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Varangian

I am a Canadian planning to marry a Russian women in Miass, which is in the Ural Mountains near Chelyabinsk. I sent her a statutory declaration that I am unmarried, a marriage search letter from my province of Ontario, and a "Statement in Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment for Marriage Abroad" from the Canadian federal government, and other required documents. The boss of the Miass ZAGS told my fiancee that none of these documents would suffice, and that she must produce the proper document stating that I am unmarried. Canada does not supply a certificate of non-impediment, which is why I got the Statement in Lieu... which states this. There must have been some Canadians who were able to marry in Russia. Does anyone have any advice? We were expecting to marry this June 24th.

Intourist · Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:01 pm Post subject:

Tough one. Sometimes the local ZAGS can be infuriatingly thick-headed, especially out in the provinces. Your situation might be because they're just obstinate idiots who don't understand the situation (that they're doing for the first time) or because they want a little palm-greasing. Your fiancee should consider that possibility.

If it's the former, however, and not the latter, might I suggest contacting the Canadian embassy in Moscow (or if they have a consulate somewhere nearer to Chelyabinsk) and enquiring what they do ? The US embassy is usually at least able to assist in obtaining certain documentation through it's "American Citizen Services" bureau. I imagine the Canadian embassy has something similar.

Hope that helps just a little.

Brent · Lounge Lizard Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 91

Steps to Russian marriage:
1. WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN RUSSIA YOU HAVE TO REGISTER YOUR RUSSIAN VISA WITH
YOUR RUSSIAN SPONSOR OR THE HOTEL WHERE YOU STAY IN RUSSIA (without
valid Russian visa and registration with the Russian authorities you
will not be able to get married in Russia and will not be accepted by
the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

All foreigners are required by Russian law to have their visas
registered within three days of arrival. The registration has to be
done by your Russian sponsor, or the Russian company which invited you
to come to Russia, or the Travel agency (if it is a tourist visa) or by
the hotels where you are staying. The Embassy cannot assist in this
case.

2. OBTAIN A MARRIAGE LETTER STATING THAT YOU ARE FREE TO MARRY AT THE
CANADIAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW, 23 Starokonyushenny Pereulok, Main entrance,
Consular Section. We accept clients every day, except Saturday and
Sunday and statutory holidays, from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to
16:00. Tel 105-6000. Embassy web site: www.canadianembassy.ru The
Marriage letter will be issued for you in English and Russian. The
transliteration of your name should be identical to that on your
Russian visa. The cost is $CAN 50, or the equivalent in rubles (1200
rubles), or US$ (40).

3.OBTAIN AN OFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF THE INFORMATION PAGE OF YOUR
PASSPORT. The necessary translation can be obtained at any certified
translation centre that has a Russian notary public present. A
translation made by the Canadian Embassy is ALSO acceptable. The cost
for such translation done by the Embassy is $CAN 15 or the equivalent in
rubles or US$.

4. HAVE THE SIGNATURE OF THE CANADIAN CONSUL/VICE CONSUL ON A MARRIAGE
LETTER AUTHENTICATED AT THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS of the RUSSIAN
FEDERATION (has to be submitted to the Ministry by a Canadian citizen
ONLY IN PERSON). PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT WITHOUT THE STAMP OF THE
RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS A MARRIAGE LETTER WILL NOT BE
ACCEPTED BY THE RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES.

This service is performed by the Department of Legalization , Consular
Services of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian
Federation, at Moscow, First Neopalimovskiy pereulok, 12a, nearest metro
station "Part Kultury", then 2 stops by trolleybus # 10 or #B at the
direction of Smolenskay Square . Telephone: 244-37-97. The hours of
operation are Monday - Thursday, 10:00 to 12:00 and 15:00 to 17:00 and
Fridays - from 10:00 to 12:00 and 15:00 to 16:00 (tel 244-3797). . The
procedure takes 5 working days and costs 150 rubles (about 5 US
dollars). Telephone 244-3797. One day service IS NOT AVAILABLE and
service hours and processing time may change without notice.

5. GET MARRIED AT THE CIVIL REGISTRY OFFICE (ZAGS) After completing the
first fours steps, please contact any local Marriage office (ZAGS) in
the place where your fiancee is residing /registered (in Russian this
abbreviation means - Zapis Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya). In Moscow
we recommend you to contact the Marriage office at the following
address: Palace of Weddings (for foreigners) , 17 Butyrskaya St. Moscow,
Telephone 285-1960, 285-7988, 203-5292 where you have to submit the
above mentioned documents and your passport. The ZAGS will issue a
Marriage certificate for you once you get married. It means that your
marriage is legal for Canada.

