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
• A court order, if you are under 18 years
• 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.

If you don't have the original certificates, you must get replacements from the General Register Office which issued your certificate.

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
• A diplomat at the Embassy of Ireland or an Irish Honorary Consul

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.

The following fees apply for applications submitted to the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa:

Applications received more then 28 days before intended date of marriage: €60

Applications received 28 days or less before intended date of marriage: €120

The relevant fee will be deducted during the online application process.

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,
2nd Floor, Building A,
OMK House,
238 Florence Ribeiro Avenue,
Nieuw Muckleneuk,
Pretoria,
South Africa, 0181