Marriage License

Hours & Location

Offices open and close promptly at the hours below. Allow enough time to pass through security. Parties without all necessary materials — such as proper identification — before the office closes will need to return on another day.

Hours: 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

Application Procedure

To schedule an in-person appointment or begin the virtual process, go to nyc.gov/Cupid. The general steps and rules are:

• Before your appointment, begin the application online via City Clerk Online.
• You and your prospective spouse must complete the application by appearing at the Office of the City Clerk for a scheduled appointment — in person or virtually — together and at the same time.
• Proxy marriage is not permitted in New York, so no other party may apply on behalf of either spouse.
• Your marriage license will be processed.
• Carefully read your license to make sure there are no mistakes.
• Take the license with you when you leave, or receive it by digital download in your Cupid account after a virtual appointment.
• You must wait a full 24 hours before your marriage ceremony can be performed, unless you obtain a judicial waiver. Contact the NYS Supreme Court for availability of a judicial waiver.

Submitting to the Beis Din

Required Information

You will need the following to fill out the marriage license application:

• The application is an affidavit where you and your prospective spouse must list your name; current address; city, state, ZIP code and country; country of birth; date of birth; name and country of birth of your parents; Social Security number; and marital history.
• When you sign the affidavit, you are making a sworn statement that there are no legal impediments to the marriage.
• If you were married before, you must list all prior marriages, including your previous spouse's full name; the date the divorce decree was granted; and the city, state, and country where the divorce was issued.
• All divorces, annulments, and dissolutions must be finalized before you apply for a new license.
• You may be asked to produce the final divorce decree.
• If your spouse is deceased, you must provide such spouse's full name and date of death.

Proper Identification

You and your prospective spouse must each have one form of proper identification in order to apply. State law also requires documentation of proof of age; since all forms of proper identification are also acceptable proof of age, no additional documentation is needed. Expired identification is not accepted. Originals or certified copies only.

• IDNYC
• Driver License with photograph (from the U.S. or any of its territories)
• Non-Driver Identification Card with photograph (U.S. or its territories)
• Learner Permit with photograph (U.S. or its territories)
• Active United States Military Identification Card
• Passport
• United States Certificate of Naturalization (valid 10 years after date of issue)
• United States Permanent Resident Card
• United States Employment Authorization Card

Name Change Options

Various surname or middle name options are listed on the back of the application.

• You must state your choice of surname or middle name on the application. If you elect a change, it takes legal effect at the conclusion of the marriage ceremony.
• The name change option does not apply to your first name.
• To change your surname or middle name through this office after your ceremony, you must remarry.
• Although you may correct mistakes in your Certificate of Marriage Registration, a surname or middle name choice is not considered a mistake and cannot be changed through the amendment process.

Duplicate Marriage License

• If you obtained a license in person and it is lost, stolen, or mutilated, you must obtain a duplicate in order to get married.
• The fee for a duplicate is $25 by credit card or money order payable to the City Clerk.
• Either prospective spouse may apply by scheduling another in-person appointment and completing a duplicate marriage license affidavit.

Under the Age of Eighteen

Those under 18 are not permitted to marry in the State of New York. Any marriage in which either party is under the age of eighteen is prohibited. Any town or city clerk who knowingly issues a marriage license to a person under eighteen at the time of their contemplated marriage shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, fined one hundred dollars.