Civil marriages in Israel are officially possible through Utah and Zoom without leaving the country.

We got married on a Friday night. Over a laptop. And it was the best decision of our lives.

Photo: Cristi Bucurie | Dreamstime.com

My name is Mikhail, and my wife—now my wife—Yulia, is 34. We've lived in Tel Aviv for seven years. We're both immigrants, both non-religious. And for a long time, we both thought civil marriage in Israel was something out of the realm of fantasy.

Because everyone around was saying the same thing: “In Israel, you can’t get married without a rabbi”; or: “Go to Cyprus”; or: “Well, live like that.”

We lived like this for five years. Not because we didn't want to go official. But because the rabbi option was categorically unacceptable to us. Flying to Cyprus for just one signature seemed absurd, and the topic civil marriages in Israel every time I hit a wall.

How We Learned About Online Marriage in Utah

By chance. Yulia was reading some forum about repatriates and stumbled upon a discussion thread. People were writing about how they'd registered their marriages in the US state of Utah. Via Zoom. Without leaving Israel. And the Ministry of Internal Affairs acknowledged it.

I honestly didn't believe it. I said, "This is some kind of shady scheme." Yulia said, "Keep reading."

It turns out that in March 2023, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Interior to recognize such marriages equally with marriages registered in Cyprus or the Czech Republic. Official decision, official instructions, official registration in the population registry.

civil marriages in Israel through Utah This isn't a loophole. It's a fully-fledged legal mechanism that the state is obligated to recognize.

How did it all go?

We called and received a consultation—free, no pressure. They explained our situation. They explained the process: passports, application, ceremony date, Zoom, certificate, apostille, the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

No certificates. No mountain of money transfers. Just passports (since neither of us had previous marriages).

We chose a date for Friday evening, specifically to create some atmosphere. Yulia wore a dress, and I wore a shirt. Our friends served as witnesses—one from Haifa, the other from Berlin. Both joined via Zoom.

The ceremony lasted 28 minutes. The registrar—a real person, physically located in Utah—conducted it calmly, without rushing. We said "I do." The witnesses confirmed it. That's all.

Forty minutes later, a PDF arrived in my email. An official American marriage certificate. I stared at it for about five minutes—I just couldn't believe it had happened.

Photo: Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com

What happened next

The paper certificate with an apostille arrived a month later. We submitted it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We were added to the population register as a married couple. No questions asked, no delays—exactly how it should work after the Supreme Court's decision.

Changing the marital status on the ID cards took one visit.

What I want to say to those who are now in the same situation

If you are a non-religious couple, if you don’t want a rabbi, if the topic of civil marriage in Israel seems like a dead end to you – it is no longer a dead end.

Online marriage through Utah — This is not a compromise. This is not a "fake" wedding. This is an official civil marriage, recognized by the State of Israel. With an apostille, with a registry, with legal rights.

Yulia says that Friday, in slippers, with a glass of wine in front of her laptop, was the best wedding she could have imagined. No hundreds of guests, no toastmaster, no "bitter" into the microphone.

It's just the two of us. And everything is official.

This article is based on personal experience and does not constitute legal advice.

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