Your Digital Marriage Certificate: Access and Use

If you marry in Singapore today, you will not be handed a printed certificate to frame. Since 25 September 2023, the Registry of Marriages (ROM) issues a digital certificate of marriage — a password-protected PDF emailed to you — and that file is the official legal proof of your marriage. The change caught many couples off guard, so here is exactly how to receive it, open it, prove it is genuine, use it, and get another copy if you lose it.

For the registration process itself, see our complete ROM guide; this page picks up at the moment the certificate lands in your inbox.

From hardcopy to a digital certificate

The enhanced Our Marriage Journey (OMJ) portal digitalised the whole process, from application to the certificate. Under the old system couples signed a hardcopy certificate on the day; now they are no longer legally required to sign one. Instead, after the ceremony ROM issues a digital certificate that serves as proof of marriage. ROM has issued the digital certificate for marriage applications submitted on or after 25 September 2023, and the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) followed in 2024.

This is not a scan or a convenience copy. It is the certificate — there is no separate paper original sitting in a drawer at ROM for you to collect later.

When and how you receive it

Your solemniser registers the marriage online through the OMJ portal after the ceremony. How quickly the certificate arrives depends on where you married:

• At a ROM site (the Registry or the Ficus Room @ Gardens by the Bay): your marriage is registered within the day.
• At an external venue (your own venue with an invited solemniser): you receive the digital certificate by email within a week.

It is sent to the email addresses you provided in your marriage application, so make sure those are correct and that you can still access them. If a week passes with nothing — including your spam folder — contact ROM rather than assuming it is lost.

Opening the PDF: the password

The certificate arrives as an encrypted file that needs a password, and ROM does not email you that password separately. You work it out from your own details, and the rule changed partway through, so check which one applies to you:

• Marriages registered after 30 October 2024, 6pm (Singapore time): the password is both partners’ dates of birth in DDMMDDMM format — the groom’s first, then the bride’s. If the groom was born on 5 February and the bride on 17 October, the password is 05021710.
• Marriages registered before that cut-off: the password is the last four characters of each partner’s ID number (NRIC or foreign travel document), groom first. For ID numbers S0000111A and S0000222B, the password is 111A222B.

Ceremonial certificate vs the legal certificate

Many couples confuse two different documents, so it is worth being clear:

• The ceremonial certificate is an optional keepsake. You can download and print it from your OMJ dashboard before the ceremony to sign for the occasion (ROM prints one for couples solemnising at a ROM site). It is a memento.
• The digital certificate of marriage is the legal document, issued automatically by email after registration. It is the one that proves you are married.

Signing a ceremonial certificate on the day does nothing to your legal status — the registration your solemniser files afterwards does. Keep the ceremonial one for your album; rely on the digital one for anything official.

Verifying the certificate is genuine

Because the certificate is a file that could in theory be altered, any organisation you give it to can confirm it is real. ROM provides a free “Verify digital document” service on the OMJ portal that checks a digital copy or extract of a marriage certificate, as well as digital marriage-record search results.

To verify, you (or the receiving party) enter the access code and the marriage certificate number shown on the document — or a search reference number, where that applies. If a matching record exists, the marriage details appear on screen, and you confirm they tally with the document in hand. The certificate also carries a QR code that links to the same check.

Opening and verifying the digital certificate. Source: Our Marriage Journey (ROM), as of October 2026.

Using it for official purposes

The digital certificate “can be used for official purposes” and “for transaction purpose” — HDB applications, bank and CPF matters, insurance, a name-change application, and so on. In practice you attach or present the PDF, and the organisation can verify it as above.

One convenience is easy to miss: for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, marital status on Singpass updates automatically after the marriage is registered. The certificate itself is not stored on Singpass, but because many government agencies read your status from the national records, you often will not need to produce the certificate at all for routine local transactions. You will still need the file for private institutions and anything overseas.

Getting another copy (duplicate or extract)

Lost the email, forgotten the password beyond recovery, or simply need a fresh copy? You apply for a duplicate online through OMJ e-Services (Civil marriage → Duplicate of marriage certificate), and a digital certificate is emailed to you — again, no hardcopy is issued. Self-help kiosks at the Registry can also take the application.

• Fee: non-refundable, S$50 for a civil marriage registered with ROM and S$40 for a Muslim marriage registered with ROMM, paid by credit card online or by NETS at a kiosk.
• Eligibility: the marriage must be registered in Singapore and the certificate issued a short while after solemnisation.
• Civil marriages registered on or after 15 September 1961 are handled through e-Services; for marriages before that date, a copy is obtained via the National Archives of Singapore.

Using the certificate overseas

If you need to prove your Singapore marriage to a foreign authority — for a spouse visa, an overseas name change or a property matter — two steps usually apply. First, get a digital copy (duplicate/extract) of the certificate; the overseas authority may be able to verify it by scanning the QR code. Second, if that authority requires the document to be legalised, you go to the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), which is Singapore’s sole Competent Authority for the Apostille/legalisation of Singapore public documents.

A few practical points from SAL for a digital certificate:

• You must print the document before submission — SAL does not print for you — and the printout must be an exact reproduction, including the header, footer, page numbers and borders.
• Make sure the QR code on your printout works; SAL verifies the printed copy against the digital version through it. Do not ask ROM for a “certified true copy” stamp when the document already carries a QR code.
• You submit an online request and pay, then attend the SAL counter during opening hours (no appointment needed).

Whether an apostille is actually required is decided by the receiving country, not by SAL, so check with that authority first.

FAQ

Do I get a paper certificate at all? No. Singapore issues only the digital certificate by email; hardcopies are no longer provided, even on request.

I never received the email — what now? Check the spam folder and that the email address in your application was correct. If it is genuinely missing after about a week, contact ROM; you can also apply for a duplicate.

What is the password if we married in 2026? Both partners’ birth dates as DDMMDDMM, groom’s first (for example 05021710). The older last-four-ID-characters rule applies only to marriages registered before 30 October 2024, 6pm.

Is the digital certificate valid for official and legal use? Yes. It is the official certificate of marriage and is accepted for official and transaction purposes; recipients can verify it free on the OMJ portal.

How much does another copy cost? S$50 for a civil (ROM) duplicate or S$40 for a ROMM duplicate, emailed to you as a digital certificate.

Where to go next

• ROM Singapore: the complete registration guide
• How to change your name after marriage
• Your marriage documents checklist
• A solemnisation-only wedding, explained