Goans pursuing Portuguese passport : How to do marriage registration in the Portuguese consulate

For the Goans pursing their Portuguese passport in a bid to enter Europe, and the world of opportunity that Europe offers, the Portuguese passport has been a godsend. For the newer generation born after 1961, however the procedure is a little arduous with the requirement of registering their parents first and then being eligible to apply.

The procedure therefore involves registering the birth of one parent in the Conservatoria in Portugal and then registering the marriage of the parents, thereby obtaining the 'Assento de nascimento" ( registration of birth) and the "Assento de Casamento" (registration of marriage) which subsequently enables those born after 1961 to be eligible to apply.

Untill a few years ago, the registration of birth was naturally followed by the registration of marriage at the Portuguese consulate in Goa. However a few years back, there has been a new requirement squeezed in,  which was not prevalent earlier. The Portuguese authorities have made it mandatory that the "Bilhete de Identidade" be made, in order to be eligible to apply for the registration of marriage. It may be noted that this is not the procedure followed in Portugal, where there is no need for the Bilhete to be made in order to apply for registration of marriage. Therefore for those directly applying through their representative or their attorneys in Portugal, there is indeed a saving of time which is lost in Goa.

After obtaining the Bilhete, one has to apply for an appointment with the Portuguese consulate in Goa. The email address  to apply for the marriage registration is app.marriage@goa.dgaccp.pt. In this email you need to mention your name, address, telephone number or mobile and most importantly scan your Bilhete copy and attach it to your email and send it to the email address.

The Goa consulate which receives the email will then send you a reply with the date of appointment which may be anywhere in between 2 months to six months from the date of your email depending upon their appointment schedule.

You need to therefore prepare the requisite appointments just a month or 3 weeks before the appointed date provided there are no correction related problems with your papers which would take more time. The documents prepared carry a validity which is best used if the documents are prepared closer to the appointment date. So a period of three weeks before appointment date is comfortably ideal.

The following documents are required by the Portuguese consulate in Goa to apply for the marriage registration.

1) Bilhete de Identidade - Original copy only - Not to be attested
2) Assento de Nascimento ( the one who is registered in Portugal)
3) Civil marriage Teor
4) Church Marriage teor
5) Original Indian Passport of the spouse
6) Birth Certificate (Teor) of the spouse

Only Item No 3,4 and 6 need to be attested with the Notary, collector and the Home department. If any of these three documents are in English, they need to be translated in Portuguese and those translations also need to be attested by all the above.

The attestation fees currently levied by the Portuguese consulate per document is Rs 719 while certifying originals is Rs 163. The cost of the marriage registration process is approximately Rs 6,600. Depending on your number of documents ( if there are translations ) , it is safe to carry an amount of Rs 13,000 (marginally on the higher side) to the consulate to take care of all the other fees of certifying other copies of Bilhete and Indian passport etc.

The marriage registration process has unfortunately not been specified any time period and may take anywhere between 4 months to six months after applying. Follow up is therefore the key.

Wishing Goans the very best in their quest for claiming the Portuguese nationality. For a complete list of posts on the help offered on this blog for the Portuguese passport process, CLICK HERE.

For any enquiries, kindly leave comments below.