Trial period for legalising marriage and birth certificates

 BIRTH AND MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY THE GENERAL REGISTRARS OFFICE, UNITED KINGDOM.

In September 2011 the British Embassy in Cairo will work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a trial basis to make it easier for British nationals in Egypt to legalise the signature and seal of British birth and marriage certificates issued by the General Registrar’s Office. 
This trial is the first of its kind, and if successful may be adopted by British Embassies worldwide.
Why are we doing this?
We are looking to find alternative options for customers who are already in Egypt and find it difficult to access the service overseas.
Why is legalisation of GRO certificates needed?
Having accepted a job offer to work in Egypt, many British nationals bring their families with them to live here.  Local requirements need certain administrative tasks to be completed in order to obtain residency visas for your spouse and children. One of these is to get your marriage certificate and children’s birth certificates legalised. 
What does legalisation involve?
Legalisation of GRO documents is when the signature and seal of the certificate is checked against a vast UK-wide database in order to confirm the document is genuine.  That signature and seal is then formally confirmed through a process called legalisation.
The Embassy does not have access to this database, so currently the documents have to be returned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Legalisation Office in the UK.
So what happens during this trial process?
Instead of your returning the document to the UK, you will bring it to the Embassy.   We will scan the signature and seal on the document and send it to the FCO’s Legalisation Office, who in turn will check the UK database and confirm to us whether or not the signature / seal is genuine.  Upon confirmation, we will then legalise the signature and/or seal for you.
How will this work in practice?
Step 1
You bring the original birth or marriage certificate to the British Embassy in Cairo.  (Please visit our website for current payment and fee details – www.ukinegypt.fco.gov.uk).
You will need to tell us the name of the signatory on your certificate and the district in which it was issued.
Step 2
We will scan the relevant part of the document to the FCO’s Legalisation Office. 
Step 3
The Legalisation Office will check the signatures and respond to us within 5 working days.  
When the document is ready for collection we will try to either send you an e-mail or call you. Alternatively, after seven days, you can call us on 27916000.
And then what?
After we have legalised your document and you have collected it, you will need to take it to the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who in turn will legalise our signature and stamp.  Here are their details:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Orabi St, Mohandessin, Giza
When can you come to see us to try this out?
We are open to the public from 1000 - 1300 Sunday through to Thursday.  Further information, including directions to the Embassy, the cost of this service and information on any closures for public holidays etc, can be found on our website, www.ukinegypt.fco.gov.uk.
WE CANNOT
- We cannot legalise the document if we are not able to get confirmation from London.
- We are not able to provide certified copies of these documents.
- We are not able to provide a refund.
Disclaimer: The British Embassy accepts no responsibility if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Egypt does not notarise the certificate without the Foreign and Commonwealth Office legalisation.

British Embassy

Acquiring a copy of Criminal Record (Feesh wa Tashbee)

If a foreigner wishes to obtain an Egyptian ID card and Passport bearing a 'Western style surname' ( i.e husbands surname).
The applicant must obtain a copy of their Egyptian criminal record and take this along with the Egyptian birth certificate and Al Azhar Certificate to Abbaseya Segil el Medani.

Copy of the criminal record ( Feesh wa Tashbee )  must be obtained from the applicants local police station.
No appointment required and police will require a photocopy of the marriage certificate, Egyptian Citizenship Certificate and passport.
Applicant will then have their fingerprints taken digitally, and a webcam photograph taken.
Fee is 15Le and the process takes around 10 minutes and a copy of the criminal record is available for pick up next day.

Acquiring Egyptian birth certificate for Foreigners.

Possession of a valid Egyptian birth certificate is vital to obtaining Egyptian I.D and an Egyptian Passport for a foreign spouse of an Egyptian Citizen. You do not have to be born in Egypt to have this done. It is purely a formality.

see: Acquiring Egyptian I.D and passport

The Egyptian Birth Certificate must be acquired prior to applying with your Egyptian Citizenship Certificate (from Mogamma) at the Segil al Madani, Civil Registration Department at Abbaseya.

Egyptian Birth Certificate (see sample below)

Most police stations have a Segil al Madani Dept attached to them, where for 7Le you can have Birth certificates issued for yourself or family members.
The office at Abbaseya also has a Segil al Madani on one of it's floors.
It doesn't matter which Segil al Madani you go to to get your birth certificate. They are all on a central computer. The HQ is the Abbasseya one.

Once you have applied for your I.D. and passport at Abbasseya, you then have to wait approx 10 days before acquiring the Egyptian Birth Certificate at any Segil al Medani since it takes a week or so to show up on the national computers. You could wait those 10 days and get the birth certificate at the Abbasseya Office as you have to return there in the 10-14 days to complete your I.D and Passport application process, or get it at any Segil al Madani.

To get the Egyptian Birth Certificate the husband of the applicant must apply, showing his own I.D. No documents from the wife are required, as the information will already be on the computer system having been entered during the  Abbasseya visit to apply for Egyptian ID and Passport 10 days previous.

You can buy multiple copies and you should buy at least two copies as when you return to Abbasseya they will keep one original copy.

Acquiring Egyptian I.D with name change to husbands on Citizenship Card

Foreigners who marry Egyptian spouses who are applying for Egyptian Citizenship may face the problem of having the new Egyptian ID, Citizenship Card and Passport being issued in their maiden names. This is because the Mogamma ONLY rely on your marriage certificate as proof of right to citizenship and not your passport which may be in your new married name. The marriage Certificate will obviously be in your maiden name.

