Bringing my non-EEA partner to Ireland to get married

You do not need to be resident in Ireland to get married here. However, you may need a visa to come to Ireland if you are not a citizen of the UK, Switzerland, or a country in the European Economic Area (the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein).

If you are an EEA, Swiss or UK citizen, you can come to Ireland to get married without a visa or immigration permission.

This page is a guide for non-EEA, Swiss or UK citizens coming to Ireland to marry their Irish citizen partner.

You can check if you need a visa on our website.

If you need a visa, you should apply for a marriage (C) short-stay visa to come to Ireland to get married. See ‘How to apply for a marriage visa’ below.

If you not a citizen of the EEA, UK or Switzerland and you don’t need a visa, you still need to bring documents with you to show the reason for your visit. You must present yourself at immigration when you enter Ireland. This is usually at the airport.

Before you can apply for a marriage visa, you must notify the registrar at a civil registration service in Ireland that you are getting married. This must be done at least 3 months before the marriage and is known as giving notice of your intention to marry.

After you get an acknowledgement from the registrar, you can apply for a marriage visa. You can apply for a marriage visa up to 3 months before your date of travel to Ireland.

If you live abroad

If you live outside of Ireland, you should contact a registrar to get permission to make your 3-month notification by post. If permission is granted, the registrar will send you a form which you must complete and return.

You will still have to meet the registrar in person at least 5 days before you get married to sign the declaration form. The registrar will then give you a Marriage Registration Form.

Interview with the registrar

If either you or your partner are not an EU citizen, you will both need to attend an interview with the registrar. This is set out under the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014. Under the Act, the registrar has the right to investigate and decide whether an intended marriage would be a ‘marriage of convenience’ for immigration purposes.

You must apply for a marriage (C) short-stay visa online.

After you complete the visa form online, you have 30 days to send the supporting documents. It’s a good idea to prepare your documents before completing the form.

You pay a fee of €60 for each application.

Summary sheet

When you have submitted the form online, you will get a summary of your application. This includes:

• Your visa application transaction number
• Your application summary sheet
• Details of the application office where you should send your documents

Print the application summary sheet and sign it. Send the application summary and supporting documents to the address stated on the form.

You must send documents in support of your visa application.

These include:

• Evidence of your relationship history.
• Confirmation from the Registrar of date of receipt of notification of intention to marry or a Marriage Registration Form
• Your current passport and a full copy of all previous passports
• Two passport photos no less than 6 months old (with your signature and application number on the back)
• A signed letter of application
• Details of where you will stay in Ireland
• Bank statement
• Previous visa refusals

You can get a full list of required documents on the Immigration Service Delivery website.

You must send original documents (not photocopies). If your documents are not in English, you must send a certified translation and the original document.

Birth, marriage and death certificates will be returned to you. If you want other pages returned to you, you should include a note with your application that says this. Send a photocopy (in addition to the original) of the page you want returned to you.

If your visa is approved, you must get travel or medical insurance before you travel to Ireland.

If you sent your application to Dublin, you can check visa decisions and waiting times. If you sent your application somewhere else, you can contact the embassy or consulate you sent your documents to for updates on your application. Applications take around 8 weeks, but may take longer.

If your visa application is successful, the visa office will post your passport back to you with the visa attached. The visa will be valid for a particular period. Having a visa does not guarantee that you will be allowed to enter Ireland.

Refusals

You will get a letter that says why your visa application was refused. You can appeal this decision within 2 months.

If you arrive in Ireland on a short-stay marriage (C) visa, you cannot stay for longer than 3 months. You must leave Ireland and apply for another visa if you want to return.

If you plan to return to Ireland to live with your Irish citizen spouse, you can apply for a Join Family Member (D) visa online. When you arrive in Ireland on your Join Family Member (D) visa, you can then register with immigration as the spouse of an Irish citizen.

If you do not need a visa

If you are a non-visa required national who has entered Ireland legally within the last 90 days, you can register with immigration as the spouse of an Irish citizen.

Read our step-by-step guide to bringing your non-EEA spouse to live in Ireland.

Information about visas is available from your nearest Irish embassy or consulate.