Marriage interview in France – Questions and tips

Planning to marry in France?

The french law requires the marriage interview ( also called pre-marriage interview) to take place in the presence of an interpreter at the town hall.

Our agency provides the face to face interpreters for interviews and weddings, since 2011.

Based on our experience, we have drawn up a list of typical questions asked during the marriage interview and also a list of interview tips that can help you in most interviews.

List of questions asked during the marriage interview in France in 2024

Don’t worry, these questions are purely formal and you’ll be able to answer them easily.

Questions about your spouse and his or her family

First of all, in the marriage audition questionnaire, several questions will be asked about your spouse’s identity and family, to see if you know them well enough:

• The personal data of each of the spouses (date of birth, address, occupation etc.)
• You may also be asked questions about your partner’s family: parents’ first names, sisters’ and brothers’ first names, occupation and place of residence.
• Do you know which region your future spouse comes from?
• What training or education has he or she completed?
• Do you know your spouse’s friends? What are their first names?

Questions about your decision to marry and your wedding plans

• Which of you was the first to talk about marriage?
• Who proposed marriage? When did it happen?
• Was there an engagement ceremony?
• What does marriage mean to you?
• Why did you decide to marry in France?
• Have your family and your partner’s family already been informed about the wedding? If not, why not?
• How has your future spouse’s family reacted to your decision to get married?
• How do you see your civil marriage ceremony at the town hall, who will be your guests, who have you chosen as witnesses? Will the foreign spouse’s family be able to come to France for the ceremony?
• Who will pay for the wedding expenses?
• How do you see your family in 10 years’ time, and what are your medium- and long-term plans?

Questions about how did you meet

Other questions you will be asked about your meeting, your exchanges since the meeting, etc…

• Where, when, how and under what circumstances did you meet? Was the meeting organised by a family or friendly intermediary?
• If the meeting was preceded by telephone exchanges – specify when, and by what means (Zoom, whats’app, ets…)
• How much time did you spend together to get to know each other and consider getting married?
• How many visits has the French spouse made to the foreign spouse’s country?
• If the foreign spouse does not live in France: how many times and for how long did he or she come to France and stay with his or her spouse? Who paid the related expenses?
• Does the foreign spouse have any family in France?

Questions about things you have in common and interests: yours and your partner’s

• What are your future spouse’s interests? What types of hobbies do they enjoy? Do you do them together?
• What do you like to do together in your spare time? How do you spend your time together?
• How would you describe your partner’s character?
• Describe their weaknesses, their faults, and their strengths, the character traits you like in them…

Questions about the couple’s plans after marriage

• Do you plan to continue living in France after the wedding? If yes: does the French spouse have the means to accommodate the foreign spouse? Does he/she have the means to support the foreign spouse?
• Where do you plan to live after the marriage, and is the search for new accommodation underway? Does the foreign partner intend to learn French and look for a job?
• If you are planning to go and live in your partner’s country after the wedding, you may also be asked to give details of your plans.

Interpreter in Paris for the marriage interview: rates and conditions

The town hall will ask you to hire an interpreter for the interview if the foreign spouse does not have a perfect command of French.

Our professional translators can accompany you to interviews and weddings in Paris, and also in any other city in France.

For marriage interview, the translator does not need to be sworn; the law states that a non-sworn translator (interpreter) is sufficient.

In terms of price, accompaniment to an interview by a professional interpreter costs from €250. This price is indicative and applies to the services of an English-French translator for a marriage interview in Paris and the Ile-de-France region.

Contact us to request a quote and to find out about our Packages for the services of a face to face translator (interpreter) who will accompany you at all the stages of your marriage in France :

• English French translator the pre-marriage interview
• English French face to face translator for the wedding at the town hall
• Sworn translator in Paris for the marriage contract signing at the notary’s office
• Certified English to French translation of the documents of the marriage record (Dossier de mariage)

Our interpreter will not only go through the interview with you, but will also give you invaluable advice and tips, as our official translators assisted hundreds of couples during their interviews, and we know the steps and pitfalls.

If you wish to hire a face to face interpreter for a wedding interview in Paris or the Ile-de-France region, we advise you to send us your request in advance, especially during the spring and summer, when the demand is especially high.

Our Tips for a successful interview / Mistakes to avoid

Above all, don’t worry. We’ve been accompanying mixed couples to marriage interviews in France since 2011, and we’ve never seen a marriage refused!

The procedure is fairly formal and the questionnaire for the interview is formal too.

Based on our experience, here are a few tips to ensure that your interview with the civil registrar goes off without a hitch:

• Don’t forget to update your social media accounts to reflect the status of your relationship. Usually, though, the civil registrar will never ask to see your social media accounts. But just in case…
• Gather all the evidence you can to prove that you are indeed a loving couple.
• Bring all documents such as airline tickets, hotel reservations, holiday photos, etc. with you to the interview and present them as needed. Again, in our 11 years of experience, the registrars have never once asked to show any evidence during the interview But still bring everything with you, just in case.
• Don’t be nervous and maintain eye contact with the registrar during the interview, smile, and try not to look stressed or tense. In most cases, the interviewing official treats future spouses very kindly.
• When answering questions, if you don’t know something, just say so, don’t evade. It is normal that you cannot answer in case of some strange question. Be sincere!

Don’t worry, the registrar will really not try to fail you. If you know basic information about your spouse, don’t even have any doubts, the interview will definitely go well.

We succeeded in the interview… What’s next?

Immediately after the interview (and in some cases a few days later) you will be asked to choose a day for your civil wedding!

Don’t forget that for foreigners the time between validation of the interview and the wedding date may be longer, because in between you’ll have the obligatory publication of marriage banns.

If one of you lives abroad, you will also need to publish the banns at the French embassy or consulate in your country.

For the banns, the mairie handles all the details, so you don’t have to worry about them. It may just delay the process a little.

Need an interpreter (translator) for your interview or wedding? You are in a right place!

Our official interpreters in France have extensive experience in interpreting during marriage interviews.

If you need an interpreter for your marriage interview or civil wedding, our official translator will help you with face to face interpreting, advise you and give you all the tips we’ve learned from the hundreds of interviews that we’d helped to conduct since 2011.

To hire our interpreter means to ensure a stress-free and worry-free marriage interview in Paris or other cities of France !

The author of this article

Marina Yulis