6. Once you are married, you may contact the Immigration Canada for
information about family class sponsorship for your spouse, or
Immigration/Visa web site: www.cic.gc.ca.

7. The Russian authorities will issue a Marriage certificate for you
which has to be properly legalised to be valid in Canada.

1 ) . First step - go any Russian Notary to legalise the document .
Make a notorised copy of the document. Then make a certified translation
of the Marriage certificate (by any of the translation service into
English or French).
2 ) . Second step - the signature of the Notary public has to be
authenticated by the Russian Ministry of Justices (Ministerstvo
Yustitsii)

3 ) . Third step - the signature of the Russian Ministry of Justices has
to be authenticated by Legal Department (part of the Consular services)
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia (see address above).

4 ) . The Canadian Embassy in Moscow, Consular Services or the Canadian
Consulate in St Petersburg will authenticate the signature of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia (Legal department). The cost is 50
Canadian dollars or you can pay equivalent in US dollars or rubles. Only
after that your Marriage certificate issued in Russia will be valid for
Canada.

IF YOU HAVE ANY CANADIAN DOCUMENTS (IT CAN BE, FOR EXAMPLE, A DIVORCE
CERTIFICATE or any other document issued in Canada) YOU WISH TO USE IN
RUSSIA, PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY DOCUMENT ISSUED IN CANADA IS NOT VALID FOR
RUSSIA UNTIL IT IS PROPERLY LEGALISED. IT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN CANADA,
CANNOT BE DONE IN RUSSIA, EVEN CANNOT BE LEGALISED BY THE CANADIAN
EMBASSY IN RUSSIA. PLEASE DO EVERYTHING IN CANADA BEFORE YOU COME TO
RUSSIA.

HOW TO LEGALIZE CANADIAN DOCUMENTS (CAN BE DONE ONLY IN CANADA).

1ST STEP. Document notarized in Canada. The proper procedure is to have
the document notarized by a notary in Canada.

2nd STEP. Authentication of the notary`s signature. The notary's
signature must then be authenticated by the Lieutenant-Governor of the
province in which the notary is commissioned (requests for such
authentication are usually channelled through the Deputy Provincial
Secretary of that province or, for Quebec, by the Secretary of the Board
of Notaries in Montreal).

3rd STEP. Authentication of authentication`s signatures. Done by the
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Legal
Advisory division. DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS & INTERNATIONAL TRADE
CANADA, LEGAL ADVISORY DIVISION (JLAC), 125 SUSSEX DRIVE, OTTAWA,
ONTARIO, K1A OG2 TEL:(613) 995-32-54, 995-0119 Director Mr. D. W. Smith
Mr. Mario Nunes Suarez

4th STEP. Authentication of the DFAIT's signature: Done by the Russian
Embassy in Canada (Ottawa) or the Russian Consulates in Montreal or in
Toronto. Cannot be done in Russia.

5th STEP. Please do not forget to make translation into Russian language
by any certified tranlator as documents in other languages are not
accepted in Russia.

ONLY AFTER THAT A CANADIAN DOCUMENT WILL BE VALID IN RUSSIA.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Natasha Bulgakova
Consular Assistant
Consular Section, Canadian Embassy
23 Starokonyushenny Per, 119002 Moscow Russia
7-095-105-60-69
Fax: 7-095-105-60-51
e-mail: natasha.bulgakova@international.gc.ca

Varangian · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 8:25 am Post subject: Thanks

Thanks for the responses. Intourist, my fiancée Olga did visit the ZAGS office bearing a large and expensive box of chocolates. As for a real cash bribe, I don't know. It seems that the especially evil thing about bribery is that the officials who expect bribes aren't polite enough to come out and ask for them. They just pretend they are only following official policy as they make your life miserable, and it's up to you to figure out when and how and how much to offer. Olga is aware of this possiblility, and it's hard for me to advise her.

I especially appreciate the detailed information posted by Brent. I had already tried to contect the Canadian embassy in Moscow, but I haven't heard back from them yet. I'm still not sure what I need to do, or whether the marriage letter mentioned in Brent's post is the same thing as what I have already got. Another thing is that Miass is very far from Moscow, and my flight doesn't even stop there; I'm booked to fly directly to Ekaterinburg from Frankfurt. So going to Moscow to arrange the marriage would be extremely expensive and inconvenient.

