husband stuck in Port au Prince

[new_at_this]

What is the process for appealing a decision made by a consular official at Port au Prince regarding whether a person's marriage is legitimate? Where does a person appeal to? What sort of documentation to provide?

Thanks very much for your help.

[vinny]

If you got married in Haiti, then

General Information Regarding Civil Registry

The following civil records are available in two forms. At the time of registration, a hand-written certificate on official, stamped paper is issued by the registrar of the section in which registration takes place. The record is also entered into an official register, which is transferred to the National Archives in Port-au-Prince, usually after one year. Once this transfer occurs, a transcript of the record, known as an extrait, can be obtained from the National Archives. Official, double-folded, stamped paper first must be obtained from the Bureau de Contributions for a fee. The National Archives prepares requested extraits on the official paper according to the fees specified below. The interested party must have an original certificate or must know the year and place of registry. An extrait usually takes three days to process. Same day service is available for an additional fee.

Original certificates are extremely difficult to verify. When there is doubt about the identity or the relationship in question, an extrait should be requested as well as secondary evidence. All extraits should bear two different seals, the signature of the Archives Director and a dry seal. All alterations to the original text are authorized by judgment of the Tribunal Civil and are recorded on the reverse of the front page of every extrait. Such alterations are usually based only on the statements of two witnesses and have frequently proven fraudulent. Any questionable documents may be sent to Port-au-Prince for verification and/or investigation.

........

Marriage Certificates

Available. Marriage certificates specify whether the ceremony was civil or religious. Extraits can be obtained from the National Archives as specified above. There may be a fee for this service. US dollar fee applies only to requests by mail from overseas.

See also MARRIAGE OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS ABROAD