What is a Civil Partnership |The Law | General Conditions for Civil Partnership and Documents Required |
Making an Appointment for Civil Partnership | Subsequent Formalities | Fees | Attendance in Person |
The Civil Partnership Ceremony | Immigration Requirements | Changing of surnames following Civil Partnership |
Further Enquiries

• Civil Partnership Information Booklet

1. WHAT IS A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

A civil partnership is essentially the union of two people regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The Civil Partnership Act recognizes civil partnerships between two people, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, ratified by a binding contract through the signing of an official register. This means that both same sex-couples and opposite sex couples have the option of entering into a civil partnership so long as they are eligible to do so.

2. THE LAW

The Civil Partnership Act affords civil partners benefits/obligations relating to:

• Tax;
• Social security;
• Pension and property rights;
• Immigration rights; and
• Housing

To be eligible to enter into a civil partnership both parties must:

• be 16 or over (those aged 16 and 17 will require the consent of their parent/ guardian or an appropriate person as set out at Schedule 2 of the Civil Partnership Act);
• not already be in a civil partnership or marriage; and
• not be a within a prohibited degree of relationship (these type of relationships are set out in Schedule 1 of the Civil Partnership Act and include for example father/son and mother/daughter. Should you require more assistance in relation to this issue, please speak to the Registrar).

Under its provisions it is possible, by means of a Special Licence granted under Section 12 of the Act, for residents and non-residents alike to enter into a civil partnership in Gibraltar. It also enables a civil partnership ceremony to be conducted at approved locations outside the Registry outside working hours and at weekends.

If you are resident in Gibraltar and your intention is to enter into a civil partnership at the Civil Partnership Registry without a Special Licence, you will need to give 21 days’ notice of your intended Civil Partnership to the Registrar in order to allow for the exhibition of notice.

3. GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR CIVIL PARTNERSHIP AND DOCUMENTS REQUIRED

In order to enter into a civil partnership at the Civil Partnership Registry by means of a Special Licence, you must be able to satisfy the Registrar that you are free to enter into the civil partnership by completing affidavits and signing them before a Commissioner for Oaths or a Notary Public of your choice in Gibraltar. A list of registered Commissioner for Oaths or Notaries Public will be provided by the Registry upon request. Please remember however, that Commissioner for Oaths and Notaries Public will charge you for their services.

Non residents wishing to enter into a civil partnership in Gibraltar must provide the Registrar with documentary evidence that they will either be staying in Gibraltar at least one night immediately prior to or, immediately following the ceremony.

The Registrar will accept any of the evidence listed below;

(i) a hotel bill covering the night before the entering into the civil partnership;

(ii) a hotel booking form confirming that the night of the entering into the civil partnership is paid for;

(iii) a statement by a resident of Gibraltar, confirming that the parties spent the night before the entering into the civil partnership or will spend the night that the civil partnership is entered into as their guest at the relevant address (which must be specified);

(iv) another form of proof or statement confirming, to the satisfaction of the Registrar, that the parties to the proposed civil partnership have spent or will spend at least one night in Gibraltar immediately prior to or immediately following the entering into the civil partnership.

PASSENGERS OR CREW ON BOARD A PASSENGER SHIP

Note that there are two exceptions to the requirement that both parties entering into a civil partnership stay in Gibraltar at least one night immediately prior to or, immediately following the ceremony. The first applies where both parties to the civil partnership are passengers or crew on a passenger ship that is calling at Gibraltar and the parties enter a civil partnership whilst ashore in Gibraltar. Individuals wishing to avail themselves of this opportunity will need to present the Registrar with a letter or other form of official documentation from the passenger ship’s purser or other officer or administrator confirming that they are passengers or crew on the ship that has called at Gibraltar. The second is where the civil partnership ceremony takes place aboard a passenger ship.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED

ALL DOCUMENTS MUST BE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

DOCUMENTS THAT ARE NOT MULTI LANGUAGE CERTIFICATES MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED TRANSLATION INTO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE BY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

I) LOCALLY APPROVED TRANSLATORS IN GIBRALTAR
II) BRITISH EMBASSIES, OR
III) SWORN TRANSLATORS APPROVED AND ENDORSED BY BRITISH EMBASSIES

PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://www.business-directory-gibraltar.com/search/gibraltar/state-/city-/zip-/l1cy1-gbz_state1cy1-_city1cy1--zip1cy1-_name1cy1-translators-s1.html

In addition, persons wishing to enter into a civil partnership will have to prove their identity by providing the Registrar with originals of the following:

(A) SINGLE PERSONS NEVER HAVING BEEN MARRIED OR NEVER HAVING ENTERED INTO A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

• Passport, national identity card or other acceptable form of identity;
• Full birth certificate.