Time's running out. For one thing I have to apply for a visa, and figure out what transliteration I am going to use. The "Statement In-Lieu..." has a transliteration of my name I don't like, but I would have to use it on my visa to be consistent, if I can actually use the "Statement..." somehow.

wavetossed · WayToRussified Joined: 27 Jun 2004 Posts: 339

Your big mistake seems to be that you did not get apostille on those documents. You should make sure that every one of the documents is translated by a translator that is approved by the Russian embassy in Ottawa. And every one of the documents must be apostilled.

AND MOST IMPORTANT!!! You must not tamper with any of the documents in any way after the apostille has been attached. Just bundle them up and send them to Russia.

And make sure your girlfriend keeps taking a gift every time she visits but make sure that she does not OFFER any cash bribes directly. Right now there is a crack down on corruption in the South Urals and while this has the most impact in the cities of Chelyabinsk and Ekaterinburg, I'm sure that every bureaucrat is being more careful these days. Discreet treats tend to fly under the radar.

Varangian · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 4:20 am Post subject: Apostilles

Thanks, Wavetossed. However, Canada has not yet joined the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Therefore I cannot certify my documents by apostille. I received my "Statement in Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment for Marriage Abroad" from the Canadian Deparment of Foreign Affairs, and had a translation done that was certified by a notary public. This certification was authenticated by the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the whole thing was legalized at the Russian consulate in Toronto.

I really think that I didn't miss any steps, and other than some quibbles about the precision of the translation, there's nothing wrong with the document. It's the only thing available to me in Canada, other than marriage search letters, which are done by the provincial government, and only state, in a confusing way, that they can't seem to find the marriage certificate I was looking for in a certain five-year period. They say nothing about whether I've been married in a different province or country.

My Olga is facing off with the Miass ZAGS chief once again tomorrow morning. I have advised her to be humble, contrite and pleasant, but she says that she has always attempted this, and predicts that she will be screamed at on sight. So it doesn't look good, and Olga's only new idea is to threaten the clerk with a lawsuit, including all my costs to gather my documents, and the cost of travelling to Moscow and being married there. She doesn't anticipate that she would win such a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, I foolishly bought my airplane tickets before arranging my visa. I finally got around to ordering the visa, which had not been any trouble last year. I used a Toronto agency. However, I got a tourist visa last year, and this year I wanted a business visa, since I plan on staying longer. I didn't realize that I would have to register with their business in Moscow on arrival, which is no good since my flight arrives in Ekaterinburg without landing in Moscow.

Also, I was told that it is now difficult to have either Miass or Chelyabinsk on my itinerary, because they are considered high security areas due to the military factories there. I was planning on basically spending all Summer in Miass with Olga.

Will true love ever triumph over bureaucracy? I'll let you know. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

wavetossed · WayToRussified Joined: 27 Jun 2004 Posts: 339

Whoa!

If you have a business visa then there is no itinerary. You can go wherever you want to except for closed cities where even Russians can't go. I have been in Chelayabinsk twice, most recently in January. And I have been in Zlatoust, near Miass as well. And I have taken a bus from Ekaterinburg to Zlatoust that passes within about 4 km of the closed city of Ozersk where every one of Russia's nuclear weapons is hauled every 10 years or so for refurbishment. Fortunately, last year Putin announced that Russia will be building some new nuclear missiles. These new ones will be able to be refurbushed in situ rather than hauling them to one central point that is vulnerable to terrorism and theft. In any case, it is interesting to see the road signs around Ozersk because there is no hint whatsoever that there is a second town just 1.5 km beyond the small town of Kyshtym. Everybody knows that it is there, they even have a virtual American consulate in the town.

Get the Russian consulate in Toronto to write an official letter to ZAGS in Miass, explaining that these are the official documents for a Canadian citizen. That should help you, and Olga.

And don't worry about registration. You can either do it directly at OVIR in Miass after you get a letter from your visa support agency. Or you can simply spend a night in the hotel Layner at Eburg airport before returning home so that you have at least one stamp in your visa. It's a business visa so nobody is likely to hassle you. And if they do, tell them you were travelling around. Actually, why not take your girl to Chel for a couple of days. Stay at hotel Malakhit so you are close to the restaurants downtown. Or if you are there in the summer, stay at lake Smolino on the edge of Chel.

The worst that can happen is a small fine on exiting Russia because you made a paperwork error. It is not considered a criminal matter. It's like filing income tax returns late.

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