The context
A small country with a highly international workforce and a long emigration history in both directions. Procedures are clearly documented, and the main constraint is simply time.
Entering the country
Ireland is not in the Schengen area and runs its own visa system: check whether your nationality needs a short-stay 'C' visa. A visit intended to lead to marriage should be declared as such.
Marrying, and having it recognised
Couples must give at least three months' notice in person to a registrar, and receive a Marriage Registration Form before the ceremony. Where one party is not an EEA national, the registrar may notify the Minister for Justice, who can investigate a suspected marriage of convenience. See civil marriage in Ireland.
Getting there
Dublin has direct flights across Europe and North America; long-haul from elsewhere usually connects through a European hub.
Customs and family
The Claddagh ring, the 'magic hanky' and the afters — the late-evening reception for a wider circle — are distinctive. See wedding customs in Ireland.
Points to watch
- Three months is a hard minimum and cannot be shortened except by court order.
- Immigration permission is separate from the marriage: marrying does not grant a right to remain.
- Documents from abroad must be legalised or apostilled and translated.
Two absolute prohibitions, wherever you live
Sex tourism and any relationship with a minor are punished here as everywhere, and your own country's law follows you abroad. For sexual offences against a child, almost every state sets aside dual criminality and dispenses with any complaint: you can be prosecuted and tried at home whatever the local law says and whatever the local authorities do. See sexual offences committed abroad.
If you met online
The warning signs are the same everywhere: a very fast escalation, a systematic refusal of video, a request for money for an urgent reason, pressure to leave the platform. The rule holds here as anywhere: you do not send money to someone you have never met face to face. Someone genuine will happily take a video call, meet in a public place and introduce you to their family.
Spotting and reporting a romance scam — Ireland
Ireland: everything on this site
This country appears on 35 other pages of this site, across every section. Here they all are, in one place.
Sexuality
Health
- Assisted reproduction
- Abortion
- Alcohol and tobacco
- Contraception
- HIV and AIDS
- HPV
- Hepatitis B
- Mental health
- Pregnancy
Advice
Marriage
- Same-sex marriage
- Divorce
- Marriage
- Matrimonial property and inheritance
- Partnerships and cohabitation
- Religious ceremony
- Wedding customs and ceremonies
Names
Rights
- Adoption
- Copyright
- Data protection
- Fundamental rights
- Identity theft
- Image rights
- Online shopping
- Privacy
- Sexual offences committed abroad
- Speech and online harassment
Official sources and links
- Your own foreign ministry's travel advice — read it before each departure: it also conditions your travel insurance. Official portals: United Kingdom · United States · Canada · Australia · New Zealand
- Your consular post there, or the one covering the country — civil status, marriage, emergencies; note the number before you go. Official directories: United Kingdom · United States · Canada · Australia · New Zealand
- World Health Organization — health recommendations by destination
- Hague Conference on Private International Law — celebration and recognition of the validity of marriages