Art
It seems to me that there is general or rather deliberate confusion created by those who draft laws in the country and those who apply them. I recently got married to my Ethiopian wife and being a meticulous person, did my background research work in terms of what the Federal Family Code of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia allowed in terms of marriages. There are 3 distinct streams of marriage:
- Article 1 - Various forms of Marriage
- Article 2Â - Marriage Concluded Before an Officer of Civil Status
- Article 3 - Religious Marriage
- Article 4 - Marriage According to Customs
Notwithstanding the above, I was barred from applying for a residence permit on the basis that my religious marriage as per Article 3 is not acceptable to apply for residency status ostensibly because I am an alien.
Having combed all the applicable codes and laws, I could find this interpretation no where on record.
So here I am stuck in my country of origin, I cannot join my legally wedded wife because one:
- she cannot invite me in her personal capacity (only organizations can do that) which will enable me to obtain the entry visa
- I cannot apply for the residence permit outside Ethiopia (but I need an entry visa which I cannot get)
- Ethiopia is not signatory to the Hague Convention in terms of authentication of national documents (apostille) meaning that I cannot even produce the apostille and use this to submit to the Civil Authorities to get a civil marriage.
If a religious marriage is not acceptable between an alien and an Ethiopian, why does the law not say that?
Interestingly I got proper answers from the Embassy of Ethiopia in London, UK then the Immigration and Nationality Affairs Main Department in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) - the Head Office.
Someone really need to educate these people to understand that they are dealing with humans and not cattle and secondly to ensure that the information they provide is accurate and consistent and up to date.
For obvious reasons, you can never talk to the people in charge, they do not have names and have never ending and non-functioning email addresses. Had I known this in advance, I would simply have taken my wife to be to my country and got married there and settled there with not a single hiccup.
