All legal Marriages in Uganda must be Registered at Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB). From Civil marriages to Moslem marriages, Church Marriages, Customary marriages, and Hindu marriages

Now that I am a husband let me tell you about how to go about a civil marriage, yes you can visit the URSB website which doesn’t break down everything, you can go to the URSB offices, and I assure you then you will experience Uganda in its full African sense, and how everything happens by god’s grace. Their social media DMs reply after the wedding and their telephone line is never answered.

 

A civil marriage is monogamous in nature and celebrated in the office of the Registrar General for residents of Kampala and in the offices of Chief Administrative Officers CAO who come to the office when they wants like most local government civil servants for the other 120 districts. Merrymaking of Civil marriages is governed by the Marriage Act, Cap 251.

 

The procedure for Ugandans is dissimilar for foreigners because of the pricing aspect, they pay more than us, just like they do for everything else from education to health care and rent and sometimes even tomatoes in the market. So National Identification Cards or passports are required to substantiate citizenship. An LC 1 Letter to prove one of you is a resident of the district the marriage is going to be. A passport-size photo of the groom and bride. Both the bride and groom should provide valid identification for their adult witnesses.

 

This bit is very Ugandan as they are, you must provide a registered marriage affidavit that conforms to Section 10 of the Marriage Act. This can and should be done by lawyers of your choice and that is what we did twice and the chaps at URSB kept on telling us it was not it, the third time I went to the Registrar of oaths and I was advised to be Ugandan. Ask officials at URSB to get you a lawyer to do it for you and leave them with the resources to facilitate the affidavit to save time and legal fees.

 

There are situations where Certified copies of Divorce Decree Absolutes or death certificates shall be required for those who have experienced life and what it rides.

 

There is a figure on the URSB website of UGX 260,00/- Please disregard it and let me break down what you need to pay with bribes inclusive. Payments are made in any bank and my breakdown of costs has bank charges factored in.

Assessments are generated on the Uganda Revenue Authority URA website, this means a Tax Identification Number TIN is key to this whole expense procedure.  On the URA personal portal, Tax Head should be Uganda Registration Services Bureau, drop-down Civil Registration Department, drop-down Marriage Under Marriage Act • Filing notice of marriage national UGX 12,300/- • Marriage in Registrar Office National UGX 202,300/- • Registration of Civil marriage National UGX 27,300/- • Issuance of Civil marriage certificate National UGX 27,300/-

Tax Head, Uganda Registration Services Bureau drop-down Business Registration Department drop-down Registration of Documents drop-down Stamp duty documents of no monetary value-documents register 3 copies UGX 32,300/-

Then ask them to recommend for you a lawyer to do the affidavit which will cost about UGX 150,000/- an amount that is way lower than most lawyers charge.

 

There is an old man at the reception that has mood swings as though he is a kindergarten fellow, its sad that I am joking about Bipolar but never mind him, never give him a penny they are more reasonable people to talk to even if he is the one who provides the Notice form, accompanying documents, and receipts to be submitted to the Registrar of Marriages in Kampala.

 

Then in a few days, you should check the notice board at URSB’s 2nd floor the Notice of Marriage that is published for 21 calendar days, which after a date can be selected between Monday and Friday within 90 days for the marriage to happen. On the selected date you just have to show up early since it’s on a first-come basis however much again late comers tend to pay to skip the line in a Ugandan fashion of things.

 

Basically, that is it even if an issue came up on the wedding day but I had invited a legal person to be around in case of drama since I was tired of withdrawing ka extra money for no reason. I wonder what they do to foreigners because it’s assumed they have money.