The Ontario Registrar General (ORG) has sent a recent memo with important updates for Ontario Marriage Licence Issuers to be aware of.  

Extended Validity Periods 

As a follow up to their memo sent on April 30, 2021, the ORG is providing the end date for the third extended validity period for marriage licences.  

The third province-wide emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act declared on April 7, 2021 ended at 11:59pm on June 3, 2021. As such, the first day following the end of the emergency is June 4, 2021.  

The following are the extended validity periods: 

• Licences issued between December 1, 2019 and July 24, 2020 are still valid and can be used until July 24, 2022; 

• Licences issued between October 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 are still valid and can be used until February 10, 2023; and 

• Licences issued between January 1, 2021 and June 4, 2021 are still valid can be used until June 4, 2023.  

Please note that the validity period for foreign divorce authorizations issued by the Office of the Registrar General has also been extended for the same duration as the extended marriage licence validity periods noted above.  

Replacement Licences 

Replacement licences are only necessary in the rare instances where couples may have lost or destroyed their unused marriage licence or critical information is no longer accurate. Otherwise, licences issued in the timeframes listed above are still valid and can be used without being replaced.  

Municipalities can continue to refer couples to ServiceOntario.ca/GettingMarried for further details.

Marriage Licence Replacement Process - July 2021
Memo to Marriage Licence Issuers - July 2021