Marriage signifies a legal union between a mature male and female to constitute a permanent
life team. Marriage is constituted by the agreement and free will of the parties and becomes
effective when declared as provided under the Family Registration Act. Marriage is divided
into legal and civil marriages. The majority of the world's states, including Korea,
have enacted a legal marriage law.
The marriage partners should declare their marriage
Marriage is declared to the office of the city or township where the husband
or wife maintains a permanent or current domicile. Marriage between Korean
nationals living overseas may be declared to the nearby Korean diplomatic mission.
Marriage becomes legally effective upon its declaration. No specific deadline is provided for marriage declaration.
Marriage is declared by a written statement signed by the two contracting parties and two mature witnesses.
If either marriage party is a minor or otherwise requires the consent of his/her parents or
a legal guardian, the guardian should sign on the marriage declaration form after
indicating their consent, address and name in full in the spaces provided on the form
or should attach a written and signed consent to the marriage declaration form.
Family register duplicates should be attached to the marriage declaration form as documents required to support the marriage declaration.
When declared in Korea
When a Korean national marries a foreigner, the marriage should be declared with
the Korean government as provided under the Family Registration Act, although
the statutory requirements for the marriage are regulated by the law of the
foreigner's home country. Therefore, the foreigner should attach to the marriage
declaration form documentary evidence of his nationality (family census duplicate copy,
birth certificate, passport copy of certified duplicate of identity register)
and documents (issued by the home country's government or overseas mission)
evidencing the parties' capacity to marry or legal requirements,
as provided under Article 76 of the Family Registration Act.
When marriage is declared overseas
When a Korean national marries a foreigner in the foreign country under
a marriage certificate prepared according to its law, a duplicate copy
of such a certificate should be submitted to the Korean diplomatic mission
in the region within one month or may be submitted to the head of the
family registration office in Korea by mail or in person.
When a Korean man marries a foreign woman
When a Korean man marries a foreign woman, the foreign woman does not obtain
Korean nationality by declaring their marriage. The marriage details
should be indicated in the identity space of the husband's family
register becomes separate after deletion from the parent's family
when the husband wants to have his own separate family register)
and should be later indicated in his family register when the wife
declares her naturalization.
When a Korean woman marries a foreign man
WWhen a Korean woman marries a foreigner, a new family register is
constituted with her indicated as the family head rather than entering
the foreigner into her parents' family register.
The marriage declaration is indicated in the permanent
domicile space. When it is difficult to correct the new permanent
domicile, however, the existing permanent domicile may
be treated as the new permanent domicile.
#211, Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel. +82.2.793.8878 /
web@seoulapartment.net
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