(B) WIDOWS/ WIDOWERS/SURVIVING PARTNERS

• Passport, national identity card or other acceptable form of identity;
• Full birth certificate;
• Previous Civil Partnership / marriage certificate;
• The death certificate of your late partner / spouse

(C) PERSONS WHO HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY MARRIED OR WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY ENTERED INTO A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

• Passport, national identity card or other acceptable form of identity;
• Full birth certificate;
• Final and absolute divorce decree or certificate of annulment of your previous marriage or a certificate of dissolution or annulment of your previous civil partnership.

(D) PRIOR CHANGE OF NAME

If you have changed your name in any way, you should produce evidence of your change of name.

(E) OTHER DOCUMENTATION

In addition to the above the Registrar may, at his sole discretion, ask for any other documents considered necessary.

4. MAKING AN APPOINTMENT FOR CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

To initiate the process you will, in the first instance, need to procure a booking for the civil partnership ceremony. You may do this either by attending our offices in person or by submitting a request by email or by post, including the required documents as specified above.

Note: Bookings are only guaranteed once payment has been received.

Public Counter Hours are:

Enquiries may be made by telephone during the following hours:

Gibraltar time is GMT+1 (winter) and GMT+2 (summer)

Our contact numbers and email address are as follows:-

Tel : 00 (350) 200 72289

Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You will need to indicate whether you wish to conduct the ceremony at the Registry or at one of the approved external locations listed below:-

1. The Caleta Hotel
2. The O’Callaghan Eliott Hotel
3. The Rock Hotel
4. The Dell – Alameda Botanic Gardens (between 1 – April and 30 October weather permitting).
5. The Mount
6. Top of the Rock – Mons Calpe Suite, Cable Car Station
7. The Queens Hotel
8. Sunborn Yacht Hotel
9. On board a passenger ship registered in Gibraltar of over one hundred gross tonnes and carrying more than twelve passengers

Civil Partnerships held at the Registry Office will only take place on weekdays between 09.00 and 14.00 excluding public holidays.

No Civil Partnerships will be held during the period between 22 December 2014 and 6 January 2015 inclusive.

Civil Partnership ceremonies held outside the Registry must comply with all of the conditions imposed by the Registrar. For example, receptions held at the same venue should be celebrated in a separate area from where the ceremony actually takes place. If you wish to enter into a partnership at one of the above external venues please note that it is your sole responsibility to contact the organisers directly, to make the necessary arrangements yourselves and to pay for any fees thereupon incurred.

Contact details are as follows:-

For further information about these locations and on Gibraltar generally, you should visit the Gibraltar Tourist Boards websites at:-

http://www.visitgibraltar.gi/

5. SUBSEQUENT FORMALITIES

Once your booking has been made and the required documentation found to be in order, payment will be required in order to secure your booking. However, before the licence can be issued and before the civil partnership can take place, the original documents need to be submitted to the Registrar and accepted by him.

Payment of fees (in sterling) may be effected in person or either by:-

A sterling bank transfer into the Natwest Bank (Gibraltar) account below:-

Or by credit/debit card - details to be supplied are as follows:-

Card number
Card expiry date
Card start date
Card issue number
Security code, i.e the number printed on the signature strip
Post code
Address

If payment is going to be effected by debit/credit card you should ask the Registry Clerk to send you the debit/credit card details form. This must be returned to us by email.

FEES

5. ATTENDANCE IN PERSON

Once the booking is confirmed, the next stage will be for the parties to attend our offices not later than 12.45 on any working day prior to the date of the ceremony to present the original documents, and apply for a Special Licence. This may be done at any time up to a maximum of 3 months in advance of the date of the ceremony, or as late as the working day before the date of the ceremony.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AFFIDAVITS MUST BE SIGNED ON THE DAY PRIOR TO THE CEREMONY.

