Saudi section: My husband didn't ask permission to marry me,?

Question

and he didn't register our marriage or the birth of our children. Will it be a problem? I'm an American citizen and he's Saudi. We live in the U.S. and had our Islamic marriage four years ago, but got married by the court three years ago. We have two children. We plan on moving to Saudi in about two years inshallah. Are my children automatically citizens, or could they have a problem because my husband didn't ask permission to marry me. Any info on this and suggestions on what I should be doing would really be appreciated.

I don't know if any of this makes a difference in his getting permission. I'm a Muslim convert, but I have a paper from the Masjid of my conversion from years before I met my husband. I also have an Arabic name from birth (dad is Lebanese) and it's not a Christian sounding name, so it would not be obvious that I wasn't Muslim from birth. And like I said, I'm an American citizen...

thanks.

Answer 1

Your husband will have to get your marriage approved before you are able to come to KSA.  It's not that much of a problem that he didn't ask for permission first.  If he would have asked, they would have said no.  Having 2 kids together really helps a lot.  You should be approved easily after 5 years of marriage with children.  It also really helps a lot if you know someone in the gov't.  Being a convert makes no difference to them, but they will need the shahadah certificate from your u will basically need everything listed on the embassy's website for the residence visa.  Also, your husband needs official copies of everything also to submit to the gov't here.  

If you need to call the embassy for information, make sure that you talk to the Citizen Section because the other people won't be able to help you.  It's also frustrating calling the embassy because half the time they don't pick up the phone.  You may spend hours just trying to get through.  Also, some of the people working there won't be helpful at all.

http://saudiembassy.net/Travel/VisaReq-R...

Your children are Saudi.  I'm not sure of the process, but you should call the embassy and ask them how to register your children's birth as Saudi citizens.  Depending on their age, they may or may not get the official birth certificate.  But, they should at least get a temporary birth certificate.  Here they issue the official birth certificate after the MMR has been done, and they need to see the vaccine certificate.  So, maybe you will need a note from your pediatrician's office with your children's vaccine schedule.

Chal-Please contact me if you would like more detailed information about the process or experiences from other women married to Saudis.

Answer 2

Islam needs two witness to get marry all paper work is adopted to avoid any legal complications lateron. Islam is the religion of nature and its not for any specific class if paper work would have been compulsory in Islam to get marry tell me what a person will do say who lives in far african place where no one ever holded a pencil even? though wherever Islam will go it will take the light of Quraan and Sunnah with it raising the general level of education I am from Pakistan and i know many people who could read and write only because they learnt Quraan thus if every muslim teaches Quraan to its child which is quite common i think Illetracy will be fought a lot....the problem is that Islam has now been captured with many quacks who are misleading people for their own political benefits and fame using the name of Islam other wise if you ever see a Hafiz(the one who learnt Quran by Heart) student at school he would be the most intelligent in the class cuz he already learnt more than average students of his class.

Answer 3

wont be a problem , but its gonna be a lot of work (from wat i heard)  n i kno SA goverment is the slowest n so unorginazed

n n if ur kids were born in US then its gonna be a longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg time for them to be considered saudi citizen unless they give up on american citizenship but i dont recommend this

Answer 4

Saudi Arabia takes forever to do things.  They take anywhere from 6 months to 1 year to get a residance visa for a Saudi man's wife and kids.  You do realize that if you divorce your husband in Saudi Arabia, he gets automatic custody to the kids, and the USA Embassy WILL take your kids away from you if you try to take them out of the country?  The Saudi man needs permission from his Government to be married to a USA or UK woman, and he has to be 35 years old and up.  USA is the ONLY Country in the world to give automatic citizenship rights to children born in the country.  Saudi you have to live there for 5-10 years.

Answer 5

you can do it.. it will take a lot of paperwork. many long and frustrating visits to Riyadh from your husband, but it can be done..

Why? my mother for one.. she's american citizen and my father Saudi.. Took all of 3 years go get the paperwork through the right channels.. Of course if you know someone who knows someone of importance, things go a lot quicker.

Also identical situation as yours. My mother married my father in USA both through the courts and masjid. She had converted before marriage, has the certificate from the masjid. and also gave birth to my elder brother while in USA.. (I was however born in USA, but later and after she went to SaudiArabia and back for a visit, different circumstance).. But anyways.. There were some problems cause he didnt ask permission prior.. But it took some interviews by the officials. and the fact my brother was born, helped things. when a child is involved.. And children born to a saudi father are automatically saudi's.. All the father has to do is take the US birth certificate and file it in SaudiArabia and its done, that is the easy part..Oh and they dont give up their US citizenship.. they have dual citizenship (great little perk).. but yes it will take some time and red tape for you. Be patient, it will eventually get approved but take a long time.. Goodluck!

Answer 6

They usually give people a hard time especially if the man deliberatly left the country for marriage purposes. For students in the US who end up marrying Americans, it can be much easier, providing they arent that young ( early twenties ).

I heard now they arent as strict with the age thing..

It can be frusterating though, but in the end it can be done. Id suggest he starts working on it now.

If you know someone it can be done quicker.