Marriage and civil partnership

Online questionnaire

To apply for a Certificate of Freedom to Marry, you must complete an online questionnaire about yourself and your upcoming marriage or civil partnership.

Statutory declaration

Based on this questionnaire, you’ll be presented with one or more statutory declarations to complete and a checklist of supporting documentation you'll need to submit with your application.

You need to:

• Print and sign your questionnaire.
• Print out a copy of each statutory declaration.
• Print out your checklist.
• Complete the declarations and have them witnessed.
• Post them to us with your supporting documentation, signed questionnaire and fee.
• Print off or save each form right after your online questionnaire, as you won't be able to retrieve them later.

Submit your application a minimum of four months before the date of your marriage or civil partnership.

Your witnessed statutory declaration(s) cannot be dated more than six months before the date of your marriage.

Your application is not complete until we get hard copies of your questionnaire, statutory declaration(s), and all supporting documentation.

Your checklist will tell you exactly what supporting documentation you'll need for your application, which may include:

• Your original long-form birth certificate
• Marriage and Death certificate of your previous spouse, if widowed
• Petition and final decree of your divorce, if divorced
• A photocopy of your current Irish passport
• Your original naturalisation certification, if naturalised

Translating your documents

You'll need to submit certified translations of any of these documents, if the originals are in a language other than English or Irish.

Getting replacement documents

We need original documents (except for the photocopy of your passport) to process your application.

Getting your documents back

We will return all your original documents to you after we inspect them.

Remember...

If you haven't included all the necessary documents, your application will be returned to you.

Who can be a witness?

• A Notary Public – Please note that a Greek Lawyer may witness your application
• A diplomat at the Embassy

Your witness must:

• Know you personally
• Know a third party personally who can identify you
• Be able to verify your identity through your official documents (e.g. a passport)
• Provide a business contact number, address, and stamp

Your witness needs to:

• Witness you completing and signing your Statutory Declaration(s)
• Complete and sign the relevant part of your Statutory Declaration(s)

Remember...

It's against the law to make a Statutory Declaration that you know is false or misleading in any way.

Fees for making an application for Certificat de Coutume/Nulla Osta

Please ensure that the appropriate fee is included. If applying to the Embassy of Ireland in Athens, the fee for issuing a certificate of freedom to marry is €60 per Irish applicant.

Late Fee

Applications submitted 28 days or less before the date of the intended marriage or civil partnership will incur an additional fee of €60 per Irish applicant.

Payment Method

The Embassy accepts Postal Orders drawn from Greek Post Office service (ELTA), and card payment for applications made in person at the Embassy.

Fees can also be paid by bank transfer to the following account:

Account Name – Embassy of Ireland Athens
Bank – Alpha Bank
IBAN – GR53 0140 1010 1010 0200 1000 724
BIC/SWIFT – CRBAGRAAXXX

If you pay by bank transfer, you must include a copy of the bank transfer counterfoil slip with your application and mention the applicant’s name in the payment narrative.

We do not accept cash payments or card payments over the phone.

We strongly encourage you to gather all the required documents prior to completing the online form – incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Send your completed application to:

Embassy of Ireland,

7, Leof. Vas. Konstantinou,

Athens 106 74,

Greece.

All marriages in Greece, whether civil or religious, must be registered at the local Registrar’s Office/Office of Vital Statistics (Lixiarhio) within 40 days following the ceremony.

Registration can be done by the bride or groom, or by any individual who is in possession of a power of attorney signed before a Notary Public giving them the authority to register the marriage. Once registered, a Marriage Certificate (lixiarchiki praxi gamou) will be issued within three days.

Note: Marriages not registered have no legal validity. 

Irish citizens intending to marry in Greece should be aware that the Catholic Church in Greece confirmed that churches on the islands of Crete, Syros, Milos and Santorini will no longer perform marriages for non-residents.