EPISODE 2.7 — MARITAL STATUS DOCUMENTS
Israel recognises four civil marital statuses: single, married, divorced, and widowed. If your actual status is one of these four, you are in the right country. If your actual status is something more complicated — a domestic partnership, a civil union, a separation that has not yet become a divorce — you will need to have a conversation with the Jewish Agency about how your situation is classified and what documents are required.
For everyone making aliyah, you must document your current marital status. The specific document required depends on which of the four categories you fall into, and each carries its own requirements.
If you are single and have never been married: you need a certificate of single status. This is an official document confirming that there is no record of you having been married. In the UK, this is sometimes called a Certificate of No Impediment or, in the context of international documents, a statutory declaration of single status. It requires an apostille. The process for obtaining it varies by country: in the UK, it typically involves making a statutory declaration before a solicitor, which is then apostilled through the FCDO. In the US, single-status requirements vary by state; some states issue single-status certificates and some do not, in which case a notarised and apostilled affidavit declaring your single status is the standard substitute. In Canada, requirements vary by province. Your Aliyah Advisor or account manager can direct you to the specific process for your country and state.
If you are married: you need your civil marriage certificate, apostilled. See Episode 2.5 for the full details of this document. Remember the post-September 2024 requirement that the certificate must state the pre-marriage status of both parties.
If you are divorced: you need both your original civil marriage certificate and your divorce decree or decree absolute, both apostilled. The marriage certificate establishes that you were married. The divorce decree establishes that you are now divorced. Both are required. If you have been married more than once, you need the complete paper trail: marriage certificate, divorce for the first marriage, marriage certificate for the second marriage, divorce for the second marriage, and so on. The Jewish Agency needs to understand the full marital history.
If you are widowed: you need your civil marriage certificate and the death certificate of your deceased spouse, both apostilled. The death certificate must be the government-issued civil death certificate from the country in which your spouse died, not a funeral director's document or a religious record.
A note on the post-September 2024 rule change. This requirement applies to your own marriage certificate, not just your parents'. If you made aliyah after the 30th of September 2024, your marriage certificate must state your pre-marriage status and your spouse's pre-marriage status. If the certificate issued in your country does not include this information, you will need to make a sworn notarised statement confirming this information, which must be apostilled.
One common question: does a civil partnership count as a marriage for aliyah purposes? Israel recognises only the four statuses listed above. A civil partnership registered in the UK or in a US state will generally be treated as equivalent to marriage for the purposes of these documents. A domestic partnership or cohabitation arrangement without formal legal registration is a different matter. If you are in any civil partnership or equivalent arrangement, discuss it explicitly with your account manager.
Finally: do not leave the marital status document until last. Particularly for divorced applicants, assembling the complete paper trail for every marriage can be time-consuming if any of the marriages took place in another country or if the records are old. Start early.
