discover that the Inspector did not show up for work today. His colleague did us the favor of calling him and determined that he was in Skopje, and relayed the message that he would be back to Kumanovo at 1:30 PM and we could return to the office at that time.  As instructed, we left and returned at 1:30, but the Inspector still wasn't there.  For someone to work only one day a week, and not even show up on that day, I have to say is pretty disappointing.  But he did show up, eventually, and he looked pretty annoyed that we made him come into work.  He actually kind of looked like an angry Adrian Grenier, a little older and really tight white pants and chess hair showing

Seriously, this is the Inspector for Marriage?? He looked like he was about to go clubbing, not approve my paperwork.  But I thought, he looks cool, maybe he won't give us a hard time. We followed him to his office and without offering us a seat, proceeded to review a pile of passports on his desk.  I have no idea why there were so many passports, but I'm sure it was the result of him not working, but one day a week.  Yeah, I'm still pissed about that one. Then after standing there for a few minutes, looking like a couple of fools, he asked us for our paperwork, we provided it, and in a matter of seconds, told my fiance to obtain the Criminal Record documentation.  He said, "I don't care how you get it, but you will not be allowed to marry without it." "It's not my problem, and leave my office, I have a lot of work." It was over in less than 10 minutes. 

Afterwards, I called the US Embassy, to see if they could provide any form of assistance in this matter.  They said this was the first time ever that a US Citizen was required to provide documentation of criminal records and could not believe this was a new requirement.  In addition, was unable to provide any assistance in obtaining criminal records of any sort either.  Wow!! What a disappointment, the only thing they could do was provide another Sworn Statement that "I" declare that I have no criminal charges.  But, she advised first to ask the Inspector if he would accept that, and if not, get married in a different jurisdiction.  My fiance returned to the Inspector's Office, because they have no telephone number, by which they can be reached, or email, and in person, asked if the Sworn Statement would be acceptable.  He agreed, and I made the appointment for next Monday to obtain another Sworn Statement that I have no pending criminal charges, for an additional $50 fee.

What did I learn? When obtaining the first Sworn statement, ask that they include a statement regarding any criminal charges, to avoid an additional $50 fee.

Total spent so far:
$100 for Sworn Statements
$160 for Passport
$15 Birth certificate
$25 for Translating Documents
$6 Administration Fees
  $306 not including (the church $100, Marriage certificate ???, and reception, maybe at Exclusive Restaurant, Kumanovo???)


Now I have to wait until next Friday in order to see this Dusch bag again and show him the Sworn Statement made by me that I have no criminal charges pending.  What a joke!!!