Getting the marriage recognised in Belgium, Spain or Quebec

What these countries' official pages say about a marriage celebrated in Morocco. Procedures change often: always check with your commune or consulate.

Updated 28 October 2026

The apostille

Morocco has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 August 2016: a Moroccan act can be apostilled rather than legalised for countries that apply it too.

HCCH: status of the Apostille Convention

Belgium

• The substantive conditions follow each spouse's national law; the form follows the law of the country where you marry.
• Belgian consulates do not celebrate marriages.
• A recognised foreign act, legalised or apostilled and translated if needed, can be registered in the BAEC (civil status database) by the civil registrar of the commune of registration.

FPS Foreign Affairs: marriage abroad (updated 10 March 2023, in French)

Spain

• The Spanish consulate in Casablanca says the certificate of capacity to marry is needed before the wedding; without it, the marriage could not be entered in the consular civil registry.
• Spanish consulates in Morocco cannot celebrate a Spanish-Moroccan marriage: under local law, it is done before adouls.
• Moroccan documents must be translated into Spanish and apostilled.
• That document cites the old civil registry law, replaced in 2021: confirm with the consulate.

Consulate General of Spain in Casablanca: marriages (PDF, in Spanish)

Quebec

People domiciled in Quebec who married outside the province can apply to have the act inserted in Quebec's register of civil status; a foreign act is not necessarily recognised otherwise.

Québec.ca: civil status documents

Read on 28 October 2026. This guide summarises those pages; it does not replace advice from your commune, consulate or a lawyer.