Italian citizens in Belgium: help needed with certificate of unmarried status for legal cohabitation

[u/onewayCerberus]

Hi everyone,

I'm an Italian citizen living in Belgium and registered with AIRE, and I'm hoping to get some advice from fellow Italians living in Belgium who may have faced a similar situation.

I'm trying to register for legal cohabitation (wettelijke samenwoning / cohabitation légale) with my partner. For this procedure, I requested a certificate of unmarried status (certificato di stato libero) from the Italian Consulate.

However, when I submitted it to my gemeente, they told me they wouldn't accept a certificate issued by a consulate. They require one issued directly by my municipality of origin in Italy, along with a certified translation.

The problem is that I can't download the certificate through ANPR either, so I'm not sure how to proceed.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from other Italians living in Belgium who have gone through the same process.

• Were you able to obtain the certificate directly from your Italian municipality while registered with AIRE?
• If you couldn't download it through ANPR, how did you manage to get it?
• Did your gemeente accept an alternative document issued by the Italian Consulate, or did you have to obtain the certificate from Italy?
• Is there a specific procedure for AIRE residents in this situation that I might be missing?

Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[u/RosalieTheDog]

We needed the same certificate for recognising our daughter in Ghent. We had the inverse problem: the certificate of the Italian municipality we had obtained was not valid, because my girlfriend, who is Italian, was uninscribed from the municipality's stato civile and moved to the register of AIRE when she moved to Belgium. The consulate's document was valid for our city (Ghent). The gemeente needs to understand that AIRE apparently is in charge of the stato civile of Italians abroad, not the municipality.

[u/onewayCerberus → u/RosalieTheDog]

Thank you for sharing, indeed I agree: the issue I think is figuring out a way to make them understand LOL. Doesn't help that it seems from what I found in this link that what the lady at the gemeente said sounds true, namely:

If you are a foreigner living in Belgium, you can contact your embassy or consulate in Belgium for further information.
Confirmations of civil status issued by a foreign embassy or consulate are not regarded in Belgium as civil status certificates. 

I really hope it's not one of those burocracy traps very difficult to untangle

[u/RosalieTheDog → u/onewayCerberus]

What you can do is try to get that document anyway with a delega from your comune in Italy?

[u/onewayCerberus → u/RosalieTheDog]

Indeed that's what I'm going to try. What I fear is that since I'm registered in the registry of residents abroad (AIRE) now I'm locked out of the system in Italy. Hopefully that's not the case

[u/RosalieTheDog → u/onewayCerberus]

It is possible, but then you have a document to prove the Italian commune's certificate is less good than the Consulate's. I would also try and get the Consulate's telephonic advice, they might be able to help you further or intervene.

[u/rundown03]

My partner had to go to her embassy and then had it officially translated with the propper stamps.

[u/StandardOtherwise302 → u/rundown03]

Same here. Wasn't italy but another EU country. Had to go through embassy with wet stamps/signatures + official translation.

Also there is a maximum age for the document so dont take too long between getting it, translation and finalisation.

[u/Crypzzz]

What incompetence, it's all like they all invent their own rules. My wife from Romania received hers from the consulate in Brussels and had her birth certificate translated and apostilled. Everything was good to go. Please ask them to check again.

[u/mateusmarplatensis]

Hey. I am considering this in the future but not for now. Do you mind sharing an overview of the whole process? I also live in brussels with Italian citizenship. Any sort of guidance would be appreciated a lot!

[u/DeadlyExodus]

My gf is from the US and we needed the same for our legal cohabilitation, eventually declaration on honor was enough (verklaring op eer)