Couple face France residency issue over marriage documents
Pair must find ‘transcription’ of South African documents
Prefecture staff asked for a ‘transcription’ from Ireland of the South African marriage certificate - then said the file was being closed as it was not provided
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A retired couple from the Pyrenees are facing an administrative hurdle after being told they must supply a ‘transcription’ of their South African marriage certificate.
The couple, who are Irish-South African and British-South African, have been seeking a residency card for the wife.
They recently settled in France, hoping to turn their former holiday home into a full-time residence.
Applying for the carte de séjour ‘membre de la famille d’un Européen’ is the standard route, with applications made to the prefecture via the Anef website.
Supporting documents include proof of sufficient means to support yourself, proof of the marriage, and of one partner’s EU nationality.
Civil partners may do this same, if they have a partnership recognised by France as similar to a Pacs, such as a UK civil partnership.
However, the couple say the prefecture staff asked, via Anef, for a ‘transcription’ from Ireland of the South African marriage certificate, then said the file was being closed as it was not provided.
'No ‘transcription’ system in Ireland'
Normally, for French administrative purposes, the key document for foreign birth, marriage and death certificates is a translation by a French sworn translator (traducteur assermenté) of the certificate.
Depending on the country that issued the document, you may also need to get this ‘legalised’ or ‘apostilled’ (certifications from the issuing government that it is genuine).
This is not needed, for example, for documents from the UK, but an apostille is required for documents from South Africa as well as, for example, the US and New Zealand; while, for example, Canadian documents must be legalised.
The husband said they had not initially had the document apostilled, having not understood this requirement, and had now rectified that.
He said further enquiries to the Irish authorities found that no ‘transcription’ system exists there. He added they will appeal the decision, attaching the new apostilled document.
“It’s a beautiful place here, and we’re really enjoying it, the only hiccup is this bureaucracy.”
The usual context in which ‘transcription’ applies is where a French person is married abroad. They should ask for their marriage to be ‘transcribed’ onto French consular lists for it to be recognised in France.
