Getting Married in Singapore as a Foreigner

Singapore is a popular place to marry, and foreigners can register a civil marriage here. The process is the same Our Marriage Journey (OMJ) flow covered in our complete ROM guide, with a few extra requirements that depend on nationality and immigration status. Here is what changes when one or both of you are not a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident.

The 31-day residency rule

This is the requirement foreign couples most often miss. Where either party is a foreigner, at least one of you must have been physically present in Singapore for 31 continuous days before the Notice of Marriage is filed. The key details:

Card summarising foreigner marriage steps: 31-day residency, S$380 or S$42 fee, MOM approval, PMLA for SC and non-resident couples

The extra steps for foreign couples. Source: Our Marriage Journey / MFA Singapore, as of October 2026.

The 31 days exclude the day of arrival.
They must be continuous, but need not be immediately before you file — an earlier single trip to Singapore that met the 31 continuous days counts.
Only one party needs to meet it.

Keep the entry and exit stamps in your passport as evidence; the Registry asks for them.

The fee

The licence fee turns only on citizenship or residency:

S$42 if at least one of you is a Singapore Citizen or PR.
S$380 if both of you are foreigners.

As with all official fees, reconfirm on the OMJ portal before paying.

Work Permit holders: MOM approval first

If you or your partner currently hold a Work Permit (including a Training Work Permit), or last held a Work Permit as your Singapore work pass, and are marrying a Singapore Citizen or PR, you must obtain Ministry of Manpower (MOM) approval before submitting the Notice of Marriage. Approval is not required if the former holder now holds — or last held — an Employment Pass or S Pass, or has since become a Singapore Citizen or PR. This is a separate step from the ROM process, so build time for it into your plan.

Letter of No Impediment and documents

If both of you are foreigners and neither resides nor works in Singapore, each of you must provide a Letter of No Impediment to Marriage (also called a Certificate of No Impediment or Nulla Osta) from your home-country authority or embassy. If it is not in English, it must be translated and authenticated. If either non-resident foreigner currently lives, or lived for more than six months during the previous five years, in a country other than their country of origin, ROM also asks for marital-status records from that country. The Singapore ROM itself does not issue such a certificate for foreigners marrying abroad. Check the OMJ portal for the exact documents for your nationalities, and allow time for overseas authentication.

Planning to live in Singapore afterwards

If a foreign spouse intends to live in Singapore after the wedding, the route depends on your situation — and marriage alone does not grant entry or residence:

A Singapore Citizen marrying a non-resident can complete ICA’s Pre-Marriage Long-Term Visit Pass Assessment (PMLA) before the wedding. It gives an early indication of whether an LTVP is likely (not a guarantee), and completing it can cut the later LTVP processing from up to six months to about six weeks.
A PR marrying a foreigner should check ICA’s spouse-of-PR LTVP route — PMLA is not available for this case.
Where both of you are foreigners, immigration status depends on an independent work, dependant, student or other eligible pass; there is no PMLA/LTVP route from the marriage itself.

A quick summary

The sequence for a couple with a foreign partner is usually: confirm the 31-day residency, get MOM approval if a Work Permit is involved, gather any no-impediment documents, then file the Notice of Marriage at least 21 days — and no earlier than six months — before the date. Everything else — solemniser, venue, the S$42 or S$380 fee — follows the standard ROM process.