Certificate of No Impediment
If you are getting married or entering into a civil partnership outside of England and Wales, different rules apply, depending on the country where your ceremony will be held. You may have been asked to provide a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI).
A Certificate of No Impediment is a certificate that confirms there are no objections to a proposed marriage or civil partnership, and is sometimes required if you are planning a ceremony abroad.
Before your ceremony can take place, you will need to consult the authorities in the country where you are planning to hold your ceremony to check what legal paperwork they require.
You may also need to complete legal paperwork in the country where your ceremony is to take place.
Your local register office can sometimes issue CNIs; however, they cannot be issued for all countries/nationalities due to the various legislation/treaty agreements between relevant countries.
If you are British national and a Hillingdon resident, and you have had it confirmed that you require a CNI from Hillingdon Register Office, please book your appointment online.
Book an appointment for a CNI
Important:
- When you attend to give notice, you must be able to state the locality, town and country where your ceremony will take place.
- You should also check if the certificate needs to be legalised - 'apostiled' - or translated. More information on the legalisation of a Certificate of No Impediment can be found on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.
- If you are marrying in an EU country and require a translated version of your CNI, you can order a Multilingual Standard Form from the General Register Office.
- The certificates have no expiry dates stamped on them, but different countries stipulate their own rules as to the validity of the certificates.