Marriage

[hip999]

Hi,

I am a UK male citizen who wants to retire to Cyprus and bring my Filipino female partner. I qualify to enter on my UK passport but she would have to enter on a temporary visitor's Visa (although a student or work Visa might be possible).

But does anyone know what the rules are regarding marriage? Could we marry soon after entering Cyprus and thus she becomes my dependent? I know about the requirement for adequate funds, which I meet ..... it is really just above the marriage laws I am unsure.

regards,

Steve

[Cleo Shahateet]

Yes, you could do that - get married after you arrive but if you are going to do it anyway it may be easier to just be married upon arrival rather than making mulitple trips to immigration.

[hip999]

Originally Posted by Cleo Shahateet

Yes, you could do that - get married after you arrive but if you are going to do it anyway it may be easier to just be married upon arrival rather than making mulitple trips to immigration.

Thanks for the advice. What I particularly need to know is, if I marry a non-EU citizen in Cyprus then can we both stay there as permanent residents or would my new wife have to leave Cyprus to obtain a new Visa from the Philippines? Also, would Cyprus expect her to leave the country because she entered as a temporary visitor (as in the UK where a tourist has to return to his/her own country to obtain a marriage Visa). It appears that temporary visitors have to show proof they will be leaving Cyprus so does a marriage then cancel that requirement?

[zin]

Give one of the municipalities a call, maybe they can shed some light for you:

Union of Cyprus Municipalities

[Cleo Shahateet]

Originally Posted by hip999

Thanks for the advice. What I particularly need to know is, if I marry a non-EU citizen in Cyprus then can we both stay there as permanent residents or would my new wife have to leave Cyprus to obtain a new Visa from the Philippines? Also, would Cyprus expect her to leave the country because she entered as a temporary visitor (as in the UK where a tourist has to return to his/her own country to obtain a marriage Visa). It appears that temporary visitors have to show proof they will be leaving Cyprus so does a marriage then cancel that requirement?

I would check specifically for your case as I assume every country would be different. I arrived in Cyprus and got a 90 day temporary visa, but being married to an EU citizen we just went to immigration and I got permanent residence.

[passerby]

Originally Posted by hip999

What I particularly need to know is, if I marry a non-EU citizen in Cyprus then can we both stay there as permanent residents

Yes, (although formally it is not "permanent" for the first 5 years) see forms MEU1A (for you) and MEU2A (for your wife). They contain instructions (last pages, in Greek and English). You can download them from this page: _hxxp://moi.gov.cy/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&I temid=199&lang=en

or would my new wife have to leave Cyprus to obtain a new Visa from the Philippines? Also, would Cyprus expect her to leave the country because she entered as a temporary visitor

No, they can not require that. Your and your wife's freedom of movement rights are not subject to holding any particular type of visa or any other administrative formalities. Directive 2004/38/EC only states that a member state may require an entry visa in order to facilitate entry of a non-EU family member, but once she is in the country her residency rights are not affected by things like the type of visa she entered with (or if she even had a visa).
See European Commissions guide on freedom of movement: _hxxp://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/citizenship/docs/guide_2004_38_ec_en.pdf

(as in the UK where a tourist has to return to his/her own country to obtain a marriage Visa).

In the UK this requirement does not apply to family members of EU (but non-UK) nationals. And UK nationals can use EU law only if they lived in another EU country before coming back to the UK.

P.S.: sorry for weird links, this forum does does not let me post URLs as I'm new here. You need to copy/paste them and replace "_hxxp" with "http". Or would please moderators edit my post or somebody who can post links just re-post them properly.

[passerby]

Originally Posted by Cleo Shahateet

I would check specifically for your case as I assume every country would be different.

No, they can not be different, at least not in this regard.
Conditions of exercising of "treaty rights" by EU nationals and their family members are laid out in Directive 2004/28/EC and they are exhaustive, meaning member states are not at liberty to impose any additional requirements etc.
See the EC's guide I gave a link to above.

[passerby]

Originally Posted by zin

Give one of the municipalities a call, maybe they can shed some light for you:

Yes, it is a good idea to do this, as they will need some documents confirming that you are free to marry for example (i.e. not married at the moment) and those differ for different nationalities as far as I know. (i.e. for some it is enough to swear in court that you are free to marry, but from others they require country-specific documents some of which might be obtainable only in that country but not from its embassy in Cyprus) Also different municipalities might require different papers.

[hip999]

Originally Posted by passerby

yes, (although formally it is not "permanent" for the first 5 years) see forms meu1a (for you) and meu2a (for your wife). They contain instructions (last pages, in greek and english). You can download them from this page: _hxxp://moi.gov.cy/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&i temid=199&lang=en

no, they can not require that. Your and your wife's freedom of movement rights are not subject to holding any particular type of visa or any other administrative formalities. Directive 2004/38/ec only states that a member state may require an entry visa in order to facilitate entry of a non-eu family member, but once she is in the country her residency rights are not affected by things like the type of visa she entered with (or if she even had a visa).
See european commissions guide on freedom of movement: _hxxp://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/citizenship/docs/guide_2004_38_ec_en.pdf


in the uk this requirement does not apply to family members of eu (but non-uk) nationals. And uk nationals can use eu law only if they lived in another eu country before coming back to the uk.

P.s.: Sorry for weird links, this forum does does not let me post urls as i'm new here. You need to copy/paste them and replace "_hxxp" with "http". Or would please moderators edit my post or somebody who can post links just re-post them properly.

thanks very much for this .... I was not aware of your reply until today.

[dimetris]

im a greek cypriot citisen living in uk i want to marry my iranian girl friend who lives in iran if she visits cyprus as a visitor can i marry her in cyprus and if so would she be allowed to stay or would she need to go back to iran. also i would like to know if she went to north cyprus first as she does not require a visa there can she come to the greek side from there or will she require a visa. thank you