Jeff Montgomery,
General Manager and Registrar-General;
Services and Access
Message from the
Registrar-General
Last month we ran a survey through this newsletter to discover what you would want from our next version of Locating a Celebrant website. Below is a summary of what we learned.
The final changes to our registry office network occur at the end of this month. From July, courthouses and councils in regional locations will only be signing paper forms before the couple send to Births, Deaths and Marriages for processing. All other processing will occur at BDM (e.g. lodging caveats, receipting and issuing licences). In July we will also have our first registry-style marriages performed by celebrants.
It was good opportunity for me to catch up with many of our celebrants at the recent Celebrants’ Association 2019 Conference in New Plymouth and see some familiar faces.
Results of our survey on Locating a Celebrant
In May's Ngātahi, we asked you to complete a survey so you could let us know what you want from the next version of Locating a Celebrant. The research is informing design of the Getting Married content on Govt.nz to ensure it works well for both customers and celebrants.
This is what the celebrants that completed the survey told us:
- The current locating a celebrant page received a 50/50 split from survey participants who thought it worked fine and those who thought it could be improved.
- For what appears in the celebrant listings:
- 40% thought area covered by a celebrant was important to surface
- 30% thought a short profile would be of benefit
- 24% thought filtered search on criteria such as religion, language, etc. would be helpful
- 6% thought privacy features for celebrants would be useful
- Additional celebrant information about celebrants that would be useful to couples:
- 17% Experience / qualifications
- 17% Type of ceremony
- 13% Gender
- 11% Biography (i.e. profile)
- 11% Language
- 9% Age
- 9% Social media/website
- 6% Ethnicity
We are also doing research and testing ideas with members of the public.
We will continue to keep you updated through this newsletter.
Qualifications and VCANZ status
We advised you of two enhancements to Locating a Celebrant in last months Ngātahi. We can now publish your celebrant-related qualifications and VCANZ status after you update them in the self-service portal. Since the enhancements went live we have recorded:
- Certificate in Celebrant Studies = 100 celebrants
- Diploma in Celebrant Studies = 15 celebrants
- Diploma of Celebrancy = 4 celebrants
Validated members of CANZ = 90 celebrants.
Send your application to perform registry style ceremonies
Apply now to perform registry style ceremonies from 1 July. For more information refer to Ngātahi | Call for applicants to do registry ceremonies (the survey in that newsletter has since expired). When celebrants achieve validation VCANZ, the congratulatory email CANZ send has a link to the application form in it.
So far we have had 16 applications for registry style ceremonies.
There are 59 celebrants approved to perform this new service and while we welcome celebrants in all areas, we are looking to boost numbers in Gisborne and on the West Coast of the South Island - see map below of coverage. The four circles reflect the ring-fencing of DIA offices that provide registry office ceremonies.
Reminder: Registry changes on 1 July
List of registry offices
While DIA's four offices will continue to provide a full range of marriage and civil union services, the other registry offices will only be signing statutory declarations from 1 July. Therefore the list of registry offices on www.govt.nz will be removed on 30 June.
Paper forms will be amended to include the full list of registry offices so couples know where to go to sign the statutory declaration from 1 July.
Paper forms - if using an old form
If the couple have completed an 'old' Notice of Intended Marriage form, all they need to do is attach one page from the new 1 April version and post it to DIA with payment, after signing the statutory declaration before a Registrar of Marriages. The extra page includes the information we need to process their application about how they want their licence sent, how many certificates they need, and payment details (usually this is page 5).
It's easier for couples to apply online for their marriage licence. There’s less paperwork, and it can be done on any device. Encourage your couples to head to https://marriages.services.govt.nz.
Caveats
From 1 July we will have a new process in locations outside of the four DIA offices to lodge a caveat (a formal objection) to the issue of a marriage licence or a registry office ceremony. Caveats in future will be able to be emailed to MarriageLicence@dia.govt.nz with the team following up with a phone call to take payment.
Urgent requests for a marriage licence
If your couple need to get married urgently (e.g. one of them is likely to be deceased within a matter of days) they can make a request for the marriage licence to be issued earlier than the 3rd working day after notice was given. In that situation please advise the couple to phone Call free 0800 22 52 52. The couple may be asked to provide evidence to support their request for urgency.
