Today I went to the immigration office with my husband. I am American and he is Ethiopian. I was let in when I showed my American passport but he was denied entry, and not given a just reason. It was confusing, hurtful, the whole scene. Can someone please tell me in order to apply for permanent residency do I need just the following: xerox copies of passport; permanent residency form; proof of income in the form of bank statements, land ownerships (is there more??); marriage license; and 400 birr. We have been married for 11 months and two weeks. To my knowledge we have to wait until one year of marriage before applying. How long will this process take, someone told me 2-3 days in the case of dual citizenship but what about permanent residency.
Does anyone know whether its better to apply for permanent residency or dual citizenship as I wish to be able to get a work permit to apply for work as a local rather than a foreigner. Are there any real differences between the two in regards to rights?
Also what can I do to ensure that my husband and I both are let into the immigration gates, as men and women are separated and Ethiopia has a reputation of being unfairly bias towards foreigners vs natives.
Immigration : Applying for Permanent Residency
Hello Art Aji.
Welcome to Expat.com! 
Hope other members will be able to help you.
Thank you,
Aurélie
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 2 - 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.
Just an update: We eventually managed to get the Civil Marriage Certificate, after having made sure that I had the correct and requisite certificates and authentication documents from my home country. The Officer of Civil Status Office was really very welcoming and it was a pleasure to meet them.
However, having a civil marriage certificate is not an automatic upgrade to a multiple entry visa from the Immigration and Nationality Affairs Office in Addis Ababa. They could only authorize a single entry 30 day visa and told us bluntly that, were I to require anything north of a 30-day multiple entry visa, I have to apply for this from any Ethiopian Embassy outside the country. A residence permit can only be applied for and granted after a period of continual 12 months stay as a married couple in Ethiopia.
I wish they would publish this kind of information carte blanche so that people can be better prepared before taking the plunge to relocate or get married to a national.
Expect a post scriptum around December 04, 2013 G,C. because that is the date I will apply for my residence permit.
Dannii69
wow you sure have done your homework. I am in the beginning stages. Talk about confusion. would you mind if I sent you a friend request on here so I could ask you some questions?
Unless the rules have changed recently, as far as I am aware, Ethiopian nationality law has no provision for dual nationality.
Hi, It is illegal for a US citizen to have "dual citizenship". Just go for a residency permit, that is all. You will also still need to pay tax in US. Be careful.
@ Richydev > Thanks for your input.However, this topic is from 2012 and might be outdated.
Please feel free to participate on more recent threads.
Have a nice day
Priscilla
Ooooops sorry.
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