We married online through Utah while living overseas. Will Israel register the marriage?

Thousands of couples with an Israeli connection have now taken this route, and the ones asking from abroad usually have the same two reasons: neither of them can marry through the Chief Rabbinate, and neither of them wants to fly to Cyprus to fix it. A Utah County licence and a video ceremony solve the wedding. What they want to know is whether Israel will write it down.

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Detailed Answer

It will, and the position is now settled at the highest level. In March 2023, in AAM 7375/22, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the appeals brought by the Population and Immigration Authority and upheld the order requiring it to register couples who had married in an online ceremony solemnised in the State of Utah. Deputy President Uzi Vogelman reasoned that the Authority's role is not to review and rule on the validity of a marriage certificate, but to register a marriage document issued by an authorised clerk in a third country and bearing an apostille. That reasoning descends directly from the long-standing administrative principle that the registration clerk records what a foreign public document says. Section 3 of the Population Registry Law 5725-1965 marks the boundary of the exercise: an entry concerning religion, personal status or a spouse's name is expressly not prima facie evidence that it is correct. Registration therefore gives you the practical machinery of married status in Israel, and it does not settle how a rabbinical court or a religious authority will later characterise the marriage.

The mechanics are entirely manageable from overseas, which is the point of the route. Utah issues the marriage licence and the certificate; the apostille on that certificate comes from the Utah Lieutenant Governor, since US apostilles are issued at state level rather than federally. The certificate and apostille then need a Hebrew notarial translation, charged under the Israeli notarial fee scale at NIS 251 for the first 100 words and NIS 197 for each further 100. Where at least one spouse is an Israeli citizen or resident, the application is submitted either at an Israeli consulate in your country of residence or at a Population and Immigration Authority bureau in Israel through a representative acting under a power of attorney, and an updated teudat zehut showing the change in status follows. Budget four to eight weeks from a complete submission, and longer if the consulate has a backlog or queries the identity documents. If one spouse is not Jewish or not Israeli, registering the marriage is a separate question from immigration status, which runs on its own track. Our answer on whether a foreign marriage is recognised in Israel sets out the wider recognition framework, and getting an Israeli marriage certificate from abroad covers what you can obtain once the entry exists.

In Practice: Following the Supreme Court's March 2023 decision in AAM 7375/22, the Population and Immigration Authority must register a Utah online marriage evidenced by a certificate from an authorised foreign official bearing an apostille, issued in Utah by the Lieutenant Governor. Section 3 of the Population Registry Law 5725-1965 provides that the personal status entry is not prima facie evidence of its correctness. The Hebrew notarial translation costs NIS 251 for the first 100 words plus NIS 197 per further 100, and registration through an Israeli consulate abroad commonly completes in 4 to 8 weeks from a complete file.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• One spouse is seeking status in Israel on the strength of the marriage. Registration in the Population Registry and approval of a spousal status application are decided by different units on different criteria, and a registered marriage does not by itself open the graduated status process.
• Either of you has been married before. The prior marriage must be shown to have been dissolved in a form Israel accepts, and a foreign divorce decree usually needs its own apostille and translation before the new registration will be processed.
• You are thinking about what happens if the marriage ends. Dissolution is not the mirror image of registration in Israel, and the forum and procedure depend on the parties' religion and residence, which is worth understanding before you marry rather than after.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We assemble the apostilled Utah certificate, the notarial Hebrew translation and the consular or bureau submission, and act under power of attorney so neither spouse has to travel.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.