Getting married abroad as a Swedish citizen: the paperwork step by step

Getting married abroad as a Swedish citizen works in one of two ways: either a Swedish officiant with government permission marries you abroad after an impediment check by Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency), or you marry under the destination country’s own law, usually with a Swedish Certificate of No Impediment as the key document. Both routes end in a marriage that is valid in Sweden, but the forms, deadlines and authorities involved are different. Couples who mix up the two routes risk standing at a foreign registry office with the wrong papers, and that is exactly what this guide is here to prevent.

This guide is written for couples planning a wedding or elopement outside Sweden where at least one partner is a Swedish citizen registered as a resident in Sweden. That includes many of the international couples I work with, where one partner is Swedish and the other is not. Rules change and every country adds its own requirements, so treat this as a map and always confirm the details with Skatteverket and with the authorities in the country where you plan to marry.

We will go through the two legal routes, the certificates you need, how the marriage is registered in Sweden afterwards, and what applies in Italy, Greece and France, three countries where I have photographed weddings myself.

Two ways of getting married abroad

Swedish law opens two doors for couples who want their wedding outside Sweden. Either the ceremony is performed by a Swedish officiant who has permission to marry couples abroad, or you marry entirely under the other country’s rules. The choice decides which papers you need, who notifies Skatteverket afterwards and how much bureaucracy you meet on location.

Marrying before a Swedish officiant abroad

In some countries there are Swedish officiants who have been authorised by the Swedish government to perform legally binding weddings abroad. This can be staff at a Swedish embassy or a priest in the Church of Sweden Abroad (Svenska kyrkan i utlandet). You need to check yourselves whether an authorised Swedish officiant exists in the country where you want to marry. The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs keeps a page about getting married abroad, and the Church of Sweden lists its wedding locations abroad.

Legally, this route works exactly like a wedding in Sweden. Before the ceremony you apply to Skatteverket for hindersprövning (the Swedish check confirming there are no impediments to the marriage, such as an existing marriage or close kinship) and hand the certificate to the officiant. After the wedding, the officiant reports the marriage to Skatteverket, so there is nothing for you to register yourselves. For couples who want as little administration as possible on location, this is often the smoothest route, provided an authorised officiant exists where you are going.

Marrying under the destination country’s law

The second option is to marry before the country’s own authority, for example a mayor in Italy or a registrar at a French town hall. In that case the country’s rules govern the whole process, and you are responsible for finding out what is required. In many countries, Swedish citizens need an äktenskapscertifikat (a Certificate of No Impediment issued by Skatteverket) showing that you are free to marry under Swedish law.

The starting point in Swedish law is that a marriage which is valid in the country where it took place is also recognised in Sweden. There are exceptions. The marriage is not recognised if either of you was under 18 at the time, if there was an impediment under Swedish law, if the marriage was entered into under duress, or if you were not both present at the ceremony. After the wedding, you are responsible for notifying Skatteverket, which then decides whether the marriage is valid in Sweden.

How is a symbolic ceremony different?

A third possibility is to separate the legal part from the celebration altogether. You marry in a civil ceremony in Sweden, for example at the Stockholm City Hall, and then hold a symbolic ceremony abroad with no legal effect. The symbolic ceremony requires no foreign paperwork at all, no local impediment checks and no contact with the country’s authorities. Your guests will rarely notice any difference, and you skip the foreign bureaucracy entirely. For many couples this is the simplest path to a wedding abroad, and it is the setup I see most often at destination weddings.

Which papers do you need?

Hindersprövning (SKV 7880)

Hindersprövning is Skatteverket’s check that nothing prevents your marriage, for example that neither of you is already married or closely related to the other. The certificate is required for any wedding before a Swedish officiant, whether the ceremony takes place in Sweden or abroad. You apply with form SKV 7880 (Hindersprövning, ansökan och försäkran) or through Skatteverket’s online service.

If both of you are registered residents of Sweden, Skatteverket states that it takes about one week before your case is assigned a case officer, and applications through the online service can be handled automatically and immediately if no impediments exist. If only one of you is a registered resident, expect about two weeks. The certificate should as a rule be no older than four months on your wedding day, so do not apply too early.

The Certificate of No Impediment (äktenskapscertifikat, SKV 7881)

The äktenskapscertifikat shows a foreign authority that you are free to marry under Swedish law. Many countries require it when you marry under their own law. If you are registered residents of Sweden, you apply to Skatteverket with form SKV 7881 (Äktenskapscertifikat, ansökan och försäkran). If you live abroad and are no longer registered in Sweden, you apply through a Swedish embassy or consulate instead.

