Certificate of Freedom to Marry Question

z0oT

I'm due to marry a woman from the Philippines later this year, and the main requirement from me to do that is a Certificate of Freedom to Marry.

I'm confused about the actual dates involved. The online application process for the certificate requires an actual wedding date.

According to the website below, you have to apply for this certificate a minimum of 4 months before the intended wedding date. Now, upon calling the Department of Foreign Affairs today they're telling me they won't actually issue the certificate to me until just 8 weeks before the wedding date.
https://www.dfa.ie/travel/our-services/marriage-and-civil-partnership-abroad/how-to-apply-for-certificate-of-freedom-to-marry/

This complicates matters because I need that certificate to set an actual wedding date in the Philippines, but if the Irish Authorities won't give it to me until 8 weeks before the date, then that creates problems since 8 weeks is probably not enough time to organize everything over there.

I need to call the Department again to clarify (the relevant office is closed now until tomorrow), but in the meantime I'm curious if anyone here who has gone through this process can shed some light on this.

After you apply for this certificate, how long before you actually get it into your hands? Is is really only 8 weeks before the wedding date you specify during the application that you'll get it?

z0oT

I just called the Department again there, and they're saying standard practice is that The Certificate of Freedom to Marry is Valid for 4 months after the date of issue and they issue it 8 weeks before the intended date of marriage.

When I asked about getting it sooner, they're saying start the application and maybe I can get it sooner then.

I can't do anything until I have this document and 8 weeks before the intended date of marriage gives me far too little time to get things in place and the necessary planning done.

It's so frustrating to deal with the government sometimes.

z0oT

I realize I'm bumping an old thread here but I thought I would update this thread for anyone that might be in a similar situation, simply for the reason that I was quite frustrated back when I posted this back last Summer. Since then though, I've married my Filipina wife (then Fiancee) in Jan this year in her city in the Philippines.

The issuing of the Certificate from the Department of Foreign Affairs 8 weeks before the date you specify on the online application is how they do it. They seem to be quite rigid on this too, you might get it 9 weeks before if you ask, but I doubt they'd issue it like 12 weeks before or something. It's then valid for 120 days from the date of issue so it can be used anytime throughout that 120 day period. They also send it via registered post after they issue it.

In my case I needed this Certificate before I could even set a date for the wedding. So me supplying a wedding date on the online application was a little irrelevant and was much more confusing than it needed to be.

The way I got around this was that I brought the date that I supplied on the online application forward by a number of weeks so I would get the Certificate in time to suit my travel plans, and that worked just fine. They don't tell you but the date you supply on the online application form is flexible - move it if need be to suit. In general though, I found the staff at the Department to be quite helpful, but they could have made things less confusing - Like ask for an issue date as opposed to a Wedding date, but I digress.

Hopefully this post is of use to somebody.

alexf1

I've just searched this forum for info about this very problem. I'm seriously pi ss ed off about it right now. I'm getting married in Poland and have just returned from there after a very anxious and upsetting day in the registry office there trying to book a wedding date. In Poland you also need a Certificate of Freedom To Marry BEFORE you can book a wedding date. I called the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin a while back to ask and told them that I needed it before booking a date and the person there said no, can't be done, never has been done and there was never a problem, loads of Irish marry Polish people over there, nothing to worry about, send in your application when you have your date booked.

Contacted the registry office in Poland before travelling over and couldn't get a straight answer but were told it would probably be okay.

Booked flights, hotel, official translator for the morning, and of course got all my other docs ready and had them translated and stamped by a reputable company in Dublin etc. The costs are significant enough for all this..

Got to the registry office in Poland to book a date to be told that A) I need the Cert of Freedom to book a date and the translations of the documents is worthless because a translator registered in Poland has to stamp and sign them not a company in Dublin. So we were left in a heap.

