free movement and your marriage certificate?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

This is a question for EEA nationals and their married non-EEA spouse.

When applying for a free movement Visa or Residence Card, have you been required to do anything more than just giving your original marriage certificate with the application?

I would like to start a list her to see if there are some common themes...

• In which country was the marriage conducted?
• Was it a civil or religious marriage?
• What language was the marriage certificate in?
• Where you applying for a Residence Card? If so, in which country?
• Where you applying for a visa? If so, whose embassy and in which country was it located?
• Did you have to provide a translation, and if so into which language?
• Did you have to provide anything certifying the marriage certificate, e.g. a letter from the EU national's embassy saying they recognize the marriage, or a "Hague Appostle", or ...???
• Were they happy with your marriage certificate, or did they give you any trouble?
• Anything else:

[ca.funke]

Hi Directive/2004/38/EC,

General:

• Between who was the marriage conducted?
  • Lebanese
  • Belgian/German
• In which country was the marriage conducted?
  • Cyprus (EU)
• Was it a civil or religious marriage?
  • civil
• What language was the marriage certificate in?
  • English
• Did you have to provide a translation, and if so into which language?
  • Only exception was for naturalisation in Belgium, they wanted it in any of the three official languages, but I guess that´s OK.
• Did you have to provide anything certifying the marriage certificate, e.g. a letter from the EU national's embassy saying they recognize the marriage, or a "Hague Appostle", or ...???
  • "Hague Appostle" had to be obtained after conducting the marriage - in the ministry of foreign affairs of Cyprus
• Were they happy with your marriage certificate, or did they give you any trouble?
  • The Cypriot certificate was accepted everywhere (Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany) without translation.
  • Only exception was for naturalisation in Belgium, they wanted it in any of the three official languages, but I guess that´s OK.

Visas obtained:

Irish Embassy in Beirut (Lebanon) 2007, applying for a visa to be allowed to enter (permanently, family reunification):

• passports
• marriage certificate
• proof of relationship (photos, past flight tickets and everthing that proves the relationship...)
• proof of adequate accomodation
• proof of funds/savings
• fee was fully charged (we didn´t know about the law at the time)

Ireland, GNIB Burgh Quay 2007, residence permit "4EUFam":

• passports
• marriage certificate
• proof of relationship (photos, past flight tickets and everthing that proves the relationship...)
• proof of funds/savings
• had to apply for additional "re-entry" visa to be able to travel and return to Ireland
  • after 4EUFam was issued this one became superfluous
• (I´m pretty sure they asked for more, but I can´t seem to remember...)

Belgian Embassy in Dublin 2007 - Schengen visit visa:

• passports
• marriage certificate
• invitation from the folks we wanted to visit
• health insurance
• fee was only waived after protesting
• it took more that a month (!) to issue the visa

Belgian Embassy in Dublin 2008 - Schengen visit visa:

• passports
• marriage certificate
• invitation from the folks we wanted to visit
• health insurance
• (same as before, but this time they didn´t try to insist on the fee and it was issued within 2 weeks)

Austrian Embassy in Dublin 2008 - Schengen visit visa:

• passports
• marriage certificate
• health insurance

Overall my impression of the Belgian Embassy in Dublin was the worst (totally arbitrary behaviour/handling), while the Austrian Embassy in Dublin was the best. (Only mistake was the health-insurance thing, but since we had insurance anyway that wasn´t really a problem...)

Summary: Not even one of our visas was issued according to the law.

[86ti]

We had our civil marriage in Japan. The certificate is in Japanese only. Following the advice of the British Embassy in Tokyo we translated the document into English ourselves and got a Japanese notary public to certify my signature. The notary public also included a Hague apostille on a separate page. The certificate was accepted in this form by the British Embassy (EEA FP), the UKBA in Liverpool (twice for a RC) and the French embassy in London (Schengen visa application before they officially recognized the RC).

The marriage certificate was also translated into German (well, actually again by me and checked) by a private company in Tokyo ("translator of trust") and apostilled by the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo. The Austrian embassy then attached a blurb of their own thus making it into an official document to be recognized by Austrian authorities. This format was also accepted by the German embassy in London (for a visa in my wife's own right).

No problem with either document thus far.

[Mirta SF]

Religious marriage conducted in India between an Indian and an Italian national.

For the sake of transcription of the marriage ahead of tourist visa request
for my Indian husband to travel to Italy with me, the Italian embassy in New Delhi requested the original marriage certificate apostilled and certified by a notary. We also had to submit an invitation letter and if I remember well the flight tickets.

The certificate was in English, the Italian Embassy took care of the translation internally and once we got the certificate ready, the visa was granted free of cost and without complications.

Hope this helps!

