Thx for your responce. I will be having these 2 documents legalized by the Russia Consulate in Ottawa. I am hoping on not having to travel to Moscow to get more documents. Maybe someone who has married in Russia can also give me their input. I will be in Arkhangelsk.
I can give some general info as to process in Moscow but from personal experience my opinion is that no-one can tell you in advance how it will work in regions. I do not know how or what documents from elsewhere will work or be accepted.
In Moscow you would have to do the following steps:
-get the statement sworn at Embassy in Moscow. If scheduled in advance takes less than an hour.
-take that doc to consular department of foreign Ministry (not far from Embassy) to be legalized. Roughly five business days (note that department has specific hours and may have days not open to public). Key here is that I do not know if possible in other regions - Foreign Ministry has 'representative offices' in most regions, but no experience with them (if they can do e.g. legalisation, it
may require sending back and forth to Moscow, I've no idea.
-ZAGS in Moscow - there are now many ZAGS that can marry foreigners (there used to be only one), the one near the foreign ministry office for example knows the process. There is a ~30-day waiting period, which the Head of the office can waive, and will usually do (no guarantees) if there are documented reasons such as travel tickets; a written request will usually be required. You'll still need to book a specific time for the ceremony, just a function of slots available (there are busy seasons and quiet seasons). One will also need things like notarised translations of passport info page, can be obtained from almost any notary office.
Now the key part: ZAGS offices in other regions in theory will follow the same process and require the same documents, but from simple lack of familiarity may be more cautious and delay or even refuse to do certain things. Or they may be very understanding and helpful. No-one can say in advance. How to resolve such issues on the ground in the time frame you have may or may not be possible, the local foreign ministry rep office may or may not be helpful, etc. (A friend tells the story that a regional ZAGS official read the Embassy-sworn statement carefully and even though legalised by the foreign ministry indignantly declared "all this document says is that you declared there is no impediment to marriage! How can that be a legal document?"). Sometimes with bureaucracy one can demand to see the instruction documents or requirements (or the relevant laws or regs) and show them what you have is correct, but sometimes that approach is seen as aggressive and confrontational and meets resistance.
If your future spouse is in Arkhangelsk, the local ZAGS
may be willing and able to help clarify in advance exactly what is needed. The one in Moscow I dealt with had a binder of requirements for every country and were helpful when I asked in advance (during a less busy period).
Sorry this lacks specifics that you can act on in advance except prepare, prepare, be prepared for minor surprises and have a back-up plan. As another poster in this thread experienced, one acquaintance simply got married in Canada where the process was very simple (after experiencing delays in Russia), but they already had visas to Canada.
Hope this helps.
we also preferred one of the countries of the Caribbean