According to Skatteverket, it takes about one week before a certificate application is assigned a case officer. An issued certificate is, according to Sweden Abroad, valid for four months from the date of issue. The window is the same as for hindersprövning: apply roughly three to four months before your wedding date, not earlier.

Apostille, legalisation and translations

Authorities outside the EU may require your Swedish documents to carry an apostille stamp or be legalised. An apostille is issued by a notarius publicus (notary public), which you find through the Swedish county administrative boards. Legalisation is handled by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Skatteverket does not issue apostilles or legalisations.

Within the EU things are usually simpler. Since 2019, an EU regulation on public documents means that authorities in other EU countries must accept Swedish certificates accompanied by a multilingual standard form, without an apostille. Ask Skatteverket for the multilingual form when you order your certificates. At the same time, expect some countries to require certified translations into their own language. France is a clear example.

How is the marriage registered in Sweden afterwards?

If a Swedish officiant married you abroad, you do not need to do anything. The officiant reports the wedding to Skatteverket, just like after a ceremony at home in Sweden.

If you married under foreign law, the responsibility is yours. You notify Skatteverket by sending a letter or visiting a service office. State your names, Swedish personal identity numbers or dates of birth, contact details, the fact that you have married, how and in which country the ceremony took place, and the wedding date. Attach a copy of the marriage certificate and copies of your passports. The letter goes to Skatteverket, Folkbokföringen, 205 30 Malmö, Sweden.

Skatteverket then examines whether the foreign marriage is valid in Sweden and informs you of the decision. For marriages entered into abroad, Skatteverket states that it takes about six weeks before the case is assigned a case officer after the marriage certificate has been submitted, longer if anything needs to be completed. If either of you wants to change surnames in connection with the wedding, that is a separate application to Skatteverket. It does not happen automatically.

What applies in Italy, Greece and France?

Three of the most popular destination countries for couples marrying from Sweden have three quite different systems. Here are the main features, with the reservation that requirements change and the local authority always has the final word.

Getting married in Italy

For a legally binding civil wedding in Italy, Swedish citizens need a certificate of no impediment known in Italian as a nulla osta. It is issued by the Swedish Embassy in Rome and is based on your population registration certificate (personbevis) and your äktenskapscertifikat from Skatteverket. The documents are submitted in person and, according to the embassy’s information, must be no older than three months. Thanks to the EU regulation on public documents, Italian authorities accept the Swedish certificates with the multilingual standard form, without an apostille. For the wedding day itself, from Tuscany to the Amalfi Coast, see my guide to weddings in Italy.

Getting married in Greece

Greece is one of the countries where both routes are open. You can marry before a Swedish authority in Greece: the hindersprövning application (SKV 7880) is then submitted in person to the embassy in Athens or to a Swedish honorary consulate, together with your population registration certificate and passports, and the embassy issues a certificate valid for a maximum of four months. Alternatively you marry before a Greek authority, which as a rule requires the äktenskapscertifikat. The details are listed by Sweden Abroad. For venues and light, my guide to weddings in Greece covers the photography side.

Getting married in France

France has the most demanding system of the three. A legally binding wedding is always civil and takes place at the town hall, la mairie, in a municipality that one of you has a connection to, and one of you may be required to have lived in the municipality for a period before the wedding. Before the ceremony, the banns are published, and French authorities require your documents to be translated into French by a certified translator. Two witnesses must attend the ceremony. These requirements are why many couples marrying from Sweden choose a civil ceremony at home and a symbolic ceremony in France instead. Current requirements are listed by Sweden Abroad France, and my guide to destination weddings in France covers the rest of the planning.

When to do what: a timeline

Since both certificates are valid for four months, the planning is about counting backwards from the wedding date. This is what the timeline can look like for a ceremony under foreign law.

Common misunderstandings about weddings abroad

The first misunderstanding is that a wedding abroad registers itself in Sweden. That is only true when a Swedish officiant performs the ceremony. If you married under local law, you must submit the marriage certificate to Skatteverket yourselves. Until then, you remain registered as unmarried in the Swedish population register, with everything that means for inheritance and parenthood.

The second is that the paperwork can be sorted the week before. In practice the window is narrower than it sounds: the certificates are valid for four months, processing takes about a week when everything is complete, and countries like Italy also require a personal embassy visit with documents that must not be too old. Put the legal work early in the planning, at the same time as you book the venue and suppliers. A wedding planner with destination experience can often manage the whole chain.

