Cuban Church Marriage Certificate

It is the record or certificate of a canonical marriage celebrated in a Catholic parish in Cuba. It certifies the church union of the spouses, recording the date, place and witnesses.

It is commonly requested for validating or transcribing a marriage, for later marriage files, for family recognition procedures, or to evidence family and Hispanic ancestry.

• ·Locating the entry for the marriage in the church's sacramental register in Cuba.
• ·Issue of the original certificate signed by the parish priest.
• ·Legalization at the chancery of the relevant diocese or archdiocese.
• ·Consular legalization in Havana at the diplomatic mission of the country where the document will take effect, such as the Spanish Consulate.
• ·Secure postal delivery into your hands.

Important legal note: as a church document, it is neither processed nor legalized through MINJUS. International legal validity comes solely from the archdiocese legalizing the parish priest's signature, followed by legalization at the consulate of the destination country.

• ·Full names of both spouses.
• ·Exact date, or approximate year, of the church wedding.
• ·Name of the church or parish and the town in Cuba where the marriage took place.

Where this procedure gets stuck

These documents are not issued by the state but by the parish or diocese that holds the entry, and every archive works to its own timescales and in its own way. Finding the right register is half the job, especially when a parish has changed its name or its records have been moved. And if the certificate is going to be used outside Cuba, it then needs whatever legalization the destination country requires: without that, it only carries weight within the Church.