A Bill temporarily allowing for both civil and Muslim marriages to be solemnised remotely during the Covid-19 period was passed in Parliament on May 5, after being tabled on May 4.

Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee shared in a Apr. 26 Facebook post:

"Even during a crisis, we should try to enable important life events such as marriages to go on. We should not let COVID-19 hold back those who are ready to start a new life together."

The Covid-19 (Temporary Measures for Solemnisation and Registration of Marriages) Bill allows them to occur via live video or live television link, rather than in-person at the Registry of Marriages or Registry of Muslim Marriages.

Bill will help couples who do not want to postpone their marriage

Lee shared in his opening speech that between Apr. 7 and June 1, there were a total of 365 Muslim marriage and 2,358 civil marriage solemnisations originally scheduled.

About 1,100 civil marriages and close to 200 Muslim marriages have been postponed so far, as marriage processes had needed to be conducted in person until the passing of the bill.

It allows certain key processes relating to marriage do be done through video, and considered valid under the law:

• The verification of documents
• The making of statutory declarations
• The wali for Muslim marriages

Lee explained how the bill could help couples seeking to get married:

"While some couples may prefer to wait until it’s safer to celebrate their big day in person with family and friends, others may not wish to wait any longer, or may face extenuating circumstances that make postponement challenging. We want to support them."

This therefore gives eligible couples the option of making things official via video link, if they do not want to want.

Safeguards put in place to ensure legitimacy

But the processes will have safeguards to ensure that only legitimate marriages are solemnised and registered through video link.

For each marriage application, registrars of the Registry of Marriages (ROM) and the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) are given the discretion to decide whether video links can be done.

"This enables the Registrars to ensure that cases that require more careful scrutiny are still handled in person, when it is safe to do so," explained Lee.

In addition, the bill includes the following safeguards:

1. The Registrars must be satisfied that the overall administrative and technological facilities and arrangements are sufficient to ensure the marriage is legitimate.
2. This includes ensuring that all parties involved have access to a computer or other smart devices that enable all parties to be adequately seen and heard and have their identities verified.
3. The couple, their witnesses, and, in the case of Muslim marriages, the wali, must all be physically present in Singapore. This is consistent with the law prior to the bill being passed.
4. Couples presenting foreign-issued documents for verification will still need to do so physically. This ensures greater scrutiny can be given to the accuracy of the documents and the identities of the parties.

Currently, marriages involving at least one Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident are prioritised for the video solemnisation process.

"I will add that while the Bill allows for solemnisations via video link to take place, it remains up to the solemniser and the couple to decide if they are comfortable and confident with doing so," said Lee.

Changes to notice of marriage timelines due to Covid-19

To help couples cope with the uncertainty of Covid-19, the Bill extends the amount of time couples have before getting married after filing for a notice of marriage.

Prior to the Bill being passed, couples had to get married within three months from filing the notice of marriage.

The Bill will extend the time from three months to 12 months from filing the notice of marriage.

Many couples have had to cancel their notices because they were unable to proceed with their wedding within the three month window, so the Bill offers greater flexibility.

All marriage notices filed up to three months before the commencement of the Act, which have not been cancelled or expired, will automatically have their validity extended to 12 months.

Couples do not need to re-apply for this extension.

Implementation aimed for second half of May

According to a press release by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), they aim to begin implementation in the second half of May 2020.

While the current Bill only applies to couples where at least one party is a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident, the video link solemnisation process will be extended to more couples over time.

The temporary measures effected by the Bill will apply and last until the Covid-19 pandemic improves, said Lee in Parliament.

If the measures are well-received by couples, and they prove to compromise the "integrity of the marriage process", he added that the government could consider extending the option even past the Covid-19 period.

The link to to the full Bill is available here.

Top photo via Pexels.