Legal Requirements to Marry in New Zealand

Marrying in New Zealand

The legal side of marrying in New Zealand is refreshingly simple, and I take care of it for you. Here’s what’s involved.

The marriage licence

Every marriage in New Zealand needs a marriage licence. It costs NZ$158 (as of 18 June 2026), and you must apply at least 3 working days before your wedding. The application is done online through Births, Deaths and Marriages and takes about ten minutes — I guide you through it. Your licence arrives by email as a PDF and is valid for three months, so there’s a generous window around your date.

Who can marry

You must both be 18 or older (16 and 17-year-olds need consent). If either of you has been married before, you’ll need proof the previous marriage has ended — a divorce or dissolution order, or a death certificate. Your ceremony must be performed by a registered New Zealand celebrant, and I arrange a wonderful one for you as part of your package.

Witnesses

You need two witnesses, aged 18 or over. If you’re eloping just the two of you, don’t worry — witnesses are provided at no extra cost. Once the marriage documents are signed at your ceremony, you are legally married — your celebrant then lodges the paperwork with Births, Deaths and Marriages for you.

Visas

If you’re travelling from overseas, no special visa is required — an NZeTA (a quick online visa waiver, usually processed within about 72 hours) covers citizens of visa-waiver countries including the US, UK, Canada and Australia; others use a standard Visitor Visa. You simply arrive as a visitor — there’s no “wedding visa”. For anything visa-specific, Immigration New Zealand (immigration.govt.nz) is the right place to ask.

What happens the moment you’re married

At the end of your ceremony, five of us sign one piece of paper — the two of you, your two witnesses and your celebrant. It’s called the copy of particulars of marriage, and it takes about a minute. I’ve watched it signed on the bonnet of a car at the edge of a glacier, on a picnic rug in the tussock, and on a lakeshore with the wind doing its best to take the pen. It counts just the same in all of them.

From the second that page is signed, you are legally married. Not when the paperwork reaches Wellington, and not when your certificate arrives in the post — right then, standing exactly where you are.

Your celebrant gives you one copy to keep and sends the other to Births, Deaths and Marriages, which they must do within 10 days of your wedding. Births, Deaths and Marriages then registers your marriage in the New Zealand register. That’s the whole of your legal obligation on the day: sign your names, hug everybody, and leave the rest to your celebrant and me.

The copy of particulars is not your marriage certificate

This is the one thing couples most often get muddled, so it’s worth saying plainly.

The copy of particulars of marriage is the document you sign and take away on the day. It’s a lovely thing to keep, and it’s proof your ceremony happened — but it isn’t the document an embassy, a bank or an immigration office will ask you for.

The official marriage certificate is separate, and it’s issued by Births, Deaths and Marriages after your marriage is registered. It costs NZ$35 (as at August 2026), and most couples have theirs within about two weeks of the wedding. That’s the one you’ll use for a name change, a visa application, or registering your marriage back home. I order it for you, so it isn’t something you need to remember to do from the other side of the world.

Your marriage certificate, and recognition back home

A marriage legally performed in New Zealand is recognised in most countries. After the wedding I arrange your official marriage certificate — as a PDF (the fastest option) or printed and posted anywhere in the world. If you live in New Zealand, the certificate can even be pre-purchased with your licence so it’s issued automatically.

If your home country needs the marriage formally legalised, there are two paths: an apostille (for countries in the Hague Apostille Convention) or a two-step authentication (for countries outside it). Both are issued by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs, and I take care of the application for you — the documents are couriered to you directly from the government department.

Apostille or authentication — and why it depends where you live

If your home country asks you to prove your certificate is genuine, which of the two you need is decided entirely by your country, not by New Zealand.

• An apostille is for the more than 120 countries in the Hague Apostille Convention — the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, most of Europe and many others. It’s a single certification from the Department of Internal Affairs and that’s the end of it. It costs NZ$37, and there’s now an e-Apostille option that arrives as a secure PDF by email rather than waiting on a courier.
• An authentication is for countries outside the Convention — China, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Vietnam and others. It’s a two-step process: Internal Affairs certifies the document, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade or your country’s embassy adds its own layer. It starts at NZ$74 and takes longer, because an embassy is involved.

Standard processing is around 15 working days, with an urgent service available if you’re up against a deadline. (Fees as at August 2026.)

Most couples never need either one — your New Zealand marriage is valid at home without it. It only comes up when an official body asks to see proof. I’ve written the whole picture in do you need an apostille for your New Zealand marriage certificate?, and there’s a full walkthrough of the weeks after your wedding in what happens after you get married in New Zealand.

I don’t disappear after the wedding

My job doesn’t finish when you walk back down the hill.

After your wedding I stay with the paperwork until it’s genuinely done — checking your marriage has been registered, ordering your official certificates, applying for the apostille or authentication if your country needs one, and having everything couriered to your door wherever in the world that is. You’ll hear from me while it’s happening, and you’ll hear from me when it lands.

Plenty of couples have flown home, gone back to work and forgotten the paperwork existed. That’s rather the point.

None of this is anything to worry about — it’s my job to make it effortless. Get in touch and I’ll walk you through it.