Legal process of marrying in Ethiopia

Hello Everybody,
I am Nevena from Croatia. My fiancee is Ethiopian and we are planning to get married in Ethiopia. I would love to know what is the process and what documents do I need to bring with me. Can documents be in English or I need to translate them into Amharic. Since there is no Ethiopian embassy in Croatia, I need to legalise my documents in Rome, so it is additional obsticle for me. Do I need to legalise Amharic translation too? Also what is the proces after we get married? If anyone went through all this, I would appriciate your answer. Thank you a lot.
Nevena

Perhaps ask your fiancee to find out the requirements.

You can contact the closest Embassy to you as well.

:) Of course I will ask him and we are talking about that, but I would love to hear from somebody outside of Ethiopia who went through this.

Hello Nevena and welcome to Expat.com :cheers:

I invite you to check out threads in the Formalities and procedures in Ethiopia  to gather some information about marrying in Ethiopia.


Thread such as these one may prove very helpful :

> Getting married in Ethiopia

> Marriage formalities between EU citizen and Ethipian? How to proceed?

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com

Thank you very much for the information. It is very helpful. And thank you for welcoming me to the site. :)
Regards,
Nevena

Hi everyone, My name is Dani From IVORY COAST(COTE D'IVOIRE) but live and work currently in UNITED ARAB EMIRATES as an Petroleum Engineer, I'm in a serious relationships with an Ethiopian girl and planning to get married with her we agreed together to live in Ethiopia have house there and even buy our own house after our wedding while working in UAE here. My question goes like this: What is the legal process and after we might have got married, should I need visa all the time I want to come to Ethiopia every 1 or 2 months? and I'm planning to invest in real estate what is also the process.

NOTE: My fiancé is not too much educated to have all this info that's why i came to you for advise and orientation. I found expat.com through my own research.

Regards,

Dani

hi nevena, i have very good crotian friend and he married ethiopian girl. so happy to let you contact with him on facebook. my number is **u can call me any time.

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Hello, it is nice that you have Croatian friend. Yes, it would be great if we can connect on fb. I am currently in process of collecting papers and it is not that complicated, but requiers time and patience.
Will get in touch with you soon,
Regards,
Nevena

Hy,

I don't know whether you finish the process already or not, if not let me know I will send you all step by step procedure.

PS:I am married to Ethiopian and living in Ethiopia.

Hello Tya,
thank you for your post. Yes, we are married now. It wasn't that complicated, and I have survived :)
Maybe you can write me about residency and what was the requirements to get it. Thank you a lot!! In which part of Ethiopia are you living?
Nevena

Hello Nevena,

Glad to hear that...!

Regarding residence permit, You can apply it after completion of two year of marriage.

Points which should be consider---

1. Residence ID allows you to stay but not to work.
2.Your spouse need to provide healthy financial statements , regular income proofs from Business/service, in order to prove that he/she can manage your financial requirements as well.
3.and yes if you have a child from your marriage that will seal the deal.

I am living with my family in Addis Ababa.

PS: where did you marry Ethiopia or outside..

Thank you very much for your answer. We were married in Awassa. My husband is from there.

Good to Know , all the best for future.

Thank you. God bless you and your family.

Is this true that you have to be married for 2 years before getting a residents permit? I am British looking to marry my Ethiopian boyfriend. How can you live for 2 years without residency? Will I have to come and go every 3 months on a tourist visa if I want to live in Ethiopia?
Can you work on the resident permit?
Thank you

Yes, it is true that residence permit is issued after two years, but after you are married and have wedding certificate that is authenticate on federal level (basicaly the same process as for other documents, you need to go to Minnistry of Foreign Affairs and Registration office). After that you can go to Ministry of Immigration and ask for visa that allowes you to stay in Ethiopia for two years, you need to prolonged it every year. Any way, you have to ask in Immigration office in Addis Ababa and thay will instruct you what to do. You do not need to leave Ethiopia every three months. I did not ask for residency there because we decided to live in Croatia.
I hope my answer will be helpful,
Best wishes,
Nevena

@Nevena111

hi Nevena!

im on that marriage process right now.

could you tell me does it take time to legalize our marriage certificate in Ministry  for foreign affairs?

i would be super gratefull from any advice!!!

BR Anssi

@anssieriksen


Hello, this member has not visited the website for several years now. Please post on more recent threads or open your own thread on the forum.


Regards

Bhavna

Hello!

aaa … okay. Thank you for telling that:)