My husband and I met though mutual friends in late 2009 and only started dating a year later at the end of 2010. In March 2011, we decided to get married. But as the threat of him being transferred back to Japan or to another country loomed over our heads, we decided to get registered as soon as we could and have the wedding reception later in 2012.
In Malaysia, getting registered - even to a non-Malaysian- is relatively easy.
What we had to do:
1. Obtain the marriage application forms from the National Registration Department (NRD), known locally as 'Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara' (JPN).
2. Obtain proof of my husband-to-be's marital status. He obtained this by getting a copy of his family register translated and attested by the Japan Embassy in Malaysia and certified by the consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Wisma Putra) in Putrajaya.- This wasn't difficult in as much as it was time consuming for us.
3. Submit the application form together with the following documents at an NRD office in the city one or both of us we residing in:
- My Malaysian identity card
- My husband's passport and a photocopy of the page containing his personal details and arrival date in Malaysia
- One coloured photograph for each of us measuring 32 mm x 38 mm and taken against a bluebackground.
- Proof of his marital status
4. Pick a date for our registration- We were told we could choose to have the registration at the NRD office or at some other venue of our choice; the only catch was that the latter was subject to the availability of the Registrar and at a minimal fee. We ended up choosing to have it at the NRD.
5. Turn up on the selected date with my identification card, his passport, two witnesses, friends and family to share that special day with us and RM20 for the marriage certificate.
We did a little bit of running around while getting all the documents in order, but all in all it was a pretty painless process. So after we handed in our documents all we had to do was wait for our selected date...20 June 2011.
** For more information on what you need to bring or do to register a marriage in Malaysia, please refer to the official NRD website: http://www.jpn.gov.my/en/servicesmarriageordivorce
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