I'm Married. Who's My Husband?

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Amidst all the paperwork we are pleased to have finally received our new and improved marriage license in the mail. The one with the required Apostille stamp on it as our regular one doesn't work when completing UDI information.

UDI is an important part of being an expat and living in Norway. It's especially important everything is done right. I've decided to document everything with the UDI process because I think a lot of people in hopes of moving to Norway and some expats who have already moved find this all a bit confusing. Believe me, it is confusing! I just hope to share some of my own experiences with this as I know it's probably the same as a lot of expats and I think it's something we can all learn from.

Right now it's actually funny to try to explain to people how all this works. We are legally married, but there's a catch to it.... I am legally married in the United States, BUT I'm married to an unknown person. I am not married in Norway because I currently don't exist in the legal system, so I don't count. Arild isn't married in Norway, but he is married in United States although he is the unknown person. Whew! So all in all, I am the only one of us who is legally married in some sense until we get this paperwork figured out! 

Now that the appropriate marriage license came in we can at least let the authorities of Norway know Arild is married and get the needed paperwork for him sorted. 

This is what an apostille looks like, granted they will differ from state to state.
In order to complete UDI paperwork it is needed to have this with a birth certificate
no more than 3 years old and another apostille with a marriage license if you're married.
An apostille is taken care of by the secretary of state office.


Luckily my birth certificate has finally made its way here, but I received the wrong one. In order to get an apostille on a birth certificate, I was told by the secretary of state office (who handles apostille stamps) it must be a state birth certificate, not county. When I ordered the birth certificate the first time they sent it through the wrong state, this second time I e-mailed asking questions assuring the document would have things necessary so I can get an apostille on it, but nope apostilles can't be used on county certificates which is what I was sent instead of the correct one. We're back to square one trying to get a birth certificate and hopefully (crossing my fingers and toes!) getting it correctly now.

This is the follow up post to UDI...

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