EEA-Ukraine marriage certificate and EEA permit

[ziguslav]

Hello all!

Brexit is coming up, and nobody knows what's going to happen, so I decided to speed things up. My girlfriend and I have been together for over a year (on distance, but with very frequent visits), and we decided we don't want to wait any longer. I'm a Polish national who lived in the UK for the past 12 years (not British citizenship yet and currently applying for residency), she was born and lives in Ukraine.

We're not married at the moment, and currently, are working out a way to be together. EEA permit seems like the best way to go, but we have a few reservations. From what I understand, we need three documents:
- My passport
- Her passport
- Marriage certificate (our problem)

Getting married in Poland will be a massive headache, and since I can't really leave England for a long period of time due to work (I'm freshly out of Uni, working in software) we're seeing whether getting married in Ukraine is a possibility. Here is what we would like to do:

- I get my residency sorted
- We get married in UKRAINE (so we have a Ukrainian marriage certificate)
- She joins me in the UK on the EEA family permit.

The question here is: will Ukrainian marriage certificate be ok, or do I need to legalise it in Poland? Legalisation will be a big procedure... I assume she has to apply from Ukraine too? Can't we just stroll in from the airport waving our marriage certificate in Cyrillic? Thank you all for your help.

[obormot]

No, you will not have to legalize Ukrainean marriage certificate in Poland! No "apostille" either.

You will just have to translate it into English (in Ukraine in some decent translation office - should be quick and cheap), and then, yes, she will have to apply for Family Permit from Ukraine.

Apart from your and her pasports, and marriage certifiacte + translation you will need:
- some proof that your marriage is "genuine" (photos, plane tickets demonstrationg frequent visits before marriage, etc.)
- proof that you currently "exrsise treaty rights in UK" (letter from employer, last paystabs/P60..)
But you do NOT need to get EEA residency before that!

Just going to the airport could work if she would be a citizen of a "no-visa" non-EU country, like USA (and then presenting all documents at the UK border, not at the airport!).
Would not work with Ukrainean citizen, thery would not let her on the plane without visa.
And I would not risk arrival on just visitor visa either (in addition, generally visitor visas are hard to get for Ukraineans..)

[obormot]

Also, from my memory (from 5 years ago) she does not need your passport to apply for Family Permit, - a copy of your passport, certified by your country embassy in Ukraine, would be enough.
So you only need to be physically present for the marriage itself (not sure how painful is this procedure in Ukraine).