I'm seriously annoyed at the way the Irish department and their attitude. They've been told that the cert is needed to book a date and they return with PFO. Unacceptable in my book. I pay my taxes, I should be able to get the documents I need when I need them (and they cost €60!) I'll be on to them tomorrow morning to see what they can/will do to resolve the situation. If it's a case of having to supply false info and pay twice I'll do it but that's just wrong on so many levels. But typically Irish I suppose.

Utd Abominations

Just read this thread and i'm laughing at the similarities at what I am going through right now.
I am also getting married in Poland in October but I am going over in June to sign documents in the local civil office just like Alex above.
I guess I am going to have to book my date of marriage early and lie so I can get it in time.
Absolutely wrong that our government are making us lie to them so that they can do their jobs in a timely fashion but hey I guess they lie to us all the time.
We have a local office that translates documents in Poland so we can just scan over a copy and they will translate it and post it to my partners family home so it will be waiting for us for when we arrive. I'm guessing it will be a hell of a lot cheaper to get it done in Poland as well.
This is such a pain in the backside and if I have to jump through anymore hoops I will be requiring a qualification to join the circus cert form the government as well.
I will see how things go and post again once it gets sorted or not. Fingers crossed.

alexf1

Yeah it was a bit messy for us in the end but it worked out. We were going through the main head office in Warsaw as we were married in the Wedding Palace in the Old Town. The person we were dealing with couldn't do anything for us even after talking to her boss for ages. The manager talked to us and after my missus cried for a while in his office he said he would give us a provisional booking for the time and day we wanted (we were booking the full 6 months in advance, the max they allow), but we would need to get the Cert for me and get it delivered to his office at least 6 weeks before the date.

When we had the date booked I applied for the Cert from the dept. of Foreign Affairs and told them I needed it earlier as it needed to be sent to Poland. I talked to a woman there on the phone and she agreed to get it to me early.

We were able to get documents signed and witnessed in the Polish embassy in Dublin and they agreed to post everything to the wedding office in Warsaw for us. I had sent off all documents to a translation company in Poland and they translated and couriered them back to Dublin, cost about €100. Took about 2 weeks for documents signed in the embassy to get to the office in Warsaw. Luckily the manager of that office was looking after us and communicated by email. We let him know what we were doing for each step. It was all quite stressful, but worked out in the end.

We had a really lovely woman from the translation company who came to translate the ceremony for us too. It took about 10 minutes, but it was really nice and the registrar was great and very friendly.

Best of luck!

Utd Abominations

Cheers mate. I just hope the cert arrives in time for my Poland trip or it will make the process a hell of alot longer. We have been lucky in that we booked our date with the church in Poland 8 odd months ago and the priest requested no paperwork from us. Having said that he did forget he booked us for the date when we rang a week ago but after a bit of persuasion he put us in again for a later time in the day. It's a bit of a Micky Mouse setup no matter what country you wish to get married in but it's a great way to test a relationship. All the best.

z0oT

Sorry for the late reply and bumping the thread.

Utd Abominations wrote: »

I guess I am going to have to book my date of marriage early and lie so I can get it in time.

Absolutely wrong that our government are making us lie to them so that they can do their jobs in a timely fashion but hey I guess they lie to us all the time.

The bolded part is exactly what I did. I put down a date of marriage about 1-2 months before we actually got married on the online application for the Certificate just to suit the plans we had.

That little detail could have been cleared up by the department very easily, but it caused us both a lot of unnecessary stress as a result.

Another important point if you're wondering is that the Certificate once you get it (assuming it hasn't changed since) is that it makes no reference to the marriage date supplied with the online application. It simply states an issue date and that it's valid for 4 months from that date, so don't worry about what marriage date you supply with the application online, just pick it to suit whatever your plans are. That was another cause of stress for us both.

BTW if you're interested in what it actually looks like, here's a blog post from an Irish guy who got married in Japan. His was issued by the embassy in Tokyo, but the ones issued by the authorities in Ireland are pretty much the same.

http://owencunn.blogspot.ie/2016/03/getting-married-in-japan-2016.html

Best of luck with things - Getting married is enough hassle itself, last thing you need is an incompetent government standing in the way.