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UK Wedding News

07/03/2013

Marriage Refusal Challenged By Rwanda Couple

A Rwanda couple have issued a High Court challenge against authorities in Ireland, after they were told they could not get married, the Irish Independent has reported.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are both Rwandan refugees and have been living in Ireland for several years.

Earlier this year, the General Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages notified the couple, saying they could not marry because the matter of whether they were "free to marry" remained "unclear", the court was told.

However the couple have said they are of full age and capacity and are not married to anyone else.

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The couple got engaged two years ago and applied for permission to marry in 2012 at the Civial Registration Office at Joyce House, Dublin.

As part of the application to marry, the pair provided various documents as required, but in January, they discovered that their application had been turned down. A suggestion was then made to the couple that they go before a Circuit Court and seek a declaration under the Family Law Act that would allow them to marry.

It is understood that during this process, a query was raised when the couple revealed the groom went to Africa as part of a customary introduction to the bride's parents.

Counsel for the couple said it then appeared officials at the Civil Registration Office believed the couple were already married in a traditional ceremony, following a visit to her family.

The groom travelled to Namibia in 2011 where he met his fiancé's family, however he travelled alone as the bride, who is seeking asylum in Ireland, could not get travel documents.

In court, counsel agreed with Mr Justice Michael Peart that it was their case that it would be "difficult to see" how the couple could marry in Namibia if the bride was not present.

(JP)

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"A Rwanda couple have issued a High Court challenge against authorities in Ireland, after they were told they could not get married, the Irish Independent has reported."