Marrying an Undocumented Person

ERpunk

Hi all,

Hope this is the appropriate place to post, please remove otherwise. Have been in a relationship with someone who is undocumented now for a year and a half. They are undocumented for approximately 3 years. Things are getting serious, and I am wondering what the pathways are like to them becoming regularised here. Has anybody been through this?

We are very much in love and would love to grow our relationship by being able to travel and potentially emigrate to Australia down the line. Does the state automatically know if someone has overstayed if they have not come to the attention of authorities?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated as, understandably, its hard to find. Thanks!

Victor

Do you mean they have just an irregular immigration status or do they have no documents at all?

If the irregular immigration status is detected, they may have real difficulties getting into Australia.

Talking to a solicitor who deal in migration work and organisations dealing with migrants may be a good start.

beachhead

They have a long way to go to get regularised here.Getting into Australia will be an even longer process.As Victor posted talk to every immigrant organisation followed by a specialist solicitor

Faith

Mod note: Moved from the Weddings forum as this forum seems more appropriate.

Mrs OBumble

Unless of course they are from Australia? In which case it would probably be best for you to both go there.

Yellow_Fern

I dont think Australia would look to kindly to someone who choose to break Irish immigration law.

Tow

Get married and the two of you arrive into the GNIB office with all the paperwork and get a Stamp 4 on their passport.

Assuming, they have a valid passport for their own country. I think appointments are now required for the GNIB office.

As to going to Australia, that is another story. Does Oz let people from their country in on an Electronic Visa? Probably not, as you are asking the question. It maybe possible to get a visitors visa (visit the Oz Embassy armed with a mountain of paperwork) once regularized here. BTW, Oz Student Working Visas are only available for a handful of countries.

Meauldsegosha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575565#Comment_120575565

They won’t be able to get married in Ireland without proof of citizenship or immigration status.

Tow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120578807#Comment_120578807

Have you a link to that requirement?

It was never required in the past.

AnRothar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120579080#Comment_120579080

gov.ie - Get married in Ireland (www.gov.ie)

Documents everyone needs

Both of you must bring the original and a colour photocopy of the photo page of one of the following:

• passport
• refugee card or asylum card issued by the Department of Justice
• national identity card from an EU country accepting them as a travel document

Photo ID documents must be in date.

You will also need:

• the original and photocopy of your birth certificates
• proof of address - original and photocopy dated within last 3 month

This?

Tow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120579516#Comment_120579516

It says 'One of the following'. Nothing about being legally in the country.

twowheelsonly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580162#Comment_120580162

This bit might catch them out though (presuming the marriage is to be in Ireland)

If one of you is not an EU citizen

Please bring up-to-date evidence of your immigration status.

If you speak to each other in a language that is not English or Irish, you must provide an interpreter. You will also need to do this at the ceremony.

EU and foreign nationals

You will need to attend an interview with the registrar if:

• you are an EU national marrying a non-EU national
• one of you is a foreign national

They check visa status when you get married, they won't allow you to get married until you regularize things.

glen123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580162#Comment_120580162

All this changed in around 2016.

I've two citizenships (Irish and non-EU one). After years of living together when a baby no3 was born, we decided to get married to avoid any legal issues in case one of us died, etc. At the same time I applied for our new baby's first passport which meant I had to send my Irish passport to the Passport Office and it was stuck there for weeks so I thought I'd use my non-EU passport in the registry office. When we showed up in the registry office to give notice that we'd like to marry, the lady when she saw my non-EU passport (with permanent residency and all that) told me that I'd be better off applying as Irish citizen and bring my Irish passport once I get it back because the process for non-EU is different, at the time they had no clear guidance and all marriage applications where one was non-EU were put on hold as immigration status had to be checked but nobody knew how to do it and who was supposed to do it.

I'd imagine now they have all the procedures in place to perform such checks but things have definitely changed.

Furze99

To OP, make sure it's real love and not partly influenced by immigration status.

glen123

OP, your only option seems to go back to your undocumented object of affection's country of citizenship and get married there.

You can then apply for a spouse visa or family reunification it's called, I think.

Just because you are married, it's not automatic that visa would be granted.

They'll want your employment history, financial details, etc.

For example:

Where Sponsor is Irish Citizen 17.2 An Irish citizen, in order to sponsor an immediate family member, must not have been totally or predominantly reliant on benefits from the Irish State for a continuous period in excess of 2 years immediately prior to the application and must over the three year period prior to application have earned a cumulative gross income over and above any State benefits of not less than €40k.

You can read the whole document here:

https://www.irishimmigration.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Policy-document-on-Non-EEA-family-reunification.pdf

Not sure what processing times are like but it's definitely not weeks but months.

ERpunk

Will just update a little:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580604#Comment_120580604

Yes we are very much in love, the person in question doesn't really want to do this at the moment, I am pushing for it moreso for reasons I stated in the beginning...travel etc.

I also recently came across the EU Treaty rights, whereby if I move to another EU country and invoke EU treaty rights there, my partner can be granted a residency card there, and once I have exercised my EU Treaty rights in another country for 3 months, I can then exercise them here. But I don't know if my partner's overstay will impact the ability to acquire a residence card here...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580207#Comment_120580207

If they leave the country...do immigration know they overstay if they never come to the attention of authorities? Perhaps the overstay will never come up if we marry abroad?

Thanks for all the replies so far, this is a minefield!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580720#Comment_120580720

I don't know, I just know that a friend got married in a registry office to a girl outside of Europe recently. They had a consultation with the person carrying out the ceremony before hand and they were both required to provide documentation including her visa status in order to proceed.

glen123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580720#Comment_120580720

It will be quicker to get it done in a different EU country and then to come to Ireland but you still first need to go back to that non EU country of the person to get married.

There are no immigration checks when leaving Ireland. After all one could have taken a ferry to the UK when leaving Ireland where there is no immigration control as such when it comes to Ireland except for spot checks on the UK side so technically Irish side doesn’t really know whether someone has left the country after visa expiry or is still inside the country.

Probably getting a new passport at home prior to getting married and doing the rest is best as one won’t get a stamp into the passport when leaving Ireland but they ll probably get a stamp when entering their home country so first question would be from anyone reviewing visa application of any country (if they do their job properly) “where did you arrive from when you arrived back home on such and such date”…..and then overstay will be uncovered looking at visa dates of the destination you arrived from so clean passport is best,in my personal opinion.

Count Dracula

Australia is bollix don't bother.

It depends on where you are documented Op?

ERpunk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120581226#Comment_120581226

This is sound advice, but when investigating the relationship, they will find out we met here and that they were residing in the state undocumented. Which is why I am wondering, if we marry and then go to Australia together, the time spent there will be sufficient for any Irish investigation on returning here.

YellowLead

OP, I’d be more concerned about the fact that they don’t want to marry you now and you are pushing for it.

Tow

ERPunk, Getting married is far easier than getting a visa to enter Australia, unless the other half is Australian!