The third is that a symbolic ceremony needs permits or papers abroad. It does not. The ceremony has no legal effect and therefore requires no contact with any authority. And the fourth: an apostille is not always needed. Within the EU the multilingual standard form is usually enough. It is outside the EU that apostilles and legalisation come into play.

A photographer’s perspective

My name is Karin Lundin and I am a wedding photographer based in Stockholm. A large part of my year is destination weddings, and I have photographed couples in Italy, Greece and France among other places. The legal side is rarely what couples ask me about first, but it shapes the day more than most people expect.

The clearest example is the choice between a legal ceremony on location and a symbolic one. A civil wedding in Italy or France often takes place in a town hall at a fixed time in the middle of the day, and the whole photography schedule has to be built around it. A symbolic ceremony can instead be placed exactly when the light is at its best, an hour before sunset on a cliff in Greece or in an olive grove in Tuscany. As a photographer, I see the difference in the images every time.

My advice is to decide on the legal route first, before you lock the time and place of the ceremony. Couples who finish the paperwork early are noticeably calmer during the wedding week. The couples I have met who ended up stressed almost always underestimated one detail: the embassy visit that required an appointment, the translation that took longer than expected, or the certificate that expired.

The form of the ceremony matters less for the photographs than you might think. The emotions are the same whether the legal part happened at Stockholm City Hall three weeks earlier or happens in that very moment. What matters is that you are not thinking about forms and stamps on the day. If you are still choosing where in Europe to celebrate, my overview of wedding venues in Europe is a good place to start.

Want to capture the day on film as well? I often work alongside Nordvér Films.

Key takeaways

• There are two legal routes to getting married abroad as a Swedish citizen: a Swedish officiant abroad after hindersprövning, or a ceremony under the destination country’s law, usually with a Certificate of No Impediment.
• Both hindersprövning and the äktenskapscertifikat are valid for four months, so apply roughly three to four months before the wedding date.
• After a ceremony under foreign law you must notify Skatteverket yourselves, and it takes around six weeks before the case is assigned a case officer.
• Italy requires a nulla osta issued by the Swedish Embassy in Rome, based on documents no older than three months.
• Within the EU the multilingual standard form usually replaces the apostille, outside the EU an apostille or legalisation may be required.
• A symbolic ceremony abroad requires no foreign paperwork at all, provided you marry in a civil ceremony in Sweden first.

Frequently asked questions

Is a marriage entered into abroad automatically valid in Sweden?

The starting point is that marriages valid in the country where they took place are recognised in Sweden, but the registration does not happen by itself. You must submit the marriage certificate to Skatteverket, which examines the marriage and enters it in the population register. Exceptions exist, for example if either of you was under 18 or if you were not both present at the ceremony.

How long is the Certificate of No Impediment valid?

The äktenskapscertifikat is valid for four months from the date of issue. The same applies as a rule to the hindersprövning certificate. Apply roughly three to four months before the wedding so the certificate is valid on the day.

Do we need both hindersprövning and the äktenskapscertifikat?

No, it depends on the route. A wedding before a Swedish officiant requires hindersprövning (SKV 7880). A wedding under another country’s law requires, in many countries, the äktenskapscertifikat (SKV 7881). Some countries, like Italy, also base their own certificate of no impediment on the Swedish one.

Can we get married at a Swedish embassy?

In some countries there are Swedish officiants authorised by the government, sometimes at the embassy and sometimes through the Church of Sweden Abroad. You need to check what applies in the specific country, for example through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Church of Sweden. Hindersprövning is always required before the ceremony.

What does it cost to get married abroad?

The legal side is a small part of the budget. The big items are travel, venue, food and suppliers, and they vary widely between countries and seasons. Ask each supplier for a quote early, and remember that certified translations and embassy visits can add small costs and extra travel days.

Do we have to notify Skatteverket as soon as we get home?

There is no exact deadline, but do it as soon as possible. Until Skatteverket has registered the marriage, you remain listed as unmarried in the population register, which affects inheritance and the legal position of children you have together. Expect around six weeks before the case is assigned a case officer.

Is a symbolic ceremony abroad enough?

Yes, if you do the legal wedding in Sweden. The symbolic ceremony abroad has no legal effect and therefore requires no certificates, no local impediment checks and no contact with the country’s authorities. Many couples marry in a civil ceremony at Stockholm City Hall a few weeks before the trip and then hold the ceremony abroad exactly the way they want it.