In the case where original documents cannot be provided, certified copies of certificates bearing an original seal of the court or registry that issues the certificate or certified true copies of the original by a Notary Public or other person entitled in law to certify the authenticity of the document are acceptable.

You may make arrangements to order Civil Partnership certificates which you will need to pay for. The fee is £3.50 per certificate. If you wish certificates to be posted to you to an address outside Gibraltar, there is a further fee of £5.00.

Please note that certificates are posted at your own risk, and we will not be responsible for certificates that get lost in transit.

It is also possible to certify for legal purposes (apostille) Civil Partnership certificates, under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on legalisation of documents. If you wish to apostille your Civil Partnership certificate, you should make arrangements for this at the time you order your certificate. There is no requirement to apostille the certificate if it is to be used in Gibraltar, UK or USA. The fee for this service is £15.00 per certificate.

6. THE CIVIL PARTNERSHIP CEREMONY

The parties will need to make arrangements for themselves and their guests to be at the Civil Partnership venue before the ceremony is to take place. If the Civil Partnership is to take place at an external location, they might also need to arrange for transport to convey the Registrar to and from the Civil Partnership venue. If transport is required, arrangements are to be made when you come in to complete your paperwork.

Partners and their witnesses should be at the venue at least 15 minutes before the start of the ceremony. Delays in excess of 10 minutes may result in postponing the ceremony until the Registrar is next available.

Before the ceremony commences, you will be asked for identification (ie your passport, national identity card or any other identification document). You will also need to provide two witnesses for the Civil Partnership. Your witnesses may be related to either of you and/or to each other. They may be friends or colleagues but they must be able to speak and understand English and be over the age of 18 and acceptable to the Registrar.

During the ceremony both individuals entering into the civil partnership must sign the civil partnership schedule at the invitation of and in the presence of the Registrar. Your two witnesses will also have to sign the schedule. The Registrar conducting the ceremony will ensure that all formalities are complied with.

The ceremony is conducted in English. You should advise the Civil Partnership Clerk before the Civil Partnership booking is confirmed if you need the services of an interpreter. It shall be your responsibility to provide a suitable interpreter who is acceptable to the Registrar.

If you wish to make arrangements for a photographer, florists, event organisers or any other related services you may find the following link useful www.gibyellow.gi

7. IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS

IMPORTANT. If you do not reside in Gibraltar and you are not an EEA national you may require a visa to enter Gibraltar. The Registrar will be able to advise you on whether or not a visa is required. If you do require a visa, you will need to apply for one at the UK VISA APPLICATION CENTRES in your country of normal residence.
You must bear in mind that unless you have guaranteed returnability to either your country of normal residence or your country of origin, the issue of a Gibraltar visa may not be authorised. If you have any queries regarding visas for Gibraltar please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You should also be aware that Gibraltar is not part of Schengen. Therefore if you intend to travel to Gibraltar through Spain and return the same way, you should ensure that if you require a Schengen visa, this is valid for more than one entry.

8. CHANGING OF SURNAMES FOLLOWING CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

There is no legal requirement for either of the couple to change their surname upon entering into a civil partnership.

There are two options available to the couple that do not require a Deed Poll, which mirror the traditional rights afforded to married couples-

1. to continue using their names; or

2. one of the couple changes their surname to their partner's surname.

If one of the couple wishes to change their surname to the other's surname, the civil partnership certificate provides the necessary documentary evidence of the change of surname.

By sending the civil partnership certificate to all concerned, the person's documents and records will be changed to show the new surname.

Other changes to names, such as double barrelling may not be recognised by certain financial institutions and in such cases a Deed Poll will guarantee that the surname you choose will be accepted by everyone without question.

9. FURTHER ENQUIRIES

The Registry staff will endeavour to assist you as much as possible. You may address any further enquiries to:-

The Registry of Civil Partnerships
Civil Status & Registration Office
Joshua Hassan House
Secretary’s Lane
Gibraltar

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Revised : 24^th April 2014