Marruied to Bulgarian National- Registering our Marriage

[britishrick]

Hi all just wondering if anybody can help me please.

i am a british national married to a bulgarian national. we have been married since december and my wife has been told that for her to take my surname she must register the marriage in bulgaria. i have looked on the bulgarian embassy website but it doesnt say anything about time frames. my wife is under the impression she only has 6 months from our marriage date to register the marriage and change her name etc.... does anybody know if this is true and if so what is the best/quickest proceedure to do so as we now only have about 1 month to do this. any help would be greatly appreciated.

many thanks

rick

[John]

The two of you married in the UK?

Under UK law a woman can merely adopt her husband's surname, and does not mean special permission to do so. Having said that, neither is there any compulsion for the woman to adopt her husband's surname?

So what is the problem here? Bulgarian law? They are not recognising the (UK) marriage? And accordingly not recognising her new surname?

[britishrick]

thanks for your quick response john.
yes we married in the uk. apparently the problem is she cannot change the name on her passport etc until she registers the marriage in bulgaria. we can do it from the uk but as said previously she seems to think there is a 6 month period to do this. any more information would be of great help

[John]

Please appreciate that I know nothing about Bulgarian marriage law, or indeed passport law. Maybe someone from Bulgaria will post?

But as far as the UK is concerned, there is no problem her adopting and using your surname, even if her passport name has not changed.

[Kitty]

Like John I don't know anything about Bulgarian laws on marriage and name-changes.

This part of the Bulgarian Embassy's webpage looks helpful:

http://www.bulgarianembassy-london.org/ ... Itemid=180

[Gnosis]

This is quite old post but...
I think if you marry foreigner then register office where you got married should send one marriage certificate to the country of your spouse (to register office where she was born) that is the one way to register marriage.
At least that was in my case.
Second option should be through Bulgarian embassy to send translated marriage certificate or International marriage Certificate.
Third option is: if she has family there, they can ask and get all info she needs to register marriage in her homeland.

[John]

I think if you marry foreigner then register office where you got married should send one marriage certificate to the country of your spouse (to register office where she was born) that is the one way to register marriage.

A Register Office in the UK does not do that. They issue a copy of the marriage certificate to the couple that has just married, and it is up to them to do whatever is necessary to comply with any foreign law.

[Gnosis]

Thank you for correction and info John!
I made mistake not telling that I got married under Continental Law.