This will obviously result in you having two identities.

It can be overcome in three ways.

1. If you were married abroad, you simply re marry in Egypt. That way your new passport with your Egyptian husbands name as yours own now, will be used as proof of ID and the name on your Egyptian marriage certificate will be in your married and not maiden name.

2. If you plan to marry in Egypt and live in Egypt your only solution is when you convert to Islam .
 When you convert to Islam you are asked whether you'd like to change your name to an Islamic one. You can then choose any Islamic sequence of names you like and still keep your birth first name.
So pre marriage your name may be i.e. Mary Anne Brown.

You can now change that to Mary (then your husbands names) Mahmoud Lotfi Aziz etc. Then get married in Egypt in your new name and show your Conversion to Islam Certificate which MUST be legalized by the MOJ,to the marriage registrar also in the MOJ building.

3. If you are already married and have your Egyptian husbands name on all your documents, your Egyptian Citizenship will STILL be issued in your maiden name no matter what. The only way around this is to go to Al Azhar and convert, get the conversion certificate legalized by the MOJ in Downtown, then take this to Abbasseya Civil Registration Dept when you apply for your I.D and Passport. Because it has been legalized by the MOJ they will accept this and change the name from the Citizenship one used on your Citizenship Card to the new one onto your I.D and passport.

see : Converting to Islam in Egypt

Deed polls done in other countries are not acceptable proof to change names here in Egypt.

If you are a convert to Islam and have the Al Azhar Certificate with the new name on it and have that legalized at the Ministry of Justice, you can have your married name instead of maiden name on your new Egyptian I.D.

Once you have the Egyptian birth certificate, you need then to go to any police station and ask for your criminal record. When you first apply for I.D at Abbaseya your details are entered onto the central computer and after 10 days you can pick up your birth certificate. After those 10 days you will also be able to go to any police station and they will issue you with your criminal record sheet.


If you are changing name you MUST return to the Segil al Madani in Abbaseya and not your local one. The local one is only for applying for ID if you are NOT changing surname.
You must also get the Government Form 80 from the desk on the same floor of the Segil el Madani and complete it.
You then take the birth certificate, police criminal record, and Form 80 to the change of name desk at Abbaseya Segil al Medani with one photocopy of your Al Azhar Certificate. In 21 days you go back to the same desk and collect your notification of change of name which will have been issued by the court.

Acquiring Egyptian I.D. and Egyptian Passport

Wives of Egyptian spouses who have been issued Egyptian Citizenship, can be issued Egyptian I.D, and Egyptian Passports.

The wife of the spouse must have lived in Egypt as husband and wife in the same home for two years. The wife must have gained Egyptian Citizenship and have the Egyptian Citizenship Card. See here acquiring Egyptian Citizenship 

The process:

Take Egyptian Citizenship Card to any  Civil Registration Dept ( Segil Madani ), or you can take it to the  branch at Abbasseya, Cairo, 1st floor. (Public toilet is downstairs turn right and in the small shopping mall square.) (Male toilet is in the Registration office).

Husband will have to show his I.D. and provide the following:

Photocopy and original of Egyptian Citizenship Card (blue)

Photocopy and original of the letter from Mogamma which states you can apply for Egyptian ID ( this is given along with the Egyptian Citizenship Card to you).

Photocopy and original of marriage certificate.

Photocopy and original of wifes passport.

Photocopy and original of wifes birth certificate so that they can obtain wifes parents details.

If it is a second marriage you also have to provide original and photocopy of divorce absolute decree.

note: The Egyptian Citizenship Card will be based on your maiden name as this is the name on the marriage certificate and if you change your name after marriage this can be a problem as you will now have 2 identities. see: Name change on Citizenship

The Abbasseya Office will check all documents above and take copies and enter you onto the central computer system.

10 days later you can go to any Civil Registration Dept (Segil al Medani) and collect your new Egyptian Birth Certificate.
see: Acquiring Egyptian Birth Certificate

This Egyptian Birth Certificate must then be taken back to the Abbasseya Civil Registration Office, (the same desk as before) .

This office will now issue your new Egyptian I.D and Egyptian Passport.

Acquiring Egyptian Citizenship

Acquiring Egyptian citizenship is relatively easy for a foreign wife of an Egyptian spouse.

The process.

Go to Mogamma , Tahrir Sq, Downtown, Cairo.
Go to Residency Window on the 1st floor above ground floor.
Husband is required to fill in the application form.

Provide photocopies of:
marriage certificate (in Arabic)
husbands id card
applicants passport info page
page holding 3 or 5 year residency visa
3 photo's
(photocopy machines and photo booth are situated at the entrance to Mogamma on the ground floor)

All of this is handed in along with small fee for stamps.
The Mogamma also need to know your current address and YOU need to alert them if you move address.

In two years the Mogamma will send out by courier a letter reminding you of the application and to return to the Mogamma for the husband to declare that you are still husband and wife and living together. He will sign a document stating this.

Two weeks after this you will attend the Mogamma and collect your blue citizenship card.

With this card you can have Egyptian id and passport issued (see here)
Acquiring Egyptian ID and passport