[Mirta SF]

Does anyone know if for an EEA FP I need to get the marriage certificate (issued in New Delhi in English) certified and apostilled?

I have already done the procedure for obtaining a tourist visa for my husband to come to Italy with me, but unfortunately the Italian Embassy will retain that certified and apostilled copy for their records.

I have another original copy but it isn't as fancy as the one we submitted, and I was wondering if it's better to get it certified and apostilled before applying for FP.

Any advice is much appreciated. You can refer to my previous post for our experience with the Italian visa.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

I have already done the procedure for obtaining a tourist visa for my husband to come to Italy with me, but unfortunately the Italian Embassy will retain that certified and apostilled copy for their records

Shocking! You should demand the marriage certificate back. I would suggest you immediately contact Solvit. Also contact the embassy, and explain to them that you will complain to the European Commission if they do not immediately return the original marriage certificate. You can tell them that they can keep a photocopy if they wish!

[Mirta SF]

We have contacted them today and they were actually pretty nice, they said they do not have the marriage certificate as it was sent to my local authority which had to register the marriage ahead of granting the visa to my husband as EU spouse.

They will certify the other one so it should be ok.

Is this unusual?

[Godott]

Hi.
I did not get it clear yet about marriage certificates ( issued by authorities in England).
Are they not the same 'Original' marriage certificate both the one 'handwritten' on the day of Ceremony and the one again issued by the Registrer Office but in printed form and SIGNED by registrers ?

I submitted the one in printed form in April 2011, and did not have any response or any question regarding it from HO.

Does anyone know from the experience if H O accepts that 'printed' form of Marriage certificate issued by Authorities ( Registrer OFfice) in England ?

Thanks

[MSH]

In which country was the marriage conducted?

The Gambia.

Was it a civil or religious marriage?

Religious.

What language was the marriage certificate in?

English.

Where you applying for a Residence Card? If so, in which country?

Denmark, then Sweden.

Where you applying for a visa? If so, whose embassy and in which country was it located?

Yes, made a long thread about it last summer, various EU embassies in Africa, no visa application accepted at any of them (Dutch/Spanish/German emb.)


Did you have to provide a translation, and if so into which language?

No translation in neither Denmark or Sweden.

Did you have to provide anything certifying the marriage certificate, e.g. a letter from the EU national's embassy saying they recognize the marriage, or a "Hague Appostle", or ...???

No.

Were they happy with your marriage certificate, or did they give you any trouble?

No trouble since it was in English, which is an accepted language for formal documents in all of the Scandinavian countries.

Anything else:

Just traveled through Frankfurt airport with our English marriage certificate from The Gambia without incident (as you know )

Good idea for a post!

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

This is not exactly on topic, but since I started the thread I will take liberties...

Irish General Register Office FAQ about marriages

If I get married abroad how do I register the marriage in Ireland ?

Irish marriage legislation only provides for the registration of marriages that occur in Ireland so, not only do you not need to register a foreign marriage here, there is no mechanism by which you may do so. The civil marriage certificate from the country where the marriage took place is the legal proof of your marriage (see also next paragraph).

Will my foreign marriage be recognised in Ireland ?

This office does not have a role in deciding the legality or otherwise of marriages that occur outside the State.

A foreign Marriage Certificate, accompanied by a translation from a reputable translation agency if necessary, should be acceptable for most legal and administrative purposes, but there are some circumstances (notably where one of the parties to the marriage was divorced outside Ireland) where this may not be the case.

If in doubt you should seek legal advice, preferably from a solicitor who specialises in Family Law, as this can be an extremely complex matter.

There is also a mechanism by which you may apply to the Irish Courts (under Section 29 of the Family Law Act 1995) for an order recognising a foreign marriage.

[acme4242]

Marriage was in Ireland, stamped by DOJ and stamped by Chinese Embassy to make it lawful in China.

Later Irish Embassy in China said, and I quote visa officer
"a Marriage Certificate means nothing, it could be something you found on the street, or wrote yourself"

Even the Irish Marriage Certificate says, to utter that this marriage cert is
modified is a criminal offence. maybe I should have tried to prosecute her.

She demanded letter of invitation etc etc

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Marriage was in Ireland, stamped by DOJ and stamped by Chinese Embassy to make it lawful in China.

Later Irish Embassy in China said, and I quote visa officer
"a Marriage Certificate means nothing, it could be something you found on the street, or wrote yourself"

Even the Irish Marriage Certificate says, to utter that this marriage cert is
modified is a criminal offence. maybe I should have tried to prosecute her.

She demanded letter of invitation etc etc

So had the visa officer taken the red pill or the blue pill?

Funny story in retrospect, but it must have felt rather Kafkaesque at the time

[dazzle]

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