Can a pastor or minister in the USA legally perform a wedding in Canada?
I will be removing tied together in 2010 as well as vital in Illinois. Since we am the Canadian, we suspicion it would be good to get tied together in Canada. My fiance’s father is the priest in Illinois as well as we would similar to him to go my marriage in Canada. So we theory we am asking, who can legally perform the marriage in Canada as well as where can we get report about Canadian/USA weddings?
November 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
This past summer, our pastor was married in Canada.
He is an American, the bride a Canadian. The pastor’s brother (who is also a pastor and also an American), did the wedding right up to the part about declaring the couple husband and wife. THEN a Canadian pastor stepped in and did the rest, including the signing of the register and all the legal documents.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
Contact me via e-mail if you want more details and contact info for the pastors involved.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Probably not. Even in the US an ordained clergy person can’t just automatically perform a legally binding marriage ceremony in any state s/he wants. they have to be licensed where they will be performing the ceremony.
He’ll need to find out Canada’s requirements for being a wedding officiant. The best bet would be for him to contact the local court clerk’s office where you will be getting married to find out if he can be licensed in Canada. If he can’t then you may have to have a civil ceremony and then have him perform the religious ceremony.
congrats and good luck.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I think he would have to be registered with the specific province you would have the ceremony in. Because he is a pastor, it might be a simple process to have him approved to have him do the ceremony, but you should contact that provincial government.
My mom is a pastor and she is only legally entitled to perform marriages in Ontario, where we are from. But that might just be because that is where she did her training and was ordained. I’m sure once you are legally allowed to do it in once place, it is an easy process to register to do it in other provinces/countries.
Best Wishes!
November 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
The administration of vital statistics is a Right of the Crown in Provincial Domain — meaning that the rules are set by Provincial governments and vary from province to province. Each provincial government maintains a website where you can read the rules. In all cases, marriage officiants need to be registered with the province. In most provinces, Civil Marriage officiants are restricted to a list of government-recognized officials; but religious marriage officials are somewhat more open. The important word there is "somewhat".
Religious marriage officials are not so free to operate in Canada as they are in the United States. They must still register with the government and receive authority from the government to perform marriages, and in most provinces they must be part of a religious institution or society that is formally recognized by the government. For example, one cannot be a pastor of "Jimmy-Joe’s Internet Church" and successfully register to perform marriages in Canada. Web-based ordinations do not fly here.
Even if the pastor is ordained by a respected American denomination, some provinces require that he or she be a member of a church that is registered under that province’s Religious Societies Act (or equivalent), and/or that he or she be a resident of that province. However, depending on the province, it is quite possible for all the ceremony to be conducted by a guest pastor provided that a licensed marriage officiant is present. In that way, your fiance’s father could celebrate the wedding under the auspices of a local pastor from the same denomination.
Which province did you want to get married in?
November 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am
No, unfortunately he can only officiate weddings in the state in which he’s registered.
I’m Canadian and I married an an American in Canada (with a Canadian pastor). What information are you looking for regarding Canadian/American weddings, specifically? I will tell you this though, we chose to have our wedding up here because there was a lot less "red tape". There we’d need a K1 Fiance visa, and I’d have to live there for awhile without leaving the country… it got complicated. Up in Canada, all he had to do was show his passport when we got our license. Easy. Add details to your question about what you want to know and I’ll answer more if I can.