If you are marrying or having a civil partnership abroad you may need a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) and a Nulla Osta.

What is a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) and a Nulla Osta?

They are certificates which confirm there are no objections to your proposed marriage.

A Nulla Osta is the Italian version of the Certificate of No Impediment.

Do I need a Certificate of No Impediment?

Check with the local British embassy in the country you want to get married in.

If you live in the UK you can obtain a CNI from your local UK registrar.  

You should check with the relevant embassy to see if you need to get your UK CNI translated or legalised for it to be valid in the country where you wish to marry.

‘Legalised’ means the certificate needs to be stamped with an official stamp (an apostille) by the UK Legalisation Office. We can do this for you - see our Legalisation pages for more info.

We cannot issue certificates of no impediment for marriages in a Commonwealth country

I am getting married in Italy

You need to obtain a Certificate of No Impediment from your local register office and make an exchange for a Nulla Osta at the nearest British Consulate to where you are getting married in Italy. Follow the steps below.

I am marrying an Irish National

If you’re marrying an Irish national abroad you will not be able to obtain a CNI from a UK registry office. You will need to apply for it through our office in London. Your Irish fiancé/e should contact the Irish authorities to obtain  their CNI.

If you live in the UK but are getting married abroad you need to obtain a CNI from our office in London.

If you live overseas you will need to obtain a CNI from the nearest British embassy or consulate. Contact them for more details.

If you are marrying an Irish national in Italy then you will need to obtain a Nulla Osta as above.

Applying for a CNI to marry an Irish national through our office in London

Download the Certificate of No Impediment or Nulla Osta (if you're getting married in Italy) forms (PDFs)

We CAN’T accept personal callers so all applications are dealt with by post.

You’ll need to send us your original documents with two photocopies so we recommend you send them by special delivery.  

Please enclose a self-addressed, pre-paid special or recorded delivery envelope for their safe return.

We’ll send an acknowledgement letter and return your documents within or just after 20 working days.  

The application will then be forwarded to the relevant British Consulate who will issue you with a certificate in the local language. This is usually valid for three months.

Fees

The fee for this service is £59 but this is subject to change. You can pay by postal order or bankers draft, made payable to ‘The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’.  We cannot accept personal cheques.

Before you complete the form:

Step1:

You must publicly announce your intended marriage through a notice in one edition of your local newspaper.  
The application form includes a specimen with correct wording for you.  You should use this to ensure the announcement is correct.

Step 2:

You must swear an Affidavit in front of a Commissioner of Oaths. Again, a specimen affidavit is included in the application form.
If you’ve been previously married, delete paragraph four. The Affidavit should bear the official stamp of the Commissioner of Oaths.
Ensure you include original copies of all the documents on the checklist.

Please note:

Please take care to fill in the correct application form with full information, and to submit your application with all documents requested allowing good time for the application to be processed and your certificate to be returned to you (N.B. It takes at least 10 working days for an application to leave the UK and the certificate to return to us before we can forward it to you).

In complete applications will be returned, and we will not be held responsible for any resulting inconveniences.