Marriage to a non EU national on a tourist visa

[stephen1381]

I'm hoping to get advice from someone who has been in a similar situation.

My fiance is a non EU national, we are planning to get married soon. We are unsure if we should get married in Ireland or abroad (she has never been to Ireland). If we do decide to get married in Ireland, can she come here on a tourist visa for the wedding and then apply for residency? She would need to apply for a tourist visa.

I am from Ireland myself and we are planning to live here in Ireland after we get married.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[scrudu]

Hi Stephen

Yes your fiance may marry you while on a tourist visa, and yes, she can stay on past her visa end date and apply for residency. The DoJ are not too impressed with this method of applying for residency so they are in no rush to handle such applications. This application will take probably 12-18 months to be processed.

If your then wife leaves after the marriage and applies for residency from her home country, this application will be processed within 6-8 weeks.

In both situations the onus will be on you to prove the legitimacy of your marriage. If your wife is applying from abroad, the lack of visits to the country before the marriage can count against her. That said, if you have solid proof of your visits to her country, these could also suffice.

This question has been asked many times before and there are many first hand reports of how it went on this forum. Please read other posts for more details.

[stephen1381]

Getting married abroad seems like the simpler option. Thanks for the reply

[scrudu]

I'm not sure where you get that marrying abroad will be the simpler option. You will still have to provide the same proof of the legitimacy of your marriage irregardless of where the marriage is performed.

[stephen1381]

It is the simpler option, if I get married abroad then the application for the stamp 4 visa should only take 6-8 weeks. I have a few friends who got married this way.

Hopefully proving the legitimacy won't be too much of a hassle, I have kept statements of money transfers between our bank accounts since 2003 and have visa stamps in my current and old passport to show I have visited her country several times over the years.

I would just love to know if there is a possibilty given our position to get married in Ireland. But seems not to be the case

[scrudu]

Hi Stephen,

Yes there is an option to get married in Ireland, but unless your then wife is willing to wait 12-18 months in legal limbo waiting for her application to be decided while she remains in the country, she will have to return to her home country after the marriage (before end of tourist visa) and apply from there for the D-spouse Visa from there. It doesnt matter whether you marry in Ireland or abroad.

Note the Stamp 4 is only issued by the local GNIB office once the person has entered the country on the D-Spouse visa and has this converted to a Stamp 4 Residency stamp.

[stephen1381]

Thanks for all the info, really appreciate it